On the Ocean

When we were in California my family and Dave's parents went on a dolphin watching trip, Dave and I had gone a few years before and were excited to share it with everybody. 

  

(Helena and David)

It was windy but fairly warm (unless you were getting splashed by the water) Helena David, Chantel, Mike, my Dad, Dave and I went to the front of the boat in the beginning of the trip and stayed there for almost all of it. Everyone else found a comfortable dry spot in the back to watch from.You do get splashed if you are in the front but you also have a much better view (plus it is way more fun!) Though if you get sea sick, the front is only cool for so long (at least that is what Chantel's husband Mike tells me) 

(David, Mike, Chantel, and my dad Jim)

The boat has a netting on part of the floor in the front, so you can see dolphins and the water, you also tend to get splashed because of it. They also had glass pontoons that you could climb down into to see the dolphins swimming right next to you! A few people went down and didn't really see anything but when Dave and I climbed down it was amazing! They were everywhere, on every side swimming upside down and in every direction, it was incredible and really beautiful. The boat ride in itself was fun but of course the highlight was seeing the dolphins!

This is a small part of one of the pods we saw, when Dave and I went a few years ago, we saw a pod of a couple thousand, this time when we went we saw pods of a couple hundred. It was still really cool, you always see something different when you go, this time it was awesome because there were a ton of baby dolphins! They were adorable and would swim in sync with their mothers (you can't see any in this picture). Some of the pods had more babies than others and some had smaller babies than others but they were all really cute! We had a great time and I would love to go again :)    

Thankful for Two Thanksgivings!

Dave and I drove up to Logan Wednesday afternoon so we could spend part of Thanksgiving with Kelsy, she had to work at 5pm, so we planned on having an early thanksgiving meal with her beforehand. After we got to Logan on Wednesday, Dave and I stopped by Walmart to say hello to Kelsy and to do all the food shopping. We decided on getting a turkey breast, instead of a full turkey and since Kelsy was working, the only place to defrost it was our hotel room sink! 

 

We had a great time with Kelsy, cooking and hanging out. Kelsy Made the stuffing with extra celery and onions, it turned out great! 

Dave did the mashed potatoes and carved the delicious turkey.  

 Kelsy also made each of us our own sweet potato, they cooked for the same amount of time as the turkey (2 1/2 hours) so the were super soft and super good!

Our thanksgiving feast consisted of Hawaiian rolls, stuffing, mashed potatoes, caned cranberry, sweet potatoes, salad, gravy and of course turkey. Kelsy hadn't had turkey since last Thanksgiving, one bite in and she was exclaiming how good it was! Even though she really enjoyed it, she did have it sparingly :)    

We also had a pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert! Dave had a super small piece , he had already eaten too much and we still had another Thanksgiving dinner to eat later that day, so he was trying to save room.   

After celebrating with Kelsy, Dave and I drove the 2 hours back down to Utah County. We picked up my good friend Alisa, who was joining us and then headed to my Dad's house for Thanksgiving #2. The food was great and we had a nice time with everyone. I was lucky enough to work off most of the food because I spent most of my time before and after dinner outside with my younger brother David putting up the last of the Christmas lights. We finished hanging them just in time for pie!  

 

Dave and I were so blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with so much of our Family, in Logan and in Pleasant Grove. We had a busy and full day but it was wonderful to be with everyone! 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Halloween

Halloween was on a Monday so everyone got dressed up for work, I got a few pictures of my family in their costumes.

Chantel, dressed up in a Mad Hatter getup. She planned the work party, it was a big hit.

 I helped David with his costume, you can't see it well in this picture but he is holding a fork that is stuck in a power outlet. So if you didn't get it, he is being electrocuted :) If anyone lit a match, his hair probably would have gone up in flames... there was THAT much hair spray in it.   

I went as a lady bug

And drum roll please...... 

 Dave went as a biker! 

Dave prides himself on making interesting and cheep costumes, this came out to about $4 total. It would have been even cheaper but we needed to buy a shirt big enough to fit his 'muscles' and grab a root-beer bottle.   

The whole costume turned out awesome and everybody loved it, including the kids who came by for trick-or-treating. In the words of one sugar crazed teenager, "whoa, huge muscle dude... LOVE IT!"

   

First Stop Sea World!

At the end of September most of my family went down to California for a vacation. Our first activity was Sea World, many of my family members hadn't been there in years, so it was a a huge hit!

(Dad, Grandma and JoAnn)

My Grandma was in awe of being so close to a killer whale and couldn't get enough of it!

(Mike)

We got to the park in time to pet the dolphins! Most of us just watched because the dolphins have to swim up to you if you want to pet them (and they really weren't cooperating...) But Mike was able to summon one to him!

(David)

We also fed the Sea Lions, we each got a dead fish and then got to pick the Sea Lion that appealed to us (you can see one is trying to get Davids attention) and then you threw it at them.

(Helena)

Some of the sea Lions would do tricks with the fish if they caught it (maybe that is where Helena got the idea!), others would make a lot of noise to try to get you to notice them.

(Dave)

Dave didn't seem to impressed with his fish, though he did have fun throwing it. (He is wearing two pairs of sunglasses, that is why it looks like he has silver/white eyebrows!)

(Mike, Chantle and David)

This is in the moving platform that takes you through the shark tank.

(Grandma, Dad, JoAnn and Helena)

Grandma thought it was so cool to have the sharks swimming all around you (though I think it freaked her out a little!)

(Dave and Amber)

On the moving platform going though the sharks.

(Dave)

We watched all the shows Sea World had, and by the end all of us were getting a little burnt (I forgot to bring the suntan lotion...) and this was Dave's solution to save his burning neck (it worked)! I think the guys sitting next to Dave is a little envious of his idea...

(Shamu)

We had a great time at Sea World and even though we got a little fried, it was well worth it.

Home Improvements

In an attempt to lower our cooling bill, Dave and I decided to look into a more cost effective way to keep the house from roasting us to death. We found a really good deal on ceiling fans and decided to go for it!

We installed them ourselves, one in the computer room and one in our guest room. I was doing the one in the guest room and Dave did the other (I mostly just copied him and then bragged about how awesome I was at installing ceiling fans...)

We didn't have to run any new wiring through the ceiling because of the existing lights that we were replacing (which was really nice) but we did have to do the normal wiring to connect the fans to the ceiling...

And that part I had Dave double check all my wiring work and then I had him check again... I did not want our house to burn down and it to be my fault!

Over all it wasn't a hard project (mostly because Dave is amazing) It only took about 2 hours from start to finish to do both rooms!

The Computer Room

The Guest Room

The fans have made a huge difference, I am glad we went ahead and got them. Our bill is way down and it keeps the house much nicer! There is something very satisfying about doing a project by hand, especially when it improves our home!

St. Louis, Part 2

We did so many fun things in St. Louis (Molly was a great host!), one of the highlights was the botanical garden!

Doug shot some wonderful pictures of us! You could never tell by looking at his pictures that is was ridiculously hot and whenever possible we would back away from each other (it was steaming being so close!) and try to cool down before the next shot!

The botanical garden was huge and poor Shayla got very tiered of walking, so Dave and I took turns giving her piggy back rides. Strangely enough, as soon as there was something fun to see/do Shayla miraculously got all her energy back and was ready to be off : )

One of the highlights (especially for the kids) was the fish you could feed. Christen, Paul, Anna and Shayla all tried to make sure the fish were fed and not the geese that were trying to move in on the fish's territory!

This picture does not accurately depict how many fish there really were or how big they were!

They would just swarm when the kids threw the food at them.

There were fun things all around the gardens for the kids to see and play with. As soon something fun came into sight, the kids were off running as fast as they could towards it. They knew we didn't have much time and as soon as the adults caught up, they would have to move on to the next thing, so they tried to get as much play time in as possible!

This is another picture by Doug, it was taken on a little dock. The gardens had so many neat and interesting things all around it, we had such a good time!

St. Louis, Part 1

Last month Dave and I went to St. Louis to visit family, we got to stay with Molly and her beautiful family (Anna, Paul, Christian and baby Peter) along with Larissa and her two kids (Shayla and little Mitchell). We went to the Gateway Arch and Dave and I, along with Shayla went all the way up to the top of the arch.

This is Shayla and I waiting to get into the pod that take you to the top! Dave, Shayla and I were the only ones in our party who had never been, so just the three of us went up together!

This is Shayla sitting in one of the chairs that takes you to the top of the arch. The pods were pretty small and you had to bend down just so you wouldn't hit your head getting in! There were five chairs in each pod, so you got pretty friendly with anyone else who was in there with you!

When you get to the top you get to walk around the top of the arch, they have small windows all along the sides so you can look down the 630 ft. to the ground!

It took about 10 minutes in the pod to get to the top and we had a really fun time! After we came back down, we all had a picnic in the park. It was a really nice day.

Happy Birthday!

Dave turns 26 today!

I am so lucky to have him as my husband and best friend. We have been married for 4 years and I have been so blessed to call him my husband, he brings so much joy and happiness to my life, I can't imagine (nor would I want to) what my life would be like without him! He is funny, goofy, thoughtful and sweet, he is so smart, humble, and just amazing. He makes my life so much better, I know this is mushy so I won't keep going but I wanted to wish my wonderful husband a

Happy Birthday

The Beach

When we were in San Francisco for our anniversary last month, Dave and I had the chance to go to Stinson Beach! it was quite the drive to get there but the views were amazing!

The road had many twists and turns!

There was many huge drop offs next to the roads (most didn't have safety rails), one wrong move and you could plummet to your death! I'm afraid of heights but Dave had no problem navigating the roads, he even called it relaxing...

The weather was cool and windy (like my hair!) but it was pleasant!

The sand was white and soft, which was pretty cool.

There were some huge rocks on the beach that tons of people would climb on, it was fun to go exploring around them them.

The water was cold, so no swimming for us but we had a great time walking along the beach together!