Down Time

What do you do with 24 hours of day with no job and no school and no family? Since moving to Houston, I have looked high and low for a teaching job and have come to find that most people are looking for a Texas certified teacher. Wish I had known that a little earlier. So I signed up as a substitute teacher and had my first day of work on Friday! I substituted in a 7th grade English class at a private school. It was fun and so nice to feel productive. I was loving all the yes ma'am s and no ma'am s. The lesson included talking about what the second person plural is and when some kids said "isn't it y'all?," I thought they were kidding and laughed, but then I realized they were dead serious. I guess everything's bigger and better in Texas and just letting y'all know- y'all is the right answer here in Texas.

To fill the rest of my time, I have found projects to paint, laundry to fold, floors to mop, cookies to bake, wedding albums to bind, more floors to mop, etc. etc. Two other girls in my ward are in my same situation and we get together once or twice a week and do something fun like watch a chick flick or just chat and have lunch. Yesterday we made chocolate treats!

Heather, Mariah and I grabbed some good base ingredients at the store and got to work. We made chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels, and oreo truffles which are my new favorite treat. I wish we never would have made them and then I would never know what I was missing out on. Our husbands were very excited about this girl's day for some reason.

I got to use my fondue pot that I got for our wedding for the first time. It was perfect! Emily there's a little shout out to you and Gabe with your wedding invitation on the fridge.

Heather mixing up the oreo truffles' centers.

Here's what else I've been up to... Finally finishing our wedding album

We also went with some friends to the free outdoor amphitheater and watched some Chinese acrobats. We could hardly see because of the huge crowd so we didn't stay for long but it was pretty legit.

Dinner with some of the married couples at Baylor. They are all so great!

 Mitch surprised me with tickets to the Houston Astros game. We won 10-4! I had never seen such a high scoring baseball game. The Minute Maid stadium was huge! Still can't beat the Salt Lake Bees though.
At least the down times have been fun times!

Who knew you needed a coat in Houston?

The White Coat Ceremony is a big deal. That and graduation from medical school seem to be the big days in the life of a med student. In between those two days is a lot of studying! (As I am posting this, Mitch keeps lifting up his arms or hand to look closer at them. I guess he is studying their structures for his anatomy test in a couple of weeks but it looks like he's gone crazy to me.)

Dr. Peterson. Looks pretty intimidating...

I don't know what I was expecting, but the ceremony was way better than I thought it would be. We heard funny and touching stories from older med students about what it meant to wear the white coat. I think Mitch will be such a great doctor. All of the qualities that they mentioned a good doctor would need reminded me of Mitch. He is loving school and I am so excited for him. The only downside to it all is I get to see him less. And when I do see him, I usually avoid the hug because he smells like cadavers. I'll have to get used to that.

This picture was on Baylor's website. Mitch you're famous! The one on the very right
actually served with Mitch's brother BJ on his mission.

This is the whole class. 192!

John and Heather live in our same complex so we get to do a lot of fun things together. They are from Arizona and are so great. We are so lucky to have such great friends down here. It makes it so much easier to be so far away from home.

Mitch goes to school at the largest medical center in the world! It is crazy how many hospitals there are so close together. Mitch is going to get so much experience in the hospitals because he is surrounded by them! These are just a few pictures of the medical center right around Baylor. It's a lot bigger than this and I want to get some better pictures of it later.

Hightailin' it to Houston

Packing up our house to move all the way to Texas seemed very very scary to me. My mother-in-law Lisa is a pro packer though with lots of experience and made the process so fast and easy! Thanks to my mom and Lisa, packing was not bad...well not that bad. We were sad to leave our cute Springville house behind where we had made so many fun memories our first year of marriage, but were also excited about our new adventure.

                 The moving and cleaning crew. The Petersons and my mom and sister were so nice to come and help us move out. It was my cute sister in law Amanda's birthday and she was just working away! Our wonderful ward helped us too. My favorite part was seeing Mitch's 12 year old scouts there to help with whatever they could lift. What great boys that Mitch will definitely miss. 

         This was our cushy 28 hour drive down to Houston. My dad drove the truck most the time and we followed behind in our Honda playing the jelly bean game, mad libs, 20 questions, and opening fun presents from Lisa every 100 miles! 

 We tried to make the road trip fun for Nats but we shouldn't have even tried. I think she slept 24 out of the 28 hours and still somehow managed to sleep at night! 

We stopped in San Antonio and saw the beautiful riverwalk and the Alamo. 

We finally made it to our place! Humidity, Heat, and Hair problems. It really is beautiful here though. We love our condo and it's so close to Baylor medical school which is great.

28 hours of driving plus unloading a truck full of stuff plus unpacking for a whole day makes for a pretty tired family. So we decided to go swimming!

                                     Southern Barbecue! 

We saw Wicked! When I found out it was playing in Houston the weekend we got into Houston, I just had to go. It was amazing and so much fun to be there with our family. 


It was so nice having my mom and dad and Nats here to help us get settled and comfortable in our new place. We had so much fun while they were here and it was so hard for me to drop them off at the airport, knowing I wouldn't see them for two whole weeks until Emily's wedding. Just kidding. But it really was hard to see them go and know I was heading back to an empty house. Mitch was at a Med school overnighter for orientation at this "resort" with alligators and everything! 


This has been such a fun adventure so far and we have made some  great friends and memories already!

Saying goodbyes

Saying goodbye to the best grandparents around.  Love you guys!

Sara planned a fun Mother Daughter breakfast before we left. Lots of fun times with good friends!

Some Dawgs. Some Bocce. Nuff Said

These little kids are my favorite! They love each other so much. Rex is always cuddling his little sister Eve and calls her Little Laders. Richard loves her too but doesn't know how to be as nice and soft quite yet.

My cute sister Minds. I will miss having sleepovers while our husbands are on their weekly camp-outs with the scouts.

This was just a couple of weeks before Emily got married. What a cute bride and new wife! Emily, Brooke and I have gone through pretty much every life stage together...except for this one in Texas!

Nats is just starting 9th grade and all that comes with it. Friends, cell phones, boys, and endless teasing from my Dad. Wish I could see those long legs in her cute cheer uniform the first time she cheers on good 'ol Oly. Go Bulldogs!

We will miss our cute nephews so much! As you can tell from their cute little smiles, they are special boys.