Mountain People or Beach People??

I've often been told that there are two types of people in the world....mountain people and beach people. I would definately classify myself as a beach person. There's just nothing better than spending a day in the sun body surfing, boogie boarding, and relaxing. However, it struck me the other day that I haven't been to a beach since my senior trip in 2003!! How can that be?!?! Now, I did go to a couple beaches in 2007 in Taiwan, but I don't count that because we couldn't swim at all.

On the other hand, I have been to four different mountain ranges since 2007. I visited some beautiful mountains in Montana on a business trip.

Then I was able to visit the most amazing mountains in Taiwan.In 2008 I got to see the rockies in Colorado,
And now I live in the Appalacian mountains. (I can't wait to see how pretty these mountains are once they turn green!!)

As much as I loved these vacations, and thought the mountains were gorgeous; I think this siuation needs fixed. It's definately time for a beach vacation!!

Up and Running!!

We officially have internet, phone, and Direct tv (shocking, I know). I finally feel connected with the rest of the world.

Tips, anyone?!

I've decided to take advantage of our awesome yard, and start a garden! I've been good with flowers in the past, but I've never tried to grow anything edible! There's already a bricked off part of our yard I can use once I clean it all out. I've decided to start with watermelon and cantalope. We consume a large amount of fruit, so I figured it'd be smart money-wise too!

Since I've never done this, are there any of you out there that have? Do you have any tips for me?!

Marathon likes to help me dig up the garden area....we'll see if she stops digging once I've planted it!

Those of you in Missouri, don't be jealous, but we've had 4 days of 80-90 degree weather, and we're loving it!! We love spending time out in our yard, and walking down to the local parks!

WE ARE ALIVE!!

I realize it's been a very long time since I've blogged.....I now have a lot of catching up to do! We got into the rental house. Thank you all for your prayers!! Houses for rent are literally impossible to find in Bridgeport. It's also nearly impossible to find an apartment that accepts pets at all! So, to find a rental house that accepts pets, with a fenced back yard (not to mention the Christian landlords!!) is completely a God thing! Moving cross country is so nerve-racking, especially to a place where you've never been and know no one. However, this just goes to show that God has it all planned out!! He knew the exact house for us and timed it just perfectly!

Well, here are some pics of the house:

Living Room....complete with gas fireplace.Dining room....with all the hotel junk in it....I'll post pics of us settled in later.

The kitchen, it's small, but I can't complain! I love cooking and being the a hotel made that impossible!!

Fenced back yard!! We LOVE the back yard!! We've never had a fenced yard so it's so wonderful to be able to just let the dogs play off-leash!

View of the back of the house and deck.

Guest Bedroom
Our bedroom....the bedroom pics aren't very good because there's nothing in them, so it's hard to really show them.

I will post more pics of the house soon....Ones with us actually settled in! We still don't have internet (I'm chillin' at Panera now), but we should get it Thursday, then I will definately blog more regularly.

PATH Project - Clarksburg, West Virginia

In 2007, PJM Interconnection (regional transmission organization serving 51 million people in the 13 states of the District of Columbia) approved the construction of a new high-voltage transmission line from southwestern West Virginia to central Maryland designed to maintain reliability of the regional electric grid. The Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline Project (PATH) will help avoid the overload of existing transmission lines, which could threaten the electric power supply and lead to blackouts (August 14, 2003-largest blackout in US history). Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power (AEP) have announced a joint venture to build the project as a backbone expansion to the regional electric transmission system. The project’s estimated cost is $1.8 billion. Targeted for completion in 2013, the PATH project consists of a single 765-kilovolt (kV) transmission line from AEP’s Amos substation near St. Albans, W.Va., to a new substation near Kemptown, southeast of Frederick, Md.

Journey to West Virginia

On this project, I've decided to use the Macbook that I got from Jillian for Christmas. A Macbook and a PC are totally different. Since I've gotten the hang of the MacBook, I actually like it more than a PC. Work as been a little slow, so I've had plenty of time to play around with my laptop.
Here is what I've been working on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOu4b51WCeI

Housing Update #2

We met with our land lord yesterday, and it went really well! They're fully set to close on the house Wednesday, then they're havng it professionally cleaned Thursday and we can move in Friday! We'll meet again with them Wednesday to sign the lease, and we can move in on Friday!! The land lord was also very willing to put in a transfer clause in the lease, which will allow us to move with 30 days notice if Chris' work transfers us somewhere else. Everything seems to be moving along great, and we can't wait to be in the house!!

What's going on out there?!

It's snowing today....in April!

The House!

Here's a picture of the house we're waiting for! We don't have any pics of the inside, but we walked by and took this one (yep, we're 'those' people!). As I mentioned, we're waiting for the landlords to close on the house so that they actually own it! The closing date is set for April 15th, but we're praying it will be moved closer!

Tygart State Park

Yesterday we headed up to Tygart State Park for some hiking. It took us about an hour and a half to find the park....it's 20 minutes from town! (We've discovered our GPS isn't always acurate here!) However, once we got there we quickly found some trails and got started!

There's a 10 mile lake that runs through the park. They have pontoon boats to rent, which we plan to do this summer!

It was a great hike, and a beautiful day! Emma was actually a little trooper and led the pack for the whole hike! (however she's still sleeping this morning!) I can imagine how beautiful the park will be once all the trees turn green!

It All Fit!!

We purchased the storage unit yesterday, but since it was raining, we waited until today to unload everything. We got the 5x10 unit, thinking there would be plenty of room. However, I got a little nervous once we actually got there and opened the door! But, as you can see, we got it all to fit! Barely, but it's in there!

We also returned the truck today, so now we're just waiting for a place to live!

It's Been An Exhausting Week!!

Housing Update

***Update***
The soon to be owners of the house approved us and our two dogs to rent the house! Now we just need to pray that the closing of the house can be completed soon!

Since moving here we've had no luck finding an apartment or house to rent. Which means, we're still living at the Holiday Inn....yeah a hotel room with two adults and two dogs....it's cramped. I called every realtor in the phonebook yesterday and was told over and over that rental properties are in high demand, and it's nearly impossible to find one right now. We contacted every apartment and there are no openings until May.

However, we did get a call about a rental yesterday, and we went to check it out. It's a small, but cute house in the perfect location! The only problem is that the house is not yet fully sold to the land lords. The house is set to close on April 15th, which means we can't move in until after that! The realtor is going to talk to the landlords today and give him our information. Hopefully they'll agree to rent to us contigent on them buying the house.

Now, I'm calling all my blog readers (all 5 of you) to please pray that they will agree to rent to us. Also, please pray that they will be able to move up the closing date.

Farewell Parties!

Last weekend we made sure we spent some time with both our families. We had lunch with at my mom's on Saturday. I know we took more pictures than this one, but apparently those were all with Alli and mom's camera!

Lij riding in our car to our Sunday, after church, lunch.

We always eat dinner at Jennifer's on Sundays, so of course we went there last Sunday. We had a great dinner, then we heaed out for Dairy Queen for a farewell dessert!Nicole was pretty excited about DQ

She's going to miss me....guess she needs to come visit!! Well, once we have a home anyway....

Dalt and Maddie....she was waiting all day to grab a snack .