LA UPDATE!...Three months later...

"We're there."

It's official! We live in LA. Even if it did take me three months to update this blasted thing, I'm proud of myself because a whole lot has happened and thinking about blogging all of it gave me a headache.

Here we go...

 After a super long drive in a packed to the T car with a restless 50 lbs dog in the front seat, we're here. Sometimes it still feels like we are on a weird vacation and we're going head back to Utah soon but then it hits me that we're here to stay. 

First off, lets talk about the drive. Never one to do something the "normal" way, Dave decided that in order to save some money, we should pack our car with everything that we need for the next 6 weeks and wait for the rest of our stuff to come with my brother and his family when they come to LA for a family vacation at the end of July. They have a SUV that can tow a trailer so they were kind enough to agree to bring our stuff with them when they come. Once we got the car stuffed (minus a ton of my shoes because they weren't "A" items), all I had to do was take my final and we would get on the road. 

I passed!!!

I had such a fun time getting to know the girls in my class and also our wonderful instructor Krystal. The ten weeks flew by and I was actually sad to be done. After we were done (and we all passed), we all went to Krystal's for pizza and a good time. We had a little party full of laughter, awkward poses, and a frisky game of Spot It. She even gave us all a sweet gift of really nice resume paper to celebrate graduating. I am going to miss the girls so much...

I almost forgot to mention that a few days before we left Utah, my dear friend Summer threw us a going away party. It was so thoughtful of her to take the time to contact our friends and to give us another chance to say goodbye. I don't know what I'll do without her.

So anyway, after the party I went from Krystal's to go pick and Indy and we left to go catch up with Dave. He was on his other motorcycle so he got a head start and we ended up meeting in St. George and I followed him the rest of the way. We drove through the night and I had some close calls with death when Indy decided that he would rather lay on my lap and block my view instead of sitting in the passenger seat. Other than that, the drive was smooth thanks to my trusty 5-Hour Energy shot. I take that back...

Side story:

So I've always heard that LA traffic is infamous for being, well terrible. I had NO idea. Not only did we hit some major traffic but it was fast moving, bumper to bumper, weaving in and out, about to die at any moment traffic. On top of that, I was trying to follow Dave who was from the looks of it having trouble figuring out where he was himself. So here I was with a phone about to die, freaked out about getting lost in LA, following a lost maniac on a motorcycle, and with a dog walking all over me. I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs, cursing at Dave and the other crazy drivers because I was trying to follow him and people kept squeezing in between us. The worse part is that the car was jam packed so I had a million blind spots and whenever I would follow Dave into another lane, I had to just pray that I didn't get hit and killed. Now come to think of it, I was probably the worse driver on the freeway that day... After what seemed like forever, we got to our destination which was Dave's brother's apartment since we hadn't signed on our place yet. When the car was parked and the ordeal was over, I had a total meltdown. It was possibly a combination of the sleep deprivation, caffeine overdose, migraine, and PMS that set me off but I just let it all go. At one point, I even called my dad to "tell" on Dave for being a meanie. We all had a good laugh later (much later).

We found an apartment! 

A couple weeks earlier Dave had gone to LA to look for a place but nothing seemed quite right. When he got home, we found a cute place online so we called the landlord up and sent him a deposit. We felt okay about it because he told us that if we got there and didn't like it, he would give us a full refund. When we got there, I fell in love. It was a adorable one bedroom, one bathroom apartment in a sixplex right in the Arts District. The floors had been freshly refinished, everything repainted, new appliances installed and was the only unit in the complex with a balcony. I was sold, Dave was not...He felt the the rent was too high and convinced me that we need to keep looking. After A LOT of pouting, like a good husband, he gave in.

Since the floors has just been refinished, we couldn't move in right away. As luck would have it, my wonderful friend Molly whom I have been close with since junior high was visiting her aunt and uncle in Valencia at the time of our move. They were so gracious to let us stay there for a few days and it was even greater that I got to spend a little time with Molly since she lives on the east coast and I don't get to see her much. I got to meet her boyfriend and we all had dinner together, saw Prometheus and even got a swimming day with them before they had to fly back. It was an awesome time but far too short. 

After a few days, we finally got to move in. This cute little apartment has some surprises in store for us...

Here are some of the issues we've dealt with so far:

-the floors wouldn't dry because of the weird finish that was used so they had to be redone 

-4 days of no hot water and a weird faucet that wouldn't work right

-the fuse kept blowing whenever the air conditioning unit was going at the same time as the microwave

-there was no hot air in the dryer so it would take HOURS to dry anything

Despite all the things that were going wrong, I still love the apartment and as soon as the kinks were straightened out, everything was fine.

The Job Situation:

So here's the part of the settling in process that had been the biggest problem but the biggest blessing. After finishing the dental assisting program, I was a little worried about finding a job once we moved to California. Not because of my knowledge or abilities, but due to the different state laws, my certification and X-ray license were not exactly valid California which I didn't know at the time of signing up for the classes. I was encouraged however from many assistants and my instructor that that shouldn't be a problem and getting the proper licensing would just come as I worked. So I decided to stop being the usual pessimistic person that I am and start applying for jobs. 

I started with Craigslist and attacked it with my resume. Surprisingly I got my first call back just a few hours after sending out my resume to a handful of dental offices. The doctor who called asked where I lived and when I told her North Hollywood, she gasped and said that their location was too far for me to drive. But I was too eager to let it go that easy. I told her that I will come in for the interview and see how the drive would be. She was excited to hear me offer to come so we set up the interview for the next day. I woke up early in the morning to give myself enough time to drive to wait for it... San Juan Capistrano. Yup talk about eagerness for a job, ANY JOB. Anyway, I got there after an hour thinking it wasn't so bad and finally met the doctor. She seemed young and nice and after a few questions she asked if I could start that day. I was thrilled to say the least. She wanted me to be an assistant part time and front desk the other half so I would be able to experience both. The pay wasn't great but I figured I should take what I get since she was willing to train me and give me time to get the proper certifications. When I got home, I was excited to tell David. He was less excited to hear that I took the job. After a deflating conversation about how low the pay was and how far I would have to drive each day, I finally convinced him that I should give it a try. But before consenting (like I need it ;) ) he warned me that since I was going to my real first day tomorrow in real rush hour traffic, I should leave early. Traffic schmaffic no big deal, I'll just leave a little earlier I thought. 

HOLY MOSES LOS ANGELES TRAFFIC!!! Apparently I totally forgot about my ordeal from a week ago.

To make a long story short, three days and six hours of driving later, I told the nice doctor it wasn't going to work out. And Dave was even nice enough to not say "I told you so."

Back on the hunt. Even after the turned down job opportunity I tried to keep my spirits up. After all it was on the same day that I posted my resume that I got a call back so I figured there are people out there willing the take a chance on me. Sure enough, Heavenly Father was watching out for me because a couple of days later, I got a call from an office manager in a Beverly Hills dental office asking if I were interested in working the front desk there. Even though it wasn't assisting, I figured a front desk billing/scheduling position can still give me a lot of great experience in a dental office and I can get my foot in the door so if I want to assist in the future, I'll have more clout in my resume. 

When I got to Beverly Hills, it was everything I thought it would be. Palm trees everywhere, obscenely huge mansion lining the streets, and cars that make my 2008 Honda look despicable. When I met office manager and we had our interview, I was surprisingly very comfortable. The office was small but nice and all the other employees had warm smiles on their faces and the doctor seemed very laid back and friendly. It felt right. When she asked me to come back for a working interview, I began to get my hopes up. I knew they were interviewing others so I tried my best not to place all my eggs in one designer labeled basket. But the fact that working interview went very well didn't help me to not imagine working there. The manager said that she would call me the next day so I eagerly waited. No call. The next day, sad and disappointed, I decided to call her to get the closure that they didn't hire me. When I called, she confirmed my fears and told me that it had been a tough choice but they went with another person. I spent the rest of the afternoon eating my feelings and laying around watching sad movies and telling myself that even though I was unemployed, I deserved a day of vegging out and feeling sorry for myself. Around 3:00 I got a phone call from the office. Confused, I answered and it was the office manager. She apologized for yanking me around and asked if I was still interested in the job since apparently the girl they hired wasn't a good fit. I accepted and waited till we hung up to scream with joy. What a great blessing. At a time when so many are unemployed and jobs are scarce, I managed to land a great job in less than two weeks. Did I mention they are paying me much better than the job I quit, the drive is only 30 mins versus 2 hours, and I also get to meet some pretty well known people on a regular basis? Well I do :)

So here's the scoop on the haps of this summer thus far:

The biggest event of the summer or even of this year was that my mom's family from Japan come to visit the US for the first time. They stayed for two weeks but sadly Dave and I were only able to spend of week of that with them since I just got the new job. It was still amazing and so much fun. Here are some of the things we did...

We went to Disneyland and California Adventure

Universal Studios

San Diego Zoo

Sea World

And beautiful Yosemite.

It was a GREAT week. Not at all relaxing and more chaotic than anything but soooo much fun. I'm so grateful to have been able to spend that time with my aunts, uncle, and sweet cousins and I will never forget the memories we made. I really hope that they can come back soon, or Dave and I can at least make a trip to Japan in the near future. Family really is everything.

Other fun things: 

Our wonderful friends the Chadburn's came to visit! Since we had a extra day left on our Disneyland tickets, we used those and a couple of my family's leftover tickets and took them to the Happiest Place on Earth. Despite the relentless heat, we had a lot of fun and I may even be good to not go back for a few years... We also went to the beach, ate some sushi and just enjoyed the time with familiar faces.

And just last week, I had Krystal come visit. She had never been to California or even seen the ocean in her entire life so we had a blast. I took her to Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica and Venice. My only regret is that I wish the waves at the beach weren't so huge so that we could have been able to swim instead of just being tossed around like rag dolls. But we did get some tans! Even if they are now peeling off...We also went to the sideshow in Venice and checked out the Greystone Mansion where they filmed Spiderman, X-Men, Ghostbusters, There Will Be Blood and a ton more. Good times :)

Seeing the ocean for the first time in Santa Monica

Santa Monica Pier

Venice Beach

HUGE WAVES

We went to the boardwalk Sideshow and I met one of the "Wolf Boys"

Hollywood

Greystone Mansion

It was a fun Labor Day weekend with her and it was so nice to get some quality girl time in.

So far, life in LA has been an adventure as I expected it to be. There have been bumps in the road of course but I feel like Dave and I have been so blessed in so many ways and have had so much fun that I really can't complain. I do have my moments where I miss Utah terribly and wish we had more family and friends close by but it just makes for more quality time when we do see them.

Sorry for such a long post. Now that we have internet in the apartment, I really am going to try harder to stay up to date on the blog thing. Until next time folks!

I'll leave you with some pictures of summer beach days since those are the days we've enjoyed the most!

St. George Trip and the Solar Eclipse

A couple weeks ago, Dave and I were able to get away from normal life to relax and play in St. George and also watch the awesome solar eclipse from the "Sweet Spot" in Kanarraville, UT. Although it was only a Fri-Sun trip, it was the break we needed to get us through some stress of packing and getting ready to move to LA.

A few months ago, Dave started planning a motorcycle trip to go see the solar eclipse. He is really into out-of-the-ordinary things and is very adventurous to say the least (one of the many reasons why I love him). He invited many of his motorcycle buddies and asked me to ride on the back of the bike during the trip. Despite my fondness for his bikes and his love for them, I declined and opted to drive the car and meet the boys in southern Utah. I was even lucky enough to have my friend Katherine whose husband is a part of this "motorcycle gang" drive with me to that I wouldn't get lonely. She actually ended up driving most of the trip so I got spoiled cause I hate driving long distances.

We left on Friday after work and headed down to southern Utah taking the scenic route. We passed through many creepy little towns and I even got to see the Manti Temple for the first time which was gorgeous by the way. The boys (there were seven of them) were ahead of us so we just followed behind them until somewhere along the trip we got ahead and ended up waiting at the campsite for 45 mins for them to arrive and by then it was pretty late. I was happy that we had the dogs to keep us company because those kind of things scare me for some reason...I guess I've watched too many movies. When they finally showed up, I was ready to curl up in my sleeping bag and call it a night. When morning came and I stepped out of the tent to see the campsite in daylight, I was astonished by the beauty of the red cliffs in the distance. The campsite was near Bryce Canyon and seeing the red rock reminded me of how much I love southern Utah and it's majestic desert landscape.

Here are the boys on their hogs. The pic is missing the other two but shows the pretty cliffs in the background :)

We left around 9:30 to start heading towards St. George and to go find food. We stopped at the Thunderbird Restaurant (Home of the Ho-Made Pies) in Mt. Carmel and ate some yummy breakfast and I got to know the guys in the gang. I hadn't met them yet and it was great getting to know them individually. We also got to learn the back story of why it was called "Ho-Made Pies." You should google it ;) 

After breakfast, we headed up to Zions to stop there for a bit on our way to S.G. and got to get out and see the awesome sights. Since we had the dogs, we weren't allowed on the regular trails so Katherine and I let the boys go on a small hike while we stopped at a camping area to let the dogs play.

Our stop at the Thunderbird cafe, home of the "Ho-Made Pies"

Zions!

Dave posing all sexy...

Indy was having such a good time riding along :)

Our stop in Zions. 

After a little while resting and relaxing, we hopped back in the car (the boys back onto their bikes) and finished the last leg of the trip that ended in Washington which is near to S.G.  Paul, who is Katherine's husband, has a cousin who was SO KIND to let us stay at his house. When we got there feeling tired from the drive and heat, we had a air conditioned house with many rooms and a pool waiting for us. We wasted no time jumping into the cold water and even got the dogs to jump in and cool off. We ended up ordering pizza which was to perfect topper to our pool party. So much fun!

Pool party!

As evening wound things down, we took naps and woke up with cravings for something sweet. Neilson's Frozen Custard called our names so we jumped on the bikes (I got on the back of Dave's this time since we were just going to ride around town) and headed to St. George. But first we got a picture of the boys and their pride and joys...

The best part about this is that the pictures in the background are puzzles of various Disney characters. Went perfectly with the tough guys and their tough motorcycles ;)

When I tried the frozen custard for the first time, I was in heaven. It was soooooo goood! But like many unfair things in my life, it ended up making me sick and almost ruined the evening. But luckily I was able to quickly recover and enjoy the rest of the night which included riding around to 3 different Red Box's to look for the movie Bridesmaids. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find that gem but instead chose to rent "Tucker and Dale VS. Evil" which ended up being highly entertaining and may be up there on my list of great comedies now...

Yummy custard!

After the movie, we all passed out in our comfortable beds. The next day, a few of the boys left early to get an early start back to Salt Lake City and those who stayed behind went of Red Robin for lunch and swam a little more. At about 4:30, we headed for Kanarraville to watch the solar eclipse. Kanarraville is an extremely small town home to about a little over 300 people but when we got there, you wouldn't have been able to tell. The streets were jam packed with cars and people setting up their telescopes and camps and at first we were a little disappointed that we might not be able to find a good spot to see the eclipse. That's when Dave's knack for spontaneity came into play and he found an empty foreclosed house with an open drive way to park in . Was it legal for us to be there? Probably not, but we stayed out of trouble and enjoyed our prime location. However, I may or may not have checked out the inside of the house since the back door was unlocked. 

Before the eclipse began, we bought special glasses to be able to see the sun without hurting our eyes. The glasses were definitely over priced, but worth it because we were able to see everything and enjoy it as it happened. Adding to the fun, our friends Matt and Mere showed up withe their family and we had a BBQ in the backyard of the empty house. I love the funny memories we made that day. Another neat thing was to watch the shadows slowly turn into crescents and then finally into full circles and it was even more amazing to think that we were in the best place in the world to see the eclipse and the full ring of fire. 

Festivities in Kanarraville

Waiting for the ring of fire!

Once the eclipse was over, it was a bittersweet time for Dave and I because he was to leave on his own to head to California to find us an apartment in LA. I was nervous the whole trip thinking of him riding all the way to LA on his motorcycle by himself mostly through the desert. So when we said goodbye, it was difficult for me to see him riding away not knowing if he would get there safe. But God was merciful and answered my fretting wife's prayers by allowing him to reach his destination safely with only sunburns to show for the journey. But in true Dave fashion, he pretended to be a cowboy in the lonely west as he rode through the desert and camped out on the side of exit ZZXYXX when he got too tired to ride anymore. He heard coyotes at night and woke up in the morning to steal some continental breakfast at a local hotel. I love my riff raff!

All in all it was a great weekend with wonderful people and full of fun memories :)

LA Here We Come!

Come June 8th, it'll be goodbye Utah, hello Los Angeles! That's right, Dave and I are moving. He and his brother Joel are going to be working closely together on screenwriting projects and LA was the natural place to do it. It's a scary leap of faith but I know that as long as we work hard and believe that anything is possible, we will be blessed.

It seems that "jump into it and see what happens" is the theme of the last few years. One thing that this has taught me for sure is that many great and amazing things happen when I follow this. Moving to LA will be no exception. What I hope for is a learning experience. I know that things will be tough and life won't always go my way, but I know that Dave and I will become closer to one another and stronger for just jumping into this and seeing what happens. Who knows, someday you might be watching a movie or TV show that is wittingly written by the Ackerman Brother's ;)

Wish us luck!

Back to School...

After a 4 year long hiatus, I am back. And I am excited about it!

Classroom, handouts, quizzes, labs...BRING IT ON. I am now on my way to becoming a dental assistant.

I've been thinking for a while now about what I would like to do for a job long term. The job I have right now is great and I've really liked working there but since Dave's career path may put us all over the country, I've felt like I needed to find something that I can easily find a new job if need be. Since I couldn't take the time away from working full time to go be a full time student and going to school part time just seemed like it would take too long to get a degree, I thought about a trade school or something like that to get me in and out quick. Fate then found me...

 Recently I went and got my wisdom teeth pulled and sometime during my medicated stupor before conking out, I spoke to a sweet dental assistant about how she got certified and if she liked doing what she does. She said she loved it and told me how she did it which bring me to where I'm at today.

I just started a 10 week program to get my dental assisting certification. It is an accelerated course designed to give me hands-on experience in an actual office and gain as much knowledge as I would get from much longer and more expensive programs out there. I am really enjoying it and never knew how fascinating teeth could be to me! And since I am a weirdo who actually enjoyed school when I went, it feels great to be learning all kinds of new things again. So far I've learned that everything has about 5 different names, seeing blood doesn't make me squirm anymore, and taking an X-ray is harder than it looks. We'll see what I'll know by the end of the 10 weeks.

Wish me luck on this new adventure!

Mexico Cruise

In late February, while everyone here in Utah was freezing their butts off and praying for an early spring, Dave and I and some fun friends got to soak up the sun on a cruise to the Mexican riviera! 

Be jealous.

This vacation was long awaited for. I know, I know, we just got back from our honeymoon in Mexico in October, but we literally planned this cruise back in July so it's been a countdown since. The friends we got to go with were Mikkel and Ashley Chadburn, Jer and Julz Thorne, and Matt and Meredith Nickle. They boys are all old friends of David's and they just happen to have amazing, super cool wives so when we all come together, a good time is inevitable. It was actually the first meeting with all but the Chadburns for me when we decided that we liked each other enough to spend a week with eacho ther on a ship.

The cruise was awesome to say the least. We did so much and made so many memories that naturally, it was hard to get back to normal life afterwards. That and the ground felt like it was still moving... Anyway, here are some highlights from the trip that brings a smile to my face anytime I think about them:

* Us girls dancing on the empty dance club floor like maniacs while people looked on rather frightened and wondered what we had been drinking.

*Going to the comedy show expecting a few mediocre comedians and getting surprised by GEORGE LOPEZ!

*Playing 5 Crowns with the girls, trying to pry the boys away from their precious Mexican Train game, and learning how to play team Nertz but still getting whooped by Julz playing single. 

*Getting an excuse to dress up for the formals nights and wanting to kick off the heels after only an hour.

*Stuffing ourselves with delicious food and learning a hard lesson about gluttony. 

*Coming back to the room each night and finding a very obscure towel creature on our bed.

*Sunbathing on Lover's Beach in Cabo and almost getting killed by a giant wave because Dave just insisted on trying to get past some scary rocks to get to the other beach.

*Watching Ashley get hypnotized on stage and lead the rumba and hysterically  cry when she thought she saw a little dog get killed.

*ONE OF MY DREAMS CAME TRUE when I got to hold a baby tiger. We were walking around in Cabo and walked past a booth that was there to raise money for the wildlife reserve in Mexico city and had a baby tiger and jaguar. It caught me so off guard that I cried, wait sobbed when I saw the babies. Holding them was literally one of the best moment of my life which people may or may not make fun of me for. 

*The day the boys all accidentally matched wearing all red with similar print t shirts. Lets just say it was very easy to keep track of them that day.

*Watching the boys build a mote at the beach and having to remember that they were all 30 years old. 

*Hearing Dave sing "A Part of That World" at karaoke night and then getting voted to be Elton John at the Carnival Legends show.

*Celebrating Dave's 31st birthday by going to Puerto Vallarta and giving him his first pair of real Ray Ban sunglasses.

*Zip lining at the place where Predator was filmed and getting to see the actually helicopter from the movie.

*Eating GREAT authentic Mexican food and some whole in the wall restaurant in the city.

*Meeting a couple who had been married for 62 years talking to them for over an hour. They also ended up on the Newlywed Game on the Cruise too. Found out the the secret to a long happy marriage is actually liking each other. Who knew???

*Watching Dave Perform "Crocodile Rock" as Elton John at the Carnival Legends show which he was great and of course hilarious as usual.

There are so many more great memories but those snipits should do for now. I can't wait til we get to do something else big like this with the Crew as we call us and go crazy, be lazy, eat way too much and also just forget for a short while the life we left behind for the carefree days of a good ol vacation.

Here are some pics to look at too to help you be jealous if you aren't already: