sweet home.... alabama?

WE ARE MOVING TO TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA. IN A MONTH. FOR SIX YEARS. yeah. it's as much of a surprise to you as it is to us! it all started when dad james called us &told us to start thinking about how we would be wise to try and get in-state tuition for optometry school. so we starting doing our research. [that was friday.] first it was lincoln, nebraska, then indiana and new york were thrown around a little bit [i really had my heart set on the big APP], but before we could say "tuscaloosa," all our ducks lined up just right &all our arrows pointed there!

dan will finish his undergrad at the university of alabama in tuscaloosa, then [keep your fingers crossed], we'll apply for optometry school &if all goes well we'll move about an hour away to birmingham and start optometry school! the school is still a part of the U of A, just a different campus. it's a really, really good school and has incredibly reasonable tuition for residents. by then we'll have saved up and it will definitely pay off/save us in the long run! the campus is really nice too! see for yourself...

we've been researching and figuring everything out for the past few days and it is really crazy how fast& easy things have been working out! we are excited, maybe a little nervous too, but only a real little. we are looking forward to more culturally eye-opening experiences, moving on from the bubble of rexburg, some realll good fried chicken, some real live college football games [with faces painted and season tickets? yes indeed], wrestling crocodiles, making lots of fun new friends, winters without snow, missionary experiences, picking up a little southern drall, rachael- being a southern belle [&she already has the perfect dress for it], dan- finding all the good new fishing spots east of the mississippi, saturday trips to birmingham [the summit] to go shopping [ :))))) ], vacas to florida, the gulf, and the entire east coast [sooo much to see].

we'll be embarking on quite the life adventure. we are so, so sad about being so far away from our family &dear ones but our hearts are pumped and amp'd &ready to go! neither of us ever having been there, we will be starting quite the adventure! wish us luck! &come visit? :].

take a guess....

#1. we went to the fair over the weekend. it was just a mini rexburg-style fair. overview:

... the rodeo. we felt bad for the 4-year old girl who got caught in the lasso thing and was being drug by her colt [i felt bad at least...].

... i don't like rodeos because i feel bad for the little animals that they plunder &tie up their legs. i don't see why people think that's okay to do for entertainment.

... the button shop.

... the guy who ran the ride in the pic. i don't think he talks.

... we were feeling real fancy &we walked there &to the grocery store for candy. teh best.

... my $1 dress from a garage sale that is too perfect. &fitting me perfectly by now:].

#2. dan's working at western watts. he wins best dressed award [besides scott keller- his wonderful co-worker]. thas my man.

#3. we have some pretty big news coming in the blog to follow. or the blog following the one to follow. we are excited about it. &excited to share! stay tuned &you will be in the know. go ahead, take a wild guess... ... [if you know then shhh...]

fish & fabrics.

so i caught my first fish the other day! i caught three actually. i was a little bit a lot excited. dan found a great place in parker we always go. he took scott today &they just had a whale of fun. dan loves to fish almost half as much as he loves me... which is a lot. if it wasn't for me he'd go every day no fail. so we can cross off the fish from the list!

dan and i learned how to reupholster today. we took an old stool my dad found like ten years and we've had ever since and we fixed it up real nice. we love it! it was fun because it was a project we could do together. dan does all the drillin and staple gunnin and man stuff. i deal with the fabric. he + me = glee.

beards, outbacks, &dutch ovens.

we had so much fun on our trip to oregon! from the time we walked out the front door to the time we walked back in. it was a 14-hour drive. we stopped about 1/2 way there, in pendleton, &slept in our car in the parking lot of the red lion hotel. it wasn't the best nights sleep. so we got up at 5:30, got parfaits, &soon we arrived at lincoln city, oregon! we stayed in devil's lake state park. our site was a minutes walk from the lake &a couple minutes drive from the beach! oh, and a couple minutes from a huge outlet mall. i met a lot of dan's family for the first time so that was fun &interesting. i tried to put my best foot forward. hopefully they liked me:]. dan &i made t-shirts for the reunion. we each designed our own. it was such a blast. [special thanks goes out to the cute girl at the t-shirt shop next to little caesars!] we stopped at 3 really pretty waterfalls, multonomah falls, on the way. we loove the scenic routes in oregon! the family is soo cute &soo funny. we played a lot of bocci ball, croquet, had the most DELICIOUS dutch oven meals, played football at the beach, the ladies and me worked on our sewing projects, smores, lots of campfire talk and surf watching, the most hilarious dance game [thanks to margi, sydney, &mom] where we had a playlist of all sorts of music and called people up 3 at a time out of a hat and those people would dance for about 20 seconds to their song. it was so funny. the mulders have got the moves! jason &kristal have the most beautiful kids we've ever seen and we might have gotten a little baby hungry through the week. just sayin. dan got to surf a few times [the waves were okay, he caught some good ones]. we played in devils lake for a long time one day on the island. it's the funnest huge floaty! we journeyed to the tillamook cheese factory &got the MOST delicious ice cream!! we spent one morning in the best tide pools, ate at the cutest 60's diner, went shopping at the outlet factory [mom &dad bought dan the best nautical shoes and me the most BEAUTIFUL dress that looks like it's from pretty woman. it's TOO pretty]. we didn't leave until late friday night so we stayed at the same red lion hotel on the way home. except this time we actually paid and got a room, and swam and hot tubbed overlooking the wheat fields and blue mountains. it was p l u s h . &we saw a FULL rainbow on the way home. TEH best! we stopped at the boise temple &cabelas on the way home. &to top it all off.. stopped at connor's cafe by burley. most cutest and picturesque idaho cafe straight out of a movie. truck drivers stoppin in for some home cookin, the cute farmers sitting at the bar with their coffees, and the sweet old couple with their matching meals. we were in love with it.

we love our family soo much. they are so sweet and so kind and so fun and sooo good to us. we have so much fun with them. we are excited to spend thanksgiving with them! thank you for the wonderful trip!

ps- oregon is the best. it's all about subaru's and saving the earth and earthy people. we loved them.

&you! thanks for reading :].