Ni-Cool

Nicole came to visit two weekends ago! We had so much fun!

Friday, Heather, Nicole, and I went to J-Dawg's and The Awful Waffle to introduce Nicole to fine Provo dining. We got a savory crepe, a sweet crepe, and a J-Dawg, and shared them all. Then, we went to the BYU Volleyball game with Dahl, Philip, Jared, and Joey, where BYU owned, of course. We also got in for free thanks to Joey, who managed to find all sports passes for 3 of us, and a random stranger who gave us a free ticket as a random act of kindness. We even got a picture with Cosmo!

(He even tried to make out with Nicole!)

Then, we went to Heather's and watched Surf's Up.

Literally just woke up. Apparently, whenever Nicole comes over we end up like this.

The next morning, we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for some more of Provo's finest food with Philip, Steve, Troy, Winnie, Christine, and Michael.

We parted ways and Heather, Nicole, and I went to the grocery store and looked at coloring books.

We were so glad that Julie could come and be with us!

I guess I was nervous for our sleepover party.

Then, we went to see The Muppets. For the highlight of the movie, we saw trailers for Big Miracle and Brave. Nicole bawled all through the former because it was so touching, and Heather got confused at the end of the latter when they ask "If you could change your fate, would you?" because she thought it was asking "If you could change your feet, would you?" Irish accents were never her strong suit, I guess. Therefore, the best parts of that movie were the trailers before it, and a few musical numbers that were especially riveting. I honestly do not understand why the reviews were so glowing, but I slightly regret not seeing Man on a Ledge instead. Guess I will have to see it soon!

Nicole's dream is to save a bird (like I did this time).

So, she chased around the ducks

Then, we walked to Heather's apartment. It took about an hour, but it was so gorgeous outside, we didn't even mind. We had so much fun just chatting and catching up. We watched this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuzyODgWRp4

And made one of our own:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150722943107107&set=t.504052924&type=2&theater

Or just go to my profile, I just shared it on my wall. Or try and watch it here:

I swear we are not as weird as this video makes us look. Just as awesome!

We then went to the Creamery on 9th for kids meals.

It was SUPER difficult getting the fry sauce so we had to work together!

And watched Madagascar 2. I honestly don't know why we watched all these children's films. I guess we bring out the kids in each other!

Then we had a slumber party together :)

The next morning, Dahl came to pick us up to go to Jordan's mission homecoming. My friend, Jordan, was my roommate freshman year, and I am so proud of her for being such a great missionary in DC for the past year and a half. She is such a great example to me, and I was so excited to see her!!

Then, it was time to say goodbye! I love you Ni-Cool, and I am so glad you are my sister! Come visit anytime :)

Dahl and Nicole are buddies :)

St. Patty's Day Lucky Scavenger Hunt Date!

So last year, Dahl made St. Patrick's Day special for me, so I decided this year I would make it special for him! I totally lucked out, too, because it was on a Saturday. I took some inspiration from the Dating Diva's, and came up with an idea all of my own for a fun date with my man! Since St. Patrick's Day is all about luck, I decided to tell Dahl about why I am lucky to have him in the form of a scavenger hunt for green/ Irish things!

First, though, we started off the morning with a little green breakfast of green pancakes, green eggs, and green milk! Then, we watched the St. Patrick's Day episode from How I Met Your Mother and from The Office. After that, our treasure hunt began!

  1. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you are the best shopping buddy! So let’s go to DI and strut our stuff!

I told Dahl we had to pick the most ridiculous green outfits we could

find and try them on! Here's what I looked like before...

And after!

Fabulous! There were a TON of these little treasures there... I'm pretty sure they were bridesmaid dresses. Reminds me of one of those 27 dresses dresses... poor girls!

Dahl went for a more ugly sweater contest + manly camouflage pants look.

Kind of like Maid Marian and Robin Hood? That's what the lady taking our picture thought.

I guess Robin Hood probably wore camouflage! Or wished for it!  

  2. I’m LUCKY to have you because… our love shamROCKS! Let’s go to McDonalds and get a shamrock shake to share.

Dahl demonstrating his complete disgust with the Maraschino cherry.

We had to go to 3 different McDonalds for this... but it was worth it!

We added Oreo to make it even more amazing!

  3. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you are so sweet (not sour)! Here are some more treats for your sweet tooth (or maybe my sweet tooth… but we can share!) Back to the house!

  4. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you are so funny, honey. (Look by the honey for your next treat!)

I know this has nothing to do with being funny... but I didn't know what did so I had to improvise.

  5. I’m LUCKY to have you because… nothing can chip away at our love! (Kitchen Counter)

We used these to make guacamole for our chips! Chips and salsa are Dahl's favorites, but adding guacamole makes it even more delicious!

  6. I’m LUCKY to have you because… we stick together no matter what! We are best friends and always a team! (A little to your right)

  7. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you Dew that thing you DEW! (Fridge)

Mt. Dew is hands down our favorite drink, so we got super lucky because it's green too!

  8. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you are the best kisser! Plus, I’m nuts about you! (Family room)

Get it? I thought it was pretty clever :)

9. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you make up the best songs about me every day! (But you don't have to make one up right now. Please just sing “Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?”)

     If you've ever seen "Catch Me if You Can!", you've seen them sing it in this scene. A random customer sang this to me over the phone and I was so tickled about it I told my whole family to learn it and change the words so it's about me:
   
      Has anybody here seen Kelly?
      K E double L Y?
      Has anybody here seen Kelly?
      Have you seen him (her) smile?
      Sure his (her) hair is red (blonde)
      His (her) eyes are blue
      And (s)he's Irish (insert complimentary adjective here) through and through
      Has anybody here seen Kelly?
      Kelly from the Emerald Isle!

I thought it was fitting because it was about being "Irish through and through". You don't have to do this song, though. Think of any song you would like your husband to sing to you!

  10. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you are the best movie buddy and cuddle-bug ever! So let’s watch a St. Patrick’s Day movie!

I saw this on a lot of lists for St. Patrick's Day movies, and when I learned that Dahl's parents owned it,

I asked them to borrow it. We actually ended up really liking it!

  11. I’m LUCKY to have you because… you know you got lucky with me, too! (Yeah, you did!)

Afterwards, we went to El Pollo Loco with Dahl's family, and had a great time just talking and being together as a family (not really part of the date date, but I figured I'd include it since it was part of our day).

Sibs!

Cheeks!

In Laws :)

Dahl thought the date was really fun, and we had a great time remembering how lucky we are to have each other!

Tubing& When Dahl and I First Held Hands :)

So, Monday Dahl and I went tubing! This is actually what we did on our first date, so we were going to do it on the anniversary of our first date (like we did last year), but Dahl ended up having a test, so we didn't. When we got there, we learned that we were supposed to have reservations (which never was an issue before), but they said they would still let us in, we would just have to wait until 6, so what did we do? Went to dinner at a random Mexican restaurant, of course!! We went to Don Pedros, which was AMAZING. We loved it!

Then, we only ended up going down the hill twice because it was pretty slushy snow, so we weren't going very fast. I remember last year just FLYING, and almost hitting the fence every time. Dahl gave us good push-offs, so we didn't stop in the middle like a lot of people, but it was still pretty slow.

We still had a ton of fun though, and will definitely go again next year, just earlier in the year so it's not so warm. In some ways, the warm was nice, because usually we end up leaving because it's so freezing, there is nothing else to do. However, it did soak through my boots, so that was another negative.

One of the biggest positives of it being freezing when we first went, was that that gave DAhl and awesome excuse to hold my hand for the first time. (Well, actually, we had before, but that was during cuddling, which we decided doesn't count.) Dahl wasn't sure how I would react, so he decided to ease into it. We were stopped at a stop sign (which he always points out to me when we go tubing), and he said, "My hands are really cold! We should warm up each other's hands!" So we did. And he kept holding my hand. All the way home :)

Our Mini-Date

The other day while I was at work, I called Dahl on my break (I do this every day, by the way... for sure the best part of my shift!).

And he said to me: Want to go on a date tonight?

And I said... YES!! (That's a no-brainer!) What will we do?

And he said: It's a surprise!

!!!!

Surprises are the best!!

He said: It will just be a mini date; we'll eat dinner at home, but we can do something fun after.

That night, he took me to see Sherlock Holmes at Water Gardens...

... and to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt.

Have I mentioned that I am completely obsessed with frozen yogurt?? And this place is amazing!

What a perfect date :) What a perfect man!

Free Food Date!

SO, for Valentine's Day, I made a resolution to plan a surprise date each month this year! I absolutely love reading those marriage and dating blogs, and since all I am doing is working, I figured I have enough time to plan some fun dates for me and my hubby! This is my first go at it:

Dahl and I have 2 Starving Students Cards. [For those of you who don't know, if you are a student, you can pay about $30 (or $40 for 2 when they are on sale at the school, which is what we did.. I might be like $10 off, I can't remember), and you get a paper with TONS of little deals on them. According to the card, it has $7603 in total value, and $976 in free stuff.]

Some things on the card are absolutely free- no purchase necessary, so I have always wanted to go on a "free date", where we just go get all the free food on the card, so that is what I planned. I looked up the location and came up with a list of 10 places that would be fun, and put them in order so we could drive in basically a straight line through them. This is my invitation I gave to Dahl (See if you can guess what the clues mean- some have multiple clues to help you if you get stuck on the first one!):

You’re invited… to a Free Food Date!!

That’s Right… Free!!

(Courtesy of our Starving Student Cards)

Here are some clues to tell you where to go!

1.

-ed

OR:

-ory

-ed

2.

3.

4.

Haha JK! OR...

- O's

OR:

-

5.

6.

- A-

's

7.

's

& BBQ

8.

9.

10.

Didn't get all of them?? Here are some hints if you still want to try!

Hints:

1. The kind of tree- sound out, sound out-sound out

2. Noun- type of dog

3. Game- noun

4. Inside Joke, Spell-Out, Type of Water Sound Out

5. EASY

6. Sound out

7. Not a kangaroo- nouns

8.Noun- exercise type

9. Adjective- Noun

10. Noun- the big word

Still didn't get them?? Here are the answers:

1. Hickory Kist

2. Pita Pit

3. Blackjack Pizza

4. Beto's

5. Iceberg

6. Tomasso's

7. Wallaby's Smokehouse and Barbecue

8. Juice Press

9. Wiseguyz Pizzeria

10. Yogurt Bliss

Dahl was super good at it! It only took him a couple minutes and clues to get all of them! (I married a smart one :) )

We only ended up going to five of these fun places- and that was PLENTY of food! The date began in the late morning, and we had a Groupon that was about to expire, so first we went to the Awful Waffle:

It was super yummy!

Then, for the most money we spent all day, we went to the dollar theater to see Adventures of TinTin!

$2.50 baby :)

Then, we moved onto the free food clues for a late lunch!

At Pita Pit, we each got a free cookie!

At Blackjack Pizza, we each got a personal cheese pizza!

At Beto's we each got a drink- one pina, one horchata!

It was burning my mouth!

We got "Smashers" from Wallaby's Smokehouse and BBQ- basically cheesy mashed potatoes!

At Juice Press we each got a free 12 oz smoothie!

It was SO much fun!! Dahl thought the hints were way cool and it's kind of exciting to go to a bunch of places and never have to get out your credit card :) We are definitely going to do it again to use the other freebies! If you have a Starving Student's card, this is an awesome way to have a cheap (or free!) date!