October 16

After the adult session of stake conference we went to eat at a BBQ place. I can't remember the name but it doesn't matter. Hickory Hollow is better. Chris and I just sat at the very end and entertained ourselves. We aren't old enough to be part of the adult conversations yet.

October 15

Chris and I went to Freebirds tonight. It is a burrito place that has HUGE burritos. The one I am eating is the second smallest. There are two bigger than it. It used to be my favorite burrito place, but this one wasn't too good. I will probably give it one more shot, but then I'll have to say Chipotle is better. It is sad to give up on an old friend.

We went to Freebirds right after our high school graduation. And we went right after we got married. We took pictures and then ate lunch at this exact Freebirds.

October 14

Tonight Chris and I went over to Chris's parents house for dinner. I felt that we hadn't seen them in while and invited ourselves over to eat some steak. Glenda tried a new recipe of something with Spinach in it. Chris and his dad have similar taste buds. They both scoffed at the new dish and wouldn't even try it. The steak was also really good. It was from a real cow! As in, Chris's parents bought the cow, had it slaughtered and the meat went right to their freezer.

October 13

Isn't Chris just the cutest? Our kids are going to have the chubbiest cheeks and curly hair.

October 12

LOOK! IT'S A DEAD FROG!

Sometime you would think Chris was a 12-year-old boy. He was so excited to see that somehow and frog had got into the hinge of the front door and had died. It was pretty small and basically disgusting. But he has shown this picture to a few people.

October 11

With the floor done now, Mom and Dad moved everything into the new living room. It took a couple of tries to get the TV to work, but they worked it all out. Now, we have a big downstairs. Let's have a party! We'll have lots of room at Christmas.

October 10

Five points if you can guess what time this picture was taken.

4:20am. Jennifer and Shannin needed to leave for the airport by 4:30am. That is the price you pay when you want to fly for free. Jen and Shannin didn't even go to sleep. I can't stay up all night anymore. Maybe one time during Christmas break when I have time to recover. But there is no way I could do it with school the next Monday.

It was a nice visit. I am glad Jen came down. I wish we could spend more time together.

October 9

Jennifer bought Chris and I a new game called Bezzerwizzer. It is a trivia game, with a twist. (Don't all trivia games have a twist?) Anyone can win and that is the truth. I won this game, but I lost the night after. So, we will most definitely be playing this game again.

Shannin was trying to help Jennifer, while she watched the most obnoxious movie ever! I think it was called Fred. But the brains of Shannin and Jen were no match for me! Just kidding, I mostly got lucky. That is how you win most games anyway. 75% luck, 25% strategy.

October 8

Jennifer and Shannin came to visit for a weekend. This was the best picture that had Chris, Shannin, and me in the same picture. They drove the long, long trip to Navasota to come eat lunch for me. Was it really worth an 80 minute total drive to eat with me for 25 minutes? I guess Jen and Shannin have to answer that question. Shannin spent the time writing and drawing on my Smartboard. It is pretty fun to do.

For dinner that night, we went to Outback Steakhouse and listened to Shannin drool over Jacob from Twilight. She is a silly ten-year-old.

October 7

Chris practically covered the whole floor all by himself. He is learning things he never thought he would learn. Actually, that is not true. He has thought about flipping houses, so he would probably have to learn sooner or later.

Is this an okay picture Chris? Your face isn't in it.

October 6

I've decided that my blog/project is lacking in pictures of me. So, I am going to take awkward pictures of me where I look weird.

Here is my completed loaf. It looks like a real loaf of bread, right? That's because it is. And there I am with my piece of bread with honey and jam because why should one piece of bread only have one type of topping?

Now, was the kneading worth it? Yes and no. The bread was really good. It was moist and delicious. Must better than our yeast-less bread experiment. Will I make it again? Probably not.

Are you interested in creating this bread? I am pretty sure this is the recipe. 

October 5

Enrichment tonight was making the most complicated bread in the world. All the dough was made for us and we just had to add the butter, brown sugar and other stuff like that. But we kneaded it for ever. The first time it was at least 20 minutes and then we took a break and then kneaded it some more. I didn't even knead it all the way because my arms and back were getting tired and I am not a perfectionist. I was sure that it would be the best homemade bread (and first without a bread machine) I had ever made. Anyways, this is what it looked like when I brought it home right before I put it in the oven.

October 4

Before we could get the room looking like a real living space, Dad had to fix the floor. He said there was a bump or a slump or a hill or something un-level. So he spent a week jack hammering the cement. And cement dust got everywhere. And then he had to re cement it to make it level.

Chris got to help. I had something at school the next day, so I had to stay late and prepare for it. Lucky me.

October 3

I always look forward to General Conference weekend. Here are some highlights:

• Endure to the end we must, for our goal is eternal life in the presence of our Father in Heaven. He loves us and wants nothing more than for us to succeed in this goal. He will help us and bless us as we call upon Him in our prayers, as we study His words, and as we obey His commandments. Therein is found safety; therein is found peace.
• We must realize that all of God’s children wear the same jersey. Our team is the brotherhood of man. This mortal life is our playing field. Our goal is to learn to love God and to extend that same love toward our fellowman. We are here to live according to His law and establish the kingdom of God. We are here to build, uplift, treat fairly, and encourage all of Heavenly Father’s children. Dieter F Uchtdorf
• True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes. In so doing, we permit Him to raise us to our highest destiny. D. Todd Christofferson
• It wasn’t long after astronauts and cosmonauts orbited the earth that they realized ballpoint pens would not work in space. And so some very smart people went to work solving the problem. It took thousands of hours and millions of dollars, but in the end, they developed a pen that could write anywhere, in any temperature, and on nearly any surface. But how did the astronauts and cosmonauts get along until the problem was solved? They simply used a pencil. Dieter F Uchtdorf
• You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you. Henry B Eyring

October 2

A year ago Chris and I were in San Francisco having the most stressful weekend of our lives. We had originally planned to go because it was the closest place to take our Texas Teaching tests. We didn't know why it was in California, but that is what the website said. We decided to make a weekend out of it and we bought Wicked tickets.

It turns out that the tests were not actually in San Francisco but we decided to go anyways.

We drove out and then we were in the city. We drove the wrong way on a one-way street. Got honked at for not going at a red light, saw poop-in-a-bag, got swindled out of $5, froze, and left early.

The best day was when we drove the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove along the beach and it was so peaceful and calm. We went to the beach and played in a fort.

We still talk about the steak and fries in the picture. We will someday recreate that steak. It was so good.