European Vacation

I'm in Europe until August 10. Read me and Daniel's blog about our trip at

rosensdoeurope.blogspot.com

Independence Day

For the 4th of July, I went with Daniel's camp to the Colorado Rapids soccer game. They were playing the Chicago Fire. I was kind of excited because I used to go to Arizona Sandsharks soccer games all the time when I was a kid. But it was a disaster from the start!

First, a huge storm rolled through. As I was leaving the house at 4:30, I could hear tornado sirens going off. When I got to the school, it was raining and really windy. I was wearing a tank top and shorts. Not exactly ideal for rain and wind. I thought that this storm would pass over in an hour like all the others have and by the time the game started at 7, it would be bright and sunny again. I was wrong. It continued to rain almost until we arrived at the stadium. Then at least it stopped raining, but it was still cloudy and about 60 degrees. In shorts and a tank top, I was cold. Our group was selected to help carry out the American flag onto the field. So we all lined up and grabbed a side of the flag. As we were out on the field, a girl started singing the National Anthem. And I knew what was coming. As she sang "and the rockets red glare..." fireworks went off. And I was stuck on the field holding the flag. It scared me to death.

We went back to our seats to shiver on the cold bleachers. One section over was an entire group of very obnoxious, yet typical, soccer fans. They brought drums and horns and were screaming the ENTIRE game. They tried over and over and over to get the wave going and were directing the crowd in singing all sorts of ridiculous songs and chants. As the sun went down, it started getting really cold. I just wanted the game to be over so we could watch the fireworks. The game did end, and Colorado lost.

It was supposedly "Denver's biggest and best fireworks show" because it was just outside the city, so they were allowed to use bigger explosives. They had to relocate almost half of the stadium (which was a record 19,000 people) onto the field so they could see the show. That took about a half hour. Luckily we didn't have to move all 70 of the campers down to the field. I was bracing myself for the show to start. I covered my ears, and I was okay. The show started off pretty good. The music was really loud, but I was okay with that because it drowned out the sound of the fireworks. I actually was able to uncover my ears about 10 minutes in. There were random gaps in the fireworks. It was strange. For like a minute and a half there would be nothing in the sky, and we were left wondering if it was over, or what? Then about ten minutes later, I noticed that there were two songs playing right on top of each other. The music got messed up somehow. You know how when they fade out one song and bring in another, for a couple seconds you can hear both. Well it was like that for the entire time. We heard "The Stars and Stripes Forever" right on top of "I'm Proud to Be An American". The piccolos did not go well with the electric guitar. The one positive thing, is that it distracted me enough to not be as afraid of the actual fireworks. After ten minutes of hearing two songs at once, and random gaps in between the fireworks, the show just stopped. No finale, it just stopped. A voice said that they were experiencing technical difficulties, and the show would resume later. We gave up and left. It seemed that everyone else felt the same way because the stadium basically emptied out. It was disappointing.

The bright spot of the evening was actually the drive home. We were in one of those big charter buses, with big windows. We were nice and warm and we could look 360 degrees around the city and see fireworks everywhere. We must have seen 20 separate shows. It was incredible. The whole ride home you could hear everyone in the bus going "Oh! Look at that one over there!" Then when we got on the freeway, we passed right by Coors Field where the Rockies had just lost to the Diamondbacks :-) and we caught the middle of their fireworks. On the highway we got a front row seat for about 10 minutes until it faded into the distance. And that was a really good fireworks show.

I made it sound worse than it was. To be honest, I was just glad to be able to spend time with Daniel on the holiday. And on the way home, I was thinking "this is my last night going home alone." That was enough to make me happy.

Summer Days

I haven't posted much, because there's not that much going on really. I have been spending most afternoons and evenings on campus with Daniel at his camp. I like watching his rehearsals and then we hang out in between. He has way more meals on his swipe card than he'll need, so he has been swiping me in. Then in the evenings we either go to the Ritchie Center for some recreation time, or we go back to Newman and a bunch of the campers practice performing in front of their peers. The campers are actually getting to know me. Some of them are really nice (mostly the girls) and some of them are really awkward (mostly the boys). As part of Daniel's job, he has to try to include the antisocial kids and get them to join the group. Sometimes that means sitting with them at dinner. It makes for a very boring and uncomfortable conversation.

In the mornings, I have been taking care of things at the house and getting ready for Europe. We made all of our train reservations for the entire trip. On top of our $1264 youth global passes, we spent $746 on reservations. A big part of that $746 is a $300 sleeper car. That's almost $2000 just on trains before we have even left the US. Crazy. But at least I can relax knowing that everything is taken care of and we won't be stranded in a city unable to get to the next.

Yesterday my Aunt Shirley and Uncle George came to town. My grandma's cousin Jane died last week and they were here for her memorial service. It was also a chance for them to come see our house. They came over at 10am and got the tour of the house before we all went to the service. I was surprised that there were less than 30 people there. I never met her in my life, only talked to her on the phone once. But my mom really wanted me to go and I could tell that Eric, Jane's brother whom we have met several times, was glad we were there. It was only 30 minutes long. She was pretty old and very sick, so I didn't think it was as tragic as it could have been. What made it somewhat sad for me is that this lady is someone my grandma babysat for as a teenager. That is very scary. And I also learned that she had breast cancer, her mother had breast cancer (her mother is my great-grandma's sister), and my grandma had the very early stages of breast cancer. I never thought that it ran in our family, but it appears it does. Very distantly, but it still does. Daniel also took the whole morning off work to come to the service with me. That was really nice. It's been hard having him at camp. Even though I spend hours with him every day, we can never be alone. We can't hold hands, kiss, or anything because he's working and that would be inappropriate. But it's only for a few more days. And it has been fun too. He's learning a lot about running a camp and teaching kids.

Other than that, I've been keeping up with the house. I'm starting to realize how much work it is to keep a house clean. I have done a pretty through clean about twice a week so far. I've done it so often because people have been coming over. I don't think I'll clean it that often during the school year. The shed is still sitting in our front driveway. Daniel has called them every day to find out when they will come back and move it. It's been there for over a week now. I have been playing the piano a lot too, even though it needs to be tuned. I think watching all the kids perform has renewed my love of playing.

On Sunday, the camp is over and Daniel comes home. Then late Monday night Nicole and Mike fly in. On Tuesday morning we'll drive up to Estes Park. That Friday night we'll drive back to Denver and then on Saturday morning they fly out. Monday my parents will drive down to Denver, pick us up, and drive back to Phoenix. Wednesday at 11am, we leave for Europe! It's a crazy two weeks, and I am sooooo excited!

Daniel's Camp

We've been in the house for one week today. It seems like a lot longer. I already feel settled and at home. I really love this house. It feels like mine. It gives me motivation to keep it clean too. I'm really careful about putting everything away when I'm done. I don't think that will last very long.

I have been going over to campus at least once a day to spend time with Daniel at his camp. The other counselors are getting to know me, and some of the campers too. A couple days ago the Tuff Shed people came by to deliver our shed that we bought. His truck was too wide to fit through our narrow driveway into the backyard. He told me he would make a phone call. When he came back, he said that his boss told him to just drop it in the driveway. We would have to move it ourselves. He said that it said that in our contract. I was like, "no it does NOT say that" but I didn't know what else to do. He told me that we could move it by rolling it on PVC pipe. I called Daniel's parents and they talked to him on the phone. He told me that they would be back later in the week to finish moving it, but for now it was staying in our driveway. Right then, our realtor's dad pulled up to the house with a pick-up truck full of dirt. We talked to her about getting some fill dirt to fill in the foundation in the back of the house. Just our luck, there was a giant shed in our driveway so he couldn't get to the backyard. Which means he dropped the dirt in the front of our driveway. Ugh. It was not a good day. I called Daniel and he told me to go ahead and pull out the weeds and try to move the dirt into the gap. We don't have a wheelbarrow, so I emptied out a garbage can and put it on top of a flat dolly. Then I filled the garbage can with dirt and wheeled it to the backyard. I filled it a little too full, and I could barely move it. I finally dragged it to the backyard and tipped it over. That's as far as I got. I couldn't lift the garbage can to tip the dirt out. Daniel told me he would take an hour off the next morning to help me finish moving the dirt.

So I picked him up around 10am and we shoveled dirt into the garbage can, pushed it up the driveway into the backyard, and then shoveled it into the gap. It was hard work. I got a blister and really dirty. But I'm really glad it's not in our driveway anymore. I was so happy that Daniel came to help me. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed having to figure all of this out for myself the day before. I took a nap that afternoon and then went back to campus for their evening fun activity. We went swimming in the giant olympic-sized swimming pool in our fitness center. There was a huge blow-up obstacle course that you had to jump onto and crawl through stuff and then slide down at the end. It got really slippery and it was hard to stay on. It was really fun. The campers stayed on that for about 90 minutes, while me and Daniel and another counselor Marijo talked and hung out. We told her the story of Daniel's proposal. She was really nice to talk to. Marijo and Daniel both have all day Friday off, so we invited her to come over to our house. I think we'll make dinner together.

Daniel's boss at the camp is also warming up to me. I brought a cake the other day and she really liked that. She actually asked Daniel if I was going to come to Elitch's with them on Sunday. Elitch's is a Six Flags park in Denver. I don't even work for the camp or anything, but she assumed I was coming with them. I think that's a good sign. Then that night I was hanging out in Daniel's room until lights out and she came by to talk to him. She saw me in there and told us that I wasn't supposed to be there. I offered to leave, but she told me to stay, but don't let the campers see that I'm in there. I felt really bad, but she didn't really care that much. I'm glad because she won't mind that I'm around so much. I have nothing to do around here, so I would like to spend time with Daniel at the camp.

Daniel gets a couple hours off this afternoon so he is going to come home with me. I think we'll go grocery shopping and then bake brownies to take back to camp for the counselors. I spent an hour this morning cleaning the house so it looks nice for Daniel. I'm so excited that we get to spend time together. We haven't had time together by ourselves in almost a week.

We leave for Europe 3 weeks from today! Yikes!

Done!

I just got back from taking Daniel's parents to the airport. It was a crazy 4 days, but we finished pretty much everything. There are no more boxes to be unpacked, no more furniture to put together, nothing to fix. The only thing left is the shed which will be delivered on Monday. I can't believe we got everything done in 3 1/2 days. The 4th day we spent the morning finishing up, went shopping for groceries at Costco, and then celebrated our roommate Paul's birthday and our new house with a party in the evening. A bunch of the Theta Chi brothers came over and Hope too :-) Paul made a delicious dinner for all of us (on his own birthday) and we played guitar hero and drank PBR all night long.

I had to take Daniel to work this morning. He's living on campus for the next two weeks. He does get one whole day off this Friday. Besides that he can't really leave campus. I wish that we had at least one day in the house to ourselves, but it didn't work out. That's okay, we can wait. Daniel's parents were so generous. We went to the store a billion times and they bought anything they thought we needed. Anything. And they took us to Costco and let us get whatever we wanted this one time. I asked his dad if something was too expensive and he told me, "We're taking you to Costco once, you can take advantage of it or not" So I did lol. This morning before they left for the last time, Robert put a little piece of bread and a pinch of salt and wrapped it in aluminum foil. He told us this is so that nobody in the house will ever go hungry, and we'll always have a little spice. He hid it up high in the back of a cupboard. I guess it's a Jewish tradition. It was so sweet.

Today me, Paul, and Hope are going to the neighborhood picnic! I have never been to a neighborhood picnic before. And one week after we move in, they have one. It's so funny. It's a big neighborhood, probably 1.5-2 square miles so there will be a lot of people there. They even have sponsors and I'm pretty sure there will be food. Then we're meeting two other brothers, Eric Froese and Erik Engelstad to see The Proposal. I think it'll be a fun day. I'm really excited to cook dinner for myself tonight for the first time in our new home. I really hope that Daniel will be able to come home once in a while, but I doubt he will. At least I can go to campus and hang out with him all day if I really want to. I'm kind of looking forward to the next 2 weeks. I can do whatever I want. I'm planning on going to the library to get a big stack of books to read.

We're Moving!

We leave tomorrow for Denver! The last week has been full of shopping and packing. Yesterday it took only 2 hours to load up the truck and now we are ready to go. I am so so so excited to get there and start unpacking. But also really overwhelmed. Looking at that truck filled with stuff made me feel like it's going to take a looong time to get it all unloaded and put away. We threw away a ton of stuff and sent even more to Goodwill, but we still have so much. I'm picturing opening up a box and having no place to put all the stuff inside. I'm particularly concerned about our kitchen. It's pretty small and we have a lot of dishes. I'm afraid there will be no room left for actual food. But we'll see. We don't really have a lot of room to store cleaning supplies and random stuff. There are 3 linen closets upstairs, but they have a bunch of small shelves. Not really good for storing boxes. And there's one big closet downstairs, but it's just exposed beams. No shelves or anything. I hope we didn't overestimate how much room we have and take too much stuff. I keep trying to picture what the rest of the week will be like with unpacking and everything. I don't know where to start there's just so much to do. We have a ton of Ikea furniture to assemble and then a million boxes to unpack and put away. I just have to take a big breath and take it one box at a time. I hope that by the time Daniel's parents leave there are just a few boxes that I have to unpack. We did all of our shopping here, so we won't need to run to Target or anything. We will go to Costco and get some groceries, but that's it. We tried to think of everything we need (which is a lot) and get it all ahead of time. We spent exactly $1500 on everything for the house. I think that's pretty good. So Daniel and I have to pay for the moving truck and the hotel tomorrow night. So many people were generous and gave us stuff. Daniel's mom went through their entire house and gave us almost anything we wanted. My parents gave us two bookshelves and anything else that belonged to me. I took a bunch of my favorite books and piano music. My grandparents gave us their beautiful piano (which actually belongs to my mom). My Aunt and Uncle gave us some furniture and kitchen supplies as well as 100 Euros for our trip to Europe! And My mom's best friend's husband's mother just died so we went through her house and got a bunch more dishes and cleaning supplies and towels and stuff like that. She also gave us a lawn mower, rakes, shovels, and other yard stuff. We feel so lucky to have such generous and giving people around us. So we are really set.

At Ikea we got really nice stuff too. I wanted to get a cabinet to put our dishes in so we would have more room in the kitchen for food. We got a beautiful cabinet with frosted glass doors on it. I'm so excited to put it together and put our dishes in it. We also got this really cool window treatment for our front window. There are big long panels of cloth that slide past each other on a track in front of the window. We got 4 red panels and 4 sheer white panels with swirls cut out. So when the white panels are in front of the red, you can see it through the swirls. It was really expensive, but it will look so cool when it's all done.

We also got to experience the joy of shopping at Costco :-) They have such amazing prices there! We paid less for a 20 pc set of ceramic dishes at Costco than a 16 pc set of plastic Corelle dishes at Target. They are really beautiful. And we got a blender, bath towels... a ton of stuff. For the past few weeks I was sort of afrair our house would look like Goodwill with all our random hand-md-downs that don't match or anything. But actually the stuff we got from family and friends is really nice and we bought just enough new stuff that I think everything else will look new too. I'm so excited to see it all put together!

I'm really not looking forward to the drive though. Daniel made me drive the truck around yesterday with all the stuff in it so I could get used to it before I have to go 70 on the highway. It's not that bad. It's just a really long drive. Really really really long. The worst part is there is no way to hook up our iPod to the truck. We are going to Best Buy to buy something for the trip there. We have to. Or I think I might die. That may be exaggerating a bit.

Anyways, I'm so ready to get out of Phoenix and move into our own home. Me and Daniel get to make all the rules :-) And I don't have to deal with my parents anymore. After about one week, I was going crazy in this house. I'm getting along fine with my parents, but I don't know how long that will last. It's much better for our relationship if I live somewhere else. So tomorrow morning, we're leaving and I never have to live in my parents house again. I'm happy :-)

Back in Phoenix

The last few days have been really busy, but really fun.  VBS was pretty insane.  It seemed crazier than it has been in past years.  I felt like we spent half the time trying to get them to be quiet and sit still and the other half actually having fun.  But that's the way it goes sometimes with little kids.  It was so weird that some of the kids I babysat as infants were in preschool now!  Those kids were in the nursery when I did it for VBS 4 years ago.  And the kids I had in preschool are now in 1st and 2nd grade.  Time goes by so fast.  The Friday night show was so disorganized and really scary for me.  I was told that my job was to help the kids learn their lines.  What I didn't realize is that nobody had figured out how the show was going to work.  I didn't know how to get the kids in the order for their lines and out onto stage in front of the microphone without having complete chaos.  So at the last minute, I let the 5th and 6th graders do all the lines.  The show went surprisingly well despite all the chaos and disorganization.  The kids had a great time.  And the best part is that Rylan was so attached to me all night :-)  When he saw me across the church, he took off and ran straight to me and gave me a hug.  During the entire show he sat right next to me almost perfectly still.  That's pretty good for a 2 year old.  Kian and Rylan are coming over on Sunday to go swimming.  I think that will be really fun.

Today, besides recovering from VBS, I have been cleaning out my childhood bedroom.  I have a ton of stuff to throw out, a ton of stuff to donate, and some stuff to take with me to our new house.  It's mostly old childhood memory stuff.  It'll probably go up in the attic or something.  But I don't want to get rid of it regardless.  Coming back to my parents house drives me nuts.  They have so much STUFF.  My dad keeps buying more and more. Every inch of the walls is covered in paintings, pictures, etc.  Every tabletop is covered in knick knacks or old mail or papers.  Every corner is filled with furniture..... I can't stand it.  If this were my house I would probably get rid of half the stuff in it.  But my dad wants to buy more!  I don't know what it is, but clutter makes me a little crazy.  So it feels good to at least get rid of the clutter in my bedroom.   Part of me doesn't want to take any of it to Denver because I'm afraid our house will get cluttered. But I also have to remind myself that I'm not taking all that much stuff and I will have plenty of space in closets and the attic to store stuff if we don't want to put it out somewhere.  I think Daniel is going to be upset at how many books I'm taking.  I love to read and there are so many good books I have accumulated over the years.  I'm hoping that I will be able to display them somewhere in the living room.  I think it will make us look smart and be sort of a conversation piece to have all these great books out where people can see them.  But Daniel thinks books are a waste of space.  As he put it "what are we going to do with books?"  But he will have to deal with it because he's marrying me and I love books!

Tonight I'm going over to Daniel's parent's house for dinner.  I think it will be nice to spend some time with them.  His mom was so sweet to invite me even though Daniel's not here.  And my parents finally decided to book the cruise over New Year's so the whole family will be together for a few days.  I think it will be so much fun.