Upgrade our House: A Touch of Eddie

Omar has been on an updating streak ever since Eddie, Omar's brother, came to visit us for a month.A week before he left he decided that we need to do some upgrades. So we figured why not? Free labor... I'll take it.

It started with removing the carpet from our floors and the tile from the kitchen.

Then it was installing wood tile....

Eddie working on the family room

Omar cutting tile

looking pretty good  

Then the hallway

Notice the grey paint trim --- painting the room was a must with the tile

Check out our baseboards and front hallway

Then the kithchen

Then the pantry

The laundry room

love the tile to tile transfer from hallway to the bahtroom

Top it all off with a brand new rock wall around our fireplace

Pretty impressive for a week's work!

General Conference April 2014

Priesthood Session:
The first talk that I had the opportunity to listen to for this session of Conference was Dallin H Oaks. Ironic that it was during the Priesthood Session as I have never watched it live. I felt like it was not only very timely, but a needed talk for some of the Sisters of the church. Interesting that it was the first one of the Priesthood Session. I have been following this whole "ordain women" movement taking place. I know people that are on both sides and I have not verbally or in written form said where I stand in all of this because I feel like this whole protest or movement has brought negative publicity to the church. I am not one of those sisters that is sympathetic to their cause.

Do I think it is bad to be outspoken? No, I don't think so. Are these sisters bad because of what they think? No. Does speaking out about your beliefs or desires bring about good? It can.

People say that if these Sisters had not spoken up the Priesthood session would not have started to be broadcast to all to watch rather than waiting for it to come out later online or in the Ensign. That may have sped up the process in broadcasting it. This protest has been compared to Blacks receiving the priesthood and even polygamy but really those issues were based on waiting on the Lord. I have never heard anything about women receiving the priesthood in the future or questioned the Lord in who is "ordained" to the priesthood.  I feel that I understand their points as to why things should change when it comes to ordaining women. I personally feel that is not our mission in this life and I trust the Brethren and more importantly in the Lord. Could this change in the future, yes I suppose so, but I personally don't think it is part of His plan during this mortal life. If that changes I will learn my new responsibilities and do my best to uphold what the Lord expects and asks of me. As of right now I have plenty of things as a woman "unordained" that I can work on that can draw me closer to the Savior.

President Dallin H Oaks helped me think about my current and previous callings in a new light.
1)  I love that he said that there is no up or down in church callings, there is only forward and backward. How true that is I think in everything that you do in life. You can be a CEO or a janitor - but your attitude, how you choose to work every day causes you to move forward or to move backward. Does the Lord really care what your job is? Not so much (so long as it is something that is not against his commandments).
2) I never thought about how when I am in a teaching role or any church calling where I am set apart by someone who is ordained and holds the priesthood that I hold the priesthood as well.

Another thing that I pondered that President Oaks mentioned was how we need to forget about our "rights" and focus on our "responsibilities". As a world we are so focused on our rights rather than our responsibilities what a better place this world would be if we changed that.

Other thoughts from talks that spoke to me...

Donald L Hallstrom:
"When we say, 'That is just the way I am,' we give up our ability to change."
"Commonly accepted practices in the world choke our priesthood power."

Randall L Ridd:
"As important it is to leave home fully charged on your cell phone, it is far more important to leave home fully charged spiritually."

President Dieter F Uchtdorf:
Are you sleeping through the restoration?
Do I seek self-service over selfless service?  "Selfishness over selflessness skews our priorities"

Sunday Morning Session:
President Dieter F Uchtdorf:
See gratitude as a disposition.
Instead of being grateful FOR things - focus on being thankful IN our circumstances.
It means that "through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present day challenges."
"...We need to set aside the bottle of bitterness and instead drink from the goblet of gratitude".

Elder David A Bednar
Is the load I am carrying ...
         1) producing the spiritual traction that is enabling me to press forward on the straight and narrow path                and avoid getting stuck?
         2) creating sufficient spiritual traction so I can safely get home to my Heavenly Father?

"We often mistakenly think that happiness is the absence of a load"

A Day in Savannah - St Patricks Celebration

We bought a Groupon with the Schreibers for Paula Deen's Lady & Sons. We went to Savannah yesterday to eat there and most of us didn't realize that it was St Patrick's Day weekend. Savannah has the 2nd largest St Patrick's Day parade in the country. It was a fun day to go just because there were stages everywhere with live music playing, tons of people in the street too. I loved seeing all the fountains around full of green water. I bought a super cute shirt and a hat so I could fit in with all the people. It was a great day! I'm happy to have such great friends and am sad that they are now in a different ward than us since our ward split 2 weeks ago.

 

 

6th Wedding Anniversary: Trip Continued

On Saturday - really our anniversary - we went to Sea World. We were supposed to meet Denise again but she and her friends who flew in on Friday didn't show up. Saturday was a gorgeous day - perfect weather and Sea World was empty. All the rides took about 5-10 minutes! We went on Manta Ray 2x, Atlantis, Kraken, Turtle Trek, looked at the different aquariums and of course spent at least 30 minutes at the Stingray pool - my favorite. Our ticket admission also included admission to BBQ, Bands, and Brew which had Hank Williams Jr performing. We didn't stay the whole time but he is extremely talented and good at putting a show on.

 

love that this turtle has all its legs up warming himself in the sun

My favorite spot at Sea World is at the Sting Ray Lagoon

The whole reason Omar likes Sea World is for the turkey legs

 

We went back to Kissimmee and picked my sister up so we could go and eat papusas together. Omar can't resist having some each time we are there. It was Kelly's first time eating papusas. We then went to Mo Merrill's 60th birthday party - it was so good to see some people who have been such an important part of my life growing up. It was a great anniversary weekend.

papusas

6th Wedding Anniversary Weekend: Victoria & Albert's

After working a really long day at work Omar drove us in my new car (YEAH) to Orlando. Friday morning we woke up and met Omar's "sister" Denise and her friend along with my parents and my sister Kelly at Disney Hollywood Studios. I don't remember the last time that I went there. We had a great time going on Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Beauty and the Beast show, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (I was an extra in it!), and Star Tours. We were there for a few hours and left to go home and rest a little until our anniversary dinner at Victoria & Albert's.

Victoria & Albert's was amazing. It was a 10 course meal. It was not cheap but it was totally worth it. I would be interested to see how price changes through the years so I will just say it cost $210/pp not including tax and gratuity. It was beautiful and very private in the room we were in. We had 2 servers that pampered us. The awesome thing is they are both married to each other and it was wonderful to see how they interacted and treated each other. The whole meal took 3.5 hours! I am surprised we made it through that long at dinner as normally we are at restaurants for about 30 minutes on average. But it was an amazing experience and the time flew by. They gave me a shawl to wear as I was a little cold. They explained each component of the entrees with expertise and suave. I loved it and would go back in a heart beat. What isn't pictured below are the 3 different types of breads and butters they gave us throughout the meal. We were stuffed by the end. Even Omar enjoyed everything

Amuse- Bouche: Maine Lobster "Jar" with Siberian Osetra Caviar



Octopus "A La Plancha" with Black Garlic Aioli

Hot "Smoked" Niman Ranch Lamb with Fuji Apple and Curry Dressing

Fennel Crusted Diver Scallop in a Pink Himalayan Salt Bowl surrounded by aromatic salts and spices

Truffle butter that was made to go along with the truffle brioche bread



Poached Chicken Egg and Sausage

Colorado Bisno with Caraway Seed Vinaigrette



Australian Kobe-Style Beef with Potato Sphere



Selection of cheese from the trolley

Buffalo Mozzarella (Upper left corner); Parmesan; Honey Comb; Dried fruit strip; dried apricots; 2 cheeses I don't recall; candied walnuts and blue cheese

Apple Quark Panna Cotta

percolators brewing tea

Peruvian Chocolate Timbale with Roasted White Chocolate Gelato

One of our waiters describing the various chocolates

My First Car Purchase

Lovin' these new wheels

I have never bought a car before. I learned how to drive on my dad's Acura and when that basically died we had a Toyota 4-Runner as a kid car to use. I was fortunate enough to use that car few semesters at college. I then served a mission and I had the same car my whole mission - for a missionary it was a super beat up car, surprisingly enough - a white Impala. When I came home from my mission I used my mom's Honda Civic until I got engaged to Omar. He had a 2007 Toyota Camry that he never used and so it became my car.

The old Camry

I used it tons of course. We have kept it in good shape taking care of it. I went to get an oil change a few weeks ago and they said there was no oil touching the dipstick which is odd because our car really wasn't overdue for an oil change. I had been noticing it working a little harder than normal when using the RPMs. Omar asked some friends and they thought the oil was going into the pistons or the transmission might start to be going since we haven't seen oil on the ground or anything. It was time to look for a new car.

We used USAA car buying service and I got my first auto loan through our local credit union. At night in the dark after work Omar and I would go to different auto stores to find the right vehicle. I thought that I wanted something different and so we weren't planning to go to Toyota. I wanted a mid-size Sedan since they tend to have better gas mileage and I drive 80 miles a day at least. I wouldn't be opposed to a hybrid but the battery takes up too much room in the trunk which doesn't work for our traveling needs.

We went to Ford and Chevy and decided those were not the cars for us without even doing a test drive. We went to Nissan and test drove the Altima - it was pretty nice. We went over to Honda for the Accord, but the ride was way too loud. We then went to Hyundai but the car felt too cramped and the ceiling was low.

Just to double check we went over to Toyota to drive the new Camry. It just felt right! We were able to get $6k for our trade-in, which Omar was shocked that I was able to manage that much for it. We walked out the door with another grey 2014.5 Camry SLE for $16k and change. The funny thing is I didn't see my car in the day light for about 2 days. I am loving my new car and all of its features, especially the seat warmers.

I hit 1,000 miles within a week of owning the car and it came to me with 6 miles on it!

 Now to pay this car off in a year and a half!

My new car on the lot - right after buying it!