Jingle Bells

Hello! We are alive and well, but we only have one computer and Glen has commandeered it for his outlining and studying for finals.

Speaking of finals, Glen took his first one today!

Wow, I promise our lives are more exciting than this. We have big plans coming up so I hope to post some awesome pictures of our adventures soon.

In the mean time, watch this video. There are no words to prepare you for this. It's creepy. It's beautiful. It's mesmerizing. I want to laugh and cry at the same time. Anyway, enjoy!

Fancy Glasses

So, we've been here in Austin for about a year now, so there are several things I've become accustomed to: (Notice how I did not say I am used to these things yet, just accustomed)

Humidity
Lack of mountains
Geckos, occasionally in my apartment
Bugs, occasionally in my apartment
Cowboy boots
Very friendly people who will talk to you even though you are a stranger
Church building being 15 minutes away
Bars (not because I GO to them...but because they are everywhere)
Homeless people on every corner
making friends quickly
Cockroaches, occasionally in my apartment
Having to explain why I reject the coffee my employers try to buy me
Whataburgers
HEB
TRAFFIC
The term "ya'll"
Cicada's making LOUD noises in the trees
Toads
Dead armadillos on the side of the road
Deer everywhere (Where do they live? Because Deer live in the Mountains, right? RIGHT?!)
Bad drivers (worse than Utah, believe it or not. ABC news even says so!)


This list could go on and on. Despite this growing list, there are apparently still things that surprise me. Note the following conversation Glen and I had the other night at a gathering with his school friends:

Me: Whispering Glen! Look!
Glen: What? What are you pointing at?
Me: In their hands! Look what they are holding!
Glen: Yes... They are holding champagne glasses.
Me: Smiling with a dazed look on face Wow... just like in the movies!

You can take the girl out of Utah but can't take the Utah out of the girl.

Exotic Animals

So remember what I told you about me and Craigslist? Well, I thought I'd show you another little gem I found. Recently, there have been a lot of wildfires here in Texas and almost 2,000 people have already lost their homes. There has been a lot of aide going out to those people and a lot of people opening up their homes for those who are now homeless. Well, this person decided they would help by taking in exotic animals:


"To All Bastrop Fire Victims"

We have a room especially for our exotic pets. The room is kept at 78 degrees year round and is inside the house. We can make room to foster any exotics. We can care for snakes, lizards, turtles, tarantulas, rat, mouse, hamster, maybe a bird or to. I have 2 empty rabbit hutches too, one can be used for outdoor birds such as finches. I have a totally enclosed chicken pen, it has 1 rooster and 6 hens living in it, we can make room there for whatever can live with chickens. I have a small totally enclosed pen for bantams, I could squeeze a couple more in there.
I can not foster dogs or cats. We already have 2 dogs and they will not accept another. I am allergic to cats.




Well, at least they're willing to help...?

Pretend the Name of this Post is the Sound of the Cougar they Play Over the Loud Speaker at the BYU Home Games

I know nobody wants to talk about them since their big lose last week, but this post is about:

THE BYU FOOTBALL TEAM

Just Kidding, not the actual team, but just about how they came to Austin and played the University of Texas, where Glen attends law school. And, coincidentally (or maybe not) they lost this time too. But it was was only by 1 point. Thank heaven, because we probably would have gotten a lot more crap walking out of the HUGE stadium that night. Seriously though, that stadium was massive. Before we went inside I was expecting something like BYU's stadium, but this was something else. After some research, I found that the UT stadium seats 40,000 more people than BYU's stadium, with a capacity of 100,000 or so. 100,000! That's crazy to me.

Anyway, Glen's friend/old roomate/mission buddy/groomsman, Ryan Dalquist, came out for the game and of course we had to take him to some of the best food around. Yikes, I'm really getting embarrassed about how much food I post about. Oh well, I still have some weight to get rid of but THE FOOD WAS WORTH IT. Or I keep telling myself that.

ALSO one of my bestest friends ever, Lizzy Peterson Shawcroft, and her husband Russ were also in town with the family she nannys for. They came over for Sunday dinner and we caught up and played a game and just cherished every moment.

It was really, really, cool see SO many BYU fans in Texas! It seriously felt like home, and made me very homesick. But the neatest part was that most of the BYU fans we met weren't even from Utah! They were from all over the country! We met people from Kansas, Washington, Pennsylvania, and lots of other states. I can't wait until we play University of Texas again, but next time it will be in Utah, and will be the perfect excuse to visit. Hopefully BYU will get their act together by then.

BBQ at The Salt Lick




Trying to be macho, or something.






There were a lot of out-of-towners. Apparently these ones were driving a little to quick for this bird to get away. He was rammed into the front of their car.. and was stuck there.


This place should look familiar to those of you who follow my blog


Riding the bus to the game!


The stadium, the awesome band who can make cool shapes and letters with their formations, and our waaaay crappy seats. But good thing their big screen was MASSIVE.










Me and Lizzy!

Well, maybe next time Cougs. Maybe next time.

A Recent Conversation

Glen: What are you doing?
Me: Oh, someone posted the new Twilight trailer on Facebook. Psshh, totally embarrassing right?
Glen: So, why do you want to watch it?
Me: Curiosity. Although if they show the scene with Edward breaking the headboard again I'm going to laugh. It's just really awkward.
Glen: Well, let's see how bad it is.


Trailer ends...
Me and Glen: Silence.
Me: Turning quickly to Glen CAN WE GO PLEASE?

Don't judge me. I know you like it too.

I love me a good massage

So, I'm a constant Craigslist browser. Practically everything we own comes from Craigslist or thrift stores. Anyway, every once in a while as I'm browsing I come across a little gem like this one. What I love about this is it isn't too weird at first, but then I realized it's been five minutes and I'm still reading his list... and it had me laughing. Anyway, enjoy, and good luck to this guy who apparently knows just what he wants. (Anything in blue text are my comments)

"professional massage"

masseuse located in South Austin bartering therapeutic massages for many different of items trained in Deep Tissue , Swedish attuned to Reiki level ,,,have years of experience giving body work,,,,,,only interested in bartering professional , draped massages usually charge $50 to $65 an hour . Obviously some items listed would needed to be combined & some items I would need to give more than one massage...........willing to make sure all involved feels like a fair exchange is happening top of the list:
hose without a leak
rich soil for growing plants in containers
sand delivered for childs play area
large tuperware storage containers
free standing ladder
canopy swing
rubber balls What??
free standing electric fans (not ceiling fan)
someone familiar with LE pro tools who would trade hour to hour turtoring to help me (working with 7.1 le pro tools with m-box 2)
any types of Music instruments
cymbals What the?
guitar stands
glass blocks
carpet cleaning
decent stereo system
hula hoops (professional and for kids) Professional hula hoops... eh?
bubble machine
bubble wrap
Magnets and smaller metal to make a sculpture mirrors (mirrors can be broken) disco balls, Plasma Ball , fiber optic and lava lamps a laser light would be awesome (art project with light and mirrors) garden balls that are shiny, christmas bulbs , christmas lights that work, shiny tinsel I don't even know what to think about this...
wood to do art on: thin wood or light weight doors wood scraps to create wooden scuptures (perferably smaller wood pieces)
paint: vibrant colors( no drab colors, Whites are fine)
plastic outside chairs (or metal folding ones)
folding tables (don't have to look good but has to be functionally sound) (as the metal part of the table is structurally sound I don't care if the flat part is ruined, I have a way of working around it)
slinkys ??????
curtain showers that are colorful artistic items that would be good 3-d art project
beads (quality and plastic)
art display racks (cards and prints display racks)
candle wax candle making supplies (molds and colors)
glass balls
garden scultptures Okay, this is just getting really weird
tarps, sheets(doesnt matter if there are stains, I do batik projects)
usb hub
pottery wheel and clay solar powered walkway lights
Papasan chairs , bean bags , patio furniture , hammock , covered bench swing kids toys and games (except electronic toys that make annoying noises) hahaha ((love old school toys: like monkey in a barrel and lincoln logs))
Farside books , colorful children story and educational books, any comic books that are not too violent
meditation tapes and cd/s
safety guard for 12ft ( I think thats the size I have )trampoline , and steps to get safely on the trapmoline
outdoor fan with mister plastic milk crates or shelving that can withstand weather a wading pool at least 4ft wide (soft rubber preferable but not required)
dry Eraser board , chalk board dart board any music instruments: adult or kid
clear tuperware storage containers with lids
outside plastic garbage containers with secure lids
outdoor electrical cords , electical power strips , power surger counter top burner
Electrical fans, (free standing not ceiling) large wicker baskets solar oven (or know and want to make one)
rain barrels if your a gardener : your organic produce plants / potted herbs / flowers/ potted produce/ seeds fertile soil hanging plant containers Hand tools gardening tools (rake , shovel)

And an awesome concluding paragraph from this master masseuse:
have a skill? have some thing to offer? offer and I'll see if I can use it for any mad scientist mechanics out there i am wanting to create a bike runned pump that hooks to a sprinkler so kids can ride a bike and create a spray that goes back into the wading pool that can also hook up a hose and drain the water out of the wading pool into the grass to water I have a stationary bike , the pool , the sprinkler and the hose.

I just want to know who this person is who needs so many random things but knows how to give professional massages? Hmm.. What are your thoughts?

Quilt

So, the quilt! Here's the story:

During the months of my unemployment when we first moved to Austin, I started learning several new skills. One of these skills was sewing. Thankfully, my mother-in-law, Cindy, got me a great sewing machine for Christmas! I knew myself well enough to know that unless I am making something with a deadline and a purpose, I wouldn't finish it. So I decided I wanted to make a quilt, and I would make one for Kelsey, my sister, for her 20th birthday. Kelsey and I are both sentimental people, so I knew just the kind of quilt to make her. I chose 16 different fabrics that all represent different parts of her life and things that remind me of her. All the fabrics went together very well! It took a few weeks to locate fabrics with all the things I was looking for, but it was worth it. For the backing I chose an orange fabric with multi-colored paisleys. Kind of crazy, but I was very pleased with the result.

We didn't take too many pictures while I was actually sewing the pieces together. Just mainly the last few steps. Glen was an incredible helper and was learning with me every step of the way. With my ADD it would've taken me 5 times longer than it did with Glen. He was super supportive and excited which motivated me to finish it before our trip to Utah! Here are some shots:
















Takin' a quick break for some Ramen noodles


Machine Quilting


Turning the quilt


Finishing the binding.. At this point our car is literally all packed up and ready to go to Utah. Just waiting for me to finish!



And Kelsey loved it! It was definitely a learning experience but now that I've made a quilt from start to finish I'm excited to make more quilts and continue to learn!

August.

This month was full of so much adventure! I quit my job on August 5th and Glen and I finally had 100% freedom to do whatever we wanted! So, naturally, we went to Utah. Glen was especially excited to get out of the heat. We only had 4.5 days there, so we decided to keep the visit strictly to family, since it was the first time my whole family had been together since Christmas. We went to some movies, played some games, and just hung out. It was a really great time. Most of these pictures are taken with my sister Kelsey's camera, so that's why she's in 99% of them. We also wanted to take some family pictures last-minute, so one of Lydia's friends was kind enough to bring her nice camera and snap some pics for us. She did a great job.

This is my brother, making his nostrils big on purpose.


Kelsey is dating a cute boy from Hawaii, and he sent her flowers!


My three sisters.

Also, I made this awesome quilt for my sister Kelsey. I really wanted to learn to quilt, so I taught myself, made a goal, and gave myself a deadline. I was only late by a couple of weeks but I'm still pretty proud. My first quilt ever! I even machine quilted it myself. The quilt squares are all different fabrics representing Kelsey's interests and hobbies, she liked it, and I'm glad to be done with it. Stay tuned for a more detailed blog about this quilt.



And the family pics!

Glen started his 2nd year of law school and so we are back in the swing of things. We've been dong some rearranging in our apartment and we've even added some new furniture. In Arizona we got really into thrifting (they have some amazing thrift shops there) and so we brought back some pretty fun games. That's it for now!