Errands & Well... Photobooth

Today was filled with a ton of errands.

A ton.

Well... okay, we did not do 2,000 errands (haha, ton reference)

but still - felt like a lot.

However, most were successful, which is always fabulous.

After our errands and grabbing a quick bite for lunch, we spent the afternoon

hanging with our Aunt & Uncle - and - of course -

watching an "awesome" bagpipe movie... very fun... for Shane. ;]

The Photobooth portion of this post is brought to you

by our new found love for... well... photobooth on the Mac. :]

We shall share :

Awesome? We think so too.

Until Next Time

[By the way - we'll be IN Nebraska in 11 days! Awesome!]

50th Post... Kinda

How Exciting.... it's our 50th Post!!!

(well, according to our dashboard it is - so - we'll run with it.)

What do we have to report, you may ask? Well... we are currently only 11 days from leaving

          California!! Can you (yes, you) believe it?! We are extremely excited!!! 

In only TWELVE days we will be *IN* Nebraska! 

Twelve Days.

12. Days.Yes, we're very enthused about this. 

In other news - this post is coming to you from a Mac laptop computer. Our Dad cleared it off as it is our Jen's old one, and we must say... love. So many cool features! And, of course, as luck may have it, our main PC laptop REFUSED to turn on and therefore, sadly, passed away on Monday, June 27th. 

Luckily, our Uncle Shane is an IT guy and did all of this Dr. Frankenstein stuff to it - pretty amazing. So now we have 2 PCs and a Mac, but Brian gets a Mac with his new job, so, really, we'll have a 2 PCs & 2 Macs (we know, it's strange that we'll have more computers than we are people) but then, we suppose, that we'll have the opportunity to pick - or something. 

In other news, since Saturday afternoon we have been at our Aunt & Uncle's house. We will be here until the afternoon of the 4th of July! We are very thankful to our family (all of you) for hosting us! We love you!Anyway - that's it for now - except for the12 days thing, everything is all gravy (well, except for us because of Atkins - it's cool) 
Until Next Time

Disneyland & 19 Days

Yesterday, June 22, we went to Disneyland with our family!

The men

The ladies

Love, Love, Love

The family on Small World (Brian is a little cut off, though)

All 7 of us at Ariel's Grotto!

We had an AMAZING time - so many memories created - we love them.

Today also marks

19 Days until we are *IN* Nebraska!

Excited? Yes We Are!!!!

Until Next Time

Nebraska in 21 Days!

We will be IN Nebraska, IN our new apartment in exactly 21 days!

We are so excited!

Today has been a great day, too.

We watched the Roommate with our Jen, which she says is just like Single White Female (so we're definitely going to be checking that out as well.)

We love relaxing with our family!

:] 

Until Next Time

Mosquitoes, Anyone?

This blog is for all of you blog readers who do not live in a state, county, or city which has mosquitoes (of course, if you do live somewhere which has mosquitoes, you can also read this posting, but you may just laugh at our first experience with whole-town mosquito spraying).

This is a squashed mosquito.  It flew by as I was writing this posting (got to use a little imagination here).

I'm assuming you read through the parenthesis above even if you don't live with mosquitoes, (you Curious George, you), so you already know I'm going to be talking about the fact that North Platte is currently spraying for mosquitoes.  Yes, North Platte, the city, not individual residents (though they may be as well, I haven't asked yet) is spraying nightly to get rid of their pesky, potentially West-Nile carrying mosquitoes.  Apparently, because the North Platte river is flooded, there is more of a breeding ground for mosquitoes.  There is a spraying map and everything.  Here, take a look: http://www.ci.north-platte.ne.us/files/misc_info/mosquito_spray_map.pdf

Well, that's it for now.  Short, simple, and to the point.  

Mosquitoes...lots of them... 

that's bad. 

Killing mosquitoes with city-wide spray... 

that's good.

Life with Family

Don't worry, loyal (and disloyal?) blog followers, we are about to make another post.  Yay!  You should thank yourself; we have seen that people (from all over America it seems) have been checking up on our blog in the last few days.  You have must be wondering, what have you two been up to in the last two days? So, (do-do-doo! Say that in a triumphant, trumpet-like tone) (actually say that whole phrase three times fast)), here is our update!

Listen to the professor, he knows his stuff.  There will be a quiz at the end (seriously).

On Friday and Saturday, we hung out with our excellent family, Jen and Jeff Proctor, and their two wonderful children Maddie & Lexi.  What did we do with the Proctors? You may ask (by this point in our blog, you probably have stopped asking yourselves these questions, knowing I will ask, and answer them for you.  My apologies).  Well, mostly, we hung out with their whole family in their house known simply as "the cave" for its  dark and cool ambiance.

In the blazing, summer heat of the High Desert, our family's house was paradise.

Today is Father's Day.  So, get ready for the (not obligatory, but voluntary) shout-out to our fathers: Happy Father's Day!  

According to the most current research, on Father's Day every year, the stars align and spell out "Happy Father's Day."

So tonight, check the skies.  Look real hard, (and maybe use your imagination a bit).

Now we are at Nina's family's house until Saturday.  We have been watching a compilation of TV shows and movies, from Australia's Most Deadly Animals to Sum of All Fears (which deserves two thumbs up ). To finish out the night, we will be watching the season premiere of Falling Skies.  A TV show created by not only Steven Speilburg, but also J.J. Abrams (of Star Trek fame).  In case you are not planning to also watch this premiere, please, take a moment to watch the following clip:

Now are you going to watch the premiere with us?

That is all for now.  Before we sign-off, we want to send out a serious "Thank you" to all of our family who have already hosted us.  Your support and love means everything to us!

Time for your quiz!
(Hope you have your number 2 pencil ready)

1.  What are Brian & Nina going to watch tonight with Nina's family?
A. Falling Oceans
B. Falling Skies
C. Falling Sand
D. Falling Blog Followers

Okay, so, this is only a one question quiz because this posting is already long enough.  If you don't know the answer to the above question, well then, well then..............that's okay (it's Falling Skies). =]

Until Next Time!

24 Days...

It has been a BUSY, BUSY week!

Wednesday (the 15th) we moved OUT of the San Fernando Valley.

We did a practice run & stuffed our car like we will when we're traveling to Nebraska.

We were able to fit all 15 boxes in our car (SCORE!) and then strap the two biggest luggage's and the duffle bag to the top of our car, so although we looked like something out of "The Goofy Movie", so were still happy with the outcome! Nebraska or Bust!

On Thursday we went to Disneyland (thanks, Shannon!) - it was a great time!

Today through Sunday we're staying with our very gracious cousins Jeff & Jen and their awesome kiddos, Maddie & Lexi. We absolutely love spending time with them and we feel so blessed to not only have them as family, but as great friends, too. 

We're very tired - both physically and mentally! We're grateful to have these next 24 days to spend quality time with different members of our family, however. :]

Sorry, no jokes or sly comments this time - we're tired! haha.

Until Next Time

Cul De Sac

So, in case you missed our previous posting - WE NOW HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE IN NEBRASKA!

Phew, so many fears lifted! When we arrive into town on July 12th, we will have a place to call "home".

The story:

We have been looking in North Platte for a place to live since the day we found out that we were moving to Nebraska.... and the task has been hard because the town has only 25,000 people and the apartments available are scarce - which is something we are not used to in the San Fernando Valley of California.

We had found a few places to look, but a lot were income based and we actually made too much to live in them, so the search continued - until we found our agent Sam! We found Sam on the 8th of June, and she has been so extremely helpful ever since! We told her what we were looking for, and she sent us pictures of what she had available, and we finally found the place that will be our home! We sent her our application and our deposit for the place, and she received it on Monday, the 13th of June, in Nebraska. She called us the same day and said that she ran our credit, called our apartment manager (who said nothing but nice things, thanks, Melissa!), and we were APPROVED! So today we asked our new friend in North Platte (her name also happens to be Sam - she is apart of the Church of Christ out in North Platte and has been nothing but helpful also, we've already promised them a Starbucks get together when we arrive!) if she could tour the place and take some pictures for us - and she agreed! She also said that "it is very quiet" over there and that she "loves the place"! We are so excited! So, we do have pictures of our new place (thanks to both Sams) and would love to share them with you! :]

This is the front of our place. It's a six-plex in all, but our apartment window is the one on the far right!

Also, one of the those garages you see in the picture is now ours! :]

This is our new living room (look at the cute window). This was taken from the front door.

This was taken from the living room/front door area looking into the hallway of the apartment.

This is one of the bedrooms from its doorway!

This is the other bedroom from its entry.

Both bedrooms have a closet like this! Nice size! (and that is one cute window!)

Bathroom from entry.

This is our kitchen! It is an EAT IN kitchen - so there is PLENTY of room in it to put a dining table & chairs!

Another view of the kitchen (notice the dishwasher). That closet is where our washer & dryer goes!

This is our private deck!!!! This is off of the kitchen! It's a sliding glass door that leads to our private deck! Beautiful!

These are our steps leading up to our private deck and a view of the backyard area of the property!

We are very thankful to have these pictures!

Let us tell you about the place:

- Upstairs -

- 2 bedrooms -

- 1 bathroom -

- Private Deck off Kitchen -

- Private Garage -

- Dishwasher -

- Washer & Dryer Hook-Ups -

- Eat-In Kitchen -

- Water & Sewer Paid -

- Lawn Care & Snow Removal Provided -

- Refrigerator Provided -

- Central Air -

- Located at the End of a Cul De Sac -

- Surrounded by fields on every side but the front (where there is a patch of grass with a lamp post in it in a round - a - bout fashion) -

- WAY cheaper than what we pay for our 1 bedroom apartment now -

- Six Month Lease -

- We get July Pro-Rated!!! -

So - there it is - our new place!!!

We are SO excited!!

Now all that is left is for Nina to find a job...

Until Next Time...

House Hunters- Nebraska Edition

So the title of this blog post is completely misleading (just wanted to get your attention) (which, thinking about it now, I probably already had since you came specifically to this site) (unless, you accidently were directed here from another site) (if that is the case, Welcome!) (if you came here on purpose, thank you for your patience with my constant, persistent rambling) (you deserve a gold star).  We are not "house hunting" (a reference to the best show on HGTV), but we have been "apartment hunting" for a while now.

With your imagination, cross off "house"

and insert "apartment." 

Okay, rambling aside, ready for our news? (Remember, I am the king of suspense (not to toot my own suspenseful horn) (toot, sorry, couldn't help it), did you really think I would tell you right off the bat? Of course, by now, you have probably scrolled down to the sentence with the explanation point.  Sneaky, sneaky...)  We have found an apartment!  With our deposit securely in the safe hands of our Nebraskan apartment manager, we officially have a home in North Platte!

Ready for pictures?

We may be posting more pictures soon, but for now, here is the street view of our new place.

But, before I show you, you must promise, no stalking us.  

Deal?

That's right, our beautiful new apartment is at the end of a

cul-de-sac, how cool is that?

So now that we have a place to rest our head, we are going to take a moment to officially extend a formal invitation to give you a place to rest your head.  That's right, our apartment is two bedroom; which means, you ("you" in singular and plural here, just in case you were wondering) (which you probably weren't) have your own room when you come to visit.

Yes, you must come visit us.  I am speaking to you.  Yes you, with the two eyes, nose, and chin (if there is a pirate reading this, you are also invited) (though we may want to get to know you a bit better first).  Our guest room will be made up all pretty and shiny (that's right, shiny) for your visit.

So-

When are you visiting?