Yay Books!

One of my all time favorite authors is one I found relatively recently. Her name is Lindsay Buroker. I've read all of her books, follow her blog and even donated a fair amount to her kickstarter campaign. Seriously guys, I love her books. They are full of adventure, witty banter and just a touch of romance. Add in the fact that they are in her words 'high fantasy novels in the era of steam' and you have a book that seems personalized just for me. Go get the first one right now, it's free for kindle and various other sites


These came in the mail as the 'goodies' for donating to kickstarter. I was so excited I pretty much was jumping up and down.

Yes I'm hugging the books

The author even wrote me a note! I'm so happy :)

Awesome

I laughed for a full minute after reading this.

http://xkcd.com/1069/

If you want me to explain why it's so funny, I'd be happy to :)

House update

So remember all of those pictures I posted of our house? Yeah, it was the wrong house. The builder built the wrong house :( We met with them yesterday and are currently looking for a lot to build the correct house somewhere else. If we can't come to an agreement in two weeks then Aaron and I will be scrapping the whole thing and renting for another year.

This experience does make me really grateful to know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us and has a plan for our lives. Thank goodness for the gospel.

Footings!

Here are some more pictures of our house

From 5-13-2012

And here are some from 5-20-2012

Yay it's getting built so fast!!!

Dirt

This is a picture of the most expensive dirt I've ever seen.

Though there is a good reason why this dirt is so expensive ... because in approximately 3-4 months there will be a house on it.

That's right, Aaron and I are buying a house! I'm so very, VERY excited about it. Especially the kitchen... and the soak tub and the walk in closet and the garage and the loft and the closets and the backyard and a LOT of other things.

Be prepared to see regular pictures of this lot as it becomes our first house.

Yay for Dirt!

Perspective

Sad news everyone. I did not get into the graduate program at University of Washington. Everyone has been saying really kind things to me so thank you. I just wanted to share one of God's tender mercies.

I volunteer at the Seattle Temple once a week and so I listen to church music as I drive there. One morning not too long ago I was listening to "I'm trying to be like Jesus." I've heard this song probably hundreds of times but this line sounded really important to me: 'be gentle and loving in deed and in thought.' Gentle in thought? What does that even mean?

I've been pondering that for a few weeks when I got the dreaded rejection email. My first instinct was to be mad and upset. "This is lame!" my spirit wanted to shout, "This is terrible!" But then I remembered what my loving Heavenly Father taught two weeks before. Be gentle in thought. So I thought gentle thoughts and counted my blessings.

My life is completely wonderful. I just got a job a I enjoy. My husband is amazing and my marriage is better than ever. We always have enough food to eat and a warm, comfortable home to live in. Our financial situation rocks. I have two families that love me and are always cheering me on, Castillos and Boushleys you're so great. I have everything I could want.

Who needs to grad school anyways?

Mini!

My super awesome sister Alicia got me these cute mini baking pans for Christmas and I had to try them out.

What's in them is this yummy recipe for coconut bread from this website

Thanks again sis!