Monsoon Season

There is no doubt that it is Monsoon season here! These are pictures from our lovely afternoon storm this past monday. It is kind of hard to capture exactly how hard the rain and hail was coming down, but I'm sure you can imagine it :) The thunder was outrageous also!!! It was shaking the apartment! I was shaking a bit also ;) The power went out at MSI so Alex got to leave work early which was nice. We ran a bunch of errands that night getting stuff for my apartment. I found a lofted bed with a desk underneath, a 6 piece comforter/sheet set, and a desk chair- all for very good prices! I also got a new laptop because mine has definitely seen better days and I wanted a good one that will last the rest of college and still be descent after that as well, so Happy Birthday to me :) haha.

Tuesday nothing too exciting happened, Alex and I watched The Girl Who Played With Fire. The books are definitely better than the movies, but it is fun to see the scenes played out to see if they are how I pictured them in my head.
Today Alex got invited to play on the MSI Softball team, so after work we went and played catch for a while. There is a really nice, big field down the trail behind the apartment, so that was fun. There were a lot of people there walking dogs and with their kids- pretty fun to see :)

Ha- Michael Buble's "Home" just came on and it definitely describes our feelings sometimes. Flagstaff is a great place and we love it here, but we definitely miss home!!! Once we get more into work and I get into school and meeting people I don't think we will be as home sick- but we do miss you all! - Just incase you wondered :)
Lets see....Tomorrow is Alex's softball game, so that will be fun. Hopefully we can chat it up a bit with his teammates and hang out with them a bit!
Friday is my Birthday :D I love my birthday- probably my favorite day of the year. But, not really sure what we will do yet. Probably go out to eat, and maybe explore downtown nightlife in Flagstaff, or maybe just relax in the hottub (which probably sounds apalling to most of you) but when it gets down to 55-60 degrees here at night, it feels great!!
Saturday I move into my apartment :) YAY!!!!! One of my roommates will be there just to move her stuff in that day, but she is from Prescott so she will go back for the rest of the summer, and the other two are from Cali so they aren't moving here until Aug 21st :( So, its going to be pretty lonely there for a while,) but they have a lot of get-togethers for the residents so I will for sure be able to meet people at those events. It is a little like dorm life, but not on campus and there are definitely families and older people that live there.
I found a family that I want to baby-sit for and it would work perfect for my schedule, and there is also a really good campus job basically being a receptionist, that would work well for my schedule also!
With the Hozhoni Foundation- they are just waiting for my NE Driving Record and then I can start training, which is exciting :)

Well, that's all I have to blab about...

TTFN

Lazy Day

Today was a pretty relaxed and lazy day.
Neither of us have adjusted to the time difference here in Arizona, so even though we were up until about 1am lastnight, I woke up about 7:15 and layed with my eyes closed till about 7:45, and then I gave up. Alex got up around 8:30ish-which is the latest he has slept since we moved out here. It is kind of nice to be able to wake up early and not be tired during the day and have a long day to accomplish a lot- but it would be nice to sleep in :)
Anyhow...We ran to the grocery store around 10, and then pumped up our tires and went for a bikeride. It was definitely a good workout. It is flat for mot of the trail but there are a few rough inclines. We were gone for about an hour or so and when we got back we both collapsed in the livingroom for a while.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, watching tv, playing on the computer, and going to Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart- Super exciting I know :)
We finally have a Sunday where we don't have to be somewhere in the morning so we found a church to try out. Alex's co-worker recomended it, so we will be exploring that tomorrow morning, should be a good time :) I'm excited to see what it is like!
Ohhh from lastnight, 127 hours was a pretty good movie. Kind of weird, but a good story I suppose.
Tooodaloooo for now

Nothing much new to speak of here for the end of the week. Yesterday I went hiking again, a little bit further than Alex and I went last Saturday- This is the really cool Redrock that is further on the trail. Not the greatest picture, but it is pretty awesome!
I got a TB test done- NO Tuberculosis for me :) yay!!! (The test was for my Hozhoni job)
Alex and I watched Hall Pass tonight and are currently watching 127 Hours, which is pretty good so far.
Alex is enjoying work, I told him he needs to blog about it soon- so hopefully he will get on that so you all know what he has been up to.
Alex got our bikes put together so tomorrow we are going to go for a bike ride on one of the trails that is really close.
I think that's about all I have for now- :)

Alex's FIRST DAY OF WORK was today :D YAY!!! He really liked it, I will let him Blog all about it later.

My day was busy with loading/unloading and unpacking and cleaning.

Got the call that all of our stuff that we shipped had arrived so...3 trips to Fastenal, 45 Miles, and 3 hours later...all of our boxes and totes were in Alex's apartment.!! Yay!!!

As I was unpacking, I got a call from the Hozhoni Foundation that I was offered the job. Over the weekend I did some thinking and decided that I did not want the full time job on weekends. Mostly because I'm new to town and want to meet people and I feel like if I was working all weekend, every weekend I wouldn't be able to as much. I talked to the manager about this and he said he completely understood and offered me an Emergency Relief position. This means that I will call in every monday and find out when the open shifts are and if I am available to work these shifts, I can take them. They want me to work at least 1 shift a month-hopefully more- but this will also give me the opportunity to work at the AZ childrens Association if I get an interview/job there, which is really nice!
So, after I went out to Hozhoni in a monsoon of a thunderstorm (no joke...the roads were flooded, I was fishtailing and hydroplaning and I wasn't going over 35mph. RIDIC) BUT after all of that, I made a Target run and then kept unpacking.

Alex got home from his first day of work about 5:15, he skyped with the parentals, and then we had some dinner and then Alex unpacked the last couple boxes of his stuff and I took a nice warm shower :)

Tonight has been pretty nice! It's really cool outside because of the rain and the trees smell AMAZING!!! I love having all the trees outside alex's room because it blows into his windows and smells so fresh- AHHH! :)
Tomorrow I meet with my advisor, get a TB and Drug test for my job [Hope I pass ;) ].
Miss you all!!!!!

<3 Kate

Feel free to post comments about our posts!!! We'd like to hear from you and what you think :)

Sandy's Canyon Hike

Mastered our first AZ hike today!
The trailhead is about 6 miles down the road from Alex's apartment.
It was a 2 mile hike through a small canyon. The mile in was mostly downhill, so the way back was a little rough. We decided we should probably do some flatter trails from now on to get Alex into hiking shape :)
Yesterday I found a cool trail about two blocks from the apartment that we might have to check out soon. It would be especially fun to bike on when we get our bikes put together.
It is another nice day here in Flagstaff. 80 Degrees and Sunny :) no humidity.!!!!
Come to Flagstaff all you Nebraska and Iowa friends and relatives who are suffering through 100+ degree weather and 80% humidity! :-)

More Pictures!

This is our table for now...A printer box

Alex's GREAT view driving home from work...lots of mountains and trees!!

Some bluffs in Colorado that were pretty neat.

And, us on the 4th of July in Colorado Springs.

PICTURES :D

Alex's new Table/Chairs and Bed :) They are both in the house he bought it from so it will look a little different when he gets them-more pics later :)

BEAUTIFUL Flagstaff! On the outskirts coming into town from the north, lots of mountains and trees :) Not typical AZ landscaping.

The view pretty much from far west CO to Flagstaff. There were some pretty neat arches and structures, but mostly desert and Red-rock!

I can't find my camera cord, so when I do, there will be more pictures and we will add some of Alex's apartment. Sorry the pictures are a little out of order...I'll work on that :)

We have internet!

Hey everyone, just thought I'd let you know that we now have internet so we should be posting more frequently. Kate said she was going to post all of our pictures when she gets back from shopping today. I know you all are just dying to see them :) Also, just thought I'd let you know that is a beautiful 75 degrees and sunny today. Be jealous.

It's Been A Busy 4 Days!

Well, we made it to Flagstaff! :)

The trip was great, lots of beautiful scenery and no car troubles until we got into Flagstaff, and that was just a dead battery, so I'm very thankful for that !!

Friday night we unpacked the cars, went out to eat with Brian and Nancy (Mom and Dad for Alex) and then crashed out.

Alex and I were up with the sun at 5:30am due to a window that faces the East, and there was no going back to sleep. By 9am we had purchased a water bottle, ironing board and computer desk for $16.50...Gotta love Garage Sales :) The rest of Saturday was spent running around looking at furniture for Alex's apartment and orienting ourselves with the city. We happened to find a garage sale that was not listed anywhere and found Alex a really nice dining room table and chairs and a big bed for REALLY cheap!!! :) That night we decided to go eat at a local Brewery...decided it was not somewhere to go again :(

Sunday was about the same, a few trips to Target and Walmart, and we got another computer desk for my computer, a tv stand, and couch.

Monday was an hour spent at the DMV getting our new licenses, 2 hours at Wells Fargo setting up bank accounts, Dairy Queen, and MANY phone calls in the afternoon.

This morning I had an interview at the Hozhoni Foundation. It is a group home for Disabled Adults. The position is for full time on weekends from 3:30pm Friday to 3:30pm Sunday, still deciding if not having any weekends to get away is worth it. But I also applied at the Arizona Children's Association which would be helping kids transition from Foster Homes into a more stable environment, which would be more of what I would want to do.

Alex was supposed to start working tomorrow, but the HR guy is on vacation, so he will start Monday, which is a relief. It will give us more of a chance to get things in order at his apartment and get acquainted with the city.

He will have cable and internet in his apartment tomorrow, so when that happens we will upload pictures on here for everyone to see. Right now we have been using his phone or the computers in the commons building.

This is probably the longest post ever, but like I said, it has been a busy 4 days in our new city :)

Flagstaff or Bust!

Well we made it from Omaha to North Platte, and North Platte to Denver. We will be in Colorado until Thursday and then head toward Flagstaff :)
We will add pictures soon. We were really busy these past couple of weeks between going away parties and hanging out with our families. Once we get internet set up at the apartment, we will get pictures up and show you Flag!!
Also, for those of you that don't know....ALEX GOT HIS JOB :) YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He will be working at Machine Solutions Inc. He is pretty dang excited about it too!
Bye for now!