Helping Sarah....

Towards the end of July, Jim and I decided to take a few days to go to Provo and help Sarah get motivated to take care of things that she needed to take care of so that she could start school in the fall. She was motivated but needed an extra push and some info that Jim and I could take to her so she could get residency. We pricelined a motel and ended up staying at the Residence Inn Marriot Motel right in downtown Provo. That motel is like a mini-apartment! It had a full kitchen! Was way nice. It was only 2 blocks from Olive Garden where Sarah works! We got there Thursday night after work. Sarah finished her evening at work and dropped by to see us. Seeing the motel room and not liking her house much anymore and being soooo far from things kind of sparked something inside Sarah, so she wanted to start looking for another apartment. Her landlord at her house had said he was thinking of putting the house back on the market, and that would mean that if they had a buyer, Sarah would have 30 days to find a place and move! Yikes! So anyway, that thought was at the back of her mind.
We had a good visit, and then went to bed with the idea of getting up early and taking care of business at UVU. We got up early and ate breakfast, our motel had a great continental breakfast. Yay! I love those, except I don't understand why they have them so darn early! Don't they know if people stay there for a vacation they like to sleep in? But anyway, Sarah met us at the motel, and then we were off! We went to UVU and helped Sarah take the info she needed to the Residency office, and we showed Jim the Honey Badger!! (it's really a Wolverine, and the mascot of UVU) but you need to go look up the 'honey badger' on you tube to understand me and Sarah. :)
While we were waiting with Sarah to get her turn talking to the financial counselor, we got bored and took a few silly pictures....

 that's only a few!!!! We got things taken care of at the school. And Sarah was actually way excited for school to start!!! She ended up getting residency! Tuition went from $6000 down to $2500 a semester! sooooo worth the trip!
I dont' know what it is, but every time we go visit Sarah, she has a way of making you want to buy her stuff without even asking! She had mentioned she needed new work shoes, so we went to get some and ended up buying her new work pants, shirts, ties AND work shoes.... This is Jim waiting while Sarah tried on clothes... he looks like he knows he's going to spend some bucks!

We ate lunch at Red Robin, then Sarah had to work, so Jim and I wandered around and spent time looking at houses. Then we ate dinner at Olive Garden so Sarah could wait on us. All in all it was a good day and we were happy we took care of business. Saturday morning came and we all got up and went to Salt Lake City. We needed to check out the IKEA store, we were looking for good bookcases, one for Andrew's room so he'd have a place for all of his stuff when he moved home, and one for my craft room for cookbooks, yarn, and you name it. IKEA is a fun store, you need to go there sometime. We also went to the Fashion Place mall (my favorite mall in SLC I think) and ate at the Cheesecake factory....Sarah got her favorite, the Miso Salmon....

                                       Jim and I got tacos and a burrito..... Delish!

And of course... if you go to Cheesecake factory you have to get cheese cake no matter how full you are!

We got a Reese's peanut butter cheesecake...

it was way good!

                                      but we got WAY Full!!!

After our day in Salt Lake, we went back to Provo, and Sarah showed us some lovely houses in the hills of Provo! Sometimes I'd like to move there... if there was a job for Jim and if we didn't feel like we should be here for Mom and Dad.

We watched movies in our motel. Then Sunday we said goodbye to Sarah (she had to work) and Jim and I headed home, stopping at IKEA for the bookcases we had picked out, and then we relaxed getting ready for another work week. It was a fun get away.

Sarah looked at apartments for the next few weeks and found one!!! It's a townhouse that's actually in Orem, 2 minutes from Olive Garden (where Sarah works) and 5 minutes from UVU! It was too good to pass up! There would be 4 other girls (some return missionaries) and Sarah would get the master bedroom which means she has a huge walk in closet and her own bathroom! it's sooooo worth the extra 50 bucks a month I'd say. You've probably have seen the pics from FB but I will post some pics here.

Andrew and I took a few days to go to Provo to move Sarah the weekend of August 11th. We all had a good time and a lot of laughs. We took Andrew to lunch at J Dawgs... if you have never eaten there you definitely need too! LOVE the place....

We made lots of trips going back and forth from Sarah's old house to her new one and we kept way busy. But it was a good thing to move her and she LOVES her new house and her new roomies! Here are some pics of her new place.....

 Her bed is at one end of her room... and the door to her bathroom is at the other end along with her desk and study area.............

Stepping into her bathroom

                                  Her bathtub AND shower......

                                       the doorway of her closet.........

 All in all she is way happier with her new place and her roomies are way nice. They all range in ages from 24 to 30 so there aren't any newbie college girls. After we got Sarah settled Andrew and I had to head for home.... so we bought Sarah some dinner at Taco Bell...

 Gave her some hugs and took a few last pictures.... and Andrew and I were on our way.

Andy and I went to the Gateway mall and wandered around a bit, couldn't decide where to eat. After driving a while and getting out of the busy traffic we stopped at Taco Bell too. Sarah's food made us hungry for Taco Bell.
We made it home safe, and were happy knowing Sarah was happy. She had grants this year since she's over 25 and that paid for school, she took a little of her loan money to use for rent through January so she doesn't have to work as much and will be able to devote most of her time to school and homework. She's been doing great and LOVES being in school again. I'm proud of her and her turning over a new leaf......