For the first time in six weeks, we experienced a weekend in Salt Lake that did not involve snow or rain. Shane was in denial, but I knew it was inevitable.
In order to celebrate our good fortune, we woke up really early on Saturday and made our way over to the REI garage sale, where we picked up some steals (his and hers approach shoes, climbing shoes, North Face fleece, head lamp, ski backpack, etc. etc. etc.). In addition to the ridiculous sticker savings, we were able to use the $25 off coupon we got from the Warren Miller show last week. We are such good bargainers.
Taking a page from M&M’s book, we spent the majority of the day on Saturday fixing up the apartment. We made a run to Home Depot to get shelving and installed that in addition to unpacking and organizing about 84,000 cubic feet of our most prized possessions.
Not wanting to waste the entire snow-free day indoors, we took a left out of our driveway, left at the first light and then didn’t stop until we were at Solitude and Brighton ski resorts. Yes, folks, there are only two turns and 15 miles between us and the resorts. We gained about 3000 feet in elevation, and the sun was going down, so our little walk was somewhat chilly. The surface of the stream had a new layer of ice on it, and there were still patches of snow left over from last week’s storm.
BRRRR!!! Thank goodness for layers.
So I gained a few pounds. OK?!?!
We enjoyed a nice meeting this morning up in Bountiful, the ever-expanding meeting. There was yet another family there that just moved here from Minot, ND (”Why not Minot?”). I’m telling you, I think we started the migratory trend. A delicious and fun lunch was had at Clay and Shara’s, followed by gospel meeting, more house organization and dinner. The real excitement happened after dinner, when…
…We were visited by an extremely friendly lady who welcomed us to the neighborhood with a friendly card and a friendly plate-sized cookie!
Normally I would have been a little confused by the fact that they found us after living here in our new apartment for only one week since we haven’t even written our address on anything formal yet, but I was warned by our realtor that we will be greeted by someone from the nearest LDS ward within the first three weeks of moving here. If we do not get welcomed to the neighborhood (most likely with food), then someone is apparently not doing their job. The lady was very nice and chatty, writing down key points of information that we revealed about ourselves throughout the conversation, like our names, occupations, where we lived previously, how many siblings we have, maiden name, etc. Kind of creepy, in retrospect. I wonder if her notes are going to make it into their extensive genealogy project or into our personal files. She scheduled a time sometime this week when she will drop off a welcome meal, cooked by one of the other neighbors in the area (apparently from South America, since we expressed an interest in ethnic food). She kept pressing us to see if there was anything we don’t like or are allergic to, and after about two minutes of intense questioning about our food likes and dislikes, I finally told her that I probably would not enjoy eating organ meat. She wrote that down, too. They’re all just so friendly! That seems to be the Salt Lake City outsiders’ motto, anyway.
A little too friendly….it’s generally just creepy. Just invite Jeff up, I’m sure he’d love to talk to them.
I remember greeting new neighbors….”Hi, we live up the street, would you be interested in chipping in so that we can get cable internet installed on our street?”
And before the internet it was: “Hi, we live up the street, do you mind if we come over and use your pool?”
It must be nice to be noticed and loved by the Mormon neighbors. Did they check our your pantry to see if you had stockpiled the required amount of Mormon food? I was thinking of a bumper sticker for Mormons…GOT STOCKPILED FOOD? Not that catchy…but its better than “got wives?”
I hope you guys mess with the Mormons hard and often. My parents used to have a house up the street from this Jehovah Witness place…and they would get all fired up on Saturday and bang on all the doors…the SAME ONES over and over again.
How fun.
I don’t think I’m going to mess with the mormons. If this trend of bringing over food continues, I think we have a good thing going for ourselves. That giant cookie was delicious. It must have been sent from the angel Moroni himself.
It’s kind of creepy how she spelled out W-E-L-C-O-M-E
I think that was for friendly emphasis. She was really friendly.