Life Experience

Yep that is what I would call the past 2 months. 4 months really. Tomorrow we move into our house. Our beautiful "we each have our own bedroom" house. Living in our studio apartment in downtown Las Vegas has been quiet the experience for me. I've lived in Utah my entire life. Kirk and I have always said we wanted to experience living outside of Utah. And while Las Vegas isn't very far from Utah (less than 2 hours) it is so different in so many ways.

The walmart shopping carts have a locking system so they cannot leave the parking lot, the wheels will literally lock if they are taken across the yellow line. Before living here I didn't think stolen shopping carts was an actual problem. But I counted 8 outside my apartment complex just tonight.
And walmarts down here don't sell fabric. How am I supposed to be dirt cheap fabric and shop for groceries at the same time? And the eggs come in styrofoam containers, for some reason it just doesn't seem as sanitary to me.
In the mall parking lots there are signs that say "Hide your belongings, Lock your car, Take your keys". Not feeling so much like leaving my car and going shopping after reading that note. Actually I get nervous that someone will steal my purse right out my arms, but I do my best not to be afraid.
At least half of all signs are in Spanish. I can only read about half of what is advertised.
Hispanic men lining the sidewalks waiting for someone to pick them up and give them a job? Totally a real thing, it's not just in the movies!
A lot of jaywalking going on down here. Moms with tiny babies, old women stoping lanes of traffics while the shuffle across the road. The most frightening is the kids, 7 year old boys running across 6 lanes of traffic in the dark. I've seen it twice and we don't go out after dark much.
It takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere in Las Vegas. The traffic lights steal minutes of your life away. We can usually get through the entire wheels on the bus song 4 times at each light.
People begging for money all the time. Random people will just come up to me in the grocery store always asking for bus money.

After getting a glimpse of a life that I never had to live I have really learned how lucky I really am. I see the moms with the young babies on the street and I wonder if they are afraid every minute for their children. I know I'm always checking over my shoulder, I just don't feel completely safe in this apartment ever. And I know the families living her are doing the absolute best they can. They make life wonderful and bloom where they are planted but I realize how absolutely blessed I am. Soon each of my girls will have their own bedrooms. And a room just for their toys! We are extremely blessed. And before I lived here I didn't appreciate these things as blessings. Tomorrow we move into our house. We can have dinner around a table again. Have a family conversation about our day (it's hard to have without a table, really!). And couches! It will be so nice to sit next to Kirk and cuddle up into his strong arms. A Dishwasher! A bathtub that drains water! Cupboards clean enough to put dishes in! A bed...oh a bed! Naps for my girls (neither have been able to take good naps here). Yes we are ecstatic to move into our house tomorrow.
We have decided to try life without the internet for a while. Save money and stop wasting time that could be spent doing better things. So if you don't hear much from us for a while that is why. We are really happy though. The girls are healthy and happy, Kirk LOVES his job, and I'm making lots of new friends. Life is fantastic!