house, yard, garden, dog

oh the joy of newness! i couldn't be any more pleased today. last evening we signed the papers to rent a house downtown. it's so perfect. such a God-send. we've been looking for a month now, which isn't that long. and our current lease isn't actually up until the end of july. but we found IT. sometimes you just know. it's a cute, little house at the end of a small street near the middle of downtown, 3 miles from work (but we can ride our above ground subway system for free to the U). it has a yard. let me repeat: it has a yard!! it's a two bedroom 'bungalow' (prolly the best terms for it) with a washer and dryer (praise god, that was the hardest thing to find) and a basement for all our gear to be stored in. a wonderful new kitchen (a must!) and a yard!! whohoo! it is fenced in, with a clothes line. double whoohoo! i think though, that one of the best things about this place is that now i can have a small garden. i want to grow herbs mostly, but also a few tomato plants. i want to have oregano, thyme, basil, mint, dill, and lavender. it's perfect for that. and we met the neighbors last night- cute young couple with a little son. the realtors said they listed the place on friday. we signed on tuesday. they also had a whole big stack of applications to choose from. but as soon as they saw our application, they gave it to us, without even a credit check. i think being a nurse helps that out. they see my employment (and a PhD grad student isn't too bad either!) and think we will be at least fairly responsible. i happen to think we are every property owners best dream: we ar excellent renters. we take care of things, keep them clean, and now i am even going to put in a garden. another HUGE bonus of this place: fenced in yard. that translates: dog!!! or, for those of you who know me, wootie. (i call dogs, at least small ones, wooties) we won't get one just yet, but a dog does mean more money, time, and kennels when we go climbing. but still, now we have the possibility whereas before we couldn't even think of it. so we will start moving soon. we have a month and a half to move though, cuz we can't break the lease in the other place. so we will have a nice leisurely move. that's kinda nice. not worth this much money, but this place was too perfect to pass up. it suits us wonderfully. i am really excited about it. i've ben thinking about my little garden all day. i can't wait to go outside and pick my herbs to cook with. and have a nice kitchen to move around in. it's great. it's totally god. we've been praying for this for 6 months now, knowing we wanted tomove and not knowing where. and the hunt has been pretty frustrating with so many pros and cons to each place. and eric having different opinioins on what is nice and what is acceptable. (he could live in a tent mind you..) so we finally found someting perfect and i've been thanking god all day. i can't wait to spend my first night there.

other developements in my life: climbing. mostly just climbing. and it's been a blast. i lead what in my mind was my best lead yet yesterday. Little cottonwood canyon is famous for it's alpine granite, and sandbagged ratings :(meaning that the climbing is actually harder than what the rating says it is- often this is b/c it was rated back in the day when a 9 was the hardest climb ever. today the hardest climb ever is a 16. so go figure) it was a tricky pitch about 300 feet up, with barely anything to put y our feet on and a very thin crack that only my finger tips fit in. i have to admit: very often while climbing the thoughts that go through my head go something like this: 'i hate rock climbing, why do i rock climb? this sucks! oh my gosh this is so scary. i hate rock climbing...whew, that was a hard pitch. man the view is awesome up here, i love rock climbing. it feels so good to see an obstacle in front of you and get over it. rock climbing is so cool..." i've never felt stronger on the rock, i am climbing things now that i thought i'd be climbing by the end of thes ummer. i'ts been a lot o fun. sure, my apartment is a wreck though. it looks awful, i haven't cleaned in 3 weeks, and it needs it. but i can say that i've been climbing! :) tha'ts how it goes though. eric doesn't mind after all! june in salt lake is beautiful. the weather isn't too heinous yet, quite pleasant actually. we are reaching higher temps though- the 90s are upon us, yet the heat is dry so it is so bearable. plus, you can always go up in the canyons and the temp will be 10-20 degrees lower. i love these mountains. i love them. i really do. everybody should come see my mountains. they are good for my soul.