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. :)