My fireman!

Max started the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy. It is an incredibly intense program and he loves it. He has to be there between 6 and 6:45am Monday Wednesday and Friday and has hours of strenuous physical training. His muscles are getting huge! mmmmm... anyway, he is doing great in the program! they do a lot of other stuff too but i'm not sure what it is. I'm so proud of him! He feels wonderful about this career choice and knows that it is the right thing for him to do! I Love my MAX!!!

We meet in Provo...At last

Ok, so I get to Provo a day before Max because he stayed in Reno for the baptism and I have a wonderful slumber party with Leah. Then I go to our apartment. We had a tiny apartment we lived in all last school year with a washer and dryer and we only payed $375 a month. We love saving money so we rented it out for the summer and were going to move back in this Fall. When I got there, alone, i was disgusted. The upstairs neighbors were trashy for lack of a better word. There were molding clothes in the washer which was right next to our front door. The yard was full of junk. The furnace was shut off and had a condemned sticker on it. Inside our apartment, our summer tenants had taken really good care of it, steamed cleaned the carpet, and cleaned very thoroughly. However, water started leaking from the upstairs. This happened on one occasion last year but it was all cleaned up and seemed to be fixed. There was also what appeared to be mold on the ceiling where the water was coming from and who knows how long and how extensive the mold was. I call Max freaking out (He is still about 6 hours away at this point and feels somewhat helpless.)

Some moldy water damage. We decided to look at other apartments becuase it didn't seem too healthy to stay in this one and our health shouldn't be sacrificed for saving money. We were planning on moving into a bigger apartment sometime this year anyway. I luckily had a whole week before starting school to apartment hunt. However During that week I couldn't unpack and organize our house which is what I was planning on doing. We spent the next couple of nights spending the night at some friends' houses who lovingly took us in. After a couple nights of being vagrants we were able to move into our new beautiful home. We found a duplex in a wonderful quiet and forested neighbor hood. There is a washer and dryer and a dishwasher and 2 bedrooms and a carport and a front and back yard (for the hammock) a front porch. etc. Oh yeah and it has 10x the amount of closest space and 8x the amount of windows as our old place. (we had 1 window in our old place.) And we got a really good deal! We will post pictures soon. We have still been working on organzing and unpacking all our stuff. We love it here!

The Backyard!

Life is good!

Reno Baptism!

Max stayed behind in Merced to work a couple more days after I left. He was also able to attend a baptism in Reno on August 22. (This post is indeed late). Before either of us left Merced, Max recieved a text from Lori Vela who has been a very close family friend to Max's family since before he was born. She was asking what he was doing the 22nd. Max was planning on leaving Merced that morning and driving straight to Provo. She informed Max that she had been taking the missionary discussions for awhile now and was getting baptized along with her daughter Jacqueline on that day. The best part about this is that they live in Reno and Max was driving through Reno that day. Too Perfect! It was an easy decision to attend their baptism and support them. Max arrived just in time to witness the baptism and then was able to confirm both of them. It was a beautiful moment for him to see someone that he had known his whole life make such a life changing decision. We are proud of you Lori and Jacqueline!

Max stayed the night in Reno with his good friend Reece and his wife MaryAnne.

They had a hay-day

He then made his way to Provo so we could be reunited after 4 long days!!

Goodbye Merced

We left our summer home in sunny California only to arrive in a dreary college town. I must say the moment I arrived in Provo I was less than thrilled. It may have been because my husband still hadn't arrived or because I feel that my life is at risk whenever I'm on the road. I'm sure I can think of a huge list of reasons why I would prefer to be somewhere else. However I am excited to continue with my education and get it done. Our final days in Merced were filled with packing as many things as possible into the smallest space possible. It takes some skill but seeing as this is our 4th move of our marriage i'm getting pretty darn good. I left 3days before Max so I could detour up to Boise for Anna and Buck's wedding. (Both fabulous missionaries that served in Armenia with me.) I drove the 11 hours all alone and did great thanks to my running jams and harry potter. I got to Boise just in time for the bachelorette party. It was great thanks to Leah and Mandy! It ended in us jumping in the pool in our black dresses. a successful party indeed. The sealing was excellent! I remember reading in my grandpa's journal about his wedding day. He said that it seemed that if someone was not married in the temple it would be as if they weren't married at all. I have that same feeling every time I witness a sealing. The power of God is needed to bond a husband and wife and that power can only be found in His holy temples. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison.

I was able to see my mission president and his wife for the first time since they have been home. It was wonderful. I absolutely love them.

If anna made everyone a bridesmaid...it would be chaotic.

The mission family

Of course there was Armenian dancing at the reception.

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so glad that I was able to go. The day after the wedding I headed back to Provo. I spent the night with my friend Leah because Max wasn't there yet and I didn't want to sleep in our scary empty apartment alone. I love leah so it all worked out..

Ok...Next post...Max's trek to Utah

update

This post is to remind me of what to post in the future

• Moving from California
• Anna and Buck's wedding
• Lori and Jacqueline's baptism
• moving in
• mold
• moving out
• new apartment.
• Max starting the fire academy

Maybe someday I will make time to elaborate...

Baertlein Family

Last week Max's parent's and brother/cousin, Justin came to visit for a week. It was kind of a last minute trip but they came down to visit us and spend a day with Justin's mom and Grandma. Max had to work most of the time so I got to practice being a good hostess. It was fun!

We Visited the tiny local zoo. The familyBowling in Bakersfield. Dinner with Justin's Mom and GrandmaMax was teaching his dad and Justin some important stretchesSnuggling...No, we didn't let Justin sleep with us.We had good times.

RMA Boating!

So about two weeks ago Max's boss took all the pest boys on a boating trip. The wives weren't able to go because there wasn't enough room on the boat. It was ok with me though because we get to hang out by the pool or be in an air conditioned house any day while those boys are working long hours in the hot sun. They deserved a day on the lake! Anyway, I don't know what so say because I didn't go and I'm sure Max won't post about this so I will just put some pictures up.

The team!

They had so much fun and were sore for days after!