Anyone Out There??!!

Hellooooooooo out there!!!! ... ?  Anyone here??

Probably not.

So, I STILL don't have a computer.  I know!  It is like I have been catapulted back in to the stone age...or at least the '80s.  WHAT?!  So I am on campus now and I have almost 9 mins online, so I am using it to post here.  ("What is this 'internet' of which you speak?!"  That is how I feel right now.)

Taiger and I have had some REALLY "Grand Adventures" lately, and I cannot wait to show you all the pictures and tell you stories of everything!  But for now, I will just say things have been crazy and fun and Taiger is getting used to life in Utah.

We are living in an apartment complex at an outdoor mall.  Sounds strange, right?  It is exciting and different and quite an adventure!  Life is different when you live downtown.  Just like the song says, "Everything's waiting for you." Everything is downtown!  It is so close...yet far away, because it takes a long time to get anywhere. :)  But I do love it!  It's all just so different! Even grocery shopping is different!  The grocery store is so big and you park in a parking garage instead of a parking lot.  I take public transportation instead of driving. I thought living in China was strange, but living downtown is just as full of little quirks.  Evem taking a walk is such a different experience!  Instead, of grass under foot there is concrete and a sidewalk.  Instead of the air full of the smells of dirt and freshly mowed lawns or wheat being harvested, there are smells of cafes and restaurants, perfumes wafting from clothing stores. Instead of seeing familiar neighbors driving slowly by or waving from their yards, or just as often seeing NO ONE on the street, here there are always always always people!  People I don't know with faces I want to stare in to and understand.  People everywhere! Instead of having an open, spacious view to the mountains I look around and see buildings, interesting and towering and close and cold and beautiful. But there is one thing I absolutely love above all else about taking a walk in the city versus the country: NO BUGS! I love it!  No gnats! :D  Anyway, I cannot say one is better than the other.  I certainly love living downtown in a city, but country living is charming.  They are so different, it is like comparing apples and oranges.  Both are fruit but you can't say one is better than the other at all!

So, we have been experiencing the adventure of living not only in a big city, but living right smack downtown, right in the middle of it all!

Living downtown has given me the chance at another adventure: volunteering at a homeless shelter.  There are homeless people "living" all around us downtown.  Our street behind our house is full of homeless people.  I could not simply sit in my fancy apartment, looking out my window at the suffering!  So, I called the nearest shelter and headed over to serve dinner.  I have gone twice and look forward to that experience more in the future.

Very near our home is a Children's Museum!  Mr. J surprised us with YEAR PASSES to the Children's Museum!!!!!!!!  We LOVE it!  It is a great and fun way to spend an afternoon, or just a few hours.  Since we don't have to pay each time we don't mind going in for a short while and then leaving.  There isn't the pressure of having to "get your money's worth" or to see EVERYTHING because this will be the only time we ever go.  It is so fun and nice and I am forever thankful to Mr. J for that kind and wonderful gift.

Now that we are in Utah, we are very near to my sister (although not near enough!).  We have had so much fun being with her, and she has had Mr. T over for "slumber parties" and he has had the best adventures with her!  (Think SUMO NIGHT.  Enough said...and can't wait to share pictures of that party!)

Mr. J also got season passes for us to a wonderful little place called Cornbelly's.  It is like a children's Halloween heaven!  It has a corn maze and pumpkins and bounce houses, it has pig races (seriously!), haunted houses (kid friendly...although too scarey for Taiger), games, music, a HUGE slide, and all sorts of imaginative play areas.  There are fire pits and the last time we went we made s'mores around the fire.  It is absolutely a fall heaven! 

My University had Fall Break last week, and Little T and I went with Mr. J to visit his family out of state.  Can't wait to show pictures of THAT adventure!

PHEW!  This has taken longer than 9 mins to write, so I better get going.  I am sure it has taken more than the free time you have had to read!  I will write again when I can.  Thank you for being faithful readers.