Pictures

Here are just a bunch of random pics to show what we've been up to lately.

For my birthday we celebrated with some yummy DQ cupcakes!  Dan's brother & his family were at our house too.

While they were visiting we went to a farm with fall activities.  My favorite was the big jumping pillow!  It smelled pretty bad (lots of animals at the farm), but the kids still enjoyed it.  I also love that bluff in the background.

 Here's our house on Halloween.  We got quite a few trick or treaters.  I know the neighborhood kids really loved our inflatable pumpkin.  My neighbor said her son always wanted to pick up the mail just so he could see it (we live right by the mail boxes).

Our halloween message we spelled out in glow sticks.  It was a hit with the trick or treaters.  Towards the end of the night Dan even let some of the trick or treaters take the glow sticks home. 

 Our pumpkins!  Mine is the cat and Dan's is the crazy face.

 Last Saturday we went to the Tuacahn Market and they had the Little Mermaid boat out for pictures!  It was fun to see one of the props close up.  We can't wait for Aladdin next year!  Tuacahn is one of my favorite things about St. George.

These blocks were my craft project today.  I went to buy some Thanksgiving decorations but couldn't find any (all I saw were Christmas decorations), so I made my own.

 After the inflatable pumpkin Dan decided we needed something inflatable for every holiday.  He is so funny.  I figure I decorate the inside, he can decorate the outside.  I'm sure we'll be looking for a Christmas inflatable soon.  At least the kids in the neighborhood will like it!

And lastly, my nephew, Chase, is on a billboard in St. George!  I love driving by it and seeing his cute face.  His dad is the marketing manager for Daily Bread so he's also been in one of their commercials.  Yay Chase!

25

Today I realized I never blogged about my birthday!  My most favorite day of the year and I didn't even blog about it... unbelievable!  So here it is, my 25th birthday story...

The morning of my birthday Dan made me breakfast.  I then rushed to work and decided not to mention my birthday to anyone.  Mostly because I forgot to bring a birthday treat and I knew if the kids knew it was my birthday they would expect a treat (because that's what you do in elementary school).  However, towards the end of the day the head Special Ed. Teacher told me Happy Birthday and she and the kids sang to me (ok, mostly she did... the kids kinda just stared haha).  I forgot she had put my birthday up on her calendar in her classroom.  She said she wanted to get a treat for my birthday, but had a meeting that morning and wasn't able to.  Oh well, less sugar is probably a good thing.

After work I went home and hung out around the house.  I then decided I needed to go shopping and do something fun for my birthday!  I went to a few stores, but didn't buy anything.

That night Dan came home and gave me presents!  He got me 2 Wii games (Just Dance 3 and Mario Kart), a cushioned mat for the kitchen, and an ice cream maker attachment for my Bosch.  We then went restaurant hopping!  We started at Red Robin for our appetizer and drinks.  We love their spinach artichoke dip!

The sweater I am wearing I called my "birthday sweater" because my sisters got it for me for my b-day.

 Then our waiter asked if I wanted people to sing to me and I said no.  He asked if I wanted ice cream and I said yes!

Yummy!  Dessert before dinner? Yes, please!

 We then headed to Red Lobster for dinner.  We were pretty full so we shared a dinner of lobster, shrimp & scallops.  Delicious!  The waitress also asked if I wanted people to sing to me and I said no, again!

After dinner we decided to get dessert at DQ.  We bought ice cream cupcakes and took them home because we had family coming (Dan's brother and wife & kids stayed w/ us that weekend).  We waited to eat the cupcakes until the next day because we knew the sugar would make the kids hyper!

It was a fabulous birthday and I really appreciated all of the calls, texts, cards, presents, and facebook messages from so many people.  I felt so special!  And of course thanks to Dan for spoiling me.  He's good at that!

My birthday celebration has even continued because I got my final present yesterday.  I have been wanting a steam mop for a long time (especially since we moved into our house with so much tile! Swiffer just wasn't cutting it anymore).  I initially got a cheap Shark steam mop at Walmart and it did not work.  It was one of those "you get what you pay for" moments.  After checking about 5 or 6 stores, we finally found what we were looking for last night at Sears.  I ended up getting this steam mop and I love it!  I wish we could have ordered it from Amazon (much cheaper), but they say my address does not exist (that's what happens when you build a house).  Anyway, I mopped all of my floors today and even enjoyed myself!  It works so well and my floors feel so clean!  Another thing I love about it is it works on carpet too.  Awesome birthday present, for sure!

House Tour

A friend of mine asked me to put up pictures of our house now that it is all decorated.  So the other day after I cleaned I snapped a few to share.  Sorry no pictures of the kitchen yet (I hadn't quite gotten to the dishes that day) and no pictures of the master bedroom because we are still waiting for the headboard we ordered a month ago to arrive.  I also didn't take pictures of the study because it's really not all that exciting :).

Dining area.  Thanks to my Dad (and Dan) for hanging up the curtains and for suggesting we get a big clock.  I wasn't sure what to put on that wall, but my Dad solved the problem!  

Entryway.  Not much to say about it.  Just added a few little decorations.   

View of the living room.  I know the wall looks blank but we are still trying to decide what to hang up.  I was thinking a nice big picture of the St. George temple and Dan was thinking a nice big picture of us (one of those canvas pictures).  Thoughts?

Closer view of the bookshelf with a lot of my fall/halloween decorations.  I love this bookshelf!  Thank you Ikea.  

View of the living room from the dining room, featuring the green lamp my mom got me as our house warming gift.  Thanks mom!  She and I found it at T.J. Maxx.  By the way, if you have never been to the St. George T.J. Maxx, you need to check it out!  I never liked T.J. Maxx until I moved here... now I love it!  

Guest bedroom.  Come and visit! :) 

 Guest bathroom.  

Hall/stairs.  I took this picture to show how awesome Dan is.  I asked him to hang our established sign above the stairs and he did!  Everyone always asks me how we got it up there, and I tell them it's great to have a tall husband (and a ladder, of course).

this is halloween

Went to a festival yesterday and got our Halloween picture taken!

I know, we are pretty scary! :)

Conference & Birthday month!

This past weekend we went up to Northern Utah to spend time with our families and enjoy conference.  We had a great time spending Friday evening and Saturday morning with Dan's family (and finally meeting our new nephew, Caleb!) and Saturday evening and Sunday with my family.  I always love having girl's night while the guys are at Priesthood and I was so happy I was up there this conference to be with my mom and sisters during that time.  Although I will admit I spent most of my evening playing hide and go seek with my nephews, it was hilarious... play hide and go seek with a 2 & 4 year old, you will love it!  Last conference I was down here and bummed I missed out on girl's night!

Then on Sunday my family was so nice and surprised me with a birthday party!  My family knows how much I LOVE my birthday and they knew they wouldn't get to celebrate with me in St. George, so we partied early!  Which was fine by me, I'm happy to celebrate all month long :).

I had Dan snap a few pictures on his phone...

Me and my cute nephew, Andrew! I love this little guy!  He's one of my hide & seek buddies :)

The cake! My sister Noelle made it look like a pumpkin.  She stacked two bundt cakes, it was awesome!  Plus it was even pumpkin flavored.  Thanks, Noelle!

Present time!  Andrew is helping me unwrap it.  I got a cute sweater, a donut pan, a food storage cookbook, and a halloween decoration.  All things I love!  My family knows me well :)

Thank you family for throwing me a party, you all are the best!