The Athans in Austin

Well, what can I say? A lot can change in just a few short months! As many of you probably know by now, Zach was offered and accepted a job with Hewlett-Packard in Austin, Texas! When he was offered the job, we were so thrilled! Not only because he finally had a full-time job, but because we would only have to move a few hours away! (Remember we had been living with my parents in Houston after Zach graduated, just until he could find a job.) We LOVED living with my parents and we were sad to say good bye, but fortunately we now only live three hours away from them so we can see them fairly often. We actually will be going to their house for General Conference this weekend! Yay!!

So once Zach had accepted the job with HP, we knew we only had a few weeks to find a place to live. Thankfully, we had already planned a fun little trip to San Antonio for our one year anniversary (can you believe we're not newlyweds anymore?!?!) so we decided to check out Austin and see a few apartments on our way back. 

Our anniversary weekend was sooooooo much fun, by the way! We hadn't taken any trips just for fun since our honeymoon, so we really enjoyed exploring the city, just the two of us.

If you've never been to San Antonio and you get the chance, you should definitely go! It's so warm and beautiful and we got to check out some fun things like the famous Riverwalk, the Alamo (of course), and Six Flags! We also got to do a session at the San Antonio temple, which is just drop dead gorgeous inside. We're super happy that it's now our temple!

Anyways, when we headed up to Austin, we first checked out the area we would be living in, and of course saw Zach's new office building. We had already made a list of apartments we wanted to see and we had a number one choice. We decided to look at our #1 first, and would you believe we signed our lease that very same day? It was crazy! But we are so grateful that we were able to get the apartment we did because it is literally right across the street from Zach's office and it's in a very pretty part of Austin.

We were lucky to have lots of help with the move, what with my parents living just in Houston and coming out for the day and Zach's parents had already planned a trip out to Texas to see us and to attend the BYU vs UT football game. It was so great to see them again and we're so looking forward to going back to North Carolina for Christmas this year!!!

So far, we love it here! We live right inside the northern border of the city of Austin, only 25 minutes from downtown. It's a great central location to be in with lots of nice shops all around. Zach has loved his job so far and his co-workers seem very nice and welcoming. He is working in the HR department of Hewlett-Packard, which is right up his alley. I've had lots of fun decorating our new apartment (pictures coming soon!) and getting to know the area. It's definitely a HUGE change compared to living in teeny-tiny Rexburg, Idaho. I do miss Idaho quite a bit though, especially now that it's officially fall and Texas seems to think it's still the peak of summer haha. 

So we'll be here in Texas for quite a while. It feels good to not be wondering where we will be in the next six months or so and to feel like we can plant some roots here. Heavenly Father definitely answered our prayers!!