I made a Stoup!

As requested by Jenn, here are some pictures from the weekend (I have no idea how to do a slideshow so they're just normal!)

The girls before a day on the lake

The whole Aggie gang! Haley & I on the tube
Happy birthday to Ryan!

Jet ski day!

Now for the stoup! I made a stoup (a stew-like soup, according to Rachael Ray) a couple nights ago that is very yummy! I stole the ingredients from a friend here & created my own version that turned out pretty well, so here's the recipe!

3 boxes of chicken broth
1 med. can of tomato paste
1 package of tortellini
1 package of sausage
1 small package of baby carrots (you can use real ones but I realized I didn't have a carrot grater!)
4 leeks

Mix broth & tomato paste in a large saucepan
Chop carrots & leeks & add to soup
Bring soup to a simmer
Cook sausage separately in a saucer & set aside
Bring soup to a boil then add tortellini until fully cooked
Bring soup back to simmer
Add sausage, continue to simmer as long as desired (the soup tastes better if the flavors have a chance to mix)

I also bought the HEB bread that is frozen (multigrain is really good) & fixed that with butter that I added cinnamon to... yum. You could substitute potatoes in for the tortellini & I think it would still be really good. & FYI, this recipe makes a LOT of soup!!

This meal is really filling & yummy!

J&C

Weekend at the Lake

This weekend Josh & I went with Brad & Haley & Melissa & Ryan to Melissa's parents' lakehouse north of Houston. It was a lot of fun! We skiied, wakeboarded, tubed, & jet skiied. We all ended up pretty sore & tired but it was great being out on the water, soaking up the sun, & spending time with friends!

Seeing as how I have just done some super fun cleaning today, I have decided to list my top most disliked & most liked chores. Whoohoo!

Most Disliked

1. Cleaning the countertops in the bathroom. (sick nasty)
2. Cleaning the tub. (involves awkward leaning, also sick nasty)
3. Ironing. (I'm so bad at it & it makes me hot & my back starts hurting)

Most Liked

1. Laundry. (who doesn't love a chore that has a machine do most of the work?)
2. Vacuuming. (easy as long as there isn't stuff all over the floors)
3. Doing the Dishes. (pretty easy stuff)

Mega-Bonus for chores:

Burns calories!

:-)

J&C

It's taco salad night!

You'd think with this whole "no job" thing, I'd update this more often.

Apparently not.

Okay, I have a very important question. I have asked this question several times, but have forgotten each time, but now it is unavoidable. I now have a last name that ends in "s". Darn. So, how do you put it - the Roberts's, the Roberts', the Robertssssssss? (Mainly the first two choices are the source of my confusion.) Is it the first one? I even asked Josh like a month ago, & he told me, & I still forgot. Jeepers.

I really have had things to say, but I've just not sat down to write them.

We have some new friends we're really excited about. There is this couple, Brad & Haley, that we knew in college - he was my Impact leader, she lived in the same apartment building as me, they went to our church. We always small-chatted but never hung out. Well, at Matt & Erin's wedding, we found out they were moving here. So they have been going to our church & we have hung out as couples twice, & I have hung out with Haley several times. What fun! We are so thankful for like-minded friends that are also goobery like we are. :-)

There has been some interesting stuff going on lately that I may or may not blog about. But overall it has been good, because Josh & I have been challenged & have grown to know the Lord more intimately & have become more aware of His power & the things He does that make us stand in awe of Him. It's good stuff.

We are so glad to finally both be back in San Antonio - actually LIVING here!! It's great. We are falling into our routine (we both love our routine you know), & Josh is enjoying finally being in the office & learning more about the things he will actually be doing for his job. & we are especially glad to be spending time with people, making new friends & strengthening the friendships we have made in the past three months. God is good.

Should you pray for us, please pray that I would continue to be content where the Lord has me & that I would trust & be patient on Him. His timing is never wrong, & I know He has something for me, I just don't know what or when. & right now that is okay with me, & I am so thankful to have a husband that prays for me & trusts what I hear from the Lord, which right now is "wait." So we wait!

Josh & I have been getting into green tea. The hot kind, like the kind you get at Chinese food restaurants. Isn't that fun? I might get some tonight at Starbucks.

Check out the Dodds'ssssssss blog - I'm super excited Bailey started blogging, & maybe if I plug her blog then she'll update often. :-)

J&C

Brief. (Discovery!)

So. Good.

These things are the perfect amount of sweetness in just 140 calories! You must go get them. Eat them after dinner, as a snack, heck, have a yummy breakfast.

I will write more perhaps tomorrow. Tonight was a really good night, & I'm hopeful for what the Lord might do this week.

Please pray for Josh while he finishes up training this week in Alabama!

J&C

I am a blogging fool!

What a productive day I have had!

I went to the bank to get my new debit card sent since the first one got lost or something, checked out the sale at Kohl's (but bought nothing, oh well), ate some salad, did three loads of laundry, took out the trash, cleaned the toilets, dusted, & I think I might just vacuum!

Josh has driven through three states & is now sitting in an airport. Poor Joshie.

I'm pretty excited about this weekend! Of course I'm glad because Josh is coming home to break up his two weeks in the... state next to the Peach State. But we are going to have a home-cooked meal tonight & watch High School Musical! Neither of us have seen it & we want to see what the big deal is with this movie!

Then tomorrow I am going to Ranelle's baby shower & hopefully Josh & I will be able to hang out with some of our new friends since we haven't been seeing too much of them.

Sunday we start working in the Sunday School at church!! We are going to be shepherds for (most likely) fourth graders, which means we won't be doing the teaching, but our role is more relational. I'm really excited about it! We have a training meeting before church then start that day, & we will be in there every other week since there is only one service. Yay! Thank the Lord for an amazing church to get involved in & start serving so quickly!

Next week I'm staying here. I'm planning on hanging out with a couple friends, hopefully getting a new social security card, & probably some car maintenance - wash, oil change, new brakes. It shouldn't be too bad of a week... our LAST week with Josh out of town!!! Wahoo!

Yay for life getting going in San Antonio!

J&C

Curly Swirlies!

Okay, so how do these people get these super-cute fonts to sign their blog? I like super-cute fonts!! Anyone, anyone???

We (almost) finally live in SA!

Okay, so my hair faded really quickly. Darn. I'm going to dye it again soon, drastically darker, so hopefully it will fade to the right color. :-)

I spent Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday in Midland with my parents. I didn't do too much, ran some errands with my mom, visited Leslie, etc. Josh has been observing the building of a condo on the beach in Alabama this week but he gets to come home tomorrow!! Yay! Then he'll head back for his LAST week of training - wahoo!!

I forgot to write about something last time. So, the last Sunday Josh & I were in Houston, we visited Lakewood "Church." Yes, Joel Osteen's "church." Goodness, we need to pray that people are not deceived by him!! It's really sad that God's name can be placed on what Joel says. If you are not familiar with him, his "sermons" consist of him telling you, in some way, how you can make your dreams come true, how you can make yourself earn lots of money & be healthy & happy, & how we can use God to do those things. Listen to him sometime. I get so frustrated, mainly because I can't tell if Joel knows he is exploiting the name of the Lord & His Word, or if he is just terribly, terribly deceived as well.

Anyways, for those of you who haven't been to Lakewood, the singing is very high energy, like a concert (apparently the music team writes the songs they sing, so we heard, so we didn't know any of them), Joel rarely mentions scripture & definitely doesn't use his Bible, & - this part is an absolutely mystery to me - almost EVERYONE seems to give money during the offering. Not quite sure how he convinced everyone to do that (I'm not sure that I would be motivated to give if I did not know the Lord & love His church!)... but everyone seemed to put a white envelope in those buckets. We checked out this envelope - you put your name, file number, & amount on the outside - oh, & if you want any of the money to go to missions, you better put an amount in that box, or they won't. They don't give to missions unless the giver specifically says to.

Joel is in a very dangerous place. God is not One to be exploited.

I'm not as good as some at summing up what Joel says, so just Google "Joel Osteen" & read the articles that come up.

OH, I almost forgot. There was a man outside of the building when we left, preaching (I've definitely never seen anyone outside a church preaching!). He had a sign that said "Joel is lying to you" & the one thing we heard him say was, "Do you really think Jesus would die for you so you could make a lot of money?" True, although perhaps not the most effective way to try to show people the deception going on inside. Phew. It was quite the experience.

In other news, I bought baby stuff for Ranelle's baby shower Saturday - it's the first time I've ever bought baby stuff. Weird.

We've had some of my wedding cake in the freezer & I'll pull out a piece every once in a while, defrost it, & eat it over a couple days. That cake was soooooo good (I can say that because I didn't bake it, just chose it!). Yummmmm... I love frosting.

Time to go use that gym we've been paying for but haven't been to in a month!

J&C

I'm an.. auburnette?

I dyed my hair! Yep. Cuz I'm crazy spontaneous, of course.

Actually, Josh dyed my hair. In the hotel bathtub. He was like, "So this is what married people do?" I think he had fun doing it. We accidentally dyed a towel in the process (do you get charged for that sort of thing?). It looked kinda nasty.

But really, since the 9th grade, this is the longest I have gone without coloring my hair - two whole years, people. & I got the itch to do it again. So I went the opposite way than before - not blonde, but dyed it a darker shade of brown with hints of red. I personally don't think it's super drastic, but I guess we will see when I see people's reactions!

I have a mission for you people. Travel to your nearest Houston or Dallas, go to Panera Bread, & order the Strawberry Salad (with or without chicken, whatever suits your fancy). It's so good... strawberry poppyseed dressing & lots of strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple (ok, so I took that part off)... I'm drooling just thinking about it. I can't believe San Antonio doesn't have Panera Bread. I think I might write them a letter & suggest it.

& also eat a cinnamon crunch bagel. You can thank me later.

Which (skipping the two sentences I just wrote, that is) brings me to my next point. I would love to find a salad dressing that is as good as the ones in restaurants. I think strawberry vinegarette is my favorite... we also had it at Drew & Adrienne's rehearsal dinner. I finally found one at HEB but it's not as good. & at Landry's Sunday, we had a honey mustard vinegarette, which sounds nasty, but it was so good. Anyone have any amazing salad dressing recommendations? (Obviously you don't, Kristin, cuz you eat salad dry as dry comes... I told Paige about that & we both think you're crazy :-) )

Toby has a new stretch these days. It's adorable. When he gets up from a mega nap, he always stretches big time, back arched, ears pointed backwards, & now, tongue out. It's so cute!

That's all I've got for today. Now I'm off to read my library book - I need to finish it! TOODLES!

J&C

(We leave Houston tomorrow - WHOOHOO!!)