A week of firsts . . .

While I am still job-hunting . . .

I painted a piece of furniture for the first time. I had to call my furniture-decorating-savvy sister-in-law Talane to ask how to open a can of paint. Some good mistakes/lessons I learned: Make sure you buy the right color of paint the first time. Never paint in a favorite shirt. Make sure the paint brush is completely dry when you do the second coat.

Considering all the mistakes, I think it turned out okay!

I'm not sure if I haven't made whole wheat bread before, but I for sure have not made whole wheat bread straight from the wheat kernels to flour to bread. I used my Bosche machine with a whole wheat bread recipe that came with the Bosche.

DELISH. I think I ate a whole mini-loaf by myself right out of the oven.

I feel like the Little Red Hen making the bread from scratch :)

I also made STRAWBERRY JAM for the first time away from family. SO yummy! No wonder--12 cups of sugar in 12 jam jars . . .

. . . it goes really well with the fresh bread! And I'm excited to use it with pancakes/waffles, toast, dinner rolls, biscuits, etc etc etc . . . today for lunch I was perfectly content with my PB&J sandwich.

O What a City!

That is the saying on big blue balls that mark the top 10 sites to see in Omaha. Dave and I have loved Omaha so far! There have been some stressful times moving into a new house, but our neighbors are fantastic, our ward is friendly, the jungle-like environment is wonderful even with the humidity and heat, and there is lots to see. A BIG THANK YOU goes to Brooke and Brighton for helping us move out here. And another THANK YOU goes to our wonderful families and all their support for us.

Here's a few pictures of us the past week--
Before we left Salt Lake, Michelle Dave and I went with Grandpa Yates to the Sugarhouse park to feed the ducks. Grandpa LOVED it. We also stopped by MaggieMoo's ice cream to get a treat afterwards.
I wish we would have taken some pictures of our moving truck. Our the mess Grandpa's basement was in as we were packing up. But I only have some pictures of how we have begun to decorate our little home:


YES I got a piano after graduating from BYU . . . it is a beautiful piano and I love to play. It is Really out of tune because of the move, but we will get it tuned in a few weeks. I hope to start piano lessons in the next few weeks.

We are mostly unpacked; we just need to put tile under our washer & dryer in the basement instead of the carpet, and we need a dresser and some other cupboards/shelves installed throughout the house.

So far in Omaha, (and I'm sorry I don't have pictures for everything) we have visited:

• the Henry Doyle Zoo (one of the best in America)
• the Lauritzen Botanical Garden (just down the street and FREE for Village Green residents = us. Reminds me a lot of Thanksgiving Point in UT)
• the Heartland of America Park (reminds me of Sugarhouse Park except the lake is maybe 3 Xs as big)
• Council Bluffs (also known as Kanesville), where Brigham Young was sustained a prophet and the saints lived for a while
• Winter Quarters, where there is an LDS temple and a cemetary of around 600 pioneers
• And today we are going to Lake Manawa (I think that's the name) with some friends.

Brighton and David at the Zoo, imitating the monkeys in the tropical jungle exhibit.
We are trying to do as much fun as we can before Dave hits the books again!

One last note:
During his break, Dave decided to try to grow a beard. He grew it for almost two weeks. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but when he shaved it all off, I missed it. I think he looks good with a beard.

Some recent fun times:

I went to Women's Conference at BYU with my mom, grandma, cousin, and two aunts. We had a great time--it was like a years worth of BYU devotionals/forums crammed in to two days. Plus a lot of convenient BYU treats--cougar tails (footlong maple bars), brownies, and my favorite--Creamery ice cream. HIIIGHly recommended. I want to go back next year!
Dave and my newest niece, Lily, was blessed in May--she is darling!
We have absoluetly LOVED the warm weather! We went to the Sugarhouse Park a few days ago and just spent the afternoon running, playing bball, catch, and baseball--I had to run after a lot of David's longer hits.

Other than that, we have had to deal with finals at the University of Utah (good job Dave for finishing the first year of dental school! Whoohoo!), we celebrated Brooke's graduation :D and Mother's Day. WE LOVE OUR MOTHERS. And we have begun to pack for our little trip to Omaha . . .

One downer--we got our car broken into a few weekends ago and my purse was stolen. Yes, it was a pain to replace the window and credit/debit cards and I miss my favorite chapstick and bobby pins and everything else, but I'm over all that. The things that are irreplaceable, that I still feel sick about losing, is my journal that I had in my purse, and tapes and CD recordings of David's Grandpa Yates. These things can't be replaced. Lesson learned--never leave wallets/purses etc out in view in the parked car.