Since UT’s popularity has been on the rise, it has become increasingly more expensive to try and find tickets for any Texas home game. Instead, Jill and I have found an equally exciting and ridiculously cheaper option to get our football-fix. Since Jill’s a student at Texas State and Asher is a kid, it turns out we can go to Texas State football games for a mere $13. Compared to $150 per ticket to go to UT, this was a no-brainer for us.

Tonight Texas State played Texas Southern. While at first we had our concerns, considering the Texas Southern offensive line was twice the size of any Texas State player, an early lead by Texas State set our fears at ease that things were under control.

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Texas State prevailed with a comfortable final score of 52-18 and we even got a nice half-time show and some cherry snow cones out of the evening. Go Bobcats!

Over the last eight months I have really gotten some mileage out of my Nikon D40 camera. The pictures I’ve been able to take of Asher & Co. have really come a long way from our old Kodak point and shoot. To date, everything on this blog has been shot with the same lens which is remarkable considering that it was the kit lens that came with the camera body.

Today, however, Jill let me upgrade lenses with a fancy new AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G. Now that may not mean a whole lot to anyone (it took me a while to figure it out) but it’s a nice lens that lets me take more portrait-style photos and where there’s not a ton of light, so I can start shooting better indoor shots.

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These are just a few test shots. Hopefully, once I get used to this new lens and what it can do, I can start posting some nice photos.

We’ve really been glad for all the rain we’ve been getting this week, though it was nice to see that the sun decided to come out today. However, it would seem that all the rain did leave behind some interesting cloud formations. Check out the photos and see what you think!

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Also, this was the first time Asher had been able to go out and swing in about a week, so we was very excited for the opportunity.

After a relatively narrow victory by Texas last night over Texas Tech, Jill and I realized that the game wasn’t the only thing that had our stomachs turned upside down. It turns out that in preparing a large rack of ribs for us to enjoy, I completely forgot to prepare any vegetables with the meal. So in retaliation, Jill suggested that we set aside some time today and just eat vegetables to counter balance our meat-heavy meal last night.

So, I made some carrot sticks and cut some fresh pineapple (I know that’s not a vegetable, but it’s so good) and we went out to Zilker Park to enjoy both our healthy snack and the evening weather. We were surprised to see so many people out there and Asher especially enjoyed the large number of dogs running around.

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Afterward, we all felt a bit better for having put some good food into our stomachs and came home and ate a nice, light dinner to end the day.

While the rain in Austin this weekend upset a number of the plans that we had made, it certainly was refreshing to finally get a break from the record breaking heat we’ve had all summer. Since it had been a while since Asher has gotten to play in the rain, we figured that now was a perfect opportunity to make some paper boats to float down the street.

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When the boats finally disintegrated from the torrents of water rushing down the road, we settled on having a splashing contest and waving at curious neighbors as they drove by in their cars.

Okay, before anyone panics (all two of you reading this) the xB is fine. It’s the SPARTA license plates that will be missed. I finally got around to renewing my registration since it had been expired since last March, and when they asked me if I wanted to reapply for the specialized SPARTA plates that Jill got me for my birthday, I got a little sticker shock for the extra $40 they wanted for them and decided to let them go.



So now instead I’m stuck with a monstrous jumble of seven random alphanumerics that I’ll likely never remember. It was a good run while it lasted, but it was time to let the plates go.

Upon hearing that BYU would be heading to the new Dallas Cowboys stadium to play against OU (a known rival of our beloved UT) I immediately called my brother Brigham, a recent BYU graduate to see if he would be able to procure some tickets for the game. At first he didn’t have any leads, but then by chance, he found a small amount of standing-room-only tickets that had become available which we quickly bought up.

In all it was me, Brig, Mason and Brig’s father-in-law and brother-in-law that trekked up to Arlington to observe what would be a spectacular showing by BYU. With herculean effort we watched the BYU defense hold off seven straight plays from within the fifth yard line as OU fruitlessly tried to score a touchdown, but in the end, it was the Cougars that would seal an astonishing victory after OU missed a 50+ yard field goal attempt.

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With lost voices from cheering and tired legs from standing for four hours, we loaded back up into the car for a late drive back to Austin, comforted by an outstanding showing by BYU.

While Jill has been spending hours studying for her qualifying exams, I have been filling the evenings with a variety of inconsequential things to do. Tonight I decided to experiment with a keychain flashlight and my camera. The following is the result of my experimentation.

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