Sunday, April 7, 2013

Hi There!

The other day, Ben and I stopped at Little Caesar's and got a pizza and some drinks. We headed out to Landa Park and found a table over-looking the water and enjoyed our little picnic. I tried a Peach flavored Crush soda and it was really good!

Bullet List

THINGS WE HAVE DONE SINCE SUMMER 2012, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

* I made some delicious pink lemonade bars. I used a pink lemonade cookie mix to make a crust and some crumble on top, and then some cream cheese and raspberry jam layers in the middle. It was tasty!

* Ben bought a nice new suit from the clearance rack at JC Penney on Tax Free weekend! Yes, Texas has a tax free weekend just before school starts where school supplies and clothing have no sales tax. Sweet! And it was also sweet that the clearance suit actually fit him! I took some pictures of my handsome boy in his suit. Maybe I'll post one. :)

* I made french toast with a yummy brown sugar cinnamon bread. TASTY!

* Ben and I enjoyed New Braunfels' "Fair Day". Kids are out of school, Ben was off of work, and I requested off, and we went to the parade in the morning (and got rained on a little bit) and enjoyed the small little fair (though we went before Fair Day, because it was free entrance and I was craving a funnel cake and fried oreos...and by doing so, we avoided the rained-out fair grounds covered in mud!).

* Fall is my favorite season and I love to decorate for it. Unfortunately, my fall wreath is in Utah, BUT...that just meant I was able to make a new, prettier one! I, of course, got the materials from Hobby Lobby. :)

* I was lucky enough to have labor day off and spent the day with Ben. We went to Natural Bridge Caverns. It was a cool cave! I have never been in one that I can remember. It was really neat, but REALLY hot!  The temperature wasn't hot, but was 99% humidity and it sure made it feel hot. I got all sweaty and my hair got super frizzy!! Haha. :)  We also did some local things around New Braunfels. We walked downtown, walked through Gruene, and had Smash Burger for lunch in San Antonio (following our trip to the Caverns).

* I did some fall baking (pumpkin cookies and snickerdoodles) and shared them with my Visiting Teachees. Yummy!  Oh, I also made an apple crunch dessert with a spice cake mix, butter, walnuts, and apple pie filling. I wanted to make pumpkin bread (got an awesome recipe from Erin), but didn't get around to it.

* We went to our ward's Trunk or Treat...which was NOT ON Halloween!  I have always disliked having it on Halloween (which, since being married, has always taken place in Utah) because the people that are in our neighborhood that would come trick or treating at the house were at the trunk or treat and just called it a night after that. Hardly anyone came up to the house after that...and I like handing out candy to the trunk or treaters! Plus, outside of Utah, if it's on Halloween, then you're at the church while kids start coming by knocking on doors. ANYWAY...I was glad it wasn't on Halloween so we could enjoy both activities. We did win the trunk decorating contest with the same decorations we've used before (a graveyard with dry ice creating fog, and some creepy music playing). Now we don't have to clean the church as our reward! Haha. :)

* I developed a love for Skor candy bars. I had never tried one until this last fall. So Ben got me one and made a cute note that said "I [Skor]ed with you!" ;)

* Some new friends in our ward used my camera to take our pictures for us for our Christmas cards. They were cute! :)

* We celebrated Ben's birthday here at home. We decorated the back porch area and took our table outside (like for my birthday) and had an appetizer dinner. :)  We had meatballs in marinara, shrimp (which only Ben ate), mozzarella sticks, egg salad sandwiches cut into cute little triangles, a copycat Skillet Queso dip (from Chili's), mini eclairs, veggies and dip, sparkling red grape juice, and some no-bake cherry cheesecake cupcakes. Then we went to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part II. Yes, Ben likes those movies and was happy to go see it together for his birthday. :)

* Due to my work not allowing for time off during the holidays, Ben and I spent Thanksgiving with each other at home. I went all out this year, making a turkey, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, pecan pie, and a relish tray. It was a lot of food for two people, but it was delicious! We had leftovers and ate them over time. :)

* We attended a New Braunfels local activity called Wurstfest.  It was basically a beer fest! There were a few little rides (including an expensive ferris wheel, which we did splurge to ride), lots of food (sausages, bratwurst, etc.), some polka music (which we danced to....horribly!!), and lots and lots of beer. Haha. It was fun to experience once.  Maybe twice.

*I taught a craft class at our ward's Super Saturday! I made a cavas wall hanging that says "All is Calm, All is Bright". It turned out pretty cute, I think. :)

*In December, I decorated for Christmas with some old and some new items, made some crafty decorations, did lots of baking which I both gave away and ate too much of (fudge, walnut balls [aka Mexican wedding cookies], mint brownies), and we had Christmas with Ben's family.  His parents came and stayed with us, and his sister's family came for the afternoon and evening to have dinner with us. His sister's family recently moved from Midland to Victoria, which is now only 2 hours away from us! We had ham, over-cooked rolls (haha, but they still tasted pretty good on the inside), green beans, two kinds of cheesy potatoes, strawberry/pineapple/banana jell-o, and pie! So much food, but OH so good!  We also made a punch from cranberry-pomegranate juice and Sprite.  Mmmm!  We were also all present when Ben's nephew Deegan was Skyping with his family from his mission in California.

* For New Year's, Ben and I headed to Victoria after I got off of work, with food in tow. We brought that faux Skillet Queso, Li'l Smokies in BBQ, meatballs in marinara, and chips with ranch dip. Delcie also made some yummy baked mozarella stick bites that were yummy.  We ate and played games until after 1am.  The next day we hung out and played more games, ate at Chili's, and then Ben and I headed home.

* I have been experimenting with cupcake making lately. I got a yummy icing recipe from a lady in our ward (it's a pretty basic buttercream icing recipe, with a couple little twists)!  I have always loved cupcakes and with all the gourmet cupcakes places out there right now, it's just something I've thought a little about trying to do on the side.  I don't know if I ever will, but it's fun to think about and tasty to try!! :)

* Valentines Day was good for us. We kinda had two nights of it! On the 14th, we had heart-shaped pizza we made at home, some strawberries and grapes with a pink fruit dip, and sparkling red grape juice. However, our favorite show was on at the time dinner was ready, so we didn't really get the quiet, romantic atmosphere I had hoped for.  SO...we did a do-over the next night. We had heart-shaped buns with yummy BBQ pulled pork from Rudy's, leftover strawberries and grapes, more bubbly drink, candles, and a romantic movie: Safe Haven. We exchanged cards and Ben got me a bouquet of rose balloons! Clever! :) Overall, it was really great!

*We attended the Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet since Ben is the Webelos leader. It was good. :)  He started with 2 boys, but they have both turned 11 so now Ben is teaming up with another Boy Scout leader.

* In March, my photography picked up a ton and I have been busy with working, shooting, editing, and trying to have a little bit of Me-time and Ben-time too. :)

* Ben and I babysat a really cute little Maltese puppy for a week! He was sure cute, but having him for a week made us re-think wanting a dog! :)

* Easter was very low-key. I made a cheesy macaroni casserole with ham and tomatoes, and we had deviled eggs.  For dessert, we shared a carrot cupcake from Costco and I dipped mint Oreos in vanilla almond bark and put on spring-colored sprinkles. Yummy!

* Today, we watched Conference from BYUTV online (which was so good!), and then watched their new show Granite Flats. It was cute!

There are probably some things I have left out, which is probably mentioned on Facebook, but otherwise that's it! I may add a picture or two for each thing that I have pictures for...maybe. Thanks!!!

Where Have You Been?!?!

Dear Family and Friends,
It's true. I, too, have disappeared from the blogging world. Sad, huh?? The saddest part is that hardly anyone will even see this post 1. because you've given up on my blog and just don't even check it any more, or 2. because you are like me and don't use blogs that much any more at all. I never imagined I would come to this point; the point that so many others have come to and that used to frustrate me because nobody blogged any more! I do still like blogs better than Facebook because you typically add more pictures and a lot of detail to your stories, thus allowing others to truly feel like they are able to keep in touch with you and know what's going on in your life, good, bad, and funny.  I have fallen so far behind on my blog, thus making it hard for me to find the motivation to get caught up. I have encouraged others that this has happened to, telling them to simply start where they are and not worry about catching up. Just because it's not on the blog doesn't mean it didn't happen and that you don't or won't remember it. However, I have a hard time following my own advice! Maybe it's the perfectionist in me. I want to keep track of the activities we've done and keep them posted in order of occurrence and have record of it.  I don't want to leave things out, yet I don't want to go through all my pictures, choose ones to add, and take all that time catching up, meanwhile still doing things that will then need to documented as well! Plus, I lost many pictures of things we've done with a phone crash (yes, I've become pretty dependant on my smart phone and use it for everything now: camera, calendar, texting, calling, emailing, and Facebook...all so much easier on one handheld device I don't have to boot up!).   With my addiction to my phone, I also basically stopped using my computer, so blogging meant having to turn on the computer, transfer pictures, and spend time doing that. *SIGH*  Now it's just way too much to even think about having to catch up on!
So...I think I may, in part, finally follow my own advice. I would like to type up a bullet list of the things we've done (mainly so I won't forget...because some of them are the things I lost the pictures for, and without them to remind me...I may forget about). Then, I will proceed to blog from here on out, as things happen. I do use my computer more often now, too (my photography has picked up a lot and I am on here editing all the time).  The only thing that may hinder my intentions is that I have been really busy with work and photography, so I typically get tired of being busy and looking at my computer screen editing photos, so then I want to shut it down and find other things to do. Nevertheless, I will make a better effort to start blogging again!  I also really want to turn my older posts into a book...but that takes time and money...both of which I am often short on! Haha.
Anyway...I will try to do much better.  Will you???
PS-I haven't been reading other people's blogs either (those few of you that still have them), so I apologize for not reading and commenting.  I also will probably not take the time to scroll through all your old posts to get caught up.  It's not because I don't love you or don't care about your life. I will try better to keep up-to-date on reading them from now on too. :)
Love,
Janelle

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Our House

Yes, folks. The day you've been LONG awaiting is here! I am going to post pictures of our house! We are renting a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2-car garage duplex in New Braunfels, TX. It took us a while to find and decide on something, but we're very happy with our choice. Aside from new neighbors that smoke and who like to watch movies and listen to music with a nice sound system (we can just hear the booms and some of the noise and stuff-it's not too bad, really), it's a nice, cute little place. The neighborhood is fairly decent and we have our own little fenced yard! I would like a little more natural light, but otherwise I think our little place is great!
Front:

(the garage offers our laundry area and access to the large attic for storage)
Side:

Backyard:
Entry/Hall:
(from the front door)

(from the living area, looking down the hall toward the front door)

Front Bedroom (used for crafts/photography):


 (the door into the bedroom, and the door leading to the front bathroom)

Front Bathroom:
 
(the door into the bathroom, the linen cupboard, and the door leading to the front bedroom)

Middle Bedroom (used as our office/storage of yard sale items):

Dining Area:

Kitchen:


(that door leads into the garage, and the small door on the right is the pantry)

Living Area:




 (the archway leading into the Master Bedroom)

 Master Bedroom:



(the door leading into the bedroom and the door to the Master Bathroom)

Master Bathroom:
 
(walk-in shower; his and hers closets--Ben gave me the bigger one!)




(my closet and the linen cupboard)

I will probably add more things to the walls and/or change furniture arrangements here and there, and I may post those things when they happen.  Part of the delay in getting this posted was that I wanted everything to be unpacked, organized, put away, decorated, etc.  I wanted it to be "perfect".  Well, it's pretty close and you've had to wait long enough. Hope you enjoyed the tour!





Family Reunion 2012

Ben and I were both able to go to Utah this summer for my family's annual reunion.  We really loved being able to be there with family and we had a great time, as always!  Unfortunately, I accidently deleted some of the pictures I took before getting them uploaded to my computer, but thankfully my dad gave me the ones he took for the things I am now missing. 
These were taken on our drive from Texas to Utah.  I think we were in New Mexico at the time:
 

The traditional bingo game:

Kiddie pool in the backyard:

Some of the cousins enjoying pizza lunch together:

Splash pad in Spanish Fork (in place of swimming at our community pool that was closed).  It was windy and a little cool that day, making water play pretty cold, but we got used to it and had fun!

Our traditional BBQ at South Fork Park in Provo Canyon:
 
 
 
 

Bryce loved the dirt, haha!

Haha! We had a fun birthday party for the kids that had celebrated birthdays that month.  There were lots of fun games that I lost my pictures of, but Dad got these of the fun dress-up game where the kids got to dress their dads and pose them like manequins:

Our relatively new tradition of eating at Chuck-A-Rama.  The kids LOVE it!

Mike, Matt, and Ben set off fireworks:
 
 

Yes, Ben and I were both actually there!

Here's a shot of Squaw Peak in my side-view mirror:

A gorgeous sunset from the front steps of the house!

Saying goodbye to the beautiful, big, green Utah mountains on our way back to Texas.  I hated to leave, but this is what must be for now (they're a little blury from being taken through a car window while driving).
 

Wilson's Arch in Southern Utah, also taken on our way back to Texas.

I also did four photo shoots for my family while I was there.  Kendrick turned one and I did his birthday shoot, Mike and Meggan had their fifth child and I did her newborn shots, and I did Scott's and Matt's family portraits. If you want to see them (if you haven't already), stop by my photography blog! The link to it is on the right side of this blog. :)
Getting ready for Madison's photo shoot:

I sure love my family and am so grateful Ben and I were able to spend time with them this July.  I am very sad to not be able to get together with everyone again this coming Thanksgiving because of work, but I should hopefully be able to see them again next summer!