En Guarde!

So, you want to hear something random? I decided to take fencing lessons. They only went from September to the end of October, but it was really fun. Don't ask me why I decided to do it, I just did. You should've seen Travis's face when I told him I wanted to take fencing lessons. "Oh! Uh...okay...are you serious?"

It's much harder than it looks. I came home sore every Wednesday night and was limping around my classroom every Thursday.The class started out with about 6 students, but one by one they dropped out, and only two of us survived...champions of the beginning fencing class! What can I say? I'm a natural! Luckily, we were both left-handed, so that made fighting easier...easier for me to find my target and STRIKE! (by the way, in the bottom photo it looks like the epee [sword] is bent...it's actually supposed to be like that!)

Wedding Weekend

Some of you were already aware of this, but my littlest sister, Sessely, got married last Friday to her husband, Chance. Everything went beautifully, and it was so great to see family and friends again. Travis and I were so blessed to watch the ceremony in the temple, and it reminded us of our own sealing just over a year ago in the same temple, and how we've grown to love each other even more since that day. I am so excited that my sister and new brother-in-law are able to be with each other for time and all eternity. What a blessing that is to have as members of the church! The luncheon was delicious (yay for pasta!), and the reception was awesome with ice cream sundaes and, of course, a dance/lip-sync by the siblings! Even Travis joined in, and he looked great! We recorded it on Travis' camera, and were going to post it for all our friends and family to see, but it "accidentally" didn't end up recording any of it. Sure... :)

The Best Birthday!

Yesterday, I officially turned a quarter of a century years old! Woo-hoo! I thought it would be a typical day with maybe a little cake and ice cream on the side...but then again, I married Travis!

When I got to school yesterday, I opened up my laptop and noticed a small envelope taped to it. Inside, I found a 3x5 card with a romantic poem written on it. It was the beginning of a scavenger hunt which led to about 7 other poems (these were not short poems, either!), each one written by Travis, giving me a clue to where we were going to eat that night. He hid them in the freezer, under the mail box, in drawers, closets, in the car, everywhere! It was so much fun, and each poem was very creative and so cute! The clues led me to his office, where he presented me with 3 storage buckets (to store rice, flour, and sugar- I've been wanting these for quite some time!), and a really nice Camelback! We had some car problems, but one of our best friends insisted that we borrow their car and go out to eat. We ate at one of my FAVORITE places, Barbacoa. Anyway, it was so wonderful, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! I love you, Travis!

Harvest Time!

One of our favorite meals of all time is spaghetti. So we thought it would be a great idea to grow some seasonings ourselves. We don't have much room for a garden, so Travis made a garden box that we keep on our back porch. In it, we planted basil and oregano. Then we planted oregano again. Then we gave up and stuck to the basil. It turned out great! But it was our first time, and we learned a lot of things to improve on next year, like actually spacing out the seeds so we get more leaves! Throughout the summer, we would cut off leaves, dry them, and crumble them up. We were a little disappointed that by the end of the summer we only got about a dollar worth of basil. But, hey, we're beginners! We learned a lot, and we'll be ready for next year. We're also excited to try out new seasonings, and some veggies- but we'll definitely need a bigger box!