New York Update

Yes, we made it to New York! I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I was too tired while we were on our road trip and we just figured out our internet today. Sorry there aren't any pictures today, I'll add them later.

We drove our moving truck 2200 miles or so to move to NYC. We passed through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and finally New Jersey to get to New York. It was cool to see the different states even though we didn't spend much time in any of them. We took 3 days to make the trip and drove into the city last Friday. On the drive, I drove probably a total of 5-6 hours and Scott drove the rest. He was a trooper! Driving the moving truck stressed me out.

Moving in was a nightmare when we arrived in New York! Luckily we found a large enough "No Parking" zone to park in (hoping we wouldn't get a ticket). There were also a couple people that came to help us which saved our life. We moved all of our stuff into the lobby of the building and then up to our apartment. It took a while, but we did it. We have been unpacking for the past two days so we haven't gotten to see too much.

Yesterday we decided to go grocery shopping so that we could have food. We took a shuttle that comes by our apartment three times a week to the Fairway Supermarket. I was just expecting it to be a regular grocery store but it ended up being a little different. Part of the store was located outside right next to the parking lot and the rest was inside. It was very overwhelming, but things were laid out mostly like a regular grocery store. We just had to wander down each aisle to find everything. However, the cold foods were in a room that was freezing cold! This is where all the meat, dairy, cheese, milk and eggs were located. I was shivering while searching for items. We finished grocery shopping and went home tired---it was an adventure!

Today we went to church at our new ward. It was just like how church is every other place I have been which was very reassuring. It was nice to go somewhere that wasn't a completely new experience that was familiar. The bishop talked to us after church so we'll see what callings we get.

Scott has his orientation week starting tomorrow. He is excited for that and I'll finish unpacking and begin my job hunt tomorrow. I'll also tackle the next adventure of doing the laundry!

I'll try to keep our blog updated more frequently so that everyone can see what we are up to.

P.S. I forgot to talk about recycling! I have never really recycled much throughout my life but now we have to. I had no idea that there are NYC recycling laws. We have to separate all of our stuff and throw them away in certain bins located on our floor. It is going to take some getting used to but hopefully I'll get into the habit of sorting out the right things.

- Ashley

Ashley pretty much summed up the move. However, she left out a few details, like the time when we had the building maintenance come to take off the front door so we could move some bigger items into the apartment. The front door is a big, metal, rusty thing, and he broke the weak spot weld that was holding the hinge on the door. So we didn't have a front door for the first 8 hours of our day, and we didn't know when we would get one. Random people kept coming to look at it, and I could hear them on their radios saying, "I can't fix this! I'm not saying this just so I can go home, I really can't fix this!" They eventually bolted a new hinge to the door before we went to sleep, which was nice, since I usually like to sleep with a front door.

My desk wouldn't fit through the other doorways in the apartment, so I had to take the feet off. This wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that they were not only screwed into the desk, but they were glued in as well. The moving truck was already gone, and the desk was either going in to the apartment, or it wasn't (I know, duh). So I took a hammer and screwdriver, chiseled the legs off, and got it in! After I put the legs back on, you wouldn't have been able to tell unless I told you!

Needless to say, we got moved in, and we aren't moving out for a long time!

Our apartment is on the 5th floor of a 30 story building, and it has the most amazing view of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, looking into New Jersey, and partially into downtown New York. It is truly a wonderful place!

- Scott