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I have said it before and I will say it again... Nick and I lucked out. I truly believe it was divine intervention that landed us in our apartment complex and in this ward. Not only has the weather not effected us but we have the best neighbors and ward members.

There is three other Mormon couples in our apartment complex. What are the odds? There are so many apartments, town homes etc. and we picked this one. And these couples welcomed us with open arms. All the husbands are attending MUSC. So they know what me and Nick are going through. And I love that we get to have "Sunday family dinners" with them.

I am so grateful for the other ward members I have got to know and befriend. Hanging out by the pool, walking around the mall, girls nights, etc. Its so nice having people to do things with and hangout with especially when Nick is super busy.

This weekend my gratitude for these people is overwhelming. Stacie had her 3rd baby girl yesterday. And it makes me sad that I have no idea when I will be able to meet her... hopefully Christmas 2016. But last night we were able to go to dinner with some families in the ward. And got to watch some of the BYU game together. And then today we went to Legare Farms with a bunch of friends from the ward. There were hay rides, a pumpkin patch, animals to feed, a corn maze, and more fall activities. It was a lot of fun. Just hanging out with friends spending some time with Nick (boy I miss him) was just what I needed. Then the cherry on top... I was at home after all the fun making one of my favorite things... Sanpete Turkey. When a friend from the ward stopped by to bring us some cookies! Nick and I have been in many different wards as a married couple. But none of them have been like this. I am so grateful, I can't say it enough!

The newest member of our family

Russ and Nick ( Legare Farms)

The Girls 

Weather

So we get a lot of flash flood warnings here... I mean a lot. Because it doesn't rain here... it pours. Well maybe 3 weeks ago its about 1 am and our phones go off. It was another weather notifaction. Nick and I both wake up and read the alert expecting it to be yet another flash flooding warning. Nope. Tornado warning. Well we figured there wasn't much we could do at this point. We are in a small apartment. If we need to we can go the bathtub and thats about it. So we go back to bed. It was hard to sleep because the wind was so loud. And the lightning was lighting up our bedroom with our blinds closed. I wake up the next morning and see all over my Facebook that a tornado did in fact hit and it was about 3 miles away from us. Luckily no one was hurt. But a few houses were destroyed.

Fast forward a weekish. The rain comes.... and comes... and comes. Something to know about Charleston, its below sea level. So when it rains it floods. And boy did it flood. South Carolina was in a state of emergency. And because of that Nicks classes were canceled. There were power outages. Peoples water became contaminated. There were coffins floating around. The hospital staff couldn't leave work because no one could get to work to replace them. People were using canoes and boats to get around instead of their cars. And sadly people lost their homes and people died. The rain just wouldn't stop. Rain, floods, and power outages lasted for over a week. Nick and I lucked out.We truly feel so blessed. Our apartment complex wasn't really effected. The complex next to us had to be evacuated by boat. Charleston and the rest of South Carolina is now in the processes of cleaning up. People are still in shelters and a lot of homes still don't have drinkable water. Business are destroyed. This one place in particular has been open for years. A major tourist attraction where some of The Notebook was filmed is now closed. They have no idea if and when they will open. The flood damage is just too much.  A lot of people have lost their jobs. Its just so sad. But boy do I feel blessed.

The past few weeks has taught me the importance of food storage and a 72 hour kit. Nick and I need to be better at that.

Oh just a coffin floating around

This is just the fist day of rain

Also just the first day of rain

The produce section after a week of
flooding...

Yeah they had no produce...

Happy Birthday Nicky!!

This year Nicks birthday was pretty lame. He had a test the next day so he didn't want to celebrate on his actual birthday. So... September 9th (his actual birthday) went like this: Nick woke up and went to school. Came home. We had a small dinner then he opened his dumb presents. He didn't want me to get him anything. I can't do that. So I got him a big bag of Sour Patch Kids... he loves Sour Patch Kids. And I got him pumpkin spice latte M&Ms. After opening his gifts he studied. Then we went to bed.

The next day wasn't much better... After he got home from school we had dinner. I had him pick the meal he wanted. He chose Philly Steak Sandwiches. I have made these like 100 times. But for some reason these batch was the best batch ever. It tasted so good. At first I thought it was in my head but then Nick said, "Did you do something different? They are always good but this time they are just better." I didn't do anything different, I'm hoping next time I make them they are that good. So I didn't make a cake for Nick. We aren't big cake eaters. And I knew that if I made a cake we would throw a lot of it away. So instead I made one of Nicks favorite desserts.... Apple Dumplings. I don't think they lasted 3 days, we ate those like they were going out of style! After we ate the Apple Dumplings we watched some Hawaii Five-0 on Netflix and then went to bed.

I didn't get any pictures this year. And I feel terrible about it. I even told Nick how sorry I was that I didn't get any pictures. His response... "What, pictures of me studying?" I still feel bad not just about the pictures but that his whole birthday was so.... blah. But when you have no money and not a whole lot of time away from school this is what your birthday looks like. Hopefully I can make it up to him next year.

Happy Birthday Nick! I'm so glad you were born. "Of all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you."

Our first month in the Low Country

We got our apartment all put together. It took some creativity to figure out where to put everything... but I think we figured it out. Now if we could just find our 2 boxes of unopened Q-Tips...

We went to the beach as much as possible. We both love the beach. I love listening to the waves crash. Its just so relaxing. Luckily we have lots of beaches to chose from.

Sullivans Island

Isle Of Palms

Folly Island

Explored. We drove around Charleston and all the different islands. We discovered fruit stands, parks, plantations, etc. The Angel Oak is one of the things we discovered. Its the oldest known Oak tree in North America. It is over 400 years old. And its pretty awesome. 

Angel Oak

We experienced NASCAR. Nick is the type of person that 1. Wants to try everything at least once. 2. Wants to experience different cultures and traditions. I think thats why he loves to travel so much. And thats why he wanted to go to a NASCAR race. It was different. So many people!! We ran into a really nice couple while we were parking. I am so grateful to them. They helped us find where to go. They gave us tips...1. Ear plugs. 2. Keep wallet in your front pocket. 3. Keep your personal belongs in your eye site at all times. Luckily we got tickets in the family sections where they can't drink.... because this couple also told us that people will throw beer when they get mad. They also told us that NASCAR is a week event. They have parades and tailgate. And a lot of the people tailgating don't actually go to the race they just go to party. On our way out we ran into them again. And they invited us to go to the race with them next year. All I can say is out of all the people I saw there 80% looked homeless. The race hadn't even started yet.. heck we weren't even in the gates yet when Nick and I saw a lady pee her pants! And she didn't even care she was so drunk. I am so glad we don't drink. 

Fort Sumter with my aunt and uncle. My aunt Shanna and uncle Don went on a month long road trip. They made stops all along the way visiting family. They just spent a half day in Charleston. We went to Fort Sumter a fort in the Civil War. It is an island and it was pretty cool. After Fort Sumter we went to dinner and off they went to Virginia. Nick couldn't come with us because of school. 

One month of school done... only 27 more to go.