Moving on... again!

Apparently, the time has come to move on, again. :) Austin and I have decided to move to a new apartment! We're really hoping that this will be our last move in a while because after all the grief our parents have given us... (the fourth move in four years... not bad, right?) I'm not sure they're going to help us anymore. haha

We have been talking about moving out of Council Bluffs for some time now. While we love our current apartment - we're not in love with the management or the cost of renting. We don't feel we're getting our money's worth. We've also discussed wanting to move so that we're living in the Riverside school district - something that will be helpful to AJ! So we started looking and came across two different apartments - each with their pros and cons (we know, we made the list). In the end, we went with our gut (and a smaller bill) and have decided to move to Oakland, Iowa.

Oakland is about 30 minutes east of Council Bluffs. It has a population of about 1,400 and is home to the Riverside High School. We found a very cute one bedroom apartment with custom kitchen cabinets and a built-in entertainment center and bookshelves. I am also very happy to say it has a whirl-pool tub in the bathroom! :) We're both very excited and AJ is extremely happy about being so close to the high school. We're really looking forward to getting move involved with the community and going to school events. While it is going to be a longer drive for me to go to the office, it will be a great location for when I'm doing high school visits since my territory is in Western Iowa. I'll be sure to post pictures once we're moved and settled in.

So for now, we've spent most of our time packing up boxes and getting ready for the move. We spent a great 4th of July weekend in Tipton and spent most of that time outside and in the pool. 

It was a wonderful weekend and so great to relax and enjoy time with some family and friends. I look forward to this weekend every summer since it has become a tradition to spend it at the Zaruba pool. And the weekend never seems long enough, either! :) Other than that, we haven't had too much of an exciting summer. AJ is getting a little antsy around the house (although packing has helped!) and is ready to get back to school. He will be taking a group of students to Wartburg in a few weeks for an All-State Camp and I know he is looking forward to that - especially to show the kids what a great school Wartburg is! :)
 

In other terms of "moving on"... AJ and I went see the midnight showing of the last Harry Potter film last Thursday. It truly is, in my opinion, the end of an era. It took some convincing to get AJ to go to the show with me - he remembered all to well the last midnight showing we went to where we didn't get to sit next to each other and couldn't even enjoy the show with all the kids around. I explained that none of that mattered because it was such a big deal and a great end to something wonderful. I am happy to say that we were able to sit next to each other this time and everyone was so focused on the movie that we were able to thoroughly enjoy the final movie. It also made me think - as I held AJ's hand and cried during the movie - why this was such a big deal. And the reason it was such a big deal is because I've literally grown up with these books. I started reading them as they came out. I wanted for each new book to hit the shelves. I even went to a midnight opening of one of the books! I grew up along side Harry and his friends. It had a large affect on my life. And one that I am forever grateful for. I've always been a fan of reading, but it is such a wonderful thing to see so many people get excited about the release of a new book. And I know that I am extremely lucky to have actually grown up with the books, but I'm also looking forward to reading these books to my children someday, showing them the movie - and helping they'll understand why I love them so much. Harry Potter will always have a spot in my heart. And I'm not sure I'll ever be able to say "Mischief Managed".