It's a perfect day!

Free Food Date!

2012-03-04T15:00:00.005-08:00

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 $20 (or $30 for 2- 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!

-ed

OR:

-ory

-ed

Haha JK! OR...

- O's

OR:

- A-

& BBQ

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!

How Dating Couples is Kind of Like Just Plain Dating

2012-02-17T16:53:00.006-08:00

Dahl and I were discussing this the other day... and it is so funny! When we go on dates with couples it is so similar to just dating each other. Of course there are OBVIOUS differences, but it is still fun. Let me count the ways:

1. When you ask another couple out for the first time, sometimes you worry it will be awkward. What if you aren't compatible as a couple?? But you like them... other interactions have been fun, so hopefully this will be too.

2. But, you think to yourself, if it is awkward, you will just drop them off after the original date (usually dinner). If not, maybe they can come over and watch a movie or play a game!

3. You're not quite sure how to interact at first. Will they like that joke? That movie? That game??

4. Sometimes you wonder who should ask out/ initiate contact after the first date... you don't want to seem too forward; what if they aren't interested?!

5. Sometimes you just do things because the other couple wants to, and you like them, so you want to be nice and seem willing and fun.

6. You try to dress up nicer for the first few dates to be more impressive, but as the dates become more frequent, your clothes become more "blah" and casual.

7. Same goes for your date plans. At first it is all intense and crazily planned out and intricate. Two weeks in advance: "Let's go on a hike, tubing down the river, to dinner, and then to a fondue party back at my place." Then, as you become more comfortable with each other, you relax more. 27 minutes in advance: "Want to come over and watch a movie? We'll get a Redbox!"

8. When they break up, it's kind of like they also are breaking up with you as a couple, too. That's kind of how I feel after two of our best couple- friends broke up. We are still friends with them as individuals, but we can't date them anymore... until they find someone new of course!

Also, just for fun, here is a link to a fun article about how double dating helps your relationship!http://www.match.com/magazine/article/12712/10-Ways-Double-Dating-Helps-Your-Relationship/

Will you be my Dahl-entine??

2012-02-17T15:45:00.003-08:00

( He said yes!)

So this week is Valentines week, as I explained last year, because it is the anniversary of our first date, first kiss, and it is Valentine's Day!

SO, Valentine's Day was super fun! Dahl made me french toast for breakfast, which I love. He also found this in the shower!

(with a cute bath crayon)

I found this cute idea here. (Please excuse the horrible handwriting, the shower has bumps on the walls (you know those little ones?) so it is hard to write pretty.) But it's way fun because we can write each other notes in the shower and it washes off easily with water :)

Then he took me to work, where I proceeded to make a bunch of sales, so I made about $70 extra, which is a pretty big deal for me!

Then, he picked me up and gave me a vase of a dozen roses,

a bag of treats (I don't think anyone makes better chocolate than Dove. Seriously.)

inside a super cute bag,

a picture frame with photos of us from our Utah wedding reception (which I finally got after losing them shortly after it occured),

and a sweet note. Inside the note were two tickets to see the Vow!

I have been wanting to see it ever since I saw the previews, so I was so excited!!

We went to Shoots, which was, as usual, amazing! We got Firecracker Chicken and Honey Walnut Chicken with raspberry cheesecake at the end. We ran out of there to get to our movie, and barely got 2 seats together :)

I liked the Vow, but for me it focused too much on the sad; it ended happily, but it was so quick that I felt like I still had lingering sad feelings that it didn't quite get rid of. But, still a good movie, and based on an amazing story!

Then we went to Walmart to get sugar cookie- making ingredients. We didn't end up finishing them until Thursday, but here are our creations:

Finally, I gave Dahl a love note and this:

It is inspired by Pinterest, and this blog. Basically, you can use dry-erase markers to white what you love about each other whenever you want. I wanted it to be bigger than the one in the blog so we could write even more things!!

My presents were very similar this year, but I thought they were both so fun and I'm excited to

use them to tell each other what we love about them and write silly notes.

Dahl prepared such a great Valentine's day for me and I'm glad he is my Valentine (or Dahlentine)!!

The Bachelor!

2012-01-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, first of all I want to say… I have NEVER liked the Bachelor. I thought it was catty and stupid because what kind of crazy girl would do something like that?! I would legitimately hate it, and I would leave immediately. But, my sister Heather really wanted us to watch it with her, so now I watch it with her, Savana, Jacob, Ian, and Tony. (Why no Dahl, you ask? Well… because when he watched part of an episode with us he said, and I quote, “I could watch the goriest, grossest movie EVER and not feel as crappy as I do now after watching that show.” Dad says he gets his man card back now. Personally, I think he kind of likes it- he totally enjoys listening to me babble about it (?) and last episode he snuck in to “get a break from homework”… and stayed for the duration of the show. So he’s not fooling this girl!)

Ben

I have found that I quite enjoy the drama that is The Bachelor, probably mostly because of how fun it is to watch it with this crew. We have a cheat sheet with names and pictures of all the girls, and a place to put notes, including symbols for crying and kissing. The boys, especially, are very into rooting on their girls as they vie for the love of Ben, who I think is being semi- annoying… but I don’t think it is possible for anyone to not be annoying when they are placed into that situation so I suppose he can be given some lee-way…

Thoughts on the last episode:

Rachel

Date with Rachel= MEGA-AWKWARD!! But at least she was real instead of just falling all over him and telling sob stories.

Courtney

Group Date: HATE Courtney… she’s so freaking manipulative it’s maddening. Ben was so cute with Kacie B (who is being a little more whiny than I like, but I think it’s because she is one of the most genuinely interested girls there) and then Courtney swooped in and ruined it all. I am betting she will stay for a long time, though, because she brings the kind of drama this show thrives on, and we love to hate her.

Kacie B

Also, that was way awkward for Samantha when he sent her home in the middle of the cocktail party, but at least he was honest with her. The boys thought it was hilarious how he shot her down.

Samantha

Date with Jennifer: Adorable… she is so fun and real and she hardly ever whines which I like. And their date was super fun… a little too scary for my taste, though. And Ben- stop trying to make things like jumping into chasms and climbing to sickeningly disturbing heights something figurative and symbolic like plunging into love and overcoming your fears and letting people in… if someone is scared of heights, they should not have to prove their love by doing those sorts of crazy things. (PS I hate heights.)

Jennifer

Rose Ceremony: I love Emily, and I think she is one of the nicest girls on the show, but she was dumb to try to warn Ben about the real Courtney—it totally backfired. However, I think she deserves better than Ben, anyway, so I will be sad when she leaves, which, sadly, looks like it will be soon if she can’t drop the Courtney issue.

Emily

Also, I was sad to see Monica go, but we all knew it had to happen sooner or later… She did bring a great voice of reason to the drama on the show so it will be interesting to see how the dynamic changes among the girls.

Monica

Anyway, right now I am Team Emily/ Kacie B/ Jennifer/ kinda Lindzi C- all the way… and if anyone wants to come over and watch it with us on Monday/ Tuesday nights (I have been watching on both…doubly embarrassing, I know), please feel free :). It’s a party!

Lindzi C

Girl Time!

2012-01-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

All my sisters :) When we were home for Christmas we did about 3 sister photo shoots... I have so much fun with my cute sisters! Love them <3

*For the record, none of the pictures featured in this post are from last weekend... they are just random ones of me and the girls featured in this post... and some even have boys in them (gasp!)! *

I am a firm believer in the awesomeness of girl- time. Of course, my cute husband is my favorite person to hang out with ever and I’d rather be with him than anyone else most of the time, but there is something to be said for giggling with girls whilst painting your nails and watching a chick flick. My favorite girls in the world are my sisters (and sisters in law), my mom (and mom in law) and my friend, Amy. I have so much fun with all of them! And last weekend was prime time for girl time! For example:

This is us bull-frogging :)

Last Friday, a big group of us were going to the Pie. I didn’t know most of the people in the group, because it was mostly full of Jacob’s friends, but the van ended up having me, Dahl, Heather, Jacob, and two other boys, Ian and Mitch. Heather and I ended up sitting in the middle seat while Jacob and Mitch sat in the back and Ian and Dahl sat in the front. And we had a BLAST! I seriously felt like I was having a girls night because we basically were only talking to each other and laughing SO HARD!! Half of it was just remembering this clip from 101 Dalmations 2… you know you think random things that aren’t that funny are when you are with your best friend too :)

We have always been BFF!

Us with our men at Cornbelly's!

The next day, Dahl had to go to the math lab all day (poor baby), so I went to lunch with his cute sister Savana. We talked for like two hours and had such a great time. I love her, she is such a fun sister in law for me. And we went to Zupas which is AMAZING!

Apparently I haven't ever taken a picture with just Bana so this is with Dahl too.

That night was David’s birthday. He is dating Amy, who is one of my other favorite girls, and she was very tired of watching football games all day with him (being a good girlfriend and all), so we left our men to watch another game while she took me to go get soup from Olive Garden. It took 15 minutes each way plus a half hour wait and a half hour walk, so we had the best time catching up and chatting, mostly about the men in our lives… isn’t that generally what half of girl talk consists of anyway?

This is us in Vegas...

And with our men in St. George :)

I had such a fun weekend with my girls, and I am grateful to have such great girl-friends!

Home for Christmas Part 2!

2012-01-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

And here we are back for the second half of vacation at home:

This is a random dessert I made... I think it looks better than it tasted but still good.

*I forgot to mention that on Friday we went and visited our elementary, middle, and high schools. We ate lunch with Jacob and Sarah and saw a lot of our favorite teachers from our childhoods/ adolescent years which was really fun. Dahl thinks it's weird that we are friends with our teachers, but we love them :). One of my favorite parts was when Heather and Nicole waltzed right into a Family Life class when they were learning about puberty for girls! The teacher, not missing a beat, said "Oh yes, they have been through it!" and ushered them out. She told them what they had burst into and said, "I can't believe you guys walked in on a Family Life class! You guys are gross!" She was a hoot. Here is Julie with an ESOL sign (English as a Second Language). For the reason for this picture click here. It's kind of a funny story.

1. Thursday: The whole family minus dad went to DC for the Tour de Nicole. We met the little boy Nicole nannied for and his family. We went to the zoo, the Archives, the Air and Space Museum, and saw some monuments at night. Nicole also pointed out other areas of the city she loved as we drove around. Finally, Sarah got pooped on by a bird. And I cleaned her up.

The zoo!

Look at Heather seducing the panda...

A random sign outside the Archives we thought was funny

Air and Space Museum

Washington Memorial

Capitol Building

Botanical Gardens

2. Friday: We took family photos with Kellie Nuss. She took our wedding photos and is amazing! After the photo shoot the girls were not done (of course) so we hurried back to the playground to do a sister photo shoot. Don’t worry, we did about 3 over the course of our time at home. We love us some pictures—mostly of ourselves. Unfortunately, upon arriving, we found that the children at this playground had multiplied! What?! “Playgrounds aren’t for children, they are for adults wanting to do photo shoots!” (direct quote courtesy of Nicole). We managed to run as fast as possible between unused equipment when the kids got bored of them and got quite a few pictures in. Please enjoy this mini break to look at us be goofs:

Look at how much Nicole didn't want to be in this pic...

Afterwards, Nicole wanted to go to the mall, so Heather, Julie, and I agreed to go too. Upon arriving, Julie and I decided we were far too tired to go to the mall, so we slept in the car while Heather and Nicole went in. Nicole brought back Chipotle, and for reasons that no one quite understands, decided I was the chosen one who she would share with. Sa-WEET! Heather brought us frozen yogurt and shared with us all. It was amazing! Then we had a girl party and watched 13 Going on 30. Um LOVE that movie! We had an awesome out-of-this-world dance party afterwards to the credits music. Here's another photo shoot... don't remember when it was taken:

3. Saturday: New Years Eve! We went to Hunan Manor (our family tradition) and it was wonderful (thanks Daddy!). We spent the night hanging out, making New Years Resolutions, and watching Captain America.

4. Sunday: We went to church, and Dahl and I sat in on a Valiant 9 class (our new calling in our home ward!) I am so freaking excited to teach primary J. We went home, packed, played Set, and ate some yummy ribs my mommy made. We also took pictures with the quilts my mom for our baptisms.

Attack!!

I am scary!!

Then we said a teary goodbye and it was back to Utah.

All the sibs!

I had such a wonderful time seeing my family! It is hard to live so far away but it is nice to know we can be together forever!

Home for Christmas Part One!

2012-01-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to blog at least once a week… today is the 7^th so here it goes!

Dahl and I went home to Maryland for Christmas and it was wonderful! Here are some highlights of the first half (some of these details may be out of order or on the wrong days… but they all happened):

1. Thursday: We flew home on a flight that started at 6 AM! Sarah tried to get me to watch Cars 2- I fell asleep.

2. Friday: We went to watch Sarah’s basketball scrimmage. It was incredibly entertaining, especially when she got mad at some girl and shoved her out of the way (but got away with it)! She is an aggressive one! Even more entertaining perhaps, was Heather’s constant attacks on my dad’s eyebrows documented below:

You don't touch my eyebrows!

Just a little hair...

Never!!

Now you stay away from me!

That's it! I'm changing seats!

No Daddy come back! I won't hurt you!!

(Hehe yes I will)

Seriously I promise! Just sit down!

This is my body not yours! You keep your dang hands off!

I will Daddy.

Look at what your husband has to look forward to! When your mother tried to pluck my eyebrows I had a Hitler-stache for an eyebrow!

Alright I'll sit back down but you better keep your dang hands to yourself!

I guess this is a constant plague upon my poor father-- apparently Heather is no longer allowed to sit next to him in church because every time he falls asleep he receives a rude awakening as either his nose hairs or his eyebrows are being forcefully plucked from his face! Also on Friday, I tried to watch Smurfs with Sarah and fell asleep. And Dahl got caught up in an intense match of Stratego with Jacob and Joseph—full of rule-changing and making up—that lasted for hours. Oh yeah, and here's Sarah at her game:

3. Saturday: Christmas Eve. The older kids became Santa’s elves and help mom get everything wrapped up. We followed traditions from both my family and Dahl’s: From mine we listened the “The Little Shepherd”. From his, we read “That Thine Alms may be in Secret” and “A Christmas Dress for Ellen” and watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

4. Sunday: Christmas! We performed our “surprise” play like usual- Dahl was an amazing Spanish- speaking Mexican. We opened presents and went to church, and just relaxed together as a family. We had our usual Santa treasure hunt and ate Monkey Bread and Oatmeal for breakfast.

5. Monday: The whole family minus Dad went to Mt. Vernon. I am a huge George Washington fan, so I loved it. We took a tour of his home, went to his grave site, walked around his gorgeous estate, watched a few movies about him, and met Aladdin the friendly camel. We came home and watched home videos (hopefully coming soon to a Facebook near you) and The Help (love that movie!). Mom made some amazing apple pie which we all appreciated immensely!

Haha note how Julie looks like a "little person" (or however the politically correct way is to say it).

6. Tuesday: The original plan was to go to DC for the day, but weather changed those quickly. We in no way allowed that to make it a downer! We opted for a relaxing day at home (if that is even possible considering our household). Dahl and I went on a date to Ledo’s, and because of a mix-up ended up with double the pizza we ordered for the same price, so we brought some home to share. Then we took all of the kids (except for Sarah) to Rita’s.

Ritas!

We also played Just Dance, which was super fun. The second I saw that game I knew it was made for my family! Then we watched Taken and I watched Alias with my sisters (best show ever, hurry up Netflix!)

7. Wednesday: We relaxed in the morning and watched LOTR. I fell asleep, but only for a little (anyone sensing a pattern?). We went to the temple as a family. The kids did baptisms and we did sealings with my parents. We haven’t done sealings since our own so it was really nice. Then we went to the Visitor’s Center to a dance concert. We thought it was doing to be some professional international dance company but it turned out to just be some kids and their teachers (who, it seems, only created the school so they could perform) which was a disappointment but one we found immensely amusing.

Finally, that night all the Connor kids played Nerts! This is a family favorite and it was even more fun that Gina came to join us!

Stay tuned for the next half of the vacation coming soon!

When Julie Came to Visit!

2011-08-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

*This post is from about a month ago. Now that I have the pictures, I can post it!*

These past few days we have had cute Julie here to visit us!! It was awesome not only because we got to see her, but also because it gave us an excuse to do some fun things we've been wanting to do all summer!

First of all, for those of you who don't know, Julie is my 17-year old sister (number 4), and she is about to start her senior year of high school.

Anyway, when she first came in (Monday), her flight was delayed 7 hours, and so instead of her being able to take the bus straight from the airport to go see Nicole (number 3, age 19) at BYU-I, we had to go pick her up at the airport where they had characteristically lost our luggage (Southwest is better than Delta), and finally we got her (without her luggage). We didn't do much that night because Dahl was super busy, and the next day she was off to Idaho.

Fast Forward to Thursday- Julie wasn't back yet, but it was still eventful, as Dahl and I doubled with Jacob and Heather (his brother, my sister), and it was super fun!! We went to Thai Mango, which is AMAZING btw, Comedy Sportz, Spoon it Up for frozen yogurt which I also love, and then back to our apartment to watch I am Number 4. A good time was had by all :)

Now fast forward to Friday- Julie came back!! We all went to dinner at the Cannon Center (thanks Heather!) and then to the Redwood Drive In to watch Transformers 3 and Super 8. Personally, I did not appreciate Transformers 3, and fell asleep in the middle, just like I did with the second one. It is far too long and drawn out, and the scenes all act like they're interconnected but it's so random and weird and I just don't like it except for the parts with the parents, which are pretty funny. I really liked Super 8, however, and I thought it was really cute. Anything JJ Abrams does is awesome, with very few exceptions. It was super fun to go, because we got to hang out with David and Amy and Lori and Brent as well as Lindsay and a boy from her high school. I think drive in movies are *AWESOME*, so it was a definite success.

Us at the Drive in!!

The next day, we went to Lagoon (And by we I mean Heather, Jacob, Julie, Savana, Stan (her boy), Dahl, and I)! The day got off to a late start because the discount tickets we were supposed to get weren't actually valid, and the Costco tickets we bought had some complications, but we finally got on our way, and it was a blast!! Our favorite ride was Rattlesnake Rapids- everyone got in a huge inner-tube and we floated down this river. It's really fun because there are waterfalls that spray you and when you jostle the tube you get splashed as well, so the main goal of everyone on the ride is to try to avoid getting wet. This causes a lot of running around the tube, pushing and shoving. Even with all that work, everyone ended up fairly soaked (Stan and I especially). It's super fun how when you get married your whole family expands and becomes even more fun!

Lagoon!

Stan and Sav

Haha notice Heather's face between mine and Dahl's... cute huh??

Sunday we went to Heather's ward (and our old ward), and then worked on our moth infestation problem (don't even get me started...). Then we went to Dahl's house, and hung out with his family. We ate dinner at Janelle’s, went on a walk, and jumped on the tramp!! We decided to jump in a Snuggy for 2 that Dahl and I got (one at a time though) and a bunch of sleeping bags, which was super fun and slippery! Then we played a leisurely game of tossing the volleball around on the tramp which quickly turned into a violent game of dodgeball where everyone was it! Then, we went inside and watched the Love Bug, which is a Connor favorite (we watched it as kids and thought it was soo funny). Dahl and Jacob got over their initial hatred and became #1 and #2 fans!

Monday Dahl, Jacob, Heather, Winnie, Julie, and I went to Pizza Pie Cafe, which was as delicious as it was fattening, and then Kellen took Winnie's place and we went bullfrog fishing!! It was super fun, and we were so glad he was so nice to bring us and teach us how/ do all the work for us :)

I kissed my frog...

And He turned into a Prince!!

Jacob and his froggy

Me!

Heather was very afraid.

She warmed up quickly!

Julie!

Sisters :)

I Saved a Duckling Today!!

2011-08-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

To give you some perspective, I originally wrote this post May 10 this year. And that wasn't even the day it happened; it was a few days later. I never got the pictures from this event up until yesterday (this was because of a combination of busy-ness, forgetfulness, and the fact that Dahl gave his mom his phone with the pictures on it before we posted them), so I never posted this blog until now. That's actually why I haven't been posting any blogs. I know I can edit them later to add the pictures but it just bugs me that people will go to look at my blog and it will have no photos when there are a ton of perfectly good ones that could go along with it that they will never see because they will never look at that entry again. Anyway, here's the original entry:

Today Dahl and I saved a ducklings life! This is how it happened:

We went to the gym right after work, and we decided that instead of going on the treadmill at the end of our workout like usual (we usually do elliptical, weights, treadmill), we would rather go on a walk outside. Dahl drove us to Raintree, where there's a trail that we love and used to walk on all the time. As we were walking, suddenly I saw something.

"Dahl, is that a duckling?!" I asked. It was!! All by itself, chirping for its mother very terrified-ly. We tried to catch it but were unsuccessful, so we kept walking. We came back to where we were a little while later, and it was still there, calling desperately for its mommy duck.

I started to get kind of worried for it (we have no idea if its a boy or girl, but I'll assume it's a boy from now on). He was all alone, there were no mommy ducks in the vicinity (we had walked all over the area), and it was cold and windy. It also looked like it may rain later, and the river was rushing rapidly, armed with twice the amount of water it usually had. The duckling definitely could not swim in it.

So, we decided to rescue him. We knew his chances of survival were slim to none, plus he was the cutest thing I had ever seen. Dahl finally managed to catch him:

Is that not the most adorable thing ever???

I was seriously in love with him. Dahl carried him back to the car, and I carried him as we drove down to the duck pond. We figured there would be a lot of ducks there, ducks that aren't as afraid of humans, and someone would take Ducky (we named him- Land Before Time, anyone?) in.

When we first arrived, we couldn't find a family that had ducklings his age. I was worried about putting him with one that had bigger ducklings, but just as I was about to reluctantly place him there (it was the only other mother duck we saw), Dahl found one with ducklings just Ducky's size! I placed him on the ground, and he instantly ran to the mother who promptly decided it was time for a swim. He followed the mother in the line with the other ducklings, and looked perfectly at home! They swam around for a bit, and he was such a perfect size we couldn't even tell which was him. I was so glad we could find him a new home with a nice family :)

Self- Improvement Summer

2011-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

This summer is going something like this:

I work every day 8-4 at ancestry.com.

Dahl goes to school full time (taking 8.5 credits this semester=17 normal credits!).

We go to the gym every day after I get off of work till around 5:30- 6:30, depending on how soon we actually get there, etc.

We thought Dahl's schedule would be a lot easier than it actually is; we envisioned a summer where we would go to work/ school, Dahl would do his homework and have it all done before 4, come pick me up, take me to the gym, and then we would have the whole rest of the night to do whatever our little hearts desired. False. He still stays up late doing homework. At first I was dismayed. I work all day, go to the gym, and naturally want to just play and have fun afterwards. I didn't know what I would do, or how I would spend my time.

The first night this happened, I wanted to watch Dancing with the Stars. (This was the first and only time I have watched it this season, so I am not a hardcore fan or anything, I just didn't have anything else to do and they were doing an Instant Dance thing which I thought was cool and entertaining.) Dahl was unable to concentrate when I was doing that, so he had to move to the bedroom to do his homework.

This made me sad, because I wasn't with him anymore, and annoyed that there really wasn't anything I could do with him when he was doing his homework. When we were still in school, I would use the time to get ridiculously ahead in my classes, but now I have no classes to get ahead in. I toyed with the idea of reading a book, but I already read at work when I have breaks, and I didn't want to read all summer. Besides, I was running out of books.

So, that got me thinking. I have a lot of time this summer. What if I used it for self-improvement? It would be a self-improvement summer! The idea is still so fun to me; I have extra time, so I can use it to get better at things I've always wanted to do, but never had the time to do.

These are some things I have decided to do:

1. Learn to cook. I am a decent cook, and generally everything I try turns out alright. The thing is, I hardly ever cook. And Dahl's mom and sister are good at cooking. And my mom is good at cooking. So, I feel like to be a good wife and someday mom, I should practice cooking. This means that every week I am going to try at least one new recipe, and I cook most days of the week. This will help with our calorie counting and our budgeting as well. So, it will make for a cheaper, healthier summer. One thing I made that I was particularly proud of was a salmon with mayo and dill dish with wild rice and corn on the cob. It was so yummy :) I felt very domestic!

2. Lose weight. This goes for both Dahl and I, and so we are counting calories and hitting the gym pretty hard. Fun :)

3. Sew a T-Shirt dress. Ever since I saw this blog last summer, I have wanted so badly to make one of these adorable dresses. They are so cute, and they are modest as well, so I feel like it would be a fun and good investment of my time.

4. Be a consistent tithing-payer, temple-goer, and scripture-reader. Self- explanatory.

I'm sure I will think of more, but this is my basic list. This way, we can both be learning all summer long :)

PS- I thought this was funny :)

Our St. Patrick's Day Party!

2011-03-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

So, both Dahl and I forgot about St. Patrick's Day. Neither of us even by chance wore a speck of green. Luckily, no one pinched me, except Dahl :)

But, when we got home, he was very sad we had forgotten. He just couldn't believe it had eluded us. I think, mostly, he was sad because on the anniversary of when we first started dating officially (March 4th), we were both sick and totally forgot about it. We usually are so good at remembering those sorts of things (remember my Valentine's Week post?), so I think he thought that we were starting to forget everything of note, even St. Patrick's Day.

When I was little, my mom would usually do something like make green eggs or green pancakes and dye our milk green. It was fun, but hardly the biggest holiday in our home, so it honestly didn't bother me that we had forgotten. After all, we probably aren't even that Irish! So, I brushed off Dahl's annoyance about it, and started cleaning the apartment. Dahl left to do laundry. When he came back, he had a surprise:

"I brought home a St. Patrick's Day party!" he said.

How freaking cute is that?? One thing I love about Dahl is that he likes to celebrate the little things, and that is what we did :) It may not be a big deal to forget a holiday, but why, when you could remember and make it fun?

Valentine's Week

2011-03-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

The week of February 14-20 was Valentine's WEEK for us! Why, you ask?? I'll tell you!!

Feb 14- Valentine's Day!

Feb 17- Anniversary of our first date!

Feb 19- Anniversary of our first kiss!

February 20- 3 months of marriage!

That is why :) What a perfect excuse to fall in love all over again! This is what we did:

Valentine's Day (Monday):

Dahl had to go to school early, so i didn't think I would see him until 8 at night when I got off work, but I was wrong! In between classes he picked up a dozen red roses, lots of candy, and strawberries with chocolate we could use to make chocolate covered strawberries! He also bought these "lottery" ticket like things that do what when and where scratch offs for dates. The first one was perfect because it was for chocolate-covered strawberries whenever we wanted at our apt :) He also gave me a sweet card. He called me to tell me to get off the bus and ride with him to school, and presented these lovely gifts to me! It was very sweet. That night, we went to Red Lobster to eat which was delicious, of course. It was a wonderful Valentine's Day, the best I've ever had :)

Feb 17 (Thursday)- Anniversary of our 1st Date

Dahl was super cute and decided to re-enact our first date!! I wish so bad we took pictures on that date, but we didn't so here are our pictures from this date!

About to go!

We went tubing in Park City (I think-- as you know, I am not the best at knowing where I am...)! It was fun to remember how it was back then :) Dahl even showed me the place that he had me "warm up his hands" so he could hold my hand the whole ride home! He's cute, huh? Then, we went to Texas Roadhouse. On the actual first date, we got a Papa Johns pizza, but we had eaten pizza the night before, so we didn't want it again. We also watched UP! on the first date, but we had watched it about a month earlier, so we watched the current Netflix we had: Frequency! Not really the same genre, but it was good.

Us with our cute badges

Tubing is fun!!

Feb 18 (Friday)

We went up to Park City to go shopping!! It was so much fun! Dahl is the best shopping buddy ever :) He finds things for me to try on, tells me what he thinks about them and how pretty I am, and gets whatever sizes I need. He was so nice and fun! The outlet's in Park City are AMAZING by the way, such great deals! We went to Winger's for dinner. Amy got the best thing-- sticky finger salad. Yum!

Feb 19 (Saturday)- Anniversary of our first kiss

(There it is!! Haha, jk)

This day I got to go to cute Lori's bridal shower! I am so excited for her!! Then Dahl and I went straight to lunch with his parents at this amazing Thai restaurant we recently discovered called Thai Mango. It is so good! Then, we went up to Salt Lake to see the planetarium. It was a fun little date. We went with our good friends, David and Amy. We also went to a light show, which was probably the worst experience of my and Amy's lives, but the boys seemed to enjoy it. Personally, having Pink Floyd blasted at me while laser beams flash in my eyes is not my idea of a good time. Haha, oh well. Then, we went to this family-style Italian restaurant called Buca's, so we all got a huge noodle dish and shared. It was cool because you end up saving money eating that way :)

Feb 20 (Sunday) 3 Months of Marriage

We went to Dahl's house for dinner like usual... it was lovely of course :)

Feb 21- President's Day!

A long time ago, Dahl and I got a GroupOn where we paid $35 for $70 worth of food at Christopher's Seafood and Steakhouse. (PS- seriously, if you don't have Groupon you should! We LOVE it! Here's a link!) It was the fanciest restaurant I have ever been to! They had a live pianist, and it was very quiet, so we had to talk softly. I got salmon and it was literally the best salmon I have ever tasted in my life!! (Except for Dahl :) Haha- that was not meant to be dirty btw) Dahl got steak and he liked it as well. When they gave us rolls, the butter was so amazing, I almost died. Isn't that a weird thing to compliment?? But it was SO GOOD! It was fun for us to be fancy for a night!

Fancy Shmancy!

Basically, it was a wonderful week! I'm so glad I married the best husband ever :)

Our Amazing Honeymoon!!

2011-02-10T13:46:00.001-08:00

I am sad it has taken me so long to get to write about this, because I am worried about not remembering very much, but I will do my best!

The first thing I want to say about it is it was AMAZING! Whenever I think about my honeymoon, it seems like it was a totally different world, even a totally different life, from the one I have now. It was the most relaxing, wonderful time, and I absolutely loved it.

I put Dahl in charge of the honeymoon, because planning the wedding was stressful enough. He decided we would go to Miami, and kind of just do whatever we wanted while we were there. As a result, we had literally no commitments when we went, just to have fun and relax. I am SO GLAD we did it that way. I was so stressed from planning the wedding across the country, keeping up with my classes, and working that all I wanted to do was nothing. We did a lot of sleeping in, napping, going to the beach, eating out, and just being together. It was perfect.

We went to a Marriott right next to the airport the night before, and woke up early the next morning to catch our 8:00ish flight. We arrived in Miami around noon, and checked into our hotel. It looked like this:

We loved our hotel. The customer service was amazing, the front desk staff was incredibly friendly, and the price was decent. It also had a fridge and microwave, which allowed us to save our leftovers and not eat out for every single meal. It had breakfast in the mornings, and, although it wasn't the best, it was sufficient for our needs.

(Breakfast time! We forgot to take a picture at first so we didn't get any with food... haha)

It was literally a one minute walk from the beach which was AWESOME! They had recently changed their name to Red South Beach, and they took their red theme pretty far if you ask me. Even the lights were red in their elevators and in some hallways!

(Red, huh??)

Some highlights:

Sunday:

We arrived and relaxed and went to the beach. That's pretty much all we did all day. It was great :)

Monday:

We discovered the bus system!! It was such a blessing to us; it was something like 50 cents a person, so we saved a ton of money using that instead of the taxis.

(Sitting on the bus!)

(Waiting for the bus!)

We went to a cute little Cuban restaurant and tried some of their food. It was really good. This is where we discovered Miami's gratuity system: no matter where you eat or how small your group is, the gratuity is automatically added. This was annoying, mostly because the waiters and waitresses didn't seem to care that much how well they treated you, because they were going to get tipped anyway.

We also went to the beach! This was probably the coldest day there, so I ended up not tanning that much; I got so freezing that I made Dahl scoot over on his towel so I could fit, and put my towel on top of me!

Tuesday:

We went to the beach! Again :) This was the only time we actually played in the water. The ocean was cold at first, but we quickly warmed up to it. It really wasn't bad at all. We had a lot of fun playing together :)

Me and my hair after playing in the water :)

The beaches here were interesting, because there were a lot of topless women. Like tons. Like old women with saggy boobs shaking what their mamas gave them. We learned to ignore it, but it was still pretty weird.

We came to the conclusion that this was because we were some of the only Americans there, and I know that in other cultures they are not as strict about that. It was really very interesting to us. In our hotel, we were pretty much the only Americans. On our boat tour, which I'll talk about later, we were literally the only ones who said we were from America on the whole boat. It was crazy! We went out to this really yummy Chinese place for dinner that night.

Wednesday:

We rented a scooter for a day!! We had so much fun cruising around town in it :) Please enjoy our mini photo shoot:

We even went to a different beach!

The only downside was we got a parking ticket for being a minute late... we were super sad. But, it made Dahl feel right at home! (He gets more parking tickets than anyone I know... we're working on that.) We went to a fancy seafood restaurant that was really far away from our hotel that night, just because we could.

Thursday:

We watched the sunrise! It was so beautiful :)

We saved this for our last day, when we had to wake up pretty early for our tour of the city! It was a boat and land tour, that took us all over. We went to Little Havana, and saw lots of homes of the rich and famous. We also saw these amazing and huge trees that were imported from a jungle in Africa!

(Look how huge this is!!)

Right after our tour, we had to rush to get our flight, which was at 6PM! We still had to return our scooter, take the bus back to the hotel, check out of the hotel, catch the bus to the airport, and get through the airport and onto our flight. It was a super tight squeeze!! That night, we picked up our Sabie car (that's what her name is), and drove back to my parent's home. We got there probably a half hour before they came home from their fun Thanksgiving at the Pooles!

The next day was full of present sorting and list writing and bags packing (PS- I have written pretty much all my thank you cards, I'm just the worst mailer... it's coming, I promise!!). I was really glad I got to see my family before I went back home to Utah!

One funny story:

Me and Dahl were trying to remember to say prayers together, so one time we were sitting on the bed and I reminded him that we needed to remember to say prayers that night. It was kind of an "in passing" remark, just so we could remember when we were done talking. We continued to talk about our plans for the next day and so on, and Dahl kept randomly giving me kisses in the middle of me talking. A few minutes later he said, "I think it's your turn." So, I decided he must be talking about giving him a kiss, but he was kneeling and his face was buried in the bed, so I pried it up, gave him a kiss, and continued talking. He talked back a little, and then, once again, said, "I think it's your turn." I again pried his face up, kissed him, and went back to talking. This happened probably four or five times, and then I got slightly annoyed because he was making it so difficult to access his lips! I said, "This isn't fair! When you gave me kisses my lips were readily available, and when its 'my turn' to give you kisses, your face is buried in the bed!" He looked surprised: "You thought I was saying it was your turn to give me a kiss?!" he asked, starting to laugh. "I was saying it was your turn to pray!!" We laughed pretty hard about that one :) And then I prayed.

This is a pretty short entry compared to some of my other ones, but, in conclusion, it was a perfect honeymoon :)

My Wedding :)

2011-01-24T17:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am starting this entry on December 6, but I doubt I will finish. I am just in a class where everyone is doing presentations so I figured I would try to use this time wisely. I am going to go through my whole schedule the week of the wedding, so if you just wanna skip to the day of, go right ahead. I have scattered photos throughout of the Bridals/ Groomals and the Wedding Day shots, but I didn't include the reception pictures from either because they aren't on my computer yet. I may add them later... we'll see :)

Wednesday, November 17:

Dahl, Heather, and I frantically finished packing and said goodbye to my cute roomies and friends that were around. Sweet Amy and her mom drove us all to the airport. We flew pretty much all day, because we started out going to Vegas and had a layover. We arrived in MD midnight their time, hung out with my family, and collapsed into bed.

Thursday, November 18:

The next morning, we woke up early and I ran to Sister Davis's house to get my make up and hair done for bridals/ groomals. Heather did my hair and did a fantastic job, and Sister Davis did a great job on my make up, too. Dahl and my dad ran around getting Dahl's tux, and we ended up getting to the temple pretty late for our photo session, but in time to have about 1 1/2 hours of photos. Kellie Nuss did a great job on our pictures. (Those are links to her website and blog entry about us!)

Tangent on her: We already knew her because she is our Bishop's wife, and we were all very impressed. I am really glad we chose her. She was flexible, had great ideas, and did a great job with combining directing and listening so we could get great photos. She had already done weddings at the temple, so she knew lots of great places. She was also great at editing and getting the pictures back to us soon.

Anyway, it was kinda funny because my Daddy saw me come out of the temple (he drove with Dahl), and at first he was like "Okay, I'm gonna go home now!" but then we started taking pictures and he got so excited he followed us around the entire photo shoot, snapping pictures on his phone all the way. It was so cute. Heather also came and was super helpful with carrying my dress, arranging my hair, and giving suggestions. She is, after all, the best MOH ever!

After we finished pictures, Dahl went to play in DC with his family, and I went with Heather to an awards assembly at Jacob's middle school! It was literally the funnest awards assembly ever. I think a lot of that was because we didn't care what anyone there thought, and hardly anyone knew us, so we cheered loudly, sang along to the awesome choir and jazz band ("Santa's Going on a Diet" by the choir and "Don't Stop Believin'" by the Jazz Band were some of our very favorites), and giggled about basically everything. We were more enthusiastic than anyone else in the whole crowd. We also had more fun than anyone else. For the students that got straight A's, Mr. Fairbanks read aloud some things about them, and the band would play a celebratory tune to welcome them to the front. We yelled compliments to them about their clothes, hobbies, and grades. Jacob came to sit with us in the middle, and we fed him fries and a sandwich. This was probably the best stress reliever I could have gotten.

That night, Heather and I went out with our mom to get my wedding jewelry and other last-minute things. That night, we continued to prepare other last-minute things.

Friday, November 19:

The next morning, I got my endowments out at the temple. For those of you who are curious about what that is, you can click here or here. I was really glad I could have my parents, Dahl's parents, my Grandma Connor, my Aunt Carol and Uncle Brett, and, most of all, Dahl, come with me.

We went back to the house, changed, and went to our rehearsal dinner. Since there really wasn't anything to "rehearse", it was mostly just a nice get together with all the family that was in town for the wedding. Brenley had the idea to have it really personal, with musical numbers, and we also had speeches and showed our wedding video that Dahl's cute cousin, Stephanie, made for us. (She did a wonderful job, by the way, we love it! Thanks Steph!)

This dinner was basically a sob-fest. I think almost everyone who went there cried. Maybe not Uncle Brett, and maybe not some others, but an overwhelming majority cried at one point or another... or ten. Haha. When the eating was winding down, Eric stood up and announced the beginning of the program. Cute Sarah sang "I Love to See the Temple" with Heather accompanying, and sweet Nicole played "Abide with Me Tis Eventide" on the flute. Then we had both dads and Heather give speeches, and they were wonderful. Heather's is posted on her blog. It was really nice :)

Tangent (The Dad Speeches):

My dad said:

"Before Kelly was born I had a lot of people tell me that when I held her in my arms the first time, this feeling of fatherhood would just envelop me. Yet, when Kelly was born I didn't initially feel like that. I just held her and said to Melody that "I guess we are going to have to get to know her." But then, when I put her in the car with Melody to take them home to our apartment for the first time, it all hit me. I was taking my little girl home! She was our daughter! We now had a family. And every part of my being wanted to protect her and help her. I was a father now. My life had changed forever. And when I drove that car home I drove it like I had a goldfish bowl on the hood. I wanted to make sure that she and Melody and I all got home safely.

As she grew up I learned a lot about her. I soon realized that she was far more advanced than I was spiritually and intellectually. I was her dad but, it was a privilege that Heavenly Father had given me. She was His daughter too and I knew that he loved her and had given me a great responsibility and had put a lot of trust in me to care for her and to raise her.

Kelly was so smart and diligent. As a baby in her crib she would constantly work her hands and her feet and it seemed that she was very determined and desirous to learn all she could about this body she had and how to work it. Every day it seemed that there was something new she would do and this diligence carried on beyond the crib into every aspect of her life - especially school.

When Heather was born Kelly had a new best friend. She would feed Heather her bottle and drag her around like a little rag doll. She loved Heather and over the years they became inseparable. I loved to see them grow up together and to see their friendship and mutual admiration grow.

Kelly was always a peacemaker. She never wanted to fight and avoided it with great care. She loved every good thing and would hold onto all the good around her. And Kelly was super loyal. Once you were her friend, Kelly was always in your camp, always on your side and cheering you on.

When she was little and would go to friends houses she would go to their book case to see what books they had. The first thing Kelly bought with her own money was a book. She loved to read and study.

When she turned 8 years old she was baptised. About a week later, our family, which now consisted of our 4 oldest daughters and Melody and me, went on a ward campout to Patapsco State Park. It was a lot of fun. On the Saturday that we were about to leave Melody decided to take the girls and some friends kids down to the Patapsco river to see the water. Julie had to go to the bathroom which was about 1 mile away so, I took Julie there and Melody headed to the river with the others.

Some horses had been walking on the trail to the river and some of them had left some horse poop on the ground. Heather (6) later wrote: "No one stepped in the horse poop except Kelly - she did." That may have contributed to what happened next. When they got to the river Melody told them not to get too close to the edge of the river. But, Kelly stepped on a rock and slipped and fell into the river before Melody could catch her. Kelly was quickly carried away on her back by the swiftly flowing river and she looked back at Melody for help. But, Melody was helpless.

A little distance down the river from where Kelly had slipped were two priesthood men in our ward - Robbie Windley (14) and his dad Dennis Windley who was a High Priest. Robbie had been swimming in the river in a little area where the water was calm and he was now sitting on a rock next to his dad, shivering and asking if they could return to their tent so he could get warm. Dennis told Robbie, "no - just sit here for a few minutes." And then while Robbie sat there downstream from Melody and the children, he and Dennis heard Melody's call for help. Dennis said "Get her Robbie, get her" and without a moment's hesitation Robbie was in the river swimming after Kelly who, miraculously was buoyed up on her back as the current swiftly carried her downstream facing backwards with her head above water still. Robbie swam hard and soon caught up to her. Dennis ran alongside the river calling to Robbie to bring her to the side so he could pull her out. Robbie fought with the current and now the river was a bit shallower and he could put his feet down on the bottom to try and work his way to the side but the sharp rocks on the bottom cut his feet and legs. Still, Robbie fought on and Dennis kept shouting encouragement to him. Finally they got close enough to the edge and Dennis grabbed both of them and pulled them out of the water.

I arrived a few minutes later to find Robbie and Kelly and Dennis all on a big rock overlooking the river with Melody and the other children there. Melody told me that I had missed all of the excitement and then related the story. At that moment I was overwhelmed and I turned to Robbie and made the greatest gesture of appreciation I could muster. I said "Robbie, someday you will serve a mission for the church and when you return, you will need to find a wife. I hereby offer you my daughter's hand in marriage." Kelly (8) and Robbie (14) both looked at me kind of funny and Dennis, Melody and I had a nice laugh.

My point in telling you this story is this - God protected Kelly as a little girl and soon, you will have that privilege as you take her hand in marriage. I hope and pray that you will protect her. She is one of God's choicest daughters.

Now as Kelly continued to grew up I learned a lot of interesting things about her. She was not going to just marry any old guy. He would have to work to get her attention and to convince her to marry him. I remember on one occasion that we were at the swimming pool and Kelly was sitting on a lawn chair by the side of the pool. She was about 14 years old at the time. Three young boys about her age came by and saw her there and they were clearly interested and wanted her attention. Finally they all three jumped into the pool in front of her and splashed her with a little water. She looked up and seemed a little bored with these juvenile antics and then put her head back down on the fully reclined lawn chair. After seeing that I told Melody that Kelly was going to drive some poor guy nuts one day and he was going to have to work extra hard to get her attention and interest.

One day Kelly called me from college and told me that she had a boy friend. I asked her then if she was sure she wanted to have a boyfriend because it meant that she would have to stop dating all of these other guys and she became very firm with me and said - "Dad, you stop it - you're not going to talk me out of this!" At that moment I thought "wow, this could be something serious."

Then she told me how Dahl had asked her to be his girlfriend and I knew Dahl was a serious contender. Here was a young man that knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to put his whole ego on the line and tell her. He had carefully thought the whole thing out and how he would present it to her and that really impressed me. And he was also a bit of salesman and he was patient with her. I thought, this guy could be a match for Kelly. He is intelligent and knows how to approach her. He's gentle.

As I got to know Dahl a little more in our phone conversations, my appreciation for him only grew stronger. Kelly would tell me things that he would do for her and Heather and I liked that. He was kind. She also told me that he would go have lunch with his beautiful high school sister once every couple of weeks so that the boys at the school would know that she has a big brother. So, Dahl was also protective and I liked that too. One of the first things he wanted to do was to take Kelly to his home to have dinner with his family. And again, I saw the salesman in him - Dahl knew that if he could get Kelly around his family she would see how great they were and she would like him even more. He was very smart.

Finally, when Kelly was struggling over whether to marry Dahl he again showed her his patience and love. He gave her all the time she needed. And so I knew it was just a matter of time before Kelly was ready. Dahl was wise beyond his years and all of that patience and love paid off.

One last thing I will tell you about Kelly is that she has always been very honest. This is so important in a marriage. You will always be able to trust Kelly and she will love you forever. When I was a young man I told my best friend all of the character traits that I wanted in a wife. It was a long list of things. My friend, who was also 18 or 19 at the time listened intently and then after I was done he said "Don't you see man, you need someone you can trust!" My long list didn't include that but what he said rang true to me and so I scrapped my list and put that as my new first and most important trait in a wife. Trust is the foundation on which all relationships are based and especially marriage. Dahl, congratulations, you have got a woman that you can trust.

I am really grateful that you two have found each other. I know that the Lord has had his hand in this. He has prepared and helped both of you to find one another. There are simply too many things for this to have been a coincidence. Someone asked me how I felt about my daughter getting married and I answered - "I feel great since she is marrying Dahl. It is every dad's dream to have his daughter marry a truly good man who will protect her and love her and treat her nicely and I believe Dahl is just that man for my daughter Kelly. I love how happy she is with Dahl and if I had to make a choice of all the men in the world to marry my daughter Kelly, it would be Dahl."

Marriage is a romantic thing and everything in marriage can be romantic as long as you are doing it together, whether it is washing the dishes or having dinner - it can all be romantic.

May God continue to bless you two that your love will for each other grow each year. I think God is smiling on you both today.

Dahl's Dad:

Dahl's dad talked about how when Dahl was born, they were excited to have a boy, especially because his older brothers had only had girls so far, and so Dahl was the first grandson. It was kinda funny how he said the next part, he talked about how right after Dahl was born, he saw him before his mother did because of the angle... haha, and then he went into the point that wh
en Dahl's Mom saw him for the first time she said, "He looks just like me!" He also talked about how
the day he was born, Dahl's Grandmother came to the hospital and held him and said, "Our first missionary!"

[ Me: I'm gonna do it in quotes not because I'm tired of changing it to third person.] "W
hen Dahl was a toddler and a young boy, he was always happy and laughing, and he had tons of friends.
I remember lots of times coming home, and when I walked in the door, I could hear Dahl laughing. [Me:Dahl still has a very infectious, genuine laugh. It's super cute... it's just so loud and he simply doesn't care who can hear him laughing.]

W
hen he was in 6th grade we went to parent teacher conference, and his teacher said, 'Dahl is a great kid, but he needs to learn when to laugh and when not to laugh.'

Dahl is always nice and always kind. He always took good care of his younger brother, Jacob, and even shared his friends with him, so Dahl's friends were also Jacob's friends. H
e has a special quality-- that you always feel good when you are with him; he is fun to be with.

H
e is also good at fixing things. When Dahl was 12, we were at Father's and Son's, and his Uncle Jim Low came with a brand new tent. It was a very dark night with no moon, and I tried to help Jim set up his tent and we just couldn't do it. I said to Jim, "I'm going to go and get Dahl!" So as Jim and I stood there holding the flashlights, Dahl put the tent together all by himself! [Me: I love this about him. I am not very mechanical, but he is. Just today we were putting together our Christmas Tree, and he was so smart about it... I'm pretty sure I couldn't have done it without him!]

H
e was a great missionary, and when he got home he said two things that were awesome for a Dad to hear-- he had no regrets, and he always did whatever the President asked him to do. I have always said that
the Lord blesses his missionaries, and that is so true; 5 months after he got home from his mission he met Kelly!
Kelly is a huge blessing to Dahl and to us, and they really complement each other. I know her family and friends will understand that everything is better and more fun when Kelly is around!"

Then the floor was opened up for anyone to talk, and Nicole began to talk, in a very cute-sie tone. "I was kind of wary of Dahl at first, because I am Kelly's sister, and I'm protective, but then I started to hear about the nice things he would do for her, and talking to him on the phone, and I started to really like him. Then,when I met him, I just knew...." at this moment, her incredible composure totally broke. It was really quite funny. She hadn't even had the smallest quaver in her voice, and suddenly she was bawling... we all thought it was pretty hilario.

Then, we watched the wedding video Stephanie made. I had to leave in the middle to practice my song that I was singing for Dahl, "From this Moment" by Shania Twain. If you haven't heard it, you should listen to it here, but the music video's kind of dumb IMO, so you should probably just keep reading my blog instead of watching it. I hadn't practiced it in months, and I had never practiced it with the particular karaoke version I was supposed to be using, so I ran off to the other side of the building to practice. I couldn't remember all of the words while I was practicing, and I vaguely felt like I was forgetting my favorite line, which, I was. Miraculously, I remembered as I was singing. Here is my favorite line:

I give my hand to you with all my heart

Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start

You and I will never be apart

My dreams came true because of you

That's so nice, huh? I am really glad I remembered it just in time! One thing I didn't remember was not to cry. Dahl started crying at the very beginning, and I could not even handle it, so I teared the whole way through, and randomly skipped sections while I composed myself. By the end, I totally lost it, but I think considering the lack of practice and emotional-ness, I did a pretty good job. I am sad, because no one video-taped it. I guess I just assumed someone would, but I didn't ever give someone the assignment.

After that, we all hurried to the Bridal Shower. Sister Walburger, Sister Johnson, and Meghan Toler all helped organize it, and they did a great job. The food was amazing and the company was even more so. I was late, and when I walked in I was greeted by a multitude-- that's right, a multitude-- of amazing sisters, friends, and family I had grown up around. There were a few people who weren't able to make it, but an overwhelming majority of them did, and it was really fun for me to see everyone. This was by far the chattiest bridal shower I have had so far! There were so many ladies talking so much that we didn't do very many activities aside from giving advice and opening presents, but that was okay with me :) Aunt Carol did a fun thing at the end-- she had written down all the things I said as I opened my gifts like "Thank you!" "Oh that is so cute!!" "What a perfectly made set!", and "We will definitely be making pancakes!" , and read them aloud in the context of what I would say on my wedding night. It was pretty funny.

Then, I went home and packed and went to sleep so I would be ready for my wedding day!

Saturday, November 20:

This is the BIG DAY!!! I woke up and started my day off right: by eating bugs! Someone didn't close the cereal, and I ended up accidentally eating some ants before I realized what was going on. Gross, right?? But that was probably one of the worst things that happened all day, so it was alright. Then I ran over to Sister Davis's again, so she could do my make up.

Tangent: I want to take a moment to talk about how helpful she was. She did my make up, helped with my hair, and had her girls take pictures and video the whole time we were getting ready. She had extra hair spray and make up for after the ceremony and before I went outside the temple, and fixed me all up so I looked perfect when I left. She also brought her Canon camera to the wedding and took pictures afterwards. She said she likes candid shots better than posed ones. I love candid shots, too so I am super excited to see how they turned out. The thing is, I only asked her to help with my make up, but she did so much more!

By the end of it, we were running behind, so there were 3 or 4 people curling my hair so I would not be later than I already was. Heather, Bana, Sister Davis, and I think Desiree were all helping curl my hair at one point. It was pretty funny. I ended up still being 15 minutes late, but it worked out just fine. We hurried into the temple and almost instantly I saw friends who were there for the wedding. It was so fun to see so many people there who loved me who came to support me.

Dahl's Grandpa was our sealer, which was pretty cool. Dahl and I were taken to a different sealing room than the one we were actually going to be sealed in, and he talked to us a little bit, but since he already knew us, it wasn't for too long. He said something that I thought was kind of interesting. He said when he walked into our sealing room, he said, "There's something really special about this room in particular." Later, we learned that President Spencer W Kimball had said those exact words when he had walked into that room years earlier. Pretty cool, huh?

The sealing was nice, not very long at all, and I honestly don't remember much of what was said. People told me I wouldn't because I would be so excited that I was finally getting married I wouldn't be able to concentrate. The thing is, I thought I was concentrating, but I guess I wasn't because I don't remember much. After the sealing, we stood by the door and got to greet our guests. We got in trouble a little, because I hugged pretty much everyone there, and so did my mom, and it wasn't supposed to be a reception line, but I was really glad I got to hug them all, anyway.

I was really touched by all the people who were there. Sister Walburger, my Young Womens president for years, said something really nice. She said, "Oh, Kelly, I feel like my own daughter just got married!" I thought that was so sweet, because she and all of my young women's leaders really did have a huge impact on me and the decisions that lead up to me getting married in the temple.

After a few minor mishaps, and with the help of my wonderful mom, Aunt Carol, and Sister Davis, I got dressed and ready to exit the temple. When we walked out together we were greeted by cheers of the excited guests. I also had some friends who were waiting for me, like Heather Gallagher, Meghan Toler, and Brittany Eisinger. I was so glad they could make it!

We took tons of fun pictures (Sara Nuss was super helpful with making sure her mom had everything she needed) and then rushed home to eat before we had to be at the reception. In the meantime, someone lost the thing that was supposed to connect the iPod to the speakers, so we ran around frantically looking for them until Dahl saved the day and found them in the car. Then we rushed to the reception. I really needed to re-curl my hair (it doesn't hold well at allll) and unfortunately all of our curling irons were at Sister Davis's house. We couldn't get a hold of her, so we just went to the church and I started getting dressed. I found a black mark on my dress in the front top part of the skirt!! I was super nervous, but then Sister Saunders came to the rescue with a Tide to Go pen! It worked wonders :) Then Desiree came to the rescue with a curling iron. I actually ended up being about 20 minutes late to the reception even though I was in the building because of the fixing of my dress and hair.

Tangent: At this point, Brother Davis (our videoographer) became very helpful-- not only did he video the most important events, he checked up on us every few minutes and made sure we didn't need any food or drinks. Dahl later told me that he had told him to not leave my side the whole night, no matter what he felt needed to be done-- he said to get someone else to do it. I will be eternally grateful to him for that. True to the advice, Dahl was with me pretty much the entire night. I felt awkward whenever he wasn't around (at the beginning when no one had said that to him yet and at the end when we were both changing and I lost him).

For the first 1 1/2 hours or so, we had a line, where everyone came up and said hi. It was so fun to visit with all of the wonderful people who came to celebrate with us. When the line died down, we cut the cake. I wish I remember what it tasted like, my Daddy said it was some of the most delicious wedding cake he had ever had. That was all the cake I got, though, and I was too busy figuring out how to cut it and who should feed who first (someone shouted out at the same time, so we did). We fed each other nicely, mostly because I know my Mommy wanted it to be that way, and I didn't really want to get cake all over my dress anyway.

Then, we had our first dance. We danced to "Then" by Brad Paisley. If you don't know this song, you can listen to it here. It is "our" song, because that is the song Dahl sang to me when he proposed. I think the first dance is a nice tradition, because the whole reception is just so rushed and busy that you're hardly interacting with each other at all. It's nice to just be with each other :)

Right after that, we had the Daddy-Daughter dance. I have been looking forward to/ dreading this moment for a long time now. I thought I would just bawl my eyes out, but I actually amazed myself by keeping my composure the whole time. I only teared, but I don't think any even fell from my eyes. The reason I didn't cry was because my Daddy talked to me the whole time, just about nice things, and didn't let me listen to the song hardly at all. The song, by the way, is "I Loved Her First" by Heartland. If you haven't heard it, you definitely should click on that link right now.

Tangent about the song and my Daddy: This song makes me cry every time I actually listen to it. It is such a sweet, tender song. I like it because the father in the song does not say anything bad about the groom, like that he is not good enough, but just talks about how he loves his daughter and how he prayed that she'd find him someday. That is exactly how my Daddy feels. He is really glad that I found Dahl, because he is a good man who loves me and will take care of me. He has always wanted that for his girls, and he is just grateful that now I can enjoy the blessings of marriage to someone who could take me to the temple and who is a worthy Priesthood holder. He also thinks Dahl's family is wonderful, and that makes him happy as well. My Daddy actually had a really big role in me feeling brave enough to marry Dahl. I always knew I wanted to, but fear held me back for a few months. My Daddy definitely did not even once tell me what to do, but he did talk me through a lot of my fears, and told me it was okay if I was scared. He told me it was okay if I didn't want to make a decision right then, and he just listened to me. When I was having the hardest time, he would talk to me almost every day. He gave me great advice, and really helped me. I will always be grateful for his help. It's not like he didn't have anything else to do with his time; he is one of the busiest men I know. This showed me what a priority I am to him. He really is the best Daddy ever! Anyway, during the dance I didn't even get to say "thank you" to him, and I kind of wonder if he intentionally steered the conversation away from things like that, because he knew I would cry.

Even though I didn't cry too much, I know that my cousins and sisters did, and I'm sure other people who I have not heard about. It was because their daddies weren't there to distract them! Throughout this dance, Dahl and his mother joined, and I think some other daddy-daughter/ mother-son couples, but I honestly don't know.

After that, free dancing was allowed, but we were pretty much ready to go, so we did the bouquet and garter toss. I think that Alexis Gallagher caught my flowers? I could be wrong. She is Joseph's age, so probably like 14. Haha. There were about 30 girls in the crowd to catch my bouquet! Crazy!!

Tangent: One of the nice things about this reception was that everyone came and stayed; we had a pretty big crowd that was there even when we left. That made me happy!

Dahl didn't have quite that many people in his gathering, however; there were only 5 eligible bachelors who tried to catch the garter. Jack Beath was the lucky winner!

After the throwing of the bouquet and the tossing of the garter, we changed in order to prepare to leave. I couldn't find my cell phone anywhere, so Nicole offered to let me use hers for the honeymoon, which I did. It was a big stress reliever!! For a few minutes, I couldn't find Dahl, which was kind of funny. I remember my mom asking me where something of mine was, and I said, "Yeah... where's my groom?! I dunno!" Anyway, he was found (he took longer changing than I did... whoda thunk??) We were cheered out to our car, which was decorated amazingly by the wonderful Brittany and Meghan, with a lot of help from a lot of other people who were in attendance. I don't have any pictures... I hope someone took some!!

Tangent: I think this is as good a time as any to stop and say thank you to everyone who helped with anything for my wedding. One group that I would like to add right now were the decorations. I know that Sister Franco, Sister Saunders, Sister Tucker, Barry from down the street, Toni, her friend from China, Russ and Jennifer, Dahl's next door neighbors, and my sisters, especially Nicole, were very helpful in making it beautiful. I know that more people than I have mentioned helped with so many things! I am truly grateful for your help-- It was very touching to hear about how kind and helpful people were to me and my family, especially my mom. I wish that every couple could be greeted with such love and service as we were. We truly have amazing, wonderful friends!

We were supplied with food from the reception-- Sister Johnson and Sister Ferguson, who were in charge of the food, packed us a plate each!! The food, by the way, was AMAZING!! I loved it! There were chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzels, Sister Johnson's famous mint brownies, chicken salad croissants, veggie trays (which Sister King brought at the last minute when my mom forgot them!), and the most amazing punch ever!

We had to pull over fairly quickly, because Dahl was worried we would get in trouble for the cans on the car, and then again because couldn't see anything so we had to move the balloons to the trunk. The first time we stopped, the Candlands saw and stopped to help. The second time, someone just honked... wonder what they were thinking!

When we got to our hotel, my parents started texting me, saying they had found my purse that I had left, as well as my phone. They asked us to bring the other cell phone and the keys to the car to the front desk... we were... busy, though, so we didn't end up being much of a help at all with that. Haha. But it all worked out! The next morning, we left for our honeymoon in Miami!

But that my friends, is another blog entry :)