Second Week in Austin

Thanks to the church, Fugro and some creativity on our part we had something to do everyday during our second week in this new place. By the way, I had no idea how difficult it is to post pictures and handle fonts in "blogger." This really makes it a task to blog.

Monday April 11^th, 2011

While busily working in my new office, the wonderful Jerry said that Fugro had a suite at the Texas Express (a Triple A baseball team) stadium and some tickets for the game that night. I decided to make it our family home evening activity and off we went to the ball game. I wouldn’t go to a ball game any other way with the kids.

1. The seats are fenced in so they can run around instead of sitting down the whole time.

2. It’s triple A so the stadium is smaller and you feel a lot closer to the action. Also for the same reason you have a lot better chance of catching a foul ball.

3. After the 5th inning when the not-so-zealous sports fans are getting bored (i.e. Rachel and my coworker’s mom), you can go inside and watch TV on a comfortable couch.

Tuesday April 12^th, 2011

Would you believe it, our moving van came. I’m not going to rehash all of the details or the reasons why I will NEVER use a moving company (especially All American Trusted Vanlines) again. Like Pumba says “sometimes you got to put your behind in your past.” Prior to moving we had downsized our possessions to about 1/3. Now that we have that third we are trying to downsize even more. My sister Jana said that she heard downsizing can get addictive and I would have to agree.

Luckily we had two Saints (literally) come and help us. Adam Brooks and Vince Methot from our ward offered some much needed help as the two moving guys could barely hand us the stuff fast enough for us to put it in the house. Adam’s wife, Vicky, even came by the next day and spent hours helping Rachel get the house in order. They live close by and have turned out to be great friends (more on that another time).

Wednesday April 13^th, 2011

In response to the Earthquake in Japan, our Stake is putting together some hygiene kits to send over there. They divided up the labor and our ward was responsible for 1000 tubes of toothpaste. Wednesday night the youth put on an event where people could go and “buy” baked goods and services with tubes of toothpaste. We left with a couple of plates of goodies, one 3-4 hour babysitting certificate, and an oil change. After that I went and played basketball, just like at my old ward. Is it church policy to have basketball on Wednesdays at 9pm or what? Ya know. No? Whatever.

Thursday April 14^th, 2011

Rachel went to a Relief Society, women only activity and I watched the chillins (as my SIL Brandi would say). She enjoyed the break from the kids and the time with the sisters.

Friday April 15^th, 2011

A family in our ward, the Carden’s, invited everyone out to their house on the outskirts of town. We had a turnout of over a hundred people and enjoyed the good food. One guy there was some kind of professional whistler and made a little set up and whistled better than a flute. It was quite the entertainment. The kids had a blast riding on their horses. They were a little timid at first, but soon could not get enough of it.

Saturday April 16^th, 2011

I wanted to do something fun this day and so I used a phone app, Goby, to find some family fun. We ended up finding a children’s museum in downtown Austin. Being downtown it was tough to find parking, but we eventually did. Here is the toll booth to park.

It explained exactly how to fold the bill, make sure you insert in the right hole, and then use your keys (or the “bill stuffer”) to push your bills into the box.

The children had a blast at the children’s museum. In fact we decided to buy a membership since it would cost about the same after 3 visits. It’s nice to let the kids run loose and play with everything that they want to without having to tell them “no” so much.

When Hannah plays she gets in this zone and it's as if the world around her slows down. Or at least this picture suggests that.

Finally here is my office. Since we moved here I have been spending 40+ hours here during the week (except of course when I’m traveling) and a good portion of my Saturdays (finishing up homework online while we still didn’t have internet at home). Heber comes with me sometimes. It is so funny how he acts. He just kept drinking from my cup and then putting it down like he had business to do. Notice the progression of these pictures.

And finally a scandalous glamour shot of Olive for your enjoyment.