january.

Paul and I love puzzles. By January we had completed either 1000 piece puzzles together.

One Sunday Paul was leaving for Tyler, Texas where he would spend the week at a client. We had just gotten a new puzzle for Christmas from my family so we started it together and bascally only finished the edges before he had to go.

Paul is the real puzzle expert (I get frustrated with the parts that all look the same like the sky, water, etc) so I just decided to sort the pieces by area/color and do some of the easier sections.

So I got started and was having a pretty good time. I just kept going and going until probably 12:30 or 1 in the morning...

Not bad for one day, huh?

The next morning I went right back to work and within 24 hours of starting, I had become the new puzzle expert:

Everything done minus the sky. I waited until Paul got home that weekend to finish since the sky is always his favorite part. It's a beautiful puzzle.

I also got a haircut and glasses this month! I haven't worn glasses since probably junior high so they have taken some getting used to.

I also perfected my roll recipe this month. Texas/my apartment requires some adjustments when making these beauties. But I have finally figured it out and they have become quite a hit!

Random lizard while house hunting..the house had been vacant.

Last year I became a huge Oklahoma City Thunder fan. So Paul got us tickets to see them play the Mavs at the American Airlines Center!

It was an amazing game. I had such a blast! It went into overtime with a last second shot by the Mavs and KD (favorite player!) delivered at the end and the Thunder pulled off the win. Couldn't have asked for a better game!

We've made some awesome friends since moving to Dallas. This makes for getting invited to great parties where the boys play Poker and the girls chat until after midnight.

We love Dallas! I have no plans to leave.

Luv, Lindsay

baking fun

One thing I have learned this week:

I am pretty good at making food that tastes delicious. Not so much at making food that looks beautiful. No matter how hard I try, it's just not meant to be. Good thing I'm not one to really care about the look of the food, just the taste of it.

A few experiments this week:

#1

Breadsticks! Like the ones from The Pizza Factory! Thanks to Purple Chocolat Home for the recipe. Hers are beautiful. Mine are alright though. Baking is also a lot harder for me here in Dallas, probably because I'm so used to cooking in a dry climate at a high altitude. Apparently that makes a difference.

#2

Cake Balls.

These were a challenge. I don't know how people make the perfectly smooth ones but it was definitely not the greatest experience of my life. And I'll probably never make them again.

I made them for Paul. It is his birthday tomorrow so I wanted him to have something fun to take to work to celebrate today. So I attempted to make ones that looked like basketballs. Here are some of the pictures of my adventure:

The first ones that really didn't work very well.

I started dipping half at a time and it worked so much better.

Funfetti! There are chocolate ones too.

But look how cute!

I thought this was pretty adorable.

They aren't perfectly smooth and really not the prettiest,

but for Paul, they were fine.

And I still think they're cute.

I though they were cute but like I said, I'll never try to make cute ones ever again. Way too much effort!

Luv, Lindsay

too much food? nah.

You know those times when you get used to eating out a lot and get out of the groove of cooking? Yeah, we're about there. It's mostly because we get a lot of free food at events or get super busy/lazy. This week, being 4th of July and busy and different meant not much at-home food. If anyone has some good recipes to get me back into the swing of cooking, please let me know! Too much non-homemade food.

Now, this is a wonderful day.

Happy Chocolate Day!

Now, this day is not to be confused with National Chocolate Day or International Chocolate Day. Those are not in July. World Chocolate Day is on September 4 and National Chocolate Day is on October 28.

Chocolate Day, just plain old Chocolate Day, today, commemorates the day that chocolate was discovered in 1550. The start of the continental cocoa craze is traced to July 7 of that year.

To start out our chocolate celebration today, I made pancakes with a chocolate syrup. It wasn't like Hershey's syrup, but like an actual breakfast syrup, chocolate style. I don't know how to describe it. Just know it was delicious.

MMmmm.. After breakfast we went and played tennis! It was lots of fun. I haven't played since PE in junior high, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm still not that great. Hopefully we'll play more soon.

Because my hubby is a superstar, he went and played basketball after playing tennis.

What a champ. I love watching him play but boy it was hot outside!

The sun is keeping my hair nice and blonde :)

It is doing much better in the Dallas humidity than I thought it would.

Along with chocolate day, today is also National Macaroni Day!

I love macaroni and cheese. So we got to have it for dinner. And I LOVE the fake, boxed stuff, thank you very much.

Paul and I eat our Mac n Cheese very different.

Me: plain, with a fork, in a bowl.
Paul: mixed with tuna, with a spoon, in the pan.

I have to take out whatever I want before he dumps his stinky tuna in and ruins it. I guess it's his excuse to eat the rest.

To end this lovely day, we ate some more chocolate and watched "Unstoppable." I get so stressed out in movies like that.

But my Dove chocolate bar made it all better.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, y'all!

Luv, Lindsay

Bread and Ice Cream.

We had Stake Conference this weekend. It was definitely different than the typical Utah Stake Conference but it was so great. It was very focused on missionary work and there were several converts that spoke. It was very inspirational and made me want to teach someone.

After the adult session last night we went out with a few couples to get frozen yogurt. We went to Yogurtland and it was definitely the best frozen yogurt I've had. The chocolate milkshake flavor was my very favorite. It was fun hanging out with other people and we finally have some friends! We talked with some of them until after 1am. Haven't done that in a while! Very fun.

One of Paul's friends (Jeff) came over tonight to watch the NBA game and eat some dinner. I made some spaghetti, vegetables, and french bread. Yes, I did make french bread from scratch. And it was really good. After I baked it I cut it up and put butter and garlic on each slice and broiled it. So yummy.

Bad news. We have had more bugs. We found another crack that they're probably coming through in the bathroom. The worst part? It's in the shower. Gross. 

Here are the boys trying to kill and stop the bugs. I'm guessing we are going to have several more before we go to bed tonight. Not a great feeling.

We also made ice cream tonight. Yummy! But it didn't quite get hard..so it was more like a really thick milkshake..still. Yummy.

Southwest internship starts on Wednesday. So excited!

Luv, Lindsay