The Deceuster Bed & Breakfast :)

I feel so bad, last week my in laws were here and I didn't take any pictures!  We had fun with them though and were excited they came to visit.  I think their favorite part of St. George was Nielsen's Frozen Custard, we went there both nights they were here!  We also drove them around and showed them the sites b/c they've never really been to St. George.  We also took them to see where our home is going to be built and we enjoyed a nice dinner at a restaurant here that looks out over a golf course.  We are happy they came and are looking forward to their next visit (in September where they will get to stay in our new home!)

Also last week my old roommate, Lacey, & her fiance, Ryan, came to visit (not the same days as my in laws though).  Luckily with them I did remember to take pictures.  We did a lot of things with them we had never done with our guests before, so that was fun.  It's always fun checking out new things!  First off, they asked us if we played tennis and I said no!  I think I've maybe played once.  So we went and played tennis at the park by our future house and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!  I am not athletic, but i really liked it!  It made me want to go out and buy some rackets.  Luckily when we get into our new house the tennis courts will be just down the street.  I'm also hoping we can find some friends to play doubles with around here.  Dan is an excellent teammate (he is athletic) and he probably hit about 75% of our balls.  I think that's why I liked playing, we actually won occasionally b/c my team was good!  haha. 

We also went swimming, which Ryan was really excited about.  Got some In-N-Out for lunch.  And checked out the St. George Art Festival, which was a lot cooler than I thought it would be.  It made me want to buy artwork for our future home.  But I figured I would wait to buy next year when we actually have the house. 

@ the Art Festival

Engagement photo?  No... just the art festival :)

Then we climbed this awesome spot in St. George that looks over the whole city.  It was mine & Lacey's kind of hike, it only took us about 3 minutes to get to the top! 

Their little cave!

We made it to the top!

High above St. George

Our view.... so picturesque!

That night we came home and dyed easter eggs & watched a movie.  Both Lacey & Ryan feel asleep.  We definitely wore them out! 

Easter egg time!

I feel like I look so tired in this photo, probably because i was!  But hey... we look kinda tan :) haha... and it's only April!

After church (which by the way, Dan played the special musical # in Sacrament) we exchanged easter baskets.  Lacey & I then made an easter dinner for the 4 of us.  It was a lot of fun to have them here for easter.

We had a great time & we definitely convinced them to move here :).  Ryan told us once he finishes getting his MBA (in 2 years) they are moving here!  haha... let's hope they really do!  They just couldn't get over how perfect the weather was!

We are so excited for them and are looking forward to their wedding in June.  They are an awesome couple!  They made me laugh b/c they usually hang out w/ single people or people who are just dating so the whole time they would tell us "it's so fun hanging out with you guys and seeing what married life is really like!"  Let's hope we were a good example :).  

Trust in the Lord

I know I don't always write about spiritual things (i really should more), but yesterday in Relief Society our lesson was on Trusting in the Lord.  It stood out to me because I had been thinking about that topic all last week (and I had no clue what our lesson was going to be about). 

The reason I started thinking about this is because I was remembering last fall when Dan brought up the idea of moving to St. George.  He had been offered a job and was really interested in it.  When he first mentioned St. George to me, I was completely against the idea.  So I did the only thing I knew to do, I cried.  How could I leave my family, friends, job and home?  I thought St. George would be a small, ugly desert town with lots of old retired people (i seriously had not visited here in a long time).  Luckily Dan was patient with me and we prayed about it.  The more we prayed the more I realized it was the right thing for us.  Even though it may have been easier to stay in Springville in our comfort zone, the better choice was for us to move to St. George.  And so we did.  The first month here I still cried.  I told Dan I wanted to move back.  Now here I am 5 months later thinking about how my attitude has completely changed.  I no longer hate it here.  In fact, I kind of love it.  I am happy in a place I never thought I would be (300+ days of sunshine each year definitely helps).  It’s also not an “ugly desert town”.  It’s actually quite beautiful and bigger than I expected.  We have made friends here and people have been so welcoming.  And yes there are a lot of old people, but they are friendly and there are even young people too.  I also see my family and friends… a lot.  In case you haven’t noticed, I kind of run a hotel in our apartment!  It's nice living in a popular vacation destination.  I feel like I spend more time with my family now than I did before because they actually stay a few days instead of a few hours.  I have also grown closer to my sweet husband because when you don’t know anyone you spend a whole lot more time together!  

The more I think about it, the more I realize how perfect St. George is for us.  Let me explain… I like Utah.  I was raised here and I love it.  Dan on the other hand, is fine with UT (which took some convincing), but he does not like the snow and cold weather.  He always told me he would live anywhere as long as it was warm.  Really St. George is the perfect compromise for us (just took some divine intervention for us to realize it).  So here we are in the only warm place in Utah.  It’s a reminder to me that the Lord knows both of us, he wants us to be happy and he has a plan for us.  The fact that Dan even got a job here is kind of amazing, since good jobs in St. George are rare.

I love testimony strengthening experiences like this when we can look back and see blessings from trusting in the Lord and being obedient.  More and more I am realizing that the Lord's plan is not always the plan we have for ourselves, but it is always the best plan.  And I'm not saying we don't have agency b/c we do... it's really a joint effort to make our life the best possible :).  

cute kids!

Last week was definitely a busy one!  My sister in law, JanaRae, came to visit with her 4 boys... ages 7, 6, 3, and 1 during their spring break.  They were just so cute and energetic!  We had lots of fun!  They told me St. George was the warmest place in the whole world :).  They were so excited the sun was shining every day.  My 3 year old nephew came running into my room at 7 am one morning just to tell me the sun had come up that day! 

While they were here we went swimming 3 times, went to the two best parks in St. George, visited the temple visitor's center, watched disney channel, played Wii, went to Pirate Island Pizza, went to the St. George Kite Festival and played outside a lot.  They really liked the playground at our apartment complex because it has such soft sand!  And JanaRae & i made these delicious chocolate peanut butter cookies.  So GOOD!  Unless you are Dan... he does not like peanut butter & chocolate, shocking... i know. 

I really tried to remember to take pictures this time.  So here are a few pictures of the cute boys during our many activities (unfortunately i didn't take any pics of the adults around... sorry JanaRae & Dan & myself):

Ethan at the park.  He loved this thing you spin around on.

Jake loved having me spin him around on this.  I have no idea how he didn't get sick!

Ryan with the binoculars.

Andrew!  This boy made me laugh the whole time.  He is such a cute kid!

The boys playing on this ride.  The park we visited has some pretty crazy/unique toys!

The firetruck at the kite festival was open for the kids to explore.

Ethan with his kite.  He got his to fly quite a bit!  It was impressive since it wasn't very windy!

Jake with his kite.  He got his to fly too!

Ryan wasn't all that into flying kites.  He just wanted to play on the inflatable toys!

Thanks for visiting JanaRae & kids!  We miss you guys already!  Hopefully St. George can become your new spring break destination every year :)

Just a bunch of random

So... i want to blog but i really don't have much to say.  Here are a few random things going on in our life:

For those wondering, my ear is doing a lot better.  However, i think the infection has spread to my eye.  Gross, i know.  But my eye is all red/puffy... I no longer feel pain in my ear though, which is a very good thing.  It's still a little plugged up though.

While I was sick I didn't get much done.  However, i decided to start writing the story down of how Dan & i met.  I've never really kept a journal but i wanted to make sure i recorded our story so i could share it with our kids one day.   Plus i didn't want to forget the details (which i'm sure i've already forgotten some).  So last week i laid on the couch and typed up the story.  I have just gotten to our engagement and it's already 20 pages long!  It's been fun to remember though :). 

I loved conference this past weekend.  It was just what i needed to hear.  i tried to go into it this year with some gospel/life questions.  it's amazing how much more you get out of it when you are really seeking an answer to a specific question.  I did find answers to some of the questions that have been on my mind lately, so that was exciting. 

We have picked everything for our future house and have our final meeting tomorrow to get it all ready to be built.  Just today we picked out granite for the bathrooms.  We are pretty excited to finish all of the details tomorrow and then start building next month!  I seriously cannot wait.  I wish we could move there today! 

In between conference sessions on Saturday we checked out the Tuacahn Saturday Market.  It was fun but we decided there were way too many jewelry booths.  We were hoping for some produce but i think it's a little too early in the year for local produce. 

I never blogged about when my sister, Jannifer and her husband, Danny came to visit.  Probably because i forgot to take pictures!  Anyway, they came 2 weeks ago and we had lots of fun!  Even though it rained (hey, it was snowing in northern utah).  We went to the dinosaur museum and geocaching.  It was lots of fun, thanks for the visit Janni & Danny!

We are looking forward to more visitors this month... my brother & sister in law and their 4 cute boys are coming next week for spring break.  I've been looking up lots of fun things for kids to do in the area.  They will be the first to try out the swimming pool here (which just opened April 1).  We are excited to see them!  After they visit, Dan's parents are headed our way.  We sure love visitors.  When we first moved here I was worried we would never see family, but I think we see family more now than we did before!  That's the fabulous thing about living in a popular vacation destination town :) 

Swimmer's ear

I don't really like to complain, but i have to because my ear hurts SOOOOOOOO bad!!!!  And it's my blog, so i can do what i want :).  Anyway just yesterday i started having a lot of ear pain.  I figured it would go away so i just did some random home remedies to help.  Some of them kind of took the pain away temporarily, but it just kept on hurting.  I really was trying to avoid the doctor because we don't have health insurance.  I mean... we applied over 2 months ago when Dan started his new job and we STILL don't have it!  Something really is wrong with the healthcare in the country.  But anyway, last night at about 8 i could no longer stand the pain (eating dinner even hurt).  I looked up the instacare hours and luckily they were open til 9.  So we went and we paid $100.  It was worth it though because the doctor said i have swimmer's ear (an infection that needs to be treated and would only get worse without antibiotics... i can't imagine how it could feel any worse though).  It hurts more than the ear infections lots of people get when they are kids (the doctor even said so).  I was confused because i haven't been swimming in a while (it's been at least a few weeks), but you can still get swimmer's ear without swimming.  It's an infection in the ear canal and i honestly feel like my ear canal is swollen shut!  haha... i can barely hear out of it.  Anyway the doctor was very nice and instead of making me go buy the prescription (which would have been another $100), he gave me free samples of ear drops to clear it up.  Hooray!  I started taking the ear drops last night and i'm hoping they work soon.  Ok that's it, done with my complaining.  Thanks for reading :).

Now i'm going to go watch that movie "You Again" which i have had from Netflix for like 2 weeks now.  I'm justifying sitting and watching a movie today and doing nothing because i don't feel good :).