Pending Adventures and Spring

When I read popular blog names (or even unpopular ones) I can't help but feel like I'm in the Hunger Games and the Capitol is real. You know how some of their names are like Cashmere and Glimmer? Yeah, I always am seeing stuff like that for blog names. But I won't pick on any blog in particular, I just think it's funny. Everyone tries so hard to be original. Sometimes I wonder how humans have not run out of things to say. Hasn't everything already been said? Hasn't every possible song been written already? Nothing should be original anymore, yet somehow a new song comes on the radio and it is completely different from anything else. It's pretty remarkable really. Humans are pretty talented.

Today the weather was beautiful here in Provo, Utah. Tenley and I went for a walk outside to feel the sunshine after saying goodbye to Dalin for the evening as he left for work. He had brought me (us ;) some colorful flowers before leaving today. He always does that kind of thing at the most random times, which to me, is the very best time to do it. He also knows how much I love flowers--almost more than anything else. I have a bad habit of trying to dry out and save every flower he gives me though...I can't help it! They just bring me happy memories! Anyway, spring always makes me feel so hopeful and positive. I am so looking forward to the coming months. I think I sometimes really struggle with being fully satisfied with the present. I am always looking to the future. I'm kind of a dreamer in that way. But I do love my life right now!

I love the colors!!!

Tenley and I are going on an adventure in the next few days. We are flying to meet up with my mom and brother--we had flying credit that had to be used up--who really just want to see Tenley, but I'm okay with that ;). I am excited, happy, nervous, and a little scared all at once. Nervous mainly because I've never been apart from Dalin for more than three days since we've been married. But I am doing my best to have faith because everything will be okay and no matter what, we will be together forever. I'm scared because I will be flying with Tenley alone which I have never done before but I have had many people reassure me that it will be great. Tenley is going to be an old pro at flying! By the time she is one, she will have flown to and from New Hampshire and Florida twice! Eight trips! She is a pretty wonderful little girl and I am so thankful to have her. I have been feeling so grateful for my life lately. Grateful for the promise of joy that comes with being a Latter-day Saint. I am thankful to have been raised a Mormon. It gives one such peace having a purpose. God has been so good to me and my family.

I am thankful that Dalin is so forgiving. I am so imperfect and he sees that more often than I'd like to admit. But he cares greatly about my happiness and I see how hard he works to support our little family and give us the very best. Ugh, it is going to kill me to leave him, but I know he will be right here for me when I return. And I'm going to give him a huge smooch so he knows that I really, really missed him haha. I already miss him and we haven't even left yet!

Anyway, wish Tenley and I luck with our travels and pray that this adventure goes smoothly. I so love adventures!:)

And thanks a million in advance!

Catching Up

Happy belated Valentine's Day! I love Valentine's Day because I love the color red and I love stuff with hearts and getting fresh flowers. But Dalin and I had a less traditional celebration because we were in Las Vegas for our good friends' Jason and Halie's wedding! The two got married on the 15th in the Las Vegas temple.

Anyway, the trip was awesome (and tiring) and included warm weather, last-minute hotels, visiting the strip, awesome food from a Las Vegas buffet, a temple sealing, a luncheon, a wedding reception, sleeping in our car overnight, long drives, and lots more craziness. Plus I almost got kicked out of several places for looking 16. One, I have a kid and two, I turn 23 this year, folks. But it's all good. (Also, I realize that saying I have a baby doesn't help since half the teenagers these days are getting pregnant but oh well). I will have to catch up with these stories later though because I am just so exhausted...it's been a long, long day. And I pretty much never want to get in the car again. 

Time to go snuggle my husband and baby girl (lucky her, she's been asleep the last couple hours already ;). 

Hope you all had an equally exciting Valentine's weekend! Here are some favorite pics, just to give you a sample...

I stinking love this girl.

Freaking precious for Valentine's :)

BFFs foreva'

What was your favorite part of Valentine's Day? 

Have you ever been to Vegas? What do you think of it?

Celebrating 24 (And How to Make Your Own Edible Arrangement)

Dalin turned 24 today and we have had (if I do say so myself) an awesome day.

We began the day with gifts (like running sneakers from me, a Red Sox hat from Tenley, and a heart rate monitor from both of us, plus a few small things) and a home-made edible arrangement for breakfast. I had been researching arrangements online the last couple days and could not bring myself to spend $35+ on fruit on a stick, so I decided I would attempt to make my own. 

And let me just say, it's a lot harder than it looks, no matter how crafty you are. 

For your own, start with some kind of vase, container, or decorative bucket. I learned the hard way that, before doing anything, you need to put some kind of weight at the bottom like a few rocks or marbles or something. The fruit really throws things off balance and if you forget to add weight, you'll probably have to take your arrangement apart like I did. 

You also need a foam piece. I got mine from the Dollar Store in the fake flowers section. I was going to get wooden skewers there, too, but apparently they are seasonal. 

Next you need a selection of fruit. I got an orange, grapes, strawberries, pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe, kiwi, and bananas. 

Then you bust out the cutting board, knife, and small cookie cutters. As you can see from the disaster below, the fruit was not cooperating the way I had imagined. 

The pineapple and kiwi especially broke apart too easily when I attempted to cut it with a cookie cutter. I also started with irregular shaped pieces, so it's hard to know if I had cut my own fresh full-sized pineapple or whatever, if things would have been a little easier. But, I was lazy and clearly didn't do the math in my head, otherwise I would not have bought the packages of cut fruit like I did. 

Basically, the project was kind of a disaster even though Dalin still loved it, but here are the cons that I would be more cautious of in the future:
Cons: 

• The fruit is really sticky. The more you mess around with it, the stickier things get. I would have a better plan beforehand so you aren't just playing around with the fruit. 
• I didn't go by a model. I just winged it which would probably have been fine if I was a professional but clearly I'm not. Find a picture of a bouquet you want to copy. 
• When inserting the skewers into the foam with fruit on them, I did so haphazardly. I should have started from the middle and worked outward because once I had the ones on the outside in place, it was really difficult to carefully put the middle ones in. 
• The fruit slid down the skewers and tore on them. Cut thick, (cold) pieces of fruit and if possible, use melted chocolate or something similar to be a barricade. Otherwise the fruit softens in the room temperature air and loses its grip (kind of like I did during this project). Once it slides down the skewer (or especially if it tears), the piece is pretty much useless. 
• I bought pre-cut pieces. This made the project even more challenging because I had to kind of squish the cookie cutters on the piece trying to make the best fit possible. If I had had one large flat piece, cutting would have been a breeze (at least comparably--the pineapple would still be tricky). 

Later, someone gave me a tip saying that freezing the fruit is helpful and then refrigerating the whole thing after it's completed. 

Here was my final result, which doesn't look altogether terrible, but is nowhere near the professional appearance I had been hoping to end up with. 

Other notes: 

The front center thing is a peppermint patty with green tube frosting on it. The grapes, oranges, and the bananas (when inserted through the side as shown in the back) were the least slippery and easiest to do. The plain strawberries and the chocolate-covered strawberries weren't bad either (though the longer they were on the more they started to slip). Everything else sucked and was horrible to work with.

If you try this out, I want to hear what your experience is!

As for the rest of our day after presents and breakfast, well...

nap time for my babies ;)

Took a quick walk to check the mail 

Baby girl loved daddy's balloons and it was so cute watching her play with them.

She kept staring up at dad. So stinking precious. 

My cutest girl, Tenley "bowling" for the first time.

The birthday boy man!

The pro-bowler (jk ;)

In action.

Well, at least I sucked less than the birthday boy ;)

Shooting some hoops at the Provo Beach Resort arcade

She all of a sudden just fell asleep. 

At the movies (we were the only ones there like usual) watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Momma and baby

She loves touching Dalin's face

At an infant massage class. It was fun!

Tenley didn't know how she felt about it. 

We rested and Dalin's sister Shaina came over with a sweet Puma hat for her brother. Then we went to Costa Vida for lunch and ate really delicious burritos. Even though they don't do anything for birthdays, the girl gave us a free cookie which was nice. Then we bowled a string next door at Fat Cats. After that, we went to the Provo Beach Resort at the Riverwoods and played a few arcade games (I beat Dalin at Connect Four, yes!) and Dalin beat me at air hockey (but only because I was holding Tenley in one arm...). We got candy and three stretchy lizard toys with our tickets. 

At four, we walked over to the theater and purchased tickets to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. We were the only ones there. We walked into theater 9 which was pitch black. We thought maybe they hadn't started the movie because they thought no one was coming to see it. So I called the front desk and was like, "Hi, we just walked in like a minute ago and we're in theater 9 and it's completely dark." The girl was like, "Oh sorry, we'll start that for you." A minute or two later, the previews come on and we watch all of them. Then the previews end and the screen is gray. We were like, "Oh crap" and were laughing at our luck. I called the front desk again and said, "Hello, I'm not sure if it was you I spoke with before, but we are in theater 9 and just watched all the previews and now the screen is gray." The girl apologized and said someone would fix it right away. We kept laughing about the situation and then the previews music comes on again and then suddenly the movie comes on--but the previews music is still playing. We watched the whole first scene thinking it was going to be fixed then we were like, "Maybe we're not meant to watch this movie." So after I failed to convince Dalin to call this time, I walked out to the lobby (only because they ignored my calls twice in a row so I figure they knew my number by then) and told them (laughing) that the movie was playing but the preview music was playing over the sound. The girl nicely told me sorry and that they were just waiting for the digital thing to re-set. Finally, I returned to the theater and the movie had restarted and the sound was on. And I'm glad we stayed because we loved the movie! Ben Stiller is hilarious and the movie was so cool. We laughed a lot during it and would definitely say it's worth seeing. It really exceeded my expectations. Also, it's hilarious and clean, which is awesome. 

After the movie, we drove to the Provo Public Library to attend an infant massage class with my friend, Hillary. It was only like forty minutes long and I thought it was fun! There were a dozen other babies there and it was fun to see so many babies around the same stage as Tenley. 

We finished off the night at home watching a show in bed eating fruit snacks. Dalin said that he had a really good time celebrating his birthday. Little does he know about my little surprise for him tomorrow!

Have you ever been to an infant massage class?
Or have you watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (and if so, what did you think)? 

Family Florida Trip

Well I was a complete slacker during the two weeks of Christmas break, but honestly, having such a long break from technology was AMAZING. It was freeing. I should do it more often. I wouldn't have gone on the computer at all if Dalin hadn't shown me a few articles during our trip.

What trip you ask?

For those of you who didn't hear, Dalin, Tenley, and I flew to Florida to spend Christmas with my parents, brothers, and cousins from both sides of the family. It was probably the best trip Dalin and I have ever taken together in my opinion. I didn't even bring my laptop or Kindle because I just wanted to be able to focus completely on being with my family and taking in our experiences.

I have lots of fun photos to share, but there are so many I'll have to go through them and pick my favorites.

But about our trip:

December 23:
We flew to Orlando--which is the dumbest airport I've even been in as far as quality goes (it's super huge and really cool inside with its own hotel, indoor trees, Disney and SeaWorld stores, etc. inside) but they have serious crowd control and customer service issues. They lost Tenley's car seat and stroller (and tons of other people's luggage from our flight) which was ridiculous, but then it was going to be okay because they told us they replace lost ones, so we went through the process of acquiring new stuff when, almost two hours after we'd landed, they suddenly found them. Sheesh. But at least we got them back.

My parents picked us up in their car which they had driven down over the last 48 hours (it's a 24-hour drive, but they decided to break it up) and we met up with my brothers at the Hilton Orlando, which is a really cool hotel. My parents booked a hotel for a few nights just around Christmas because we didn't want to impose on our family for the holidays (though I know they wouldn't have minded). Our rooms were connected and the hotel had an amazing pool, water slide, lazy river, basketball and tennis courts, fire pits, etc. It had several other things too that we didn't even use. We went to Ihop for a late-night dinner then stayed up in the hotel room talking and catching up with my brothers.

Christmas Eve:
We went to SeaWorld (like two minutes from our hotel) and enjoyed the dolphins, rides, and particularly the new ride called Manta which is amongst our top favorite coasters now. We also went to a special Christmas-themed Shamu show which was especially awesome because they actually included Christ in the music and message. Afterward, the boys played on the basketball court while my mom, Tenley, and I roasted marshmallows and relaxed. Well, Tenley just relaxed ;)

Christmas Day:
We opened our stockings while listening to Christmas music in our hotel room, then we spent the majority of the day down by the pool. We "tanned" (ha ha, except I'm still snow white) and played in the lazy river, then played doubles on the tennis court. We ate some very good homemade pizzas at the hotel restaurant and had tropical drinks. It was definitely the most unique Christmas we'd ever had. We wouldn't trade the experience, but it was very weird having no snow, Christmas tree, or Nativity (we left all those at home). Still, I don't think anyone wanted to trade it.

The next several days were a blur a fun and tiring activities. We tried to fill every moment and truthfully over-planned a little. Or a lot. But it was awesome and I'm so glad we took advantage of every day! Here are some more highlights from our trip (December 26-January 3):

Payson taught Tenley to grab her feet which she now does frequently. She also loves sucking on her tiny toes. It's precious. (This is a milestone for babies so it's a big deal ;)

He also taught her to roll over but she can't get completely over by herself yet. She's so close though!

We also taught her to sign "I love you" back to us in ASL. I'll post a video if I ever catch it!

We went to Islands of Adventure and spent the majority of our time at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter which is amazing (but SO busy during Christmastime!)

We rode Dragon Challenge and the Forbidden Journey.

We ate authentic British food supposedly--delicious fish and chips (fries)--in the Three Broomsticks.

We also tried Butterbeer both in slush form and regular (I preferred the slush).

We visited Honeyduke's, Zonko's, Ollivander's, and Dervish and Banges (obviously we had to go in every Harry Potter store...)

We also rode the Hulk, Spiderman, Jurassic Park, and plenty of other rides at Islands of Adventure.

We took Tenley around Dr. Seuss world (too bad she won't remember it...)

Uncle Payson held Tenley like 50% of the trip. She just LOVED him.

We were fed numerous amazing and authentic Swedish dinners from my Swedish cousin, Arielle and my aunt Nina.

On Sunday, we went to Church with our Swedish cousins.

We visited with a lot of wonderful family members from each side of my parents' family.

We ate at the Black Hammock and Payson and I shared gator, catfish, and frog legs for dinner. 

We also held Max, a small gator.

After, we took flashlights and went gator hunting in the dark by the lake (so freaky when you see their eyes glowing in the distance).

We visited Blue Springs and watched wild manatees swimming down the clear blue and green river.

We drove to Tampa to Busch Gardens and rode the water rides and best of all, Shiekra. We also liked Cheetah Chase and the Sky Ride which took us right over the animals.

We got free Quick Queue passes at Sea World just because a worker saw my dad's Red Sox shirt!(meaning we got to skip the regular lines).

We caught dozens of joeys (that's our name for those little lizards that are everywhere)--especially while waiting in line for rides.

We rode Manta, Kraken, and Journey to Atlantis at Sea World.

We spent more quarters (and more money) squirting people on the water rides with my dad than probably anything else at every park we visited.

We ate way too many turkey legs.

We learned that Florida drinking water is awful no matter how many times you try it.

As a result, I drank more soda during the trip than I have since I married Dalin (who doesn't drink soda and it rubbed off on me).

We loved the Men in Black ride, Transformers, E.T., and the Mummy ride at Universal Studios.

We started collecting magnets from the places we'd been on this trip.

We roasted marshmallows on New Year's Eve, watched the ball drop, played Bananagrams, and cheered 2014 with Sparkling Grape Juice (no one in our family drinks alcohol).

We went to an awesome outlet mall and my mom bought Tenley some rad little Nikes.

We got a tour of the University of Central Florida from our cousin, Nathan, and checked out the Psychology building for Dalin.

We watched a Knight's game with family and ate the most delicious filet mignon you could ever imagine (courtesy of Uncle Brad ;).

We canoed/kayaked down a crystal clear and winding river through Florida's swampy woods at dusk (it felt like we were in the amazon or somewhere crazy and was one of the coolest parts of our trip).

We got rained and poured on (unusual for us when we've visited Florida).

We laughed so much with all of our family.

We dreaded leaving...

So we extended our trip another 24 hours and looked into extending it further (but all the flights were sold out).

We decided we should probably go back soon.

Prepare for a photo overload. Seriously, it was so hard to pick just a few.

My parents surprised us with these cute plates. #Favorite grandchild ;)

Christmas morning in pajamas!

The water slide leading into a very small part of the humongous pool at our hotel

Flaring her nostrils at me. Can't handle the cuteness!

Slightly excited to be at Harry Potter world

A joey.

Realistic reaction to getting mauled by a T-Rex.

Wild manatees (a mom and two babies!) at Blue Springs!

My brother, Donovan, holding Max the baby gator

Grandma Searle and our sweetheart, Tenley

This was so cute of Tenley and my brother, Payson, how could I NOT put it?!

Canoeing down the Amazon...jk, but it felt like it!

Looking much happier than I felt to be leaving Florida :(

What did you do for Christmas and New Years?

Have you ever been to Florida before?

What about Orlando? 

Is there something you love/would love to do there?