Daydreaming is Good For the Soul

Lately I've been daydreaming a lot (a favorite pastime of mine;) about green and warmth and I've been missing Florida which I was fortunate enough to visit twice in the last three months to visit family each time. I also visited Las Vegas for the first time and Sun Valley, Idaho for the third time. With all the travel I've done lately, I guess you could say I have a little bit of "wanderlust" as they say (I don't really care for that term, but that's basically what it is).

I am particularly craving trees and green grass and ocean sand and warm lake water. Darn you, summer for being the shortest of the seasons.

At least Utah has been pretty good to us lately with temperatures considerably warmer than they could have been. This is me trying to count my blessings.

Anyway, here are some pictures of places I wish I could escape to right now. Just me, Dalin, and little Tenley.

Aren't they lovely? For now I'll just have to keep dreaming ;)

Where do you want to escape to right now?
Or where do you typically daydream about going? I honestly want to know.

Catching Up After Travels

Sorry blogger friends! I was having too much fun and as a result, kind of slacked off with this thing. Confession: Since getting my first iPhone ever (and first smart phone actually) a couple of months ago, I've actually gotten worse at blogging because I've basically stopped using my camera. I use my phone whenever I need to take pictures, mainly due to convenience, and unfortunately, it's harder to get my pics on here as a result. I'm going to try and work on that.

Anyhow, we were in Sun Valley, Idaho the last three days and had a wonderful, relaxing time with Dalin's parents, grandparents, three sisters, their husbands, and my brother, Donovan. It was pretty great. To briefly sum up the trip, we...

• visited with Dalin's aunt, uncle, and cousins at their gorgeous home in Hailey
• shopped in dozens of ski and gift shops in the little town of Ketchum
• skiied Dollar (well, Donny did) 
• shared an incredible huckleberry shake (twice!)
• enjoyed the heated pool (basically a giant hot tub)
• had a big family breakfast out together
• played in the giant toy stores
• basked in the "warm" weather
• ate some amazing pizza with everyone
• bowled (at least, the boys did)
• had some excellent conversation
• shared a king-sized bed (at least Dalin and I did ;)
• took a photo of Tenley with the picture that gave us her name inspiration one year ago when I was four months pregnant...

Among other things. It was awesome. I can't really describe it all in detail--Dalin had to work at 4pm today so we left Sun Valley around 11am. Then at home I did a few dishes, washed a freaking ton of laundry (from this trip and Florida), then Donovan, Tenley, and I went grocery shopping, and now I need to fold laundry, do some homework, and pick up the house. Sigh. If I wasn't so stressed about school, it wouldn't bother me so much. Anyway, I had better go, but I will do my best to take the time to blog about our Las Vegas trip (I sort of left you guys hanging) and Tenley's and my adventure in Florida.

Hope you all had a sweet weekend!

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?

Our Little Missionary Experience

Dear Guy Who Sat Next To Us On The Airplane to Orlando,

Thank you for making our third flight that day more entertaining than it otherwise would have been, particularly because we were on an old plane with no wifi which meant entertaining ourselves the old-fashioned way.

We enjoyed hearing about Kansas which was a state we knew nothing about and about your cute grandkids which you showed us several adorable pictures of on your tablet. They had sweet curly blonde locks like our nephew Maddox, which we told you.

Thank you also for complimenting our daughter's behavior--that made us feel really good (even though we did nothing to teach her how to behave her then four-and-a-half month old self on an eight-hour trip).

We really did enjoy talking to you even when you made a few beer references that we (well at least I) didn't understand. Everything was great, even when you mentioned Margaritaville and said, "You guys like margaritas, don't you?" I then told you that we actually don't drink alcohol but we like drinks that are similar to margaritas. You seemed surprised but continued to talk to us.

When you learned we were from Utah, you asked if we were Mormons and we told you we were. Your next comment was, "That show 'Sister Wives' must be giving you guys a hard time." Your wife sitting in the row in front of us reached behind her seat and gave you a smack along with a look that clearly told you to drop it, causing you to smile sheepishly.

I almost burst out laughing right then but I didn't want to embarrass you so hiding a smile I responded, "Actually that show is not about our church. We don't believe in that at all." You said, "Oh," then I explained further. "That's actually a branch that broke away from our church." Then I added, "Trust me, our church doesn't support that at all."

You nodded then we changed the subject, and for the remainder of the trip we had a nice time talking about our individual plans in Florida. We only brought up subjects like going to BYU and other beliefs in passing. But I hoped in my heart that our brief discussion about the church would stay with you, and that because of it you would someday open your heart to hearing a little more about the gospel.

Since our trip, I've wondered about you a few times, mainly wondering if you met an LDS missionary whether you'd be more interested about our church because of the example we set. If we had gotten your name, I might have looked you up at Kansas State University where you teach and sent the missionaries your way (don't worry though--I didn't have your name so I couldn't).

Anyway, thank you for being friendly and talking to us and also allowing us to have that little missionary experience. It reminded me of why I love living in the world (but not of the world) so much. I am so looking forward to having more of those experiences wherever we end up after BYU because I know the joy the gospel brings me and want to share it with everyone.

So thank you for that. And I hope you had a marvelous Christmas with your family in Florida.

Sincerely,

Olivia Gunnell

P.S. And thank you for being so personable! I always appreciate that quality in others.

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?