My Artist

I've always considered myself crafty and the "artist" of the family (which isn't very hard to accomplish in my family). I even took a little pride in my skills. And then one day I met Eric. We would go to Color Me Mine, and his project would always look better than mine. I eventually forced Eric to do projects WITH me so I wouldn't get jealous of his work and hate my own.

For example: This is the very first painting Eric has EVER done. Amazing right?!!

He is definitely a very talented boy! He painted this while he was on his mission and is now being rewarded for his work 4 years later because WE FINALLY GOT IT FRAMED!! And for anyone who visits us, we will have to tell you a funny little story about the date on this painting :)

I'm so glad I no longer have to look at this rolled up on the floor thinking about how it needs to be framed. And most of all, I'm really glad Eric doesn't suck at painting or else I wouldn't want it hanging up in my house. THANK YOU FOR BEING AMAZING, ERIC!

Which Dress Would YOU Choose?!!!

My beautiful sister Audrey is getting married on December 4th!! I'm a good little sister so I flew out to Florida last week to help her find a wedding dress (and because it was her birthday). PLEASE give us your opinion and leave a comment with your favorite number. Comments from anyone are welcome!! What dress would you pick if you were her??!!

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Audrey and I both got some much needed girl time this visit and decided to go shopping any spare chance we had!! This is our success story:

(Yes we take inventory on everything we buy and Audrey calculates how much money she saves on sales)

Der Bear (or Derek, as some people like to call him) even got to spend some time with us at Arigatos, my FAVORITE restaurant, when he wasn't busy escaping us to watch his boy shows.

The only complaint I have is that the foil boy wasn't the best at wrapping my leftovers. Audrey got a rose (which is appropriate because it's her middle name) and I got...well, I don't really know what it is. It doesn't have arms, feet, or a face. Audrey thinks it's Pikachu. She may be on to something.

It was an awesome trip and I'm excited to go back in December! Audrey is still trying to convince me to move to Florida. If she wins the lottery she is going to buy me a house. That may just be enough to get me there!

Visitors

On Saturday night we got some company!! Eric's mom, aunt, and grandma stopped by for a short visit while they were road tripping to nearby church sites. The local food was an added bonus, so that night we headed over to Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City. Food Network said it has awesome BBQ so we HAD to check it out.

Arthur Bryant's is the real deal BBQ place. Forget fancy restaurants. You order super fast and watch them slap on a pound of meat between 2 pieces of bread. It's kind of intimidating. And let me tell you, there is no polite way to eat this food. (I couldn't get everyone in the picture...whoops)

This was Eric's plate. He felt pretty fat for the next 24 hours. I don't think it's healthy to eat that much meat but...what's done is done.
The food was so much better than Jack's Stacks!! But my face felt SOOO greasy after leaving that place. I guess it's a small price to pay for legit BBQ.

Sunday after church we headed out to see some sites. Grandma got sick so she had to stay home. Here we are at Liberty Jail....right?

WRONG!! GPS lied to us. Apparently the little N that stands for north makes a BIG difference. So there we were in Missouri City. It's a ghetto little place that reminds me of Rathdrum, Idaho (where my high school was).

We were not about to stay there so we got out our books and GPS and tried again.

10 miles later and a few cities over WE MADE IT!! It was the very first church site I have ever seen.

It is one thing to hear about Joseph Smith being locked up in jail for 4 1/2 months and then it is another thing to actually see it. I figured, "Yeah, I could do it if I had to." But I don't think so. These men got served worse food than you would find in a dumpster (when they were actually fed), had one blanket each during the coldest parts of winter in a basement, and sat in the dark day in and day out. Talk about miserable.

After the guards fell asleep at night, friends snuck them what little items they could. It's not so easy with 4 feet of brick to pass things through.

I get bored watching TV for too long, so imagine just sitting there numb to death with nothing to do but think! I would drive myself crazy!!

I have a greater respect for the early church members and what they went through. I am extremely blessed with my life and I'm thankful for these little reminders :)

We had a fun little visit and can't wait for more visitors (hint hint).

And then there was one...

Today was Eric's first day of school!!! Look how excited he is :)

He's just growing up SO fast!! Starting his doctorate program and everything. I remember when I first met Eric he was doing his undergrad and didn't even have a major. Look how far that boy has come in 2 years! I am an EXCELLENT influence.

Even though today was Eric's first day of classes, he doesn't have any labs this week. So with all that chemistry, anatomy, and cellular something or another, he only had 2 classes today. And the great news is he is still ahead on his work! I'm crossing my fingers that that will continue once he gets actual homework and tests. Eric likes school so far. From his orientation yesterday, he is very happy to finally be taking classes that he is interested in--the body.

So it's just me at home now, and I've actually stayed pretty busy being an awesome housewife. I sent out some job applications but have yet to hear back from anyone. We'll see how it goes in that department and see what it is I'm supposed to do out here in good old Kansas. That's it for the update!

Esta Semana

When Eric and I visited Kansas in April to go apartment hunting, everyone would tell us to go to a place called The Plaza (not that Eric has any recollection of this ever happening). After being in the house for a couple weeks we decided it was time for us to check out the place where all the locals go.

The Plaza is basically a giant outdoor mall, well, more like a few streets lined with expensive stores and TONS of restaurant. We poor people go there to walk around and get some exercise. One thing I didn't know about Kansas is it has AWESOME architecture and great picture opps like here. Oddly enough, most of the cool buildings here happened to be restaurants and not stores.

Eric in front of a fountain (in the courtyard of a restaurant).

A shot of the little stores lining the street.

Me in front of a cool looking building (also a restaurant).

I'm sure we'll get some cooler pictures when I'm more in the mood for this kind of thing (unlike that day). It's definitely a place I'll be taking our visitors to go shop and eat!

As a side note: I'm working on becoming a better housewife and actually cooking some new recipes rather than what I make up in my head. Thanks to my mother-in-law giving me the recipe, I made some homemade mac and cheese!! Eric loved it :) and it wasn't even because he eats anything and everything; he genuinely liked it! Go me!

Obsessed

I am obsessed with the new look of my blog! I find myself going to it constantly even though nothing new has happened in the blogging world. The old design really bugged me. It just didn't suit my personality. I think this one suits it pretty well! So all in all, the hours I spent changing it yesterday were worth it. And yes, it took hours. I don't know why everything has to take so much time. It's a wonder how I got anything done when I had a job!! lol.

I've enjoyed these last couple weeks of nothingness. I've been working nights from home for my Utah job and Eric has been watching Harry Potter constantly. Together, we've been trying to get through Lost. I started back in May or maybe June and now we are almost halfway through SEASON 6 (the last season)!! It is so time consuming because the episodes seem to lead no where and new characters are constantly being introduced. I like it, but I am super excited to be done with it. I need a faster paced show like....Grey's Anatomy? Can't wait for my fall shows to start!