Sunday, December 27, 2009

Wow, we're behind.......


Well, for the second straight week I am posting. I am turning over a new leaf. I have been cleaning, cooking, working, and now posting on our blog. (more will be explained later) As you can tell many holidays have come and gone and we have not posted a word about them or who we were with.

First things first....

We bought a car. We flew up to Utah about a week and a half before Thanksgiving and picked up our new 2008 Hyundai Sonata and yes we love it. We were planning on waiting until we had a baby before we bought one but due to the over zealous men in Corpus Christi we decided we needed one sooner. One day Lynette was walking to work and a man pulled along side her and asked her if she wanted a ride. She declined and he again insisted on giving her a ride, and again she declined. I don't know about you but I was pleased to hear she was alright. And after buying the new, I drive the old one and Lynette drives the new one. :) Could you imagine anything different?

Second......

We had an awesome Thanksgiving with the Bills here in Corpus Christi. The first Thanksgiving I had with the Weston's came when Lynette and I were dating. At that time, I convinced some of Lynette's family that we should have ourselves a football game while waiting for the food. As we began to explain the game and pick teams it dawned on me that Lynette and family had not grown up playing football in the backyard as often as it was played at my house growing up. (Thanks Rachel for some good times.) Well, to get back to this Thanksgiving my ward Elders quorum was hosting a Turkey Bowl. If you don't know what these are, a Turkey Bowl is where 20 and 30 somethings get to show-off and try to impress everyone else with their amazing football skills. There are always a few that are a little too wound up about this game and are decked out in all of their get-up. Shawn and I got talking about the game and I thought it would be a blast to have him there with my ward. He didn't seem to thrilled to play so we let him off this year in hopes he will play next year. His kids, on the other hand, did play and had a blast. Shawn, Bekah, and Lynette came, watched, and cheered on the kids as Isaac, Sadie, and Phebe played with all the young kids. (If you haven't had the chance to see their football skills, I suggest you play catch with them sometimes. ) Well to make a long story short, I get Isaac, Sadie, and Phebe on my side the next time we play with the Weston's.

We had a wonderful dinner in our small apartment. Bekah expanded our view of Thanksgiving by introducing Egg Rolls, place settings, and place markings made by the kids. I introduced a tradition of my own by making turkeys out of pipe cleaners and netting being filled with nuts and M&M's. It was a wonderful dinner and afterward we all played a rousing game of Fat Dog. Thanks for the great times Bills Family.

Don't be jealous of the 65 - 75 deg weather for Thanksgiving.

Everyone making Crafts and no we didn't wear the hats. (Thanks Shawn.)

The amazing table! (Thanks Rebekah and kids for all the decor.)

My family tradition. Miniature candy turkeys for everyone.

Rebekah and Lynette showing off their bubble blowing skills at the Beach.

Third.....

As was mentioned in the previous post, my nephew died. I will not say anymore as I have already posted about it.

Fourth.....

We're pregnant! We are currently 16 weeks along and loving the fact that we have a little one on the way. It has been hard as Lynette has been sick but we are getting through alright.

Fifth.....

We just had Christmas here at home. We love family and had planned to visit the Bills Family for Christmas and the New Year. Unfortunately, Lynette was not feeling well enough to go and our plans changed. (Hence the reason why I am doing so much around the house.) We had a wonderful time, but to our surprise we each had one gift sent to the Bills home. Lynette got me a Nerf gun that I was so wanting. Every time we go to a store and see them I tell Lynette that we should get two for us but she always said no. Apparently she gave in. I gave in to her request too and got her a grain mill. It was a wonderful Christmas and we enjoyed it so much. Thanks to everyone for helping make it so wonderful.

Well, that about sums up the past few months of our lives. Hopefully we can post more frequently but I am not guaranteeing anything.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

My Nephew


I thought I would take some time today and post about by nephew. Many of you may know that I had a nephew who was battling a rare brain tumor called a Chordoma Tumor. In May of this year he was diagnosed and past away a few days after Thanksgiving. It was a very tender time as I began to think about what my brother may be feeling and thinking and realizing there is no possible way for me to comprehend what his family is/was going through. I love my nephew very much and it was so fun to be an outsider watching him grow up. Before making our trek to south Texas, Lynette and I found a second home with my brother Andrew and his wife, Jaime. We taught them the Weston tradition of Rook and Canasta card games and other fun games and spent many an evening with them. We watched their kids and played games, watched movies, read stories and many other things. As a result we became close to them and loved them. I am sad to see that Jared has passed away but I know that he is better and healthy. Unfortunately, for him to be happy where he is, his family is sad to have him gone. I thought I would attach the link to their story, I can only share it as an outsider and feel it should be shared from their point of view. Here is the link to their blog for those who would like to read it; jaredvance.blogspot.com. I thought I would attach a couple of my favorite pictures of my superhero of a nephew, Jared. The bottom shows Jared in the most touching picture (to me). There is something heavenly about seeing him resting with so much white around him.


I love my brother so much and am so sad to see him lose his son, but I know he has a testimony of the Gospel and will be stronger for it.

We love and we'll miss you Jared!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Fall Festivities

CC doesn't get too fall-y but that didn't stop a few of us from doing all the Fall-ish activities. We carved pumpkins and coated apples with caramel and other goodies.



For the week of Halloween I went up to AR to take care of the Bills kids. The plan was for Anth to come up the after work on Thursday but he surprised me by taking off work on Thursday and getting there early. It was a great surprise! We had a lot of fun with the kids, going to their school parties, community festival, the Battlefield, and trick-or-treating. We had a great time - thanks Bills!!!

The Nurse

The Astronaut


Wonder Women

The Monkey


The Washed-Up Football Player

Battlefield 1

Battlefield 2

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Yellow Brick Road

For my profession I sew. After moving down here I got a job at a quilt store. Quilting is a different kind of sewing than regular sewing. I just finished my 1st quilt. I love it and want to make more. It was a fairly easy quilt, which I wanted for my 1st one (its name is Yellow Brick Road). I made a babyish size. So I picked out 6 fat quarters and set to work. I'm excited to start #2 soon.


Chosen Fat Quarters



Top


Top with small outside boarder

Finished with outside boarder

Finished quilted, backing and bound

Catch-Up

I didn't die at girls camp. I know you were all worried.

But now I have a ton to catch-up on.

August 2009
-Blasted Hot Girls Camp, almost killed by a Javelina (sp?) in the form of leaders/girls in other ward attacking camp with recording of lion roar.
-Anthony took me to Wicked in Austin for my/his birthday. It was great and so fun to see with him!
-Went early to Utah to see family and friends. I tried to get pictures of everyone I saw but it didn't happen. I loved seeing friends from the ward, millcreek, old roommates, etc :)

September 2009
-Sisters Weekend: 8 of the 12 Weston Women up in Park City, shopping and Swiss Days. It was a blast and I can't wait for next year.
-My 31st Birthday. It was wonderful. Everyone should be 31 at least once.
-Anth got called as 2nd counselor in the bishopric.
-Anth had a trip to Utah for work, recruiting. He even got to go to a U of U football game.

October 2009
-Our first watching of General Conference on a computer. Including pictures of Prophet and Apostles on mantle with prior FHE reports (it was something we did growing up and I still love learning about those great men).
-Our first visitors. Anthony's parents came to visit so his Dad could ordain him a High Priest. Of course there was a cold front so they wondered why we complain about the heat.
-Next monday I'm flying to Arkansas to watch the Bills kids and then Anth will be driving up so we can be there for Halloween.

Below are some pictures of the above mentioned happenings. I'll try to put them in order but it never works.


Only picture at Wicked (really bad)


Greg, Teresa, Sara Anne, LeAnn, Holly and me


Eight sisters


31 years


Prophets and Apostles


Anth and his parents at the beach

Friday, July 24, 2009

Pre-Girls Camp

I'm the Stake Asst. Camp Director and the Ward Camp Director. Don't ask. It just works.
I'm going to Girls Camp next week! I haven't been in over 10 years and I'm super excited! Just thinking of sitting by the camp fire, snuggling in blankets, going for hikes in the mountains sounds wonderful. But it's not the South of Texas way of camping. We're going to a lake about a half hour away where it'll be 95+ degrees every day (and night), we can't have fires because we're in a drought and we're at sea level with the highest point being the camp ground ant hill. I might die. I'll let you know. Or actually Anth will if I really do.

My 2 Jobs

I have two jobs. I was planning on doing what most teachers do and taking the summer off but when opportunities present themselves, you have to take them.
Job #1:
Medical Billing - Not my dream job. A lady in the ward down here does it out of her home and offered me the job after being here one week. (I'm pretty sure she was impressed by how healthy I am.) I only work there part time, in the mornings. When I was younger I dreamed of working in the business world. It's not for me. I can't sit at a computer all day and not talk to people except to tell them they have a balance on their account and ask them how I can help them resolve it. I need interaction with people. But on the plus side I have learned a lot about insurances and how the system works, the ladies I work with are super great, and it's pretty flexible so if I need time off I can have it.
Job #2:
The Quilt Cottage - Last summer when we were here I found the shop and would occasionally buy fabric and dream about working at a place like it. After we got back in Utah when people would ask what I was going to do once we moved I would say perhaps teach but that I'd love to work at the quilt shop. But most quilt shops don't really hire people off the streets, they just have people they've know for a hundred years working for them. So after going in a few times my first week here and offering my services the owner hired me :) It's been heaven! I love it! I work about 3-4 times a week in the afternoons and sometimes Saturdays. It's so fun talking to women (and a few men) about fabric and the different projects they are buying fabric for. I do sew but quilting is totally different. I'm learning a ton and feel like this may be the only time in my life I get this opportunity. I've started my first quilt and will post pictures later.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The 2nd Time Was Worse

I was so confident that the second one would go even better than the 1st. Not so. All was going well until I took a huge chunk out of the back. I told Anth that he would never even know it was there but he opted for the buzz. He says it's cooler (both senses of the word). I'm not giving up. I will be able to cut his hair. Next time for sure!! (or the next, or the next...ect)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Hair Styling 101

I cut hair. Well I've only ever cut one persons hair, and only one time. But it looks dang good! He was such a good sport and only cringed a few times. You know the famous joke: "What's the difference between a good and bad hair cut? 2 weeks." It's pretty true. But it can't be worse the second time, right?

Pest Control

I hate bugs! But we've moved to South Texas so they kind of come with the territory. When we moved we had a serious problem with ants. But the management came in and sprayed and we also put up a few motels (by we I mean Anth, of course). Just this past week we've been invaded by roaches. Ok, we've only found 3 but they are gi-normous! And "they" (whoever they are) say that you never only have just one. Where one is, hundreds are. I had Anth put them in a bag and I took them to the office, hoping the mere sight of the little buggers (pun intended) would scare them spitless. It didn't work. The lady just had me fill out a form and told me pest control would be around later that week. I was a bit disappointed (I may not recommed this place to anyone else). I'm now just hoping/praying the spraying worked and we're bug free. I'd love any good advice on keeping the little demons away.

Batter Up!

Last Friday night we attended our first baseball game together. It was great fun. The Hooks are a AA Team that feed the Houston Astros (Anth just told me). We got to sit on the green grass behind the outfield, but they weren't bad seats, it's a pretty small ballpark (8 to 9 thousand seats). I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get to catch a foul ball (Anth just told me that we wouldn't have caught a foul ball seeing as we were sitting in right field and not on the baseline. I promise I grew up playing ball) but we got to see a beautiful sunset and we got to take pictures with the cardboard HOOK!!! If you come visit us before the end of September we'll take you to a game.













Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Louis, or should I say Lois, Graduated!!

Both the program and his diploma spelled his name Lois.

It was a fun filled day celebrating Louis's graduation. I can't believe he's 18 and all graduated. The big event took place at the Dee Events Center (you would have loved it Rachel). I'd never been there so that was fun. Brown and gold definitely don't go with purple. Louis graduated with a class of over 700. Lots of "you'll go far" talks and shout outs to those accepting diplomas. We went to the Timberline or Timbermine restaurant after (I can't remember what it was called) with all of Pat's family. It was fun to be there and join in the grand event. Congrats Louis!!!


Monday, June 8, 2009

The Merry Month of May

May was a crazy month!! Here's a list of going ons and some pictures to go with it:
-We finished tiling the floor





















-Sara Anne came home, left again and then came home again
-Anth Graduated from the U of U (Family- thanks for all the support)



















-Sanded and painted furniture (thanks Joey)













-Moved to Texas (I came back to finish school)
-Finished teaching school (really June 5th)
-Now in Texas for good (fun apt)