Mystery Dinner Date

 A month or so ago there was a sign-up sheet passed around in Relief Society.  It said, "willing to help with activity and not be afraid to be in front of a group of people".  I signed Ben and I up, really not even knowing what the activity would be.  A week later we got a call from Lana in our ward informing us of the activity we signed up for.  Little did I know, but I had signed up for a performance for a ward adult date night.  Luckily Ben is awesome and loves to dress up too, so he went right along with all the fun. 

The theme of the night was a "Mystery Dinner to find the Title of Liberty".  Ben was a Hispanic laborer on an archeological dig site and I was a preservationist of ancient ruins.  Ben had a great accent, and his character actually was the one who had encountered the Title of Liberty and a testimony of the gospel. 

 We had such a fun cast and crew.  The two ladies in the back directed, decorated and managed the night, and the husband and wife on the right are the ones who created and wrote the "play" 20 years ago.  We had awesome Mexican food and great company the entire night.  We love our ward family!

Nerds

 Bow ties folded out of regular ties, bandaids on our 3D glasses, pens in pocket, pants hiked up, pit stains in white shirts, retainers made out of paper clips and tootsie rolls, white socks and dark shoes, and a kick me sign on the back- check!  We had a great time as nerds for our ward Halloween Chili cook off and trunk or treat.  We gave out nerds and toosie rolls to all the lucky kids who came by our trunk.  One of the kids I teach during sunday school, was also dressed up as a nerd.  We greeted him with missed high-fives and snorts.  He is such a great kid! 

 Some of the favorite costumes of the night were: A chilean minor, a bag of jelly bellys, a pregnant belly jack-o-lantern, a golfer with a golf ball sticking out of his head, zorro, a munchkin, and our bishop wearing all black, a piece of material around his head and a shirt that said "budget ninja costume".  Great times!

Ethiopian Food

This past weekend we went out to dinner with Ben's mentor teacher (Leah) and her boyfriend (Tyson) and Leah's student teacher (Bryan, sitting next to Ben) at the Blue Nile Ethiopian Cuisine.  It was an absolute blast learning how to eat this VERY authentic food.  One of the benefits of living near a very international city we get to taste many different foods. 
The bluish "bread" under Ben's arm is called "injera" and is the only "utensil" you are given.  Injera is like a spongy crepe (I was wearing my Adidas tennis shoes and quickly noticed injera looked like the mesh on my shoes).  We ordered quite a bit of food, and looking at it you may be wondering what in the world is on that plate?  We have some beef, lentils, collard greens, salad, a boiled brown egg, split pea, and a chicken leg. 
We finished off both of those trays!  We have decided to go out to eat more often and try new international cuisines.  Next stop Greek!

Girls Weekend

 I was fortunate to be able to go to Utah with Ben for conference weekend while he had his men weekend with his dad and brothers.  I stayed with my sister in North Salt Lake and we got to have a girl weekend. 

 During the priesthood session of conference Brooklyn, Ganel and I went on a bike ride to the local gas station Maverick to get a treat.  On the way there we stopped at one of Brooklyn's favorite climbing trees and climbed as high as we could.  After riding our bikes we painted our nails and watched the new Tinkerbell movie (which I highly recommend). 

Braided Bread

I saw this recipe in "Taste of Home" which is magazine Eileen Cheney ordered for us before she passed and I thought I HAVE TO EAT THAT TODAY!!  So, in honor of a wonderful cook, I tried my first ever braided bread and it was INCREDIBLE!  Thanks mamma Cheney for the magazine and a son who encourages me to try new recipes.  I hope this will be a new Ben and Stacie Cheney tradition for years to come. 

Museum of Natural Science

Ben and I are now members of the Museum of Natural Science in Houston, Texas.  We went to the museum on labor day (our day off) and quickly fell in love with the place.  Good thing we became members because we only got through a third of the museum the day we were there.  We love the Dinosaur exhibit and the African Wilderness exhibit.  Ben was so fun wanting to make sure we quizzed ourselves afterwards on what we learned so we wouldn't forget.  He is such a great teacher!  My favorite part was the chemistry show done by a volunteer who reminded me so much of my Dad!  The show was mostly for little kids explaining things like density, acidity and bases etc.  I was smiling from ear to ear because his experiments were things that Ben and I can do at home.  Finally my chance to shine came when he asked for an older volunteer for one of the experiments.  I shot my hand up and he must have seen my enthusiasm and called on me.  Just so you know Diet Pepsi floats and regular Pepsi sinks because of the sugars in them. 


We also went to the last day of the temporary Magic exhibit where we saw a live magic show and lots of cool displays about the history of magic.  I'm not such a magic person, but Ben loved it.  He is so curious and says he is "as curious as a cat and that is why his friends call him whiskers".  After the show I proceeded  to walk out and I lost sight of Ben for a minute and I turned around to find him getting in trouble by a worker because he was going in a door he shouldn't go through without permission.  I went back to find him and he got permission to go in the door- so I went with him and it led us into a "mock train" which was an illusion train- complete with moving floor, mist and fake snow.  I was so creeped out, but Ben thought it was hilarious that I was so scared of the illusion train that he just laughed most of the time.  We have so much fun together!

Great Advertising

This palm tree has been hanging near the freeway for a few weeks and I wanted to share it with the rest of you.  This is great advertising for the nursery located near the base of the crane.  I just thought this was so clever I had to take a picture!

BYU from afar

Even though we live far away, we still try to support our BYU football team.  This cake was made in honor of the first football game this year.  We went to the Leishmen's house and had so much fun watching the game with their family and the Christensens.  Sarah had the cake made at a local bakery and it was so great I just had to take a picture.  We had fun swimming in their awesome pool with their little girls and eating the most fantastic BBQ ribs, Canadian style.   

Happy "I Love You More Day"

Ben decided to make a new holiday.  August 28th Ben came home before me (which never happens) and he decorated the front door and porch with paper hearts and sweet notes.  I walked in and he jumped up from behind the kitchen counter and declared the day as "I love you more day".  He's the best!  The funniest part was as I was walking up to my door, a lady walking towards me saw the door before I did and smiled so big realizing I was the one who lived at the decorated door.  Ben is the best!  I love his creativity in showing his love. 

Banana Bread

I was so proud of this I had to show it off!