HOUGH HAPPENINS: September 2018

Saturday morning, the 1st, Jared and I took our time getting up and then went to soak in the hot tub before getting ready for the day and checking out of our first hotel and checking into the one that was part of our Branson "getaway." This was our view from the hotel. It was a gorgeous weekend.

We checked in to hotel number two and then relaxed a bit before we needed to leave for our next show: Dolly Parton's Stampede. I know what you're thinking...a stampede? Dolly Parton? But c'mon. When in Rome, right? It actually sounded really cool, but I was not prepared for how AWESOME this was. It's a bit on the expensive side. But the price includes dinner along with the two hour show and reminds me of the Cabin Nite Dinner Theater up in Denali National Park in Alaska, except this show was in an arena and on a much larger scale. We all sat side by side on different levels, just like you would at a movie theater.

We were on the far end. There were no bad spots, but I probably would have preferred being more in the middle.

Here come the wagons.

And the horse riders.

And horse riders jumping through rings of fire!

We had lemonade to drink and then they brought out soup and a cheddar biscuit. We kind of sat there for a minute though (Jared was on the very end of our row) waiting for our silverware and when it didn't come, I noticed the handle on the soup bowl. And that's when I realized we probably weren't getting any utensils. So I shrugged and started drinking. Mmmm. It was delicious!! Thank goodness I still had my biscuit to sop up the rest of the soup clinging to my bowl. :)

The buffalo stampede!

Then the longhorns.

Our waiter, who had space to walk in front of our row, brought us each a hen.

And then a baked potato.

And then a slice of pork.

And a cob of corn.

There were dog and pig races. So funny! The two sides of the arena were divided into North and South. We were on the South side and with every race the winner representing either the North or the South earned points for their team so there was a fun little competition going to get the crowd involved. It was really fun.

For dessert, we were presented with a triangular pastry--a flaky, buttery apple turnover. There's no picture because they didn't last but two seconds. Oh my heck--I am not ashamed to say I literally licked my plate. SO good!!! And I noticed when we were getting tickets that they DO cater to special dietary needs. So they have a gluten-free option which means we could bring the kids here.

On Sunday morning, the 2nd, we were obligated to go to Big Cedar Lodge about 8 miles up the road in Ridgedale for the two hour "timeshare" presentation. Ironically enough, Jared has been to Big Cedar a couple of times with his dad on fishing trips. They went the summer before we got married because Jared brought me back a shirt from Big Cedar. It really is beautiful there--and very hilly. That's Table Rock Lake out in the distance.

Before we even left the parking lot, Jared and I had made a blood pact and were in agreement that we could not participate in whatever they were selling. Jared made sure he put on his "NO" face. Except that what they were sharing...made sense to this tight-fisted CFO. But it was still way out of our budget. When our guide, John, asked what Jared and I thought, after the presentation and tour of the property, we agreed it sounded very attractive, especially for a large family like ours. But the cost...
John and another associate actually proposed an option that was really tempting, that even I, ME--Ms. Frugal Fanny Pants herself really wanted to do. To his credit, Jared was true to his blood pact and NO face. And as he was beginning to tell them no, I took his arm and said, "Weeeellllll...." Even beyond a possible price issue (though this third option was much more doable as far as investments go) the bottom line was, we couldn't do anything because we were in the middle of buying Karole a home. They totally understood and gave us the option of taking their company for a little test drive. If we bought a small vacation, we would essentially become a part-owner and could see how we liked it and if we did, then in a year from now, we would still be eligible for all the incentives and buy in as full owners at that time. So that's what we did. We planned to bring the kids up next summer. As it turns out, they wanted to see us again to help us get the most from our "Sampler" ownership and said they would pay for another weekend for us in December. We told them that we'd have our 4 kids with us and wondered if that a problem? Nope, they'd put us in a two bedroom condo that sleeps 8, free of charge for four days and three nights the day after Christmas. Yay!!! Our family Christmas experience is taken care of!! We're going to Branson! And we were really excited about the future travel possibilities for our family.

This cool place is Pasghettis. We stopped here for lunch before going to our last show.

The inside was like a small little town. So cute! Loved the ambiance. And we got to be seated upstairs.

Jared's giant meatball sandwich.

My spaghetti and meatball...with the sauce on the side. I don't like my noodles drowning in sauce so I learned a long time ago to ask for the sauce on the side!

We had just enough time to eat and the run across the street to see The Haygoods. A super talented family of six singers/musicians/entertainers. It was awesome! What we love so much about Branson is that EVERY show is family/kid friendly. We didn't have to worry one bit about the type or kind of songs we'd be hearing. It was fascinating to watch them interact and to hear a little bit about their family growing up.

Yes, that is one of the brothers being brought down from the ceiling...upside down. After the show, we headed back to our hotel for our last night and drove home on Monday, the 3rd, which was Labor Day and no school for the kids or work for Jared.

Calvin thought it would be funny to put his snapping turtle Bowser on Jared's back while he was cooking.

Our dinner one night was beef stroganoff and rice (or noodles) with sauteed green beans and strawberries. The first thing Jared said was that I must have Jake on my mind because I made dinner with all the colors of the Hungarian flag. :)

Speaking of flags...I started my first sub job of the year in my friend's 7th grade science class and I FINALLY learned what the words were for the Texas Pledge.

It rained while I was subbing at the middle school that day. When Karcyn and I got in the car, I noticed WATER leaking out of our DVD player console. And a little water on the seat beneath the player. !!! But when I dropped the DVD screen down, there was no water. Reeeeallly strange. I didn't want to think about it, so I didn't.

A comic strip Karcyn created for science. :)

Calvin wanting to learn how to mow the lawn and his parents granting his wish. He did a good job. He just wants to do everything the big kids do.

First progress reports...Straight As all around!!

On Wednesday, the 12th, while I was at yoga, I noticed I missed a call from Bishop Graham by just a few minutes. I went to text him back, apologizing for missing his call, when he texted me asking ME to call him when I had a chance. I didn't finish my text, just called him back. I was a little worried about the subject of our conversation. I was in a stake calling, so I figured it couldn't be about a ward calling. I started thinking about my kids...were they in trouble? Todd (Bishop) asked if I had a few minutes and I said sure, "as long as I'm not in trouble." :) He laughed and said there was no way I was in trouble. In fact, he started the conversation with, "Please know you are not obligated in any way to say yes." That piqued my interest. Then he asked me if I knew the foreign exchange student from Brazil that was attending our ward. I said yes, that we had actually been asked by the seminary teachers if we could give Luis a ride to and from church because he doesn't live far from the chapel, but it's just far enough and just hot enough--we'd been doing that for a couple weeks now and Luis would sit with us during Sacrament meeting. Cooper and Luis are in the same seminary class so they know each other. But Cooper goes to College Station H.S. and Luis goes to Consol H.S. (where our neighborhood is now zoned to attend--Cooper will be a junior and therefore grandfathered in to CSHS, but Karcyn and Calvin will go to Consol. Knowing the growth of this town, JJ will attend a brand new H.S.). Todd said that he got a call from Luis' dad from Brazil. Apparently the host family is moving and Luis can't go with them and unless they could find another host family for Luis, he would have to go back to Brazil. The kid just got there a month ago. The dad told Todd that Luis really liked our ward and his school and so he was inquiring if there was anyone who would be willing to take Luis in for the rest of the semester. And Bishop thought of us. He thought with Jake gone, maybe we'd have an extra bed for him to sleep in--with a teenage boy for a roommate. :) I told Bishop that we did in fact have an extra bed available. As soon as Todd mentioned the need, even though I wasn't sure how I felt about exposing a stranger to our crazy family/life, I felt this was right. He didn't have to say anything more. Of course I'd need to talk to Jared about it but Jared was immediately on board. So I let Bishop know and he'd let Luis' family know and we'd be contacted immediately by the Exchange Program. That fact that Luis is a member of the Church was a big comfort because there were so many things that we wouldn't need to explain or worry about. Luis' mom emailed me right away. She told me a little bit about her son, who they call Luke. He is her baby...he has two older siblings, a sister five years older on a mission in California and a brother seven years older. Both of them were also exchange students. Her husband is also currently serving as their stake president. And then Zanza gushed and told me HOW GRATEFUL she was that we're taking Luke in. You could almost hear her cry tears of relief in her email. (She communicates well in English). She said we were the answer to her prayers. I guess Luke's first placement wasn't a great one regardless of the moving surprise. It was a single (Chinese) mom who ran a restaurant and was never at the house and she had one son...12 years old, who flat out told Luke he didn't like him and when he wasn't yelling at him or being mean, he was ignoring Luke. Poor kid. How on earth was he supposed to practice his English or learn anything about our culture THAT way, let alone have a good experience? Our family is loud and crazy but we definitely wouldn't treat him poorly.

On Friday, the 14th, I took a sub job at A&M Consolidated (Consol) high school in some computer science class. I walked in and felt like maybe I had made a mistake accepting that job. Computers (enough for each student and then some) and high tech equipment everywhere. What I've learned though, is that most teachers, regardless of the class subject, aren't going to have you do much anyway. Just be cool with the kids and you'll be fine. Luke and I had already connected on Messenger so I told him I was at his school that day and told him to come see me if he could. During a passing period he did come by. I gave him a hug and said hello. I was actually working on getting references and our background checks done on the computer that day while the students worked on their assignments.

Sweet JJ.

The Sunday after we agreed to host Luke, we invited him to come home after church with us to hang out and have dinner. He and Cooper played a game of chess.

JJ konked out--with a book in his hands. :) It's SO fun when they can finally read on their own!

Another gorgeous sunset.

As far as the approval process for hosting an exchange student went, it was pretty easy for us. But I know there's a lot more to it than that because I've had friends who have hosted students before and there's a lot of reading and paperwork. But I guess because this was an emergency change, they just touched on the big things...like a criminal background check. :) Hanna, the program liaison, came to do a home check and take pictures and run through some important highlights about how it works. She was in and out in less than an hour. Pretty painless. Though I think the hardest part was cleaning Cooper's room and getting it ready! In the less than two months that Jake had been gone, Cooper spread himself (and his stuff) into every corner and across every space. The room is not very big either, which makes it feel even worse to me. Hanna had mentioned we'd get Luke the end of September, but we told her we'd be happy to receive him as soon as possible so he didn't have to be in that home any longer. So on the morning of Sat. the 22nd (10 days after talking to Bishop Graham), we went and rescued Luke. I'm not sure what host families do or how this all works. We just made it up as we went. But we did make him a card with our family picture on it and wrote a little note welcoming him to the family and threw in a Texas postcard and some Texas treats and had them on his bed when he arrived.

I became a mom for the sixth time! But thankfully this child comes potty trained!!

Calvin feeding Bowser some pepperoni.

Jared decided to give Cooper some incentive for waking up on his own for seminary every day. If given the opportunity, he would sleep in til 11am every day. So if Cooper gets up on his own for five days in a row, Jared will buy him a soda. If he gets up every day of the month on his own by 5:45am, Jared will take him out to lunch and a movie. If he gets up every day of the school year on his own, Jared will buy Cooper something larger. Cooper is trying to get a new air soft gun. Jared hasn't accepted those terms yet. On Luke's first day, Jared owed Cooper lunch and a movie, so they took Luke with them! This is Luke's very first burrito at Freebirds. They are pretty big! ;) Usually Jared and Jake and Cooper have a competition to see who can eat their burrito and not spill anything...not a bean or drop of juice in their basket.

JJ put on his indoraptor costume he got for his birthday and wanted to scare Luke. Yeah, welcome to the Houghs.

On Sunday the 23rd, we had our family council to discuss our family rules and expectations with Luke. JJ got a hold of my phone and took some pictures.

Luke--probably wondering what he got himself into.

Jake's departure day from the MTC was scheduled for Tuesday, September 25th--Jared's birthday. I was so excited to talk to him. He actually told us that if we could send him a burner phone, that would help with the call at the airport. Really? Was he in the MTC or the CIA? :) So Jared and I bought him a burner phone and sent it to him a week or two before that. Trying to find a cheap one was actually harder than we thought, but we managed. I took a sub job on Monday, the 24th but told Jared I was NOT leaving the house at all on the 25th because I did not want to risk missing Jake's call. About 10 days before that, we got word from Jake that they were leaving Monday the 24th, not the 25th! Ack!!!! So I scrambled to get out of my sub job (which I felt terrible about) and freed myself up for that day instead.

I knew Jake wasn't leaving the MTC until 10am or thereabouts and didn't expect his phone call until after he was settled at the airport a few hours later. Rachael Wight (mom of Carissa who is in Jake's district from our stake back in Oregon) texted me around noon asking if I had heard from Jake yet. She thought they were leaving the airport at 10am and was panicked, thinking she had missed the call or that Carissa couldn't call. I told her I hadn't heard from Jake either and expected the call later in the day. She was SO relieved!!

Jake's call came in around 2:30pm and it was WONDERFUL!!! Here's the link to the blog post I shared about the events of that day and the proof of life pictures his mission president's wife sent when he arrived in Budapest. Only three more months and we get a phone call at Christmas!!

The moon on the beautiful "fall" morning of Sept. 25th--Jared's 45th birthday.

Jared and I met for brunch at First Watch (my new favorite eating spot...I'm trying something new every time I go the menu looks that amazing) for his birthday. This was his plate. Those potatoes are to die for by the way.

This was mine.

I had a stake meeting the night of Jared's birthday and I left early and didn't get home until almost 9pm. We had postponed Jared's gifts/cake until then. I felt really bad about that. This was his gift from the kids. I know he wasn't thrilled about it, but I thought it was AWESOME!

It's a Mr. Incredible jammy jumpsuit complete with a mask. Hahaha!!! He IS incredible, after all!

This next gift is one sent from Jake before he left the MTC.

It's a shirt with the country of the mission Jared served in. Super fun! Jake has one for Hungary.

The kids nearby while Jared reads the cards they made for him.

Instead of a traditional cake, I made snickerdoodle cupcakes for Jared (his all-time favorite cookie) and he LOVED them!

The big boys watching TV together. Cooper got Luke hooked on a few shows that are on Netflix so Luke can continue them at home. :) The Flash, Marvel Agents of Shield and a couple others.

Eating breakfast before seminary. Luke takes the bag of cereal out of the box to pour it into his bowl, then puts the bag back in the box. He eats it with a spoon and no milk. But does put milk in a mug, warms it up and adds carnation breakfast powder to it. (That's actually really good!) If I eat my cereal dry though, it's with my fingers. ;)

These are the proof of life pictures Sister Hettinger (wife of the Mission President) sent us after Jake arrived in Budapest. I love how Jake, gets to be partnered up with the mission president in these pictures. Soon he'll finally have his very first companion!!!

Such a beautiful and incredible nighttime view of the Parliment building.

Will Donovan and Ben Stoddart (friends of Jake's) got together and went bowling with Cooper and Luke. Afterwards, they picked up some food at Whataburger for Luke's first experience with that eatery.

He liked his first Patty Melt!

Another sunset.

Jared and Cooper had been planning a fishing trip at Lake Livingston with Kevin and Garrett (and our neighbor Alex) for several months. A few days before, Cooper graciously gave up his spot so that Luke could have the fishing experience instead. I was so touched by Cooper's thoughtfulness and sacrifice. This was Luke's first time fishing for white bass.