The Run-Down

Steve, Maddie and I are finally settled in our apartment in Edmonton, Alberta. The company Steve works for puts us up in an apartment of their choice and then has them furnished for us for the 4 months we are here. I'm not going to lie...this year someone forgot to do their research! Our apartment itself isn't too bad if you can overlook the appliances from the dinosaur age, but the neighborhood we live in is close to "China Town," and right next to downtown, so our little community isn't so great! The police station is around the corner and all we hear day and night is sirens, the shops below our apartment have barred windows and crackheads smoking in front of them, we smell cigarette smoke from the neighbors and through the vents a few times a day, and get stuck a few times a week in the not so fancy elevators that smell like they are peed in daily! Our friend Jeff, so graciously informed us the other day that he took a criminology class this past semester and we live on the very edge of the worst part of the city. Thanks again for that information, Jeff, I could have slept better without having a clue! I haven't ever liked this city, so my judgements are probably 100 times harsher than they really seem to everyone else. I should just be grateful for a place to live..right? So, I'm done ranting and raving about the apartment. I am glad we are on the 18th floor, so there isn't a chance we will get broken in to!

Our first week here, I helped in the office for Steve's company in an apartment a few floors down from us for 5 hours a day. I got to take Maddie and the other lady had a baby as well. It didn't turn out to be such a good arrangement for Maddie, so i quit and now we get to just hang out all summer and I don't have to work! Taking a 2 year old to spend 5 hours a day in one small room isn't to ideal. She was struggling for attention and somewhere to release her energy, and trying to keep her from being a mother to the baby! We figured it was much better to live without the extra money rather than traumatize Maddie. I don't mind!!!

Our LDS ward seems really nice and everyone is about our age, so that is going to be great. There are a few other wives that live in the building that seem like a lot of fun but are pregnant and either sick, or ready to pop, so hopefully we get to spend time with them as the summer goes on.

In a nutshell we are here, we are working and in 4 months who the heck knows where we will be and what Steve will have finally decided to do with our lives! ha ha.

This is our view at night....I won't subject anyone to have to see how pathetic it is in the daylight!