March 25, 2012

Celebrities

A lot of you have probably seen me post about this on facebook, but Dan started something in St. George called the STG Cash Mob.  It was quite a success and he was even on KSL news!  You can see me too :).  Click on this link to watch the news segment about it.  I am really proud of Dan for getting this idea and making it happen.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=19732402&title=cash-mob-surprises-local-business-with-show-of-support&s_cid=featured-3

March 22, 2012

Spring Break

Back in January I knew I wanted to go somewhere for Spring Break, I just wasn't sure where.... until Jet Blue had flights to California for $29 each way.  Sold!  So last week we went to Newport Beach with my sister and her husband (they couldn't pass up such a great deal either!)  Here are some highlights of our trip:

  • Found out Jet Blue is the best airline!  More leg room (major plus for Dan), each person gets their own tv, actually left on time, better variety of snacks, and great ticket prices (when on sale)! 
  • Visited Yogurtland twice!  It is my favorite frozen yogurt place.  Only two exist in Utah, neither of which are in St. George.  Since it was just down the street from our hotel, we had to take advantage of the goodness!
  • Whale watching.  More like dolphin watching, but fun nonetheless.  The dolphins were actually my favorite part.  They would swim right next to the boat.  We probably saw 100 dolphins and only 1 whale.  
  • The Beach.
  • Walked around Balboa Pier.  
  • Rented a surrey and rode it along the boardwalk.  Surreys look so ridiculous, I have always wanted to rent one!  
  • Knotts Berry Farm, where I rode some of the scariest coasters of my life!  
  • South Coast Plaza- the largest mall I have ever been to.  
  • Rainforest Cafe.
  • Lots of games of Bohnanza each evening.
Now for my loads of pictures (most of which I stole from Jannifer, I forgot my camera)!  Disclaimer:  For some reason my hair is crazy in most of these photos.  I blame the humidity, my poor hair is used to very dry weather.

Our whale watching boat.

Ready to see some whales!

Janni & Danny, our travel buddies!

Dolphins!  They're so cute!

The best whale picture we got. I promise there is a whale where the water is a little white-ish.

Sea lions just bein lazy.

The beach!

Our surrey!

More Beach
Rainforest Cafe
The aquarium by our table.

At South Coast Plaza.  This mall was so huge they had 3 Macys!  Regular Macys, Macys for Men and Macys Home.

Jannifer & Dan on the ride that takes you really high and drops you.  I hate these rides.  Danny and I passed on this one!

Me in my car!

On the ferris wheel.  I don't like ferris wheels much either, but this one wasn't too high.

Our prize from the basketball game!  Another stuffed animal for our collection- you have no idea how many carnival games Dan has played!

I just like Dan's face in this photo.

Meeting Snoopy!  I always wonder who is really under that costume!

I got soaked on the rapids ride!

And yes we did pay $5 for the dryer.  Which for your information, doesn't really work.  Don't waste your $$$!
And that was our trip!  There were so many pictures you probably felt like you were on vacation with us :).  

March 3, 2012

missionaries & temple cleaning

Wow, I am blogging a lot today!  I guess life has just been interesting lately.  Haha... this past week I had a few unique experiences.

First off, I got to go out with the Sister Missionaries!  Since Dan is the Assistant Ward Mission Leader, we actually know the missionaries for our stake.  They have come to our house for dinner twice and this past week I drove them around because they didn't have a car.  If it was Elders, I'm sure they would ask Dan for his help.  But since we have sisters in our area, they call Dan asking if I can help them :).  It was a lot of fun to be around them and to see what they do each day.  We kind of had a weird experience though.  We went to visit this lady and she was outside on her cell phone.  She saw us and apparently she wasn't interested but she didn't want to tell the sisters, so she handed them the cell phone and made the person on the cell phone tell us to go away!  It was so random!  One sister told me it was the weirdest thing that has happened to her on her mission.

Then last night Dan and I helped clean the temple.  When we lived up north we were never asked to do this, in fact I didn't even know they asked members to help clean the temple.  But I guess since St. George is a much smaller area there are more opportunities like this.  It was actually really cool!  I'll be honest, I complained a little bit at first because you go from 10 pm to midnight.  I was tired on the way there but once we got there and started cleaning I had energy!  I think it was a major blessing.  I helped this lady vacuum all of the sealing rooms.  It was probably the best vacuuming job I have ever done.  I tried to be extremely careful and not run into any of the furniture.  It was a really neat experience.  Even though I wasn't doing temple work, I still felt the Spirit while I cleaned.  I also loved the lady I helped.  She was from New Zealand and she told me she had been cleaning the temple for 26 years!  I think if I had a cleaning job I would want it to be at the temple.

What a great week!

Yard Work

Guess what?  We finished our garden boxes!  And by "we" I mean Dan finished our garden boxes (thanks, Dan!).  I helped him carry them into the yard though.  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture.  I can't wait to get some vegetables growing in them!

I also planted some flowers!  Surprisingly they are still alive.  I put them in pots because our soil is kind of horrible.  I thought they'd have a better chance at surviving in a pot.  So far so good.

My pansies
They add some color to our front porch.
Last week I potted pansies and this week I did some tulips (which are not picture).  I'm now thinking I want to put up a garden box in the window.  As you can tell, I love house projects!

Parade of Homes

In my last post I said I would blog about the Parade of Homes.  The Parade is my most favorite event in St. George!  I have been looking forward to it ever since last year's Parade.  This year I was even lucky enough to work at the Parade!  I worked as a host for Ivory Homes (same people who built our house), meaning I stood at the door and marked off people's tickets.  I had fun and enjoyed talking to lots of people and answering their questions (which most of the time I didn't even know the answer).  I was surprised to meet people from across the country who had come just to see the Parade.  I wish I took more pictures of the Ivory Home, because their decor was one of my favorites.  Unfortunately the only picture I snapped was of the bathroom because I liked the wallpaper and I'm considering a rectangle sink for our basement bathroom...

Loved the wallpaper!  What do you think... rectangle sink?
I took a few more pictures but they are mostly for Dan and I to get some ideas on what to do in our basement and backyard.  Here are a couple of fun things we saw though (neither of which we will be doing in our home)....

A 50s diner in a house?!  Odd, but picture worthy.  I personally wouldn't want it.
My dream fire pit!
Dan and I are planning on putting a fire pit in our backyard but I'm afraid it won't be nearly this awesome.  If we had the space though, this is what I'd want.  We are excited to have a fire pit though, s'more party at our house! :)

We loved the Parade this year.  We saw 25 of the 28 homes and got lots of great ideas for our home!  Can't wait til next year.