Stake Dance

Bryan: Hey babe! Wanna go on a date with me this Saturday night?

Rebekah: You're asking me out on a date?

Bryan: Yeah...

Rebekah: Totally! What are we doing?

Bryan: We're going to the stake dance!


I loved the stake dances when I was 14-16 years old. I always made sure I could go. I would usually buy a new outfit for the dance and spend my whole afternoon getting ready for this social event that only happened once a month. I also LOVED to dance!

The stake dance wasn't like the good old days. Bryan and I danced swing to the country music. But most of the time we spent getting the youth on the dance floor. It is funny how stake dances never change. The YMCA, dancing queen, and cotton eye joe are over played. There is always that interpretive dancer. And girl drama, enough said. The only thing that has changed is the wall flowers. The wall sitters are no longer wall sitters. The wall sitters now have cell phones and spend most of their time text messaging. I wish I took a picture of the lines of people on the walls texting their friends. I just don't think kids should own a cell phone- it only brings trouble.

We had a lot of fun and will probably be doing it more often (since we're both involved in young mens and young womens). Thanks for reading!

Texas Toughest 10K

One of my goals this year was to run a 10K. When Bryan and I finally got settled in Killeen, we looked for some races. The name of the first available 10K was called "Texas Toughest". We didn't think much of it, that is until we actually competed. The race was mostly up hill and the weather was HOT! My original goal for the race was to finish uder 50 minutes. After I realized the race was actually going to be "tough", I changed my goal to under an hour and I met that one! Bryan is a superstar. His time was 40:19. He got 3rd place in his age group and 13th in the race.

This is me dying at the very end.
Bryan and I after the race.
I thought the guys in the background were pretty funny looking.

They reminded me of Starsky and Hutch.
Bryan thought the dog looked pretty cool with an award around his neck. I think the dog won the race.

Overall we had fun and are excited for our next race. Hopefully I can meet my goal of running under 50 minutes.

Tabletop

While Bryan was living with his parents in Owasso, he got a free Ethan Allen dining room set from a little old lady his mother knew. The table was all scratched from her dogs, so Bryan decided to learn how to refinish the tabletop. It was a lot of hard work. I'm not being bias, but I think it looks really good. It has a unique finish.


Now all I have to do is reupholster the chairs. Any ideas?



I was thinking....














or this...












The chairs have the fabric below.

Give me your ideas...

Schlitterbahn

Our 4th of July weekend was awesome! I actually got a four day holiday weekend, which never happens in the health care world. I am not sure whether it's because I am still on orientation or if my head nurse really takes care of her military employees. Either way, I was happy.

We swam in our church friends pool and played a mean game of Marco Polo. Bryan was the ultimate champion. Then we went to a BBQ with Bryans construction worker friends. Now they are your typical construction worker- smoke like a chimney, drink like a fish, never had dental care, and spend $500 on fireworks. All of his buddies were a very nice group of people, and I guess Bryan thinks they were a lot better than the construction workers he knew in Utah. Anyways, earlier that morning one of the workers was trying to get the Roman candle to aim into a trash can covered in gasoline. Not smart, but at least the fire department knew where their field was for later in the evening.

The next day we went to Schlitterbahn, it has been named one of the best waterparks for 10 years straight or something like that. A lot of the water rides actually go up hill- very powerful jets. Besides the lines being long and a huge rain storm passing by, we had a lot of fun playing in the water.

Updates:

I am still orienting to the mother/baby unit at the medical center working 3 days a week. Bryan is working tile and training to become a financial planner in his spare time. He just got a calling to the Young Men's as 2nd counselor and assistant scout master. We close on our townhouse in downtown Medical Center Houston at the end of this month and are way excited to move into something bigger. I am moving in with a friend while her husband is deployed at the end of the month as well. She travels a bunch with her job and needs someone to care for her dogs. It works perfect for both our situations and I feel so blessed and grateful to my Father in Heaven for answering Bryan, mine, and Sarah's prayers.

Hot Rod

So Bryan and I recently signed up for Netflicks. It costs $5-13 depending on how many movies you want sent out at a time (1-3). Probably one of the smartest businesses of renting movies. You go online and select all the movies you want to see, put them in your order of preference to be sent, receive the movie in the mail, and return the movie with a prepaid envelope.


Anyways, we just watched a pretty funny, but really stupid movie last night. It is very similar to Napolean Dynamite. So if you liked that movie, I think you will enjoy Hot Rod. It is about a stunt-man trying to raise money for his abusive step-fathers heart transplant. Here is the link: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi26214681/

Busy Bees

I am sure most of you are dying to find out what Bryan and I have been up to these past couple of weeks. You have probably been clicking on our link and been disappointed each time you saw that giant red "Do Not Enter" sign pops up on your screen.

Well, we are sortof settled.

I guess it's been a difficult process because we moved into a 1 bedroom apartment! It's cute, but small. On top of the unpacking process, we have to organize all the stuff that needs to be with Bryan in Houston. So, we are kindof repacking.

We've been trying to make fun in Killeen. I talked to someone who said there is a total of 3 things to do here. 1) Putt-put 2) Cowboy Dance Hall 3) Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area (BLORA). We have done 2 of the 3, and are excited to go dancing sometime between our lists of things to do. BLORA is actually pretty neat. It is a resort dedicated to military personnel that has picnics, parks, lakes, pools, boat/jet ski rentals, paintballing, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Military's free.

This past weekend we went to Houston. Bryan wanted to visit the house he grew up in. It's pretty nice and big enough to fit a family of 14. I guess the new owners decided to paint the outside a lighter brown, but that seemed to be the only difference. Bryan was too shy to ring the doorbell and let me check out the inside. That would have been neat, but maybe a little intrusive.

During our time in Houston, we checked out Bryan's College of Optometry and townhomes in the area. We found something we really like and we will have LDS neighbors, a plus! We will be headed down this week to make an offer. Currently, we are very interested in the foreclosed townhome because its cheaper and Bryan will have some fun cleaning it up and doing construction in his spare time (if he has any?!?)

We absolutely love our ward! We have been to several activities and just feel so welcomed here. There are also a couple people in our stake we know from BYU ROTC- the Pratts, the Noises, the Garners, and coming soon Vennemen, Willis, and Adair. Its a pretty small world.

One of our ward activities was going to this AA football game, or older men who graduated from high school 10-15 years ago and still think they could go pro. It was the Killeen Baracudas vs the Copperas Cove Hammerheads. Super intense game. Good thing the field was only 50 meters! I make fun, but it was actually really fun to watch.

We are having fun and enjoying Texas. We miss all are family and friends! You're in our prayers.

Going Private

Bryan and I have come to this conclusion. Sorry! If you want to view our site, leave your email address in the comments. Thanks!