It's Different Up Here

Well, as of yesterday I heard that there are between 800 to 1000 fires burning up here in Northern California. The fires that were threatening our immediate area have been contained, but the air quality is really bad. It's so smokey!! We've pretty much been confined to the indoors since we've been here. Needless to say, we're all getting a little stir crazy. We went to church today and everyone is nice in our new ward, but it's very different. Most of the people are older--just a few young couples--and almost everyone is white! Not that that's bad--just very different. Bo and I have never lived in an area where 99% of the people are white. We do have one token hispanic guy named Julio in our ward, but that's about it. We went out to eat at a little Mexican restaurant here in town on Friday, but guess what--no Mexicans working there--just white people and oldies playing on the radio. When we were walking out, we passed the kitchen where there were two Mexican guys cooking and listening to salsa music. That's where the real party was. :) I do have to say that it's nice to be sitting here looking out our window and see a squirrel sitting in one of our trees as opposed to looking out the window and seeing the parking lot. Anyway, enough of my ramblings. A big shout out to everyone at South Coast Ward back in Santa Ana. We miss you and love you all!

Light at the end of the Tunnel

Wow, moving into a new place is a lot of work. Moving into a new place that already has somebody else's stuff in it is crazy! We've spent the last week living in what looks like those hoarder people's houses you see on TV. It has been completely overwhelming, but after working practically nonstop all week, it's finally starting to feel like a home for us. Thanks to Grandma for giving us the ok to make her downstairs our own!

Culture Shock

Ok, so I now realize I got totally spoiled living in Santa Ana where every store imaginable was practically across the street. Here, the closest city is Chico which is about a 15 to 20 minute drive. Alright, so that doesn't sound like a lot, but driving for that long through nothing but trees and land in order to get to anything is definitely going to be an adjustment for this city girl. On a funny side note, in our first trip to "the city" we stopped to get gas. As I was walking in to pay, I heard really loud rap music coming from a car that had just pulled up. I turned around expecting to see maybe a low rider or a nice truck with rims, etc. Well, what I saw was this little old beat up farm truck with a white guy with his hair braided in cornrows and beads. Yup, things are a little different up here.

Our Journey to Paradise

We had to get in one last trip to the beach since who knows how long it's going to be until we can go again. :( Anyway, we packed up with the help of a small army of missionaries from our church (6 of them, plus some of our friends) and hit the road on Thursday with Bo driving the moving truck and me driving our car with Melia in the back seat surrounded by more of our stuff. Our plan was to drive for about 5 hours to get to Stockton to spend the night there and then drive the rest of the way to Paradise the next day. Well, things don't always turn out the way you plan. Our 5 hour drive turned into 7 and let me just say that road trips with two year olds are not for the faint of heart or the low on patience. Melia did pretty good overall, but those moments of breakdowns with gut wrenching screaming were not so fun and by the time we finally got to Stockton, we were all more than ready to relax in a nice hotel room. Well, Bo had gotten a deal on the room through our rental truck company at the Econo Lodge and let me just say it was one of the most ghetto places I have ever been in. (and if you know me, that's saying a lot) Highlights of our room: the most disgustingly dirty floor--I didn't want Melia touching anything!, lingering smoke smell left from the last people, bathroom door that didn't close, peep hole in the door stuffed with toilet paper, TV that had no remote and when we asked for one, we got one that only worked sometimes, channels on the TV weren't what the titles showed (ex. TV says it's animal planet and there's a baseball game on), some channels had no sound, loud people in the hallways, etc. To top off our stay, we got a call from Bo's grandma, whose house we were supposed to be moving into, saying that there were really bad fires in Paradise and she had been evacuated from her house. So there we were, in the ghetto with our whole lives packed up in a truck outside, now wondering if we would even have a place to live. Despite all this, we were actually just really grateful to have a bed to sleep in and a place to stay for the night. The next day, the evacuation order was still in effect, so we drove up another hour or so to Sacramento and God led us to a hotel that was like heaven and it was for a price that you could never find in So. Cal. They even gave us a one bedroom suite for the studio price after we told them our situation. What a blessing! So the next day, they lifted the mandatory evacuation order and we drove the last two hours and finally arrived in Paradise. It was crazy to see all of the burned areas just black all over. Bo's grandma's house was fine though (another huge blessing) and we were able to get all of our stuff moved unloaded in just a couple of hours (again with the help of 4 missionaries from the area). So that's it. There's our moving story. :)