Vacation Part 2: Forth of July and the Police Man

The second half of our vacation Daniel and I visited with my family in Idaho.  On our first day my Mom took me shopping for clothes as a birthday present. (It is hard to pick out clothes when there isn't anyone in the dressing room with you to see the clothes!) Then later we ended up getting to spend some time with my niece and nephews (along with their parents Jay and Amber). at the Lava Hot Springs pool. It was pretty fun to get in the pool for the first time in over a year. (I know, it is crazy, but we haven't gotten to the pool in Austin yet.) We also got to eat some yummy pizza and treats as well.

Then we got to spend some time with my sister Cortney and her husband Kyle. They first made us lasagna, and we got to see their apartment. Then, afterwards, we all went to Shoshone Falls for family pictures. Daniel had never been before. Fortunately the falls were coming over pretty strongly. We even let the photographer try and decide between us for who was the child and who was the in-law. After some subtle finger pointing she figured out who was who!

We ended up attending the annual Raft River Fourth of July community party which, as always, was lots of fun. The food was delicious. It was also really fun to see the people from the ward again! The fireworks show was exciting as always, and Dad was selected to help put music to the show to make the fireworks even more exciting! (He did a really great job, and it didn't even take too long him to put away the equipment after the show was over which was a nice bonus.)

During or first day of driving we were amazed to see that gas prices had actually gone down since we had left home! What a blessing! After our first day of driving our return trip, Daniel and I stopped at the hotel we had picked out. We had decided to try out Travelocity's "Secret Hotel" program. If you don't know about the program this is the low down. Travelocity tells you about various hotels in the area you are planning on staying in. You know basic information about the hotel: the general location, the amenities, and even a simple 1-5 customer rating. The secret of the hotel is not revealed until you have order your non-refundable stay. Sometimes it is a way to get really good deals. (Though other times you just get an average deal.) This time, Daniel and I got a great deal! (We got our room for half price, and it is probably the nicest hotel we have ever gotten for ourselves.) We had a good time splashing in their small pool and relaxing their hot tub after a long day in the car.

On our last day of driving, I was driving along a little two lane highway in New Mexico. I had set my cruise control to the speed limit (which was 65) and even check that with our GPS unit's speed feature. I noticed that a police man had on his lights and was driving down the other side of the road (and appeared like he might be trying to U-turn) Figuring that the law was the same in New Mexico as the other states I had driven in, I decided my best course of action would be to pull to the side of the road. (Driving Rule: Always pull over for emergency vehicles). I was a little more sure about my decision because another car had also slowed down and pulled over on my side of the road in front of me. After being comfortably in the shoulder of the road, I noticed that the policeman had u-turned as predicted, but that he had pulled in behind me and was talking on his radio! The policeman then walked up to our car, I rolled down the window and he said, "So you know, you are being pulled over today for speeding. Going 84 miles per hour." I shook my head and said, "That can't be us. I was going 65!" Daniel also chimed in (he notes, perhaps against his better judgment) that the policeman was wrong, and we were not going 84 miles per hour! (Which was true, the fastest we had gone all day was 75 mph in a 75 mph zone.) The policeman looked at us, and then said, "Well then, get your butt back on the road!" I think the moral of the story is that "It isn't a real 3000 mile road trip unless you get pulled over at least once!"

Vacation Part 1: Santa Fe and Pineapples

Hello blog readers! We are sorry that we didn't post over the last couple of weeks. We did not die, instead, we went on vacation! We left for vacation bright and early Monday morning. We drove almost all day until we got to our hotel in Santa Fe. Now for all of you who have never driven from Austin to Provo, (or Idaho for that matter) you might not know that going through Santa Fe is not the way that google maps for your car GPS unit will tell you to go. BUT, Daniel also happens to be a HUGE fan of Newsies, so we had to go! To the left is a clip of the song "Santa Fe" from the movie.  I picked this one because if I were to put the one from the musical, Daniel wouldn't be happy. He happens to be a Newsies purist. (I like the musical one too. So if you ever want to look that one up, See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-vmScZrcrs or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LdB7khw9CI) 

Daniel's artsy picture of our finished adventure

Anyway, before we left for Santa Fe, we looked up activities to do there. There were lists and lists of historical sites and famous things that we could visit. That seemed like it might be hard to pick what would be cool to see. Then, we found that that city had put together a "Geocaching Adventure" to tour some of the cool sites of the city. We decided that we had a GPS for our car, and that it would be a fun little adventure for us to do. (They also promised some sort of prize for finishing up the whole sheet! ) As you can see on the left, we managed to get to all the sites in one day!

"And then I'm on the train
that's bound for Santa Fe"

We managed to get some pictures from our wandering adventures. We only had real difficulty finding one of the spots on our sheet. We wandered around for a good half an hour trying to find the right spot, and I learned that I had definitely judged the reality tv show people too harshly. It can get really frustrating to find what you are looking for! We got to see lots of interesting fun things though along our way. A nice stranger even took a picture of us in front of a train in the Santa Fe Train yard! We got totally sunburnt, but we also had a really good time even though when we pulled out of the parking garage we learned they didn't take cards! (Fortunately, they took an out of town check!)

Then we drove all day Wednesday to get to Utah. On Thursday we hosted our 4th annual Pineapple Extravaganza! Many of our Utah friends were able to attend. We had a couple of tasty pineapples and played several hands of (Pine) apples to (Pine) apples. It was great to get to see some friends while we were in town.

We also got to host Daniel's family's reunion. It was pretty laid back, but I think the family enjoyed getting together!

Another Late Post!

Last Thursday we found out that we had a colony of fire ants that had decided to take over our kitchen. (Okay, we didn't realized they were fire ants right away.)By Friday morning, I was afraid to go into the kitchen to cook because whenever I did there seemed to be more ants everywhere. (And, I had learned that they made me itchy!) I also realized in the morning that there were ants in my laundry basket of folded clothes! (That would bring very literally meaning to having "ants in your pants!" ) So I spent the next half hour shaking out every item (then refolding and putting away) to make sure the ants wouldn't get on me when I put on my clothes.

Fortunately for us, our apartment complex has a pest control company stop by every Friday in case someone has a problem. We managed to get on the list Friday morning. I am also really grateful for the bug man stopping by, after hours, and doing everything he could to make sure that our kitchen would stay ant free! (Our regular bug guy had a family emergency, so they had a call someone else in to get our complex bug free) We now have gel on the inside wall of our counters, white power all over our floor and and idea where all the ants were coming from. He did a great job and took the time to make sure we were comfortable in our own apartment.

We also learned a lot of respect for the little ants. They will walk as far as a mile to find food for their colony. We were a little sad that the remedies were going to kill all the ants in the colony that lived outside, but now that they know our apartment has food and water (and was much closer than a mile away) they would just keep coming back for more.

So, Friday, we decided that would eat out somewhere so that I wouldn't have to go into the kitchen with all the of the ants and chemicals. We went to the County Line (which is a place we go every few months). Little did we know that we were seated right below the talking cow head! (We didn't even know they had a talking cow!) The cow told some cheesy cow jokes for the kids. ( e.g. Why can't a bull drive a car? His horns down work and he can't steer! :P) We ended up having a really great time there though. Their food is always delicious!

Sunday, I got to go to Priesthood opening exercises (which was a different experience :P.) because Daniel got set apart as Elder's quorum secretary. He is nervous, but I know he'll do a great job!

Finally, We have been busy this week making our final plans for our upcoming vacation! We have a list that is probably a full page (or more) long of items to bring and things to do! That is a lot of stuff. Fortunately, most of the items are things to pack!

Volleyball Season Begins

It's been a good week.  Probably one of the more exciting bits of news is that we played our first game of Volleyball on my work team this week.  I was really out of practice, and our team as a whole really stunk, but we only lost by a little bit.  I think we'll get better as we improve our communication and get some more practice.  In any case the reason we're doing this is for fun and exercise, which are both accomplished even if our team does stink.

Also, my Elders' Quorum president talked to me on Sunday about a calling that will remain secret until next blog post.  (I know, you're all waiting with baited breath for the announcement).  I'm not sure if we'll be keeping the 12-13 yr Sunday school calling so we'll just have to wait and see.

On Saturday we went to a home buyer seminar thing.  It was supposed to be 6 hours but it was only about 3 because there was only one other guy there for the course.  It felt kind of remedial after all the research Elissa has been doing to make sure that we are informed and make a good financial choice when we get a house.

I'm not sure there's much else new for this week.  Look to next week for another riveting post.

A Very Texas Birthday

This week has probably been the most humid we've had. It isn't unusual to hear the weather man say "well, today is going to be a muggy  day," "oh, dear... it is about 80% humidity," or " well, the 'real feel' is 5 degrees higher than the actual temperature." Suffice it to say, I'm glad that it isn't so dry or so hot as last summer yet (knock on wood!), but that it is really humid. That hasn't stopped Daniel and I from going on our morning walks. It really is the only time of day that feels like a reasonable time to go walking together since the evening is the warmest part of the day!

This week was also my birthday! We ended up going to a crawfish boil party with people from Daniel's work. Now, before you all go and boo him (or write mean things on his facebook wall), I told him that that having us go was perfectly acceptable, and he even woke up extra early to make me surprise, morning breakfast cake! (Which he chose because I really don't love frosting, and I really enjoy breakfast cake!) Anyway, I thought it was super cute and thoughtful. I did have a lovely birthday! (Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful birthday wishes!)

I did get to try crawfish at the crawfish boil, which I admit, was kind of a weird experience. Way out of my comfort zone because I really don't like to see a creature's head before I eat something. (Let along snap the poor thing in half!) I was a little nervous to start, but I did get the hang of it, I think. I did enjoy them more than I do shrimp. I really don't like shrimp, and I was worried that crawfish would be just like shrimp, and they weren't thank goodness.

My birthday presents from Daniel ended up coming in the mail a little later from my birthday, but we ended up getting more crossword puzzles to do together, among other things, because we just finished up our last book of them. Little did we know that this book would be the size of a phone book! That is okay because that means we have lots of puzzles left to do! We enjoy doing them together occasionally.

Along with my birthday presents in the mail, Daniel finally got to order the new Legend of Zelda game. (He has been diligently saving up his spending money for months and months. Now he finally saved up enough to buy this new game.) I don't know much about it, but apparently it takes advantage of the new Wii motion plus technology. Now I'll just have to find a project to do while he is playing the game. So he can play, and I can be productive.

Memorial day and Moving people

This week was Memorial day. We got up with the best intentions to go on a new exciting hiking trail. We woke up and drove the the spot, but even though the website said they were open, the gate was locked! So, our first adventure of the morning was spoiled, but then I remember that Daniel had never been to Central Market,(that is a really, really big grocery store that has basically every kind of food!) so we turned on our trusty GPS unit on and got directions to the store. Upon arriving to the store we found out they were closed too! Foiled at every turn! We returned to our apartment in defeat, but we took a quick walk around the block and came home. Since we didn't have anything else to do, we got to work on our blanket for the family reunion service project. (And finished, it went really quickly.) Daniel told me not to tell any details on the blog because it is top secret until the reunion. I agreed, so you will all have to wait and see how it turned out!

It is now moving season in the ward. Daniel has now helped a couple of times, and he says that his arms might fall off if he moves too many more people out of the ward in the near future. The first was a move on Saturday, and so, he was gone all morning. I helped with the second move by watching the couple's child. (Daniel did all the lifting things, which explains why his arms are threatening to fall off.) I probably had the most fun of anyone helping to move, but they assured me that the help was appreciated.



Today my awesome visiting teachers took me out for ice cream for my birthday. We visited Amy's Ice Creams, which is an "Austin Original" ice cream shop. They had good ice cream in some interesting flavors. I have been near by there before (Austin's Five Guy's is right next door), but I had never been to their little park right behind. It has places to eat, grass, and some bit metal cows for kids to play on. It was fun because a cold front just moved in and there was a breeze making the heat nice instead of dreadful. When I came home, I told Daniel that we had to go hang out outside because it was nice. Our house didn't get quite the same breeze, but it was fun to use our porch for sitting (probably for the first time since we've moved here.)

Exercise and Ice Cream

Daniel and I decided this week it would be good to start go on morning walks. It is too hot in the afternoons after work (the warmest part of the day) to go out, so we started going on walks first thing in the morning. This means that we have to get up when our alarm clock goes off, the first time, in the moring. That is something we haven't done in a long time. It is fun to go out with Daniel in the mornings, and to be outside when it isn't really hot, but currently, I'm at the point where I'm sore, and (obviously) not seeing many results from the exercise. If Daniel wasn't encouraging me to get up on time, I would definitely roll over and hit the snooze button a few more times instead of getting up and moving. It is a good thing I have a good husband to make sure I get up instead of stay in bed!

We also thought it would be fun to get some reading done this week. We finished the first two books in the Prydian Chronicles. They weren't too long, and they were interesting and enjoyable. We'll probably pick up the next ones some time next week. (We considered picking them up today, but our closest library branch that has them is closed on Friday's and all of the branches are closed Saturday-Monday.) So, now we'll have to come up with something else that is fun to do for the upcoming holiday weekend. Hopefully we come up with something. If you have any fun Monday holiday ideas for us, we'd love to hear them!

I have also been craving ice cream, lately. It has been a long time since we've gotten ice cream and it has been getting warm out. Fortunately, this week, ice cream happened to be on sale! So, we bought a new flavor of ice cream to try! I'm not sure it is my new favorite flavor of ice cream, but it was probably some of the best Neapolitan ice cream I have had. (But that isn't too surprising because I do really like the blue bell strawberry ice cream!) We also got some delicious strawberries. They weren't just on sale, but they also smelled so good! It was a good grocery week!

This last Sunday we got to sing as a ward choir. Our choir director is moving away, but besides that it is the last time we'll sing until next fall. (Since there is so much going on in the summer time the ward cancels ward choir until the fall when people are a little more permanent in the ward.) I'm excited for the fall to come so we can have more choir!