Optimizing October

It took me a good five minutes to find a good "o" verb for this post title.

Dalin and I are off to a great start celebrating autumn.

Things we have done so far:

We bought some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies at Macey's...

Which were so good, we bought some pumpkin chocolate chip bread at Harvest Bread Co. 

We stopped by Allred's Orchard and got a bag of apples for me to make an apple pie for General Conference with.

We bought chocolate frogs (Harry Potter style) to share (word to the wise--don't buy them--they're gross.)

I drank a gallon of apple cider. Seriously. Just me. Hey, I've got to feed a baby.

We bought some peanut butter chocolate fudge. 

(Why are these all about food??...)

We watched all the Harry Potter movies (except the first...we lent it out and never got it back).

I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Tenley and started on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

We stopped by Bath & BodyWorks and smelled every single new pumpkin candle scent for fall. (This is one of Dalin's favorite things to do...)

We bought four awesome new fall hand soaps from Bath & BodyWorks (or, as we like to call it, Bed, Bath, & BodyWorks). They are so awesome that I have all four out by our kitchen sink. I couldn't choose just one. The ones we bought are New England Autumn Bouquet, Apsen Autumn Day, Fresh-Picked Heirloom Pear, and Montana Mountain Air. They are all great!

I decorated the apartment for fall and Halloween a few weeks ago! (I might have been early, but fall is so fleeting :/)
Dalin brought me home some lovely orange (very fallish) roses randomly one night (randomly is my favorite way to get them :)

I'm sure I'm missing something, but I think we've been off to a great start! In two weeks, we head to Boise for a Halloween party at Dalin's parents' house, where we plan to win the costume contest (haha, well we'll see...it's going to be hard with baby Tenley). While there, we would like to visit a pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins like we do in New Hampshire...not out of a box at the grocery store (something about that just feels like a rip-off to me). I'm sure we'll do many other fun fall things along the way. 

What have you done so far for fall?
Any suggestions for things for us to try?

My Awesome Dad

I have the best dad. I know that he loves me because I have always felt his support in everything I do. He has always been one of my biggest fans. He always came to our showcases in elementary school, and every sports activity he could throughout the years, including cross-country meets, soccer games, tennis matches, baseball/softball games, and more. He is always on my side. He encourages me and is proud of my talents. He always brags about my artistic ability and asks me to paint something for him as a gift each holiday. He also tells everyone about how I love English and earned the English award as a senior in high school. He tells me that he likes to show his customers at work this embarrassing video of me accepting the award, which I have provided for your entertainment.

He sets a good example for my brothers and me. My dad righteously holds the Priesthood and uses it to bless our family and the lives of others. He would give me father's blessings when I was sick, before I began a new school year, or when I was going through a particularly difficult trial. He is an excellent example of generosity and service. He always gives as much as he can. This includes his time--he loves serving others, especially the elderly. I have always loved visiting nursing homes and getting to know the residents because of my dad. He would always ask them about their lives and find a way to make them laugh as they shared their memories and stories. He loves history and learning, which has inspired my own interest in history and fed my already strong feelings of intense patriotism and loyalty to our country. My dad is a great teacher. Whenever we go on vacations, I love when he takes the time to read us the information about a particular exhibit or attraction. He often shares fun random stories with us about things he has heard or learned which is something I always enjoy. 

I am very much like my dad. We both have a good sense of humor, and are not afraid to defend our beliefs or those around us. We both enjoy talking to strangers and feel completely comfortable doing so. My dad is always so nice to all of my former classmates and is quick to strike up a conversation with anyone he knows. He also is always friendly to those he interacts with, even if he does not know them well or at all. He loves to begin a conversation with the cashier, our waiter or waitress, the people at the drive-thru, and anyone else who he might meet. He is a great missionary because of this. I get my willingness to talk to people about the gospel from him. He is never afraid to tell people that he is a Latter-day Saint and what we believe in. 

My dad is very hardworking. He owns his own business installing home theaters and sound systems for a living. He has instilled the value of hard work and earning a modest living in his children. He especially has taught us the importance of being honest in our dealings with others and having integrity in all situations. Because of his and my mom's careful spending and budgeting, we always had enough money for vacations and to be able to live comfortably. Throughout the years, my parents together have made our home a peaceful place where others want to be. 

I cannot wait for my dad to become a grandpa to our little girl. I know he is going to be the kindest, silliest, most giving grandpa anyone could ever ask for. I love my dad very much and miss him--especially on Father's Day. I am grateful for my loving and wise father and for the example he is to Dalin and my brothers. Make sure you call your own dad and tell him you love him on Father's Day. You can never tell someone you love them enough. 

My Dad and Payson on our front lawn in Gilford, New Hampshire

My dad and me in front of Lake Winnipesaukee

What is a favorite quality that your own dad has? 

End of May Celebrations

Last night, we finally stopped being anti-social (not that this was ever our intention--we're just really busy) and had our friends Daniel and Rachel over for dinner. We had delicious cold chicken breast sandwiches with DELICIOUS corn on the cob (it's 4 for $1 at Macey's right now!) and lots of juicy watermelon. After we ate Rachel's warm chocolate chip cookies. Everything was so good. We had a lot of fun talking about our pregnancies (Rachel only has 3 weeks left, max!) and sharing notes with each other about our individual experiences. After, we cleared the kitchen table and played this card game that Dalin and I love called Bohnanza. We played it for the first time at Daniel and Rachel's one Sunday and thought it was fun and different. It's like some German card game and involves various types of beans and harvesting as many as possible. Anyway, it is a pretty awesome game. We played a few rounds of Bananagrams after (which I somehow owned at for once) and then said goodnight. It felt nice to have people over again.

Random picture of me at 29 weeks pregnant. As you can imagine, the baby is pretty heavy.

Now we are just beginning to get excited about this Memorial Day weekend! We both work tomorrow, but I have Memorial Day off at work, and then Tuesday evening we leave for Lava Hot Springs near Pocatello, Idaho to go camping with the boys from Dalin's work! I LOVE camping, for the record, and am especially pumped because my family always used to go camping on Memorial Day weekend to the Joseph Smith Memorial in Sharon, Vermont, but I haven't been in forever. So the plan is to camp at Lava Hot Springs on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then drive over to Boise from Thursday to Sunday to visit Dalin's family! It's going to be so much fun and probably one of the last time's (if not the last time) we get away before our little daughter is born!

Now we just need to find someone who will let us borrow their sleeping bags and hopefully a sleeping pad, or I'm going to be one sore pregnant lady.

What are you doing this Memorial Day Weekend? 
Do you have a family tradition that you do each year?

Our Happy Heart Day

I am pretty spoiled. And I am so lucky to have met Dalin. This is our second Valentine's Day together. It is our second one married and our first one with a little son or daughter on the way. (It's so cool to think that this time next year we'll be spending the day with our little 6-month old!)

A heart for our little orange-sized baby ;)

Despite a long day of work and school, Dalin still had the energy to buy me a dozen yellow roses (my absolute favorites as anyone who came to my wedding should know), cinnamon hearts, chocolate bears,  and write me a poem. It was perfect because, as he knows, I love nothing more than getting flowers. He played a mean (or "funny," in his words) trick on me first though. He told me that there were no good flowers left. So I was kind of bummed but we went out to the car and there, on the passenger seat, were some beautiful roses and treats. I was so happy and so excited but I went over to Dalin and gently smacked him for pranking me then gave him a great big kiss.
























For Dalin, we had gone to Kohl's over the weekend and picked out some extremely spiffy new clothes for him. And we got some sweet deals, too! We got a nice, purple dress shirt for $9! High-quality, gray dress pants for $18! And for $27, some shiny and sleek new dress shoes! I surprised Dalin with home-cooked lobster tails, rolls, and celery with cream cheese for dinner. (Our baby is going to be so spoiled...we had lobster last weekend, too!) He certainly seemed to enjoy it (as did the baby ;). There is nothing better than plain lobster and butter--the way we had it tonight tasted just the way my parents cook it (which I'll admit, is probably because I had my mom give me instructions on the phone). The lobster meat was so freaking good, I was thinking about it for hours after. I have been longing for the ocean...six months is incredibly long to go without the soft gray Atlantic sand...sigh...I'm just missing home so bad lately.

For dessert, we ate fresh raspberries and homemade chocolate covered strawberries (really romantic, eh??). And we watched the new episode of The Office, which was hilarious.

Time for some snuggling ;)

<3 <3 <3

surprise!

wonderful bridal shower thrown by my roommates. even though they kept me cooped up in my room for the entirety of the morning, i forgave them fast when i saw how fantastically they did. the shower was sweet and small, with creative game ideas, an amazing home-made mint ice cream cake (my favorite!!!), and exquisite yellow and blue (wedding colors!) balloons and decorations. and, best of all, it concluded with a surprise visit from my wonderful, handsome fiance himself!!!!!
              before he arrived...
the girls had a game where i had to answer questions about dalin, (thus testing my knowledge of my future husband). for each question i answered incorrectly, i had to put a piece of double bubble in my mouth. did i do well? well, not going to lie, dalin's answers to a few of those questions totally threw me for a loop. like his favorite movie?! Madagascar 2??!!?! since when??? all in all, i think i remembered more than i thought i knew. i got maybe 5 or 6 wrong. but i can promise that now i will remember those answers!!!

anyway, as the game was coming to a close, courtney and rachel suddenly started to get antsy and began to hurry things along. i was confused about them rushing things all of a sudden. i was thinking we have all the time in the world today, what is going on?? i admit i was totally oblivious that dalin had driven all the way from provo that morning.

in fact, dalin had fed me this stupid story which i was dumb enough to believe...especially since i had known for a fact that he had nothing planned for that saturday--no work, meetings, or anything apart from watching the Wimbledon--so it was incredibly silly of me to not suspect a thing when he told me that someone from his ward randomly came to his door and asked him to go on a service project with them to salt lake. having been cooped up in my room all morning, i was annoyed at first when he told me that he couldn't skype but was easily satiated when he promised to talk to me on the phone on the way to "salt lake." he told me he was in a van with a bunch of others and that his bishop was driving. when i asked why it was so quiet, he said that everyone else was asleep. probably from getting up early on a saturday to do a service project. (okay, am i an idiot because why would every single other person be asleep on the forty minute drive to salt lake??) as dalin listened to some "Motab" he asked if i could hear the bishop blasting it. after a bit, he told me they would be arriving soon, and that he would text me when he could.
                so, clearly i am not as observant as i had sort of thought i was. either that or the excitement of my bridal shower was diverting enough to completely blind me to the obvious...

when dalin walked in our apartment--all of a sudden--with a yellow rose (my favorite of all roses) and my actual engagement ring--i had NO IDEA what was going on. i have definitely never been so surprised in my life. my parents know i am not a huge fan of surprises and never really did them. so after i rushed into dalin's arms, i was at a loss for what to do. i was so shocked that he was there. perhaps that tells something about long-distance engagements. it pretty much feels like eternity before you see the other person again. also, that was the first time i had seen my "real" engagement ring (i am still very fond of my first ring and still wear it--but on my right hand) and i loved it immediately. dalin knows me so perfectly and i was so, so, so happy with his selection.

pretty ring, pretty rose

juntos :)

after dalin's arrival, the bridal shower pretty much ended but i was just so HAPPY to be with dalin that i didn't mind at all. it was a perfectly executed surprise and completely made my entire week as dalin stayed in rexburg and went to classes with me until thursday, after which he returned to provo and brought me along to spend the fourth of july weekend with him! our first holiday :)

in provo, i stayed with abby billin from thursday night to monday night. staying with her was wonderful--particularly because i loved her cute apartment and it gave me many ideas for my future apartment with dalin. throughout the time i spent in provo, here were some of the highlights:

• while dalin was working, i spent around 5+ hours in the mall (shopping from claire's to zumiez to victoria's secret to american eagle to a used book store)
• seeing Transformers 3 in theaters (which was sweet)
• eating some fro-yo (hun-cal ;)
• going to church together (something i love so much)
• making every meal together (also love so much...)
• eating Sherbet ice cream! (please note the spelling...i was unaware of this before this weekend)
• watching movies in his apartment
• watching lots of sports on TV
• eating shaved ice (and, like always, i lost at "whose flavor is better")
• reading together
• falling asleep on the couch together (before curfew rolled around and he had to drive me back to abby's)
• "tanning" (ahem) by the pool in the bright, bright sun
• watching fireworks on the grass together
• going for walks
• viewing campus and going to the bookstore
• spending the Fourth of July together...like we will be...for the rest of eternity :]
• eating hotdogs from Sonic on the Fourth
• having me eat a huge dog from J Dawg's...
• talking about the future and our children and plans and being patriotic by wearing red, white, & blue
• grocery shopping at Wal*Mart (it's much more fun together :)
• getting raspberry cheesecake shakes from Arctic Circle
• learning more and more about one another

needless to explain, it was a wonderful (full) eleven days together. it was incredibly hard for me to get on that salt lake express bus to return to rexburg. it was slightly comforting to be reminded that i only have three weeks remaining of classes before dalin comes to retrieve me and bring me to boise for his sister cassie's wedding! and then to the salt lake airport so i can fly home to new hampshire! and then dalin will join me in new hampshire soon enough! and then we'll be sealed forever and ever :). i just need to be patient. just about 36 days...thank heavens we have eternity ahead of us! ;)