New Years & Our Big Move

On December 30th we flew back to California from Virginia, and crashed at my grandparents house for the night. We got up bright and early on New Years' Eve and opened all of our wedding gifts!

We received so many nice gifts from everyone who came to our reception, and we, again, say thank you! After we had finished we quickly ate lunch, and then organized like crazy. We made stacks of what we were taking to Arizona, what we were leaving in California, and what we needed to return. We got most of our returns done that afternoon, and then headed up to Salida to spend New Years' Eve with the Capells. I honestly have little to no recollection of what we did that night, but I'm sure we ate, played games and had fun :)

New Years' Day was just as busy. We said goodbye to Darren's parents and family for a few months, and then headed back down to Turlock to finish up our returns. We then ran over to my grandparents' house, packed up the closet in my room with everything we were leaving, and then craftily packed up the car and started our drive to Arizona. We drove about 6 hours and stopped for the night in Ontario, and then finished up our drive the next day.

So, we are now happily residing in sunny Mesa, Arizona. We moved into our apartment on the 2nd of January, in 75 degree weather. It was fantastic. It cooled off for a while and is now back into the mid 70's this week. I'm enjoying it for now, but know it will get mighty toasty before we leave in May! Our ward is great, and I was called to serve in Nursery about a month ago. Darren is still waiting on a calling, but glad to serve anywhere they need him. He also started his student teaching on January 4th, and has been fully teaching five Spanish 1 classes for about three weeks now. He will be done on April 2nd, and then the job hunt will begin. We look forward to seeing family and friends again sometime in May!