Omahamazoo

Even though we felt like we moved "far away," we actually have family only four hours away. Four hours is close enough that we can make last minute weekend plans to join our cousins for a day at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo! We were so excited by Liz's invitation.

When Bill got off work on a Friday, we immediately threw our duffle bag and pillows into the Trailblazer and took off for Omaha. Night fell and our uneventful ride turned even more so. The cab of our car was illuminated by the glow of the dashboard; the stereo played a podcast. The typical ambiance of a night time drive.

It was then that a field of floating red lights blinked at us as we reached the top of a hill. It was awesome and eerie! Some blinking lights were synchronized, others flashed intermittently. We finally realized it was a field of wind turbines. As the blades of the turbines passed in front of the light beacons on top, it would cause a blinking effect - our poor night vision stopping us from seeing any sense of it's base or blade.

This is a field of turbines in Germany - but it gives a sense of what we saw!
(PC: PPSoulreaver)

We pulled into LaVista following the directions dished out by the GPS. I thought I had the Noker's address memorized from years of it being push-pinned to my bulletin board (from the days Liz and I exchanged pen-pal letters), but I was thwarted by an address suggested by google maps and we were not actually driving to the right house. When we supposedly arrived, it was very obvious that it was not the house we had stopped at on our way to Iowa. Fortunately, we got a hold of Liz and found we were only off by a couple of streets. *Phew!

Despite being 10:30ish at night, we were greeted at the door by Liz and aunt Nadine. A little bit later, Bekah arrived home from her shift at work. After chatting for a bit and devising a plan for the zoo in the morning, we crashed on a futon in the back room. 

Bill was a bit stressed by the weekend because after we had made these plans, he found out it was Year-End at his work...one of the more critical times in the company. His phone was close at hand at any given moment, ready to respond to any trouble-tickets that might come in. BUT luckily, there were very few issues to be resolved while we were away!

We woke up to a 90% chance of rainfall that was expected to basically last the whole day. We were worried about the zoo being jam-packed because it was the weekend that Berkshire Hathaway investors, etc. (?) were in Omaha for an annual meeting (fun fact: Warren Buffet, owner of Berkshire Hathaway, lives in Omaha!). According to the Noker's, the event usually inundates the area with tourists and mobs of people. We really hoped the rain would deter all those people from wanting to go to this renown zoo. And it did!

Nadine, Liz, Bekah, Kyler, baby Evelyn, Ben, Bill and I arrived at the zoo dressed in multiple layers to peel out of as we made our way through the giant indoor exhibits of the zoo. It was great! We started in the jungle house and made our way to the back portion of zoo to see the new elephant exhibit. We spent some time in the rain between buildings, but it wasn't awful weather to be stuck in...just typical April weather!

The Monkeys were out in the open and actively swinging in the tree!

Liz, Ben, and Bill

Bekah and Evelyn - zoos are much more fun with little kids!

Liz and Evelyn

My magic moment was walking through the butterfly house where a Blue Morpho landed on my head!!! I slowly handed my phone to Bill for him to take my picture, but just as he snapped the picture, the butterfly flew away. I will never know what it looks like to have a butterfly on my head, only what my face looks like when I'm disappointed. 

The look of disappointment...

Blue Morphos - like the one that landed on my head

One of my favorite parts of the zoo was the aquarium exhibit and their jellyfish display. I could seriously watch them aaaaaaaalllllllll day! And the penguins were also top-notch!

The Desert Dome is a cool architectural design and was Bill's favorite part! And after wandering through the desert you end up in the underground caverns and ultimately the bayou. The atmosphere was unique and unlike any zoo exhibit I had ever been to! I loved that very much. 

Liz inside the Desert Dome

Somewhere in there we ate ate some lunch, saw lots of monkeys, and visited with the giraffes. It was a fun day at the zoo! But were ready to head home when we came full circle.

Ben, Bekah, and Evelyn walking in the rain

Lunch time!
(L to R: Bill, Ben, Nadine, Liz, Kyler, Bekah, and Evelyn)

Bill in the Giraffe House with the Big A**  Fans in the background.
Seriously...that's the brand: www.bigassfans.com

Bill and I...somewhere?

We came home and everyone went their separate ways to take naps. Adulting can be rough sometimes. ;)

On Sunday we got up and went to church with Nadine and Marshall. It was Fast Sunday, but we were all really surprised when the Bishopric member turned the time over to the Stake President for some stake business AFTER the sacrament had been passed, rather than opening it up for testimony meeting. He read some scriptures and then out of nowhere pulled out his laptop as an older man rolled in a projector from the side door. The projector and laptop were connected, and displayed on the wall - in all its glory - was the new and unexpected ward boundary! The whole congregation was kind of in shock as the Stake President related the news to the ward that this has been in the works for nearly a year, but very few people were aware that it was happening! It was kind of fun to be apart of the meeting and to witness the reactions of the people around us.

For the rest of the meeting, Evelyn and I played together with my rings and magnetic bracelet - we had managed to become buddies over the course of the weekend. :)

After church we came home and shared another yummy meal prepared by Nadine. The Noker's were seriously the best to share meals with us and allow us to stay at their home! 

And eventually our whirlwind weekend came to a close. We left their home around 4:30pm and arrived back in West Liberty with enough time to call my parents for a Sunday evening Skype call.

The weekend flew by, but it was so nice to spend time with family that we know and love. There are a lot of perks to living where we do - and one of those perks is it's centralized location to some pretty awesome places in the US. More to come in future posts!

Gone with the Wind

On General Conference Saturday, Bill and I drove out to Cedar Rapids to pick up an upright washer and dryer that we found on Craigslist. (We are finally in our duplex! Hoorah!) On our way back, we stopped at Menard's (the equivalent of Home Depot or Lowe's) to pick up the last few items needed to be able to install said washer and dryer.

We had already been to Menard's once that day, and after a semi-eventful trip of picking up our washer and dryer, I found myself in a bad mood and just wanting to stay in the car while Bill picked up what he needed. Plus, it might disuade anyone from tampering or running off with our new purchase, which was just sitting on the back of a nice trailer that we had borrowed from a family in our ward. 

The day was horribly windy...a wind advisory was in effect with winds blowing from 30-45 mph throughout the afternoon. I couldn't get any mobile data to stream Conference on my phone and finally I just drifted off for a nap. I woke up a bit later and Bill was still in Mendard's.

Trying to pull myself back into conciousness, I noticed an old man was trying to open his van door and load some stuff into the back, but with the wind blowing so awfully, the van doors kept shutting and his cart kept blowing away from him. Suddenly the cart was hurtling towards our car and I knew he needed help in this losing battle. I opened the Trailblazer door and yelled out across the wind, "Here, let me help you!" and of course, my purse falls out...and ALL its contents.

I dropped to my knees and gathered all my things and felt I managed to get them all fairly quickly, when I look over at the van and the old man isn't there any more. "I think you're going to lose a lot more than I am!" I suddenly hear someone yell from in front of our car. It is then that I realize that the cash from our $1000 "Emergency Fund" envelope that I had brought with us to purchase our washer and dryer was blowing away with the wind. Hundreds of dollars. $100, $50, and $20 increments blowing all over the parking lot. I didn't fully register what was going on - groggy from just waking up from my nap, flustered that my purse had just dumped, and mortified that this was happening.

The old man and I left everything where it was, our vehicle doors wide open, my purse sitting on the passenger seat, his cart of stuff butt up against our trailer...we were chasing after paper bills in the windiest day I had experienced in Iowa. 

I was jumping and stepping on bills and clenching them tightly in my fist. I only assume the old man was doing the same. We were now a couple of rows over from where our vehicles were parked and I noticed two other guys running toward us. They saw my money go flying into the street and had been quick to react - saving the bills I wouldn't have ever noticed or been fortunate to have found. We congregated around their truck and the three men handed me all the cash they had collected. "Make sure you hang on to that money and put it away somewhere safe!" one of the men told me. I was flustered...this all had happened so fast. It WAS in an envelope that WAS in my purse. It wasn't like I had planned to throw my money to the wind! I was more embarrassed than anything and quickly thanked the men...but not to the degree they deserved. 

I placed all the cash in the envelope and walked back to the car with the old man. I threw the envelope into my purse and shut the door to finish the job I had originally set out to do - to help the old man (that I had just made sprint across the parking lot). I held the van doors open and hung on to his cart while he rearranged everything. When we were done, I thanked him again for his help. And he thanked me for mine.

I got back in the Trailblazer to assess my losses.

How could this have happened? How could green slips of paper have so much worth and be lost so easily in an accident? I began to count and organize my money. Then I recounted and reorganized my money. If this was our $1000 Emergency Fund and we had just spent $325.00 on a washer and dryer, I should have $675.00 in cash. I counted, recounted, and counted again a total of $750.00. How did I earn money after potentially losing it all to the wind in the blink of an eye? How was this possible?!

To be honest, I don't know how much money we actually had starting out in the envelope that day - we could have had more than $1000 in the envelope, but I don't know why that would have been. All I know is that with the help of three kind men, I got all my money back and more. I didn't cry or feel spiritually overwhelmed by this miracle while this was all happening, but I absolutely knew that I needed to pray and thank my Heavenly Father right at that very moment - no delay! 

My prayer went something like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..."

I think I tend to forget to thank Heavenly Father for all that he blesses me with when it comes to the end of a day. There are hundreds of tender mercies granted to us throughout our lives that I'm sure go unnoticed. But I know that a miracle was granted to me in that moment. I wanted Heavenly Father to know that I was grateful and I absolutely wanted those three men to know it, even though I did a poor job of expressing my gratitude to them. I prayed that Heavenly Father would help them to feel of my gratitude after the fact. 

You guys...Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real and they love us and are aware of us. I could never deny them, not when you have experiences like these that help you to know they are watching out for you.

Bill came back shortly after that traumatic experience. My anger had gone with the wind (you see what I did there?) and had been replaced with a million emotions in between from the time he left and when he returned. This moment also helped me to learn that gratitude helps take away the pain of insignificant issues or flare-ups. 

I learned a lot of important lessons in those five minutes. I hope I can remember them throughout the rest of my LIFE.

What's Trending with Us?

2016 has led to some great discoveries and ways to kill time.

Like....

Podcasts
Our love for Podcasts really began prior to our new beginnings in Iowa, but it's definitely been a way to help pass by the time! We have longer commutes in any direction - whether it be to work, church, or out to dinner.

We love to use the app Podcast Addict to download our favorite shows and listen to them in our car through the Bluetooth. An episode of "Ear Biscuits," "Dear Hank and John," or "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!" is the perfect length of time to get us from our hotel to our church building. I'm partial to "99% Invisible" when running to the store or over to West Liberty to meet Bill for lunch. When driving to the temple, we often listen to "TED Radio Hour" or "Radio Lab." On our most recent drive home from cleaning the Nauvoo temple, "How To Do Everything" taught me how to cure the hiccups  - and it legit worked when I tried it this week... (LISTEN HERE)

Movies
I have a lot of friends (and a husband) who really like Studio Ghibli films - and it's taken me a long time to come around to the idea of wanting to watch any of them. But I asked Bill to put them on Plex, our media server, so that I could start to understand why so many people like them. Most of them have been really good so far! And the detail in these animated cartoons really blows me away. They are strange...clever...beautiful...whimsical...Disney does a lot of the English voice dubbing, so there are a lot of big acting names in these films that are fun to recognize!

I don't know if I could say I had a favorite just yet...but we need to talk about "Grave of the Fireflies." Bill and I blitzed through three or four of these movies in one Sunday afternoon. Neither of us had any idea what the premise of this show was when it started, we just turned it on because it was next in line. 90 minutes later: Tears. Horrible, ugly, sobby tears with ruddy faces and tear-stained cheeks. Bill finally got up and grabbed the tissue box from the bathroom and put it on the coffee table. So many wet and crumpled tissues surrounded us! I don't think I've ever watched a movie with Bill that made him cry...and I can count on one hand how many times I've seen Bill cry like that in our five years of knowing one another. It tugs on your heart strings. Would I recommend watching it? Absolutely. It's beautiful.

TV Series
We just got caught up on a new TV series called Limitless. It's based off a movie that Bill really liked (with Bradley Cooper) and it is not what I was expecting at all. It's a crime show with a lot of humor and wit. Thumbs up!

And...we admittedly like Adventure Time...a lot. I can't explain what it is about that show. Maybe its the short episodes or the completely out-of-this-world nonsense and plot lines that are likely melting our brains - I'm always so stoked to find a new episode has aired.

Books
I've read a couple of things while bumming around the hotel. If you have an e-reader, my saving grace has been signing up for BookBub - it's a site were you get notified of free and bargain bestseller books of the day. I've found a couple of gems!

"The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" by Gabrielle Zevin and "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski were lovely reads. I'm pretty sure as time passes on, Edgar Sawtelle will become a book that students will be forced to read and analyze in AP Literature...it was long and symbolic, but beautifully told (and may have convinced me that it would be okay to have a dog after all). I haven't read a book like that for years.

I also recently picked up the "The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom, which has multiplicitous positive reviews...I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Bands
Walk Off The Earth is a Canadian alternative rock, ska, and reggae rock band (as per their description) that has been around for a few years. I finally found them on YouTube after someone shared one of their videos on Facebook (An amazing cover of Adele's "Hello" - LINK HERE). "Hold On (The Break)" (LINK HERE) really makes my heart happy.

Musicals
And like most other obsessions that I'm walking into late...Hamilton. It's a new Broadway musical that came out in August of 2015 and I can't get enough of it right now! It's constantly on replay and I sing it in my dreams. Hip-hop, rap, and the sound of Destiny's Child telling the story of Alexander Hamilton's life amidst the birth of our nation. The rhymes and beats that Lin-Manuel Miranda has compiled and composed make my brain tingle. By the time I had listened to the full playlist on YouTube, I was moved to tears. That totally caught me off guard. (LINK HERE - if you feel inclined to listen.)

Food
It's been trendy to "go out for sushi" for a few years now - and we've intentionally avoided getting on that train because neither of us really care for seafood. But finally Bill and I can understand why it's a thing! The Scadlock's and the Gray's from our ward invited us out to Takanami in Iowa City on Friday night. I wanted to go out and get to know these new ward members, but was so unsure about doing it over sushi...something I knew Bill would have a hard time wanting to try. But Bill surprised me and said he was game to go out and try it!

Takanami had a couple of "safe" sushi rolls that were made up of beef or sweet potato, rather than a fish of some kind - so we knew we could fall back on those if we found sushi wasn't our thing after all. The Scadlock's had each couple order three sushi rolls and we shared them all with one another - that way we could try a lot of different rolls. It was so fun! And beyond delicious! It helped that you didn't know what you were eating when you popped a piece of sushi in your mouth because there were so many rolls to keep track of...but everything was so flavorful and yummy! We even tried barbecued eel...that one was a bit "fishy" - especially for Bill. Haha. But we learned that we really like sushi and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Sushi at Takanami

You Might Be In Iowa...

You might be in Iowa if you have a friend who lives on the corner of Third and Corn or on the small family farm on Turkey Road. Or you pass Hoot Owl Junction with regularity.

You might also be in Iowa if you visit the World's Largest Truck Stop (totes amazing, btw) and have the opportunity to stroll through a fun Trucking Museum. 

PC: Kevin E. Schmidt - Quad-City Times File Photo

Inside the Truck Stop

Inside the Museum

A truck with Utah plates. :)

You might be in Iowa when you can claim you live in MIMAL's nostril.

You might be in Iowa when your friends can actually live north of the Mississippi River - that doesn't happen very often. 

You might be in Iowa if your new friend laughs when you tell him swamp coolers actually work in Utah...and your friend's wife has no idea what a swamp cooler is. (Let me iterate how excited we are to experience 100% humidity in the summer time.)

You might be in Iowa if it can get so cold outside, it can freeze your laundry soap by leaving it in the car.

Thawing my Laundry Soap

You might be in Iowa when there are a few occasions you can turn your brights on while driving on the Interstate at night.

You might be in Iowa when billboards don't line the Interstate, but grow in the middle of fields - far away from the roadside (Marketing: It's become a driving hazard).

You might be in Iowa where the population of squirrels is...pervasive.

You might be in Iowa if you've officially had some REALLY delicious Mexican food.

You might be in Iowa if your Girl Scout Cookies look different and are named more generically than they were in Utah. But it all depends upon where you live!

PC: Mental Floss

Click HERE to See More Differences

Fact! It looks different, but still tastes delish!

You might be in Iowa if the nearest zoo worth going to is 4 or 5 hours away and in completely different states. Sad times...

You might be in Iowa if you run around outside and these little burrs get stuck to your socks (one of the girls in my church class calls them "butt ticks" - I don't know that I would disagree):

Hedgeparsley Burrs, aka Butt Ticks

You might be in Iowa if you meet some of the nicest people on the planet. :)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Lament

So this?

This is a thing here!

There are reverse vending machines at every Wal-Mart that I've been to so far. You put a designated bottle or can in, you get money back. Cool! Save the planet. Make a little money...perks right?

I'm not sure if that's how I'd frame it. But it's what they WANT you to think.

Do you see that little "IA Deposit - $0.30" ??? I was really confused as to what it was when reviewing my receipt. Then a conversation I just had on Sunday came back to me. Our friends the Teed's were telling us that Iowa charges you extra for soda pop as an incentive to recycle the containers. So a 12-pack of Pepsi will cost you an additional $0.60 compared to anywhere else ($0.05 for each can). I thought that was a bit strange, but failed to see how it could directly affect me...we don't buy cans of pop. I just responded to the conversation with a half-hearted, "That's lame!" 

Well...lately we've been buying bottles of pop to keep in our fridge while staying in the hotel. And all along, I've been charged a little sneaky fee during our month's stay here! I'm a little miffed! Because suddenly it is affecting me! And suddenly I care!

Why do I care?

Look, I'm a huge fan of recycling, but (as I've recently come to learn about myself) only when it's convenient. I'm happy to sort things and do my bit - pro bono even! - if you provide me with a bin. That has not been the case with the last few places I've lived. If I've ever felt obligated to recycle, I've always had the option to take it somewhere locally and sort it myself. But that takes time. And frankly, I value my time over the hassle of cluttering my home as I stock-pile my recycling in an attempt to save our planet (Gah. I sound like a witch!). This is my reality right now - twisted and sad as it may be. I've gotten used to chucking everything.

And I get it. I get that's why Iowa is charging you this little fee (like, really...$0.30...it's chill). It's incentive enough to make you think twice before you throw it away! I think my biggest issue is the fact that I didn't ask for it. It's forcing me to change the hierarchy of what I value and I get nailed for not feeling the same way as someone else. I guess that's really what irks me.

Waa. Waa. 

Another story about recycling!

My friend Linley lives in West Liberty and she was really awesome to take me on a tour of our future town (I can't wait to be out of the hotel)! She drove me through the streets and neighborhoods and pointed out significant places - like where to take my recycling. It's a community self-sort area (btw...you don't have the incentive of getting paid to bring it there). And the community is really awesome to wash and sort their recyclables in preparation of bringing it to this little outdoor space! 

As the story goes, the most recent town scandal involved the city manager getting fired when he was paying someone to haul the dumpsters off to the landfill and not a nearby recycling center. Gasp!

If that's the most scandalous thing my new town is up to, I'll take it.

I do understand why the community was mad though! If I was taking the time to set aside all my recycling and haul it off just so that it could be thrown away anyway, I'd be irritated too! Because if I'm finally going to make a priority to do that in my LIFE, don't just throw that away.

----------------------------------------- 

I'm going to need to find something else to be more passionate about around here besides recycling.