We have been here a little over a week and we have loved it here In Sunnyvale California! The travel here was.....well lets just say, I wouldnt recommend it to anyone. Its the most boring, plain, lame drive anyone could endure. The roads are looong and flat and even though your going 80 miles an hour, it feels like your crawling only going 40. It was not fun. And not to mention, that I bought the kids about $40 dollars worth of books and activities to play on the road and ALL OF THEM were packed into the Uhaul somewhere. HORRIBLE! The kids did AMAZING though, and watched movies and got along so well. If I remember right, I think they only had 2 real arguments the entire 13 hours of driving. Im so very proud of them, because for them especially, it was a long haul. We stayed a night in Reno which was about half way. We just couldnt drive the entire way and im glad we didnt because we really would have missed out on a beautiful drive through the dark. Im not kidding, as soon as we Hit the Sierra MOuntains, the views were breath taking. Heavenly Father is so mindful of us to create such beautiful majestic mountains for us to love!
So yes, we've been here a week. Our fabulous best friends, THE KENNY FAMILY have been life savers!! They have fed us, helped us move in, taken us around, and have helped us with all the nitty gritty stuff. Really, they are amazing and so loving. We have had an instant connection with the Kenny Family, its been such a fabulous blessing to have them in our lives! Fortunately for us they are Nick's cousins, so they are stuck with us for eternity ;)
California is great. You would think that being only a few hundred miles away that it wouldnt be THAT different, but let me tell you.... it is. Its more than just what you see in Disney Land. Its been such a culture shock...which I know I've mentioned a lot on facebook and Instagram (my 2 best friends). Most of the population here is made up of Indians from India and Asians from China and such. Im guessing a lot of them are probably engineers and I know a lot of them work for MAC, APPLE or other high profile businesses around here. This is Silicon valley...which means there's a lot of smarty pants here. The trees are so big and beautiful and everything is so green. The humidity gets pretty intense around 3-5pm. It feels like you just got out of the shower with the bathroom door closed. Lovely! I actually dont mind it...but I wont tell you who does ;) His name may or may not start with an "N."
We havent been to church yet. We have met our bishop and some members of the ward and all are So kind and have taken us right in. We actually met some people that we sort of know, because Nick and I worked for thier parents while doing foster Care in Utah a few years ago. So there are more familiar faces around here than we would have expected to see! There are lots of missionaries and again...very comforting and reassuring that the Church is everywhere. Love it.
I love the culture here. I love love love that McCoy and Lavi are being so exposed to so many differences at thier young ages. I love thier ages because they are like clay and you can mold them and raise them around anything and they are too innocent to pass judgements like adults do. I love it. I am in love with the the different ways different cultures dress. McCoy and Lavi have found it facinating to see the Indian women dressed in their Sari's and there are even women with all black on showing nothing but their eyes. Even I am getting a taste of facination. Just with in a mile of our house there are 13 Indian restaraunts. YUMMM!! Anyway, the multi-cultural life is for sure something that has me convinced that this is a great place to live and raise my family.
McCoy started school today and He made 3 new friends! He really enjoyed his day but for some reason while he went to school, I sat home and worried my little head off. All is well, he had a good day and I'll just worry again tomorrow. But he made 3 new friends, Lunch is outside on picnic tables, they hang thier back packs outside, each class is in a different building, the school is basically a mini campus, and before school the teacher takes the student on a walk around the school grounds to get the wiggles out before class starts at 8:20am SHARP! The kids are allowed a snack at recess....the morning is reading and math, they have music days, and the afternoon is Social Studies and Science. WOWZA! This curriculum is going to be DEAD ON for McCoy. He needs a challenge and I think the kids he is up against will for sure push him as well. Excellent learning system here for sure. They have other things they study, but those are the basics that im aware of right now.
TJ Maxx is my favorite store of all time. My Cousin Jan'l showed me the Cupertino TJ Maxx and I about fainted. Its massive. Its the size of a Target and its full of wall to wall stuff that is to die for. I would almost like the one in Utah better, because the one here is way too tempting!! Luckily though, im still the same cheap wad and drooled over everything and just walked away. Its something i've become very good at. Drool and walk....drool and walk.
We are settling in just fine. Our house sits vacant in Spanish Fork, but not for long...we hope. Its currently under Contract, so our Whispering Willows friends are going to either thank us or hate us soon ;) We hope you thank us! We soooo deeply miss our friends from that neighborhood. Our biggest adjustment has been going from a house to an apartment. My kids cant freely walk outside....we dont own what we live in and with as safe as it is here, people in Cali just dont get to know thier neighbors like Utah does. In utah, your whole neighbhorhood is your ward...thats not how it is here. That would be one of the top 5 hardest adjustments we're making. Nothing beats borrowing from your neighbhors cause you can and its so helpful to have them there when your in a pinch. Thats not how it goes here, which is fine, but its for sure a custom in Utah. So yep, we miss that and we miss all those kiddos sitting on our porch. Like I said, its taking some getting used to. The cheapest houses we have seen are in the high 700's....but even for an older home that was built in the 70's, runs for about 1 million dollars. The big homes that are like Utahs 2-300K homes in Utah are probably around 1.7million in Cali. UN-REEEEEAL!!! SO, Nick and I have discussed, we're here and he loves his job and Cali is a great place to raise a family, but as far as owning a home here is something we will have to ponder about for a while. Some of the apartments here are dang nice and are completely upgraded here because people use apartments as a way to live because affording a home is impossible for them. So with that said, finding an apartment here to rent is tricky because a lot of them are full. We found that out the hard way. So yes....I have had a hard time adjusting to apartment life again like we had while Nick was in school. wa wa wa, I know. First world problems. But ya know, as I have sat and thought it through, we are in a really good place in life right now and I cant find one reason to complain. I would be so ungrateful to complain. So im not going to. Our apartment is small, cozy and lucky for us we DO have a few fabulous friendly neighbors. I have also found that this is where we need to be right now. All is well with a roof over our head and food on our plates.
We havent been here long enough to get severely home sick yet. Both Nick and I have felt a 'hard day' about once each so far, but nothing too bad. For me, I am still so fond of Spanish Fork and love love love it there. I find myself still having a hard time parting with that place, only because I have 2 kids and thats an excellent place to raise a family. Even though, family is all still in Utah (Dear family:please dont take this personal), I dont really miss Utah yet.... more just the friends, family and the friendly people. The Cali people are not that friendly, unless they have kids too. Other wise you get looks and stare downs until you can quiet your kids up.
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Nick rides a bike to the Cal-Train about a mile away and then hops on the train for work every day. His work is right across the street from the train, so his commute is soooo fabulous! We are a one car family and its soooo easy! The cal train is awesome!!! The kids and I rode it today and surprised Nick at his work so we could meet the staff and see Nick's work area. Palo Alto is so super beautiful from what I saw and I cant wait to adventure more into the city. We still have so many touristy things to do...our list is pretty long.
All is well with the Jarvis family. We love skyping and face timing with friends and family, so if you have the computer or phone, we usually use sundays to talk with anyone who is able to! We are loving it here and finding so much joy in this journey of ours. Really, I cant believe we moved so suddenly....But we did and we're doing just fine. xoxoxox
