My Turn

Meredith has frequently requested that I make some posts to our blog. Through the first two years of marriage, I failed in that endeavor. So, today it's my turn to give an update on our life and a couple of changes we've had.

The first big change was moving to the great state of Texas. After having lived in Utah for the first two years of our marriage, we packed all of our belongings (many items that aren't too valuable) in the back of "old blue" and in a rented uhaul trailer, and made the 1200 mile drive to Allen, Texas. We weren't looking forward to the journey but it ended up not being so bad. I even described the trip as "it's so great" to my Dad when he called to see how things were going. Meredith thought that was a weird way to describe 22 hours spent in a truck, whose seats don't recline.

What helped pass the time the most during the drive was listening to a Harry Potter book on tape. Meredith comes from a family that worships at the alter of Potter. I, on the other hand, had very little exposure to the Potter World until Meredith and I started dating. I had seen 2 or 3 of the movies, but had never read any of the books. To be honest, the whole thing seemed juvenile and a bit nerdy. I have slowly been converted, or corrupted depending on how you look at it, to the series that J.K. Rowling created. I loved the six movie that I watched with Meredith and her family in San Diego a few weeks before we got married. After that, I decided I wasn't anti-Harry Hotter and have since slowly embraced the books and have seen all of the movies. Anyway, we listened to the 4th book, The Goblet of Fire, during our long drive.

I want to back track and post about something we did before we left Utah. A weekend or two before our move, we went to the Tim McGraw concert at USANA amphitheater. It was a lot of fun. He has a great voice and played most of the songs we wanted to hear. Jake and Tierani were there too, as were Travis and Kacie. It got a little rowdy. Luke Bryan opened for him. Meredith and I know him from an episode of the celebrity apprentice, so it was kind of hard to take him serious. He has some catchy songs though.

When we arrived in Texas, we were welcomed by my Parents, Pappy and Nancy, as well as 105 degree heat. Texas was in the middle of a streak of 55 consecutive days over 100 degrees. While unloading the truck and trailer, I sweat about 3 pints worth. We like it though. The heat wave finally broke a few weeks after we got here. The temperature was only in the 80s.

The other change we have undergone, and the reason we moved to Dallas, was starting a new job with PwC. Here's a picture Mer took of me before my first day of work.

I have a whole 2 weeks under my belt and so far, so far good.

Since moving out of Meredith's parents house, and actually needing to make our own dinners, Meredith has gotten in touch with her culinary side. For the past year we lived with Meredith's parents. My mother in law is an amazing cook and made a full dinner almost every night. This was really nice while we were busy with school or work. To be honest, I might have forgotten a little about how good of a cook Meredith is. She'll be mad that I am bragging on her but it's true. She has the genes for being a cook from her mom (sorry Mark). Since we've been in Texas she has made: stuffed shells, wontons, twice baked potatoes, bruschetta, and some amazing pumpkin cookies. It has all been delicious and she is great at trying new recipes so I'm sure there is more to come.

One project we've been working on since we got here was turning Meredith's beloved cart into a usable piece of furniture for our new apartment. We bought this cart about a year ago at a antique store.

Meredith loved it and there was no saying "no" to her. This was something I could tell she really wanted so we bought it, although it wasn't cheap (Meredith will tell you, and she is probably right, that it was a value for the price we paid for it). It sat in the front yard of my in-law's house for a whole year. Luckily, the weather doesn't affect it. Meredith has great vision when it comes to furniture, design, etc. While loading the cart into the truck, Travis asked "why are you taking this to Texas?" He clearly didn't see it's value. I don't blame him. At first glance, it does look like something used in a cotton gin.

Anyway, Mer has a long term plan of turning the cart into a kitchen island, but for now, with our kitchen being only about 150 sq ft, we needed to find another use for it. Mer came up with the idea to use it as a entertainment center for our living room. We planned to buy plywood, stain it, and place it as shelves on the frame of the cart. When we went to Home Depot, they didn't have plywood the right size so we instead decided to use wood boards to create shelves on the cart.

After sanding (meredith)

and staining (me) the boards,

this is the completed product and what will be sitting in our living room for a few years.