Where is the court? And who's bringing the honor?

I've never really done Boy Scouts. When I was in Young Men's I think I attained my Tendertoe merit badge or something like that... but then the program just kind of died. I didn't like scouts anyway, so that was good enough for me then.

Now I'm (mostly) grown up and they've made me the Scout Committee Chairman in my ward. Oh boy. You can imagine the awkward silence in the room tonight when I was conducting our committee meeting -- someone brought up how we need to have a court of honor next month. I paused and asked a question that seemed to catch them by surprise.

What's a court of honor?

Right now it seems my life is filled with situations like this. I'm doing so many new things both at work and at church that I'm frequently out of my comfort zone. Frequently. But I'm learning the importance of doing things I don't necessarily like... and trying hard at things that aren't necessarily fun.

And while I may never end up liking this stuff (or even having a lot of fun)... I'm slowly accepting the court of honor moments as opportunities to learn and grow. I feel like Heavenly Father is teaching me, and if I don't become a good student quickly then class might drag on forever. :-)

Bayou Bend Gardens

This weekend we decided to take advantage of the nice texas fall weather and visited this really cool and random historical house museum that's right in the middle of downtown. 

(there are two wings that come off of this main part of the house but I didn't back up enough to get them)

Even though it's downtown you feel like you're in the country with all of the pretty gardens and the curving bayou that surrounds the property-we even saw kayakers on it.  The house is pretty cool though we sadly couln't take pictures inside so I can't even show my favorite part of the house: when you went upstairs it was all wood floors and this huge long hallway with rooms going off of it on each side with a stepdown room in the middle so there were a few steps  etc-it was soo cool looking!

Anywho, it was fun though and we got some good pics of the grounds:

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(that bridge was kind of freaky when you walked across- you could really feel it bouncing and swaying)

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And here are some gardens that reminded me that I want to go to versailles some day.

 

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All and all it was a great weekend.  We also had the brownings over to watch the byu game last night which was fun but really boring after the first half so we played trouble, monopoly, and wacky six.  Their kids are  so cute and it's fun to have a couple to hang out with.  I'll have to take a pic of their son's birthmark on his forehead-it totally looks like a little addidas symbol-so cool and so cute :)

I really want to go camping lately

I used to go camping with my family SO MUCH when growing up. We'd pack up and go to Mount Charleston, Lake Mead, California, or even Utah... wherever we could. Sometimes we'd go on the spur of the moment.

I remember one Friday afternoon I came home from school and my parents said "Let's go to California for the weekend!" We packed up as fast as we could and hit the road... stopping halfway and sleeping in a random park in Baker, CA when it got too late to drive further. That's the place with the big thermometer, right?

Another time me, my dad, and our German exchange student Robbie were on a campout at Warm Springs Nevada. We were getting ready to cook a dutch oven dinner... I don't remember exactly what we were cooking, but it was spicy because Dad brought some fresh jalapeno peppers to cook in it.

Robbie saw the jalapenos (I guess they're not so common in Germany) and said, "I know what these are. These aren't spicy." My dad said, "Oh yes they are." Robbie still didn't agree, so we told him to eat one raw to prove us wrong.

He took a really big bite, and it was pretty spicy. So spicy that Robbie started screaming and freaking out. In his mindless fury he grabbed an empty soda can that was lying on the ground and ripped it clean in half. I was kind of scared, actually.

I wonder if there are any good spots to go camping around Houston? The weather is finally starting to turn nice...