April 18

This is the work I did yesterday with Dad. The top was before and the bottom after. Except I didn't help with the taping and floating. Just the hanging drywall. Which was the hardest part. That stuff weight like 80 pounds and when you have me- with the weakest arms ever- and Dad trying to carry all the weight, it is not easy. Plus we had to lift it above our heads and hold it their while Dad nailed it in. It was the hardest workout I have had in a long time. I was actually sweating.

We have the living room to do next, but Sammie and Charleah should be here to help with that. It will make it so much easier. Especially with Sammie's muscles.

April 17

This is me after running 3.1 miles. Tired red-faced, but so happy that I did it. However, I don't know my time because the timer got stopped while I was running. But it was around what 43 min. Still so slow, but at least I am doing it. And Kali is doing it with me to. She doesn't do so bad, she mostly runs with me and only once in a while does she stop. But she loves going.

I have decided that in the month of May, I am going to run a total of 50 miles. I ran 8.7 miles this week, so I think I can add 4 more a week to that.

April 16

We went to Outback Steakhouse today. In Provo we went about once a week. Since we have to drive 40 minutes to get to one now, we don't go as often. But it is still so good, especially the poop logs and the ranch dressing.

I tried to be a little bit healthier tonight. Instead of getting fries, I got broccoli. And it was huge!

April 15

I learned how to tape and float drywall today. As part of my life goal to learn everything about everything. But mostly because once I know how to do it, theoretically, I can do it when Dad isn't here. Most likely though, I will end up messing it all up. Dad makes it look way easy, maybe because he has been doing it for like 20 years. I am so clumsy with it and I was dropping the mud all over the place.

My hands were covered in dried white mud. I remember growing up Dad's hands always looked like that when he got home from work.

April 14

No original picture today. But in about 2 weeks I will be able to take a picture like this. That's right; my sisters are coming. I am so freaking excited. I know that we will all be so busy with work-mostly just Charleah. But we can still have so much fun together. I am mostly excited because I thought that I was going to maybe have to wait until Christmas to see them again. And that is just too long to go without seeing your sisters.

Here are some things about having sisters:

1. You get to borrow their clothes. And sometimes they just give you their clothes.
2. You'll always have a roommate at college.
3. If you need a laugh, just call them.
4. You have an automatic best friend growing up.
5. You can have the worst fights and then laugh about it later.

April 13

This confirms my original thought. That poor goose was eaten by an alligator in her own nest. On my walk on Tuesday I peaked in the bush and saw this egg. I am assuming it is a goose egg. I don't really know my eggs. I am also assuming it is dead, but I did not touch it just in case it wasn't.

April 12

My garden is growing! This is a zucchini plant, which is what I am most excited about. There is still more than a month before we get anything growing.

April 11

Flashback time.

About a month before our wedding, Charleah, Adison, Chris and I went to some parks, played, and took pictures. It was way fun.

Unfortunately, Sammie had to work, but we went to visit her at Klein's so that she wouldn't feel left out. (Sammie, where are you going to work when you get back her now?) I love parks. Hopefully we always live near one so our kids can go a lot.

April 10

Today Chris and I went to some little antique and speciality shops in Tomball. I saw these napkins and they describe Chris perfectly. He always exaggerates his stories and it is so funny.

The time I remember best is Christmas 2008. We were driving to the airport to come to Houston and Chris was talking on the phone. One the freeway there was a box about the size of a small refrigerator. Chris started freaking out and saying "There is this huge 10 foot box in the middle of the road!"

Me, Charleah and Sammie just started laughing. It is just Chris.

April 9

We went to Los Cucos after we went to the temple today and we had this chip. How cool is it?

But I do love Chris.

April 8

This post was actually taken on Friday, but I didn't have a good picture from today. And I love this picture.

I wanted to share my 25 things to do before I turn 25 in 8 months. I might switch some things out, depending on how things go.

1. Leave the country
2. Run a 5K without walking
3. Do a 10K
4. Go to the Frio
5. Cook eggs 25 different ways
6. Manually change the oil
7. Grow a garden
8. Go 4-wheeling
9. Read Jane Eyre
10. Play piano solo in sacrament
11. Knit some socks
12. See Wicked again
13. Go to a Beach
14. Explore Houston
15. Make Donuts
16. Make cute cupcakes
17. Eat at a hole-in-the-wall place
18. Plan a Wedding (Charleah, Sammie)
19. Learn Logo/Blog Header design stuff
20. Make 20 Christmas ornaments
21. Take a Piano Class
22. Make a Dress
23. Sell my stuff
24. Go to a Rockets Game
25. Read 10 non-fiction books

April 7

So yesterday there was a goose here the day before. Now it is just a pile of feather. It has been eaten by something.

The saddest thing is that I think this was a nest. I saw another goose in this bush (alive) the same day. Maybe looking for his companion or the eggs. Sad.

April 6

There used to be four live geese in our neighborhood.

Two weeks ago,  I was walking Kali and she went up to a 7 foot high and 10 foot long bush and started sniffing and the bush hissed back at her and the whole thing moved. She barked and ran away. The next day the same thing happened. I thought she had found a snake.

But today I was walking Kali with Chris and we walked by the same bush. Kali went near it and it hissed and moved again. Chris said there was no way it was just a snake. We took Kali home and then got our camera. With the zoom we found this.

Can you tell what it is? Chris and I debated about it thinking maybe it was a turtle, but no. It was goose number 4. We threw some things at it and it didn't move. It was dead.

Later in the day Chris looked up alligator sounds. He found a website and played an alligator hiss and it sounded exactly like what we heard when Kali got near the bush.

April 5

My mom got us some chocolate bunnies and I couldn't resist doing this. It just makes me laugh.

April 4

I actually took this picture on Friday after we went to the temple.

But since this weekend was General Conference, I thought it was fitting for today.

When I was younger, I didn't really like General Conference. And then when I was about 14, all of a sudden I loved it. I want to share some of the things I wrote done during the sessions. They aren't exact quotes, just close quotes.

• Personal revelation comes when we prepare for it, ask for it and trust that it will come. (Julie Beck)
• We will still experience disappointment, but we will not be disappointed in ourselves. (Julie Beck)
• Mothers-When it comes to matters of the heart and things of the Lord, she has a wealth of knowledge. (M Russell Ballard)
• Satan is always working to undermine women's greatest role to nurture. (M Russell Ballard)
• A strong spiritual foundation can make a difference of a lifetime (Henry B Eyring)
• The Book of Mormon speaks to the spirit and the heart of the reader like no other book. (David A Bednar)
• Many influences may not be technically evil, but blunt our judgement. (Jeffery R Holland)
• The only real control is self-control. (Jeffery R Holland)
• We often confuse the sin with the sinner and condemn too soon and have no compassion. (Dieter F Uchtdorf)
• Every soul we meet is a VIP to our Father. (Dieter F Uchtdorf)
• Even if you have a giant battle ahead, I do not want you to lose your faith in Jesus Christ. (Thomas S Monson)

April 3

I woke up Saturday morning and saw tons of fog outside. I figured that the pond would look pretty cool, so immediately hopped out of bed an hour later and snapped this. Practicing my photography is one of those new year's resolutions that I am supposed to be working on.

April 2

We went to Willie's for our dinner date tonight to see Chris's sister Megan in action as a waitress. (I forgot to take a picture of her; I will get it later.) Chris loves their fried pickles. I don't really like them, but I was so hungry I couldn't wait.

Willie's made me realize that I am getting older. I had fried pickles, onion rings and a hamburger. All that fried food made me feel sick afterwards. I guess it isn't a bad thing.

April 1

Kali has a new toy. And she carries around a lot. She is kind of weird about it. But she has had it for over a week and she hasn't destroyed it yet. I guess she hasn't realized that it can't love her back yet.

March 31

Look at these green onions! They're giant. I think they are usually the size of a pencil eraser and this are like 1000x bigger.

They were cool to look at, but I did not like cutting them up. Or eating them. It was just weird in my head that made me not want to.

March 30

I saw this sign at Hobby Lobby and it is basically Chris's motto. We have gotten better at the not eating out (mostly due to lack of options in Magnolia).

March 29

We got to talk to Adison today while he was on a layover in Georgia going to Argentina. We got to talk to him for over an hour and it was fantastic. We had a four way call going.

He impressed me so much while we were talking to him. Adison has never been much of a talk-on-the-phone type of guy. When we would call him while we were in Utah it took so much to get a sentence on him. But I think a combination of being away for two months and having so much to share changed that.

Not only was he talking, but he was sharing his experiences with us voluntarily.

I have always heard it said that families are blessed when their brothers/sisters/sons/daughters etc go on missions. Now I know that it true. He has inspired me already and it's only been two months.

Only 35 days until we can talk again.