Christmas

Well this Christmas has been a really good one. James and I came in to San Antonio on the 24th. My grandparents weren't feeling well, so they didn't come to dinner. This is the first year that they have not been there, and it was really weird. But my mom got a honey baked ham, made a cheesy potato cassarole, asparagus, and sweet potato. Everything was delicious. Then we went to a church service with my parents.



We got my dad to set up our old ping pong table in the garage and we have been playing all weekend. I forgot how much fun we used to have playing all the time. Of course, my dad is obsessed with winning and always plays for blood (even when we were kids). I have been practicing over the years and thought that I might have a chance to finally beat him, but alas I still was 0/2.



Christmas morning commenced as per usual-my mom and I were the first ones up, and we had to bug my brother to wake up, and had to harass my sister for half and hour before she would wake up.



My mom made us take these pictures with reindeer antlers on, LOL! I can't believe my dad actually agreed to this.

James playing Wii (that we got from his parents) at my parents house:We got several cool presents. I got a digital picture frame, a new purse, an A&M clock, a crystal candle holder, some handcrafted wooden candle holders from my aunt and uncle (who live in Indonesia), my sister gave me a necklace and my brother got us some movies. My parents gave James a new wallet and $100 for our cruise!!! James' sister gave me a comfy new bathrobe and body wash that smells like chocolate cupcakes! mmmm.

Later that day we went over to my grandparent's apartment (they recently moved into a retirement community a few months ago, and are selling their townhouse), it was an interesting and fun afternoon. Dinner was very yummy. This is on their balcony. The scenery is really pretty. Although it is supposed to be winter, it looks and feels like Fall. We have been wearing short sleeved shirts this whole week (well, technically I am wearing a sweater, but it wasn't cold enough to really be wearing one).

Us inside my grandparent's:

Us with my grandparents:

Both yesterday and today I went walking/running. Hopefully that will help burn some of the calories that I've been consuming this past week! Today James and I went with my sister and saw "Bedtime Stories." We all liked it and thought it was pretty funny and cute.

Tonight all of us went to the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio and ate at Casa Rio. That is where we usually eat downtown, and it is sooooo good! We had to wait for 45 minutes, but once we were seated (we sat outside next to the river) the service was really fast and the food was delicious. Finally some REAL mexican food (tex-mex, really). Although one downside was that because there were a million birds flying around, my brother got pooped on twice, hahaha. It was pretty funny. Then we walked around the river for a while to look at the beautiful Christmas lights and showed my family the hotel that James and I stayed in on our honeymoon. It is soooo pretty.

My sister at our table at Casa Rio:

So basically, that wraps up our Christmas. I think James and I are leaving tomorrow, but I'm not sure what time. I hope you all had a good holiday and have a Happy New Year!

Getting ready for Christmas has been a lot of fun. James surprised me with a nativity set! I had been wanting to get one, but I just got a cheap one from the dollar store. James got the Willow Tree nativity set from the Hallmark store. It is BEAUTIFUL! You can buy the main set, and then add on to it with various stable animals, shepards, etc. We did not get the stable, because it was very expensive and was kind of small.

So several days after I got the nativity, James surprised me AGAIN! He had used his dad's tools to make a manger/stable out of some wood. It looks great! I can't believe he made it, I could never do something like that! He is also going to stain it, but here is a picture of the nativity set:



Another view. We got this Deacon's bench on clearance at Linens N Things, 70% off because it is going out of business. We love it!

We have had a lot of cookie baking going on lately! I made sugar cookies from scratch to bring to work and they turned out so yummy. James and I also make some snickerdoodles this week which were delicious. Here is a picture of some of our baked goodness:

Christmas is a little more than a week away! Pretty much all of our Christmas shopping is done and we are looking forward to some time off and spending it with each other and our family.

Well, it has been a while since I updated! We have been pretty busy with holidays and the end of the semester. We spent part of Thanksgiving at James' house, and then I got to go to San Antonio and hang out with my family for a few days. We went to a Spurs game and had a great time, and we were especially amused by some of the "wannabe ganstas" sitting aroud us.

James surprised me one night with a Christmas tree! I was waiting for us to go pick it out together. One night James called and told me to go buy a tree stand. When I came home, the tree was already there! I was beyond excited and we decorated it that night.


The final result is quite lovely, if you ask me! I would enjoy having the tree up all year, haha. It smells so nice. I have a bunch of my ornaments that my mom has kepts since I was a kid and it made the tree more personal. Also, my mom gave us a pretty ornament that says "Our First Christmas." I love it!

It's been pretty fun getting ready for the Christmas, although we are pretty much BROKE from spending all our free cash on payments for our cruise this upcoming January. So...if gifts are a little "cheap" this year, you'll know why...haha. We really need this trip after a hectic semester. I am looking forward to it soooo much. Getting a paid vacation is REALLY nice!

In other news, James got all A's for this semester! He took 17 hours and did well, I am very proud of him! I still have two finals to take, and then I will also be done. I can't wait!

Flowers

Over the weekend, James got me this beautiful plant with pink flowers. Isn't he great? I'm not really sure what kind of plant it is, but it is very pretty. It makes our apartment feel more "homey."

I was just thinking the other day about how much flowers can really make your day seem to go better. As I was leaving my apartment a few days ago, I saw one of the prettiest flowers I have ever seen growing on a fence. I just thought how cool it is that God created little things like flowers just to brighten our day and make our world more beautiful. I am grateful for that.

I made a card and brought some flowers for my boss on National Boss' Day. It was awesome to see her reaction. She walked in and way saying what a bad day she was already having...and then she saw the flowers on her desk and got totally happy! It's amazing what something so small can do!

Shark Attack

Well this weekend James went deep sea fishing for his brother's birthday. I was invited to go...and part of me really wanted to, but I really just needed some time to myself. So he went and had a good time fishing. Apparently it started raining and the boat was rocking back and forth a lot...and there were people puking. I probably would have been one of those people, so I'm glad I didn't go because of that. BUT...it would have been really cool to see James' catch of the day! He caught a SHARK! Pretty cool.





He cut apart the shark and it smelled AWFUL. haha...we were all running away from the smell. His dad Barbequed it for James to eat. I didn't try it...but James said it was alright. It was pretty fun to watch. :)

This little guy was brave enough to touch the shark! He was the only one of the nephews willing to even go close to it. Although he doesn't look too excited in this picture, haha.

Recipes

So I made something new tonight for dinner...and it turned out prtty good! We usually eat a lot of frozen food and the same things each week because we are so busy. James is a great cook and he has several things that he likes to make, also. I'm excited because I've made several new things lately and they have been yummy. I am proud that I am learning new things...so I have decided to make a list of some things that I can make now.


Things I have always made:

Spaghetti
Tacos
Hamburgers
Meatloaf
Chicken and Rice Cassarole

New things I have learned to make since being married:

Baked Chicken & Scalloped Potatoes
Cornbread Taco Bake Cassarole
Homeade chicken strips and fries
Pasta with garlic butter sauce
King Ranch Chicken
Black Bean Cassarole (what I made tonight! mmm)

Hopefully I can keep adding to this list. I really like trying new things (as long as they are relatively simple). Following recipes isn't that hard! :)

Think Pink!

"Think Pink" picture: A TAMUCC Tradition for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Everybody wore pink that day and stood together to take a picture. I am kind of below that pole in the middle, wearing my glasses. To the left of me is my coworker, Josie. I think this is a good thing to be a part of. Next year I want to get our whole department to go and we can hang up this picture in our office. We also had two students in the picture, too!

It's been a while...

So...it's been a while since we last updated. A lot of little things have changed in the past month or two.

James is now a full time student! He is taking Accounting, Economics, Government, Biology, Business Computer Information Systems, and Weight Lifting at Del Mar college. So far, he's been doing well in his classes and getting awesome grades. He's enjoying being able to focus on school.

I'm still working full time at the University. I got a raise, which was really nice for us since James isn't working right now. I also started back with my MBA classes for the Fall. I am taking Finance and Economics. So far, it has been really intense. My economics professor gives us A LOT of reading and my Finance class is extremely fast paced. We've already had a take home test and an exam in Finance. The take home test took me 4 hours to complete. I was really scared for the in class exam, but it was actually a little easier than I thought it would be. So...these classes have kept me extremely busy. Most days I really wish I had more free time...but I know that it is good for me to try and get through school right now. I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so, and grateful for employment that helps support both of us and reduces the cost of attending school.

In other news...I got released from my calling at church. I was in the Young Women presidency, but all of us in YW got released. I'm now in the Relief Society presidency (for those who don't know, that's the worldwide women's organization at church. I'd be helping at the local level for our congregation). I'm pretty excited about it. I will miss working with the girls, we had a lot of fun...but I'm ready for a new challenge. :)

We've been having fun following the political debates lately. It will be interesting to see how things end up next month. :)

Mosquito Bites

James went camping with some guy friends this weekend, and all of the wives got together to hang out. Since three of us work with the youth, we had a little sleepover with the young women in our ward. It was pretty fun, we made some prank calls and went to go toilet paper the bishop's house. That's when I got the first round of mosquito bites.

Sooo...I have 29 Mosquito bites on my legs...7 on my BUTT (they stung/bit me through my pants!), and 7 bites on my arms. That's a total of 43 Mosquito bites from about 30-40 minutes of "outside time" during the weekend. It is sooooooooooo itchy! Even with hydrocortizone cream, it itches like crazy.

It was pretty funny when we were doing the toilet papering, because we actually started doing the wrong house. We didn't realize it until we were almost done, so the house we WANTED to get actually didn't have that much T.P. But it was pretty hilarious driving past that random person's house and their yard was covered in T.P. haha.

On Saturday, we all got together as a group (the guys who went camping and all the wives) and ate pizza. We went to sit outside for about 10 minutes, and got bit by mosquitos so bad that we just had to go in. We still had a lot of fun, but when I woke up this morning my legs were so itchy I could hardly stand it.

Gotta love south Texas...

Hooks Game!!!

We had a great weekend. One of the best parts was going to a Hook's game (Minor league baseball team here in Corpus Christi, TX). We got to go for really cheap because of a student discount that I saw in campus emails--Ticket and a Food Voucher for $5! Tickets are normally $10, and the food voucher was for $5, so you are already saving $10. I got 4 tickets and we invited a couple in our ward (local church congregation) to go with us. Our team lost pretty bad, but there are lots of games and fun stuff that go on between innings that makes it fun.

Many of you may know my obsession with Whataburger. Well...one of the best parts of going to a Hook's game is that it is at WHATABURGER FIELD!!! There is even a Whataburger inside the stadium!! Of course we had to eat there, and it was delicious. I've taken a few pictures to commemorate the event!

The Whataburger inside the Stadium:

Utah Trip

At the beginning of this month, we went to Utah for a family reunion. Along the way we were able to see some of the sites in downtown Salt Lake City, and see some of our friends. We had a really good time getting to know some of James' extended family better and we were able to relax during our vacation. Although it was the middle of summer, the weather felt so nice and cool without the Texas humidity.

When our plane got in, we decided to swing by Temple Square to look at some of the sites. We took pictures in front of the temple, got to see the Tabernacle, and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Later on that day, we got to see some friends of ours.


This is me in front of the entrance to Temple Square.

James posing by a statue of Joseph Smith inside the Joseph Smith building.

This is on the second floor of the J.S. Memorial building, overlooking the lobby. It was sooooo beautiful! I could hardly believe it. It was originally built as a hotel in the early 1900s, and then later turned into the memorial building.

James in front of the Salt Lake Temple. It's hard to believe how BIG it is when you stand close to it (we are still a little ways from it in this picture). It's amazing to think of how long ago it was built, and that it took 40 years to build! It's beautiful.

Me and Jennifer Larsen at Wingers! We served together in the West Virginia Charleston mission. It was great to catch up and to reminisce about all of the fun times we had together. I also got to see a friend that I played softball with in high school named Amanda. So much has changed; it's hard to believe that it's been six years since I was in high school. That makes me feel so old!

This was one of the highlights of my trip! I got to see my mission president from West Virgina. Joseph and Gwen Cowley are some of the most caring people that I have ever met. They made a huge difference in my life during the time that I was a missionary. They had only been home a few days when we saw them, so they were still adjusting to being back home. So good to see them!

James and I at the visitor's center on Temple Square. There was a really peaceful feeling there, especially with all of the paintings of Christ, and The Christus statue. We also met up with another one of my companions, Erin Quinton, for a little while that day. She is doing awesome and it was fun to be around the last person that I served with in West Virginia.

This was at the get together for James' dad's side of the family. It was a good time. Barbeque, Games, Kareoke...a laid back good time.

Here are some family pictures from the family reunion for James' mom's parents. They were having their 60th wedding anniversary. This picture has the grandparents in the front, James' parents behind them, then all of their kids, and their spouses and children. This is the Texas branch of the family.

These are almost all of the grandchildren to the Grandparents we were honoring (some couldn't be there), and all of the grandchildren's spouses. Quite a large group! I have three cousins TOTAL, so being around this many people that are all related is a huge change for me. BUT, it was really fun, and now I have met the majority of the family and have been able to put faces to the names.

I am really glad that we had the opportunity to go. Not only to meet people...but I realized that all of the happiness that we enjoy is because those two lovely grandparents made the choice to be good and loving parents. So many blessings have come because of it. I am grateful for James' family, and for my family...and that we can shart sharing all of our lives together.

Memory Game

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :)

Temple Trips

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks!

We went up to Houston two Fridays ago and stayed with James' brother Andy and his wife Susan. It was fun to see their new house. I can't imagine actually owning a house, it seems so far away. Saturday James and I went to the Houston temple together. It was sooo nice to go and feel the peace that is there.

I love the Houston temple...I haven't been there for two and a half years! I think it is so beautiful...and it is great to take pictures in front of!

Us by the fountain.

Saturday afternoon, we drove to College Station for a b-day party for one of our nephews. It was at Chuck E Cheese, and we had a pretty good time. This guy that James and I used to work with at Whataburger now works there. We ALWAYS see people we know from Whataburger everywhere we go, it seems. :) Sunday our little niece was blessed in church. She is so small and cute...and quiet. All she does is sleep, really. She looked pretty in her white dress, white shoes, and white bow! We took a group picture of all of us, but I don't have a copy of that yet.

Tuesday we took some of the youth from church to the San Antonio temple for a temple trip. It was a really good experience, and I was glad that both James and I were able to go. We had a lot of fun!

Me and the other young women leaders with the young women.

Me and James on the temple grounds. It is so pretty there!

In other news...we moved this weekend! Not anywhere far, just to a bigger apartment in the same complex. We got most of the moving done on Saturday, my mom came to help and she was able to put a lot of stuff away while it was getting moved in. It made SUCH a big difference! We LOVE our new apartment! The layout is so much better and we have a lot more storage. It just feels so much more like "home" than our old apartment. I will take some pictures when we get everything put away.

We will be going to Utah from July 2nd-July 7th...so we will be getting ready for that trip this week. I am really excited!

Picture Update

Here are some pictures of us at the Corpus Christi State Aquarium from a month or two ago. It was pretty fun, and we got to go for free because it was "family fun day," and University students and employees got to go for free...so that was pretty sweet.
James looks so cute.
This is the Lexington...it is pretty neat to take a tour through it. I have gone several times, but it has been a few years. Anyone who visits Corpus should check it out.
This picture is hilarious to me...every time I would put my purse down next to the glass, the otter would go CRAZY and keep batting at my purse through the glass continually until I picked my purse up. They were so cute.This was a really cool dolphin show at the Aquarium.

I found some pictures that I forgot that I had! Here is me getting my makeup done on my wedding day. She also did my hair for my wedding day. She did a wonderful job...although I did NOT enjoy having someone else put makeup on me. I felt like I was going to get my eye poked out. I thought these pictures were kind of funny though.

This is part of our little "Newlywed Barbeque" that we had in Kingsville. I took a picture of our little guestbook table and our table center pieces. I realized that we didn't get any pictures of James and I, but that's okay.

Weekend at the beach

Last weekend was a fun one for us. James' family came to Corpus to visit for James' birthday. Friday night James and I went camping on the beach with his brother Andy and wife Susan. It was my first time to camp on the beach, and it was an adventure. Sand got EVERYWHERE! But it was really fun. The next day we went swimming and made sand castles.

Here is James working on our sand castle in front of our tent!



Andy and Susan building their sand castle.
The water was actually warm enough for us to go swimming! We tried to use this boogie board we bought, but none of us were very good at it, haha.

We all went to a Corpus Christi Hooks game (minor league baseball team) on Saturday. The best part about it was that the name of the stadium was Whataburger Field! They even have a Whataburger there where you can buy food. So of course, we did.

In other news, I had finals this week, which means school is OVER for the semester! I feel like I did pretty well. I am excited to have the summer off and get some projects done that I have wanted to work on for a while. :)

Weekend Fun

Well we have had a fun past few weekends. Two weekends ago James and I drove to College Station to attend a baby shower for Lesley and a wedding shower for my old roomie, Kim! We had so much fun. Of course James and the "guys" didn't attend the showers, haha. They did "guy things."

Lesley's baby shower was very cute. It was hosted by her sister and Anne. Everybody loved looking at all of the cute little girl clothes! By the way, Lesley just had her baby this past Saturday, and her name is Evelyn.

Kim's wedding shower was a lot of fun also. It was good to see her so happy and excited about getting married. I still can't believe sometimes how much things have changed in the past few years. I love reminiscing on how my life has come to be where it is now, and I am always reminded of my blessings as I visit old friends and see them take these wonderful steps in their lives. Here is a picture of the two of us (not a good one of me, but Kim looks great!)
While we were in town, James and I went to visit Brother's Park Pond. We used to always go there when we lived in College Station, especially when we first started dating. It was one of the first places James and I went together as a couple. It is so peaceful and beautiful there. I remember the first time he took me there...it was pitch black, and as he led me on the trail, I couldn't see a thing. I was worried he was going to do something bad to me, haha! I kept asking him, "WHY are you taking me back here? I don't like this!" That is my paranoid self. Of course nothing bad happened. It is one of our "special places." Here is a picture of James at the park.

This past weekend we kind of just hung out and relaxed! It was so nice to just chill. :)