Leaving Neverland

In an attempt to make your heart grow fonder of us we've rather neglected our little blog recently.  Sorry about that.  But isn't your heart feeling just a little bit mushier?  No?  Well, then bear with us while we try to play catch up for the last few months.

 Back in June we suddenly grew up all at once.  Zach graduated, we moved away from the comfort of Happy Valley, bought a house, and Zach started his new, perfectly responsible grown-up job.   

While I do most definitely NOT miss our old apartment with its grimy interior and lack of dishwasher and AC, Zach and I are constantly commenting to each other about how much we miss the little Starving Student Community we left behind. 

Good luck in Roswell Cowarts!

 But to everything there is a season, so we packed it all up (moving is the WORST.  And that's all I have to say about that) and headed to our new home in the hip, trendy, happenin' location known as...

Elko, Nevada.

What can I say about Elko?  The most we can muster up is to say that it's really not that bad.  As you can see from the map, it's not in the "cool part" of Nevada by Vegas.  It's the rural northeastern part of Nevada about 3 hours west of Salt Lake.  As our (native Elkonian) neighbor put it, it's the bumcrack of nowhere, right between SLC and Reno.  But, as such, it is the hub for all the little surrounding communities so it has more amenities than you would expect from a town of 20,000.

Even Kmart is a big deal here, which is great because that's where Zach works.  Say hello to the new Pharmacy Manager of your local Elko location!

First day on the job

Zach has taken on the challenge of managing with zeal and gusto and I am so proud of him.  Eli is too, but he shows it by heading straight for the narcotics shelf whenever we go visit.  He has earned himself the nickname "Little Narky" amongst the techs.

Oh, and hey!  We own a house now!  I think the whole process of debating about, selecting, and financing the house was more stressful than all of the final licensing tests and moving combined.  But here we are the first week we moved in:

When we went to tour the house it looked like this:

That lovely peachy-yellowy color was EVERYWHERE.  Every wall and ceiling (except for one purple room upstairs) was this color.  It was like being inside the James and the Giant Peach peach.

Luckily for us, as an incentive to purchase they painted the ceilings and trim white and the walls gray before we moved in, so it now looks more like this:

We are slowly settling into our new, non-academically-centered lives and schedule and making new friends.  However, we still very much miss our family and old friends, so if you're ever on your way to the West Coast or just want to make amazing Elko, NV your destination, please come and visit!