How to Survive Houston Summers

Question: What do you do to survive the summers in Houston?

Answer: Don't go outside!!! It is imperative to remain indoors at all times if you want to stay dry! If you do need to go outside for a little boy that constantly says "outside?", then be sure that water is involved. You're either going to be soaked with sweat or water...your pick.

Caleb enjoying the fountains at Market Street

Always more fun with friends (cousin Dallin and Drew)

Trying to look as cool as Drew does in his sunglasses

If you must do an activity outside and you can't involve water, be sure to keep the activity to a maximum of 15 minutes to try to avoid red faces and sweaty clothes.

Our 30-minute outing with the ducks, which was about 25 minutes too long for the heat. This picture demonstrates Caleb's definition of feeding the ducks, "one for me and one for you."


And lastly, to survive Houston summers, definitely DO NOT, under any circumstances, exercise outside.

I need to do better at heeding that advice. My sister and I are still running together every day, and I'm still doing some longer runs on Saturdays. Matt and I have also started playing Ultimate Frisbee again on Tuesday nights. This picture was taken right after a weekday run. I was hoping the camera would capture my soaked clothes and sweat dripping down my forehead and nose. Apparently my camera is not that hi-tech. If this picture would have been taken on a Saturday after my run or after Ultimate Frisbee, it would look like a bucket of water had been dumped on me. I can wring out my clothes when I'm finished. Pretty gross and pretty dumb :o).

The three-digit temperatures in combination with no rain for about 3 weeks has been a killer! Our water bill is going to skyrocket this month (in order to keep the grass green), and the electricity bill will inevitably go up as well. Hopefully not that much as I keep our house really warm during the day to try to save on cost. It's amazing how your body can acclimate to 80 degree temperatures full time inside when it's over 100 degrees outside!

Cute Caleb

Well, he's not always so cute, but his sweet moments make you forget all the bad stuff, at least for a while. It's been some time since I've posted Caleb's progress, so here are some new things since my last Caleb post, which was when Caleb was 16 months old.

By 16 months, Caleb had learned all his main facial parts as well as some of the tricky ones like teeth and tongue. He's progressed to knowing all of his body parts including neck, hands, fingers, feet, toes, shoulders, knees, elbows, butt, and armpit (thanks Lindsey!).

We started reading scriptures to him around 15-16 months (which we wish we would have started sooner), and by 19 months he enjoyed reading them by himself, i.e. flipping through the book and pointing to stuff and occasionally talking gibberish to himself as if he's reading.

By 18 months he could drink from a big boy cup without spilling. We still had the occasional accidents, but now he's a pro.

He could fold his arms at 18 1/2 months as well as blow kisses.

At 19 months he could say Grandpa, 'Ba pa', which just melted my dad's heart!

Prayers were more fun once he could say 'amen' at 19 1/2 months.

At 20 months his molars started coming in. He now has 4 molars, 4 upper front teeth, and 4 lower front teeth. In general, his teeth have come in later than most kids his age.

When he was 21 months, he learned how to open doors, which has made things a bit trickier. Luckily he can't open the front or back door yet because they stick a bit more.

Caleb is almost 22 months old now and within the last few weeks he has learned to say 'bless you' after someone sneezes. We thought this was super adorable because we never taught him this; he just picked it up on his own.

My sister and I also started teaching pre-school using this curriculum from a free website. According to this curriculum, you're supposed to start at 12 months. It's pretty much the same thing as the library story time they were going to once a week, but the story time isn't offered during the summer so we started doing this "preschool". We just do 1 lesson per week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The boys love it!

Caleb still loves being outside, although it is hotter than Hades right now. His favorite things to do inside include playing with cars/trains, and singing and dancing. He's just figuring out how to do the actions to some of the songs and do his definition of singing along. It's so cute.

A defiance streak is definitely coming out. He will look at me with a look that says 'so what are you going to do about it Mom?' before he does something he's not supposed to. He doesn't sit alone during time-outs, so it involves me strapping his arms down as I sit him on my lap.

Potty-training is coming along. He will usually go #1 in the potty before bath time each night. Other than that it's just hit and miss. He is starting to recognize when he's poopy, so that's a start. Caleb loves to flush the toilet and say 'potty'. In my wishful thinking, I wanted him potty-trained by 2. We still have 2 more months.... :o)

Caleb is also getting really close to counting! He can say 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10 without prompting.

He's still my loveable baby boy, and we're so glad he's apart of our family!

Posing for the camera

Still completely a Daddy's boy

Getting into mischief..he got the fork from the drawer by himself (which he can reach now if he stands on his tip toes) and pulled these from their hiding spot in the fridge. Luckily he couldn't figure out how to open them, and then I found a new hiding spot for them.

Showing off some of his personality

Food Storage Update

(This post refers to an earlier food storage post)

I love couponing! I didn't realize just how much I would enjoy trying to find bargains. I'm such a penny-pincher that I should have known it would be right up my alley.

My concerns in the start included (1) buying things that I normally wouldn't buy just because I had a coupon and (2) having to make several trips to different grocery stores in order to catch the sales. After a few weeks' experience, I think these concerns are still valid, but I'm able to justify them a bit more. I am buying things I normally wouldn't buy, but if I could get them for the deals I'm getting, then I would buy them on a regular basis. For example, Matt loves sugar cereals. I didn't grow up on sugar cereals so I don't care about eating them now. I will buy them from time to time for Matt, but typically don't buy them on a regular basis because they're expensive. However, there have been some really good cereal coupons that match up with sales, so I've stocked up so Matt can enjoy his Trix and Frosted Mini Wheats. :o) I went to 3 grocery stores last week, but I made sure that I went when I was already running errands in that general direction. I have my coupons organized before I go in and know exactly what I want to buy, so generally my grocery shopping trips are pretty quick.

I just find such a thrill in being able to get the most for my money. There is lots I still have to learn (I haven't gotten on the Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy kick that other couponers seem to enjoy due to great bargains), but I'm enjoying the learning process. Some of my better deals include: Breyers ice cream (an expensive brand) for 99 cents, Kraft Mac n' Cheese for 38 cents each (stocking up on food storage), 10 Kool Aid packets for free, BBQ sauce for free (even though I prefer my family's homemade recipe I couldn't pass it up b/c it was free), and floss for free. Couponing can be time-consuming (although I usually do couponing when I'm watching TV), but I have the time right now, so I don't mind.

I haven't made any progress on canning, however. I thought my canned chicken that I made in an Enrichment class tasted slightly better than the canned chicken you buy in the store, so I can't decide if it's worth all the time and effort of canning yet.

We're making good progress with our food storage. After creating my list of meals for 3 months, tabulating all the ingredients etc., and taking inventory of what I have in my home, I learned that I still have a long way to go on having my 3 month supply of food that is recommended by our church leaders. I am fixating on 1 or 2 items a week and stocking up until I have a 3 month supply of those items. Hopefully we'll have it all ready by the end of the year. We did finish our 72 hour kits, which was another thing we had procrastinated.

We're really proud of our progress in general, and I'm just so glad we're finally doing it. I feel like a huge weight is being lifted off my shoulders!

3rd Anniversary

On Tuesday, June 2, we celebrated 3 years of marriage! It was fun to reminisce about our wedding day.

As the wedding day drew closer, I was getting more and more stressed out about packing up my classroom and drawing all my teaching stuff to a close. The last day of school was June 1, and I got married the next day!

I remember the morning of my wedding day eating waffles with my family for breakfast, which Matt joined us for. My sister-in-law, Kari, did my hair (I'm so cheap I didn't want to pay anyone, and Kari did super great!).

During the ceremony, the funniest part was our kiss over the altar. Neither Matt nor I had ever been to a temple wedding, and we weren't sure what an "appropriate" kiss inside the temple would be. Added to our nerves, our "kiss" ended up being a peck on the lips. I got teased mercilessly!

The day was so blasted hot that our pictures didn't turn out as well as we wanted them to. We're both red-faced and sweating.

We did a luncheon at Olive Garden after pictures. After eating, everyone just lingered around and talked. Matt and I were enjoying conversation and family and weren't in any hurry to leave. Finally my sister, Ariane, shooed us out to leave for our honeymoon.

The honeymoon was short and not far away at all. We drove to Galveston and stayed the weekend at a Bed and Breakfast. Matt had to be at work on Monday (we got married on a Friday) so there wasn't much time for sight-seeing. We did enjoy long walks on the beach and an IMAX film. :o)

We did our reception the following Friday, which we enjoyed. I got another chance to get dolled up and to make more use of my wedding dress!

Wedding pics
(sorry so blurry...I need to re-scan)

Matt looks so young in all our pictures. That will be great in years to come, but he looks 17 or 18 to me instead of 24 on our wedding day.

Flowers that Matt bought for our anniversary

Eating at The Cheesecake Factory

Our food:

Matt's steak was divine. I was excited about my cashew chicken salad, but I wasn't impressed. I have never been good at ordering food at restaurants. Any time I try to branch out and try something new, I usually end up not liking it. Matt will often switch meals with me if I don't like mine because he's such a sweetie. Not this time though.... :o) Of course, cheesecake followed dinner!

Austin Vacation

My family vacation is one of the things I look forward to the most each year. This year we made the drive to Austin, Texas and rented condos near Lake Travis. Clayton, my younger brother, came down from Utah to join us so we had everyone there. My favorite thing to do with my family is to sit around and play games while enjoying good laughs and conversation. Our vacation involved lots of games, lots of sports activities (tennis, ping pong, frisbee, croquet, golf, swimming), several good discussions about missions and marriage, and of course lots of good food! A lot of stress and preparation goes into these vacations each year, but it is well worth the effort.

Here are several pictures from our vacation, but I will continue to add more pics to the slideshow as they are sent to me from my family.

Special Experience

On Wednesday, May 20, for the first time ever, my entire family was able to be in the temple together since my youngest sister, Lindsey, is preparing for a mission. Words cannot describe how special it was to be able to share in this experience. I hope that we all always strive to remain worthy to enter so we can continue to share in the wonderful blessing of attending the temple together.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Food storage has always been one thing I am very uninterested in and have had a lazy attitude towards. I knew it was something I needed to do, but I kept putting it off. It seemed such an overwhelming project to take on to try to build a year supply of food! Every time hurricane season came around here in Texas, I would feel guilt, guilt, and more guilt as food storage was a topic that was hit hard. Then hurricane season would pass, nothing would be mentioned about food storage, and I would once again put it from my mind. I was very grateful when church leaders altered the goal to 3 months. Finally something that felt doable! So in the last year or so we've worked up what I thought was a 3 months supply of food. Feeling pretty good about ourselves, mentally checking off this goal, food storage had again been pushed to the wayside.

In the recent months, however, I've been feeling that we still need to do more and it needs to be our main focus right now (painting rooms in the house etc. can wait). I have had the opportunity to attend several classes through my church about topics I needed more knowledge on. One class was about the importance of food storage in general. The speaker really put people in their place about the excuses we all use to not start food storage. I thought some of her best comments in that regard were if we can manage to go out to eat, go to movies, get our nails and hair done, etc., then we can afford to start our food storage. It's all about priorities. The class was so good and gave the extra push of motivation Matt and I needed.

So, here's how Matt and I have started. I confessed to Matt that the responsibility of food storage seems to fall on women's shoulders, but it was something that was too overwhelming for me to take on by myself. So we first took an inventory of what we have. Then I put Matt in charge of finding/building places to store our added food storage. We've worked together to come up with menu ideas and the actual food that we need to build up, and I'm in charge of watching for sales and doing the actual shopping. For Family Home Evening one night, we sat down together and came up with a week's worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts, and snacks for our family of 3 right now. We then multiplied it by 12 weeks for our 3 months. As I started tabulating all the ingredients and converting them to how I'm going to buy in bulk, I realized that we are not even close to having a 3 months supply of food like I thought we did. We have a 3 months supply of some meals, but not everything.


As a part of my task of shopping, I am finally jumping on the band wagon of shopping with coupons. Two of the websites I use to print coupons are couponmom.com and coupons.com. I like these websites because I don't have to register (a lot of online coupon sites require this, and it makes me uncomfortable to fill in personal information!). We have also started requesting the Sunday Chronicle for the coupons located there. One of my biggest hang-ups about coupons is that it requires shopping for deals at more stores instead of doing all my shopping at one store, Wal Mart. I also think that when people use coupons, they buy stuff they normally wouldn't buy just because they're getting a deal. So they may save $1 on an item, but they still spent $2 more than they normally would have spent! I'm going to really focus on using coupons for stuff I already buy. I decided that I am going to try the 1 month trial of the grocery game, since I know some friends that really like it, after I build up my supply of coupons (I hear the grocery store deals usually match up to coupons from 1 or 2 weeks ago). As you can tell, I am quite the novice when it comes to couponing! I attended a class about 6 months ago, but it sounded so overwhelming as the two teachers said it is their second job...after the kids go to bed, they do their couponing. That's another concern: I don't want it to take up so much time! I would love advice from any expert couponers out there!!!

Finally, I am looking more into canning. I attended a meat canning class through my church where I canned some raw chicken. It looks really nasty, but I'm making it tonight in a casserole to see if canning meat and chicken is something I'm interested in doing for our storage. (It would sure make things easier as far as not having my freezer full of chicken and beef.) I don't enjoy storebought canned chicken in my cooking! Hopefully home canning will taste better. We shall see!

I can't tell you the amazing feelings of peace and joy through the small progress we've made so far. It just feels good to be doing something towards being prepared for the disasters that lay ahead. Other progress we've made: we went ahead and purchased some can rotater shelves (not necessary, but helps with organization), and I finally went and did some bulk canning at the store house through our church. Now it's time to start making wheat bread (I'm going to a class on that this week)!

There is still much more information that I need to glean from those more knowledgeable than I (maybe some herb and vegetable gardening?), but I'm becoming excited about this project of food storage. It helps that my sister and sister-in-law are becoming more educated about it too so we can all share our knowledge and do it together!