We're all moved in!!!!!

Well, we made it. We have been here in Waco 2 weeks tomorrow and we're all moved in!!!! I am so glad that we are done unpacking...I HATE MOVING!!!!!!!!! I think I would rather have a root canal done than move. We left Terre Haute (THANK GOODNESS...can you tell that I didn't really care for the town??) on 5/13 and got to Waco Thursday evening. Our moving truck showed up Monday so we had a fun weekend of camping out in our new home with nothing but the airbed and the kitchen stuff I brought with us just in case. Next time I am going to remember to put the camping chairs in the car with us so we have somewhere to sit until our stuff arrives. Live and Learn, right??? I have plenty of other moves I am sure to perfect the science of moving...I am not quite sure if I should be excited about this or distraught???
It took us a week to unpack the house and like 6 runs to the goodwill to get rid of crud that we brought that we should have gotten rid of before we packed it and paid to move it here. I am not posting pictures of house put together on this post. I am waiting till we get our new living room furniture. We bought new furniture last weekend but they didn't have it in stock so they had to order it for us. Once I get the living room furniture I'll post pictures of the entire house, but at least you can see what the front looks like. We love this little house! It was totally gutted out and remodeled so I feel like I am living in a brand new home, such an improvement from our little 1 bedroom apt that was the top of an old home in Terre Haute.
The other good news is that Robert and I both got jobs. I had a job interview the day after we got to Terre Haute with the State of Texas Dept. of Health and Human Services for a caseworker position and 4 days later they called and offered me the job. I had been hoping they would offer me an interview and after the interview I knew I really wanted the job. I start next week. Robert also got a job last week working for a company that organizes medical records for insurance companies. It's a good summer job for him. We've been very blessed with coming here. It's so nice when you listen to the spirit and make the right decision. We chose the best school and the best place we could have come to. We're excited to be Texans!

Next Stop....Baylor University!

Okay, for all of you who have been waiting to find out where we are off to next, the answer is Baylor University! Robert accepted a spot in the Social Psychology Ph.D. program there this week. We are very excited about Baylor and feel like we made the right decision. He'll be working with a great professor who has a grant doing forgiveness research, the grant secures funding for him for 5 years, which is one of the great things about Baylor. He'll make each year $19,000.00, which we have been told that a yearly stipend like this in unheard of in graduate school. He was also granted a full tuition waiver for 5 years, so that saves us approx. $42,000.00 a year! The people have been so nice and on top of it at the university and that has been a nice change from some of the other universities we were considering.
Baylor is located in Waco, TX, which is about an hour and half south of Dallas/Ft. Worth area and hour or so east of Austin, TX. We're super excited about this adventure and change, and I personally am very proud of my husband of getting into such a renown school as Baylor!
More to come later......

Things about Me

So, it seems that I am only good with updating my blog when I get tags. At least it's something right???? Or, maybe I just tell myself this to make me feel better, but at any cost here is something that can be considered an update.

ABOUT ME:
1. I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
2. I get really stressed about timing
3. I work with morons who act like teenagers in high school
4. I wish that my family was a part of my life and would accept my religion
5. I have the best in-laws, (brothers, sisters, mother, father, grandparents...all of them) they treat me as if I am truly part of the family
6. I have the best husband ever!
7. I see doubles
8. I love anything chocolate...I could eat for breakfast and be happy woman!
9. I fear never being able to have children of my own ( not something I admit very often, but has been more of a fear/realization lately)
10. I feel my best when I know I have done good things for others
11. I can't wait to move from Terre Haute!!!!!!
12. I could live without cable TV and be happy reading all day
13. I have extra bones in my feet
14. I served a mission in Latvia
15. I am addicted to reading CNN daily
16. I pride myself on my cooking skills
17. I love red shoes-my count now is at 9 pairs
18. I am so proud of my husband for all of his hard work in graduate school
19. I am a proud USU alumni!
20. I worry about the impressions that I leave with people
21. I wish I could be more spontaneous and a little less regimented
22. I want to make a difference in this world
23. I love having lazy saturdays with my husband
24. I miss my friends that I left behind when I moved
25. I am anxious to find out where we will be moving to next

So, I tag everyone who reads this blog!

8 Things of 8

Okay, so my sister-in-law Janelle tagged me and I usually don't do these because I am pretty bad at posting things on this blog, but I am trying to do better. So, in an effort to do so here it goes:

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. Greys Anatomy
2. Private Practice
3. Brothers & Sisters
4. Lipstick Jungle
5. CNN-yeah I know, I am wierd ...but I like to know what is going on around the world.
6. Oprah
7. Smallville
8. Friends

8 Favorite Movies:
1. Father of the Bride
2. Sleepless in Seattle
3. Made of Honor
4. Pursuit of Happiness
5. You've Got Mail
6. The Parent Trap (original)
7. Return to Me
8. One Fine Day

8 Quirks About Me:
1. Can't go to bed if bed hasn't been made all day-I have to make it first
2. Bite my fingernails when I am anxious or stressed
3. I have to have things cleaned up inorder to sit down and relax
4. I will not use milk that is past the expiration date ( my mother put this fear in me)
5. I pull cooked chicken apart to double check that it's done ( samonella once will make you do this)
6. I check our checking account like 5 times daily ( a bad case of freud will make you paranoid like this)
7. I grind my teeth in my sleep
8. I have to have a straw to drink out of a can

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Went to work
2. Interviewed students for a student assistentship
3. Hired a student for a student assistentship
4. Repaired our TV (with Robert's help)
5. Made dinner
6. Did the dinner dishes
7. Made invitations to the ward Christmas party
8. Read a book

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Moving from Terre Haute!!!!!!!
2. Christmas with Robert
3. Robert's parents visiting
4. Using my new sewing machine
5. Going to Nashville TN with Robert and his parents at the end of the month
6. Giving Robert his Christmas gifts
7. Robert finishing his thesis
8. Robert getting accepted into a Ph.D. program

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. Sewing machine ( got it-thanks to my wonderful in-laws)
2. New work out clothes
3. a Ph.D. program for Robert
*That's all I really want....I am not good at making wish lists...never have been*

8 People I Tag:
1. Heidi
2. Becca
3. Wendy
4. Kristy
5. Heather P.
* I think those are the only people besides my sister-in-law Janelle who might read my blog*

Young Women's Conference-"Arise and Shine Forth"

So, a couple of weeks ago our Stake had what is called Stake Young Women's Conference. It's like a mini youth conference, but only for young women. It's not a standard activity done in the young women's program, but the Bloomington IN Stake has done it for years and it's a much loved activity among the young women. When I was called into the Stake Young Women's Presidency they handed over this activity to me to plan and take charge of. I guess the President and each counselor take turns planning and leading certian activities and the counselor I replaced was in charge of YW conference, so by default I got this activity. I have to say that for several months this conference was source of serious stress for me, but the actual weekend went very well and the girls I think had a great time. We did this year in Terre Haute since I was in charge. Typically, it's done at the Stake Ctr., but I think it was a nice change for some of us who always travel the hour+ to get to the Stake Ctr. (And it helped me greatly to have it locally with having to work full time.) The girls traveled in on Friday night and we had a brown bag fashion show and then we housed the girls friday night at members' homes here in Terre Haute and they came back saturday morning for a fun day filled with a keynote speaker, workshops, and a service project. The theme was "Arise and Shine Forth". The keynote speakers and workshops were tailored to fit with that theme and then the girls did a service project where they made Christmas Ornaments for Hospice patients of the Wabash Valley(Terre Haute). The weekend was a lot of fun and we have great girls in this stake that truly know how to "Arise and Shine Forth"! Below are some fun pictures from the weekend.


With the brown bag fashion show we took brown paper sack from Krogers and filled them with misc. things like garbage sacks, ribbon, scrap fabric, duct tape, beads, tissue paper, and any other fun things I could fine at the dollar store and then we labeled the bags after stores like Gap, Buckle, Old Navy, etc.... Then we divided the girls up into teams of 2 or 3 . We gave them like 20 minutes to dress one girl up and design her outfit and then the others were in charge of announcing her as she walked down the runway. This group here won first place...they were so funny! The group had the store Buckle and they decided that their model would go after a "hobo" look...she even had a "hobo purse" (white garbage bag). The girls had a great time with the activity.






These two girls just barely came into Young Women's. The conference was the first YW activity they had taken part in. They were so excited to be there.....it was nice to see that excitement!







The girls had a great time coloring the wooden ornaments for the Hospice patients...and they did a great job....the ornaments turned out so cute!











Here I am with some of our leaders throughout the stake. We have awesome leaders and women in our stake that are amazing examples to the young women and me!

Church Recap

Robert comes home from Louisville in a couple of hours and I thought because he missed church today that I would post a recap for him and anyone else who reads my blog. We had a young man from Terre Haute who leaves for his mission on Wednesday speak about missionary work. It was a great talk and he will make a fine missionary. During the sacrament meeting as a congregation we sang "Called to Serve". As I was standing up singing this hymn I found myself taken back in time. It felt like the summer of 2002 all over again and I was in the MTC surrounded by thousands of missionaries singing this same hymn. Whenever I hear or sing this hymn my mind seems to wonder back to that time period. I think it's because I remember the feeling that overcame me as a missionary singing this hymn in the MTC. I don't know the right word to describe the feeling, it was like the spirit touched you as you sang this hymn and you knew there was no better work you could be doing. I love how I get that feeling everytime I hear or sing "Called to Serve". I went to Relief Society today ( I go to Young Women's twice a month to visit usually....if I go more than that I think I make the YW's president nervous by having a member of the Stake YW's presidency there) and heard a great lesson on trials. It's lesson 19 out of the manual. The teacher asked us "why does God give us trials"? I love the quote in the manual for this answer..."God gives us trials so that we may go to the Mount of Zion and be exalted". I know in the moments when I have my trials I don't think about being exulted but how grateful that I am for my trials when I actually stop and think about them. I owe most of who I am to my trials...they have shaped who I am for the better. I love being a member of the church!

Companionship

I am missing my husband right now, so I thought I would blog about him and the great companionship I have in my life because of him. Robert is in Louisville, KY right now at a conference for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. He is presenting some research that he and one of his professor are currently working on. He left yesterday and will be back Sunday. I know it's only been 24 hours since he has been gone, but it feels more like weeks if you ask me. It's still amazing to me how I have been married for almost one year and I already know that my life will never be the same because of this man. I was single for a long time and it some ways became very accustomed to that lifestyle. I never thought I would be so addicted and so attached to the companionship in such a short amount of time. Life is so much better with companionship...it's like peanut butter....it's just better with the jam! I am so glad that Robert is my "jam". I love him so much and my life has become greatly enriched from the moment he stepped into it. Thank you Robert for the loving companionship that you give me daily...my life has forever changed for the better because of it!