New job! Sept 10 - 16

Sunday - We only had sacrament meeting again, but this time it was just our ward.  They don't let us know with much notice so it's been hard knowing whether to prepare a lesson or not.  I keep starting and then not having to finish.  Doug went to help again, so we just played at home.  This weekend our stake's efforts traveled to a city called Beaumont.  It is about 1 1/2 hours east of us.  They got a lot of rain as the storm moved that way.  The whole city was under water it seemed.  

The boys had a moment of actually getting along while looking at a Minecraft book.

 The girls spent a lot of time crafting, they made some cute crowns and then gave them to our friends down the street.

I helped with the Just Serve organization today a little bit by picking up a volunteer from the airport.  I took the kids with me so they weren't left at home for too long.  It was interesting to learn about this women, she worked at Delta and had some time off so she decided to come and help for awhile.  A bunch of volunteers were camping at a members house and that's where she was going.  I dropped her off at the house and she was good to go.  We had heard that they were bringing in portable showers and port-a-potties.  There have been hundreds of people coming from all over to come and help and on the weekends thousands have come from nearby stakes.

On our way back from the airport we stopped by a park.

Monday - The start of the first full week of school for the kids.  They have only had partial weeks up to this point - crazy.  Doug and I dropped off the van to get a belt replaced.  I did laundry and normal household chores.  

Tuesday - I went out to lunch with a friend.  I was quite disappointed with my meal - they wrote down the wrong entree and didn't really do anything to fix it.  But the company was good.  Then I went home to start on dinner.  I was bringing dinner for a family that had flooded in our ward, so that took up the rest of the afternoon.  I made chicken enchiladas, bread-sticks, corn, salad, rice, watermelon, and a bundt cake.  

That evening I went to the Cox Back to School night and listened to Tyler's teachers talk about their classes.  I am glad that Tyler has all of the same teachers that Damon had.  They still seem like great teachers.  Damon and Tyler finally had a scout night - they had been canceled for awhile.

We were going to go to a One Republic concert this night, but with the school night and scouts we figured it would be too hard to juggle everything.  It was the perfect evening though, I wished we could have gone.  I had a friend who went who said it was a great concert.

Wednesday - I helped at a baby shower in the morning.  I was in charge of bringing some things to dip in chocolate fondue.  I made a pound cake and peanut butter balls.  I also brought some pretzels, marshmallows, and strawberries.  The shower went well with lots of friends and lots of cute clothes and gifts.  

Doug started his new job with Unimin.  It is located up in the Woodlands, which is about the same distance as Halliburton, but in the other direction.  The one downside with this location is there will be more traffic.  There are many traffic lights and not a very direct route home.  Doug will have to figure out the best way home and I'm sure that it may be different each day.  

Thursday - I had institute again.  I had the hardest time staying awake.  I get up early on Thursdays to lift weights with some friends so I had been up since 5:00 and then when you sit still for 1 1/2 hours it's really hard not to close your eyes.  I stopped by the store on the way home and had a quick lunch.  I put some pork chops in the crock pot - trying out a new recipe- then went to the school to help in the library again.  This time it would be for when Chris would be there.  He was excited to see me too.  As a side note, the pork chops were ok, but not my favorite - probably won't make them again. I went to bed at 9:30 I was so tired. 

Friday - yay we made it through the school week.  In the morning I watched a baby and toddler of a friend who was getting her house worked on due to the flood.  I got some reading done in the afternoon.  My book is due and I'm trying to finish it by Tuesday.  After school the girls invited a friend over.  They had been asking all week.  So they had a little tea party snack with him (Eli).  They put marshmallows on pretzels and pretended to roast them over a pretzel fire.  

Doug's first three days seemed to go fine.  He didn't really do any real work yet, just mostly getting to know people and get a feel for the company.  We still are working on getting our health insurance started and all of that fun stuff.  

Saturday - We did our chores, had lunch and then went to Splashtown.  It was actually a little bit cold.  The water was pretty chilly and it wasn't the hottest day.  But we still had a fun time.  Kaylee fell off of her mat on one of the rides and after that I basically held her until it was time to go.  We ended by surfing - Damon and Doug are getting better.

We picked up the van on the way home - this time we had to take it in for a recall.

During the week we looked at a piano and a couch I had seen for sell online, but both of them were a little more worn than what I had been hoping.  I really would love a newer piano - I'll have to keep looking.

Doug and I have been watching a few shows at night when we have a chance.  We have started The Crown and Saturday we watched a new Sherlock Holmes episode.