Happy May Birthdays!

We hope you have (and had, sorry Ash) some pretty great days, wish we were there to tell you in person!


Ashley
My cute sister-in-law's birthday was actually back on the 5th. She and Cody are Nate and I's gaming buddies. Just don't beat her, she doesn't like it. ;) Hope you had a good day Ash, thanks for all you do!




Brex!
Today, the 17th,
is my nephew Brexton's day. He has called me his girlfriend since I first started hanging around and I love it. He's growing up so fast and will soon have all the kindergarten girls wanting to be his girlfriends too. Hope you have a fun 5th birthday Brex!




Tif
Another cute sister-in-law, also today the 17th, who I don't get to see as often because she lives in California. Even though I don't know her as much as I'd like, I know she is an awesome mom and friend. She's always been there to help Nate and I as well. Happy Birthday from afar Tif!

Cade
Tomorrow is my little brother's day. He's turning the big 19. Anyone who knows the Wallentines knows that we are a bit lacking in telling each other how much we love and appreciate each other as often as we should. However, I do think my brother is pretty cool! He's a tough cowboy with a tender heart! S0rry I outed you Cade. He really is an example to me in lots of ways. I'm also excited for him to serve a mission cause I know he'll be an excellent missionary. Happy Birthday T. Cade!

You're Not in Utah Anymore...

So this post is more to "journal" our time in Virginia but also to share as well.
Last Sunday after church we decided to try and find the beach. It was a bit cloudy and a little breezy but we weren't planning on doing much more than looking. SO... we met up with Rem, Traci, Sawyer boy, and with lots of help from the GPS, made our way to the beach.
Just as we parked the car and set foot on the boardwalk the "rains came pouring down." (As in the Wise Man and the Foolish Man) Sand pelted my ankles as the wind picked it up and threw it every which way. Dark spots grew into dark blotches on our clothes as we ran for cover back to the parking garage. Needless to say, our beach tour lasted a good 10 minutes. We decided a drive by viewing would suffice for now.
As we made our way home, the radio hummed in the background until I heard the long and annoying BEEEEEP that is usually followed by information that you'd probably rather not hear. Well, that something turned out to be a tornado warning. Correct. A real tornado as in those big swirly things that pick up Holstein cows in the movie "Twister". The announcement proceeded to warn people to find immediate shelter, at ground level, and if caught in a tornado, to find an interior wall closet or room and to cover yourself in pillows and blankets - and to stay away from windows.
So being the sheltered "valley girl" that I am - make that Cache Valley girl I guess - I obviously experienced a few moments of shear panic.After we made it home, we looked on the internet to find that Virginia Beach was on the borderline of the warning area. This calmed our worries a "skosh" (as Mrs. Olson would say) and the storm raged on for a couple more hours. Luckily I never saw a witch fly by on a bike or anything. Long story short, we're perfectly safe, and have now experienced tornado ensuing weather.

Lesson learned: I'm grateful for mountains.

We're Heerrre!

Virginia is pretty sweet! (and very warm) Just thought I'd document our very long road trip:
When we were still sane - before thirty plus hours in the car.
After we had to take a very long detour because the Wyoming freeway was closed. Not cool.
Just a few of the hundreds we saw.
Yes, the rumors are true. Kansas is flat.
Eating lunch in Kansas with the Allens, our travel buddies.
Yes. I got pulled over. Stupid Kansas. Who drives 60 on the freeway?? Luckily the guy was pretty nice and just gave me a warning.
I tried and tried to take a cool picture of all the cows and barns for my Dad, but I was always to slow.
A sunset pic with the Allens in tow.
Saying goodbye to our ghetto motel.
Apparently Santa lives in Missouri, not the North Pole.
I love Kentucky! That is where we lived last summer. This is right before my camera died, so from there to Virginia got left out.

The Last...Dinner

Since we are gearing up to leave in 5 days (!) we've been having lots of fun with all our friends. Watching Jazz games, golfing, and eating out way too much. Finally by the last dinner I remembered to snap a couple photos before we head off to VIRGINIA! That's right, it changed. We got a pretty good upgrade from Michigan to Virginia Beach. Nate's manager decided to join another smaller office in a proven awesome market out there on the east coast.
Despite the drive, which actually doesn't bother me too bad, we are happy to get a taste of Virginia life. We're hoping to jaunt up to Washington D.C. a weekend or two and probably a few other places of the like.
So, back to the original topic of the post...we're grateful for all our friends and they're invitations to meet up before we leave. (Dave and Alisha, Andy and Mallory, Jon and Anna, and Bob I had fun at lunch with you and Brooke - since I was lame and forgot my camera.) Not to mention both our families - Brandon and Peggy for making a trip up...whether it was for us or not, we can just say it was. ;)
Bryan, Stacey, Kimi, Jeff, myself and Nate at Firehouse.

My cute friends make it more obvious how un-photogenic I am.

Called to Serve

Just thought I'd let anyone who is interested know, my little (but actually bigger) brother Cade got his mission call today - to the......(drumroll??)
Chile Vina del Mar mission!
He doesn't leave till August 13th but he seems to be pretty excited. (As much as Cade ever shows)
I was oddly more wound up about it than he was. I was waiting for the moment the mailman came. He, on the other hand, had left to do his choring duties. I pulled it out the of mailbox, I called him repeatedly until he answered, and the conversation went as follows:
Me: "Cade it came!"
Him: "What? Talk louder."
Me: "Cade, it came!"
Him: "Alright."
Me: "I have to go to work so don't open it without me. Or, maybe I'll just save it so you can't open it."
Him: "Alright."
So as you can tell, he possess all the calmness in the world. He proceeded to do his work and "hurried" home to open it 4 hours later. Crazy kid. He is excited though, and we're happy for him. Congrats little bro, I know you secretly read my blog!

Changes

It's been awhile since I've posted mostly because I haven't felt like there has been anything exciting enough to document. But we have been busy!
First off, we moved out of the house we were renting. Since we will be leaving for the summer in a couple weeks we thought we should move before we were knee deep in finals. So my dad offered, or I guess I offered, one of the spare bedrooms in his basement. Two actually. One to store all our junk, and the other to live in. This also meant Bekka moving out of her bedroom so we could have a place to stay. (She volunteered, don't get me wrong.) As a sort of peace offering, I told her I would help her paint her old room that was watermelon red, to a more "mature" brown. It looks awesome if I do say so myself!
So now that we are semi-settled for a few more weeks, we've been trying to prepare for the next big move to Michigan. Nate's parents bought a new car around Christmas time and so they offered their "old" Passat to any of the kids for an awesome deal. We thought about for awhile, which on our time scale equals about a day, and decided that if we could sell my Honda before we leave, then we could make the upgrade to the Passat.
Because ksl.com is amazing, we were able to sell the Honda in less than a week! We posted all of the information one night around midnight, and by noon the next day we already received 3 calls! From that point on, we caught the sale bug and sold Nate's motor scooter and a mini-motorbike as well.
I was sad to see my little Honda go. It was my first car and I definitely had some fun times and crazy memories with it! (Kimi? :)


In the midst of all this we were able to make it down to St. George for Nate's Apx training weekend. The guys went four-wheeling and paint-balling, and the wives got treated with a pedicure!

And most importantly for me, my first encounter with Tai Pan! Let's just say it's good we don't have a house. Nate is worried from here on out. :)
So in recap, we have a new place to stay, a new car, and we're excited for our summer in Michigan!

Simon Says...

Usually I agree with Simon, but not tonight. I love Jason. He should win. But he might not.
Watch him and you will agree, or you should.
That is all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMuwfVSucQs