Only one more week!

So we only have one more week in Oxford! Hallelujah! I can't even begin to express how excited I am. I haven't even slept in a bed for 6 weeks. Dumb. We are now trying to figure out what we need that we lost in the flood to make life livable. Yea for moving! I will post pictures of the new digs next week once we get all moved in. On a different note, as most of you know I am doing Weight Watchers and I am proud (but not unrighteously proud) that I have lost 12 pounds! I only have 6 more to go for my 1st goal! Sweet. Jonathan said that I get 50 dollars to spend when I reach it! I think I will making a stop at the gap... So after all of the madness this summer, I was looking through my iphoto and remembering some more positive carefree times. I found this picture of Jonathan and I the day after we got engaged. We went to the Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque. Crazy to think that it was 4 years ago that we got engaged. How time flies...



Well, like I said, next week will be a much better blog with pictures of the new digs!!!! Wahoo!

So I am doing a little bit of bragging today. My really good friend is getting married in September and I am one of her personal attendants. A couple of her bridesmaids were planning to throw her a bridal shower, but they really didn't want to do things how she wanted, (which would have been easy) so she told them, Thanks but no thanks. She decided that she would just do it herself. Isn't that the dumbest thing you have ever heard!! No bride, especially a super nice one, should have to throw her own bridal shower. So I stepped up to the plate. She really wanted it to be coed since her fiancee is going to be in town that weekend (he lives in Albuquerque). We decided to do a fun BBQ. Anyway, on to the bragging, we looked everywhere for invitations and just weren't finding any that we liked, so I decided to make them. They turned out so cute! I am not one to brag, mostly because I am not this proud of the stuff that I do, but LOVED these invitations. Maybe I have discovered my new hidden talent....new business venture perhaps? Well, here they are. If you don't love them as much as I do, then just lie to me and tell me you do! Thanks!

P.S. if you click on the picture, you can see it larger and they look even better!

Well I guess that it is about time for an update. After the flood, things were a little crazy for a while. Still are actually. Our apartment ended up with about 2 feet of water in it. So, needless to say, we did lose stuff. We were able to get back in to the apartment about a week later. It was a pretty horrific smell. Not recommended. We decided that we were definitely not going to move back into the same place, so we started looking for a new place. We found something a little further out of town, but nice and no where near any body of water. I mean, we were flooded by a creek!!! No water please. We move in August 1st. As for now, we are staying in a friends apartment out in the middle of nowhere. They are gone for the summer and graciously offered to let us stay there. It is about 20 miles out of town and there is nothing here. I never thought that I would live anywhere where I would have to say "lets go into town" So hick-ish. I really shouldn't complain because it is free, but it is rough. There is almost no cell phone service and they have a double bed! We are used to a king, so we are actually sleeping on out air mattress in the living room. Note that the air mattress takes up the entire living room. It touches the couch and the other wall. I am so ready to be living in my own place. Not to mention that on Saturday night they had a town dance right outside our building, on our window side of course. It went from 9 until midnight. I was so irritated. We have early church and I am not a morning person as it is, so I really need my sleep. Stupid town of Oxford.

We are very thankful for a lot of good people out here. We have the stuff that we were able to save at about 5 different peoples' houses, which ought to make moving day fun. At least the stuff is already in boxes though! Long story short, this summer really blows and look forward to it being over. Here are some random pictures of goings on here.



This is notice saying that we can go back into our building as long as we don't have to wade through flood waters to get there. There were many people arrested for going into the flood waters. Gross.




This is a crack in the foundation in our guest bedroom. We found it after they took the carpet out. Also, they aren't fixing it. Glad we are moving.





Here is a picture of some of our wreckage. Fun huh?






Here is our washer. You can see the water line. Crazy stuff...

The Wise Man built his house far away from the river....

So, little update, as most of you know we are flooding and we officially evacuated from out house yesterday. We went and packed up all of our valuables and took them with us and then just piled the rest of our stuff up high as far as we could. We have no idea when we will be able to get back in and try and salvage the rest of our stuff. Last night the water was close, but we thought that we would still be able to get back in this morning, to no avail. Our apartment was already flooding and there was no way to get in. Here are some pictures of the whole fiasco...




This is the front of our building tonight. Our apartment is the one in the back right. As you can see the water has invaded the entire front on the building and parking lot.





This is our back yard. We are the last apartment on the end...the most flooded one...




This is a few from the top of our street taken tonight. The river is supposed to go up another 5 feet...yuck





This is us just before we left the apartment. As you can see we have our bed, bookshelf, and other valuables on top of our dining table...note the sad faces. This really sucks...




Our friend was helping us move everything, here is a picture of his tetris genius at work...

More on the Flood

Here is an update to our flood. This picture is a view from our apartment parking lot into the street. Send brain waves our way...just make sure they are real waves! It is pretty crazy here...

Our little Flood

So here in our little Eastern Iowa town, we have had what is known as a little flood. There is a park just a few miles from our house where the whole thing is under water. It is right on the edge of the river. There are park benches and BBQ's that are completely covered in water. It is nuts. They are comparing this to the big flood of '93. I guess that was a pretty bad flood. Right now they are saying that the river is about 7 feet above normal and is expected to rise another foot. Luckily I don't think that we have anything to worry about. The river about a half mile from our house is flooding too. It is pretty crazy. They have had to close a few streets because there is so much water overflowing from the river onto the streets. Here are some pictures from the river by our house.



So let's see...These trees are not supposed to be under water...






There is not supposed to be water to the left of these trees... The trees are supposed to be where the water stops... Not so much...






See those trees all the way in the back?? That is where the water is supposed to stop... So pretty much there shouldn't be water in this picture really.

My Trip to Chi-Town

Okay, I know that it has been FOREVER since I have posted a new blog and am begging for forgiveness. I know the best part of blogs are the pictures and I honestly haven't taken any, thus the lack of blogging. No excuses though. A little update though. Right now Jonathan is in Utah at the International Trombone Festival, and I am just hanging out. We bought Jonathan a ticket out of Chicago because it was so much cheaper. So I drove him to Chicago and spent a few days with Kim and Chris. It was a nice break and it is always fun to hang out with family. I was really excited though, because I got to make a trip with Kim to Ikea and buy the bookshelves that I have wanted for a while. They barely fit in my car, but I was able to make the drive with them home. I wanted them to be a surprise for Jonathan so I had to put them together, of course. I got all but the last piece on pretty easy, and the last piece just wouldn't go on. It wasn't lining up. I was getting so frustrated. Needless to say I had quite the meltdown. I had been trying for an hour to get the top on and it just wouldn't go! So, I called Jonathan in tears for numerous reasons; I couldn't get the top on, I made a dent in the top in all of my hammering, and then I called Jonathan for support which no longer made it a surprise. Rough night. I did end up getting it all put together and I love it! It worked itself out. Here are some pictures of the finished project.
P.S. Another perk of having Jonathan fly out of Chicago, is that I get to go back and see Kim and Chris again! Double Trip!!