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? :].