The Liddells

Zoo

2012-01-03T20:05:00.000-08:00

Josh had Monday off for New Year's Day and so we headed off to the Austin Zoo with Harper. We took her new wagon (If Josh were here, he'd correct me by saying Radio Flyer All-Terrain Wagon) and stuck the bumbo in it with a few blankets and she was all set. It really worked out perfectly.

All ready to see the animals!
Looking at a peacock!
Alpaca!
Feeding a goat
We watched this lion play with her ball. It was quite entertaining.
Watching the lion pace back and forth.

She's a Longhorn fan.

Looking at a rooster

Christmas in Utah

2012-01-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

This year, we spent Christmas in Roosevelt, Utah with Josh's family. We had a great time spending time with family. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Us with Grandma and Grandpa Liddell (Harper's Great Grandparents)

Four-Generation Photo. Great-Grandpa Liddell, Grandpa Liddell, Dad and Harper

Harper is opening up the gift from the grandparents. They got her a book of the Christmas story.

Here we are in our new pajamas. It's tradition in our family to open up a gift on Christmas Eve, which just happens to always be pajamas.

Here's Harper opening up her first gift on Christmas morning. She's pretty excited.

Here's her toys from Grandma and Grandpa.

Trying out her new toy.

Josh's sister Jill is a massage therapist. She was giving Josh a massage and Harper decided she should help. :)

On our way home we had a whole row to ourself on the airplane. So I got the window seat, Harper got the middle seat, and Josh got the aisle seat. And she sat like this the entire way home...ok...not really. But she would sit like this for about 5 minute increments before we had to change positions or toys or something. :)

We had a great Christmas and a fun time with the family. It's always nice to get a break from the real world.

Now onto "pinning" patterns for skirts for me to make with my new sewing machine! Sew excited! :)

BeachBody Challenge

2011-11-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

So, I have been quite lazy since, well, me and Josh got married...but especially since I got pregnant/had Harper. It is time to change my habits. Starting December 5th (yes, I'm procrastinating it a week) I will be starting the BeachBody Challenge. Kind of excited about it. I will be documenting my progress here weekly. And will (possibly) be posting pictures...depends on how embarrassing they are. But I do promise, at the end of the 60 days, to post both before and after pictures. Shouldn't be so embarrassing once I look semi-decent at the end. Wish me luck. And need lots of encouragement. The more comments on these posts, the more I will want to do it. Thanks!

5 months

2011-10-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

Harper turned 5 months old on May 1st. She is almost able to sit up now without falling over...but still has a little work to do. :) She is so happy and so fun! I can't imagine my life without her.

She's so cute...

2011-09-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

me, not so much...

UT vs. BYU

2011-09-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Harper went to her first college football game. And of course we took the opportunity to dress her up in Longhorn gear (well, I did...Josh not so much. But I will tell you that he thought she was pretty cute, even though he was rooting for BYU)

We (Me and Harper) were going for the Longhorns because I told Josh that Harper was born and raised in Texas :) so she was a Longhorn by default. But I will tell you that I secretly hoped BYU won. Unfortunately, they didn't. Final score. UT: 17 BYU: 16. Bummer.

Josh was going for BYU and so he was bummed when they lost. But all in all, it was a fun game. Harper did great! Got fussy the last 5 minutes of the game and then fell asleep on the hike (literally) back up to the car.

Can't wait to do it again!

Grandma Liddell and Auntie Jill.

2011-09-02T10:53:00.001-07:00

Grandma Liddell and Auntie Jill came for a visit at the end of August. This was Harper's first time meeting Jill and third time meeting Grandma Liddell. Here's some pics of the fun time we had!

Riding the Waves

2011-08-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

We took Harper to the beach for the first time on Sunday, August 28th. She loved the water. I'm sure that's mostly because it was warm.

Here's Harper in her Little Swimmers diaper waiting to get her sunscreen and swimsuit on. She loved holding onto the umbrella.

Waiting to go in the water.
Sadly, this is the best family picture of us at the ocean with Harper walking in the water...

Josh and Harper...

Here she is in the handmade pool made by daddy.

Don't you love her sunglasses and polkadot ruffle swimsuit?!

Walking in the water

Josh kept holding her like this and then the waves would come and get all over her face...she definitely tasted salt water...YUCK!

This one is slightly better than the first family picture...

We had fun! Josh, especially. He refuses to wear sunscreen, though, and thoroughly regrets the few days after every time...

Nook Giveaway

2011-08-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

Head on over to this blog. She's giving away a Nook. Boy do I want it!

3 month photo shoot

2011-08-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

So I have a friend that is a photographer and she loves taking pictures of babies, so I am lucky because she's always wanting to take pics of Harper. Here's a few of the last photo shoot.

Bookshelf. Opinion?

2011-08-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

So...planning on making this bookshelf for Harper's room. Actually, two or three. You can find the tutorial here.

And I plan on putting it on the wall next to the curtains.

But, I need your opinion. I am trying to find fabric that I like...here's what I'm thinking...

Is there already too much color on the wall that I should do a black and white one? Or should I go with color??? Help!

Just a reminder: This is what the bedding looks like in her room.

Harper's Photoshoot

2011-08-22T14:57:00.001-07:00

We have a friend who knew about a photo shoot for a kid company called Warm Fuzzies. They make all of their products by crocheting or knitting. Anyway, if you showed up to model their stuff, you got to choose 5 of the photos to have for free. Here's the ones we picked.

#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Which is your favorite?

3 Months!

2011-08-04T15:30:00.001-07:00

Dear Harper,

I can't believe you're already three months. Time is flying by! You get cuter and cuter everyday, which I don't know how that's possible. In the past month, you've gotten so alert. You smile anytime someone talks to you. You love it when I whistle to you, make the kissing sound and you love it when me or dad sings to you. You laugh, too, all the time, which is the cutest thing!

You have a new toy that has piano keys on the bottom for you to step in and a TON of different toys for you to play with, including a mirror. OH MY HECK! You are so cute when you look at yourself in the mirror. You just get this huge grin and start laughing. You love looking at yourself. I take you in front of a mirror at least three times a day. I can't stand it. You are so cute!

You pretty much don't take a pacifier anymore, which is really fine with me, because then I don't have to worry about having to take it away from you later on. You hate getting in the car seat, but once you're in, as long as you're moving in it, you're fine.

You are wanting to stand all the time! You don't like to sit on my lap very much anymore, but I think that's just because you're wanting to stand all the time. It's super cute.

Well, you are now crying, so I guess I'll go check on you. We love you, little girl! You have been such a blessing in our lives!

Love,

Mom (and Dad)

2 months (a little late)

2011-07-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

Dear Harper,

I'm a little late writing this to you, but that's because we have had a busy week with family in town for your blessing. This month has been the month of firsts...and it has been so fun! You slept your first 5 hours in a row! I couldn't believe it. And the funny thing is that I felt so incredibly rested afterward. You usually sleep quite a bit in the morning and then are up for the day around 12:00. That's because I take you walking in our jogging stroller every morning with a friend, and you sleep the entire time. I'm not quite sure how you find it easy to sleep when you're bouncing around like crazy, but you must find it quite relaxing.

Also, you are loving your playmat these days! I can just set you on it and you squeal and go crazy. You love hitting the toys that hang down from it, and each time you do, you get all excited! In fact, I'm writing this write now while you're playing on it and you are having the time of your life! This playmat has allowed me to get quite a few things done around the house, like doing the dishes, folding laundry, etc. But, I must say that when I hear you from downstairs squealing upstairs, I end up coming up and just watching you because you are so dang cute! So, I am getting more things done around the house, but I also just sit and watch you have so much fun on it!

You smiled at me, on purpose :), for the first time this month. And each day you smile more and more. I love to just sit there and make you smile. Daddy loves it, too. He always tells you how cute you are. He does this thing called the rocket, and we think you love it, but maybe you just think we are really weird. Daddy picks you up and holds you like you're laying on your stomach and then shoots you from one side to the other really quickly.

This month, you also graced us with your first of three blowout diapers. And they all happened in one week. That was quite an experience. But I must say you were in quite a good mood after each of these.

You get cuter and cuter everyday! I love being able to stay home with you and watch you grow! You have quite the personality.

You love visiting Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's house. They have a playmat for you, too, but it's different, so you get really excited when you're on it.

You also LOVE the outdoors. If you're ever in a bad mood (which really doesn't happen that often) we can walk outside with you and you will instantly stop crying and just look around. You love taking in all that's going on outside.

We love you so much and are excited to see all that you're going to do/learn this next month.

I love you.

Love,

Mom

Swim anyone?

2011-07-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

Took Harper swimming for the first time while Josh's family was here. She really liked it. Took her a minute to get used to the water because it was a little bit colder than her normal bath water, but after that, she loved it! Love her swimsuit!!!

Putting her feet in.
My husband is quite embarrassing when we go swimming. Has to have his goggles and flippers. haha.
Me and Harper. I was so excited to get her in the water that I forgot to take my shirt off...
Here's the part of the family that actually got in the water. Of course we all had to take turns holding Harper in the water and taking pictures with her.

One Month

2011-06-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Harper,

I can't believe you are one month already!!! Me and your dad were just talking about how you look so much bigger/older to us. I'm not going to lie, the first month has been hard, but only because I REALLY like my sleep, and you are REALLY good at getting up every two hours on the dot. You sure do like to eat. You already have a nickname from your dad. The first night in the hospital you made noise the whole time you were sleeping, so your dad nicknamed you Squeaker. I imagine he'll be calling you that the rest of your life. At your two week appointment, you weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. I thought you were big then, but now I think you weigh about 7 lbs. 5 oz. or so. It's been so fun watching you grow and learn. I love it when I can just pick you up when you are crying and you are instantly happy! It melts my heart. Your dad says I hold you too much, but I can't help it. You are just so cute. And you are certainly one of the best dressed little girls in town!I love getting you dressed each day. No doubt you already have hundreds of pictures of yourself loaded onto the computer. Over the last week, you have really started taking in everything around you. You just look around and stare at everything. I wish I knew what you were thinking, but I love it when you just stare into my eyes. You have only been here a month, but I can't express to you how much I love you and how much your dad loves you. You are such a blessing to us and I can't wait to watch you grow in the next month. I love you!

Love,

Mom

Introducing Harper Rae

2011-05-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well, here she is. Born May 1, 2011 at 7:34 a.m. Weighing 6 lbs. 5 oz. and 19.75 inches long. We absolutely love her. I will get the birth story written soon.

Lately

2011-04-08T07:20:00.000-07:00

***I tried three times to separate this into paragraphs, but it keeps squishing it all together into one REALLY HUGE paragraph, or novel:) so you're just going to have to deal. I'm sorry.*** Here's some things that have been going on lately. It's not super exciting stuff, but I want to update my blog, so this is what you get. I've been working a lot! Which is good. At first, things were slow, so it's nice that things are picking up. The unfortunate thing about that is that it looks like things are going to continue to pick up, and I will not be working around that time, because I will be staying home with Ms. Harper Rae!!! (I'm so excited) Today actually might be my last day of working. I haven't quite decided, but if I do take something, it will be small. I don't want to go into labor and still have a transcript that I have to produce...that would really stink! We are still SLOWLY working on the room. This painting is killing us. We both hate painting (and I really stink, which basically means Josh is doing it) so it's very tedious work. Once the painting is done...it will almost be done. We will have to put the floors in, but it's a very small room and I don't think it will take too long. (Josh has never put in wood floor, though, so who knows) We got the bedding in yesterday and it's super cute! I can't wait to see it against everything we've picked out for the room (walls, furniture, etc.) The baby shower is tomorrow! I am so excited. I love going to baby showers, so I can't imagine what it will be like when that baby shower is for me (or, really, for Harper). I can't wait. And I have a secret. I know a lot of people don't like the baby shower games, but I LOVE them. I absolutely love them. But I pretty much love games of all sorts, so it's no surprise. Tomorrow can't come fast enough! Plus I'm excited because we have been waiting to buy stuff until the baby shower. I mean, we bought everything for the room, but that is really the extent of it. We haven't bought anything else, so I am going to have fun seeing what we still need and what we don't need and buying what we do need. We also have some family coming in town for it. Josh's aunt and her daughter (his cousin) live in the Dallas area, so they are making the trip down tomorrow morning and then staying Saturday night, so it should be a fun weekend! I am excited for next week to start. I think the nesting has kicked in. All of this working this week has made me realize how much I would like to not work, and just clean. It was frustrating that I couldn't clean because I had too much work to do. Next week I plan to clean to my heart's desire. So excited! Also on the list of things to do would be to start the frozen dinners. I know that people from the ward will be super helpful in that area, but I still want to get some frozen just in case. But I don't like to cook all that much (well, sometimes I do. It comes in spurts) so this one is going to be hard for me to do. But I'm making myself :) I guess I can tell you a little about how the pregnancy is going, since I haven't really done that at all, or at least it's been a while. I am 35 weeks and 2 days. Holy cow! 33 days to go. I can't believe it. It is going by both fast and slow. I don't know how to explain it. I really just want to meet her already, but I'm not ready, and either is she :) I don't really know what to say about it, though, because it's been a really easy pregnancy. I've heard what other people have gone through and I can't even imagine. I really have enjoyed being pregnant. I have had absolutely no sickness. I have never been nauseated, or anything. That has been great! I started feeling Harper kick at 18 weeks and she kicks non-stop. Luckily for me, I have not been kicked in the ribs...yet! We will see if it happens. There has been a time or two where I think her butt is sitting right against my ribs, but it hasn't been too bad. I have gained 26 lbs., so I'm right on track. I imagine by the time I have her, I will have gained 31-35 lbs. I am really curious, though, as to how much I will lost just from having her. I can still wear all my clothes (well, you know what I mean. I can still pull up my jeans, obviously can't button them up), so I'm wondering if I'll be able to button up my jeans after I have her. I probably won't be able to, but that would be nice. I have only bought two pairs of maternity jeans (and my mom also bought me a pair) and then I haven't bought any maternity tops (my mom bought me four, I think, though) so it's been nice to not have to worry about spending money on that. I have no desire to spend money on maternity clothes. I can't figure out where I've gained the rest of the weight, though. I know I'm not going to close all 35 lbs. right away (although that would be great) so we will see. I'm sure my face has gotten a little chubbier, but not enough to where I can really tell. Anyway, enough about that. My feet started to swell the other day. It was crazy! It's only happened that one time, but I'm telling you, I already have big toes (my family has always teased me about it) and it was definitely not a good sight to see. I hope it doesn't happen again. (Who am I kidding?) I guess that's about it. I start my weekly OB appointments this next week, which I feel like will make it go by even faster. That's exciting! Oh, we took a Baby Basics class (did I blog about that already? I don't remember. I learned a few new things, but really, we already knew everything. We made it fun, though. Well, Josh did. He's such a nerd. He kept turning the baby's face all the way around (because it was a seriously ugly baby) and putting the beanie over it, so it looked like we had a faceless baby. We were pretty much laughing the whole time (I don't think the other people like us, though. They were all very serious about the whole thing.) Anyway, we are taking a breastfeeding class on the 25th. Josh is not thrilled. For some reason, I am quite nervous about breastfeeding. Mostly because I don't like pain, so I hope it's not as painful as I've heard it is. But I am determined to breastfeed, so I will just have to deal. I debated and debated about taking the class. But after talking to a few good friends, and them telling me that it's worth it, I decided to sign up for the class...so that's what I did. I signed us up and then told Josh afterwards :) Surprisingly he did not complain, although I know he's not thrilled. Someone told him (as a joke) that they would have a live demonstration, so he's really not excited about that. But it specifically says on the website that they don't do live demonstrations (which is good!) so he has nothing to worry about. Anyway, that's really all I can say about the pregnancy. I've been very lucky for it to be so easy. I'm thinking I'm going to have a really hard labor, though, just to even it out. Sorry this was an extremely boring post (you probably didn't even make it this far to reading) but I feel better about myself for actually updating the blog. Now I have to figure something else to do while I sit here in court...

Slowly making progress

2011-03-22T10:43:00.001-07:00

So, we are SLOWLY working on Harper's room. It's quite depressing that it's taking so long, but it's hard when I can't really do any of it and Josh works as often as he does. Who wants to work all day and then come home to work more? I know I wouldn't. So, the last few days, we've been doing a little bit, but not much. Here are some pictures of what's been done.

Here's what it looked like after Josh tore out all of the baseboards and the carpet. A big mess!
Here's Josh building the shelves in the closet. I love that he's so handy!
More pictures of Josh working on the shelving.
The finished product...before it's been caulked and painted (I hate caulking and Josh gave me that job...it's slowly coming along, too.)
Here are the colors we chose for the walls. Josh still has to finish a lot of the edges of the walls, but this will give you an idea. The material I am holding (if you can even see it with my big hand in the way) is the swatches from the bedding we chose. What do you think? Does it go? I hope so, 'cause that's the way it's staying :)
Three of the walls are the light grey color and then the one wall is the pink. The crib is going to go against the pink wall. We are also in the process of painting the baseboards the darker grey color.
Another picture of the grey and pink. Does the grey look too blue for you? Josh thinks the room looks really blue and is worried about it. I think it looks good. And I told him once the black furniture and the bedding and valance are in there, it won't look blue. What do you think?
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5 years and South Padre

2011-01-31T06:09:00.001-08:00

So, the 27th of January was our 5-year anniversary. Happy Anniversary to us! We pretty much worked all day that day. Once I got home, I made a fabulous dinner (which wasn't finished cooking until about 8:30) and by the time we ate, it was pretty much bed time. So, we decided we would take a 1 day/1 night trip to the beach. We were told South Padre would be good, so that's what I did. I made a reservation to South Padre.

I made this reservation Friday night. After that, I looked up MapQuest to see about how long it would take us to get there. 5 HOURS!!!!! I swear someone told me it was only 3 hours away. And it didn't seem worth it to drive 5 hours Saturday night (Josh was working, so we wouldn't leave until he got home, which was about 5) and then turn around Sunday night and drive back (once again, we both were working on Monday) so I tried to cancel...but since I made the reservation within 24 hours, I couldn't cancel...so we made the trip.

The drive was annoying, but we had a lot of fun! We got to the hotel at about 11:00 and then started watching the movie Salt by about midnight. I fell asleep (because I'm an old lady and have a really hard time staying up late). Then we woke up around 9:00, ordered room service (the food was terrible) and then were checked out by 11:00.

We didn't really have a lot of plans, so we stopped at the visitor's center and looked around at what South Padre Island had to offer.

Here's what we did.

Here's our gross breakfast...they forgot to bring Josh his side of hash browns, so I called down and they promptly brought us a plate of them.

Josh started laughing once he took a bite, and then he said, "What do these look like?" I looked closer and realized that they are french fries cut up. Haha.

Here was a sand castle inside the Visitors' Center

And the back side...

A sea turtle.

Josh's best friend. haha. Josh really loves animals, and anytime one semi-bonds with him, he gets really attached. After we took this picture, we saw that they had lettuce sitting in a pail that you could feed to the turtles, so he would save the lettuce in front of the tank, the turtle would hurry up and swim over there, then he would toss it in the tank and watch the turtle chow down on it. Josh was way too excited about this. :) He ended up feeding the whole pail of lettuce to him, too...which I'm not sure is really what you're supposed to do, but oh well. The turtle enjoyed it!

Here I am with our newfound friend!

See Josh's huge smile in the reflection? He was like a little kid!

We sat and watched this bird for about 30 minutes try to catch fish to eat...he was really close, then a little kid came close and scared the bird away....oh well. Can you tell I'm a little bitter? I was excited to get it on camera. we gave up after that.

While we were watching the bird try to catch fish, we kept seeing these small things scurry all over the ground across the water. We couldn't figure out what they were. Then we looked down below us (we were walking on a raised platform through this place) and saw a million crabs. And every time you would move, then would scurry back into their hole. It was cool to watch.

The alligator. He was so still. And had a wicked-looking grin. He did move at one point, and I was hoping to see him eat something but I think he just wanted to go in the water a little bit to cool off.

Here we are at the beach. We went and bought a kite and lunch and decided we would drive onto the beach and eat our lunch and fly our kite. Josh decided to invite the seagulls to our lunch...apparently they like BBQ-flavored chips.

Here's our new car...did I mention we got a new "family car?" Well, we did. An H3. We love it. The only annoying this is that all I hear out of Josh's mouth these days is, "We should go off-roading. That's what a Hummer is for." And, so, you can guarantee that that's what we did. I did not enjoy it one bit, but he did. We drove it all over the beach, etc. It is dirty, as you can see.

Josh flying our kite. (I wanted the cute kite that had the bows down the tail and everything, but Josh was really into the pirate kite, so that's what we got. haha)

25 weeks

2011-01-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

Here I am at 25 weeks...I can't believe I'm that far along already. Harper is constantly kicking...constantly. I love it! I had a deposition yesterday and she kicked the entire time, which made it that much more fun...and I love my job! I am thoroughly enjoying being pregnant and I think I'll be somewhat sad to not be pregnant anymore, but then also thrilled that I'll actually be able to meet her. I just want to know what she's going to look like. Me? Or Josh? Or a combination of both? We've always joked that our kid was going to be really small, with a really big nose and nostrils...so I guess now I'm just really hoping that's not the case:)

As far as the room goes, we got the furniture in. We have picked out paint, I just need to go hopefully today to get the paint, then I'm going to start painting. Did you know that I HATE painting? Well, I do. I absolutely hate it. But I also hate paying people to do things that I have time to do, so I will start painting this week. After I get the painting done, I will order the bedding and finish all of my little projects that I have for her room. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I imagine all of this will take me at least a month...mostly because I'm lazy and HATE painting. :)

Josh bought his first dress for Harper two days ago. It was funny. We were walking through Target and I made him go to the baby clothes. He was anti-baby clothes when I showed him this cute little dress. I wasn't showing it to him so that he'd buy it. Just showing him how cute it was. Then he said, "I'm going to buy it. Will she be able to walk in it at this stage?" (He was holding a newborn size. haha) So I said no. Then he said, "It will be much cuter if she can walk in it." So he bought her a 12-months dress. He's very proud of it. Although the entire walk up to the checkouts, he just kept saying, "I can't believe I'm buying a dress." over and over.

Well, that's pretty much all the update I have for you. Until next time...

Hiring a Pediatrician

2011-01-19T13:11:00.000-08:00

So, at my last doctor's appointment, I was told that I needed to have a pediatrician picked out soon, preferably before my next appointment (which is Monday, so that's most likely not going to happen, but that's all right.)

Needless to say, I have no idea how to even go about finding a good pediatrician. I do REALLY, REALLY like my doctor, though, and she gave me three recommendations, so I guess I'll start there, but does anyone have any good questions to ask, etc.? Or anything I should look for? I so don't even know where to start. Help!

Projects

2011-01-18T18:10:00.001-08:00

So, looking at everything I want for Harper's room, I've obviously come to the conclusion that I just cannot justify spending hundreds of dollars on extra things that we don't need, so I'm coming up with a list of projects that I would like to do for a fraction of the cost.

First thing on the list -

A mobile. Here's the one that goes with the bedding that we chose. Can you please guess how

much it would cost to purchase this???

Let me tell you...$75.38. Why? I have no clue. Now, that doesn't include that mobile arm cover, which is basically just material that goes over the plastic part, which is $23.08. I just cannot justify spending $100 on that. It's just plain ridiculous. So, my friend Yvette, who is due just two weeks before me, and having a girl, too, told me that she is making hers. She found a kit on etsy.com to make her own. Now, I have looked and looked on there and can't find exactly what I want, so I'm going to start from scratch, but it looks super easy and I think I can do it in under $15. Here's an example of what mine will kind of look like.

Another thing I'm looking at making is one of these. I can make this for under $5.

Also going to make one or two pillows, just square, similar to this one.

That's all the projects for now. Just waiting for the swatches of the bedding I ordered to actually get here (they haven't even shipped yet) so I can start coming up with a color scheme, etc.

We've decided on crib/bedding

2011-01-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

So here is the crib we're getting. I tried to get the picture to come up, but I can't figure it out, so you'll have to click on the link to see it. Here is the changing table we are getting, in black. We are not getting the hutch part, just the dresser part. The thing I like about this changing table is the piece that holds the changing pad comes off later when they're older, and then it just looks like a dresser.

And then the bedding we decided on is this one:

I do need your opinion, now, though. What color of walls should we do? I like the grey in the picture, but Josh isn't a fan. I definitely don't want hot pink walls...maybe green or ...? I don't know.

We do need to buy a glider still and that's really about it as far as big pieces go for the room. Then I'll have fun accessorizing, etc.

Which do you like?

2011-01-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

I don't want to buy the crib (or really even look at cribs) until I know what bedding I want. Me and Josh are having a hard time agreeing. In fact, there's only one we agree on between these, so it will probably end up being that one regardless of your vote, but I want you to vote anyway.

21 weeks

2011-01-03T05:20:00.001-08:00

21 weeks 4 days

19 weeks!

2010-12-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm starting to show a little bit (I mostly just look like I've eaten a lot) I want to start putting up weekly pictures of myself. The pictures today aren't that great because Josh isn't home and I won't have time to do this later today. They are taken in my bathroom and are a little fuzzy, but you'll get the idea.

19 weeks

Let's see, in the last week I have started feeling the baby kick, which is really cool. It feels like popcorn. Besides that, not much is new. To be honest, nothing has really changed since before I was pregnant. I have had absolutely no morning sickness, nausea, or anything. It's been really nice. In the beginning, I did get frequent light headaches, but that's about it. And I am really thankful for that.

I have two pair of jeans that don't button up anymore, but I'm just using a hair tie to keep them together. Other than that, all my others still fit. Which is great, because I have no desire to buy maternity jeans.

I'll update you next week when I'm 20 weeks (halfway through!!!!) and I will have better pictures for you, too.

So, if you haven't heard...

2010-11-26T09:05:00.001-08:00

we are expecting! Due May 2011. We are thrilled!

North Carolina

2010-11-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from my trip to North Carolina this last weekend. My whole family went (excluding husbands) because it was my Grandma's 85th birthday. It was quite a fun, family-filled weekend. I wish I had more pictures to share, but I'm a really bad picture taker. I'm just waiting for my sister to send me copies of all the pictures she took.

Below: Mom and dad at Grandma's dinner party. There were about 40 - 50 people there. One of the tables...there were two really long tables at dinner.

Me and my Uncle Don.

Brandon at WalMart being a dork.

Me and Jennifer at the dinner.

Totally Blog Worthy

2010-10-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I haven't blogged in a while, but this is worthy enough news that I have finally decided to post something. I PASSED MY TX CSR TEST!!! I am now officially a court reporter! Yay for me. Now, please excuse me while I do the happy dance for the rest of the day...or maybe year. And, also, I have a lot of phone calls to make to cousins of cousins, sisters of grandparents, etc. :)

Freezer Meals

2010-08-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

So, with working 6 days a week right now (about 5 - 8 hours a day, depending on the day) and going to school Monday through Thursday, it's been really hard to keep up with making dinner, etc. Okay, who am I kidding, I pretty much haven't made dinner, and if I have, it's just been something that I plopped into the oven or microwave...poor Josh.

Well, this week I had an opportunity to take a day off of work. I decided I was going to catch up on some car maintenance (my oil change was WAY overdue) and catch up on some cooking.

A few months ago, I bought a cookbook called Fabulous Freezer Meals By Jenny Ahlstrom Stanger. I knew I was going to be working a lot and so I bought it so I could make some freezer meals for the days that I didn't have time. Unfortunately it took me a day off of work to actually have time to make the meals, but I finally got it done.

I sampled all of the meals as I went along and they tasted pretty good. Here is one of the ones I made:

Chicken Puffs

2 packages refrigerator crescent rolls

2 cups crushed buttery crackers

2 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

4 ounces cream cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

dash garlic powder

dash salt and pepper

Press together 2 crescent-roll triangles to form a square. Repeat with remaining dough. Place crushed crackers in a shall dish. Stir together remaining ingredients in a large bown and coop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto dough squares.

Fold and pinch edges together. Roll each chicken puff in the cracker crumbs. Place puffs on a greased cookie sheet and put cookie sheet in freezer for 1 hour. Then place chicken puffs in a zip-top freezer bag and freeze.

To serve:

Place frozen chicken puffs on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

I don't have time right now to post any of the other ones I tried, but I will at a later date. I would also suggest buying the cookbook, as I'm only going to post a few of the recipes because I think it's unfair to the author to post any more.

Josh at work.

2010-06-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

The other day Josh wanted me to bring him lunch , so I showed up to his job site and watched him work a little. Needless to say, I was nervous watching him climb like a monkey all over the house when he could drop two stories, but I guess that's why I don't go to work with him. Here's some pictures of him at work.

He is hidden in there somewhere...

This is what made me the most nervous...

Day 2 of NY

2010-05-26T13:13:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures of our second day, although I accidentally uploaded them backwards and it's not letting me change the order. So here it is backwards.We had to get a picture of the NYPD car :)
New York Police Department right in the middle of Times Square.
It was crazy, we came out of the Broadway show The Addams Family and it was pitch dark outside and then you turn the corner and it looks like daylight because of all of the lights.

Central Park
Josh was not happy that I wanted to take pictures of him in front of every little thing in NY.
Inside the Trump Tower taking a picture of our reflection.
On top of the Trump Tower. Josh wanted me to take a picture of all of the ADT vans there since he works for them.
Me and Jordan and Tiffany's. Jordan bought a bracelet and I bought a necklace.
Cody and Josh in front of the Trump Tower.
This church was amazing inside and out!

NY: Day 1

2010-05-24T11:01:00.001-07:00

So we left for the airport at about 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 19th. We had one layover (I can't remember where because we just stayed on the same plane) and from there we flew to the JFK airport in NY. We got there at about 3:30 and by the time all was said and done, we got to the hotel at about 6:30. We decided since we only got two hours of sleep the night before that we would just hang out and take a nap until Jordan and Cody (Josh's sister and her husband) got there. They ended up getting there around 9:30 or so. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the hotel, including me being a nerd.

We waited for Jordan and Cody to get there before we ate dinner, so we walked a few blocks from the hotel to Johnny Rockets and ate there. It was good food. After that, we stayed up talking to Jordan and Cody for a few hours and then went to bed.

It may not seem like a very exciting first day, but I had a lot of fun.

I will post Day 2 soon.

NY Teaser...

2010-05-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pictures of our trip so far. We still have today here in NY and then we fly home early tomorrow morning, but I just thought I'd share a few.

It took me long enough...

2010-05-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

but yesterday, I GRADUATED! It's such an amazing feeling. After 5 years of school, I can now say that I have graduated Court Reporting school.

Now, if only I could say that I am a Court Reporter. But, unfortunately, I can't do that quite yet. I have to wait for the state test in September. So, I still have about 5 months for that.

In the meantime, I will still be going to school. I know myself well enough that I won't practice on my machine at home on my own, so I'm still going to attend school to get the practice I need to help continue preparing me for the test.

And I will still be working as a nanny, although I got a job with a new family for the summer. They are a really great family and I'm excited to work with them.

Husband and Cat

2010-04-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is a totally random post with two pictures that have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

So sometimes my husband thinks it's fun to eat his rice through a straw...

We put a bird bath up on our post on the patio and haven't seen any birds use it...now we know why. Our cat drinks water out of it. Those poor birds aren't safe. I wouldn't bathe there either if it were me.

Emergency Room Visit

2010-04-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Both me and Josh have been very blessed to have little sickness in our life. And even when Josh is sick, he won't go to the doctor because he doesn't want to spend the money (hello, why do we pay for health insurance, then?) Well, times like these are exactly why.

On 3/18/2010, Josh came home and was complaining about having water in his ear, but he couldn't get it out. It progressively started getting worse until he was trying to keep himself from swearing because it hurt so bad. I asked him if he wanted me to call the doctor, but he didn't. Instead, he wanted me to go to the wonderful world of the Internet to see how to get water out of the ear. We tried everything that it said, including pouring 1/2 part vinegar and 1/2 part rubbing alcohol down the ear and using a blow dryer. Nothing worked. In fact, it got worse and started bleeding a little bit.

Josh decided to raid the cabinet and take some pain pills. Apparently that didn't work either because we went to sleep at 10:00 that night and neither of us fell asleep. It wasn't until about 1:00 in the morning that Josh decided I should call the 24-hour nurse and see what she said. She asked me barely short of a million questions before she told us we needed to go to the Emergency Room.

So, up we got, got dressed, and headed out the door. We got there and then waited, waited, and did some more waiting, until we were called at 3:00. They took us to our room and then we proceeded to wait another 20 minutes until the doctor came in, looked in Josh's ear and then told him he had an ear infection and would give him some medicine. (This took about 2 minutes). Then we proceeded to wait some more (for about another 20 minutes) until somebody came in asking for our copay. Nice. Wait, wait, wait again, until they finally gave us our prescription another 20 minutes later. At least while we were in the room, though, doing all of this waiting, we were about to watch Legally Blonde since they had a TV in there. That was nice.

Off to the house we went to drop Josh off, and then I proceeded to drive to the next town over, San Marcos, to fill the prescription. What a long night that was! But I am thankful that we do have health insurance for times like these so that, if we ever do need to go to the doctor, the bill is greatly reduced.

Needless to say, Josh is psychotic and went to work the next morning on like two hours of sleep. He's a work-a-holic. (Not complaining, though. I like having a husband that works hard. But if it were me, I would definitely have used it as an excuse not to go to work or school)

Pet Store

2010-04-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

So every so often Josh begs me to go to the pet store with him and I cave. He loves the birds. (He keeps begging me for one, but I am not stupid enough to agree. I do not want to have any more animals to clean up after.) So, about a week ago, after we went to dinner with my family, we stopped at Petland and stayed there for a good hour and a half. Josh just played with the birds the whole time. I usually try to hold the birds, but they scare me because some of the bite.

Well, I found a really nice one (Josh tested this bird out first for me) and so I ended up holding that one for quite a while. It just stood there, it wasn't one of the ones that feels the need to climb all over your body and head. But, occasionally, I would get really nervous and put it down. Well, after I would put it down (it shared a cage with one other bird) I would cast my fears aside and decide that I could pick it up again. Well, the other bird was a biter, and I would stick my finger down to pick up my bird, and the other one would bite the tip of my finger...it never failed. I finally learned me lesson and didn't put the bird down until I was actually done picking it up. My finger was really sore the next day.

Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred - Day 1

2010-04-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

So as much as I hate to admit this, I have gained about 20 pounds since high school. That is a very depressing fact. In high school a lot of people though I was too skinny, but I loved being the size that I was. And, a lot of people would look at me now and say I don't need to lose any weight, but I can assure you that I do. If only you could see what the clothes cover up. So I decided I'm going to do it.

I bought this DVD - Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred quite a while ago and have never used it. Well, we are going to NYC in just over a month, and I want to lose ten pounds by then. I'm hoping this, eating better/less, and swimming laps with Josh at least four times a week will help in that goal.

I will let you know my progress. I just have to keep doing it one day at a time.

closer and closer!

2010-04-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

I passed my second mock today! Only one more at 97% and then I will graduate! Just thought I would share.

Court Reporting Lesson

2010-03-06T07:16:00.001-08:00

So since I am in school for court reporting, we have what's called a Stenograph machine that we use to take down everything that's being said in court, depositions, etc. It's a pretty neat little machine. When you go to school, you first start in Theory, which is where you learn how to write on the machine. It's basically a new language. Everything you take down is by sound/syllable. A lot of people wonder how you can write SO much faster on a stenograph machine than on a normal keyboard. Well, here's my attempt to explain it.

If you're writing my name on the keyboard it would be:

B R O O K E which equals six letters and six strokes on the keyboard.

On the stenograph machine my name would look like this:

PWRAOBG yes, that says Brooke. As you may have already noticed, it has 7 letters, which is more than the six letters in Brooke on the regular keyboard. Well, you are very observant. Here's the trick. When you are writing on your stenograph machine, all of those letters are being pushed down at once. So you end up writing one stroke instead of 6 for Brooke, which saves you 5 strokes. That's how it becomes faster.

So that's one way it becomes faster. Another way is that we can write a whole phrase in one stroke. We have commonly used phrases, especially in a jury charge, so we come up with what are called briefs. Here's an example:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury = hraeupblgz

If I were to write Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury out on the keyboard, it would be 27 strokes. So you just saved 26 strokes right there.

If I were to write Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury out on my machine (not using the brief) it would be 9 strokes, so you still would be saving 18 strokes.

I have now been in school for 5 years (minus the summer that I couldn't go to school because they closed down the court reporting program at BC, hence the reason we moved to TX, and minus the 8 months I was dating Josh...pretty much didn't go to school at all during that time.) So I guess about 4 years of school so far.

We start in Theory, like I said, and that takes about three months to learn the basic language. Once you get out of school, you start speedbuilding at 60 wpm (words per minute) Once you pass that test (I'm going to brag and say I did that the first day, haha) you move on to 80 wpm, 100 wpm, all the way up to 225 wpm.

That's where I'm at now...225 wpm and I can FINALLY see the light at the end of the tunnel. It has definitely been a frustrating but rewarding experience. I have learned a lot of patience for sure. And I've also been able to really appreciate the sacrifice that Josh has given for me to go to school. He has patiently been waiting for me to finish school and start working so he can go to school, which he's so excited about.

Anyway, back to court reporting.

Each speed you have to pass 2 tests in each category at 97% accuracy.

Jury Charge

Literary (which would be presidential addresses, etc.)

and

QA aka two-voice (question and answer back and forth)

All of these tests are given for 5 minutes.

So right now, I'm having to take down 225 wpm @ 5 minutes with a 97% accuracy to pass my test/graduate. So basically the test has 1,125 words and out of those words I can only have 34 mistakes, including punctuation, to get a 97% accuracy.

This speed has definitely been the hardest. I've been in 225 for about a year, but I finally just passed one of my 225 QAs a little over a week ago. Hoping to pass my next one this next week. After I pass that, and two more mocks (I will explain what that is in a minute) I will be graduated!!!! YAY.

Once you get into 225, you have what are called mocks. These are a mock of the state and national exams.

It consists of

1 Jury Charge

1 Literary

1 QA

but you only have to pass these at 95% accuracy and you have to pass them all in one sitting. So even if you pass the jury charge and the literary and don't pass the qa, then you don't pass the whole thing. In order to qualify for the state exam, you have to pass three of these. I have passed one. I don't see myself having any problem passing these real soon though, since I'm finally writing at 97% the majority of the time.

That's my little lesson on court reporting.

On a side note: my machine that I first got when I started was used, but has been a great machine. But towards the end of last year, it was starting to have some problems here and there. I always intended to use it when I first started working because I didn't really care to spend $5,000 on a new one. But once I found out that they were offering the new machines on a 0% loan, me and Josh decided to go ahead and do that. So, now I have a new machine. I love it and can't wait to actually work with it.

Here are a few pics of Josh trying to fix my old machine (which he actually did fix it. I didn't really have any problems with it after he took it apart and put it back together, but we still thought it was time for a new machine just because we would have no interest)

And here's a picture of what my new machine looks like:

I love Costco!

2010-02-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

It was on sale for $100 cheaper than the one I was saving up for on Amazon, so I bought it!

Saving up my money for these

2010-01-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

Click HERE to see what I'm saving up to buy! I'm so excited.

4 years!!

2010-01-27T09:15:00.001-08:00

Four years ago today I married my best friend. I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful husband. It's been a fun ride! Happy Anniversary Josh! I love you!

Finished Food Storage Room

2010-01-23T07:43:00.001-08:00

Here's the link to my food storage blog. Here you can see the finished product of our food storage room.

Ward Christmas Party!

2010-01-21T18:55:00.000-08:00

Josh was asked to be "Santa's Helper" a.k.a. Santa for the ward Christmas party. Here he is getting ready for the main event.

It was a fun night. I cracked up the entire time. But the kids had a pretty good time seeing Santa.

Food Storage Blog

2010-01-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

Here's my Past to Present post to catch you up on everything I've already done and where I'm at now.

My Food Storage Ride

Brad's homecoming

2010-01-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

Brad got home from his mission on December 22, 2009. We picked him up at the airport and then went to dinner at Texas Road House afterward.

The pictures underneath are after Brad's talk at church. He did a great job.

My Food Storage Ride

2010-01-12T10:11:00.001-08:00

As part of my New Year's Goals, I am going to be working on having a year's supply of food storage by the end of the year. On this new blog, I will document the steps I have to taken to achieve this goal.

You are welcome to join the ride and work on this with me.

Here's the link:

My Food Storage Ride

I will work on updating the blog over the next few days to get you up to date on the progress we have already made.

Taylor Family Pictures

2010-01-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the family pictures we had taken while the fam was in town for Brad's homecoming.

2010

2009-12-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

So here are a few goals for the year 2010.

Eat healthier than I do now (I think I eat semi-healthy right now).
Cook one meal a week for 3 months out of my Cook Yourself Thin cookbook.
Work out at least 4 times a week.
Dessert once a week, preferrably on Sunday.
Read each Sunday lesson before Sunday.
Pray morning and night every day.
Read my scriptures every day (and finish the Book of Mormon by May)
Read two books a month (I know, isn't that sad that I don't read a whole lot)
Save 10% of Josh's income each week and 100% of my income each week.
Continue to build my food storage and have a 1 year supply by the end of the year.

What are your 2010 goals?

Look what I came home to today!

2009-11-17T18:50:00.001-08:00

Yes, I came home to shelves inside my food storage room! I am so excited. Josh is not quite done with it, but that's only because he ran out of the L-shaped things that hold the shelves (I don't know what they're called) and we cleaned Home Depot out of those the other day when we were there, so we have to wait until some more come in. Bummer. But I have PLENTY of shelves to get me started on my food storage, considering the fact that right now my food storage pretty much consists of the 72-hour kits that I made at Super Saturday, plus a few odds and ends, here and there. But, YAY for shelves, and a husband who is very handy! P.S. Maren, if you have anything you ever want done, feel free to ask Josh, he likes to do stuff like this.

To the left in the picture is where there still needs to be shelves put up. And, there are my 72-hour kits.

Food Storage Made Easy

2009-11-16T08:43:00.001-08:00

So, as some of you know, I've been working on my food storage. I found this wonderful website that has been very helpful in not feeling overwhelmed in starting a food storage. One of the steps to take is to (obviously) have somewhere to store the food/water. We have a very small house and not much storage. We decided to open up underneath our stairs so we can have some extra storage space for the food storage. I'm so excited for it to get finished. And I love the space because it's downstairs, very close to the kitchen so if I ever need to get anything, it will be fairly easy.

Josh started working on it on Friday (basically I came home to a house that was covered in dust from him cutting a huge hole in the wall). I was very excited, though, cuz I've been asking him to do it for a few weeks now, but he's just been so busy at work to start. So on Saturday, we went to Home Depot and got the majority of the supplies we needed.

First, Josh had to rewire a few things so that there wasn't an electrical wire right across the middle of the entrance. He also put in two lights and a light switch.

Second was to clean up all of the trash that the workers who built our house decided to leave in there, since we would never know.

Third was to lay some 2x4's down so that we would have something to nail the floor (which is just made out of plywood) into. You might wonder why we didn't just use the concrete as a floor, and I'm not quite sure what the answer is except on the Food Storage Made Easy website, it says not to store your water directly on concrete, so we raised the floor a little and put down plywood. I'm definitely going to get some type of cheap rug or something to put on top of the walking area so that I don't get splinters while I walk on it.

That's basically all that's done right now. We still have to put up the shelves (which he hopefully will get home early enough to do today) and then we need to find a door that will fit the hole in the wall. We are hoping to find one standard but since the door is going to be pretty short (I will have to get on my knees in order to get in) we might have to special order one.

YAY for food storage. I will definitely post pictures of the finished product, but as for now, this is what we have finished. I'm so excited.
Here is the big hole in the wall. This is right inside the hole to the left. This is where we plan to store our water. You can also see where some of the wiring that he did.
In this picture, Josh is hammering down the floor. You can also see the light he put in.

Same as the picture above. Where he is sitting right now, though, you can actually stand all the way up back there, so I'm excited for all of the storage that I am going to be able to get out of that part.

It's a lot bigger of an area than I had expected. I can't believe we haven't opened this space up sooner. I'm excited.

Super Saturday

2009-11-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Super Saturday at church. It was a lot of fun! I made 2 Christmas Card holders (I was going to give one away, but I haven't decided to who yet). I also made a "The Liddell Family est. 2006 sign) 2 72-hour kits and a Christmas card. It was a good day. Here are the pics.

This is the first Christmas card I have ever made.

2 72-hour kits. I'm so excited to be working on food storage.

Card holder #1

Card holder #2

Here's the established sign I made. Sorry it's sideways, it won't let me rotate it...I don't know why. It's a bit irritating.

Some exciting news, although a little late.

2009-10-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

I know...I am a lame blogger lately. I don't know what my problem is.

So, here's the latest news. As most of you know, I've been in school for court reporting for the last 5 years (yes, it really has been that long). I've been close to being done for a while and last Thursday I passed on of my mocks, which is a big test that basically is the ticket to taking the state test. Now, I do have to pass 3 mocks, so I've got one down and two to go, but I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and it's really GREAT! I'm so excited, as is Josh since he's been waiting for me to get done with school before he goes (thanks for being so patient, honey). That's basically the only news I have. I have to pass the two more mocks before November 26th, and I totally think I can do it. Wish me luck.

In other news:

Do you remember this post that I did a month or so ago. Well, we got two more caricatures back today. We have started on the celebrity caricatures and the ones that we got back today are of Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura and Audrey Hepburn. They turned out so good! I'm excited about getting the other ones back. The next two are going to be Danny Devito as the Penguin in Batman and Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I'll post some more pictures of these once we get a few more back and start getting them on the wall.

Brad gets home from his mission in Piura, Peru in less than two months already. We are really excited for that. I can't wait! I can't believe it's already been two years. Crazy!

Cooking Yourself Thin

2009-10-01T17:00:00.001-07:00

So, I bought the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook, and I really enjoy it. I haven't tried everything but I will share a few of my favorite things.

This is what we're eating tonight. It's the Southwestern Turkey Burgers. We have tried it a few times, and I absolute love it. Josh really likes it as well.

Now at first glance, I would never have wanted to try a turkey burger, but I just happened to have everything for it the first time I made it, and it was one of those days that you just didn't have anything to make, so I ended up with this. And it was really, really good. Very flavorful! We even had the sweet potato fries, and they were good, even for someone who isn't a huge fan of sweet potatoes. The only thing I didn't like about those was that they come out kind of soft, and I haven't quite figured out how to fix that, but besides that, they were great.

We're not having the sweet potato fries tonight, because I'm too lazy to go to the store for just two sweet potatoes, but here's the recipe, in case you're interested.

Serves 4

Calories per serving, turkey burger: 342

Calories per serving, sweet potato fries: 89

For the sweet potato fries:

2 sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling, Juice of 1/2 lime.

For the turkey burger:

1 1/3 pounds lean ground turkey, 1 4-ounce can diced green chiles, drained, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 2–3 spritzes canola oil in a mister, 3 ounces 50%-reduced-fat pepper-jack cheese, cut into thin slices, 4 whole-wheat Kaiser rolls, Romaine lettuce leaves, Tomato, slicedRed onion, sliced1/2 avocado, sliced

1. For the sweet potato fries, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Wash and dry the potatoes and, with the skin on, slice into 1/2-inch-thick rounds; cut the rounds into 1/2-inch-thick finger-shaped pieces. Toss the potatoes in a bowl with the oil, chili powder, garlic powder and salt.

3. On a baking sheet, spread the sweet potato fries in a single layer and roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until brown and tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a platter or bowl and sprinkle with a little more salt.
Recipes From This Episode

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the lean ground turkey with the diced chiles and season with salt and pepper. Shape into patties and refrigerate until ready to cook.

5. Heat a large grill pan or nonstick skillet on medium heat and spritz with canola oil. Add the turkey patties to the grill pan and cook until browned on one side, about 4 minutes. Flip, reduce the heat to low, cover (if using a skillet) and cook until the juices run pale pink, about 4 more minutes. Top with the reduced-fat pepper-jack cheese during the last minute.

6. Toast the rolls in the oven or in a toaster oven. Alternatively, grill them 1 minute on each side.

7. To assemble: On a platter, place the fries and a burger on a bun and top with lettuce, tomato, onion and avocado slices. Squeeze lime juice over the fries and serve.

Hope you enjoy!

Media Room

2009-09-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

So, after a lot of bumping heads on how to decorate the media room, we have both come to an agreement, and I must say, I am pretty excited about it!

We got a caricature for our one year anniversary at Universal Studios: Hollywood, and who would have thought that that would become the inspiration. Well, it has.

We decided that it would go well in the room since it has a movie theme, Spiderman, and since it was a cartoon. So, we decided to go this way all around. We are going to have a total of 3 caricatures that are of us in different superhero movies. Here are the other two. We just got them in the mail two days ago, and love them.
Batman and Catwoman

Iron Man and secretary

These are going to go right next to each other on the wall as soon as you walk in the room. You can see that wall in the below picture. There's one caricature already on the wall, the other ones will be on either side of it.Then, on the large wall that is totally blank right now, we are going to have caricatures done of our favorite actors/actresses in our favorite movies. Also, on the wall right next to the curtains, we are going to have a caricature done of our favorite TV show, Gilmore Girls, with the whole cast.

I think it's going to look really good when it's done. Although it will be a work in progress because we can only afford to do about 2 caricatures a month. Still super excited, though!

My family

2009-09-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

So, sometimes, this is what I come home to, and I just love it!

Shocker Collars

2009-09-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

My poor dogs not only have had to wear shocker collars for their underground fence but now, may I introduce you to the barking collars...

Yes, maybe you think we are bad owners, but let me just explain. When we first got the dogs, we would let them go outside and they would just stay in our yard, without the shocking collars for the fence. Well, as they got older, they wanted to expand their horizons, which lead to them pooping in neighbors yards, going across the street, etc. So, much to my demise, we got the shocker collars and the underground fence. I am definitely now a fan.

It was really great to be able to let the dogs outside and not have to worry about them. I'm sure they have enjoyed it as well.

The neighbors...not so much.

I think they would rather have poop on their yard then have to hear them bark one more time. Not only are they sick of it (they haven't said so, but who wouldn't be annoyed at constant barking) but so am I. So, we finally gave in and got them barking collars. So, yes, they have to wear two collars now when they are outside instead of one. They should have pretty strong necks pretty soon, cuz I'm sure they are heavy.

Now, before you go on and think we are bad owners, let me assure you that we take all precautions to make sure these things are okay for the dogs. Maybe these pictures will help you understand what I mean.

Yes, third time's a charm. He finally barked loud enough for it to work...the red light shows that it's working.

Cinnamon roll with a side of dessert.

2009-09-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

So, we walked around the Riverwalk pretty much all day in San Antonio. After all was said and done, we decided to go to Lulu's which has the largest Cinnamon roll. For some reason, can't quite figure out why, we decided to walk there. Now, I know a mile doesn't seem like a long way...but after walking all day, it definitely was. We were all the biggest complainers! But we made it, and the cinnamon roll was actually very delicious. It was featured on the Food Network. So, here are the pictures from that.

Before we dug in. This is what 3 pounds of cinnamon roll looks like:
After we devoured it. We couldn't even finish it between the four of us. I just couldn't believe they asked us if we wanted one or two...

Now, on the way home, walking was much easier. I think it's because we sat about an hour, and had a bunch of water. So, we get to the car, I look down, and a bird pooped on me! Seriously! So, I drove home the entire way from San Antonio to Kyle trying not to accidentally touch it or get it anywhere in my car. It was pretty much disgusting.

3-D ride.

2009-09-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

It was kind of a lame ride, but here's the pics.

Guinness World Records

2009-09-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, Jordan and Cody, Josh's sister and her husband, came down to Texas over Labor Day weekend. We did a few things, including going to San Antonio, where we went to visit the Alamo, just because we could. We also went to the Guinness World Records, and also a place called LuLu's that has the biggest cinnamon rolls...3 pounds!

Guinnes World Records:

Here, we tested our passion factor. I must say that I believe this little machine...here's what we got.

Jordan got Lousy
I got sexy. (That's why I believe it)

Cody got lousy (hey, at least Jordan and Cody match)
And Josh got cold.
A few other things from Guinness:

Here's how we compare to the largest man.
Here's Josh compared to the shortest woman.

We played a bunch of different video games.

Twirling basketballs on our fingers.

I think this is a statue of the size of the largest man.

Josh pulled the tail at his own risk, and if I remember correctly, it mooed and tooted.

100th post.

2009-08-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

I was looking through my latest pictures and found a few things that I haven't yet blogged about, so here it goes:

Chloe and Otis...

Well, as you mostly likely know, we have two dachshunds. One girl, and one boy, Chloe and Otis. Well, as you can imagine, when Chloe goes into heat, things get a little complicated. We have to keep the dogs separate because Otis goes nuts. All he wants to do is be around her, etc. (We learned this once before, and were going to get her spayed, but never got around to it, unfortunately) So this time around, we kind of new a little bit more about what we were doing. We would keep one inside while the other went outside, they would sleep in separate kennels, and when they were in the house together, we would just keep a good eye on them.

So, this lasts about 3 weeks, and that's kind of annoying, but we learned to deal.

Well, I thought....

So, I'm on my way home from work, or my parent's house, or something, I don't remember and I get a call from Josh and he starts telling me that he let the dogs outside together by themselves for just about two minutes (I think he's saying that to make it sound better, but it was probably longer) and he goes outside to check on them and apparently they are stuck together. So I tell him to get them off of each other. He says, I can't it will hurt Otis. Well, I'm just thinking that he didn't want to be around that and didn't want to deal with it, so I was kind of annoyed that he wouldn't just take Chloe and Otis apart. So, I got off of the phone annoyed, and continued on my way home.

Well, I get out of the car and walk up to the back door (our garage is in the back of our house) and I see the dogs laying in the grass next to each other so I say, "Hi Chloe and Otis." Well, Otis, or course, jumps up all excited like normal to see me, and then I see Chloe kind of trailing behind him, so I look closer, and they really ARE stuck together...

I was frantic and looked up on the internet to try to figure out what we could do. Little did I know that it was normal...I had NO IDEA that that's how it worked. Apparently the male swells inside of the female to help ensure breeding. Weird...anyway.

So, now Chloe is spayed. The next day after this happened, I called the vet to see if there was anything we could do because they are brother and sister and we didn't want to have a puppy litter with dogs that had problems. They told us that we have 3 weeks from when breeding took place to have the female spayed. So, that's what happened. We found out later that she wasn't pregnant, which was great.

She absolutely hated the cone. I felt kind of bad, but she wouldn't stop biting at her stitches. Although she did end up scratching at them a lot, but I couldn't really help that.

Thank goodness we don't have to worry about this anymore!

Curious

2009-08-22T18:52:00.001-07:00

Just curious if anybody really reads my blog anymore, since I am a very crappy blogger these days...

Not my fault, though. If something exciting would happen in our lives, then I would be all about the blogging, but, since nothing seems to change these days, the blogging just doesn't seem like a lot of fun.

Family Reunion

2009-08-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures of the 2009 Liddell Family Reunion.

Lagoon with the whole fam...minus Jill

2009-07-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

We went to Lagoon while we were in Utah. It was me, Josh, Jean, Jody, Jenna, Jordan and Cody, Jacinda, Jarren, Jerico, Kathy and Cody. There were a lot of us, but it was a lot of fun!

We did the skycoaster (I think that's what it's called). It was lots of fun!

Josh tries this every time. This time he got really close, but could hack it.

Goshen and the lake with the Youngs.

2009-07-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

While we were in Utah, we were able to see my sister and her family. We don't see them very often, so it was a lot of fun. Thank you to Josh's parents for letting us invite them. They only live about 3 hours from Goshen, UT, so they came up to go with us to the lake. The boys had never been on jet skis before, and I think they had a lot of fun!

Above is the Young family (my sister's family). From left to right Andrew, Adam, Jennifer, Collin and Chris. They stayed with us at the Goshen House the night before we went to the lake.

Above is Uncle Josh and Collin on the jet ski. I'm glad it was Josh and not me, cuz from what I heard, as soon as Collin got behind the wheel, he was not afraid!
Thank you to Jean and Jody for a spectacular visit to Utah!
Me...yuck.
Andrew. I can't believe how big he is!
Andrew, Jen, and Collin.
Adam and Chris.
The gang, hanging out, watching everyone on the sea-doos.
Me and Jen...we have towels on our head because it was so hot, and we were starting to burn.
Me and Josh in front of the Goshen house.

VW BUG

2009-07-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

So, my husband is psychotic and bought a bug...with no wheels or an engine, and is basically planning on tearing what's left of it apart, so I don't really see the point, but anyway. Here it is. It took about 3 hours for him to load it onto the trailer, and then another 3 hours for us to load it into the garage. It was a pain. And it took up my spot in the garage. Rude!
This is what it looked like as soon as we got it off the trailer. We had to connect the bug to the truck and pull it off on some piano dollies. It was pretty funny.Here's Josh with his pride and joy.
In order to get the bug up the driveway and into the garage, we had to connect it to the pulley system that we had put in to pull the trailer that we used to own up to the ceiling so that we could still park under it. It came in handy, otherwise we would never have gotten the bug in the garage.Here it is in the garage.
Josh will laugh when he sees this picture, but I had to take a picture so that I had proof that I did help with getting the bug into the garage. That's a little bit of grease! Ha ha. I'm a nerd, but I really did work hard.

I sure have gotten used to this!

2009-07-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

I love my job! I am a nanny, for those of you who don't know, for a family with 3 boys and a girl. Well, my job title is a nanny, but I'm more of a chauffeur. Anyway, it's great. I get paid to go to the zoo, go to the movies, bowling, and just hang out. Here are a few pics from the zoo. It was really hot, but a lot of fun!

Slacker

2009-07-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy with school and vacationing that I have totally been slacking on blogging. I have a ton of stuff to post...so I will try to get it done by the end of this week. Sorry.

What a sicko.

2009-06-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I really can't believe the world I live in. So, I was on my way home from my parent's house today and was listening to the radio. The DJ read an email that was sent in so that people could call in and respond to it. Here's the gist of it:

"I have a friend that was my roommate in college that came over for dinner the other night. He owns one of the top 5 pornography businesses. Anyway, after dinner we went outside and he told me that my daughter has a great sexual energy and that he could see her with a great future in the pornography business. So I brought this up to my daughter and she was apalled that I would even consider her going into the adult entertainment world. I tried to explain to her that this would be a 5-year job at the most and that she would get paid $400,000 a year and by the time she was done, she would have millions in the bank. I want the best for her. She doesn't have any real talent except for her looks. If she doesn't go this route, she will probably end up with a loser and have 6 kids by the time she is 25. I don't want that life for her. How can I try to explain to her that this is what she should do? My friend is willing to sign her right now and I need her to realize that this is the route she should go. Help me."

Okay, when they first started reading the email, I thought that the dad was basically going to get mad at his friend for even bringing that up, but no, totally turned in a different way than I expected. Can you believe this guy? What kind of father wants their 18-year-old daughter to end up in the adult entertainment? I am totally disgusted. I am waiting to hear what people who call in think. I wanted to call in, but I don't even know where to start or what point to bring up first. My jaw literally dropped when I heard that. I am so disgusted and sad for this girl who has her father trying to talk her into going into this. And, I can't believe that he said that his daughter has no real talent except for her looks. What?!?! Big pervert is what I think...and what does his wife think about this. My guess is that he's not married because who can be married to someone like that. Now, I know that I am not supposed to judge, but seriously dude, you need to go to counseling or something. Anyway, I'm curious what you all think.

Leave me your thoughts.

Breakfast

2009-05-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is a typical breakfast for Josh, anything and everything that is quick and easy...

Yes, there is a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats, water, and Cran Grape juice.

Then, the next thing you know, there are strawberry toaster strudels added to the mix. He's a nerd.

We added another pair to our family.

2009-05-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

We got two kittens. I know, we are retarded. We only have a name of the tabby, and that's Abby...Josh came up with that...and then gray one we haven't figured out yet.

Wiener Dog Days

2009-05-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, in Buda, TX, which is just about five minutes North of where we live, they have the Wiener Dog Days Festival. Basically there are a bunch of booths where people sell homemade things and things for dogs and everybody brings their dogs of all kinds. They have wiener dog races that were a whole lot of fun to watch. We were going to put Otis and Chloe in but we had to have their papers and stuff like that, so we didn't, but if we're around next year, we are definitely going to. Chloe wouldn't win because she's kind of slow, but Otis is so ridiculously fast that he might actually have a chance. So we are excited about that. It was so cute. They basically have these cubby hole things that the dogs hang out in and then the owners will be at the other end of the "race track" with their favorite toy or whatnot and basically just entice them. It's pretty hilarious. Sometimes the dogs would start running and then get a little preoccupied with the other dogs around them, so they would start chasing the other dogs. Hilarious! We can't wait to put them in next year.

This is a picture of Josh, Chloe and Otis just chilling, waiting for the races to start. I wish I would have taken a picture of all the people that showed up, it was ridiculous. The people in the background of the picture above is just a little taste. It was ridiculous. They also had a bunch of wiener dogs that were dressed up in all kinds of outfits.

Otis thought it would be fun to make himself comfortable against somebody else's back...luckily they didn't mind because I don't think he would have cared at all.

Chloe likes to hang out on dad's lap, so that's pretty much where she stayed.

Here's a picture where you can see where the dogs hang out until they are let out. Each lane has sponsors, pretty funny.

I almost had to sit in the back seat of the car on our way to the races. The dogs wouldn't get out of my seat, they decided to make themselves comfortable. They both ended up on my lap for the way there. They are so cute!

Year Warranty Almost Up

2009-05-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been in our house almost a year now. I can't believe it, but it will be a year on June 5th. Since that's coming up so quickly, we've been really busy trying to get everything taken care of that can be under warranty before it ends. Our two biggest concerns have been the backsplash in the kitchen that was never properly finished. That has been frustrating, but it's almost done. We have our last appointment for them to come and stain the grout all one color (since each time they have come, they have used a different color of grout...) on June 5th. Can't wait for that to be done. And then the other big concern was the garage. Where to start? Well, first of all, the garage leaked majorly. Anytime it rained, the whole inside of our garage would be wet, including anything that was sitting on the ground...talk about irritating. So, that's what these pictures are of. They had to lower our sidewalk going from our patio to the garage because apparently it was too high and wasn't allowing the water to get by, so it would just sit against the garage, making the leaking a whole lot worse. Here are the guys working on it. I was taking pictures of them through the windows and stuff because I didn't want them to think I was weird, so hopefully they didn't see me. I thought it was pretty cool that we had a cement truck at our house, so I took lots of pictures of that. I doubt the neighbors thought it was great though, because they couldn't get into their garages, but oh well, at least we now have a garage that stays dry!

That's basically the only big things that we have been trying to get done. There are a few little things that we are trying to get them to finish, but I know they will.

I will try to take pictures some time soon of the house and different things that we have gotten accomplished in the year that we've been there, but I will just give a quick update for those that are wondering.

The house is pretty much furnished. We had everything that we needed for our room already, so that was basically finished when we moved in. We pretty much had everything that we needed for the kitchen as well. Then comes the living/dining room. We had nothing for these rooms, and they are now fully furnished with a glass top table, bar stools, a settee, a chair, and a curio cabinet. I just bought curtains for the living/dining room as well, so I am working on getting those done. I have to cut them in half and finish those, so it might be a little bit longer before that's done. Then there's the upstairs loft area, which will be the office area once the projects get done. We bought a desk for there, still haven't finished it yet, but it will be done soon. We also refinished some bookshelves that my parents gave us and those are up there. The only thing we need to get for up there is a filing cabinet. Then there's the media room. We have a couch up there, a big screen TV mounted to the wall, a mini fridge and a microwave for Josh (because he's lazy and doesn't like to get up to get himself popcorn or something to drink). I just found the curtains that I want for that room, so I have to order those, and then decorate a little bit in there, and then that room will be finished. The upstairs bathroom is completed as well, and I think it turned out super cute! Then there's the third bedroom. That is a work in progress. It's going to eventually be a workout room. We have an elliptical machine in there, a dumbell set, a workout bench, a pull-up bar, and I think that's basically it. At some point we would like to get a TV to mount on the wall in there for our work out videos, but that will happen some time down the road. I would also like to get one of those hideaway beds that pulls down from the wall for when people visit, but those things are so expensive that it probably won't ever happen. There's always dreaming though, right? Anyway, that's basically it. I feel that we've gotten a lot accomplished over the year. There's still a lot to be done but we have a lot of time for them to get finished.

NEW GOAL

2009-04-28T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know a lot of you think I don't have to lose weight, and that's very kind of you, but I do! Definitely. I have gained 20 lbs. high school and 15 pounds since I have moved to Texas. So, my goal is to lose 15 pounds before we go to Utah in July. I can't believe I've let myself gain that much. Anyway, just thought I would put it on here so that I had a reason to make myself eat right and work out every day. I will post my measurements later and I will keep you on the journey. I am really bad at working out, so I need some encouragement. Thanks!

"If I were a mouse, I would live there."

2009-04-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

The Friday before Easter, we went camping with our ward to Pedernales Falls State Park. We got there kind of late because we had to wait for Josh to get off of work, but Josh took the whole day of on Saturday, so after everybody left the camp out, we stayed behind and went hiking/rock climbing (do you remember the last rock climbing adventure). It was a lot of fun, especially for the dogs.

We weren't sure about bringing the dogs with us on a camp out because they have been the neighborhood barkers these days (sorry to all of those who live in Plum Creek) and we were afraid that they would bark all night at every noise or at the other people in our ward, but they actually did really well! We didn't really bring them out the first night of the camp out, but the next morning we did and they loved it!

I didn't get any pictures of the actually camp out, but it was really fun. Friday night we sang songs around the campfire and roasted marshmallows and made smores. We brought everything to made tin foil dinners, but by the time we talked to people and sang songs, it was too late to make those, so we just made sandwiches and ate in the bed of the truck. While we were eating, we heard a lot of rustling in the wilderness right next to us, so we listened and kept trying to figure out what was making all of the noise. We figured it was just a deer and hoped that it wasn't a skunk...that would have sucked. Anyway, after a few minutes of rustling noises (we kept wondering what was taking so long) we saw an Armadillo!!! Now, having lived her in Texas for a year and a half already (WHAT!!!!! A year and a half, already! No Way!) we have seen a few Armadillos, but they have been dead on the side of the road, so we thought it was pretty cool to see a live one, especially Josh! I'm surprised he didn't go try to catch the thing. Anyway, so we finished our sandwiches and then headed off to bed.

During the night, the dogs did really well! They barked once or twice, but that was about it. The next morning we woke up and everybody that was around us in other tents kept saying that they slept like a rock, including Josh. I wish I could say the same. Now, if you ask my mom, she will tell you that I used to be a really hard sleeper. I used to not be able to wake up to the sound of the alarm clock and would sleep from 9:00 PM to 11:00 AM on the weekends. It was such a nice life! I don't know what it is now, but I can't sleep through anything! I could hear people going in and out of their tents in the middle of the night...it wasn't them that were loud, it was the stupid zippers on the tents going back and forth that woke me up, then the occasional dog bark would wake me up, and then the fact that I was sleeping in a tent on an air mattress didn't help as well. But, I didn't sleep terrible or anything.

Well, we woke up the next morning and Josh helped hide Easter eggs for all of the Primary and Nursery kids. At church, they had asked the people in the ward to donate pre-filled Easter eggs for the hunt, but I hadn't done so. Well, the day before the camp out, I got an e-mail saying that if you hadn't given your Easter eggs yet, that you could just take them to the camp out with you and give it to the Relief Society sisters there. Well, I thought that meant that they hadn't received very many, so I decided to buy some. Once they were done "hiding" the Easter eggs, it basically looked like an Easter egg farm...you couldn't look one direction without seeing hundreds of eggs. But, the kids really enjoyed it, so that's good.

Well, we cleaned up the tent and everything and got things packed and then headed down to go hiking. We took the dogs with us and had a blast. It was so pretty. The dogs absolutely loved it and did a great job for their first time ever going camping or hiking with us. I was holding onto Chloe and Josh was hanging on to Otis but I couldn't keep up with Chloe. I finally ended up giving her to Josh to watch because she was running so fast and I can't run all over rocks and jump rocks that quickly. Needless to say, the dogs and Josh got pretty far ahead of me. It was pretty funny.

We ended up hiking to this big cave thing. The dogs made it all the way up there with us and everything. We ate lunch up there, which was just beef jerky, and sat up there for about 30 minutes, until a lot more people started showing up, then we moved to let them have their turn. As soon as we got up there, though, there was this tiny little cave type thing in the rock...fit for a mouse or two, and Josh looked at it and said, "If I were a mouse, I would live there." It was so funny, I was laughing so hard! Of course I got a picture of it, so here it is:

Here are some other pictures of the day:

We have decided we are going to go camping more often. It was a lot of fun and the dogs absolutely loved it! I think we might be taking them on our trip to Utah when we go camping for the familly reunion...but we'll see.

General Conference Dinner/Dessert

2009-04-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well, this last General Conference was good! After both sessions on Sunday, we had the Baileys over for dinner and dessert. We were in charge of the dinner and they were in charge of the dessert. Well, we just made hamburgers for dinner and I made some guacamole and we had Bush's Baked Beans. Rachel made some salsa and brought that over, and that was really good! But the hit of the night was the dessert. Doesn't it look delicious? It was really good. It's just angel food cake, fresh pineapple, and fresh strawberries that we grilled and then ice cream and homemade chocolate sauce. It was delicious! We took a picture because it looked so pretty. This is the only picture we got of that day.

Horrible blogger these days...I have a good excuse, I swear!

2009-04-17T12:12:00.001-07:00

Sorry I've been kind of missing in action lately. I have been studying for my national exam like crazy in hopes of passing. It's a multiple choice exam consisting of medical, legal, english, grammar, NCRA ethics, and court and deposition procedures. So, as you can tell, I had a lot to study. There were only 110 questions to cover all of that, so I basically had to be prepared for any random question.

Well, while you're taking the test, there is place in the upper-left-hand part of the screen that allows you to mark a question that you want to go back and review...basically the questions that you're guessing or are not sure. Well, after I was done with the test the first time through, I was really thinking negatively...it was a hard test. Then, when I went back to the review questions, I had marked 30 of them to review!!!!! Are you kidding me? That's a lot of questions, especially considering the fact that I can only miss 25. I really thought I was screwed. Well, a lot of studying, praying, and luck got me through it!!!!!!!!

I PASSED!!!!!!!!

I don't have my official score. I won't get that for about 3 or 4 weeks, but they do give you a printout with pass or fail on it, so at least I know I passed, that's all I care about. It will be interesting to see how well I did, though.

Sunday Afternoon Session

2009-04-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Dallin H. Oaks:

We need to serve each other. Our willingness to sacrifice comes from faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Satan desires to sift us like wheat, which means to make us common and like others. Christ taught we should be unique to be like him. We need to lose our lives in service of others. We need to not be unselfish.

David A. Bednar:

Temple preparation.

Gary E. Stevenson:

Do we need a few home improvements or an extreme home makeover? In the ordinances of the temple, the family is sealed in place.

Jose A. Teixeira:

Gifts from God help us navigate our lives toward eternal goals. We can be forgiven. We have the ability and power to choose. We can always trust the prophets. He is mindful of each one of us. We will be able to strengthen our testimonies if we follow the prophets.

F. Michael Watson:

We must be strong, never give up, and endure to the end.

L. Tom Perry:

We must open our mouths and testify. We must warn our neighbors.

Thomas S. Monson:

Study the messages in the church literature. Pray always. We live at a time when the adversary is using every means possible to take us down with him.

I loved how President Monson said cell telephones! That was great!

Stay on the straight and narrow.

Sunday Morning Session

2009-04-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has the answers to all our problems. We have to apply and reapply principles, we need to make them a part of our everyday life. We need to get off the sidelines and practice what we preach. Serve the Lord by serving others. Strengthen your family by living the principles of the Gospel. Be of one heart and one mind in your marriage. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but the atonement has power to make us whole when we repent. "Oh it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us even with all our flaws. He will never give up on us." - Joseph B. Wirthlin. It is always the right time to walk in his way, it is never too late. Trust in the Lord. He is the way.

Neil L. Andersen:

It is not by chance that we are who we are. We are not alone, our Father loves all of his children. Only here are there prophets of God. We should plead to the Lord that we might be who we need to be.

Steven E. Snow:

Too often we are reluctant to begin the next challenge. Maybe we are lacking in faith. Whether by my own voice, or the voice of my servants, it is the same. We can get direction all along the way if we heed to prophets, heed what they say. Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time. Without faith, there cannot be any hope. Be of good cheer. Many of us are facing challenges, at such times, it is easy to feel forgotten.

Barbara Thompson:

Whatever happens in life, Jesus Christ has the power to save. It is the responsibility of each of us to strengthen our own families. Each of us will be poor in some way at some time in our life and will need the help of others. It is vital the we serve each other. We must be fixed in our purpose.

Jeffrey R. Holland:

We do not have to walk alone, everybody around us has been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the restoration of the Gospel. We are never alone. The redeemer of us all said, I will not leave you comfortless my father and I will come to you and abide with me. These scenes of Christ's lonely sacrifice laced with moments of denial and abandonment must never be reenacted by us. He has walked alone once. May we declare ourselves more fully disciples of Jesus Christ in deed and in courage and in faith, when our cross is difficult to bear. May we stand by Jesus Christ at all times, and in all things, and in all places even unto death for surely that is how he stood unto us when it was into death and we he had to stand entirely and utterly alone.

Thomas S. Monson:

Men are that they might have joy. How might we have joy in our lives with all that we face? Be of good cheer. The Lord is with you and will stand by you. Each of us has the light of Christ in our life, no matter how dark our past is. Our blessing are beyond measure. Our Savior will comfort and sustain us as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that will defeat us. The future is as bright as your faith. Heaven's blessings await us.

Saturday afternoon session

2009-04-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

M. Russell Ballard:

There are lessons in testimonies of others. Learning the lessons of the past helps you for the future. This is the way it's supposed to work, this is God's plan. The process hasn't changed to gain a testimony, it comes through faith and study.

Quentin L. Cook:

We need to be loving and kind to everybody, no matter what the circumstances. We are not to judge.

Plan of salvation is big enough for all of the children of God.

Kevin W. Pearson:

There is no other foundation in life that can bring peace, joy, and hope, than faith.

Faith comes from consistent obedience.

Fear and faith cannot coexist, one gives way to the other. Is my own net faith positive or negative?

We get what we focus on constantly.

Seven destructive D's (he said six, but I heard seven)

Doubt-not a principle of the gospel. Negative emotion related to fear, comes from lack of confidence.
Descouragement-leads to distraction.
Distraction-Satan's most effective tools, but also bad habits.
Dissapointment-needs not lead to doubt.
Lack of diligence
Disobedience
Disbelief-conscious or unconscious.

In a house full of faith, there is no need to fear.

Next speaker (I didn't catch his name):

The temple provides great blessings.

Richard G. Scott:

We need to worship together in the temple. You need to do your geneology.

We should never complain when we are living worthily about what happens in our lives. When we keep the temple covenants and when we live righteously, then come what may, we have no reason to worry.

Russel M. Nelson:

If one is to be forgiven, one must first forgive.

The Master wants us to pray for God's help as we strive to live righteously. We need to glorify our Father in Heaven.

We should pray for the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Our prayers can be enhanced by singing and fasting. Be thou humble, and the Lord shall lead thee by the hand.

We need to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. He will open the door unto you when you pray in the name of Him.

Pray with faith and trust in him and we should plead, Thy will be done.

Saturday Morning Session Highlights

2009-04-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

I've decided that for each session, I am going to write down what parts stood out to me, so that I can look back constantly and remember the things that particularly stood out to me during this time in my life.

179th Semi-annual General Conference: Saturday Morning Session:

Neal Lyndon Anderson as new member of the 12 apostles.

53,000 missionaries right now...I'm really proud of my brother for being one of them.

Robert D. Hales:

Each temptation we overcome is to strengthen us, not to destroy us.

The adversary knows where, when, and how to tempt us. How faithfully we respond is how we are tested on these things. We must ask for help from our Heavenly Father.

Provident Living: Living within our means and being happy with what we have. Thou shalt not covet. The four most caring words are "we can't afford it". The craving of the Natural Man can never be satisfied. The appetite of wanting worldly things, can only be overcome by turning to the Lord.

Margaret S. Lifferth:

Exemplify reverence for God by being kind and respectful to each other. Am I an example of reverence for God by the way I treat people in my home, and all around me? Reverence is love. Reverence invites revelation. Pray humbly.

Michael A. Neider:

Be virtuous.

Allan F. Packer:

We need to learn how to recognize revelation. We need to practice and apply gospel principles until they become natural and automatic. Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings that come into our minds, soon we will begin to recognize revelation. Prayer is a great way to invite revelation. "Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it will be given to you." We CAN personally receive revelation.

D. Todd Christofferson:

Strength through Covenants
We need strong Christians who can have faith, unwavering.
3 Nephi 27:20
Obedience gives us greater control over our lives.
Our covenants supply faith. It expands as we honor our covenants. We have God's promise to us, individually, by name, and he cannot lie.

I love the song Consider the Lillies, we have the CD, it's great!

Henry B. Eyering:

We all must deal with adversity. Fear and anger can come. Our faith can shake.
Our Heavenly Father and Savior live, and they love us.
We are trusted to make good choices, when it can be hard to do.

I absolutely love conference!

LDSPrimaryPosters: Let's Help

2009-04-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

I ran across a blog today and this is what it says:

There is a sweet family in my ward that lost their father this week in a tragic car accident. He leaves behind a wife and 6 children. Their 3 youngest are in the primary where I am the singing leader. I keep seeing in my mind their sweet 5 year old on the front row singing,

"I Love to See the Temple"

with all his might.

I want to help.

I will be donating my sales for the month of April to this young family. Please help. I offer a lot of products in a lot of price ranges, any amount would be appreciated.

Help pass the word. Get people to this site. Let's help this sweet young family...

go to my website:

LDS Primary Posters .com

Check it out if you can help. The link for the obituary is on the website and on the blog. The blog's address is ldsprimaryposters.blogspot.com

Getting even closer!

2009-03-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I passed my second QA test at 200 wpm! Which means I am now onto mocks. I am so excited to graduate. I hope it comes fast...what am I saying, it WILL come fast.

Bittersweet experience to graduate.

2009-03-24T08:47:00.001-07:00

Well, as much as I want to be done with school, I am sitting right now a bit nervous of that moment. Last week, during my spring break, I spent three days in court interning and I think I did pretty good...we'll see once I actually produce the transcript...but believe it or not, that's not what I'm scared about. I'm actually really excited to listen to a bunch of depositions and court proceedings (I really want to be in criminal court one day). But, right now is my typing hour in school and I don't have anything to transcribe, so I started making a list of things that I need to start collecting in order to be prepared to go out on jobs...and I know I'm definintely missing some things. Here's the list:

Professional software w/audiosync-$3995.00 (I have to have this to be able to work)
Executive carrying case-$250.00
Professional tape recorder with microphone and headphones-$625.00
Exhibit Stickers-$50.00
Extension cord-$10.00
Three hole puncher-$15.00
Two hole puncher-$15.00
Stapler-$8.00
Laser pointer-$25.00
Pointer-$7.00
Briefcase-$25.00
Misc. (pens, highlighters, etc)-$10.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand total=$5,034.00

Now, this doesn't include the new machine
that I would really like to have which is the
Elan Mira. That alone costs
$4795.00 but this is not a necessity right now.

So the grand total of everything that I want is $9,829.00.
I can't wait to see Josh's face when I let him in on this little secret. I wonder how long it will take to make up all of this money that we are going to have to spend...

At a design halt.

2009-03-23T11:49:00.000-07:00

So, looking at my previous post at the media room...there's nothing on the walls and I need to add more color to the room...I'm thinking red as the next color. What do you think of pops of red in the room?

Do you have any other suggestions that you think would look better?

FINALLY SOME PICTURES OF THE HOUSE.

2009-03-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I promised pictures of the house...a LONG time ago, but I have finally taken some, so here they are. We still have quite a bit to do, but it's coming together. Tell me what you think and if you have any ideas that are cheap. I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

The first four pictures are our room. We still need to get things to put on the wall behind the bed on the teal wall, but we haven't done that yet. Right outside that window that you see in the first picture is the porch. When you walk in the front door, our room is the first room on the right. I didn't put any pictures of the Master Bathroom, though.

Almost directly across the hall from our bedroom is the kitchen. This first picture is the view from the kitchen, looking into the dining room.
This is just a picture of my cute shelf in the kitchen, right above where the phone is.

Here's the view from the entrance to the kitchen. To the left of this picture is the dining room. You can see the Under-the-Cabinet TV that Josh got me for Christmas. I absolutely love it! I was watching The Notebook when I took this picture.
Another picture looking into the dining room.
Here's a picture looking into the kitchen from the dining room. (We are still painting, so ignore the edges.)
Here's the dining room view taken from the living room. You can see the dogs in the mirror running up and down the stairs. They're so cute.
Here's the living room.
The view of the living room from the dining room. There's Chloe sitting on the stairs. Otis had just run up the stairs. He loves the stairs.
Another view of the living room taken while standing by the bar stools.
Here's the view of the living room/dining room taken from the stairs.
This is the first thing you see when you walk up the stairs, the bookshelf as well as some pictures of the wedding.
Here's the view when standing next to the upstairs bathroom. Through that door is the media room. That's the saddest room of them all. We've painted it, but that's about it. There's nothing at all on the walls.
Here's a view of the upstairs loft area. I'm standing right next to the bookshelves while taking the picture. To the left, we will have our black desk put up there. Josh just needs to put it back together (we painted it). Then, there is a door to the left, which you can't see, and that's the third bedroom...I didn't take a picture of that room because there is absolutely nothing in there. I guess that that is actually the saddest room, then comes the media room. The first doorway to the right in this picture goes into the media room. The second door goes into the laundry room and the third goes into the upstairs bathroom.
So, the next few pictures are the media room...not too exciting.

Here's the last of the pictures. This is the upstairs bathroom. I think it's pretty much done. There's one thing left to do, but that's it.

Well, I know I promised pictures of the house...a LONG time ago, but I have finally taken some, so here they are. We still have quite a bit to do, but it's coming together. Don't forget to tell me what you think!

Who woulda thought?

2009-03-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know if you remember, but I got the Gilmore Girls, Complete Season, on DVD for Christmas. I had been asking for it for a few years and hadn't gotten it, so when I sent Josh's mom my Christmas list, that was the number two thing on my list, behind my cute coat. So, anyway, Josh's parents got it for me. Well, when they came down to visit, we talked about Gilmore Girls quite a bit. Josh's mom told me that that was one of the hardest gifts for her to get. It just doesn't seem like it would be that great of a gift, like it wouldn't be used very often. Well anyway, let me assure you that this has been my most used gift I've ever gotten...and not by me. Now, don't get me wrong, I watch it quite often, but I have found myself needing to take a break from Gilmore Girls with how much Josh wants to watch it. That's right, you heard my correctly. My husband is OBSESSED with Gilmore Girls. I can't keep up! I thought I was hardcore, but I now know that I am second to him. It is absolutely ridiculous! Anyway, I just thought I would share. It started with 1 episode for both of us to watch during dinner, then it would be two. Then we started sitting in our bed at night and watching it on our computer. Now, the second Josh walks in the door, he sits at the counter (because that's where we put my Christmas gift from Josh, the under the cabinet dvd thing) and either waits for dinner to get done, or starts eating dinner while watcing Gilmore Girls. And he now watches like 4 episodes a day...that's a lot of time.

Anyway, I just think it's pretty funny that he likes Gilmore Girls so much. He gets very emotionally attached. Yesterday, two of the main characters broke up after being engaged, and when you looked at his face, you could tell that he was really sad. I had to keep reminding him that it was just a show, and we still have a whole season left to clear things up. He kept getting mad at me for making fun of him.

San Antonio: The Alamo and the River Walk

2009-02-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

So here are some pictures of me and Josh and his parents at the Alamo and the Riverwalk, both in San Antonio. It was a lot of fun. Thanks Jean and Jody for coming and visiting! We had a lot of fun!

Corinth, TX

2009-02-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

We went up to Corinth to visit Josh's Aunt and Uncle with his parents. It was really fun. I think I had only seen them once or twice before...I think once. Anyway, it was a good day! Here are some pics from the visit.

We made it into Austin 360 and a newspaper.

2009-02-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of us in the Austin 360. We also made it into a newspaper, but I don't have a pic of that right now on my computer.

Austin 360

Valentine's Day...The Heart Ball

2009-02-26T18:31:00.001-08:00

So, our Valentine's Day ended up good. We went to The Heart Ball, which is put on by the American Heart Association. So, here's how the day went:

I got up and went to the mall and did some errands. While I was there, I decided to look at JC Penny for a dress. Yes, I had already ordered one but I wasn't a big fan of it when I got it. Well, I found one at JC Penny and so I bought it, and it was about 3 times less than the original one, so I was happy. It wasn't modest...but of course I made it modest. After that, I decided, since I needed to get some make up anyway, that I would get my make up done at MAC because they do it for you if you buy so much in make up. So, that was fun. Then I went home and started getting ready. I did my hair and then when I was done, Josh got home. He got home later than he was hoping and so we were running a little late. Well, by the time we were ready, which was about 6:15, we were going to be late. Well, before we left, I made Josh take a few pictures so that we could document the night. He was in a bad mood though because he didn't want to be late. I had to explain to him that not everybody was going to be on time. He said, "yea, everyone's going to be early." All though I knew that wasn't true, he didn't. So he was in a bad mood and didn't want to take pictures (you'll see the "bad mood" in the pics). Anyway, so we left and got there at about 6:45. We walked in an it was cocktail hour and there was a silent auction going on...What? I mean, I knew that people would be drinking and stuff, but this just wasn't our scene. So, we got our glasses of water from the bar, and walked around and looked at the ridiculous amounts that things were going for. We obviously didn't bid on anything because we don't have a few hundred dollars here and there to just spend like that. It was kind of funny because after about a half an hour of getting there, Josh said that we should have come late. They had the dinner doors locked and they weren't going to let us in until 8:30. Who has cocktail hour for an hour and a half? Anyway, after we took our complimentary picture, we snuck into the dinner room. It was very weird walking in because there were probably about, not even kidding, 100 servers standing around the room, in perfect posture, staring at us. We found our table and sat down. It was set up really nicely though in there. It was so nice looking that I had to take a picture. Well, that didn't go over very well with Josh. Josh was trying to blend in with the "rich folks" so he wasn't very happy when I pulled out the camera to take a picture of the "one time only" nicely set up dinner table that was set up in front of us. Rich people apparently don't document these fun times. So, I told Josh that I would turn off the flash and he was still really mad at me that I was even trying. He kept saying, no, no, no. So, I really quickly took the picture. So, you will see the one picture of the table. Sorry, that was the best I could do. I didn't mean to disappoint. Anyway, they had wine glasses, iced tea, and water on the table. So, we drank the water, let the iced tea melt and get watered down, and told them they could take our wine glasses (that was after the fact that they came and specifically asked us if we were 21). We ate a delicious dinner! Then we sat through a live auction. That was fun to watch. People spending thousands and thousands of dollars on a trip to Mexico that you could get for 1200 dollars on the internet, all-inclusive. After that, they started the dancing part with a live band. Josh doesn't like to dance, so I went to the bathroom. And when I come back, he wasn't at the table. I thought that was weird, but then I looked at the dance floor and see him and a (I'm guessing) 60 year old lady in the center (they were the only ones on the dancing floor) TRYING to swing dance. I could see how embarassed he was. It was funny. I didn't take a picture though, because I'm sure that would have made Josh even more embarassed. Anyway, that was our night. It was fun.
Here are the pics from The Heart Ball.
The ugly pic of me...the only one that there is because Josh didn't want to take pics.
Me and Josh while driving.
The only picture taken during The Heart Ball.
Can you tell that Josh isn't very excited about taking this pic?
My eye make-up for the night.

Happy Birthday to Josh!

2009-02-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Today, Josh is 25! Happy Birthday to him! I love you, honey!

Answered prayers!

2009-02-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

So, before our house was finished being built, we lived with my parents in their house. It was a big help because we were able to save money for the down payment and we were also able to pay off our credit card debt (which we had let get kind of out of control). So when we moved into our house, we told each other that we definitely weren't going to use our credit cards anymore and we were only going to use cash to buy everything...well that was hard, especially since when we moved to Texas, we had already sold everything that we had in California except for our bedroom furniture. So, needless to say, we got excited about decorating our house and used our credit cards once again.

Well, we finally cut up our credit cards so that we wouldn't have the urge to spend anything on them and are now in the habit of using only cash for our purchases but we still have the debt accumulated on the cards and each month it has been very frustrating because instead of being able to save that money, we have to send it to the credit card companies and half of it goes to interest.

We have been praying every night together to be able to focus on getting out of debt and establishing a good financial reserve as well as being able to focus on our food storage. We didn't really think that we were going to be able to do this anytime soon because we were still in a financial burden with these credit cards but we continued praying for a way to help us get out of debt.

Well, Josh came home from work the other day and said that somebody he worked with told him that if you bought a house last year, as a first-time home buyer, then you got $7500 back with your taxes. I hadn't heard anything like this, and either had Josh so we sort of got excited but we had to keep telling each other not to expect it because we don't want to be disappointed. I called my mom and asked her yesterday because she works for a CPA but she didn't know. So, I decided since I unexpectedly had the day off yesterday, that I would get my taxes taken care of. I went into where my mom worked and asked her if she had found out about the $7500. She said no, but you can go ask Don (the CPA) so I went back to his office and told him that I had heard a little rumor...so he said, yes, that is true but when did you buy your house? I told him June 5th was the signing date and then he gave me the look like, oh sorry but you're cutting it kind of close. If you would have said you bought your house had the end of the year, I would have told you yes for sure, but I know that there was a date that your house had to be purchased after. So, he sat there looking up the date while I had butterflies in my stomach because I really could use the money.

Well, the date was...April 8, 2008! I almost started crying I was so excited. So, the grand total of what we are getting is $9,793. Now, before you think we are totally rich, don't be fooled. It is all going to be gone about the same day as we get it to pay off some bills, but I am SO thankful for answered prayers.

We are no longer going to be tied down to credit card companies for years but will be able to get those paid off on February 20th. I feel like such a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. We have definitely learned our lesson about credit cards or anything else like that. We will definitely still keep the credit cards cut up and not request a new one so that we will not be tempted to use them and we will finally be able to get our food storage up and running! I am so excited! I have been waiting to do this for a long time!

I am so thankful for answered prayers and also for the very, very important lesson that both Josh and I have learned throughout our first three years of marriage!

The Heart Ball

2009-02-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

Well, this your for Valentine's Day, we weren't planning on really doing anything. I'm sure we probably would have gone to dinner or something like that, but there weren't any official plans. Well, then something really cool happened! The family that I work for invited us to the Heart Ball given by the American Heart Association. It is $500 a plate, and we are going for free! I am so excited, I can't wait. We do have to spend a little money because it is a black tie affair, so I had to buy a dress and Josh had to rent a tux which can be expensive but we figured, when are we ever going to have an opportunity like this again? We are pretty excited. Here is the dress that I ordered...(I am hoping that it is modest when I get it. I know I will have to wear a white shirt underneath but I'm hoping that the sleeves will work, if not I will have to get a cover up thing or something, we'll figure it out...modest dresses are hard to find when you don't live in Utah.) This is the best picture I can get from it. I keep trying to right click to save the picture and the stupid thing would zoom in. Anyway, and it won't let me actually post the picture from the internet. But it's just floor length. I hope it works!

I love the Gospel!

2009-02-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

Right now in school I am taking the Court Procedures class. We have basically been learning all of the rules and regulations of the court system in general, but focusing on the court reporter duties. Today, the first thing that our teacher Leigh had on her agenda was to talk about facebook, myspace, and blogging. I thought that was kind of odd. I thought, what does this have to do with court reporting? Well, once she started talking about it, I realized right away how it had to do with court reporting, and life in general.

My main instructor, and owner of the school, Joyce, has a daughter who is a court reporter. Apparently in depositions that she has been taking the last few months or so, she has noticed a common occurence in testimony, that people are being refused interviews or even jobs because of questionable pictures of even comments on these common website pages.

Well, of course this brought up a lot of discussion since the majority of us at the school have at least one, if not two or all three (yes, I am guilty, although I hardly ever check my myspace page) of these accounts. Now, I have seen a lot of these girl's facebook and myspace accounts and although I hadn't ever thought about it before, I am thinking that a lot of them will need to reconsider the pictures that are up.

They started talking about how they would need to change some of the things that can so easily be found on their pages so that when the time comes for looking for a job, this doesn't come back to haunt them.

I also remember watching the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders tryouts on CMT and remember one of the girls who got one of the highest scores not being considered for the team once they saw certain pictures of her on her myspace page.

I am so thankful that when this was brought up in school today, I was one of the few that didn't have to think about whether or not I had anything questionable on these pages. I already knew that I didn't have anything on there that would jeopardize me in any way of getting a job. It's crazy to think of all the things that the Gospel has done in my life, the ways that it has helped me. Every day there are so many things that I notice about my life that are direct results of being brought up in the Gospel. There are countless things that the Gospel has helped me through and I don't think that I can ever show the gratitude that I have towards my parents for bringing me up in the Gospel and for always being a good example. They have always gone to church, every week of my life that I can remember, unless sickness or work were in their way, of course. I am also very thankful for all of the many teachers I had in primary, and the leaders that I had in Young Women's, for all of the good examples that surround me each week, for all the Bishops that have interviewed me and helped me with certain challenges in my life.

I am also thankful for my husband. When I first met him, he was so passionate about the gospel and ready to learn. He was also willing to be patient with me because I was not at all as knowledgeable as him in regards to the Gospel (he would say in all things, haha) but I am grateful that he has helped me grow so much in the Gospel. He has helped me stay on the straight and narrow as I'm sure I've done the same for him.

Where I am today comes directly from the Gospel in my life. There are so many things that I don't have to worry about because it is in my life. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the one and only true church on the face of the Earth today. That its teachings can not only help us make it back to our Heavenly Father again one day but can help us achieve the goals that we want to achieve in this life.

I just wanted to share this with everyone today. I'm not usually very vocal about this (which I know I should be, at least more than I am right now) but with the discussion that happened today in class, I really gained a greater appreciation for the Gospel and what it does for me in my life!

3 years!

2009-01-28T13:23:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm a little late posting this because I didn't get home until about midnight last night, but yesterday was mine and Josh's 3 year anniversary. We ended up spending our anniversary with family at Papa's funeral and also on two planes back to Austin. It wasn't what we had planned (not that we really had anything planned) but it was great to unexpectedly see family, although the circumstances weren't exactly what we would have wanted, and to celebrate the life of a wonderful man.

I just want Josh to know how much I love him. He is a great husband and such a hard worker. I really appreciate everything that he has done for us so far. I look forward to many years to come!

Papa

2009-01-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

We just found out this morning that Josh's grandpa, who we call Papa, passed away. We truly are going to miss him. I haven't known him for very long but he was always fun to be around. We definitely will miss him, but we can't wait to see him again.