For Real

The reality of our move is starting to hit me hard. It feels especially real now that we've been to Fresno and have a taste for our future surroundings. The trip was a success in some aspects and a disappointment in others. We did find an apartment that we both feel very comfortable with. It's funny because there was another complex that was bigger with more amenities for the same cost as our apartment now but we both agreed that we just didn't feel good when we drove around the grounds. It's not like it was ghetto or ugly or anything, it just didn't feel comfortable. I'm really excited because our new place is a two bedroom which is quite the upgrade from our 1 bedroom now, and we are only going to be paying $5 more a month! It may not have the upgrades, or a microwave, or a pantry, but these are all things we can work around. The grounds are really pretty and it is a smaller complex. Here is a picture of our new place.

We ended up looking at about 11 other apartments. The science of picking the right one is very complicated. For example, JR is very particular about the space around the toilet. If it's not spacious that's a major drawback in his book.
This does not pass the test:

This one does pass the test:

Silly boys! Anways, I think we are going to really like it in Fresno. It is actually a very pretty town...if you stay in the Northern part anyways. Southern Fresno is pretty ghetto but everything we need is North anyways. Plus, what place doesn't have ghetto parts? We found that Fresno has a lot of trees, flowers, and unlike Phoenix, it actually cools down at night. I feel much better about the move now.
I had my interview with University of Phoenix Fresno campus and that was the disappointing part. Not that they've turned me down yet, it's still an option but I've been with UOP for almost 5 years and I drove 600 miles and the best they gave me was a group interview with 30 other people who are brand new to enrollment. Yeah, lame. Didn't even make an exception and at push me through to 2nd round interviews so I could at least get some one on one time with a manager. If they even call me back for a 2nd interview I'm not sure how that's going to work since I'm back in AZ. I'm still hoping it'll happen but at this point am a little discouraged. On a brighter note, JR shouldn't have any problems transferring his job!
We did just about everything we set out to do by Friday so had some time to just chill in Fresno and get to know the area a bit. It was a really nice trip all in all. We drove up Wednesday and made a detour to Santa Monica Beach. What's a trip to Cali without the beach?



We also stopped to see both the Redland's temple and the LA temple. We are slowly starting to see the temples of the world! We'll get there some day.
Redland's Temple:

One of the windows that we thought was pretty cool looking:


L.A. Temple:




We had some fun times in the car as well. Can't beat a good road trip right? Here we are stuck in LA traffic playing a short game of Pass the Pigs on the arm rest. It didn't work well but it worked:

We also get to do a Session in the Fresno Temple. Our new ward will be meeting in the church that shares a parking lot with the temple. Kinda cool.
Fresno Temple:




All Templed out yet? Well that's just fine cause Fresno was the last temple we saw...on this trip.
We checked out Fresno State's Campus and where JR was going to be taking his classes. Seems like a pretty nice campus. Smaller that ASU which I personally think is a good thing. I think JR is getting excited to start his program, nervous, but he loves school so he's going to do great!

Our new landlord also gave us tickets to a local triple A baseball game (the Grizzlies) in down town Fresno so we got to see the downtown area and have some good old fashion baseball fun on Saturday night.


So, to sum up, Fresno is awesome and because of this you all should come visit us. Official move date August 1st. If anyone wants to help us load up the truck on the 31st just say the word and I'll make your dreams come true!