Birthday Weekend in Austin

This last weekend we went up to Austin (both of us for two whole days!) to celebrate our niece Brooklyn's 4th birthday. We had so much fun and I was so happy James got to have an entire weekend away from work. I took 65 pictures on Saturday :) I can't even imagine how crazy I'll be at my own child's party! This cupcake stand was my absolute favorite thing at the party. Jessica borrowed it from a friend, and after to some investigation I found that it is from Home Goods. Needless to say I am now on the hunt. (It is featured in 6 of the pics that I took-ha! )Little Pierce hitting the pinata and all the children grabbing candy. Brooklyn blowing out her candles on her oh so delicious cake. I had 3 pieces over the weekend :)Opening her gift from Uncle James and Aunt Maggie-a Tinkerbell costume. All of the adults at Benihana. Sad Jennika wasn't there- she was in Dallas for her sister's bridal shower. It was SO good and we had a really good time. And even though we didn't get to watch the Bama game, I enjoyed watching Ohio State and Nebraska lose-best thing that happened in a week given the previous Saturday (of which we do not speak).
Now for another crazy weekend again. All the family are coming here tomorrow night for the Brent Event on Saturday. Should be fun!

New Library Card

This morning I got a library card... finally! I had meant to get one back in the summer, but I ended up reading some books we already had so I just never got around to it. The nearest public library to our house is at a community college, and its huge! I'm so excited! I checked out Wuthering Heights and Animal Farm, both of which are on the list of "100 books to read before you die." I cannot even say how much I love reading and how much I enjoy being in a library. I almost got a little emotional looking at all of the books! It's just fascinating how much you can learn from reading. I'm so grateful to my mother for encouraging (and often forcing) me to read when I was younger as it has become one of my absolute favorite things to do. Hopefully one of my next books will be The Hunger Games, since everyone has raved so much about it. I'm 76 on a waiting list at the library, so hopefully everyone reads it quick! And I'm ALWAYS looking for book suggestions, so please share!

Maggie's 24th Birthday!

Yesterday was my 24th birthday, and it was such a good one! James was so wonderful at planning and trying to coordinate everything, even though not all of it worked out. First of all, the girls got to go to work with me! I just love my job-where else can you take your dogs to work?! Here they are working very hard. Ha! I got flowers delivered at work from my parents and from James, which were such nice surprises! I absolutely LOVE getting flowers! When the girls and I got home, I hurried and got freshened up and then we headed to the Cheesecake Factory-my absolute favorite- where we met Brodie and Jennika. Jessica was supposed to come down with her children for the weekend and go to dinner with us, but Pierce got a bad fever Thursday night so they weren't able to. So sad. But dinner was fantastic; I got my fried mac 'n cheese balls, crabcake sandwich with sweet potato fries, and pumpkin pecan cheescake, and some fabulous gifts!Yes, my dress is a Leslie Faye (my mom) original. She's currently finishing a crimson one for me to wear to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama v. Auburn game. And today I got THE CUTEST shoes to wear with it.... so excited!And this is our waiter, EJ. He was SO funny and such a great waiter, I just had to get a pic with him! I'm not exactly sure why he's working at the Cheesecake Factory, he should be playing for the Texans-he's huge! And here are some pillows I bought today for $7 each! Hence, why I bought them. They make the rest of my bed look bad now though, so I think I would like to do all white bedding with these pillows and a couple more brown and blue ones. I love a little early Saturday morning shopping. I've had such a good day: shopping, LDS General Conference, more shopping, and now the Alabame v. Florida game where we are currently KILLING Florida. Love it!

5 Years Ago Today...

Five years ago today I had just moved to Provo, Utah, and applied for a job at Convergys. As I was sitting in the lobby waiting to take a computer test, in walked James Michael Simmons with his brother, Brodie. I watched them as they filled out their applications at the desk, thinking that the shorter one (James) was pretty cute. We all took the test in the same room and then had our individual interviews. James had his before me and somehow I overheard that he was hired. Little did I know that I would also be hired, be in the same training group with him, not talk with him during our week in training, quit after the training for another job, go to work where two of his step-brothers worked-one of which lived with him, and ultimately be asked to James' house by his step-brother, which would end up being the first night we talked/hung out and lead to six months of dating, five months being engaged, and currently four years of marriage. I love you James! I can't imagine life without you and I am so grateful to have met you five years ago.

Happenings

We haven't been up to much since I've started working. We've finally fallen into a half-normal routine, which I'm loving. Though we've had a little something extra thrown into the mix this last week: In addition to our being on the Ward Activities Committee, we've also been called as nursery workers! This Sunday was our first experience with the nursery, and I think it went really well. Obviously for James there is no better calling-two hours of toys and snacks, what more could he ask for? :) I was a little worried at first, other people's children are not always my favorite thing, and I was scared that two hours would be such a long time. But the time went by really fast and the children are really well behaved, so I think it will be fun! After church we went down to Brodie and Jennika's to eat dinner and watch the Texans game. We also played a little Tetris on the Wii of course. Shortly after this picture of the guys was taken, Brayden got up on the coffee table and said in the sweetest and most gentle voice, "She's beautiful! Uncle James, look she's so beautiful!" And he was pointing at me! It was the cutest thing and best delivered compliment I've ever heard! So this is a pic of me and Brayden after I got done hugging and kissing him. Also, today I got my diploma in the mail! Seeing it did make it seem more real that I'm a college graduate, but I still don't really believe it. I've been telling James that I want to take an accounting class or two in the Spring. I just can't give up school! And finally, I think we've found our Mexican place! Tonight we went to Julio's up in Tomball and it was SO SO good. It's out in the middle of nowhere-love-has a really nice atmosphere (you can eat outside and listen to the Texas country music)-love-and the salsa, chips, shrimp quesadillas, beef fajita nachos, and cheese enchiladas were fabulous.

Working Girl

After searching for two months, I finally started working today! This new job is such an answer to prayers, it's exactly what I wanted. Before we even moved here I would tell James that I just really hoped there would be a member in our new ward who needed someone to work in their office. Then last week my name was passed on to a member who was in need of an office worker, I interviewed yesterday morning, and started this morning! I was passed up for a job I interviewed for at a country club last month because I was "over qualified", and ever since then I have been really sad because I thought it would have been so great, but this is SO MUCH BETTER. Heavenly Father certainly knows what's best for me way more than I do and I'm so grateful for that.

To celebrate, James and I went to Olive Garden last night. My parents had sent us a gift card for our anniversary, so thanks Mom and Dad - it was delicious! I had a lovely summer laying by the pool almost every day and catching up on my television, but I'm so excited to be busy again and have something to take my mind off of missing Utah. AND to have extra money for clothes and house things :)

Finally... Alabama Football!!!

I am SO excited that college football has started again! I've missed it so much! I think I've decided that fall is my favorite time of year. I love when it starts getting cooler outside, shorter days, cooking chili, wearing my BAMA hoodie, watching College Game Day on Saturday mornings, and college football all Saturday long. Love it! We've decided that we're going to Alabama for thanksgiving, which is also the weekend Alabama plays Auburn IN Tuscaloosa... so at the very least we'll be going to T-town on game day to eat at Wing's and show James what college football is really like :) But hopefully we'll be herewith 101,800 other people watching this. Currently Bama is beating San Jose State 31-3... Roll Tide Roll!!!!!!!