Time for new shoes.

WARNING: Gross feet pictures.

I know anyone who has lived with me thinks that I have too many shoes. I wouldn't dare ask my dad for a pair of shoes. His response would be a hour long lecture about my how I have too many shoes. Then he would tell the next ten people he sees about all of my shoes. During my freshman year at BYU-I, my roommates gave me my own shoe tub by the front door so they wouldn't be all over the place. When Jacob and I got married he told me it was time to part with some of my shoes and he helped me go through them and dropped the discarded shoes off at D.I. He also said I could not buy another pair of shoes unless I got rid of one pair I already had. (I have broken this rule more than once.)

I do have one pair that I wear almost daily, shoes that I would never give away with out a replacement, and this pair actually does need to be replaced. My Nike running shoes. I have had these shoes since I was in high school. It must have been senior year when I got them and now I am starting my senior year of college. I wouldn't mind keeping my old running shoes but my feet are getting torn up. I have tried different socks, band aids, tape, you name it, to see if my feet would feel better. Well, here are my pictures taken after I got back from the gym last night, and this is after a shower and lots of lotion. Lucky for you these pictures are a bit blurry.
This is my left foot. There is a big blister turned into a callus all the way up from pad under my big foot to the middle of my big toe. There is also a little blister forming half way up the big toe. Under my second toe, there is a blister that broke. (Its a little hard to see. Its easier to see in the second picture. It looks like a big white bump.) There is usually one there that comes and goes, and if you want to know something gross, I can always feel the loose dead skin flapping around when I go swimming. If I go swimming at a lake or a beach, sand gets stuck in there and I can feel the sand squish from one side to another when I walk for the next day or two.

This is my right foot. My right foot has always been better off than my left. That is a freshly popped blister on the side of my toe and a few calluses and healing blisters. Jacob's mom, Cheryl asked me if I wanted a foot rub one time when I had a bad migraine during one of our visits. I actually would have liked a foot rub, but told her no thank you. Would you want to touch these?

In all seriousness it does hurt to walk for the rest of the night after my gym trip, so I put all the weight on the outside of my feet which doesn't feel good on the ankles. So, its official. I am going to purchase new running shoes after I start my job again in September. That may mean Jacob and I will only eat oatmeal and bananas for a while, but I'd rather sacrifice almost anything than my feet. I need them for a while. I'm only 21!

The dog chase and the apartment tour

Yesterday when I was leaving the gym I decided to take a round about way home, partly because there was nothing to do at home and secondly I didn't feel like I had ran enough on the treadmill. So I was walking down the street and I saw this dog running from yard to yard and not and no one was around the dog at all. I decided to help the dog because many people have brought Ariel, my families dog, back after she found her way out. So, I followed this dog for several blocks. It was a black dog with a scary looking face so I didn't want to just reach out and grab its collar, and every time I got close it would run away. So this dog was running back and forth across the street and people were scowling at me as if I was the owner, just letting my dog run free. We ended up at Porter Park where the dog decided to lay down in a big puddle and I finally caught up to it, but he was off once again, but he didn't go very far. He found an old truck with an open window, and before I could do anything, it had jumped in, laid down and looked very happy in the shade and to be away from me. So that was that. I wonder how the person reacted when they came back to their car to find a big black wet dog sprawled out across the seat.

People have been asking to see pictures of our apartment, so here it is. There is still some decorating to be done.

This is how our apartment looks from the front door. I can't move Jacob's weights by myself so they stayed in the picture.

Here is the living room from the other side. Yes, that is two TVs you see. Our DVD player broke so now when we watch movies we watch them from the little TV that came with a built in DVD player. The fan usually isn't in the middle of the room but it is in the 90's today. Yuck.

This is where we eat. Jacob kept talking about how he wanted a bamboo plant so I bought him one. They are said to be lucky and bring you wealth, so we try to treat our bamboo plant well. The plants in the living room are dying. This is because no one told us they were lucky. The metal shelf you see at the side is our "office" where we print and find all the important papers that I have lost.

Here is our kitchen. If you noticed the tub in the bottom left hand corner, I emptied my friends storage unit and shipped all her stuff to her. It has been a long project that will be over with very soon. We just have to figure out what to do with these tubs.By the way, the kitchen is always this clean.

Here is our bedroom. We're still sleeping on an air mattress and we are okay with that. It'd just be another thing to pack when we get out of Rexburg. Jacob was very excited to use the cooler as his bed side stand. I'm glad to know that a bed side stand made out of a ten dollar cooler from K-Mart can make him happy. If only everything in life was that easy!

I don't know what happened to the bathroom picture. It's not that exciting.

That is our apartment. I am hoping that one day we will have a big kitchen and neighbors far enough away so I wont hear their loogie hocking. But I am happy to pay my dues now. (COME ON BAMBOO PLANT!!)

California

This week Jacob and I went to California to visit my family and see my cousin Justin get married. The trip was NOT long enough! There were 100 more things I wanted to do. We took off on Tuesday night and stopped in Jackpot, NV, just south of Twin Falls, ID. That was a rough night. We were both tired and I was especially grouchy for whatever reason and it was really hot. The trip from there on out was fine. We stopped for gas in Wells, NV and some guy tried to hustle us into buying new tires. That is the second time someone has tried to get us to buy new tires and I said, thanks but no thanks sir. He stuck a screw driver in the tire! I was about ready to kick him in his head after that and decided never to stop at a gas station that sells tires again. Anyways, the trip was really smooth, but there was miles and miles of road work that slowed us down quite a bit.

When we got there my parents took us to Fentons. It is just not a trip home with out some Fentons.

On Thursday we drove to Santa Cruz. I got really excited about the Sea Horse painting. The beach was so windy that day and sand was blowing everywhere. In fact, it was so windy tons of sand got into our bag and broke the camera, so there were no more pictures for the rest of the day. My brother took the camera apart later that night and semi-fixed it. The camera will take pictures but you can't zoom and you have to take the batteries out to turn it off. Its probably time for a new one.

Friday morning we walked the Golden Gate. Jacob and never been over it before. We were a little wind blown. Friday night we went to a Giants game. I thought it was a great game but my dad said it had no rhythm. I was disappointed because both teams were all set up for a grand slam multiple times but it never happened. It's not everyday you see a grand slam. We all had a great time at the game though and the park proved that there isn't a bad seat in the house. We were in the last row at the very top and we all thought they were pretty good seats.
Saturday was the wedding. They sure aren't as exciting when they are not your own. (Thank you to everyone who was patient through the pictures and all the confusion in April.) The reception was in my grandparents backyard and it was really pretty! A perfect evening for an outdoor reception.

It was a great weekend and I miss my family and California very much. It's nice to wake up and actually BE somewhere. I try not to complain about Rexburg, but its a hard, bitter adjustment every time I come back. No sparkling beaches, no sky scrappers etched in the rolling fog, no family.