Getting Jessica settled as a SOPHOMORE

On Monday, August 20, Betsy and Jessica flew on Southwest Airlines (love the free tickets) to Salt Lake City to get Jessica settled into her new apartment at Liberty Square and to help her find a job for the next semester.  We flew out a week before school starts to get a jump on kids looking for jobs.

The flights went without a glitch.  Jessica slept on both flights.  I read and finished my book "Vitruosity" by Jessica Martinez (a friend).  I also watched "Goal" (a soccer movie).  Love it!  Then we were there - time went by fast.  We rented a car and were in Provo, UT by 4:00 pm.  We checked into the hotel, dropped off our luggage (which barely fit in the economy car I rented) and headed out to BYU.  Jessica went through memory lane with every twist and turn of the car.  "Jake and I …", "Jenny and I …", " this is where …."  It was so cute.  Her face would light up with the memory.

Our first stop was to see her new apartment but the office was closed so we just walked around until we found her building and apartment.  She is at 448 E 600 N #34 (Mansion) at Liberty Square.  She is on the third floor.  That's going to be great for my legs!

First task on the agenda is to find a job:  We stopped at the Brick Oven, but they require you to work lunches and Jessica has classes at that time.  Second stop is the Student Employment at the Wilkenson Center.  Just missed it - they close at 5:00, but a very nice lady talked to us and told us what to do for tomorrow.

I took Jessica to dinner at Zuppa's (like Panera) and then we drove up to the Provo Temple and past the Missionary Training Center.  I think it is killing Jessica inside to be this close to Jake and  yet not be able to talk to him or see him.

Back to the hotel to soak in the hot tub.  I am still so SO so soar from putting in that patio.  With every step I groan (out load or silently).  Seriously - I hope I can get the lactic acid out of my system soon.

Tuesday, August 21
First task is for Betsy to mail her dad's birthday card.  I had meant to do it before leaving but didn't have a chance!  There were so many things I didn't get done before I left - so many PTSA agenda items.  I have left everything in the hands of our President Elect, Nicole Wilson.  She is so sweet!

Second task is to take Jessica to the Employment Center to take typing, filing and data entry tests.  She finished after 45 minutes.  Done!

Third task is to check into her apartment.  I bought cash to pay the rent, but they don't accept cash so we had to go to 7-11 (got a soda at the same time) to get a money order!  This is so funny.  We just keep running around.  Back to Liberty Square - now we check in, sign forms, get the key and head up the stairs.

Her new family room

Finally we get inside!  She loves it.  We found a few things that needed to be fixed:  the oven door was broken, the stove electric units were broken, the frig had a piece broken off, a screen was missing, and the place needed to be cleaned, but other than that Jessica was thrilled to be in her new place!

Her new kitchen

The next stop was Walmart!  2 Hours, 3 Carts and $650 later, Jessica is ready to clean and convert that apartment into HER apartment.  The rest of the day we spent cleaning and setting up the apartment.  WE had to take apart her bunk bed, rearrange the bedroom furniture, clean the kitchen, and clean the bathrooms.  Betsy put new contact paper down in the cupboards and drawers.  Jessica cleaned the bathrooms.

At 6:30 we took a break to have dinner with Ali Hodge, Jessica's cousin.  Somehow we ended up at Zuppa's again.  We had a great time catching up with her.  After dinner we went back to Ali's to collect all the stuff Jessica stored at her place!  She was so nice to let Jessica store so much there!  Jessica and I took the stuff to her apartment and stayed there until 9:30 fixing things up - Jessica in her bedroom and me in the kitchen.

Wednesday 8/22 - We started a bit later but were busy every minute of the day.  I didn't sleep.  I just couldn't get comfortable or get my mind to wind down.  … We enjoyed another breakfast at the hotel to give us energy.

At 11:30 we picked up Jessica's stuff from her cousin Shannyn's place.  There we picked up the TV and some shoes.  Jessica couldn't find the DVD player.  She's so hoping we can find that.  We took Shannyn out to Zuppa's (again) for lunch to thank her for storing Jessica's stuff all summer.  It was so nice of her and Nick.  We had a great visit with her - catching up on all that she and Nick are doing and on her family.

From there Jessica and I returned a few things at Walmart and then bought $250 worth of groceries.  YIKES!  7 boxes of Oh's cereal.  Hopefully that will last a while.  We took the food back to the apartment and very carefully carried that HEAVY TV upstairs.  YES!  We did it by ourselves.  We stayed at the apartment getting more things settled in before we realized we needed to get to the BYU bookstore before they closed at 5:00.  We spent $400 on books for this semester.  From here we went out to Target for our LAST shopping trip.  We needed bathroom necessities (Walmart didn't have any nice ones).

In two days I've spent over $1200 at college ($635 at Walmart, $250 on Groceries, $413 on books & $28 at Target).

On the way home Jessica spontaneously decided to get her hair cut!  She had 2 inches taken off and layers added.  She looks so cute!

Ali called to let us know to come by to pick up one more thing she found of Jessica's so we drove over to her place and saw her a little more.  We were on our way to taking her to dinner with us when she needed to get back to see Chris (her boyfriend).  Jessica decided to go to Olive Garden for dinner.  We were both beat and exhausted (and I was so tired) so we needed some good food.  It was delicious and just the right thing before going back to her apartment to finish up.  I was able to finish up the kitchen details.  I also finished the bathroom while Jessica worked on her room and getting her clothes put away.  She's decided to stay at her apartment tonight.

At 11:00 I decided to go home - only to find I couldn't - someone had put a boot on my car!  NO WAY!  There are no signs or anything and they want to charge me $65 to remove the boot.  I had to wait around 30 minutes for them to come out.  When he got there I explained that I'm happy to pay but there are no signs.  He looked at the entrance - and sure enough - the sign was knocked down - so I got the boot off for free!  HOME - or at least HOTEL!  I need a good night's sleep.  I'm so tired!

Thursday 8/23 - today was the hardest day because it is the last day I will be with Jessica.  It started at 8:30 with me going back to her apartment to pick her up for breakfast.  We had a nice breakfast back at the hotel before heading off on our "To Do List for Today."  First - Post office to mail Jake a package, (I also mailed a package to Margaret Graham).  Second - try to get the wireless to work - struggle!  Let's go ask the experts.  We then went to the BYU bookstore to return the notebooks and find out about the server!  They said we don't need a modem and we already have wifi so we should be good.  Back to the apartment to try it.  Hours and hours were spent trying to get the internet to connect to their laptops (wirelessly) but it was with no success.  Finally, at 2:45 I decided enough was enough and took Jessica for a break.

We drove up to Park City to ride the gondolas up to the top.  It was so pretty.  I showed her all the ski runs, mountain bike trials, and amusement rides (for the summer) on the way up and the beautiful vista view on the way down.

We had a wonderful dinner at Malawi, an African pizza place that Jessica really likes.  She'd been there with Jake.



It was hard to say goodbye tonight.  I loved being with her and helping her get set up!  She will be living with some very nice girls and she is only a few blocks from campus!  Best of luck Jessica!!!  We love you!