Let's See, Let's See...What's New?

Lots of things.  First of all, here's some pretty pictures of some blossoms I took the other day, just to make you jealous that you aren't spending your first day of Spring in 80 degree weather with me.

Gorgeous, right??

Anyways, a lot has been going on lately.  And a lot of people I'm sure would like answers to some commonly-asked questions from the Stratfords.  Like, Did you survive the tornadoes?, Does Tim have a summer internship lined up?, How is Apple?, Is Dani's Etsy business actually doing anything?, What is the meaning of Life?, etc. etc.  We're preeeetty popular.  

Let's do first things first: The Tornado of 2012.  Dun dun dun.

I'm pretty sure I thought i was going to die.  I was at work at the mall, and Tim was at the law school studying.  The weather peeps had been speculating all day about a possible tornado, and everyone at work was talking about it too.  Apparently it was supposed to be pretty bad.  Everyone at work was downplaying it, though, so I had no idea what to expect.  Mostly I just didn't want to become a widow.  I texted Tim to make sure he knew about it, and told him to stay in the law school (which would be substantially safer than our 2nd story dinky apartment building) if the tornado came.  

So there I was, at work, thinking I was going to die, when all of a sudden they just started evacuating the entire mall.  It was real fun.  We all went into this mall hallway (see below) and it was super hot and crowded.

This is my friend Andy.  

And this is Jacque, who, bless her heart, decided to still try to have a Genius Bar appointment in the middle of a TORNADO WARNING.  I love her.

We stayed in there for about half an hour, then the storm blew north of us and it was all over.  We got lots of heavy rain and wind, but nothing horrible. 

 Tim and I celebrated being alive by eating at Chipotle, which is like the telestial level of Cafe Rio.  

This is the size of the hail we found outside our house.

Aaand this is Jacque's friend's hand, holding some larger hail samples.  It would not be fun to get caught in those.

The point is, it was a fun experience to go through, seeing as there are zero tornadoes in Idaho OR Utah.  I've been assured that they don't get very bad here--mostly it's just a lot of wind damage.  

 Here's another cute picture of my kids in Primary.  I'm the 2nd counselor and it's been a lot of fun to work with the kids in Primary.  We had a cute sharing time lesson the other day about "reading the recipe" (aka, the scriptures).  Look how cute:

Okay, so on to other news.  I have really liked doing Etsy on the side.  It's getting some good views and I've sold a couple pieces so far.  Obviously not raking in the dough here, but I think it's building up a good momentum and I really enjoy doing it.  I like having a steady job so I don't have the pressure of feeling like I have to make lots of money--right now, it's just more of a way to help me feel not as guilty when I want to create something, because I know I can sell it instead of having it collect dust (and take up space) in our tiny apartment.  The website is 1201south.etsy.com--take a look-see, there's lots of new pieces up!

Okay, and the most exciting news: Tim found out he got an internship in Russia this summer!  We feel incredibly blessed.  Like, have you ever had those moments in life where you've thought, "God is blessing me way more than I deserve...what is he preparing me for? When's the other shoe going to drop?"  That's definitely what we feel like.  

So he'll be going over there for about 5-6 weeks this summer, and hopefully I'll be able to fly over there for a couple weeks as well.  I am SO EXCITED to see Russia, because it means so much to Tim.  Not gonna lie, when I first found out that Tim served his mission in Russia, I thought, "Why couldn't he have served somewhere NOT scary and dark, like...oh, I don't know...pretty much anywhere but Russia?" But the more Tim has told me about it, the more I have realized that, while it still is pretty darn dark and scary, it also has some good things about it too.  Like how it's not communist anymore.  And other stuff.

But seriously, it will be my first time off the North American continent, and I'm really excited to have an opportunity to do this before we make lots of babies.

Speaking of making lots of babies, I have been reading lots of baby books lately.  I find the dialogue around natural v. medicated childbirth fascinating, and (as Tim will attest) I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about it.  Don't worry, there will be lots of posts dedicated to this topic, so I will not bore you now.  But basically, I am really excited about becoming a mom in the next year or so.

Whelp...that's all my updates.  Oh! Wait! Except I also would like to tell you that, at the tender age of 25, I finally have dental insurance for the first time in my life.  I got it when I started working at Apple, which was great.  So now, going to the dentist after maybe going 3 times in my entire life is like a treat.  Plus my dentist is super nice.  

Although EVERYONE in Nashville is super nice, so whatever.  

Anyway, I'm finally getting my wisdom teeth out!! This may not be a big deal to you, but hey, you read this far so consider this your bonus. 

And that is all of our news.