Luau!

Last night, Mark and I went to a Luau put on by our ward. It was very impressive. One might think that being a ward activity, the Luau part would be weak...but no, we had some native islanders who put on a great show. It seems there are quite a few islanders in Baytown, pretty much it seems there is only one family- one extended family. They dug pits in the church lot to smoke pigs and had a pig on a spit as well. The cultural hall was about as cultural as I've ever seen one. It was beautifully and extensively decorated, the stage especially. There was a church tour before we got there so I can't fully report on that. Island music was performed before and during dinner (or you could go watch the pig being dug up and prepared for dinner). I thought the pig was dry and bland but it seems that most others enjoyed it. After the dinner, the show began. I love island dances- especially the warrior dances. I think they are so cool and fun to watch. All the young men and missionaries then performed the Haka dance-they were way better than the BYU football team- we were very impressed. The graceful dances by the women and girls are impressive to but I'm a bigger fan of the warrior dances. :) Then for the finale, we adjourned outside for Fiti's fire dance!
It was a great Luau. There we are a lot of people there and it seemed like quite a few non-members. I'm glad we were able to go and participate- and have such cool people in our ward who are willing to share their talents and cultures with us.

Beesley Visit

It was so fun to have my family visit on their way to Costa Rica! As soon as Sarah sends me pictures I'll have more. But we had a nice and cold walking tour of downtown Saturday night and a great time hanging out at our apartment Sunday. Thanks for coming.

Rodeo Run

Way to go Mark and Steve. This morning, they ran the Rodeo Run 10K through downtown Houston. This was a little less than halfway through the race...And this is at the finish line. Good job to both of them. Steve took on the title this year, coming in at 51:12. Mark came in at 54:15.

Looks can be deceiving, that is not really Steve's arm.
To really get the full effect of the pictures, you really need to click on them and look at the big version. I didn't have enough time to get zoomed in enough to see their faces.

New Friends: The Rubio Family

Mark and I had the opportunity to celebrate with our new friends this weekend the baptism of their children, Jorge Rubio and his cousin Valeria Acosta. This extended family is awesome. They are from Mexico. The mother still lives there but 4 of her children are here in Baytown, but she came to visit for the baptisms. Oseil is Jorge's dad and invited us over for a family party before and after, in which we were stuffed with delicious food. You can see in the back a wooden grill type thing. This they built and they call the "coffin". Food is cooked on top and in the bottom. (The Brown Family also came over after the baptisms)I don't know his wife, Claudia, very well as she doesn't come to church but she seems very nice and friendy. I don't know Cnythia as well either but she has an adorable little baby girl. Ogla Acosta is the sibling I am closest too. Ogla and Gerardo have two children, Valeria and Gerardito. Valeria is very shy, but Gerardito is very outgoing and hilarious. The youngest brother, Heber, is buds with Mark and they lift together at the gym. (Heber is in the middle, Gerardo on the right).They are a great family and fun friends.

The quilt

As many of you know, I have been making a quilt with Ann. I used a bunch of old t shirts that I didn't want to throw away but couldn't wear anymore. We finished it this week and here it is...
big, warm and comfy.

Roses

Real or not, I like roses. Thanks Mark, for the beautiful bouquet (of real roses). (Not real roses)

Mark

I just finished my first portrait of Mark. I am not super happy about it but it was really fun to work on and I learned some things to improve on for the next one. Contrast for one, these kinds of collages need a lot of contrast in order to really work well and look good. There is not enough contrast between Mark's face and the sky. I won't go into all the other problems with it. But oh well, even the great artists had failures and I am by no means a great artist. Sorry Mark, the next one will be better I promise.