With Friends Like These...

Saturday night, for the Relief Society Broadcast, I decided to throw a little party with some girls I formerly lived with as roommates. Thomas had to work the broadcast, so it was a "girls only" event.

Prior to the get-together, Thomas made sure I would be able to set up my computer with the projector and our sound-system. It appeared that I would be ok, but he asked me if I had a plan B. "Why would I need a plan B? Do you think something will go wrong?"

An hour (or maybe less?) before my dear friends were to arrive, I began putting together our dinner, some yummy enchiladas. Things went fine in the kitchen, and pretty soon I was just waiting for the first arrivals.

My friends began to trickle in. It was close to 6 o'clock when everyone had finally gotten here. 6 o'clock was also the start time for the broadcast. We sat down to dinner and Thomas texted, "Working?" I replied that we were just about to eat, and that I thought we could start streaming the broadcast late.

Well, I was wrong, and a few minutes later, he sent a follow-up text message to let me know that this plan might not work. I quickly worked to set up the computer/projector/sound system so that we could migrate with our plates into the living room. The image was soon projected onto the wall, but the audio refused to play through the speakers.

10 minutes later, with Thomas on the phone, I discovered that the reason for this was that I had plugged in the audio cord to the microphone jack. Oops!

Unfortunately, we entirely missed the first talk, and will have to catch up on Sister Beck's message another time (we did get to hear President Thomas S. Monson speak, which was the highlight of the broadcast for me!). However, the rest of the night went on without a hitch and my friends and I (4 of the 5 of us are now married) got some much-appreciated girl-time!

Thank you, friends, for a fun time!

Not a bad picture, when you consider Kalan (see below) took it! Just kidding - my first attempt at using a mini-tripod and the timer on the camera. L to R: yours truly, Lisa C, Natalie B, Trista H, and Megan R in the front!

Baby Kalan with Mommy Trista - my original room-roommate from Arcadia 1!

oxox

YADB: Yet Another Drab Post

(so sorry for the wait - Thomas wrote this post 4 days ago and wanted me to add pictures, which I haven't had time to do until now! so it's all my fault :o) Enjoy! -Lisa)

Since Lisa's been too busy to play lately, you're stuck with another post by her best friend. I'll try to post some photos as well, as the last entry was a little lacking.

On Sunday evening we were invited to a party with several of Lisa's roommates and their respective spouses. We had marvelous food and good laughs.

Dara, our hostess! Of course, Tyson was there too.

Joyce. Another roommate, Beth, was present as well, but we didn't get a photo of her?

Megan (and the blue thing on the right is her hubby, Evan)

On Monday evening, we were treated by Del Taco to dinner. That's right: free food, whatever we wanted. On further inspection of the receipt, all became clear. Notice who our host was...

"Host: Jesus"

Lastly, a few more statistics. Our site has been booming despite the internet outages and busy schedules and such. Read on for a few milestones:

• Visits: 3457
• Cities: 302
• Countries: 40

Feel free to help us fill the gaps on this map:

Quoth the Raven

Well, per the BYU calendar, we have completed two weeks and have 13 weeks to go (not including finals). We've been staying busy with our long days of work and school, but still manage to find time to fit in memories.

Labor Day was rather uneventful, as Thomas worked all day, and Lisa did some schoolwork and housework.

We cooked German Pancakes, Chocolate Pudding Pie, and Tuna Taco Things.

We went to the weekly devotional to hear from President and Sister Samuelson.

Saturday evening and Sunday morning we were able to attend regional Stake Conference where we heard from Sister Beck (Relief Society President), Elder Holland, and Elder Packard

We also were able to watch some episodes of Remington Steele, some of which can be watched here.

School days, school days...

To wake us up for school on the first day (and beyond), my mother used to come into the room I shared with my younger sister singing "School Days." To my surprise, I've learned that not every mother sings this song to her children! I'm not sure how much of the song my mom actually knows, as she only ever sang the first couple lines of the chorus, but she did get the tune right!

Although I haven't been singing the song to charm Thomas out of bed, we've officially begun our school days routine. We've both already written papers for our classes and I've successfully completed 4 Calculus assignments. Fall semester 2010 is off to a nice start. We've been walking to campus together in the mornings.

In case you haven't already figured this out, we attend BYU

 Our schedules do not coincide very well, unfortunately, so the morning walk and an 11 o'clock break (for the Tuesday devotionals) are our only opportunities to meet up on campus. This is in sharp contrast to my most recent semester of classes, when we first began dating: our schedules, though not intentionally coordinated, kept us in the same or neighboring buildings at the same times, so we could walk to our classes together. We also had pretty much the same breaks so we were able to lunch together frequently. What a blessing that was!

Thus far, Thomas seems to be enjoying a music history class he is taking, and I think my favorite is my Doctrine and Covenants course. I am sure grateful to have the opportunity to attend a university at which my spiritual education is considered as important as my secular education!

Aside from school-related things, we have managed to continue working (with brand new schedules) and enjoying ourselves as well. Last weekend, we whipped up some yummy Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies (the photos are new, from last weekend) and some exceptional banana bread.

banana bread - it tasted as yummy as it looks!

Of course, we shared our treats with friends, neighbors, and our home- and visiting-teachees.

One (yes, just one) of our flowers has bloomed; the little plants look very funny, as they're all very tall and thin.

our lone little zinnia bloom

tall, skinny marigolds and zinnias, with tomato plants in the back.

We hope everyone else's school year (if applicable) is off to a wonderful start!

oxox