We are Thankful

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Blakely and I made collages of things we are thankful for. Blakely's kind of turned into an "I like..." collage but don't be offended if you didn't make the cuts.

Moving away from home and starting a new part of our life has given me a new appreciation for many things  as well as reaffirm my gratitude for the many blessings I have in my life. 

I am thankful for:

1.My testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knowledge of eternal families.

2. Blakely, my husband, best friend, teammate, fellow adventurer and love of my life. 

3.My education: Although my degree has not help me get a teaching job....yet, I still am grateful for the knowledge and skills I gained and the once in a lifetime experiences I had attending BYU.  

4. My Kitchen-Aid: All the quality time with myself has given me a lot of time to become more acquainted with the wonderful appliance and we have become good friends.

5. My family, particularly for my nieces and nephews. 

6. My phone: 

7: My Chacos: With the beautiful Texas fall weather, my Chacos have hardly left my feet since we moved here. They take me everywhere.

8. Being a woman:  

9.Utah scenery: Texas is the second biggest state in America but features only endless stretches of flat roads. How spectacular are the many sights of Utah!

10. Ice cream: especially for our recent discovery- Bluebell Ice Cream. YUM! I am forever thankful for the complete happiness this simple dessert can always bring me.

11.Fresh fruits and vegetables: 

12.Good Books: There is nothing better than getting wrapped up in a good book that makes you smile, laugh, and think.

13.Piano and Music: 

14. My bike: When you can rely more on your bike than your car, you know you have a good bike or at that you have an old car. I think its a combination of both but I am thankful for all the places my bike has taken me

15. Our new texas home: including our apartment, our ward, our friends, and our jobs. We are so blessed

Blakely refused to include any description of his "I like..." collage but I am thankful for his participation!

Shamu!..Shamu!.. Shamu!

This post is long overdue but over Labor Day we were able to take a trip to San Antonio with Blakely's uncle, Ormonde, to visit Sea World! The night before, Ormonde's family traveled from Fort Worth and slept in our living room. We pushed back the dining room table, moved our ottoman into the bedroom and inflated multiple air mattresses. While a little snug, we were pleasantly surprised how our little one bedroom apt slept 8 people!

Heidi, Harris, Harley, Lindsey, Reese, Blakely, and Montana

The day was spent watching whales jump, seals bark, and dolphins eat. I couldn't have been more thoroughly entertained and I can't wait to go back again!

The seal is biting his bum. I laughed out loud.

They thought it was funny too.

Shamu!..Shamu!..Shamu! I was singing the song all the way home.

 Anyone who has even taken a jumping picture can attest to how difficult that is.

Feeding the dolphins is insanely overpriced but who can resist the cute dolphin face and sound? They look like they smiling and sound like they are laughing all the time!

I know we are twins. We do that some time. The picture isn't even showing our matching Chacos...Embarrassing

Rise and Shout!

The cougars are not out...:(
A couple of weeks ago Blakely and I traveled up to Fort Worth with some other families in our ward to watch the BYU vs TCU game. Sadly, despite fanatical cheers from the thousands of BYU fans that traveled hundreds of miles to see their favorite team, the cougars never did make a showing. The end score was 3-31. Yes that's right, we weren't even able to see a touchdown. Sigh.

James and Allison

 Sewell Family

The weekend was a not a complete loss though. We traveled with our friends James and Allison and were able to spend the night with Blakely's uncle and his family and enjoy a morning basketball game. We explored the Fort Worth water gardens and discovered a corvette car show. The highlight was being introduced to the little Czech Bakery in West, TX which features the most delicious pastries. My favorite, the pumpkin kolache. YUM! We had to make a stop both on the way up and the way down.

Hopefully BYU can pull it together before they play UT Austin next year. We will be there win or lose because thats what Cougars fans do, but at least next year we won't have to travel three hours to see them lose.

Festive Halloween

Blakely and I have never been very festive during the Halloween season. Since we have been married we have not ventured into a corn maze, paid to be scared in a haunted house, or even taken the time to carve a jack-o-lantern! We have also avoided even attempting to dress up for any Halloween party. This year I determined was to be different.
Now, while you can not find a corn maze for miles in this part of Texas and we are still too cheap to pay to enter a haunted house, this October we carved pumpkins, made apple pumpkin muffins, pumpkin chocolate chips muffins, pumpkin pancakes, monster eyeballs (peanut butter truffles dipped in chocolate with an M&M on top to appear like an eyeball) AND we made Halloween costumes.

For those of you who missed a live demonstration of this costume, Blakely is a car wash and I am a car...or a girl in a car. Whichever makes most sense to you.

Turns out when you don't have kids and you still don't have a job, you have some extra time on your hands to hot glue hundreds of strips of blue felt to make this ridiculous awesome. And don't worry this fancy blue car came with a UTAH license plate ( I forgot to take a picture of the back). I remember where my roots are.