CALIFORNIA

WE MADE IT!!!! Jonathan got a new job with Juniper Networks in Sunnyvale California... Where is that.... good question I had to look it up too. It is a few miles outside of San Jose and and about 40 minutes South of San Francisco. Jonathan drove a 26 foot penske truck from South Carolina all by himself, (normally a 44 hour drive in a normal car) and he drove the truck with a car towed on the back. (Big props for Jonathan). Gage and I flew to Utah and spent 5 days there with family and friends while Jonathan drove and then we met him in San Jose. We are now staying at an In-town and suites for a few weeks until we could find a place to rent.

What a reality check San Jose California is.... We never knew trying to rent a home would be so complicated and frustrating. Seriously we call to see a listing and then a bunch of other people are there to see the house at the same time. Then whoever is interested fills out an application and they do their background checks and all, and then pick who they want. Not only that, but we found out that only 15% of the population here can afford to buy a home (since they are a million dollars for 1200-1500 square feet). So everyone wants to rent and everything goes super fast. Some of the listings we called the same day as their ad posting and they were already gone. So we have been very overwhelmed the last week.

Today we got good news.... we were picked for a town home in Santa Clara, CA. About 6 miles from Jonathans work (and that will still be a 20+ minute commute or so. We are excited about it. We like it, but don't love it, but I just don't think you can be picky here in San Jose, and think we have been very lucky and blessed to find it. Also coming from an apartment this is a real treat, and seems HUGE. It is 3 stories (I know, more stairs, but at least they are all inside, and in a town home we won't have neighbors above or below us), 2 car garage, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, two living rooms, 1650 square feet (double the size of our apartment in South Carolina). The bad news is that it is by a train and under the flight path for the airport,,, but again beggars can't be choosers... Right! O yeah, and we are paying $2500 per month... CRAZINESS I know. And this is on the lower end of the decent homes here. Click the link below for more details:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/apa/2155705709.html

We are still going to keep our eyes open for the next few days to see if anything else opens up before we finalize the lease. Anyway, it has been very overwhelming, but hopefully the hunt is over and we will be able to find a new happiness and a peace of security.