Oh the new things that I have learned!

Many people have told me that moving away from home is such a great experience and that it will really help you to be become more independent. I have been thinking about the past 7 weeks that we have been here and I realize how true that is. I have done things here that I would have never had to do or try had I stayed in Utah. Some of those things are:


1. Bought my very first house.

2. Mowed the lawn for my very first time! (This might have eventually come but maybe not this soon).

3. Had to call the city after I mowed the lawn because I hit some sewer/water meter thing, with the lawn mower, in my front yard and broke the top right off of it. (Why they stick that in the grass is beyond me)!

4. Cooked my very first official Sunday dinner! Complete with roast, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and steamed vegetables. (My mom would have been so proud).

5. Repainted some old chairs.

6. Grocery shopped at Costco! (I hate that store! Who really needs 8 boxes of penne pasta at one time?)

7. Sat and waited in the student parking lot at Derek's school waiting for him to finish studying...and not minding that I was waiting. In Utah I would have been too high strung to just wait. I would have thought that I should be doing something else.

8. Grown my very first tomato from my tomato plant! There is only one...but there is ONE!

9. I have learned to be a more courteous driver. Here it is like suicide trying to get on to the freeway. You have such a short distance to merge and there are only two lanes! You have no choice but to let other people in if you want them to let you in.

10. Felt what it is like to be a stay at home housewife! Waiting to start my new job I got very good at doing pretty much nothing! I emphasize the "stay at home" meaning that I had no money to actually go and do anything or buy anything. So what do you do all day?

11. Gave my very first haircut...to Derek. It actually looks good. Patti would be so proud. Now all we need is for him to learn to color my hair! No I am not naturally this blonde.

12. The last thing that I have learned about being here in NC and being away from home and family is that I love my family so very much and I appreciate everything that they do for me. I love talking to them on the phone and the webcam.

And one more side funny thing that is different here than it is in Utah was that this past Sunday we had a sister in our ward bear her testimony and at the end she started to say "in the name of the Father and in the Son..." then she was like "wait that is what I used to say when I was Catholic" and she closed! Funny...you don't get that in Utah.


I learned so much in just seven weeks I can't wait to see what I will learn in the next four years.