Friday, February 26, 2010

Today... I finally did it!

We have been living in Hooper for the past ALMOST three years, and ever since we moved here I have loved this old tree! It is on the way to my house. It even lets guests know it is time to turn right. I have wanted to take a picture of it for ALMOST three years now and today was finally the day! It is a very cool tree! Even Laura thinks so!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Happy Birthday to me!

Last Thursday was my Birthday. I turned 40 which in my eyes is not that bad... but I did have a bad experience from that day. Let me explain. Ben (my missionary son) sent me a birthday card with this itsy bitsy tiny micro SD card tape inside-- which I found out today had a birthday song video, pictures from the MTC and other good stuff on it! Well, as I was taking the tape off of the card so we could download the pictures IT BROKE IN HALF!!!
I felt like crying! SO if anyone can offer any info or help, it would be greatly appreciated.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Letter from Ben

Here is Ben's letter from yesterday!

:P I got to go to church... and I went to dinner at a councilor in the bishopric's house and his daughter gave me a piece of chocolate when she found out that I got nothing for valentines day!!! She's really cute!!!(and like 9 yrs old...)

Other than that though, we went to see Marty again yesterday. I really like him, I hope he joins the church! We spent pretty much a whole hour just answering his questions and then stressing how important it was for him to gain a spiritual knowledge of the truth's we teach in addition to an intelectual understanding.

aanyways, questions! I luuurve questions!

We had snow from about noon til about 9-ish I think on Friday the 12th; it was like 2 inches or something her in Acworth; people freaked out.

:P No. Me and Elder Manning are both still here in Acworth. (Poor Acworth!)

The area... IDK... I guess it's kinda thoroughly middle class. There are a few ghetto-ey areas where there are absolutely tiny government subsidised duplexes, but other than that, most of the area is middle class, and there are a few areas that are a little more rich; not really anything too different from the area's at home.

The people.... they're all people. Lol, idk. Lots of them are actually people who have moved out here from the west over the years; not many people in the acworth area are originally from the south. Or, at least, not many of the people in the ward are; there are plenty of non-members who were born and raised here, I just don't know them.

Some of my great experiences..... Uhhhh.... -skips-

The teaching is coming... idk? your questions are becoming kinda like not very specific...

Marty... Yeah, I think I talked about him a bit. He's doing OK. He's really interested in having us over and learning and understanding, but he's hesitant to come to church with us and until last night I don't think he realized the importance of just praying about things. The other family... Well, we haven't been able to meet with them again since then; we've dropped by and all, but they weren't able to come to church yesterday because she wasn't feeling very well. We're going over there tentatively on Thursday, I think.

Yeah... I really lost 20 pounds. I was at 159 in the MTC the last day that I weighed myself, which would have been like Monday, and tuesday I flew out of there; I dropped down to 140 for a while, but now I'm back to about 150 and have been for the last little bit. (No, my pants were just fine.)
:P

I've not eaten many things that were really any different than anything I would have eaten with you guys at home except for that Guatamalan Tamale that I think I already told you about; The one that had BONES inside of it? Yeah.... ... That was a little shocking.

I'm not sending you pictures because I can only send like 1 per email, and it's rediculously annoyingly difficult with this archaeic system that the church wants us to use while we're on our missions; I'll send you some photo's and video's on a flash card in the mail soon. (Also, because I'm not really taking any pictures of anything to have some to send...)

My pocket wach has been great!!! ... But you could send me my wristwatch if you wanted... and if you got the battery replaced... and if you were going to be sending it to me... Yeah. :P I just can't abide the ticking sound all the time, so I don't usually have it on me....

I dunno. I mean, there isn't any snow or anything around, but it doesn't exactly look like spring or anything. Everything looks... dead.

I bought a helmet the first day in Acworth; it's red and yellow and black, rediculously too fancy, the only one on sale in my area, and cost me $85!!! :P I wear it whenever I'm on my bike.

I'm never tired of your questions, just tired of computers that kick people off every 30 minutes so that you can't just sit and finish everything you want to get done without interruption...

:P I'm happy she was glad; I heard I had a letter from her, but I won't get it til tomorrow b/c we weren't at transfers... Yeah. Love you much!

Bai!

(Presidents day???? Come on. That's like, not a real holiday; the schools only get it off so that the teachers can have teacher work day....)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Megan's Big Day!

Isn't this picture of Meagan so cute! Well, it is the last one you will ever see of her with her braces on!!! The day is finally here!!!

Here is our first look at Megan bracesless in over TWO years!

Next, came her favorite part... the dreaded taking of the MOLD! I cannot believe that they have not come up with a better way to do this!!! I hated it when I had to do it over 25 years ago!!!


Then the taking of the pictures! I could not stop laughing! Then Meg started in and it was very hard to stop. I think we will use this one at her wedding reception!
So HAPPY! She is all done! What a great smile!! Say CHEESE!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Yummy Breadsticks

There are things that I am good at and lots of things that I am not. I inherited my love of homemaking from my mother and my use of power tools from my dad! One thing that I did not inherit is my Mom's talent for making bread. My mom makes FABULOUS bread and rolls! It is not Thanksgiving unless you get at least one of my mom's rolls. Well to make a long story short... I found a great recipe over at www.thecookingmamas.blogspot.com for breadsticks and they are super easy and have turned out wonderfully every time we have made them!
1½ cups warm water
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
3 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted (for the baking sheet)

Mix all ingredients (except melted butter) in your mixer for three minutes. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread melted butter onto an 11X17-inch baking sheet. Roll out the breadstick dough about 1/2-inch thick and cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Twist slightly if desired and place about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlicbread sprinkle (made by Mcormick). Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Sprinkle with Shredded Monzerella Cheese and Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

Purse Project

I know it has been a little while since I posted about this find...
Here's how it turned out! All for about$2.50!!!