Christmas With The Fam...

Christmas with the Reynolds

Bowling- Always a great time

Christmas morning all over again.

Quality Uncle Cody time- A definite favorite of his nieces and nephews but the truth is Cody loves it just as much.


"Sometimes I like to wear stretchy pants in my room." Cody's sweatpants were quite a hit. When taking turns wearing them didn't work we came up with another solution.


Battle of the sexes- Nerf war of the century.


Happy Birthday to Thys!!


The famous "UGLY FACE" :)


An intense game of bump/lightning was interrupted by the sweeping crew hard at work.


Girl's day out- a little too much time in Value Village makes for silly girls in silly dresses.

(Don't miss the cute bow in Mom's hair.)

Ohh.... So Cute!!

Our First Weekend Together In Houston

Holocaust Museum
Our first weekend together here in Houston, Cody and I decided to go to the Holocaust Museum. We knew before we went that it would be a heart wrencher and that it was. It made me think a lot though about Hitler and those who followed him and how he could have been so adamant about what he was doing. So many innocent people were killed. I thought about how evil and cunning Satan is. I also thought about how Hitler chose Heavenly Father's plan before he came to Earth. So what happened? How do people end up doing such evil things? How important it is to keep our minds and hearts in check all the time and our thoughts are so powerful!

We also met a survivor of the Holocaust while there. He worked in a hotel where some of the Nazi leaders set up their headquarters. He worked with them for a long time with them assuming he was German. He got ratted out by one of the people there and had to flee but in the mean time he smuggled letter head paper from the officers which they then used to write letters giving permission for many Jewish families to flee the country to safety. It was a neat story and he was really fun to listen to.


Just a Little Bit of Country
After the Holocaust museum Cody and I went to a Jamey Johnson Concert at some fair grounds in Crosby, TX. It was a lot of fun! We got all decked out in the cowboy attire we own. Not much, but Cody wore his cowboy boots and I wore my cowboy hat and we tried our best to fit in with the VERY country folks we were surrounded by. It was an interesting experience. The music was great. The opening singer was a local, Boe Cox, and he was really good. And of course Jamey was amazing. We were surrounded by a lot of drunk people and a girl fight broke out right next too us. All in all, I came away remembering how much I love the country but don't miss some of the lifestyle I grew up around. Thank goodness I found a good clean cowboy at heart -Cody!
(June 6, 2009)

Fun at the Ellsworths

So we went up and spent 5 days with the Ellsworths. It was incredible. They trully are a family that we must have known in heaven. We spent 5 days up there and it was non-stop fun. It was the first time meeting Jessica for Chase, Ella, and Hannah. Jen told me that Chase was a little nervous but as you can see from the picture, the barriers didn't take too long to break down. Jessica has told me several times since then that she wants to go back and visit them. We did the usual stuff, going to see Butch and Dee, going to Lil' Porgy's, going to Pancake House.


I must say, as much as I make fun of flat/boring Illinois, whenever I go there, I do feel at home. I just feel like that is the one place that I know best. I remember crazy stories as I drive up every road and friends as I drive by their houses. As boring as the town is, it is where I feel most comfortable and at home.

Jessica basically forced me to go to our old house and go inside. The guy that lives there is pretty nice. It was kinda sad because they had another huge flood again. Same old story as when we were there. They had ripped the destruction-proof carpet walls down. (They must not have 5 wild boys playing soccer downstairs, or Reese putting the ping-pong paddle through walls when I manage to score a point on him. ) But what a load of memories as we walked through there. I loved it. I also learned all over again how grateful I need to be for mom and her blood and sweat that went into making our house a CLEAN, peaceful, inviting home.


Last of all, I am proud to announce that as I went into Lil' Porgy's I saw a Lil' Porgy's shirt on the wall. Who knows how long it had been there because it was there last one of that style. Of course for me, that is all the better. Not only is it going to be original because there are no more, but it is completely saturated with that potent Lil' Porgy's smell. Oh how I love it. I still can't bring myself to wash it for fear of losing the wonderful aroma. Although that doesn't keep me from wearing it. It hangs proudly in the bathroom where I can smell it everytime I go in there. If anybody wants to visit us soon, I will let you smell it, and maybe even try it on, as long as you don't breath in too hard... (the bigger the breath the more you air it out, ya know?)
(July 4, 2009)

Houston Temple

Cody and I went to the temple here in Houston. It was beautiful and we had a wonderful experience there. There were some beautiful pictures of Christ done by Minerva Teichert. Afterward, Cody was being quite the romantic and started trying to get a picture of us kissing in front of the temple. It was all fine and dandy but he couldn't get us centered in the picture so after about the 7th attempt we decided we better stop because it might look like we were making out on the temple grounds. That's when Cody decided to suckerfish me and swallow my whole face. Disgusting!! Yet funny :)
(June 10, 2009)

Our Humble Home in Houston

So, Cody and I didn't want to move from our ward in Provo and wanted to keep our apartment there. But to do that it meant we had to pay two rents through the summer. We weren't too excited about that until we were able to find a little attic apartment in Houston for a great price and then found renters for our apartment in Provo. We moved all we own to one room except the furniture, locked it up and rented it out as a furnished apartment to a very nice couple. We were feeling pretty happy about the situation.

Just a side note... I was imagining this cute little attic apartment we could enjoy for the summer. I even sent down with Cody some stuff to doll it up and make it all cute and homey like.

So Cody headed down to Houston a month before I did because I had to stay and finish out the school year teaching before I could join him. I got a phone call when he got there and he reported that the cute little attic apartment we would be living in was not what we had expected. Instead, he found a rather run down dirty cockroach infested place just across the rail road tracks from a not so good part of town. Not sure what to do we decided to bank on the "return missionary" inside us and stick it out. Cody spent a good amount of time that first month fixing up the apartment to help cover some of the cost of the rent and make it more livable.

Needless to say in the end we have fallen in love with our little home. Well, maybe not quite love but we like it now. After all Cody's work to make it more presentable for me when I got here (isn't he great!!), doing some good deep cleaning and dedicating our humble abode we are very happy. And hey, we have some great memories from all the funny moments when I would scream and Cody "the hero" would come to save me from the giant flying monster cockroaches or enormous spiders. Everything is bigger in Texas!! (I even killed a few on my own after Cody forced me to overcome my fear.) We have learned to appreciate, on a whole new level, a clean shower and yummy tasting water. And we can say that we have our own little island here in Houston. We are surrounded by water on all sides. There are bayous that run all around us surrounded by dense woods. That brings lots of mosquitoes but it is kind of secluded from the business of the city and makes for a peaceful little haven. All in all it's been a great experience and one we will cherish.
(Summer 2009)

Summer in Texas

Good Old Texas Fun!!
We have been spending our summer in Houston, TX. It has been a fun and adventurous experience. Some of our adventures have included the cozy little attic apartment we call home, our weekend adventures, our pet bugs and spending some good quality time together. It has been a summer to fall in love all over again.

Cody is doing an internship for Centennial Contractors here in Houston. He has been having a great experience. One of the highlights of his job has been the chance to work on some projects at NASA "Houston, we have a problem". With that, comes a fancy little badge that gets him through security to parts of NASA you don't get to see on a normal tour. He has got to see some pretty cool things. Also Cody has been working hard to study for a LEED AP exam. All his efforts and time spent studying were worth it because he passed with flying colors!!! Whoo!!! Now he a certified LEED AP which basically means that he is certified to build Eco friendly or "green" buildings. A great resume builder. He is a hard workin' man and bringing home the bacon for the summer.

I, Jessica, am spending my summer relaxing and taking a break from school. Well, kind of... I have been working on getting my new classroom prepared for the fall. I start teaching 1st grade in August so I have been making games and creating lesson ideas so I can already have some stuff under my belt when schools starts. I have also spent time creating this blog, cooking and cleaning (practicing my wife skills), spending time with our neighbors, enjoying a chance to get some good hard workouts in and helping out with girls camp in our ward here in Houston. It has been a great summer.

Cody and I have also been taking advantage of our summer without kids and done some pretty fun site seeing and adventurous things. Details to come.....
(Summer 2009)

New Comers

We have finally found the time to enter the 'blog world.' Our neighbors and best friends in the world convinced us that a blog would be fun for us and for our friends and family. Hopefully, with our busy schedules we will be able to keep everyone updated on what is going on.