Texas Adventures (and Regular days)

So far in Texas we haven't been on too many adventures. But, this week we did try an "Austin Original," Pizza Paradise. (The name made me think of Pizza Planet, and didn't help that they had a white pickup truck in the driveway to make deliveries.) I thought it was pretty good pizza. Daniel thought it was pretty good as far as I can tell. Coupons are a good incentive when we pick out something to try that is completely new. It gives us a good excuse to pick one new thing over another.

Since moving here, we also tried the famous Blue Bell Ice Cream. My personal opinion is that the stuff in the ice cream is what makes it awesome. If I had to choose, I would get BYU creamery Vanilla, but Blue Bell puts stuff in their ice cream. So far we've tried cookie dough, and dessert trio (it has real pieces of cookies, and brownies, and cake!) Anyway, ice cream is a great treat because it is so hot outside all the time! (It also tastes good). We have also made smoothies and orange julius because our usual treats, like brownies and cookies, make the house too warm.

Our day to day lives haven't been too exciting. Daniel did a little more training, and got his first project to work on. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's a project for him to do while he is at work instead of more training. (Which is coming, but not immediately, so he gets to work on his project). We also got a pay check, which is better than paying to do work, for sure!

I've been at home mostly. I got lots of fruits and vegetables at the grocery store to eat. I used my skills from home to help pick out corn, and I like to smell all the fruits to decide which ones I want. Basically, it takes forever. (Daniel goes crazy, but he knows that I like to be out, when I get out.) I worked on my newest cross stitch project this week. It is coming very well, as far as I can tell.

Figuring Things Out

So, this is another week here in Texas! Daniel is busy doing work. He set up his cubicle, and his work computer. Today he had his second day of "BYU EE in two days." He is glad that he knows what is going on, but he is kind of bored doing review stuff. We both agreed that it is better than he knows what is going on; instead of him having to learn four years of material in two days. Either way, I think he is having a good time, and it is clear he learned the things to help make him successful at his job.

As for me, I've been home most of the week. I've seen lots of movies, tv, and documentaries now. I even saw a friend of mine on a show that they filmed in Utah. (I know that because they unabashedly used the University Mall in Orem.) Yesterday, I had a Relief Society meeting. We talked about finances. I was in the "investing and making money group." I learned a few things about investing. (the key thing, always take company matching or stock benefits.) Then, we talked about how women are more and more becoming entrepreneurs. I'm still not sure I'm going to be an entrepreneur, but it did tell me that I should find something that correlates my skills and interests.

I also started and finished this little cross stitch bear. That is how much time I've had around the house. Just me and this little bear project.

Graduation

This week was Daniel's second week of training; today he starts "real work."  As for me, I'm still looking for a job. I did apply for a job at NI (where Daniel works) as a technical writer. As far as I can tell they haven't looked at my resume, but that means they haven't rejected it yet! That has mostly been our week this week, so, like the post title suggests the rest of the post is going to be about graduation!

To preface, for anyone who didn't know, Daniel and I didn't walk at graduation because I had a friend getting married, but we did watch the commencement on BYUTV online. (If it is posted on their website, it was a pretty awesome talk by Elder Scott!)

We ended up going back to campus with my parents to take pictures later. (As a side note, it is really nice to take pictures when there aren't thousands of people trying to take the same pictures!) We got a few weird looks from spring term students, but I'm sure they've seen weirder things happening on campus!

Anyway, we took some of the traditional pictures. Here we are, "the world is our campus." We are pretty happy about it.

We also took some less traditional graduation pictures.

We thought it would be fun to have a pictures at the Maeser building because if any building at BYU looks like a building of higher learning, it would definitely be the Maeser Building. It is a pretty awesome building to visit!

Little known facts about the Maeser Building:
(1) the Maeser building is a high ranking contender for "hardest building to get a cart into" (what I learned from work)
(2) Maeser was buried below the basement at one point. (what I learned from New Student Orientation)
(3)One of the most photographed spots for BYU engagement pictures (Complete conjecture on my part)

We also took one of the Clyde Building with Daniel because he spent most of his years at BYU between its walls. I told him he couldn't have "if found, return to the Clyde Buildling" shirt because he needed to be returned to our apartment. Either way, he spent a lot of time there on the fourth floor.

I took a picture at the JFSB because I had a fair number of my classes in the basement (or as I refer to it, the bunker). And, it is a pretty cool looking building to take pictures. Also, the English department in based on the 4th floor, so even though English classes are spread around campus, this would be the department's home.

I had lots of fun in my classes, at work, and doing stuff on campus,  but on the top of my list of awesome things about BYU is meeting Daniel!

So, we had a wonderful experience during our time at BYU. We took fun classes and hard classes. We learned a lot about different topics. In short, we had a good time and the BYU experience was a great experience!

Work and Stuff

So, this was Daniel's first week of work. He went to work Monday and did the "welcome to work" stuff. And now, for the next two weeks he is taking a training course. I don't think he really likes being stuck in a classroom for eight hours everyday, but I also think that he will enjoy solving problems instead of just learning in a classroom. He will survive, of course -- he is already half way done with training!

As for me, I've been doing projects and work around the house. Nothing too exciting nostly making food and doing laundry. Today, I organized our food storage so I know what is in our pantry. Before this, everything has been in boxes so I have had to search to find anything to make food. Now I can find things, and I know what I have (or don't have). Hopefully, that helps me figure out what to get for food storage, and what to buy at the store. I've also been busy sending out job applications, and looking for things to do. Hopefully something will pop out at me soon!

To be honest, I'm a little jealous that Daniel has something to do all day, and I don't yet. But, I'm sure I'll find something to do soon, and Daniel is excited to get to work!

Happy Birthday!

This week there isn't a lot to post about. Daniel and I have just been enjoying our last few days of vacation. We have watched TV episodes on Netflix, and we even tried out my new roller blades early one morning. They were pretty fun! Tomorrow or the day after we are going to go on a bike ride in the morning before it gets hot outside.

One morning this week, we spent a few hours helping at the Bishop's Store House in Round Rock. We got to bag up broccoli, grapes, cabbage, and oranges. It was fun to help, and they even fed us lunch (chili dogs with cheese). This is our second time going to help up there -- we figured that while we have time that we can help out. This time we got more colorful food because we got oranges instead of potatoes, but other than they were the same. We had a good time helping out there.

For my birthday, we decided to go to the San Antonio Temple. The temple is beautiful and even though it was 100 degrees outside, it was nice and cool inside. I even got asked if I wanted a shawl. (I didn't need one, but that shows how air conditioned it was.) Then we came home and relaxed, not super exciting, but a good birthday!

Daniel starts work on Monday. He says that he is excited and nervous. Our vacation ends when he heads to work, but I still need to find something to do with my time. I'm hoping to find a job that I want to do. I've sent out some resumes and applications, but no bites yet. It is still early in my search. We are still having a good time here in Texas, and we are not dead! We do miss everyone back home, though.


Elissa and Daniel

The New Apartment (with pictures)

Since we've moved into our little our apartment, we have been busy trying to make it look like a little house and not like some sort of storage locker. I think we've done pretty well so far. We have everything out of boxes and things are put away now. We can even find our basic stuff like food, games, and clothes. This is what it looked like before we decorated or moved in or anything.

Here is our finished living room. We decided that it would be fun for it to look coordinated so we have blue curtains and blue blankets and stuff. We also decided to use one of our book cases to put our games on so that they are easy to get to and see. The picture under this is just another shot of the living room so that you can see all of Daniel's hard work putting up the pictures

more living room with pictures!

Well, Daniel says that he doesn't want to take credit for all the work he did putting up the pictures and dealing with me as I made him move pictures back and forth several times. So, I guess this is me not giving him any credit for the time he put in. If he asks, just say that you heard that it took ten minutes or so and that it wasn't that difficult. Or better, say, I heard you didn't do anything at all; isn't that why you are sitting on the couch in that picture?

This is our game bookcase. Don't be offended if your favorite game isn't on the shelf. There are some hiding on the bottom shelf you can't see, and we will probably get more in the future. We even got a new game, Carcassonne; it is pretty fun. This is a closer up picture of our little picture section too, in case you were wondering.

Well, this is the break between our dining room and our living room. Basically they are the same room, but we decide to split them up with the couch and then decided to make them different colors so you can tell the difference -- the dining room is yellow and the living room is blue.

This is the dining room with our table, our pineapple and our front door. Oh, and to the left there is a water heater and past that the washer and dryer. You know, it's an all service dining room --eat a snack and clean the stains off of your clothes when you are done.

This is our bedroom which is pretty self explanatory.

We put up pictures on the wall, and then we made our bed. We even hung curtains for this pictures so you wouldn't think we live in squaller or anything.

What you can't see in this picture is the closet (which has two doors, but is one big closet), our dresser, and our table of random stuff.

 We are also having lots of fun getting to know the area and our new ward. It has been good so far, but it has been warm! We helped at the bishop's storehouse and have gone on several walks.

So, we are out for now! Just thought we'd give you a glimpse of our new apartment.

-Elissa and Daniel

Moving to Texas

     So, for all of you who didn't already know, Daniel and I moved to Texas this last week. We packed up all of our things and put them in a moving truck, with lots of help from family and friends. I ended up renting the moving truck, and it was pretty crazy. But, we must be sort of real grown ups if we rented a moving truck all by ourselves and packed up all of our things into boxes.

This is a picture of our stuff all packed up in our second bedroom.

     Then we drove, and drove, and slept, and drove some more. (Yes, in case you were wondering, I drove the moving truck too.) Driving through Utah was interesting; we saw orange rocks and cool formations. Then, Colorado had trees and fields, but as we drove into New Mexico we realized that the most interesting thing to see was that the road was red sometimes. (and we followed and followed and followed the red pavement road) No offence intended to you native New Mexicans out there, but what we saw of New Mexico was pretty boring.

This is a picture of the red road.

I thought it was interesting that we were right next to Route 66 for part of the time. I felt bad for the original road trippers driving through New Mexico. I guess it was flat, so good gas mileage, right?

    Then we got to Texas, and the barrenness turned back into fields. I know most people wouldn't be excited about it, but once a farm girl, always a farm girl I guess. (For all of you farm boys and girls there were pivots and wheel lines and tractors and pretty much everything else farm like out and about.) We got to see some friends in Abilene, and that was fun.

Our "Welcome To Texas" sign picture

     Besides just having "Welcome to Texas" signs they also have "drive friendly" signs which we didn't get a picture of. (But, I think there is one of them down the street from us, so maybe all of you will get to see a picture yet, maybe). But, remember, drive friendly everybody -- especially if the person near you is driving a moving truck because they need all the help they can get.

     Finally, we got to our apartment and with the help of a few new ward members and a little neighbor we managed to get everything inside. For the last few days we've been sorting out everything and getting things out of boxes. Hopefully everything will be unpacked soon so we can take some pictures of the apartment to show all of you our hard work! Until then, enjoy our new blog and our pictures!

Elissa and Daniel

P.S. I'm not sure it has totally sunk in for us that we are moved in to Texas yet. I'm sure it will feel more real soon enough though, but if anyone would like to try and convince us that we are somewhere else, you may give it a try.