Welome to Ithaca

Hello Family and Friends. I have such high aspirations for keeping this blog. I have had three blogs over my lifetime. The first one was created by my sisters after my constant complaints about how they didn't update their blogs enough. After plea #4576 my oldest sister emailed me with a link to a blog with a caption that went something like: "I created a blog for you. You see if it is so easy to keep updated." Except nicer, because she is the nicest. I did a pretty good job for about two months. After a few years I decided to retry the the whole "blog" thing. I renamed it and gave myself a purpose. I did a pretty good job, but once again, I not only stopped, but I forgot the name of the blog and don't know where to go to delete it. Whoops. Blog number three was my mission blog, which was not updated by me, so it doesn't even count. 

That is my blog history. But, since I am now a married woman, in a new place, with new adventures, and honestly, not a whole lot to do, I am hoping this blog will survive! Then I remember various forms of social media exist that seem to take precedence over blogs, such as Instagram. I can't express my hopes and fears over Instagram so TA-DA! I am officially welcoming myself back to the blogosphere. (Surprisingly, blogosphere is actually a word.)

Kyle and I have been in Ithaca for a total of 4 weeks. The four weeks have been great ones. Kyle spends most of the day at school. I spend most of my day doing school at home. When we aren't doing school, we enjoy eating frozen yogurt and living in Bed, Bath and Beyond. That wasn't a joke. The employees know who we are. 

I am still finding it hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I have moved to upstate New York. I am constantly amazed by the beauty here. Ithaca is GORGEous (get it, because there are so many waterfalls? ha. ha.) It is a small town, but so fluid and active--filled with great minds and great people. Cornell is hands down the most beautiful college campus I have ever seen. Still, I feel more like I am on vacation than living here permanently. Any suggestions? 

Some things you didn't know about Upstate:

1. Wildlife. Everywhere. A groundhog lives under our house. We have run into two skunks while walking, i've seen a fox and eight snakes, some of the squirrels are black and the gray ones are significantly smaller than the PNW, and lastly, the deer are fearless and will chill about 3 feet away from you just chewing on their grass. 

2. It is very agricultural. There are lots of farms. Yes, that means there are lots of farmers markets. :)

3. It is very religious. This is honestly something I did not expect from New York, nor an Ivy League institution. There are churches, old churches, all over the place. It brings a lot of light to Joseph Smith's confusion with so many churches (yeah we live two hours away from Palmayra. It is the coolest.) We attended the end of the year Senior recognition basketball banquet this week. The man in charge asked Kyle to say grace before the meal started. I mean, he announced that Kyle would say grace, Kyle stood and said a prayer over the food in front of a room full of Division 1 basketball players and their supporters. That was a thing. That happened. My jaw hit the floor. You weren't even allowed to say Merry Christmas at my high school. We PRAYED IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNCTION. It was something I did not expect from New York. I loved it. 

4. You've never seen a place more beautiful. I just feel so blessed to have been raised in the PNW and now living in Upstate New York. What? My body can't take in this much beauty....

I will add to my list as my time here goes on. Those are some of my initial impressions.