The Temple

I love having the Houston Temple so close to our home.  It's about a 45 minute drive and Curtis and I usually on weekends and I often go with girlfriends during the week.  I love the perspective I get from going to the temple.  It's a powerful reminder of why we are here and what really matters.  I know many people are curious about Mormon temples and it's really so much less exciting than people imagine.  But I love learning about the creation and quietly thinking in the Celestial Room.  I also find it really empowering to participate in ordinances where women only are laying their hands on my head.  I have felt such a sweet peaceful feeling doing this work and am so grateful to have access to it.  
I absolutely love the viewpoint my faith has on Adam and Eve.  I read a book a few years ago called "Eve and the Choice Made in Eden."  I actually got to hear the author, Beverly Campbell speak and her life has been so interesting.  I find it hard to believe that many people blame Adam (and more specifically Eve) for all the suffering in this world.  A God whose plan fell apart so easily in the Garden of Eden doesn't seem very omnipotent.   So much confusion has come from difficulty in translation, most especially with the word "beguiled."  This is a Hebrew verb that has not been used in centuries and the meaning is complex.  It implies an intense emotional and spiritual experience. This interpretation dramatically changes that part of the story. Suddenly Eve is not weak and naive.  She is someone who sees the big picture and understands that staying in the garden will frustrate God's plan because she and Adam need knowledge in order to have children.  We don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden or how much they talked and walked with God but I believe that they were valiant and brave and we owe so much.  
I love my faith and and so grateful to have it, especially in a day when values seems to be changing on a weekly basis.  I appreciate the clear voices of prophets in our day, reminding us that we are God's children and He cares about our individual happiness.  I love this letter written by Terryl Givens: Letter To A Doubter.  I think it's harder to be a religious person today than ever before and God wants us to chose faith.  

Austin Swimming Holes and Water Biking

Texas in the summer can be so miserable.  (I just really wish they would consider year round school but that's another post.)  It's too hot to even be at the pool and so many indoor activities are over crowded and over priced.  My girlfriends and I decided to head to Austin for a couple of days to visit some swimming holes there.  We had a terrific time and the kids did too.  We all stayed at a Hotel together with rooms close by so the kids could play board games together in the evenings.  The hotel staff was so accommodating to our large group (16) and even fed us all pizza one night. 

The places we visited were:

McKinney Falls State Park- This was gorgeous and the water was cool.  It was a little scary to jump off the rocks but other people there showed us where it was safe to jump and then we went at it.  All of our kids are older and are good swimmers and we all stayed close together.  It was a lot of fun!

Water Biking under the Congress bridge to watch the bats emerge was a great time.  We had a perfect view of the bridge and rode around while the sun was setting.  We saw plenty of bats but not the huge cloud that you will see in August or September.  Lucy and I rode together and it was amazing how quiet it seemed in the water, even though there were people on the shores and bridge.  Something about being on the water was just really peaceful. 

Barton Springs Hiking and Swimming- I loved this area and it was actually free.  The hike was probably half a mile and since it was in Austin and shaded it was actually quite pleasant.  The Springs were cold and we enjoyed climbing around the rocks and practicing our backflips and other tricks.  We spent hours there and when we eaten through our stash of Nutella and Ritz we headed over to Round Rock Donuts to have the World's biggest donut!  I have to say it wasn't actually very good and I was super tired by that point but fun to say we went.  :) 

The last day we stopped by Barton Springs dam and just hung out for a bit.  It was actually not my favorite part.  It didn't seem especially clean.  Too many people and dogs and too little water.  :(
I like Austin but I don't think I'd want to live there.  Definitely a great place to visit though!

Yep we went on a cruise

Never say never.  Okay?  If you had asked Curtis and I a few years ago if we would ever go on a cruise we would have quickly said "No!"  For many reasons it just didn't sound like our type of vacation.  But now we live close to Galveston, an hour and a half to be exact.  And they started offering a trip that includes Roatan, Belize City and Cozumel.  Pretty much perfect if you're hoping to go SCUBA diving in a few locations.  So when our friends suggested we go (and the prices were so good) we said yes. 

It was a 7 day adventure so we needed a great babysitter.  It actually worked out perfectly that my good friend's daughter was coming home from her mission to Romania 4 days before we were leaving.  My kids are in school all day so Taylor would be free to see her family and decompress during the day.  And I felt so great about having her.  She is the oldest of 8 and just an awesome all around person. 

The cruise itself was a lot of fun.  I actually really enjoyed the part where we hung out on the ship.  I LOVED not worrying about where to eat and thought the food was all around terrific.  We had bagels with lox, capers, onions and cream cheese a couple of mornings.  The lunchtime salad bar had fresh arugula and everything else you could want.  The appetizers at dinner was always amazing and most of the main courses were great too.   I tried escargot and it was so yummy!

 I actually really enjoyed the time on the boat.  I loved walking laps on the deck or reading in shady corner.  I thought the food was great and the room wasn't even that horribly small.  They had a library/game room where we could play cards and boards games.  There was also a basketball court, rock wall and a wavejammer.  We also saw a few shows during the trip and the quality was terrific.  They had an Elton John impersonator who was hilarious and his "Benny and the Jets" rocked.  The ice show was also really fun and there was a guy playing piano in a bar every night (JT?)  and his voice was amazing.  He even sang Christopher Cross's "Sailing" for me.  awesome.

Curtis surprised the guys with tattoo arm bands so they got to look tough for a night. 



We did big excursions on all of our stops and that was actually quite stressful. They just don't quite give you enough time so you are up early trying to get off the boat and stressing about making it back in time.  But the excursions were all very good.  Well the dive masters in Honduras were not ideal for beginner divers but it was still beautiful country and more practice.  I learned in Honduras that my buoyancy control is not very good and I really need to work on it.

The middle trip was to Belize and that was a lot of fun.  We drove for about an hour and reached the jungle.  Then we hiked up to a cave and tubed down through it.  Our guide, taught us all about the trees and life there.  Curtis and I actually ate termites.  I guess you can survive on them if necessary.  He said they tasted "minty woolly" and he was totally right.  Not bad at all.  :)
After the tubing we rode on zip lines over the jungle.  It was pretty fun and I wasn't scared at all.  I think it would have been more fun if they had been longer and higher.  Our guide had the most delicious lunch of chicken, rice and beans waiting for us after the zip lines.  It was SOOOO delicious.  Our friends were really stressed out that we would miss the boat so the car ride back to Belize City wasn't a lot of fun but the good news was that we made it in plenty of time.
The next day we stopped in Cozumel.  I always thought Mexico was pretty ghetto but honestly Cozumel was the most beautiful of the three stops.  The water was that amazing turquoise I've been dreaming of!
Thankfully our amazing dive master, Blanca, in Cozumel was an incredible teacher and she really helped me a lot.  The Cozumel diving was unbelievable.  The current was so strong that we just followed it.  We swam through coral walls and saw huge sea turtles.  The water in Cozumel was such a brilliant blue- we were surprised to find that Mexico was actually our favorite destination on this trip anyway.  Unfortunately Curtis got a mild case of the bends and we both had some kind of stomach bug for about 10 days after the trip (it was either the water they shared with us in Cozumel or the fresh watermelon).  ooops  We saw several massive turtles right up close and swam through coral caves.  It was stunning.  Unfortunately Curtis got a little mixed up and filmed when swimming and turned the GoPro off when he thought he was filming.  So we have no pics or vids from that amazing dive.  But we will definitely go again.  Totally redeemed diving for me. 
  Since we brought our own diving gear we had to lug it around and then try to rinse it off and hang it in our tiny cabin aboard the ship.  Not the best idea.  I mean it was fine but I would just rent equipment next time.

The last day was cruising again.  We had so much fun watching TJ sing and play piano down in the bar.  He had a beautiful voice.  We saw an ice show that was really entertaining.  We also took Cha-cha lessons and sorta overtook the library with games of Trump, Bananagrams and Hearts.  Having friends with us definitely made the trip more fun. 

Some of my favorite moments were

1) getting up early and walking around the deck with Curtis
2) playing "knock out" at night
3) a killer round of Round Robin Ping Pong with our friends
4) taking cha-cha lessons from professionals- okay the cha cha is hard
5) getting super close to a 4 foot sea turtle
6) that super amazing blue ocean water
7) card games with our friends
8) hanging in the cafe promenade eating pizza, cookies and croissant sandwiches
9) watching a movie while sitting in the hot tub on deck
10) reading my book/taking random naps on a lounge chair

It was a fun trip.  Not sure if Curtis wants to go again- he would prefer to just travel to one place and be able to enjoy it for several days.  But I think a Girls Cruise could definitely be in my future.

Conference, Bluebells, Bluebonnets & EASTER!

I think we found a new tradition.  Well it was fun this year anyway.  For Saturdays General Conference sessions we decided to get in the car and drive to Brenham, Texas.  It's about an hour away and we were able to listen to conference on our XM radio.  We got to Brenham and the Bluebonnets were everywhere.  People seriously stop on the freeway and lug their kids out to the fields to get pictures.  I heard somewhere that there was a nice field behind the Home Depot so we checked that out.  It was so pretty and not too many other people.  We took some fun pics and then headed over to the Bluebell factory for ice cream.  Yum!  Then we listened to another hour of conference on the way home.  We were able to have a little downtime before the boys went to the priesthood session. 

I really love general conference and look forward to all the talks but it is a lot of listening in a short amount of time.  This little road trip mixed it up so that we were able to just stay home on Sunday and listen on our computer.  I loved Elder Eyring's talk on "Fasting."  I have been thinking about the untapped power in fasting and prayer and appreciated his words. I need to reread them all but Sister Wixom, Elder Nielsen, Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf all gave talks that really touched me.  In a world with such an overload of information, it was nice to listen to inspired words.  :)

I wish I had a picture to share but I didn't take any of our amazing Easter Feast!  An awesome family from church invited over 50 people to their home to have dinner.  The food was amazing, the company was so fun and interesting to talk to and we just loved celebrating such a special holiday with so many people we love.  We watched this video earlier in the day and loved it:
http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/collection/easter-videos/because-he-lives

Annual Spring Break Camping Trip

We visited Pedernales Falls State Park a couple of weeks ago for spring break with several other families.  The weather was perfect in the day but a little chilly at night.  (75F and 40F)  We need to rethink out air mattresses for spring camping because they are just too darn cold!  Or we need better sleeping bags. 

We usually go to Huntsville State Park with these friends but tried something new.  Pedernales was very different.  The individual sites were very private.  The rocks and falls were beautiful and it was hilly.   Huntsville is better for a big group because it's quite open and you can call gather easily for games and fires.  But we had a lovely time and made some memories.  Oh wait, except for the last day when I totally melted down.  This will be addressed in another post. 

Brandi and I made cinnamon roll dough and froze it before the campout.  Then we let them rise overnight and cooked them over the fire in a dutch oven.  They worked pretty well but next time we will cook them out of the firepit and only using coals.  They got a little burned.  But they were good and it was fun to try something new.  I was really committed on this trip to having lots of interesting and fun camping foods.  Crescent Roll dough in a sandwich cooker with cinnamon was a big hit.  I also made a chocolate cake with whipping cream and it was simple and really good. 

The boys!  And check out the background!!

That's Isaac swinging on the rope swing in the freezing river water! Brrrr

The kids played Capture the Flag, Flag Football, Zombie Tag, Kiss Marry Kill and lots of cards and Bananagrams

TeePee

I have wanted to make a teepee for years.  I finally got really excited about it in December (I think I was hoping to put off other responsibilities by getting sucked into a project.)  But I only bought some fabric in December and didn't really get going until January.  LOVED this project.  I saw several great ideas on pinterest and settled on stripes, even though I knew that would be more expensive and lots more work. 

Browsing through fabric was half the fun.  I found some beautiful prints at JoAnns and several great geometric designs at Hobby Lobby. 

I made a paper template and kept laying down fabric in different combinations until I found one I liked.  I decided to sew a 5 sided teepee because I like the look of a more rounded structure. 

And done!

I don't have a serger so sewing all the seams and then going over the raw edges in a zigzag took some extra time but it wasn't too bad actually. 

I knew I had to embellish with real feathers and LOVE the ones I found at Hobby Lobby.  I decided to use PVC instead of real wooden dowel because it was so much cheaper ($10 instead of $60 total) and I painted the PVC gold and used a little washi tape for decoration. 

I used bias tape for the door.  Happy to report that Lucy loves it and in fact she slept in there for the first 3 weeks!  It's a fun addition to our playroom and will hopefully last for a long time.