On Monday I started collecting quotes for new car insurance because we're in a new state. The first company I checked out was Progressive. I did most of it online, but then had a question about something so I called the 800 number. I was put through to Linda in Colorado. She was so nice and extremely helpful, and Progressive offered us such a great rate ($60/month less than what we've been paying!). I told her I wanted to check other places though and talk with James before we decided anything, so she left me her personal number and extension and I was to call her back later that evening.
It took a while to get quotes from other companies, so I didn't call her back until Tuesday evening. She had told me if she didn't answer to leave a message and she would call right back. Well she didn't call back on Tuesday. On Wednesday we knew we wanted Progressive for sure and wanted to get the ball rolling. As I was doing stuff around the house I thought "I should try to call Linda again," and right then she called me!
Anyways, as I was giving her all of our information we found that we're both LDS and she has children going to school in Utah and all sorts of other things. We then proceeded to chat about all kinds of stuff, from my baby plans to James job, and she gave a lot of good life advice--we talked
for over an hour! Eventually we found that our enrollment couldn't be completed until Saturday, so she said she would call then and that it would only take 5 minutes.
Well Linda called me at 9:30, it's 10:45 now, and we JUST got off the phone. Ha! Today we talked about more of my life plans and she gave me more life advice.
So I just want to express my gratitude for this woman and her kindness to me. She was so sincere in her interest to get to know me and talk with me, and she was so supportive in her responses and advice. And I know it seems kind of crazy to be chatting with some stranger on the phone about your personal life, but she was so genuine and I couldn't help but want to talk with her about everything! And given that she's LDS, it was comforting that she understood what I was talking about and felt and thought the same way. I am so grateful for a gospel and church that provides immediate friendship among all of its members. Thank you Linda, you were so helpful to me in so many ways!
First I showed them my house and we chatted here for a while. 
Then we went to dinner at Saltgrass. We were there for 2 1/2 hours just talking. Our waiter surprised us with two free slices of cheesecake since we were having a little reunion and celebrating my graduation/Kim's anniversary. 
I love my Mawmaw! She's one of my absolute favorite people to be around. When I was really little-like 2 years old- I would go stay at her house for a few days and when it was time for me to leave we would both just cry and cry. 
After dinner we went to Bed Bath & Beyond (where we spent another 2 1/2 hours). Mawmaw and Judy bought me all kinds of stuff as graduation presents, one of which is this: 
It was really good, but I'm getting kind of burnt out on the Mexican. It seems like every "good" restaurant that James wants to go to here are Mexican. He could eat it every meal, but I can only handle so much. 
After dinner we all went back to our house and had Banana Pudding (my new favorite) and played Nazi Zombies (also a favorite). 
So here's the secret I've found with Banana Pudding: cheesecake pudding! This is my recipe-
I love Brooklyn's belly in this little bikini! 
Lily and I drove home on Saturday night, but on their way back from Austin Sunday evening Brodie and Jennika stopped by to hang out for a bit. We went on a walk so the boys could get their energy out.
We saw a rainbow and a huge water moccasin while on our walk. 
And the sunset was gorgeous. 
Love our family and am so happy to be able to spend so much time with them! 
He got a lot of presents. We gave him a water gun and bubble blower. 
Grandpa Mark and Deborah gave him a Toy Story Slip 'n Slide, which the boys absolutely loved. They orginally had on diapers, but they got really full of water and were falling off, so the boys decided to just take them off completely. So here is a picture of them sliding around naked! 
Jennika's mom Paula was in town and it was really nice to see her- it had been a couple of years. 
Then this morning we went to a fabric store to look for curtains for her living room and then to lunch at Pluckers. I had the best salad there! I can't remember what it was called though. I love love love Austin and can't wait for us to live there one day. Loved my visit and am excited to be able to see these guys more often!
We spent most of Saturday evening hanging out outside with all of the dogs (there were 5 there at one point: our two, their two, and a friend's dog they were watching). 
We also played lots of Tetris on the wii, went swimming, went to church, cooked some burgers on the grill, and I made a fabulous Banana Pudding. 
We had all planned on going to watch the fireworks in Sugar Land Sunday night, but the boys were getting tired. So James and I stopped at the church parking lot on our way back home and watched them. 
I did NOT want to take the girls out to potty in this. I knew Giselle could hold it for another couple of hours, but Lily HAS to go out first thing. When we adopted her, her information chart said that she was pad trained. I've left them out for her before when we've been gone just in case she wanted to use it, but she never has. So yesterday I thought I would try to work with her to use it so she wouldn't get wet outside. I put it outside on our balcony and tried and tried to get her to use it. But this is all she would do with it. Obviously she is not pad trained. 
Since the weather was so bad I stayed home and cleaned and watched the Nadal/Murray match. I love love love Wimbledon! It's a personal goal of mine to be there in 5 years. 
*Liz, Cecile, Mandy, and I had our last Girls Night Out-so sad! We went to dinner at Carraba's and then we went to Spark for "drinks" and more food-loved it! I'm so happy that Liz was able to move back to Utah just in time to see me before I left. 
*The next day Cecile and Justin blessed their third child, Hudson, at church. There were 5 baby blessings in their ward that day! After they had a brunch at Justin's mom's house. The food was so good! I got this great recipe for a Chile Cheese Puff that I'll share later when I make it. 
*I had my last hair appointment with Elise :( I don't know what I'm going to do without her! She told me that she's coming to Houston in August though, so I don't have to worry about finding someone else 'til after then. 
*So I took my last final on Thursday morning, June 17. James was supposed to fly in at 12:53 pm, and then we were going to pick up the truck, load it, and leave Friday morning. Well James' flight from Houston got cancelled and he wasn't going to get in until 7:15! So Mandy, Eric, and I had to pick up the truck. I was frantic about who was going to load it, and I'm so grateful that our friend Ben volunteered to come help! He and Eric (and a couple of wonderful missionaries passing by) did a fabulous job-we could not have moved without them! And none of our stuff was broken! After the boys loaded everything (in only 3 hours!), Mandy and I picked up James from the airport and headed to Sean and Alexa's house for a Going Away BBQ. It was good to see them before we left and so nice of them to feed us all! 
*So the next morning we headed out at about 8:30. The drive was uneventful. Oh, except for the biker convention that was going on in the city we spent the night in! Don't worry, there were only like 100 bikers outside of our hotel all night revving their bikes and partying. I was terrified and so worried about someone stealing the Penske with all of our stuff! I woke up probably 3 different times to look outside and check on it. We got to Austin Saturday evening and went to dinner with Sally and Tag. Then Sunday morning we drove to Houston and met up with James' Dad and his clan for brunch for Father's Day. After the brunch we headed to our new home and Brodie (James' brother) helped us unload everything. Thanks for spending your Father's Day helping us Brodie! I LOVE LOVE LOVE our apartment-James did such a fabulous job picking it! We have a garage and a little front yard for the girls to go out-I really couldn't be happier with it. 
*Since we've been here I've been getting the house set up (which I love doing) and looking for a job (which I hate). On Monday I spent the day with Brodie and Jennika. We went to the mall closest to me since I hadn't been there yet. It's a really good mall, fyi. And then for dinner we met up with James at On the Border. I'm excited to be close to them again. 
This weekend we're going down to their house to celebrate the 4th. More about that on Monday!
1 week ago
