See ya in Idaho!

Well, Kent is ready to put the computer away as I speak. We're packing up the car and we'll leave tomorrow after work. (I get to spend the day tomorrow in a furniture-less, computer-less, food-less, EVERYTHING-less house. Hopefully I can be creative about ways to spend my time.) We'll drive for six hours tomorrow, thirteen on Saturday, and four more to Logan on Sunday. I got a new cookbook to read on the drive, I stocked up on traveling snacks, and I've got my little duffle for the hotels all packed and ready to go. And hey, it's 20 degrees cooler outside tonight than it was when we moved all this stuff up the stairs back in May. Lovely. I never knew 86 degrees would sound so nice.

See you later!

Protect Marriage

I know that this is something you can only vote for if you live in California, but I just wanted to let it be known that I agree with Proposition 8; to protect the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman only. Teresa sent me a link to this great video about it. It's kind of long, but it's very well done and worth watching! http://www.afa.net/prop8video/index.html

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are obligated to stand up for what we believe. I believe that the family is the fundamental unit of society. I hope that I can raise my future children in a society that agrees with me. It is kind of scary to think of what a few people can do to change the foundations of what the majority believes.

These are quotes from "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." You can read all of this statement of our beliefs here.

"We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children."

"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."

"The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife."

"We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society."

Weekend Adventure # 12

Our Goodbye to San Antonio.

We wanted to do something really special this weekend. We've had so many adventures while we've been here; what could we find to top the Natural Bridge Caverns, Toobing the Comal river, or the Schlitterbahn water park? The situation looked bleak for a few days last week, but then we stumbled upon it. The perfect way to end our summer. So we got everything planned and looked forward to Saturday.

We started off the day with a scrumptious breakfast at The Guenther House. I had the almond pancakes, and Kent got the breakfast tacos. Mmmm... We sat outside on their little patio because it was a gorgeous morning yesterday. It was absolutely lovely.

And then, we drove to the airport for our...

Helicopter Tour!!

The Tower of the Americas, where the Chart House Restaurant is.

And here's what the Alamo looks like from above. Helicopters are an awesome way to travel!This is one of the Spanish missions that was set up when San Antonio was still part of Mexico.

Next time, I'm putting my hair in a ponytail. It was all over the place!

And now we can say we've truly seen what San Antonio has to offer!

I'm not working this week, so I can spend all my time packing. We leave on Friday.

Weekend Adventure # 11

(This is Kent in a show home's master closet. It was HUGE! Texan's sure like their closet space. Even our tiny one-bedroom has a ton of closet space)

Whew! Another weekend passed. We only have one left! And it's supposed to rain tomorrow, but I sure hope that doesn't interfere with our really awesome adventure we have planned. It's going to...well, I won't tell you any more right now, and you'll just have to wait until Sunday to find out.

Saturday morning, we babysat another intern's three kids. They were sweet, polite, and the baby was adorable. We had a fun time with them, and while we were watching Madagascar, Kent and I both commented on how nice it felt to have a bunch of little bodies around. We felt like we were playing "house."

For lunch/dinner (linner? dunch?) on Saturday, we went Mexican. There's a place right next to USAA that we've driven past a number of times and wanted to try, but as we walked in and saw the ordering counter, the fast-food-esque menu, etc., we walked back out. We wanted something more real, I guess. And it's a good thing we did! We chose Perico's. (You should click on that so you can hear the music that I'm listening to right now). :D Anyway, Perico's was a fabulous choice! Mmmm!

Kent ordered the Carne Asada (surprise.) and I got puffy tacos because they are "a San Antonio Favorite." And now I know why Kent and I are in the 5% of people here who are actually at a healthy weight. The food was great, though, and we finished it off with a scrumptious Tres de Leche cake.

Gratitude

We found out today that Kent has been offered the position at USAA for next year. We haven't made our decision yet--we'll continue looking at our options during Fall semester. But I'm so grateful to have this offer for us. It's wonderful to know that we will have somewhere to go if we can't find anything we like better. We kind of knew the offer was coming--but now it's official. And we are relieved and very, very grateful! We have been very blessed.

USAA also offers an awesome relocation program for new employees (they'll come up to our apartment, pack everything themselves, move our stuff, move our car, and give us a relocation bonus). Whew!

We'll see what we decide. I'm grateful, though.

Pride and Prejudice

This is the movie that Kent requested we watch on Saturday night. I was so shocked. "What? You want to watch that? You're asking to watch that?" It is my all-time favorite movie. And we had a delightful time watching it. Kent could even quote the lines this time through. I guess I've converted him.

Weekend Adventure # 10

Today we went 'toobing' down the Comal River! SO refreshing. And very fun. This wasn't the first time we've tried this, so today we woke up early (I'll just say that it wasn't Kent's idea) and drove out there to be the first in line. We got donuts on the way (which was Kent's idea). It was perfect. We even arrived before they started making people pay for the public parking. Wahoo!

I didn't get pictures, because my camera does not like water. But I found these ones online. The river is so perfect, the water is 72 degrees all year round, and it's the best temperature for cooling you off without freezing you. And there are three "toob chutes" that you go down. If we end up here next summer and if anyone comes to visit us, we are definitely taking you to the river.

Weekend Adventure # 9

This weekend we were hot and sweaty. It got to 107 degrees on Sunday. Whew!
So to retreat from the heat we went to the:
We weren't the only people taking pictures by this road sign.

Actually, we went to the Natural Bridge Caverns. It sounded like a nice, cold environment that would cool us off wonderfully.
In reality it was 70 degrees and 99% humidity! But this little frog didn't seem to mind it. He was 90 feet below the ground!

Since the cave actually just made us sweatier, we went on an across-the-city hunt for Jamba. We found her, and we used half a tank of gas doing so. But those juices were mmm....good.

On Thursday we had gone to eat at

It was along the Riverwalk. It was fun, but the food was pretty pricy. I guess we were paying for the fish tank next to our table and the animatron monkeys hanging from the ceiling more than anything.

And then, since we are in San Antonio, we had to visit the Alamo! Now I can finally say I've been there. And lost three pounds of waterweight. It was so hot that we stopped in every other shop on the way back to the parking garage-just so we could stand in the airconditioning for a few minutes.