We were worried about the in-laws, not the ants

So if you follow Whitney on Facebook, you'll have heard of the ants we've been having in our pantry.

Whitney and I were talking today about how we've lived in some pretty crappy places in our time. You know, college housing and such. We've had roommates that have been less than clean, and we've had kitchens that we don't sweep but once every four months. All of those places were in Utah, and we didn't have an ant problem once.

But now that we've moved to Texas they're everywhere! In our really clean kitchen!

All you Texas folks are shaking your heads and saying, "Well you're just used to being in Utah... welcome to Texas" (which is really annoying when people do that by the way).

So we've spent several hours today clearing out our pantry, micro-inspecting every grain of rice and every kibble of cereal. And it seems we're ant-free. For now.

SURPRISE!

I LOVE surprises...they're just fun and bring a sense of spontaneity that makes you feel like anything could happen.  And I don't just love surprises for me-this is not me fishing for code or anyone else to do something for me- I also LOVE surprising/doing nice things for other people when they are totally not expecting it.  I mean, we all need those little moments when we realize that someone else was thinking about us-that we matter, that someone cares etc.  It's a great feeling isn't it?!  I just wish that I had unlimited resources to surprise and do nice things for people whenever I wanted.  Unfortunately most of the people that I want to do nice things for are really far away.  I'm totally jealous of Oprah cause she can do that and does even with perfect strangers-like her favorite things show.  As cool as that is though, I especially like to do it for people who I know really need it or are going through a tough time etc.

So many people have reached out to Cody and me as we have transitioned into our life here in TX and it meant a lot whether it was  a simple smile, bringing by cookies, or loaning us their car for a year (thanks mom and dad!), it just makes you want to give back cause you see and feel what a difference it makes.  So....if you need it today or even if you don't-here are some flowers for you...cause who doesn't smile when they get flowers?!  They're my favorites: daisies/gerber daisies.  ENJOY!

Crafty Corner

Here is one of the crafty projects I randomly thought of.  There's three main ones: the first was to decorate the wall next to our table featuring our name.  It was really easy too- got some letters from Michael's and some paint.

It's still not quite right but this is the basic idea of what it will look like:

In other news we got our painting back last night-I'm so excited! It looks great and I love the frame :)

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Two other things that I want to make my own version of the following crafts:

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The Alchemist

I just finished this book by brazilian author Paulo Coelho.  I really enjoyed it.  It had an interesting way of being extremely simple while still posing deep and far-reaching ideas that are easily applicable to anyone who reads it.  It's a quick read and worth the few days that it will take you to read it. 

Also, if you enjoy soundtracks I highly recommend "Meet Joe Black" (also recommend for a great movie as well-funny how these two aspects seem to coincide, if it's a good sountrack it'll be a good movie).  I was saddened that it wasn't on itunes' collection but that's what amazon is for right? :)

Does anyone have a good suggestion for a good book they've recently read?  I want a book that will make an impact-make me think, and be engaging etc.  Open for suggestions :)

Fish are friends- not food

I completely agree with the above statement except for the mango fish at tucanno's and some sushi, but mostly I agree with the above statement. 

So I thought I would show the latest editions to our apartment: We got five neon tetras (who are now down to four), four red-tipped tetras (who are now down to two), three red-eyed tetras, and one albino cory catfish named magellan.  He is my favorite, has the most energy, and is just cute.  We haven't named the others which, frankly, has made some of their passings a little less personal and easy to take;)  (seriously, if magellan dies I will be so sad!)

our tank:

 

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the neon/red-tips/red-eyes

 

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Here's Magellan! (it's really hard to get a clear pic of him cause he is CONSTANTLY moving and really explores the tank's space-thus his name)

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Also, here is the dinner I got from ourbestbites.com -sweet and spicy chicken, the world's best rolls, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  I'm thinking a white plate would have shown off the spices/juices of hte chicken a lil more but I promise-it was really good!  The rolls were really good but I think I can make them better next time-I swear, anything with yeast takes five times for me to get just right.

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A Smattering Really...

I have so many different topics that I want to blog about buzzing around in my brain, but I know that if I wait and do them one at a time I will forget or out of laziness it won't happen so here we go:

On my way to the gym this morning I remembered a random memory from when Cody and I were still dating.  I don't remember what day of the week it was, but it was def a school day.  Normally we didn't see each other much during the day because we had classes/work schedules that kept us pretty busy til dinner time.  For some reason I seemed to have more free time this particular day so I messaged Code and asked if he wanted to go on an adventure with me.  He said -duh- yes ;) and that he had a lil something he wanted to show me too. 

We were both on campus at this time so it didn't take too long to meet outside the library.  We decided he'll go first so he goes on about how he was walking when he felt something in his pocket.  He pulls out this index card that has a bunch of letters and numbers on it.  He said, I'm not sure what this is but the only thing I can think of is that it's a call number like in a library.  You want to check it out?  So we found our way to the right floor, section, shelf- it happened to be in a section that was all on computer programming etc.  Coincidence?  I think not...so after finding the book and pulling it off the shelf, back behind that group of books was a package of reese's sticks.  Now, if you know me-you know that I LUV reese's anything (except reese's pieces-I don't care what you say, the peanut butter is different than the peanut butter in a regular reese's).  Reese's Sticks had been a childhood favorite but good luck trying to find them in the stores now-I NEVER see them, but one day in the wilk I discovered them at all the checkouts in the candy displays.  Well clearly Cody had taken note of my revelings and it was THE coolest way that anyone has ever given me candy.

Now it was my turn.  So once we got out of the library I had him faithfully close his eyes while I led him all over Brigham Square to get him all mixed up on where he was.  It was pretty funny cause people would sometimes notice what we were doing and would smile or laugh as I lead him around.  Then I started to take him over to the MoA to show him my favorite painting in their permanent collection: "Fallen Monarchs" by William Bliss Baker-it just takes my breathe away everytime but more on that later.  We step in the museum and he says: "I smell paint."  and there goes the impact of my surprise :)  I still weave him through the permanent collection and get him right in front of it and then have him open. 

   

I talked about what I liked about it and he pointed out things that he liked/noticed and we just had a nice quiet moment enjoying the painting and each other's company.  Now if the story ended there it would be just perfect but it even gets better-but I'll save the rest of that for another day.

I don't know why this memory came back this morning on the way to the gym but it filled me with such warmth and gratitude for Code and excitement for the little fun/adventurous/quirky moments that we'll have in the future that we'll some day look back on and smile, and tell our kids about too.

Today I read a talk by Elder Scott from General Conference on marriage.  I am always touched by his relationship that he had with his wife and how much joy it brings him to remember the little things that they would do for each other.  I really liked it when he said,

 "Marriage provides an ideal setting for overcoming any tendency to be selfish or self-centered."

Some people may seem surprised at this statement cause it seems that marriage portrayed on tv/movies etc seems to bring out our selfish and petty qualities, but that's why it's the ideal setting because when those moments arise and those qualities come out, we can stop and recognize that we need to change and turn to service/love etc.  Code is such an amazing example of this to me.  He is sooo selfless-even to the point where he is super hungry and dinner isn't ready for awhile once he's home cause it's taking me longer than I thought-does he complain? no, he just helps and starts cleaning the pile of dirty dishes that I'm accumulating and thanks me profusely for making dinner. 

ok...maybe I'll wait til a little later today to post about some of the other things that were on my mind cause,seriously, how could I top this?

 

Domesticize me Cap'n!

Have you ever had moments where you sit back and go...whoa...this didn't use to bring me satisfaction/pleasure....what happened?  I got old that's what happened. 

I'll admit I wasn't the cleanest of kids, but I could still appreciate a clean room.  I wasn't one of those kids who HAD to have a messy room etc.  but was just lazy enough to have one, but not so much anymore.

 I mean... I was just sitting here trying to think of what to make for dinner. Often when I'm struggling with this question I turn to what is quickly becoming one of my favorite websites: ourbestbites.com.  I LOVE this website-especially because they organize all of their recipes in an index which saves a lot of time.  If you know you want a main dish or a dessert you don't have to waste your time looking at anything else etc. 

 I find myself excited to try out new recipes and constantly making lists of ingredients that we happen to not have (I mean what were we thinking not having cider vinegar!) and having poor code make pit stops on the way home.  I want to be one of those moms/wives who has a large repertoire of dishes that they can make with a large variety and gets joy in making them.  I also want to be one of those moms/wives who  can do it effortlessly; who can remember the recipe without having to have their nose two inches from the computer screen every two minutes cause she can't remember anything longer than that.  I'll get there though-I'm working on it.

Yesterday I cleaned the master bathroom, used our spiffy new steam cleaner "the shark" on the bathroom and kitchen floors, vacuumed, did laundry, and even though it made me tired....I kind of liked it....weird I know.  See this is what I'm talking about-I'm liking all of these old/responsible things that I used to not think twice about.  Yesterday at FHE we talked about our health care plan/retirement plans/ and watched the presidential debate.....I mean we're a step away from prune juice and heckling kids on the street right???

If it sounds like I'm complaining- I'm not, cause the things is- I kind of am enjoying this stuff which at the same time is kind of freaking me out.  I mean I know I've technically been an adult for awhile but now is the first time I am FEELING like one.

I'll let you know how dinner turns out tonight ;)

The Last part of our super long roadtrip...

So we got progressively worse at taking pictures throughout our long road trip so sadly we don't have many pics of Heather,Ben, and Emily as well as Mike, Jess, and the kids but I can at least talk about what we did.

So we went to Kentucky/Indiana border to stay with our friends: Heather and Ben and their lil cute girl Emily.  It was way fun to just chill and watch MST3000, go on a hike where we saw some wildlife and heard live gun fire :), play werewolves, and of course there was the old fashioned candy store which we loved and got to see them make red hots:

we saw some cool storm clouds on our way to Indiana.

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I think my fav part was when after the red hots had been passed through the mold and cooled for a few minutes they just dropped them on the counter and they just shattered into their individual lil pieces-pretty cool.

We had a GREAT time at Heather and Ben's (seriously guys-if you wanna have a lil summer roadtrip/adventure come on down!)

Then we picked eric up from his base in ft. campbell and we went on to Kansas for some fun with the KS Richards.  We had fun playing with the kids-despite some stomach flus that were going around-poor guys! We brought lunch to Benson at school and took the kids to see Rio which they seemed to like, and over all was just good to see everyone.  Discovering that creamcheese/strawberry pie recipe from Jessica made the trip worth it alone-already made it once Jess! Oh yeah, and as always, we loved making a pit stop at good ol' Braum's.

We had some pretty good storms before we left too, but no tornadoes :)

Here are some shots of the wide open spaces of Kansas/Oklahoma, Cody coloring with Grace, and some of the storms that rolled in before we left.

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We had a great summer trip and we are excited to settle into our new life here in Cypress, TX.  There's one major piece that we're waiting for as far as our apartment goes and then i'll do a photo shoot of everything one day.

Home Sweet Home: the one week rule

So I have been getting back into LOST.  In the first season one of the main characters-Jack, who is a surgeon, is explaining to Kate how to deal with fear.  He talked about how he was operating on a girl.  As he was sewing her up he split some sack of nerves or something and he got really scared so he allowed the fear to take over for five seconds-counted them out- and then continued to sew her up and she was fine.  Later in that same season as Kate is getting chased by the smoke monster (i swear it is a sweet show despite how ridiculous it sounds) as she is hiding she starts counting to five and masters her fear. 

In the past week I have realized-yet again- that one shouldn't allow one self to freak out for at least a week when dealing with transitions/new phases etc.  It's seriously magic.  By the time you get through a week you realize that you have a routine-you've already delt with a "monday" and know what to expect, and suddenly it's not so scary and you wonder what you were freaking out about in the first place. 

For example: Moving in and getting used to a new neighborhood, home, life plan (in my case) etc is a lot to take all at once.  It's amazing how alien a place can feel/look when you're not used to it and suddenly the littlest things can freak you out.  Add on top the fact that I am adjusting to the fact that there is no more school/strict structure to my future (until we get a 2nd car and I find a job).  Pretty heavy stuff since I tend to not do well with little to no structure.  These were all the feelings that I was having a week ago.  Close to tears all the time and feeling vulnerable.

Now here I am a week later: we're pretty much all moved in (pics to come soon), and the apartment is feeling more like home everyday.  We've gone to church once-it's really close- and luckily the ward was really warm and inviting.  A young couple even invited us over for dinner and games afterwards which was way more than what I was expecting. 

Today Cody had his first day at Exxon and even though it takes a lot more effort than I normally like-I can make my schedule structured and make myself a daily routine until I can start something more permanent.  I want to start practicing the piano again, pick up composing again, read, work out every day, get better at scripture studying, and start researching different job opportunities that I can pursue.  Plenty to do.  

So when you start to feel yourself freaking out when faced with a new transition etc. just take a deep breathe and say to yourself: I'll wait a week and then, if I still want to, I'll freak out then.  I gaurauntee 90% of the time you'll find that after a week you'll be fine :)