a little catching up to do

 updated family photos during thanksgiving. (my mom's family)

 Dallas went deer hunting (archery) for the
first time & got this guy. First one they saw
and first shot! We made a lot of jerky!

We hosted our first house party after living here
for a year. Happy New Year!

 Dolce held a staff appreciation ball. Our hubbies/boyfriends weren't super excited about attending so we  made it a girls night and had a blast. Who doesn't love a spray tan, false lashes and a reason to wear your jr year prom dress?!

 My parents, brother & his wife came to visit (dad's family) & I got to spend time with nephews <3 Cole, Gabe, & Royce!

 

I turned 24 and my little sister decided blonde and brown were too boring, the other learned how to photo bomb

mama bird decided I made this wreath for her so she built a nest and layed five eggs. They hatched and are now gone. We are officially empty nesters!

 Dallas got jumping cactus stuck to his hand and is currently still waiting for all of it to work it's way out!

 Nala had an afternoon (20 min) out on the town! She came back in need of a bath and she knew it!

we cannot get enough of this cutie!

I am thankful

I am thankful all year round, but I know there is always room for more! I am thankful  that the election is over and now. when getting on facebook there are so many "thankful posts" I think it is so great that everyone is really thinking about what the Lord has blessed them with and even better that they are sharing with others! November is such a sweet month. 

I personally have numerous things to be thankful for and I could blog for the rest of the week listing them all but here are a few just for fun. 

I am so very thankful for my church, it's leaders, members, and the opportunities it allows for learning, growing and serving our brothers and sisters. I have been a member for three years, as of today :) My life hasn't been the same since and I couldn't be happier. The gospel and the spirit are so powerful, we are truly blessed. 

I am thankful for temples and the day that I was sealed to my best friend (who I am obviously thankful for,)  for time and all eternity. I am thankful for all of our family and friends. We truly have some of the most amazing family members and all of those people who aren't family but treat us as if we were:)  

I am thankful for our savior and all that he has done for us. He loves us and I am thankful that he lives. (also thankful that Dallas bought me this painting last Christmas)

I am thankful for the new little addition to our family. Nala is such a sweet puppy, (who is still very much in the puppy/training stages!) Having her has made us much more patient and more prepared for the day when we have babies!

I am thankful, this time of year, that I do not have to trudge through piles of snow and on the same token I am thankful that  I get to have a little taste of the freezing cold when we are able to visit family and friends in South Dakota and our friends in Utah. I am thankful that I grew up and have family in SD, it will always and forever hold a special place in my heart!

I am thankful that Dallas and I have jobs and that we are able to make a living. Dallas goes above and beyond, going to school, working, and taking care of us and our house. I love my job, being an esthetician at Dolce had been a wonderful experience and it's always fun making new friends.

Again, I could go on and on, but these are just a few! I hope every one has a wonderful Thanksgiving and will reflect on all their blessings!

the eighth month of the year

Even though this August is filled with well above 106 degree weather, a yard full of weeds, lots of work and school, dead deer, & things that can get stressful like budgeting to prepare for the holidays, this is and always will be one of my favorite months... let me tell you why...

 

 

three years ago this month, I met this dream boat! Although this photo does not portray it, I was alot more work than he was! Poor guy had to cook my friends dinner in order to get me to have dinner with him, had to take home $40 worth of sushi because I got sick on our actual first date, and had to wait a few weeks for a first kiss (he'll tell you it was much longer of a wait.)

A year later he drove me to Heber at 5am. One of the best mornings of my life! 

 Obviously, it's no suprise that the answer was yes!

Last year he drove me all around for hours and hours while we searched for our first home!

 

 Of course I also love September, I think that's when the temp starts to fall below 100? If not, than I also love October, and I have a whole slew of reasons to love the rest!

 

Side note, our nephew Cole started kindergarten today! What... I was a senior when he was born... where has the time gone!? At least I get to grow old with my best friend!

the best way to start a cruise...

I wouldn't know. I slept six out of the first seven hours of ours! Two words, poor Dallas! I get car sick often so just to be safe I took dramamine an hour before we got on the ship. Walked around for about an hour. Went to sleep. I am sure Dallas was thinking he'd made a huge mistake by booking this vacation. No worries, I woke up in time for dinner and decided I'd try not taking any meds the next day and I was totally fine. We spent a few days at sea and a few days at a couple different ports. We loved it all. Forgive me, most all the picture are just from the port days. Nevertheless we did have a lot of fun while on the ship, comedy shows, couples games, hip hop shows, bingo, spending time at the pool, people watching, eating, watching movies on the big screen by the pool at night, meeting new people; newly weds and some who had been married 70 years, yes 7-0, and some who had been on 50+ cruises, and just hanging out.

I am sure I had more fun than Dallas did dressing up, but he sure did look good regardless! The sunset was gorgeous and the dinners were always awesome!

We spent two days in Cabo. We did take a boat tour the first day just to check out the different beaches and the rock formations, even saw a sleeping seal haha! We then spent some time at lover's beach. The second day we went to another beach, it was alot more crowded, it was more of a swim beach and had a lot of resturants. All the beaches were amazing and the water was perfect! I could have spent the entire week on those beaches!

I could not get enough of the towel animals, I loved them. I wanted to buy the "how to make towel animals" book, but that is where Dallas drew the line haha!

The next port was Puerto Vallarta. We went ziplining and it was a blast!

There was quite a few activities involved, speed boats, mountain climbing jeeps, zip lining, hiking, staged kisses, screams, repelling, falling and swimming, well maybe not swimming, more like trudging through water, still so fun!

bloopers :)

bottom line, we would totally do this again!

tuesday nights

the problem with dallas playing basketball and me staying home browsing pinterest every tuesday night is that they often look a lot like this...

dallas getting exercise

me testing out things like this

i can can

My mom was in town visiting and she found an " I Can Can" canning recipe book. So I had to test out a few! How can any one not like strawberry jam? Dallas loves jalapeno jelly so deciding which to try wasn't hard! 

am I sitting on the counter while stirring? And was I a lid short at the end because I put two lids on one jar earlier? And was my stove top, counter, and floor a jam/jelly coat of glue? Of course!  

I did not ever try the jalapeno jelly, but everyone who tried it said it was good! 

Canning was fun, messy, smelly and delicious! My house went from smelling like a strawberry patch to spicy vinegar (haha you can tell which recipe was my favorite!) My favorite part was giving it away to our families:)

twenty six & two

Happy birthday to Dallas and Landon! I love that our family is so big that almost no one celebrates their birthday alone!

Landon andEmily thinking it's hilarious that they have put frosting on each other's faces :)

Dallas did have his traditional german chocolate cake for the party on Sunday. On his actual birthday on Thursday we went to dinner with his mom and I didn't want to have him be completely with out cake so I made this. Of course I got the idea from pinterest, and of course mine doesn't look quite as adorable haha! I also couldn't find a tee, I looked everwhere, I thought that golf tees were like bobby pins, I just thought they were everywhere.. I guess not, so I had to use one of my pink ones haha!

Seriously? Dallas broke is wedding ring... and had no idea how... Finding a replacement has been harder than picking one out in the first place, so we went in search of his joseph smith ring, we finally found it, after I got him a nicer one for his birthday. Isn't that always how it goes?! 



cali & family

we were so happy to get to spend a few days in cali with my family! it always feels like we have to wait too long to see each other, but in the case of my brother it had been two and a half years too long so i was especially thankful u to get to see him before he got deployed! if all goes to plan he'll be home again just in time for Christmas!

i sure love these guys!

san diego zoo safari park, and 8 cups of mt. dew

we didn't see alot of animals, but the elephants were my favorite (partly but not only because there was a fence to sit on covered by shade haha) and it was pretty cool that the lions were this close to the glass!

what can I say, we love the beach

santa monica pier, oh and sand crabs, there were millions of them, and they were kind of cool, but they really creeped me out

we really missed dani and cole, wish they could have been there with us :( but they were home with miss tia

and hopefully the next time we are all together and we'll be able to meet these three:) my brother's beautiful wife and gabe, and their cute new little one royce!