Adventures in Driving

David has really loved being out of Oregon for only one reason. . . he does not like that he has to have someone pump the gas into the car. . . so as we got to Idaho, he was pretty excited to get to a gas station.

Just as we crossed the border from Oregon to Idaho, we got to a gas station and were 100% sure we were back as we saw a glimpse of what we missed! It may be tough to see. . . or hard to believe, but this really is an honest picture of a lady with her cow in the back seat of her car. Not only that, but she does also have a window sticker that reads, "DON'T SQUAT WITH YOUR SPURS ON" I don't know if there could be any better "welcome back" signs than that!

So while we were in Texas staying with Rosie and Peter, we were able to really relax and enjoy our free time together since January since David was working 12 hour days at his accounting internship. So we were able to be lazy and do whatever we wanted, wake up when we felt like it, and anything we pleased. Rosie and Peter were at work and school during the days, but we would play with them at night.

We went out and played for his birthday and had fun bowling eating pizza and then delicious Coldstone ice cream! Peter won the first game, but David pulled it off the second game for the win and showed me how good he really is!
We pulled DDR out one night, and we got quite the workout. Then the rest of the time we were there, David and I would play for an hour or so as our daily workout each morning. We had fun with it and David would never give up and would try to dance his little heart away all the way to the end of the song!
We also went to a Rangers game. David used to go all the time when he was younger, so we had to relive that fun memory for him. We even got a lemon chill (it is like a mix between a Popsicle and ice cream) and they tasted just like he remembered!
David showed me around his home town where he mostly grew up and he showed me the places he lived and the schools he went to and the parks and fun places he played. I think I mostly just liked to hear how excited he would get to show me something that had memories to it and to tell me all about the little adventures of his childhood.
We also went to Braum's. . . David's favorite place for burgers, fries and an ice cream cone. He loves the waffle fries they have and of course a good scoop or two of cookies 'n cream on a waffle cone!
Rosie and Peter let us o some laundry while we were there and I managed to not only wash our clothes, but I include my cell phone in one of the loads as well! It was such a "great" feeling as I was transferring the wet clothes into the dryer and get to the end and see my phone just nestled in the bottom with the last bit of clothes! I don't think they will replace that one for me, so I am just using an old one for now. I heard that rice will suck the moisture out of it, so it is sitting in there still. . . It has been about a week . . . maybe two, and I check it every day, but it hasn't kicked into gear yet . . . maybe someday :)
We spent our last day there at Six Flags on the roller coasters! I absolutely love roller coasters and I was pretty sad when it almost didn't work out to go. But we made adjustments and we laughed and screamed our little brains out! We loved it and had a nice scratchy throat half-way through the day and all night!
Then we took off on our drive back across the country to Idaho. We took off after playing at Six Flags and got a good head start on the drive before we pulled out the pajamas, blankets and pillows and found a safe spot to park the car and sleep for the night. We had an empty car, and no idea how far we would be able to drive before we had to sleep, so we skipped the hotel and actually enjoyed sleeping in the car. We woke up the next morning and continued on our way through Oklahoma, Kansas, and then as we were getting into Colorado we blew out one of our back tires. I wasn't too big of a problem and just put the spare on there and headed on our way.
We drove about another 6-8 hours on the spare tire until it decided it was finished and it blew and quit on us. We had no idea what to do and we looked at each other thinking and David decides, "Let's call the cops." That kind of scared me at first, but then I realized we didn't do anything wrong and we just needed some help.
The cops were great. It was a Sunday afternoon in the middle of Wyoming and we had one come out and make sure everything was okay and just sat with us for a while, and another called the wrecking place. The wrecking place found out what size of tires we had, and then went and found a new tire and came out and put the new tire in place of the first blown tire. We just sat there and this all happened within an hour or so and we were back on the road. It wasn't too pricey for the convenience. We were just glad that we could keep on driving and make it back to Idaho!
So we made the trip and got back home at 2 am just in time to sleep for a few hours before getting up and ready for the First Day of School! Yes we are crazy, but Six Flags just had to be done, and we made it back in time for school and we didn't have to be coherent in class. . . well just enough to say, "Here!" when our names were called in class the first day!

Driving across the USA

It has been a long time since I have posted anything! We have been all over the place lately, that's for sure!
To start, David finished his accounting internship with Novogradac and was offered a job that would start in January after we both finish school. He will probably stick with the Portland job offer. We are looking at Boise jobs as well. . . so we'll just have to see!
So David finished on the 31st of March so we took off that evening hauling a trailer with all our stuff in it and drove to Mom and Dad's that night. Then the next morning, we took off with Mom and Dad and their crew (Matt, Abby, and Luke) and our trailer off to Idaho. We drove all day and got to Chad and Amber's that night and had fun with playing with their kids all night and we even got to have Will read his book, Bob at Bat to us. Their kids have learned and grown so much in the few months we were away! They are still fun and adorable of course!
We moved into our apartment the next couple days in Rexburg. We love it! It is just part of the college life . . . but we are very excited to now have a dishwasher and a washer and dryer in our apartment! Hooray! No more quarters and now we have a machine to do the dishes for us! We found a good deal on our apartment and we liked what we saw. We were there for a couple days and then we packed the car up with Rachel's stuff and some of our stuff and went down to Salt Lake with Mom and Dad and their crew to catch a few sessions of conference. We had some fun adventures getting tickets and spending some time with Ben and Elizabeth as well.
Then Mom and Dad took off and went home, and David, Rachel, and I took off from SLC on the road to Texas. We drove to Albuquerque and got a good nights rest there and then finished the drive to Dallas to move Rachel in and then to his sister, Rosie's where we have been staying. . . and playing! So there was a ton of driving, but we did the majority of it during the day so we were wide awake and were able to enjoy the drive.
This is my first time in Texas and we have been having a blast just hanging out and relaxing and enjoying Dallas! We will be on our way back to Idaho in just a bit to start a new semester of school on Monday!
I will have to write about our adventures while we have been here in a later post. Just know that we thoroughly enjoyed April 15 this year and we may never have a more relaxing April . . . since David wants to be an accountant so bad!