Where Should Robert and Melarie Live?

This last weekend was our first week of serious house shopping. We are still trying to decide where we should actually buy a house though. We'd like to take a poll. Where Should Robert and Melarie Live? Please vote in the poll in the column at the right. Here are some statistics for the areas we are looking at to help you make an educated choice:

Claremont:
Median Household Income: $72,694
Neighborhood Type: Suburban
Precent Owner / Rent: 65 / 33
School Exped per pupil: 5,164
Pupil / Teacher Ratio: 22
Mean (Avg.) Jan Low Temp: 40.9
Mean (Avg.) July High Temp: 89.8
Residents per sq mile: 2,529
Pop over 21 with High School: 92.30%
Pop over 21 with Bachelor: 52.00%
Mode of Transportation to Work: Train/Metro
One Way Commute Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
House Size in Price Range (Bd/Bt):3/2 single family house

La Habra:
Median Household Income: 57,729
Neighborhood Type: City Neighborhood
Precent Owner / Rent: 59 / 38
School Exped per pupil: 4878
Pupil / Teacher Ratio: 21
Mean (Avg.) Jan Low Temp: 47.1
Mean (Avg.) July High Temp: 84.4
Residents per sq mile: 5,026
Pop over 21 with High School: 74.90%
Pop over 21 with Bachelor: 21.60%
Mode of Transportation to Work: Train/Metro
One Way Commute Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
House Size in Price Range (Bd/Bt): 3/2 single family home

La Verne:
Median Household Income: $72, 152
Neighborhood Type: City Neighborhood
Precent Owner / Rent: 77/22
School Exped per pupil: 4988
Pupil / Teacher Ratio: 27
Mean (Avg.) Jan Low Temp: 38.3
Mean (Avg.) July High Temp: 90.7
Residents per sq mile: 2,965
Pop over 21 with High School: 88.80%
Pop over 21 with Bachelor: 19.30%
Mode of Transportation to Work: Train/Metro
One Way Commute Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
House Size in Price Range (Bd/Bt): 3/2 single family home

San Dimas:
Median Household Income: $73,260
Neighborhood Type: Suburban
Precent Owner / Rent: 71/26
School Exped per pupil: 4801
Pupil / Teacher Ratio: 22
Mean (Avg.) Jan Low Temp: 38.3
Mean (Avg.) July High Temp: 90.7
Residents per sq mile: 2,177
Pop over 21 with High School: 87.10%
Pop over 21 with Bachelor: 19.00%
Mode of Transportation to Work: Train
One Way Commute Time:
House Size in Price Range (Bd/Bt): 3/2 single family home

Upland:
Median Household Income: $73,260
Neighborhood Type: City Neighborhood
Precent Owner / Rent: 44/53
School Exped per pupil: 4,418
Pupil / Teacher Ratio: 23
Mean (Avg.) Jan Low Temp: 39.9
Mean (Avg.) July High Temp: 92.4
Residents per sq mile: 5,855
Pop over 21 with High School: 78.00%
Pop over 21 with Bachelor: 11.90%
Mode of Transportation to Work: Train
One Way Commute Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
House Size in Price Range (Bd/Bt): 3/2 single family home

Mar Vista:
Median Household Income: 52,730
Neighborhood Type: Inner City
Precent Owner / Rent: 38/60
School Exped per pupil: 5,770
Pupil / Teacher Ratio: 19
Mean (Avg.) Jan Low Temp: 45.2
Mean (Avg.) July High Temp: 78
Residents per sq mile: 10,417
Pop over 21 with High School: 81.50%
Pop over 21 with Bachelor: 24.80%
Mode of Transportation to Work: Bus
One Way Commute Time: 45 minutes
House Size in Price Range (Bd/Bt): Cardboard box

Which Disney Princess Are You?

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Welcome Ali!

My cousin Katrina and I are only two weeks apart and we grew up next door neighbors, so we are very close. She just had a baby and I am way excited for her and her husband Brett. Congratulation's!



Ali, born 6/22/08 at 9:58 pm., 7 lbs and 11 oz, and 19 1/2 ' long

Sandberg Reunion Pictures

Oops..Lessons from a pit stop in St. George

I guess we should have gotten new tires a little earlier...So that's what that thumping noise was... The tire guy said he had never seen one worn down this much, at least, not still on the car. People with tires like this usually drive in on their spare tire after having a blowout on the road. I guess someone was looking out for us.

And this was nothing compared to what happened to some of my other family members this weekend. My uncle really did have a tire blowout , but he was in an RV. It was a good thing were no other cars on the road or he would have ran into someone. And two of my cousins were in a rollover car accident- yikes! Luckily they both walked away from it with no injuries. Like I said, someone was looking out for us this weekend.

Tagged

I was tagged a while ago by my sister-in-law, Jen. So here it goes:


4 Things you may not know about me:

1. I have a black birthmark on my left eye that you can't really see unless I keep my head still and look sideways and down with my eyes.
2. I really despise video games because I am no good at them.
3. I have a very varied taste in music. I like pretty much everything except rap and heavy metal. Some of the music I like includes country (from the new pop country to the old twangy country), oldies, pop, rock and even punk now, thanks to Robert.
4. I always considered myself a bit of a tomboy growing up and I still feel a little socially awkward in girly situations.

4 Places I go over and over:
1. Work
2. Church
3. Costco
4. Steve and Wendy's

4 People who email me:
1. YW Presidency
2. Robert
3. My mom
4. Our bishop and relief society presidency

4 Of my favorite foods:

1.Pizza

2. Yogurt and crackers

3. Chocolate

4. Tropical fruit

4 Places I would rather be right now:

1. Home (I'm at work)

2. Mexico

3. Utah with my family

4. Anywhere outside really, preferably away from other people

4 Movies I watch over and over again:

1. While You Were Sleeping

2. Mulan
3. Home videos ( I love watching old home videos)
4. Bourne Identity

4 People I am tagging: Anyone who needs some inspiration for new blog content.

Thanks for Visiting

This is a little late, but the week before Father's Day Robert and I got to see both of our fathers. Robert's dad was in town over the weekend, and then my Dad and my little brothers came out to visit during the week (to visit us and the SoCal theme parks). Robert and I love having family visit, even if it gets a little crowded in our one bedroom apartment. (We are hoping to remedy in the not to distant future, we've started looking into houses.) So, thanks for visiting, we loved having you!

God Grew Tired of Us

I have really enjoyed being able to read a lot more now that I am taking the bus to work. In fact, in the past two weeks I have finished two books, which is more than I have in the past six months. I absolutely loved my latest book, God Grew Tired of Us by John Bul Dau. It is the true story of a Lost Boy, a boy from Sudan who grew up pretty much an orphan in a refugee camp along with thousands of other lost boys who had been separated from their families during the civil war in Sudan.

This made me so grateful for what I have. Peace, family, clothes, food and water. It also made me very sad to hear about what these little boys had to go through. They basically had to raise themselves and take care of the even smaller children. The author was about thirteen when we was separated from his family after his village was attacked. He made his way to a refugee camp and was soon put in charge of a thousand boys. He made sure they had shelter (if at all possible), had food to eat, and that they got medical attention when they got sick. And their ordeal wasn't over once they had trekked hundreds of miles across their country to the refugee camp. The refugee camp was still attacked and forced to move, the entire group of over 20,000 boys (and a much smaller amount of girls). Unfortunately, many of the boys did not survive.

One of my favorite parts was when the author gets chosen to come to America. It was really fun to read about his first exposure to American technology and culture as a firsthand account. I laughed when I read about his first reaction to showers and grocery stores. I was angry to hear about him getting fired from his minimum wage job after following the rules, but crossing a few key people. And I really loved seeing how he has been able to help his friends in Sudan, even making $7.00 an hour. The book really gave wonderful insight into the culture and cultural thought process of the Dinka (John's tribe) I would definitely recommend this book, and if you don't have time to read the book, then watch the documentary by the same title. (Which I have yet to see, hopefully sometime this week, but it won the "Grand Jury Prize: Documentary" and "Audience Award" at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006 so it sounds like a safe recommendation.)

Final Vacation Post, I Promise

For the few people out there who are not yet sick of my posts about our vacation...

Lima and Cuzco

Machu Picchu

Iquitos (the Jungle)

or access them on Facebook by clicking here:

Lima and Cuzco

Macchu
Picchu

Iquitos

I also added a video of the ladders on the hike up Putucusi on the Putucusi post below.

P.S.

See, the monkey really did keep trying to climb on me, and he really is a thief!

Wheats Like Animals..

Wheats like animals...Robert and an alligator.Melarie and a night monkey.
Robert and a sloth. Daniel and an anaconda.
... and animals like WheatsYum, Robert tastes good.

The first monkeys are howler monkeys, you can see why they are named that. The second monkey is a cute little capuchin monkey that kept trying to climb up on me. They told us not to let him because he would steal things out of our pockets.

Sorry we missed...

While we were in Peru, we missed:

3 birthdays (Well, actually, we missed two, my Mom's and Kevins. We celebrated Daniels with him.)

2 weddings (two of my cousins)

1 homecoming (my brother Richard)

1 funeral (Robert's grandma)

What Happened?!

Today I paid $4.19/gallon to fill up on gas at Costco. Yesterday I was running on empty so I had to put in a couple gallons to get around the next day, and I paid $4.33/gallon. This is why I now take the bus to work. Ugh. It wasn't this high before we left for Peru. What happened while we were gone?!

Also, check out my previous posts for some pictures I just added. Yay for fast computers in the good ole USA!