We left Salt Lake on Monday, 30 August, with Alice and me in the Lexus. Paul and Rachel partied in the Uhaul down to St George where we spent the night at the Funks! SWEET Glenna Funk read books to the girls, fed us, entertained us, trimmed Paul’s hair, and sent us off with a loaf of homemade bread and several containers of homemade jam. What an angel!
We arrived at our flat around 6:30 pm on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, we’d forgotten to turn on the electricity, and our boxes ARE STILL ON AN OCEAN LINER, so they may never come, but we decided to hunker down and spend the night anyway. I'll never forget putting the girls to bed in a hot, dark room that night, listening to the traffic outside and wondering "what on earth are we doing here?"
We are expecting a miracle-that's what we are doing! And many miracles have come already:
Jeff Copas and Jack Taggart from the Elders Quorum showed up to help us move in, and the sweet girl down the hall (Emily) gave us some candles and a flashlight to help move and organize after it got dark. We had to skip dinner, so the kids were starving and I took them to Ralph’s to get bananas, milk, and yogurt. Emily graciously let us keep the milk, yogurt, and jam in her fridge then brought them over in the morning. I had to cry at the kindness of a stranger yet sister. So grateful for her! She even gave me a haircut last week!
Decorating on a budget: Because we had the Uhaul for another few days, we went on a Craigslist/thrift store shopping spree! We found a grey pullout corner sofa in mint condition for $200! We bought some yellow, grey, and white throw pillows with a white rug from Walmart, and Emily’s roommate gave us their old black coffee table for free! We also found a table and chairs for $40, a gorgeous blue bookshelf for $20, and a giant IKEA bookshelf for $30. There was a free desk on the side of the road, so we took that in and cleaned it, and we bought a white cubicle shelf from Target for the girls along with a dresser and nightstand for $60. Wahoo! *We also found a yard sale and bought a darling miniature table and chairs for the girls room! It comes in handy when we have guests over, so they can eat at their little table for dinner! And we bought a Snow White and Belle dress for $1 each! What a bargain! I really love the process of decorating on a tight budget. It's actually a really fun little puzzle for me!
Ryan and Maureen Christensen came our second night and brought a picnic dinner of fried chicken, potato salad, watermelon, cookies, and lemonade with a housewarming basket of goodies. Oh it just made my heart feel so good to have a friend in this city! They stayed into the dark and helped us put the bunk beds together by cell phone light. The girls LOVE their new grey bunkbeds where they pretend to be flying airplanes, dancing at the ball, saving princesses, serving dinner, and so much more.
Driving: I must say that LA drivers are incredibly rude and impatient! It was TERRIFYING to follow Paul anywhere—people are FLYING down small lane highways, and if you don’t go right when the light changes, you can expect swear words and honking. Also, I forgot about billboards. They hardly exist in England, and here, you can’t look out your window without seeing several scantily clad women advertising for completely unrelated items. Can you tell that I hate it? Definitely makes me miss England… I actually miss not being able to drive! HA!
Swimming: Over the course of the first week, we took full advantage of swimming in the pool! Rachel can touch because the whole pool is only 3 feet deep, and Alice can basically touch as well although it’s a bit of a stretch. It’s been so fun to watch their confidence in the water grow. Alice can float with her toes up, on her back, jump in, go all the way under, etc. Rachel loves to jump in and is even working on swimming without floaties. It’s hard to teach them as a parent, but I really want them to be good swimmers. If for no other reason than I want to feel safe with them in the pool!
Parks: Woodbridge park is just around the corner from us, and it’s a very fun structure with sand to play in! We went to Griffith Park which is MASSIVE, but it was too hot, so we'll have to go back now that the weather is changing.
Zoo: One of our favorite hangouts is the LA Zoo! (We bought a year long membership which has already paid for itself!) The girls love the petting zoo and the giant animatronic dinosaur eating a fish by the entrance. Rachel could hardly contain her joy after riding the white unicorn around on the carousel-she couldn't even put words together. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen! What a hit!
The best part of LA so far is meeting friendly people. Everywhere we go, people seem to be smiling and sociable (unless they’re driving). In our apartment complex, we’ve met a lot of really lovely people including our landlord Nancy, who is from India. She is fantastic! She helped me find a place that sells garam masala (for making curry) and made sure to tell me she would love to babysit the kids any time.
Anna Crowe: One of our new best friends is Anna Crowe (and her whole family). They had us over for dessert our first Sunday here, and we ended up having a jam session while the kids played together. We've gone to pilates, running/walking three mornings a week, attended a women's scripture study group, sung together in a trio for a different ward, taken our kids to gymnastics and parks, played a hilarious Halloween game, and traded off babysitting so we could attend the temple. She has blessed my life so much already. Truly, a miracle in the flesh!
BEST STORY: We auditioned for a musical about a dangerous computer, and it was one of the most hilarious experiences OF MY LIFE! As we were filling out the forms at the audition, we realized the man running the audition was the writer, director, and played the villian. Then he informed us that he had already recorded the vocals and wanted to re-film the production, so we were really only going to be lipsyncing. THEN, the dance call was literally a box step/jazz square with a hop and a turn. HA! Nailed it! Paul and I literally cried we were trying so hard not to laugh. One of our best dates ever!
My favorite experience is actually a gig that I didn't book. At one audition, the man behind the table had tears in his eyes as I sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", and he later told me it was the best audition he's ever seen, but I didn't get the part because of dress size. What a weird profession where you can literally move the director to tears but lose the part because someone else was thinner! It made me realize how grateful I am for the gospel of Jesus Christ--I know my worth has no correlation to my dress size or what jobs I work or parts I play. My worth and value is that I am a Child of God, and that can't be altered. What a blessing!
The BEACH: One of the best parts of living here is being about 20 minutes from the Santa Monica Pier (give or take with traffic)! We had to go to LAX to pick up Kristen Metzger coming home from Fiji and New Zealand, so we thought we’d spend the day in Santa Monica before going to the airport. It was glorious! The weather was perfect! (As it is every day, but I’m always surprised! I keep waiting for the weather to be dark and cold, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen?) The girls LOVED putting their feet in the sand, and Rachel LOVED the water! Oh my goodness. She was in heaven. We loved walking around the pier and letting the girls ride the rides. It was a heavenly day! We even found parking for about $1.50! Perfect!
It was blissful having Kristen stay with us for a few days and hear about her adventures and hopes for life. She is such a special woman! I’m so grateful for her friendship and the strength of her faith!
First scare: Kristen and I did some laundry and Alice and Rachel came to help. The laundry room is on our floor-just a few steps away really. Rachel decided to go back home, and Alice decided to follow her. Except, Alice took a detour and never made it home. When Kristen and I came back, she was nowhere to be found. It was several minutes of searching—running the halls, searching the pool and lobby, running to the car park, and up and down the elevator before a nice girl found her on the third floor and took her to us. OH MY HEAVENS! I was so scared. It was absolutely terrifying. We lock the doors now, but Rachel can open them, so I feel constant worry that somehow they will escape! After that experience, they know it’s probably not good to try that again for a while. AH!!!!!!
Hiking: We drove to the Observation Point at Griffith Park and took a little hike toward the Hollywood Sign. It is very dry and people are everywhere--doesn't really feel like getting out in nature. But it was fun to at least not be surrounded by apartment buildings. We also went on a family hike around Hollywood Reservoir-about 3.5 miles round trip. Good fun!
Library: The Buena Vista Library is awesome. We can check out 50 books at a time! The kids LOVED going and reading and exploring. They have little computers with fun games on them for learning, and there is a giant tree in the middle of the kids section where we can snuggle up to read, so the kids beg me to go back every day. We also went to the Burbank Library for story time, and loved it!
Family: We got to visit Vaughn and Karlyn a few days back! They had us over for dinner, swimming, and watching the BYU game. And Marshall and Carrie just happened to be in town, so we saw them too! It was such a blast! Karlyn is so awesome, and they both make us feel like best friends. We just love them! The girls loved it too, of course.
Two Trips:
1) FALLBROOK: We LOVED VISITING THE BALLIFS! We literally talked, ate, and swam the whole time, but we could have talked for days!! They have such amazing life stories and lessons to teach us, and we were so inspired by their humility, generosity, thoughtfulness, and the peace in their home. I was able to go to General Women's Conference with Julie, Lilly, and Jane. It was so fun to have some "Family" to go with! And I hardly saw the girls all weekend as they were busy dressing up and reading stories with Mary, Jane, and Henry. Such a fabulous weekend getaway for us!
2) PUMPKIN PATCH: Ann got us a room at the Hilton in Costa Mesa where we met up for a weekend of swimming, launching pumpkins, petting baby goats, going on a tractor ride, playing with kids, playing at the park, and spending time as together as family. One of the highlights was playing "Betrayal at House on the Hill" with Ann and Eric after the kids went to bed. It's the perfect Halloween game! We also traded off babysitting so we could go on a date. Bliss!
Dance: We love having family dance parties. The girls move the coffee table and turn on the pre-recorded tracks on my keyboard. So cute! Also, I took a contemporary dance class the other day at Millennium Dance Complex. LOVED IT! Oh my goodness! It felt AMAZING! I think I'll go at least once a week as long as we can afford it. I sure love to dance!
It'll be another month before we get our boxes, and I CAN'T WAIT to have my nice pots and pans, pictures of the Savior, Prophet, and temples, other clothes and shoes, etc! Trying to be patient...
Alice: 23 months!
· My favorite word she says is: “lotamelon” for “Watermelon”. Her “T” is very crisp too!
· Said her first prayer all by herself “Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.”
· So good at going to nursery! Loves playgroup at the library with bubbles and singing songs.
· Tells everyone “hi” and has to tell everyone and everything “Bye” any time we are walking away from the street, car, tree, dog, person, etc
· The very first time she tried sleeping in her new bed, she slept through the night no problem! She has always been a fantastic sleeper. I’m so grateful!
· Loves to carry around her “doggy” to the elevator, outside, all over in the house, eating food, sleeping, etc. Doggy is always tucked under her arm. She pretends they are in Balto or 101 Dalmations.
· Wears princess dresses with Rachel non-stop and loves to dance in the living room to Princess music or the piano music
· The happiest, loveliest little poodle!
Rachel: 3 ½
· Loves listening to her ipod in the car—“Mommy, can I please listen to princess music?” Favorites include “Seize the Day” from Newsies, “Try Everything” from Zootopia, and anything from "Brave" or the soundtrack to "How to Train Your Dragon" (those are the songs we listened to whilst driving through Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, so they make us all homesick)
· So clever! Learning her numbers, letters, and colors. Memorizes books quickly and loves to read them to Alice. Their favorites right now are "Amelia Bedelia" and "Berenstein Bears"
· Loves to pretend she's reading the scriptures and makes up really good verses
· Really into prayer. Rachel has to say the prayer almost every time, and she prays for such good things! When she bit Alice, she prayed that she was sorry for biting Alice, it made her feel bad, and she didn’t want to do bad things anymore. We had just had a lesson on repentance from the missionaries, so I was completely moved to see Rachel understanding and putting it into action. She is so good and wise!
Various pictures from museums and other shenanigans:
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