November

I know I am a little behind, but I thought I should start with November before Christmas comes around. It was a pretty fun month to sum it up. Probably the most exciting thing we did was go to Idaho. There we had Craig's birthday (he is officially an old man) and of course Thanksgiving. It was nice to see our families and enjoy the good food.

My mom's family was able to all come out for Grandpa's 80th birthday which was wonderful. Unfortunately everybody but our family was able to come! Eric, Ben and me and Craig were there to represent mom's family. With the Andrus' we did lot's of the usual stuff. Shooting up by the dry farm, eating like pigs, shopping, and going to movies. We also spent some time with Craig's brother and his family which was fun (especially since their birthday is the same day)!

Here are some pics of the weeks events, enjoy:)

He was pretty excited about that pumpkin pie!

Happy Birthday Craig!





Craig wanted me to put this on, don't ask me why
(maybe to show the world what a manly man he is).




Andrus' shooting on Thanksgiving Day

Big Day!!

Today was a very big day for me! I finally did something I have been wanting to do for a year now: I quit my job!!! Don't worry, I had another job lined up:) I will now be working for Squire, a local accounting firm--just doing office work (no, I am not an accountant). I am very excited for the change and look forward to actually having health insurance!!! (I realized the day before I quit, we have not been insured since we got back from Houston, even though Proton said we were!) Oh the stories I could tell about this little company! I am just happy I am done with them and now can focus my daily attentions to something besides showing up to work one day with a new person sitting right beside me who claims to have been given my position.....ohhh, I am glad that is over. To those of you who watch the Office, just replace Dunder Mifflin with Proton Communications and you might understand what I mean....Yay for me!

Domestic or Ghetto?

As said in my earlier post, we have fruit trees in our backyard! By the time we got here all the apples were already gone (the neighborhood kids made a game out of throwing apples at each other) but there were tons of peaches--which are better in my opinion anyway! We decided we should not let them go to waste and learn to do something with the millions of peaches. So...we went and bought some canning things for freezer and bottled jam. Because so many of the peaches had fallen on the cement, jam was the only thing we could really do with them.

We don't have steamer or anything (or a lid, or a pot with two handles apparently!)

Despite my lack of training, and the proper tools required, we managed some nice jam if I do say so myself! Unfortunately, we only used peaches that had fallen to the ground (so they were not the prettiest ones) because the next night we planned to actually pick peaches, but when we went to the backyard they were all gone!!! We are not exactly sure if the landlord decided she wanted them, or a hungry family in our neighborhood wanted them, either way....I am sure whoever ended up with them enjoyed them--they were wonderful!

Our First Almost-House!

When we moved back to Provo we were not able to move back into our old apartment complex, which we were fine with anyway since the management was so poor. Now we live in South Provo where the gangs are plenty, the drug deals common and the police ever present...(luckily, our new home is yet to be tagged)...it's really not that bad, this is Provo we are talking about! Anyway...one of our favorite aspects of this new home is the yard. We have a front and back yard, and though small and fence-less, it is still very much our own space.

(Notice the fruit trees--yeah, we were excited)

In our new house we have room for our very own washer and dryer, a second bedroom, and even a green oven!! How lucky are we??!!! My favorite part though is only sharing one wall since this is a duplex. No neighbors above or below playing video games through the night! Yep...things are working out nicely here:)

Hiking Timp

Pretty waterfall and emerald lake up by the top

I guess we are just trying to use every drop of summer we can. After biking in Moab, it just wasn't enough! We decided to hike Timp with a few friends about a week ago, and if you have ever hiked Timp, you know why I am just now getting to posting about it. You have to let some time go by before you realize you enjoyed it:) The point is, we made it to the top! and then ran all the way down which was probably a mistake...oh well, it was pretty awesome anyway! Here are some pics we took along the way.

Me and Kjersten (who just got back from her mission in Indonesia)

Weekend in Southern Utah

This last weekend we went to Monticello for Ryan's wedding (Craig's best buddy). It was great! The wedding was wonderful, and the break was very enjoyable. It was nice to see friends and family for such a happy occasion. We have had a couple weddings lately with my cousin Jason's wedding last weekend in Salt Lake. They were both wonderful weddings and just so happy. Thank heavens for such wonderful occasions to look forward to!

This trail was crazy! Cactus everywhere--Luckily I only landed on one once!!

I must also add in our Moab trip in southern Utah this weekend (at Craig's special request). After Ryan's wedding, rather than staying in a hotel, we decided to camp on the edge of the Colorado river in Moab. Beautiful as usual! (That is where we always camp down there.) I love the huge rock cliffs we always face and listening to the river pass all night. The stars are also something to behold there. It's like another world out there when you leave the city! anyway...back to cool mountain biking stories as I was assigned.....we did ride some really awesome trails. We attacked the Bar M, Rockn' A, and then accidentally rode Bar B backwards which turned it into a VERY technical trail. It really was a blast though, I can't deny it.

Man, is he tough or what?

Drive across the country--again

Well, I have some catching up to do! I don't want to skip our fun vacation though so I am going to backtrack a little bit. On our drive home from Texas, we stopped a few places along the way. One of which was Roswell, New Mexico. That was interesting and I think I will leave Roswell at that:) (Craig did enjoy our time there however.)

On our way out of Texas we decided we needed to see the Alamo. We saw lots of Davy Crocket's stuff and the beautiful buildings. We also saw a little of San Antonio and the River Walk there. We enjoyed it, but unfortunately....it was the beginning of two horrible colds.

Another stop along the way was along the million dollar highway in Colorado where we ended up in Ouray. It was beautiful to say the least. I will admit I was a little nervous along the steep winding highway, but we made it in the end! We stayed in a cute little family-owned hotel with a great view of the Rockies. Unfortunately we were both pretty sick by the time we got there so our activities were somewhat limited. We hoped the miracle hot springs would save us, but they didn't do much. They were quite enjoyable though. We did a little mountain biking and took a short hike despite our health--which probably didn't help. We loved it there. If you ever get the chance stop by Ouray-- do it! It is so small there is not even a gas station, but you will love it:)

We also stopped by Grand Junction, Colorado where I mostly grew up. It was great to see old friends and how the place has changed so much. It turned out to be a great trip home and we escaped the hurricanes just in time!!

Our Neck of the Woods

Well, now that we are about to move back to Utah...I thought I should post some pictures of our neighborhood:) The picture of the stop sign is actually how most of the stop signs look here, Craig attributes that to the nearby university. Our negihborhood is also very old so I thought it was pretty cool how they have these old street markers on the corners that remind me of headstones (sorry by camera was dying so they are purple). These are also some pics of just the average houses in our neighborhood, they are georgous!!! I guess we should enjoy the rich neighborhood since we will probably not live in a place this nice again! Also, there are "Stop Ashby High Rise" signs EVERYWHERE!!! Often three or four in each yard. The funny thing is, we live where they are hoping to build the new high rise! Guess we will have to find a new home!

Astros Game

Last night we joined into the Houston sports mania! We went to an Astros game with our ward where we watched NASA astronauts throw the ceremonial pitch, listened to a local methodist church sing the national anthem (yes, that was interesting) and felt the cold water leak from the air conditioning all over us! We also experienced the "Song of Texas" where everybody stood and with great enthusiasm sang out how wonderful Texas is. All the mormons around us were freaking out because there was more excitement for this song than anything else (none of us being from TX). Craig enjoyed singing the ridiculous song to me all night pointing out again and again how TX really is the best! Well, I am glad he is adjusting so well! At this rate our children will be true believers in the lone star state. The game itself was pretty fun and we enjoyed cheering the players on! The place was huge and packed with fans. It was a great evening and we got to know the ward a little better.

Us waiting for the game to start.......

Houston Museum of Natural Science

As of yesterday, I started volunteering at the Houston Museum of Natural Science as a docent. I spent the day going through tours and reading tons of information. I have a lot to learn before I can give the great tours the other docents do, but I am excited to try and have already learned lots! I am working on the Leonardo Da Vinci display and the Lucy display right now. I was especially excited for the Leonardo display and realized I already knew much of the information. As for the Lucy display, I am a little short on knowledge so I will need to study that one a lot! I will only be able to do it for a few weeks but I am looking forward to getting involved and meeting new people there. So once again, if you are ever in Houston, stop by the Museum on a Thursday, it is free that day, and I will give you a nice tour:)

Our Back Yard

We live about 45 minutes away from the beach which is pretty cool. Unfortunately we also get to deal with the humidity that comes with it! When we went to Galveston a couple weeks ago we spent the afternoon splashing around and getting sunburned. The water in the gulf is really warm and that was a nice change from most beaches I have been to. It was great. Luckily we will be getting out of here just before hurricane season though! I guess we have one building right now that we might see the tail end of. Yep, the beach is great but I must admit the idea of a hurricane in my backyard makes me a little nervous. Better park the car on a hill!

Breakfast in France

One thing I love about living in a larger city is the variety of food. This morning we went to the "Gourmet French Bakery" down the road from our house. http://www.fgbakery.com/
It was wonderful! I ordered apple strussel and Craig devoured a little creme cheese treat while we enjoyed the fake French atmosphere of the place. About a week ago we went to another French restaurant where we were surprised to learn we were quite out of place neither of us speaking a lick of French. Suprisingly, none of the people who worked there spoke English well enough to help us get our dinner (or at least it appeared--if you have been to France you know they are not always excited to share their language abilities). We heard women for an hour jabbering in French, not something you see every day in the U.S. The food was amazing. I must say, the two French places we have been to so far are comparable to the authentic item.

Traveling to another country now...two nights ago we went out to an Italian restaurant with Craig's work buddy. We got a taste of two cultures that night since he and his wife were from Palestine. As we sat down they brought out a basket of bread filled with different types of breads. Simply stated, we were in heaven and the company was wonderful. Now we just need to find a good German place!

Fourth of July

Our camera has not been working, so unfortunately the most exciting piece of this blog will have to be excluded from this post. I know, sad. I had some pics I wanted to post from our 4th of July so I will just have to describe them instead.

We started the day by going to the Houston Zoo where we saw probably most of Africa, except in Texas. I promised Annie I would put the pictures of the monkeys up. Sorry Annie. They were pretty excited and liked to climb everywhere. Craig enjoyed taunting them wishing he was in the cage with them I think. We saw two grizzly bears playing with each other, that was my favorite. I would hate to make one of those things mad! It makes me miss Colorado where animals like that live in the huge mountains, instead of the flying roaches Houston offers us--eeee (that is a whole other post). After the zoo we had our little barbecue. Luckily the barbecue is in the pool area of our apartment so Craig would flip a piece of meat, take a dip in the pool, and poke the meat again. It was pretty funny when he had to swim across the entire pool because the food was smoking.

That night we went to Herman park to listen to the Houston Orchestra Symphony. It was amazing. They had cannons, fireworks, people dressed up like solders...the whole thing! It was great. Houston is the place to be for the fourth if you ever have the chance! Tons going on the entire day!

Home Sweet Home--for at least two months

I know I have said I would be getting some pictures of our apartment up soon....so...drum roll please.... here they are! We are actually quite thrilled with our apartment itself. It's a great location, larger than our last, nice furnishings, and even came with pots and pans! Our apartment manager was great in getting things ready for us. She even hung pictures on all the walls! One of our favorite parts is, as you probably guessed, the tropical front yard. When we first got here there were tons of flowers in bloom around the palm trees, it was really nice! But we still enjoy our yard! That picture was taken from in our doorway! I also enjoy the desk/office space. Definitely a step up from my previous office!!

Sights in Dallas

On Saturday we went and saw where JFK was assassinated. We decided it had to be the conspiracy theory capitol of the world! People were everywhere trying to sell their books on what "really" happened. It was cool see to his memorial (the pic of me standing on the marble slab is his memorial) and the location where it all happened. The picture of Craig is the building the shooter was in and the road where he was killed.

We also saw one of the original printings of the Declaration of Independence at the public library. They also had an original printing of Shakespeare's folio. The library was huge! I guess everything is bigger in TX! We also went to a mall on Sat. That was similarly huge! Gardens, sculptures, fountains, and millions of stores we have never even heard of--so big we didn't even see the entire thing! Talk about an exhausting day!

Sunday we went and saw a sculpture garden in downtown Dallas. I especially enjoyed that. They had several of Rodin's pieces so of course I was happy:) We also stopped by to see some fountains--they are really big into those here! It was a great weekend!

Dallas

These are some pics from our little adventure in Dallas this last week. We will be here until Wed night for Craig's training. We have been staying in the Adolphus Hotel (http://www.hoteladolphus.com/adolphus_home.aspx),
which apparently is one of the top ten hotels in America and a national historic landmark! Needless to say...we don't fit in! On Saturday night we decided rather than eating out on Sunday we would get some groceries and bring them back to the hotel with us. So we took off in our t-shirts, shorts, and sandals...walked back with bags of groceries and on our way passed a confused valet, and a group of women all decked out in formal wear and another group retiring from high tea. haha...yeah...we don't fit in:) The picture of the cooler in our tub is of Craig deciding whether to use the complimentary "spa body wash" on our cooler to get rid of the old garlic smell! He did in the end decide to use the expensive body wash to clean our cooler for our little grocery stash. It was pretty funny and now our cooler smells like fancy perfume!

Our second day in Houston

Well, it's true. Life just isn't fair. Our car was broken into last night. Yes, in our gated complex with the doors locked. Windows just make it too easy these days! I have some pics in my camera right now that I will get up later. The only thing they took was the GPS. Luckily we took Ipods, cameras, and phones out before we went to bed. My favorite part of the entire experience though is this: When our vagrant friends try to sell or simply turn on their newly discovered treasure, they will be greeted with the simple words "Craig's Magellan Hacked" as seen in this lovely photograph. Suckers! man you gotta love it! Something tells me, I could be wrong though, that if you are the type of person to break into a gated complex, break windows, and steal even the two quarters and one Disneyland penny from our change stash in the car, you are not the type of person who can reverse engineer this little treat Craig has left our dear friends.

So if by chance, you happen to see this little number floating around ebay--please, let us know!!!

The Grand Canyon

Here is a our little detour to the Grand Canyon. It was a perfect day to visit and really beautiful. It was Craig's first visit so we saw the basic stuff. We decided if we go back, we will have to get a backpacking permit to really enjoy it though. The funny thing is, Craig enjoyed our little rodent friend the most! He ran right up to me when we were eating lunch just to beg. So...we broke the rules and fed the squirrel...oops. This is also a picture of Craig in our hotel in Flagstaff (looking for the internet), sorry dad, this was the only picture I took of Flagstaff. We also went out to some excellent Chinese in Flagstaff which was a wonderful break from fast food! It was blast...I just wish we had had more time to enjoy the area. You live and learn.
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