Houston and Austin in December 2009

Remember when we went to BNAT 11? Well, we also did some sight-seeing around Houston and Dallas. We've been to Houston before, but just to see the temple.

Houston temple in 2007

This time we went to Houston with my sister Abby and her oldest daughter Jordan (who is almost 13-- I can't believe it!) First we went to the Battleship Texas. I have never been on a real battleship, but my dad used to be in the navy (before he was a hippie), so it was cool to see the kind of conditions he lived in.

Unfortunately, we did not get to camp overnight, but if we had we could have used these beds:

My dad said that it was in the navy where he got used to sleeping on his back because the bunks were too close together to turn over or sleep on your side. There were literally beds everywhere they could put them in the ship. Yikes!

Some other things on the ship:

Battleship Texas-- 1600s version

We also went to the Johnson Space Center, which was pretty much the coolest place I have been to possibly ever. Some things we saw:

Mandatory green screen picture

Mission Control! They have a little viewing room.

Saturn V Shuttle

The astronaut training room

Me, my niece, and my #2 sister (in birth order, not likability) Abby

We also finally (after three years of visiting Austin) went to the UT Austin tower. 

The Tower

George Washington statue

At the top

April in SoCal

I know I mentioned we went to Disneyland, but I never posted about our entire trip to Southern California that we took in April when I had a week break between school terms. My brother lives in Dana Point, right near the beach, so we went to visit him. My brother has some health problems, so when we got there he was actually in the hospital. But my sister and her family were there at the end of their visit, so we were able to go to the beach with them.

Us at the beach

Josh with our niece Alice

Josh played with Laura's kids-- he would pull up Alice when the waves came in while Brad and Carl would run back and forth-- while I got to sit and talk with my sister. It was the only day with good weather the entire time we were there.

The next day we had planned to go to Disneyland with my brother, but he was still not feeling well, so we went alone for the day. Disneyland in April is awesome. Our main goal was to see "Captain Eo," which Josh had never seen. 

In front of Sleeping Beauty's castle

Notice how uncrowded it is in the background? It was beautiful. The only times we ever actually had to wait was for Peter Pan (where, I kid you not, some dude was feeling up his pregnant wife/girlfriend) and Space Mountain (only for our last ride).

When he heard they were bringing Captain Eo back as a tribute to Michael Jackson, he was excited because he had never seen it, but sad because we had just been to Disneyland with my family in October and his family last March, and we had no plans to go back again. But then my brother had surgery and we wanted to go see him, so we figured we could also go see "Captain Eo." Aren't I the greatest wife ever?

It was a great time to go because only a few of the attractions were closed, including the Rivers of America. It was cool to see the tracks and things that are normally underwater. Interestingly, though Josh and I have been to Disneyland several times, we've never been to Tom Sawyer's Island or on the ships. We have also never been on Dumbo, Autopia, or the carousel. 

Josh loves taking pictures of "behind the scenes"

This was completely random, but Scott MacIntyre from American Idol was sitting across from us on the Jungle Cruise. I didn't even notice him until Josh pointed him out. All through his season on American Idol, I referred to him as my tv boyfriend because he was so fun to watch. You could tell that he was really excited to be there. Because he is mostly blind, his girlfriend pointed his hand at the animals and described what was going on. It was very sweet.

My absolute favorite ride is Indiana Jones. It's full of excitement, intrigue, and an introductory film strip that Josh and I have memorized. 

Josh and the snake statues outside the ride

Josh watching out for spikes inside the ride

One of my favorite things about Disneyland is that there aren't just rides, but an entire experience. I know that's silly to say, but being at Disneyland is like being on a different planet. Here is Josh in front of the Star Wars "travel destination" posters: 

Of course, we rode Space Mountain a zillion times:

Oh, and there was also this thing that happened.

We also got to hang out with my brother and watch some movies. On our last day, Austin and Josh went to an Adam Carolla live podcast. Josh said it was hilarious, but I'm glad I didn't have to go.

I have tons of pictures from other trips we have taken over this past year, and I'm going to try to post about them. In the future we're planning trips to Vancouver, BC (to visit the new temple), Medford and Reno (to visit the Westons and also visit those temples), and Hawaii (for a wedding, but also to visit the temples). We have gotten to a point now where we plan trips based solely on which temples we want to see, which is pretty nerdy. 

"You have a small mouth, but such a powerful tongue!"

I went to the dentist today, which is visit #2 of 5 I have to look forward to in the next couple months. I hadn't been to the dentist since right before Josh and I got married, and the only reason I went even then was because I had a broken tooth and jaw pain (which turned out to be stress-related, which I guess was a no-brainer since I was about to get married).

I honestly have wanted to go to the dentist, there were just some factors that kept getting in the way. But last week I went to my dentist (at Perfect Smile in Beaverton), who I think is very nice and so far would recommend her to others, for a teeth cleaning and x-rays. It was no surprise when she found that my mouth is riddled with multiple cavities.

So to fill in all my cavities, we are doing one quadrant at a time, which means that the ladies at Perfect Smile will get to know me well in the next couple months. It reminds me of when I decided to paint the centerpieces (bowls) for my reception, and I went to a pottery painting place for months. I was so familiar with it, and the ladies who worked there were so familiar with me, it was weird when I was finally done.

I hate going to the dentist, though. The drill is the worst part, but then having my face numb for most of the day is also pretty bad.

Though, in this picture it's not so bad, I couldn't feel my lips at all. I put lipgloss on, but then couldn't rub my lips together. Josh went to give me a kiss, but I couldn't even pucker.

P.S. The title from the post is an exact quote from my dentist. About me. It made me laugh.

The Closet: An Update

Remember when this happened?

Well, we are finally getting a new closet (yay!) Tonight we had our FHE in the closet. Right now our lessons are coming from the book Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon: Is this the place? by Dr. John Lund. Josh pulled out nails and I read out loud, then we spackled together.

But we're left with a dilemma. We have all this wire shelving for which we have absolutely no use. I would like to recycle it or reuse it or something. Does anyone have any use for wire shelving? We would gladly give away everything we have, which includes the metal arms and screws, though all of the dry wall anchors are broken.

Here are some of the shelves:

We have two really long shelves, too, but those are in the garage. We would love it if someone wanted them, because we really, really, really don't, and I worry that we'll just end up dropping them off at the dump.

There were so many holes in our walls, but we spackled them all. Our next goal (Saturday) is to repaint the whole closet, but we haven't decided on a color yet. It depends on what leftover paint we have in the garage.

The pink spots are spackle-- where there used to be holes

In the meantime, all of our clothes are in the Cloud Room. It's extremely frustrating. 

Josh also has a ridiculous amount of clothing, so next FHE will be devoted to sorting things out for the DI trailer. Somewhere some lucky XL guy will get to be the recipient of Josh's 500 t-shirts.

The Smallest Thing Has Derailed My Day

I've been corresponding with a professor by e-mail for a little bit, and today I got an e-mail back from her saying that it was nice to see me the other day. The thing is, I don't think I saw her "the other day" or, really, for months, so  it made me wonder who she thinks I am.

Not in a snarky "WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE'S DEALING WITH?!" kind of way, but in a seriously confused who does she think I am? Who does she think she's been talking to this entire time?

It's possible that I did see her at some point in time and just don't remember. Since starting graduate school my memory retention has decreased to that of a new puppy or goldfish. But I strongly suspect that this isn't the case. I strongly suspect that she just, genuinely, doesn't know who I am.

**sigh**

It made me feel forgettable, and that made me sad.

Spooky Little Girl

When Josh and I were dating for awhile, we started reading together. We have differing accounts about how this happened and which book was first, but we would read books by Laurie Notaro and laugh so hard we nearly peed. It is one of my many fun memories from before we were married. She is most well-known for her Idiot Girl's books, which are essays about her life.

Tonight we got to go to a book reading for Laurie Notaro's most recent book Spooky Little Girl, which I haven't read yet, but am looking forward to. I didn't get to see her on her last book tour, for there's a (slight) chance i might be going to hell, which was her first work of fiction and strongly influenced by her move to Eugene from Phoenix, because I was really sick, but Josh and I made sure to be at Powell's for this book tour (the last stop!)

Here I am waiting for the whole thing to start (we were apparently 30 minutes early):

Things filled up later. Josh remarked that it was a lot like the time when we went to a taping of "The Ellen Show"-- a lot of ladies out on the town. A lot of saving seats with purses, talking about how many seats needed to be saved, shouting across the room at each other, and cacklaughing. Also, a lot of back tattoos.

As predicted, Laurie Notaro was hilarious. She read a bit from Spooky Little Girl and something from her not-yet-published book about how she and a friend dressed up like characters from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? for Halloween and she "saved" her friend from "choking." I can't recreate it, but it was funny stuff.

My only complaint is that, though we were in the second row, we somehow ended up toward the back of the book-signing line. There were a fair amount of people there, and Laurie Notaro talked to everyone, so it took awhile. Josh and I got a little nuts.

Here we are standing in line:

As time wore on, we started goofing around/reading books.

Our devil pictures:

There were some other pictures, which I've decided not to share. 

An interesting thing, and if you've been to readings at Powell's you may have already been aware of this, is that the lectern for readings looks like a stack of books. 

The books in the top part are actual books by writer Bret Harte. I found that interesting.

Finally we got to the front and got to talk with Laurie Notaro (Josh invited her to Hoodoo, and I just rolled my eyes), and we got to take a couple pictures.

The first one was the result of the woman taking the picture telling us to "say menopause!"

So we had to take another:

Totally worth it! If you're looking for a funny book to read, Laurie Notaro has now published 8 of them, so you have a lot to choose from.

Also, Josh bought this pin for me, which I'm going to wear to my next book club meeting:

It's MY Turn!

This past week, I introduced Josh to the glory that is "My Turn on Earth," the wildly popular LDS musical. He had never seen it, though I periodically break into songs from the show, so I made him watch it. We have a long-standing argument in our house about whether "My Turn on Earth" or "Saturday's Warrior" is better, and I think I finally may have tipped him to my side.

However, Josh is still adamant that the production value on the "Saturday's Warrior" film is much better, but I don't think it's fair when "My Turn on Earth" was filmed as a stage play in 1986.

Watching the movie again, I was reminded of how many times I've seen it before. It's been years since I've listened to the music, but I still remember nearly every word of every song (and a lot of the choreography too. . . did I mention I used to re-enact it?)

What do YOU think? "My Turn on Earth" or "Saturday's Warrior"?