Hello Pennsylvania....

Have you ever thought about driving from Idaho to Pennsylvania in two days? Well if you haven't, I'm here to tell you that it is a long, beautiful, unforgettable, exhausting ride. My parents were seriously troopers I honestly don't think I would have been able to do it after I had been riding in a plane for 12 hours previous. My mom works with a company that allows them to go to other countries for conventions and she was invited to go to Japan and China. The cool thing was that my dad was able to go too! The only bad thing is, is that they would have to drive clear across the country with me as soon as they got off the plane. I suggested that we go another time, but they insisted on going at this time so I wasn't going to fight them on it! I had been away from Cody for two long weeks so I was ready to go if they were up to it.

 On Thursday morning I drove to Salt Lake to pick them up at the air port and from there we made our 32 hour trek across the country. All of us had a blast! We were laughing about how ridiculous we looked in the car. The car was loaded to the brim you couldn't even see out the other side in the back seat and there was only a small space on the other side for one body. We felt like we were hoarders and that people probably thought we were living out of our car with all the house things inside! If we weren't laughing we were sleeping because we all took turns driving at least four hours, or more, at one time. I drove through all of Wyoming, (not going to lie, that state was a little boring) Illinois, and 3/4 of the way through Indiania. Every state after Iowa started to look the same to me. I don't know if I was just tapped out at that point and ready to get there or if it really was looking the same. They all had tons of corn fields and farms. It was very pretty though!

We really didn't plan to go all the way through, but once we were driving we were all able to drive so we did and then we just got to a point where we just wanted to get there so we just had to keep driving! So, we arrived in Pennsylvania early Saturday morning at 4:30. I am so glad we ended up getting there as early as we did so that my parents could stay with us for a couple days before they had to head out.

When we first arrived I will admit I was a little depressed. I had no idea what was going on, where I was even at, and when I first walked into our apartment it seriously smelt like a cat had been living there for days. Yuck. If any of you know me well I am not a cat-lover so this had filled my cup to the top and I was done. I cried that first night because I couldn't possibly stay inside this apartment with the smell and nothing to hang on the walls. As I was putting some things away I kept wishing it was Christmas already so we could just go home. I think my mom knew I was depressed because she took me shopping the next few days to get things for the apartment and make it smell good. I am so thankful for that because now I actually want to be at our apartment. And don't worry I got kitty out of the apartment by cloroxing everything and putting pet odor in the carpet and I am happy to say that the kitty smell is practically gone!

It was hard to watch my parents go... I had never felt more alone in my life when they first left. They have been such a big help to us and I can't thank them enough for all the things they did for us this past year and the time they were with us. Cody and I both cried like babies when we said goodbye, but knew we would see everyone at Christmas in a few months so that helped us out a ton.

I can honestly say that every day gets better. I am finally comfortable driving around. I only know how to get to a few places without the GPS, but I will get to know more places eventually. We have learned a couple things about living here and this is what we've learned....

-The driving is ridiculous over here. You have to be fast about things or you will hear about it.

-They honk at EVERYTHING it drives me crazy. We haven't been honked at yet, but we've watched and heard other people get honked at.

-Everyone drives like they are in a NASCAR race.

-The roads are so weird.... they don't have streets that just go straight it feels like you always have to make this slight little turn on one street to get onto another one (if that makes any sense at all) and the GPS doesn't read that until you've missed your small turn off. I don't blame the GPS this state is hard to drive in!

-When you want to drive somewhere thats three miles away you better plan for a 15 minute drive. We are slowly learning that one.

-You just don't drive down to Philadelphia for the fun of it. You take a train practically everywhere you go.

- You don't go to Philadelphia at night.

- All the shops and shopping areas in Philadelphia close at 5 or 7 o'clock everyday because of crime.

-We hear tons of city noises. That is something I'm trying to get use to.

-There is a siren that goes off because we live close to the Abington Hospital and it sounds like a tornado siren. That freaked me out at first!

-Shopping is the same as it is in Idaho not really that huge of a selection. Maybe because of the area we are in; who knows.

-Instead of mice they have tons of bugs and there is a bug that is a cicada, or similar to one, (so we've been told) that live seriously in every tree around our apartment that rub their little legs together and make this really loud sound. It's actually kind of peaceful at night

-The weather here is insane. SO humid. I feel sticky almost all the time and I don't like it....

-When it rains it doesn't stop. It doesn't get sunny after it rains it pretty much rains all day and it comes down hard. This makes the humidity ten times worse....

-All the towns here run together so we are in Abington but then all the sudden we will be in Jenkintown, Elkins Park, Wyncote, Fort Washington, or Glenside with in a few seconds. It's weird I'm still trying to get use to that.

-The houses are all the same here. They look like colonial houses. Kinda old, but very cute. And all the houses are so close together you don't really have much privacy it feels like.

-We are definitely the minority here

-Our ward feels like a Rexburg ward. Tons of young couples with kids and they are all going to the same school!

-About half the ward is from the west. I would say a good chunk of them are from the Idaho, Utah, Colorado area so that is comforting. They all want to come back home too!

-The Relief Society President is from Shelley.... I about cried when I found that out I was so happy!

-You have to be careful what drinking fountain you drink from because the water is so disgusting... Everyone carries around water bottles and I mean everyone.

-The water in our apartment is so hot you can make hot chocolate instantly.

That is just a few things we have learned so far, but I'm sure we will find more!

Oh and one last thing before I end this insanely long post. I got a Nanny Job with an awesome family in the Wyncote area! I am so excited to work with them this next year. I met with them yesterday and I feel like I already know them. I will be nannying a two year old little girl named Addie and a three month old little boy named AJ. They are both so so cute and easy going. I start the 17th of September and couldn't be more excited! What's even better is they live less than a mile away from Cody's school so it's about a five minute drive and they live about three miles from our apartment so it's about a 10 minute drive. I got lucky!

We love the experience so far, but definitely want to go back "home" :) there's just something about Idaho that we love and want to make our home there! Thanks for reading this long post we will continue to keep you updated!