the dalmers

thanks Ty

2012-02-01T19:04:00.002-07:00

2012-01-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

2012-01-01T10:10:00.001-07:00

Many happy wishes for 2012 from us.

Voodoo doughnut

2011-12-27T15:41:00.001-07:00

From Portland!!!

From the coast

2011-12-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

Coming from cannon beach; more to come. Merry Christmas.

2011-12-25T11:48:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas from the Dalmers!

Dani goes to Africa

2011-12-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite pictures from my week in Ghana.

Pearls house

2011-12-10T21:05:00.001-07:00

At pearls house for a concert

So very cold

2011-12-09T21:39:00.001-07:00

So I went out mountain biking a few days ago, deciding to brave the cold so I could try out the Rocky Mountain Altitude 29er that the Rocky Mountain rep dropped off to me. It's a fun bike but I felt that the cold weather hindered my judgement against the bike. Anyway it felt like it had gotten colder during the ride and sure enough it had. On the bright side, I am pretty sure that this temperature makes me hard core.

5 years

2011-11-27T19:50:00.002-07:00

Fall colors

2011-11-03T22:24:00.001-06:00

Hobble creek canyon. One of my favorite rides. Our Easton rep let me borrow a set of $2000.00 carbon wheels so I thought I would get a really good late season ride in.

Scones for Ghana

2011-10-17T20:25:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who came to Scones for Ghana. It was a huge success and I can't wait to post lots of pictures and videos of Africa. Stay tuned in the coming months. We love you all!

Dani and Forrest

WE ARE STILL ON

2011-10-08T08:49:00.002-06:00

Scones for Ghana is STILL ON for tonight. IF the weather is not good, we will meet at the church building just north of the original address at 300 E Center Street, Springville UT.

Are you ready?

2011-10-06T23:31:00.000-06:00

So who's it going to be? King and Queen will be last man and last woman standing. Prince and Princess will be the last boy and girl in our under 12 category. Are you brave enough to fight for the title? Saturday is supposed to be beautiful weather and not a drop of rain(keep praying)! Come spend the last days of summer/fall with us before it gets to be winter. Come warm yourself up with hot fresh scones and a rousing game of four-square. Don't forget to bring your camping chairs and blankets for our projector viewing of The Lion King. And this little treat below is curtsey of my mom who dreamed this one up...well maybe not the last part, that was all my idea.

Scones for Ghana

2011-09-20T13:07:00.001-06:00

This is the Mrs speaking. Some of you might be aware of the fact that I am a volunteer for a non-profit organization called HART. Humanitarian Aid Relief Team(HART) is based out of Utah and is made up of medical volunteers and support staff who go to foreign countries(the past few years have been in Africa) to provide medical surgeries and education. This year we are going to Ghana, November 11th thru 21st. This year, our team of 50-60 personnel include OB/GYN surgeons, Orthopedic surgeons, Plastic surgeons, Family Practice MD's, Nutritionists, Anesthesiologists and Nurses who will assist these surgeons in the operating room and in educational outreach teams in the bush. HART is unique in the fact that we really believe in teaching, education, and service rather than just coming in and providing a service once a year. While the team is in Ghana, we will be going into distant tribes and teaching them about basic sanitation, first aid, and nutrition as well as staffing three operating rooms. After HART has been going to an area for a few years and the people have become able to take care of themselves better, we move onto the next area where help is needed. 'Where does The Mrs fit into this team?' you might ask. I been asked to collect all the necessary documentation for the medical personnel required by the government of Ghana and to act as the secretary of HART. I have been collecting passports, immunization records, resumes and medical licenses for the entire team. I will also be helping to set in place travel accommodations such as buses, hotels and flights for the week long mission. During the course of the year, we as a team have collected medical supplies that have been donated to us from local doctor offices and hospitals and have a shipping container en route to Ghana to meet us there in November. The cost of the mission for The Mrs is $3,000. "Scones for Ghana" will raise money to help offset the cost of the mission and raise awareness of this great organization. Make this your date night, family night or just a chance to showcase your Four-Square skills. Any contribution is greatly appreciated and I know you will have a great time at "Scones for Ghana". There will be live music by Goody2Shoes(Uncle Matt's band) and an outdoor projector viewing of "The Lion King". If you are not able to attend but would still like to contribute, contact me at danielledalmer(at)gmail(dot)com for more information. You can read more about HART HERE.

Cheyenne Frontier Day

2011-08-21T15:56:00.001-06:00

CFD 2011 from Danielle Dalmer on Vimeo.

warning:this is not our baby

2011-08-13T18:12:00.001-06:00

Baby's First Audition from alex on Vimeo.

found this awesome video of some guy and his adorably-talented sleeping child.

For Marla

2011-07-25T21:35:00.000-06:00

the 4th

2011-07-18T12:50:00.002-06:00

the 4th from Danielle Dalmer on Vimeo.

can you tell i'm a little obsessed with video right now? i am loving it.

brunch

2011-07-16T15:59:00.001-06:00

Brunch with Pearl from Danielle Dalmer on Vimeo.

what the mrs did a few weeks ago

2011-07-15T18:02:00.002-06:00

Camp Batel 2011 from Danielle Dalmer on Vimeo.

Welcome Maeley

2011-06-22T17:50:00.005-06:00

Maeley from Danielle Dalmer on Vimeo.

2011-06-08T13:05:00.000-06:00

did we trick you with that last post? you thought we had a baby and wouldn't even post anything about being preggo? silly audience. well here is what we really have been up to:

it's the beginning of summer and that means outdoor eating! we love bbq's and all the fun it brings.

mamma dalmer had a birthday

we were able to talk to brooks who right now is in guam(well, 1,000 miles away from guam on an island called pohnpei). the phones from left to right: dad dalmer in oregon, brooks in pohnpei, stacy and mike in pennsylvania, and stephanie and eli in chicago. gotta love that technology and speaker phone!

ty and i had lunch at mcdonalds and then played at the park for him going an entire 24 hours without tv, computer or iTouch. we had a lot of fun.

off to work in peoa. with all this rising water, a friend was worried about his parents home. we thought we would be awesome and help sand-bag for a few(4) hours. it really wasn't bad with so many people to help but we go so muddy.

if you look closely, you will see amanda and i are working VERY hard.

penny is the dog who came with us and she ran non-stop for 7 hours. she would chase anything you threw for her and even would try to pick up rocks.

we finished the day with clay pigeons and a little bit of a sunburn.

bundle of joy

2011-06-04T16:57:00.000-06:00

Springtime

2011-05-26T07:47:00.000-06:00

The weather has been toying with us, but I have been able to get out and bike a bit.
This is an early season shot at Lambert Park.

friends

2011-04-18T19:51:00.000-06:00

i have been thinking a lot about our friends lately. i am so grateful to have a good support group that i can rely upon. our lives would be boring without our friends and this blog is a testament to that fact:

sister and my last lunch at rooster, such a sad day. why do i have to love restaurants that are closing? diegos better not go anywhere or i might cry.

this calendar year, all of the boys in our circle of friends turns the big three-ohhh (thats the big 30 years old). in honor, i made a 30 hat that everyone will wear while we celebrate.

can i just say that i am becoming friends with my family more each day? i love my pops dearly. he is the best dad i could ever have wished for.

speaking of family, the littlest one is growing up and constantly on her cell phone...and no she is not as tall as me, just wearing 5" stiletto heals.

another great last-minute photoshoot for the great guys at shark speed.

and in case you didn't hear, two of their members are moving and they had their last show on friday!!! it was sad and awesome at the same time.

my craft buddy amanda rocks the house when it comes to making things. we made lovely jewelry while our husbands played some shooter game on their iphones.

grandparents from california were down for a few days and we had some ice cream (Jones family tradition) while we chatted for a few minutes.

and dont forget the mister, my SUPER DUPER best friend ever. he has been in hiding this last week with finals (mostly making up for some serious procrastination). this scene below is what i woke up to every morning. maybe you will see him emerge from the cave we call our apartment when this semester is done.

sage and the pine

2011-04-11T22:40:00.000-06:00

just a little home sick for nevada lately. spring time always does that to me. does anyone else have home-town-pride or is that just a small town thing?

the unexpected visitor

2011-02-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

this is the mrs here. in january, i was able to go to chicago to visit the family out there. this time it was special...because it was a surprise! i planned the whole thing with the hubby so as to surprise my sweet sister-in-law. she really had NO idea what was going on. i showed up to there house with her thinking it was going to be her friend beth. they were going to go to dinner and voila, i show up ready to watch the girls so they can spend the night away kid-free. her husband planned the whole thing down to the minutes so she wouldn't have a clue. i had fun on this little mini-vacation. we hung out, i cuddled my adorable nieces, we spent a day at the museum of science and industry, went to a hot dog restaurant that took a 40 minute wait to get inside(totally worth it for gourmet dogs, alligator meat anyone?) and it was perfect. i also rode in my first taxi ride(i pretended to be a pro at it so he wouldn't kidnap me, or charge me more) and had an afternoon with the SIL just shopping down michigan avenue.

this little one reminded me(on our first feeding attempt) that she has arms, and maybe i shouldn't put the bowl of baby food in her reach.

on sunday, we went to church which is currently being held at an elementary school. this is in the auditorium on an arm rest...enscribed is justin bieber. oh those little girls.

we made bread for sunday dinner.

the little e helped me do everything on this trip. she always wanted to do our makeup together, do our hair together, wear my shoes and boots, and show me how to take care of her little sister.

Close call

2011-02-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

This was a close call. If you look closely in the rear view you can see the light bar on the police car behind me. I totally deserved a ticket for going 70 in a 55 zone. The officer was actually way nice when he came to the car. And I even made a comment to Fielding on how nice he was before he came back. He let me off with a warning. I got super lucky.(Just to set the record straight, this is Forrest, not Dani).

Happy Birthday Fielding!

2011-02-06T11:17:00.001-07:00

2010-12-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

first of all, thank you to the anonymous spice cake givers. it was delicious and such a pleasant surprise to know that someone was thinking of us. we only wish we knew who you were so we can thank you personally.

another last minute midnight photoshoot for the great guys at Shark Speed for their concert titled 'cowboys and indies' at velour. always a treat. you should check them out on itunes. our favorites are 'cast off dance off', 'im a machine', 'killing kind' and 'battle born'.

and el gato. because of the cold, we have been seeing less and less of him(or her, we still aren't sure).

found this picture in the files from earlier this fall...man do i miss those fall days of sweaters and not really having to warm up your car.

thanksgiving came and went with some fun. just a hop-skip-and-a-jump to american fork to see the misters family. we had some relatives come up from phoenix, sierra vista, and tuscon. some also came down from rexburg. they brought some fun toys for us to play with while the traditional bird was roasting in the oven. the mister was the designated driver for all of us too scared(or too young) to drive ourselves.

papa dalmer also volunteered the mister to teach little soy-bean how to drive....quite a sight. forrest, tried to not look so frightened for his life, but he was not successful.

more updates to come as more parties come by our way. happy holidays! -the dalmers

Goodbye to Guam

2010-11-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

oh...not us. we aren't that cool. little brother brooks left to do this and we are sure happy for him. even though we will miss him lots, we know he is doing the will of the Lord and will be in safe hands. he will be serving in Micronesia, Guam for two years. here is some footage from the 'drop off' at the famous Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC).

Mustard Eatn' time

2010-11-06T17:24:00.000-06:00

this is what happens when you tell your 11 year old brother "if your hungry and can't wait 10 minutes for dinner, find something in the fridge to eat"...he chose mustard...an ENTIRE SPOON FULL. you better believe he wasn't hungry for a while after that.

rooftop fun

2010-10-16T13:24:00.000-06:00

the dalmers had some rooftop exploring this past week. wondering around with our cameras and looking like total goof-ball tourists in provo utah is fun. you don't get like us overnight. it takes about...hummm...1 1/2 years of dating and 4 years of marriage to get as cool as us. don't worry your little heads off newlyweds, you'll get there.

2010-10-14T21:53:00.000-06:00

felt a little hypocritical this past weekend. ran/walked/jogged in a benefit race called 'love your body race'. hummmmm, does it count if i sometimes love my body? what about the night before when i was getting really sad about myself because i was(foolishly) comparing myself to my 14 year old sister(love ya baby)? yeah, anyone else give themselves unrealistic goals? well, maybe that was the whole purpose of the race. lesson learned.

after the race at thanksgiving point, mrs madsen and i went to the interior decorating store and wandered around being all stinking and hungry from the run.

found this guy and thought he was adorable.

make sure to stretch those muscles

too bad i don't have a reason to buy these cute finger puppets

or a sweet tooth for all this beautifully organized candy

my mom saw these flowers at an aunts house and we don't know what they are...but thanksgiving point has them too

and for your viewing pleasure, El Gato

this one below is called 'kitten loaf'. had me laughing for days.

he is trying to be sexy here with the over-the-shoulder-look-back thang...well done El Gato, well done.

below is my absolute favorite. the way his whiskers are illuminated...yum yum.

work...and play

2010-10-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

oh work...sometimes it is totally exhausting, and other times it is so FUN!!! i think i work with the best group of girls in the entire world. we recently had to say goodbye to one of them(i guess ol' provo can't compare to california and family). we went to shoots for some awesomely good food and an even more awesome time.

this crazy one on the right is my boss...can it get any better than that?

we miss you celeste!!!

old gems of the Mrs' past

2010-10-02T16:20:00.000-06:00

i love these. thanks mommy and poppy for helping to keep my childhood "normal".

Love/Hate relationship

2010-09-24T13:40:00.000-06:00

Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with their blog? I do. I love looking at other families' blogs, but hate updating my own. That brings us to today, when I realized that the last time I updated MY family blog was the end of July. Sincere apologies to our dedicated readers(my mom and Ricky). More frequent updates should be in the near future. Now that we have that out of the way, here's what we have been up to the last 2 months:

August 7 we welcomed a new face into the Dalmer family. Stacy and Mike were married and the Chicago, Phoenix, Sierra Vista and Tuscon branches of the family made it out to celebrate.

Went swimming with the neices:

I like this picture because it is me, my mother-in-law and her mother-in-law.

The Dalmer men and their mom

Onto boating(extreme tubing) with the Kath-ster. She had some family come along as well and we couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Her brother drove the boat while we ~~held on for dear life~~ had our turn on the tube.

Tour of Utah. We went up the canyon past Sundance, had a picnic with our friends, and watched the cyclists power themselves up the grinding hill.

In the spirit of bike races, the Mister chased them up the hill, screaming and shaking the cowbell for all it was worth. All we could think was "MORE COWBELL!"

Up to Peoa for a good 3 day weekend of naps, eating like a teenager while you play card games into the wee hours of the night, and target/clay pigeon shooting.

The Mister was amazing and got almost all of the clay pigeons that were tossed his way.

The Missus wasn't bad either, getting a few.

Thanks Brandon for providing the bubbles; because without bubbles, the clay pigeons wouldn't be the same.

The hot sauce...just ask the Mister about this. He was icing his tongue and drinking Pepto strait from the bottle for the next few hours. Don't worry, the esophagus is healed and the bowels are recovered.

BYU carnival with the Thornocks. Can anyone say free shaved ice and hotdogs?

Taco night at Stews new place. It's sad to me that out of our group of friends, the single guy is the one with the nicest apartment. Ahh, so is life.

Yes, this is our friend Mr Madsen, with his head out our car window, soaking in the beauty of American Fork Canyon. The leaves are changing and...WHAT!!! FALL ALREADY!!! That means its almost winter...and that means its almost CHRISTMAS!! Anyone else thinking of Christmas plans/presents/stuff yet?

And finally, El Gato. This is our neighbors cat. Every morning, he is in the hallway and meows at us to pet him, so we decided to take morning pictures of our new friend.

where the mustache runs wild and free

2010-08-17T18:36:00.000-06:00

If you didn't guess Cheyenne Wyoming, that's ok. Here is a look at our fun trip to the mustache capitol. The Mrs family just moved there a few months ago. Boy howdy it sure is cowboy over there. Cheyenne Frontier Days was going on and it was fun.

I'm just going to start by saying...Wyoming is FLAT!!!! It makes Nevada look like the Garden of Eden.

Next comes the festivities:

Every year at CFD, there is a free pancake breakfast. The city of Cheyenne uses this as a trial run for emergency preparedness. They are testing to see how well stocked and how fast they can feed the town in a major disaster prevented food from coming into the city. The line to get your food was about 1/4 mile long, and we never stood in one place for a second. We were walking the whole entire time. It was amazing! They are really good at what they do.

We show up to the line, and here is this cowboy guarding the line, making sure no one gets out of hand.

If you can't tell what is going on in this picture, this is how they get the pancakes to 10,000 people. These huge wagons are stocked with pancake flippers and they are chucking the freshly make cakes into the air to be caught by boy scouts. The boy scouts take them to the front of the line and the pattern repeats.

This is the little bro hanging off a GIANT cowboy boot. These are scattered all throughout the town.

Onto the shopping;

I guess most of this stuff was so fun because it's stuff we don't see in Provo Utah.

The littlest brother in the bunch moved from California to Cheyenne the same weekend. Can you believe his car? We just kept laughing every time we saw it in the driveway.

One of the days on vacation, we went down to Denver to check out the sites...and by the sites, the Mister meant the NeverSummer snowboard warehouse.

We came unannounced(tried to send an email the week before), and walked into the front door. We looked around the cubicles and only found one guy in his office. We ask if we can tour around, that we were from out of state, and love the boards. He stands up and introduces himself. Turns out he is the founder and owner of NeverSummer. He drops everything and gives us a personal tour of his manufacturing warehouse for 45 minutes. Oh...my...goodness. When he said he could show us around, I could tell the Mister was in heaven. He gave us some awesome stickers (the Mister's favorite) and couldn't have been more cool about the whole thing.

Onto the Mrs family obsession with goblets. We drink everything out of goblets and I don't know why. When we eat home made apple pie...we drink our milk from goblets.

When we have morning smoothies...we drink them out of goblets.

Soda?...you got it! Goblets

We were able to see some family members that we hardly ever get to see. It was amazing to spend so much time with them.

Isn't this the sweetest Grandpa-Granddaughter picture ever?

The (partial) Family

Thanks Mommy and Poppy for letting us stay at the Hall Hotel. We can't wait to see you again!

some things never change

2010-07-31T09:50:00.000-06:00

Some things never change; like the way the Mister has ALWAYS loved to ride his bike, play video games and snowboard...

...and the Mrs. has always loved construction sites and always hated peanut butter.

yes, that is cheese with my jelly sandwich.

Have we really not blogged about ________ yet?

2010-07-20T18:57:00.000-06:00

So yeah, things have been on the blogger-slacker-side lately. Here's what has been up:

The Mrs. place of employment moved to a new building the 4th of July weekend. YEAH!!! It was about time. The new place is AMAZING!!!!! (and yes, all those caps and exclamation points are totally justified in this case.) We went from building that opened in 1960-something for 3 Doctors in an OB/GYN practice with 6 patient rooms. Now, 40 something years later we have a total of 8 Doctors, 3 Nurse Practitioners,a total of 40+ employees and 16 patient rooms. It was over due (by a few decades). The whole office staff showed up on Friday the 2nd to move the mounds of stuff.

This is Corey, the head-honcho of all things, making sure everything in construction went perfectly. We still see him around the office to this day making sure all the little spaces and details are exactly as they should be.

This is Daryl, he is our medical product supplier. Boy did he have quite a job trying to stock our newly acquired office. He even stuck around to help assemble office furniture.

Our lovely Dr Dayton braving the boxes in the dumpster.

Our lovely Dr Thorpe preparing for some altitude extension. When asking his 9 year old daughter what she thought of the new place, she looked at me, shrugged her shoulders and said "Ehhh" Oh those kids.

A view of the hallway while still under part construction, part moving in.

There were a lot of charts.... A....LOT....OF.....CHARTS. We had to pack them up in truck loads to transport them. This truck load below is maybe 1/16th of the charts we needed to move. It was hot, the day was long, but it was so much fun. We would transport ourselves between offices (3 blocks apart) in the bed of the trucks. One construction worker saw the truck load of girls and said to me "That's a lotta woman right there!" You bettcha!

Did I mention it was hot? Really hot? We were all pretty delusional by the end of the event. We get pretty silly when we are all together, but by 3pm, we were laughing at every little thing.

Lunch time came and so did 10 Little Sleazers Hot-N-Ready's

Some of our new chairs, that's right, bright green. It's a very modern and clean look inside. I love going to work every morning. (don't worry, the finished and completed office pictures will be coming shortly)

Capital Electric, another one of our awesome contractors.

This is Autumn, she got her tonsils out a week before we moved. She was such a trooper.

Some of the receptionists and Dr Thorpe. The middle receptionists was actually there just for supervising purposes...SHE WAS 38 WEEKS PREGGERS!!!

Phew, well, I think that covers the move on Friday pretty well. Onto Saturday and Sunday.

All of you are probably familiar with this seriously photogenic family. They blessed their littlest one in church while in Rexburg, ID (they were there for a 10 year HS reunion)

The painfully adorable toddler...

and tied for first, her baby sister:

The whole family, including Elijah's most gracious mother Sheila. She hosted all of us into her beautiful home. Thanks will never be enough for all you did for us.

I love when guys are being good dads.

And what is a 4th of July without delicious food? NOT AN AMERICAN 4th of JULY that for sure!!!

We hope everyone else had a great of 4th weekend as we did. Can't wait for the Dalmer/Emett wedding in August!!! Also can't wait to visit the Cheyenne side of the family!!!

our humble abode

2010-07-06T22:02:00.000-06:00

Christina, here is my house. I know you've been dying to see it.

This little guy is the first thing we see when we walk into our home. He was originally a candelabra but is now our key holder.

Our front room is where we spend most of our time.

We don't have a TV in our home; to distracting. We have this amazing computer that does everything.

The best chair ever made. It's super plush and lovely and we bought our couches to match the chair.

Our kitchen and my insanely organized cupboards (they actually look like this all the time).

The essential grains.

Our bedroom, clean and simple.

I love wooden hangers. They make me feel fancy.

Extra sheets folded Martha Stewart style.

The least glamorous(but not any less organized) room in the house; the bathroom.
A few original artwork pieces by the Mrs.

There you have it, our humble abode. We like living here in the quiet, cozy, 3rd floor apartment.

insomnia

2010-06-20T15:37:00.000-06:00

What happens when the Mrs. can't sleep at 3:00 am?

She goes to THIS WEBSITE and literally laughs out loud. So which era do you think is the best for the Dalmer clan? (Do you recognize our chauffeur in the top picture?)

responsible spontaneity

2010-06-04T18:59:00.000-06:00

Lets just start out and say we are extremely proud of Brooks. He graduated High School this past week and we are so excited. 4 down and 3 to go for Mom and Dad Dalmer.

Responsible spontaneity is what we call our weekend. Saturday night rolled around and we knew we wanted to go somewhere different. We never have 2 days off together. Fruita Colorado is where we decided to go. By 11pm we had our hotel reservation and Sunday morning we jetted off for fun.

On the way down, we came across this GIANT watermelon in Green River Utah.

Mountain Biking was SO MUCH FUN!!! The Mister went on a sissy ride compared to what he is used to, but it was good for me.

We also had fun exploring Center Street in Grand Junction. Center Street here in Provo is nothing compared to the Center Street in Grand Junction.

Next time we go that way, we will have to explore why the heck there are all these dinosaur things around. This one below is named "Grrrrrrreta". The local elementary school named her.

We had a really good time being able to just take off and have an adventure.
PS. you might have noticed the new "Anti-Facebook Coalition" sticker on the side. You heard us...we are not on Facebook and we plan on staying that way. You can try to sway us but it won't work (STEW). If you want to see whats up with us, check our blog or email us at thedalmers(at)gmail(dot)com. We would love to hear from you, not your Facebook page.

simple pleasures

2010-05-23T22:13:00.000-06:00

The past few weeks have been a good reminder as to what really makes us happy in life. It all started out with going to a greenhouse with one of my best friends. It was great to wander around, smell the flowers, see beauty and share that with someone you are close with. We went back to her place and potted some house plants that we bought for our homes. We were out on her porch with no cell phones ringing, no radio blasting, no texting to interrupt; just us and nature. Also on the porch; a hummingbird feeder. The birds were hungry this day and there were about 5 of them circling around us the whole time. It was nice to listen to the squeaks and chirps of those birds while we were out there with them. I love the outdoors and all of God's creations(except spiders...we are just acquaintances). It was then and there that reminded me that our lives can be so much more simple if we choose to let them be that way. We all know there are things that we might not be able to control, like rent, bills and work. There are things we can control like our time, our thoughts, how we treat others, what is important to us, and how we use our time. I was seriously over-scheduled all growing up due large in part to my own fault. It seemed to me that life was a competition and the more I did, the better, well rounded, prepared for the real world I was. It has taken some time for me to recognize that some of the happiest people I know, aren't doing everything that is available to them. They do what is important to them.

The Mister and I went to dinner at a family members house and while there, no TV was turned on, no movie was played. Just family spending time together talking, laughing and learning. It is so great to see my little sister and my uncle talking to each other like friends. Grandma and visitors chatting like roommates, in-laws and blood relatives sharing stories. My sister pulled out her personality-typing-book and we all had fun seeing the commonalities most of us all shared. My uncle starting a story by "Whats great about your mom is this..." and telling me of how my mother is great at making friends in unexpected places. I am full of gratitude to have the opportunity to get to know my relatives in deeper ways. I am also grateful to have so many friends that trust me to be apart of their lives, no matter how small or large. I am grateful that my SIL is one of my closest friends and I am excited to know that we are going to be better friends the older we get.

It seems silly that as smart adults, we have to keep reminding ourselves to relax and enjoy our lives, our surrounding, and our families. I never want to think about all the wasted hours I could have been doing something of importance, when instead I did something "expected".

my friends

2010-05-15T15:53:00.000-06:00

I miss these ladies

a fun few weeks

2010-04-20T19:35:00.000-06:00

This is the Mrs. family(all except one sibling...we missed you!!!) I was able to go to my home town to visit my parents one last time before they moved to Cheyenne Wyoming. It was great to see everyone. I love my crazy family.

I know this might seem silly, but a lot of our families don't know what our apartment looks like. Here is the first installment on "our home"(rest to follow once it is cleaned and ready for a photo shoot). Our front room is where we spend most of our time.

This chair below is awesome. Not only is is super comfy, but it is raised fabric on the pattern. We once had a friend over and he was sitting on the arm of the chair. The Mrs. couldn't stand it and asked him to sit in it correctly so he didn't break it. He has never since touched that chair and probably never will again.

These are some new pictures (thanks Aubrey for the frames) of power lines and birds. We like them and think they are pretty cool. The Mrs. took the pictures and then enlarged them to fit in the frames.

I'm pretty proud of these curtains, my friend helped me pick out the fabric and I sewed them up. My favorite part: turquoise and mustard tassels on the side.

Off to Easter. Our traditional Conference Breakfast started off a little different this year. Our friends came over a little late. Turns out a huge bowl of crepe badder opened up all over the back seat of their car. No fun on a Sunday morning.

Appropriately, the Mr. made a hard boiled egg monster who was bitter and mad.

And I had to color coordinate the eggs so they looked pretty.

The next day, I headed off to Chicago to help my Sister in law with a new baby. It was so fun to hang out with family members I don't get to see very often. I really enjoyed my time getting to know those members of the family better. The toddler and I went all over and had a blast. It didn't hurt either that I bribed her affection with chocolate chip cookie and rice crispy making, episodes of Dora and all the playground time she could handle. Unfortunately for my Mister, he had to stay home and do homework and get ready for finals. He was sure happy to have me home and I was happy to be back with him.

When I grow up I want to be a...

2010-03-20T22:24:00.000-06:00

We had some friends over and had a discussion about what kind of wild animal we would be. Of course we got the usual "I want to be a bird" or "I want to be a fish"...but not my Mister. He wants to be a Manatee so he can scare the fisherman and reek havoc and destruction in the harbors he would live in as revenge for all the times the boats cut up the Manatees backs. He goes on and tells us how he would jump into their boats and slap all the fisherman and then overturn the boat so they would be stranded and then he would laugh with all his other Manatee friends and swim away. WHAT?!?!

blogging...slacker style

2010-03-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

So we are kinda slackers when it comes to posting and we have had a lot go on since last update. We went for a cruise last week around Utah Lake and it was so great and beautiful.
Even though the lake is still mostly frozen, there is something eye-catching about the quietness and cold beauty.

We also went to one of our favorite eateries Rooster noodle and dumpling bar on Center street. WE LOVE THE DUMPLINGS. When we went in this last time, this fine piece of chalkboard artwork was there. The artist is a friend of ours and he actually did a piece of artwork for our house.

There is something so fun about using chopsticks.

There is something about our front room window that seems to attract bugs and birds. If you notice in this picture, there are two items of interest. 1. Bird poop that was aimed directly at the center. We took out the measuring tape and the bird was only 2 inches from exact center...talented shooter right there. 2. Above and left of the poop is a smudge...so it seems. On closer examination, it is actually a bird imprint where a bird FLEW INTO OUR WINDOW. You can see the body, the wings, and even a left-over feather stuck there. These happened on two separate accounts within a week of each other.

I just thought I would show off these amazing beauties the Mister presented me with one day after work...for no other reason than he loves me.

More pictures to come...blogger is being stubborn right now and won't let me add anymore.

The Canyons

2010-01-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

So Fielding is back at it.  This Year, Fielding and Forrest both got season passes to the Canyons and they have been getting their moneys worth.
These are just some rough pictures of Fielding at work.  More to come.

This is Fielding's Crash in December that prevented him from riding with me through the rest of the month.

about December

2010-01-01T19:30:00.001-07:00

What?!?! December is gone already??? I can't believe it. We have had lots of fun and exciting things going on and here we go:

My friend and I decided to make some freezer dinners for our homes and had quite a menu. We purchased all the supplies and this picture below is all the goods: We made enchiladas(green and red sauce), taco soup, potato chowder, lasagna, and chicken pot pie. YUMMMMY!!! We couldn't believe all the food we made and it only took us 2 1/2 hours(which sounds like a long time but when you are talking about home-made lasagna....nothing is too long). We had enough for both of us and then some left over for a few other friends. This might just turn into a monthly habit for us.

Next on the list is the Mrs. company girl party. We all went to dinner and had such a fun time. We had about 35 women there and IT WAS A BLAST!!!!

Then came CHICAGO!!!!! I was a little worried when I went to the Salt Lake airport and the luggage guys outside were doing donuts on the runway. Everything went fine and I got there safely. The poor Mister had to stay home and finish his finals.

My sister and brother-in-law made fun of me for wanting to ride the "L" train. It was pretty neat. I never grew up in a place where there was public transportation. I actually had never been on any type of a train before so it was doubly cool.

This is at the top of the Sears...I mean Willis Tower. These glass overlooks are suspended and you can walk right out on them and you are 103 stories up with nothing below you except ground and sky...it was scary.

And then there was the pizza. OH MY GOODNESS!!! This deep dish was at least an inch thick and there was a pound of cheese to every slice. The are so good that they ship their pizza across the country(to anyone who wants to pay $40 for a pizza) in a container of dry ice.

Did more tourist-y things like the Planetarium, Field museum, Art Institute of Chicago, shop on the Magnificent Mile, and all that good jazz. I was glad to be back with my Mister just in time for Christmas.

While in Chicago, the brother-in-law gave me a challenge to take pictures of things that look like letters, so they can spell their last name. Here is what I came up with:

All the letters are the same except the "W". Let me know which one you think would be better.

This brings us to the picture of my mother. What more is there to say? We had the mustaches...and the family had the spirit to match.

Here You go Brooks

2009-12-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

Just so anyone else looking knows, Forrest did the editing and it in no way reflects Dani's skills

Warranty about to expire...

2009-12-03T22:23:00.000-07:00

This is the Misters back...totally crooked and twisted. See Mark, we weren't exaggerating.

14 inches later...

2009-11-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

So here's the new coif. What do you think? I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to donate my hair every 2 1/2 years or so. This is the fourth time and every time I chop it, it gets easier and easier. The first time I was in high school and was in between my freshmen and sophomore years. It was so difficult to cut it because I had always had long hair, it was apart of my identity. Didn't help that everyone tried to talk me out of it. Turns out it grew back so fast I was able to cut it right after graduation. Cut again after the Mr and I got married and here I am again. I have donated to Locks of Love in the past. They make wigs for children who suffer with diseases that cause hair loss. This time, I am donating to a charity that makes wigs for adult women with in the same situation as those children. I know I am not very good at many thing; can't dunk a basketball, can't run very fast anymore, can't play the piano like Mozart, paint like Picasso, or sing like Susan Boyle, but I am good and donating what I have and for that I am thankful.

a letter to a few

2009-11-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Dear mom,
Thanks for giving me the genetic predisposition to be nocturnal. Yes, the older I get, the more I know I am your daughter. Not only did I wake up at 4:30 this morning wide awake, but instead of watching a movie, or reading a book, or just lying there thinking...I GOT UP AND STARTED CLEANING!!!! Who does that? Well the women in my family do. Either cook or clean depending on our mood and the position of the moon that night. I remember many nights growing up where the aroma of fresh cooked bread and the sound of the vacuum woke me up.

Dear chefs at the gym,
After cleaning this morning, I went to the gym...of course...and while there, you two were right behind me talking about stuffed french toast and how each of you make it just a little differently and the ingredients you use (and I am trying not to drool all over the weights by this point) and it took all I had to not turn around and ask you for that recipe. I love french toast...and I have never had STUFFED french toast...so naturally, it must be extra good. What kind of sick joke are you playing on me? That's just cruel. Me trying to get my daily workout in and you trying to get me to cave to the sugar/carb overload which naturally comes with stuffed french toast. Mean... just mean

Dear radio stations,
FYI, it's not even Thanksgiving yet...lay off the Christmas music for a few more weeks.

Dear Purell,
Thanks for letting me tote you all around town in my purse to curb my germ-a-phobic personality. I HATE GERMS!!!! The mister thinks I'm getting a little out of control this flu season, but I know you agree with me. Icky germs and bugs stay in their place...on the floors of subways and in the little bucket of communal mixed nuts at bars, NOT ON MY HANDS OR IN MY HOUSE. Whenever I go somewhere public, the only noises I hear are coughs, sniffles, sneezes, throat clearings, nose blowings, etc. I even have adjusted the time I go grocery shopping to avoid the major crowds that could potentially be coughing up a lung with walking pneumonia (crazy right?). I am doing all I can to not get sick this year, which is really hard to do when you talk to 100+ people everyday in a medical office. Luckily for me, in a medical office there are a bazillion preventative ways to stay safe against the nasty flu bugs. Flu bug:zero, the Dalmer household:one. Lets see who the winner will be at the end of the horrible flu season.

Shark Speed

2009-11-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

One of my cousins came home from serving a mission in Peru. Our family loves to get together and this was a great excuse.

sisters

Our family is so sophisticated, we eat our Cheetos with a fork.

Me and my Dad

This little guy in the picture below is one of the funniest kids I have ever met. I found him playing Foosball and asked him why his shirt was off. He instantly replied "Cuz it was making too many noises!"
WHAT!?!? oh kids.

My sisters boyfriend is in this band called "Shark Speed". I had never heard of them until just recently, the Mister tells me he sees their flyers all over campus. They were having an in-house concert at my sisters house with another band from Idaho. It was pretty fun(except the feeling of being totally out of place with a bunch of hipster singles). The Mister and I never went to college in a single town like Provo and we are kinda glad we got to skip that awkwardness.

I don't know who this guy was but I thought his beard was pretty amazing.

They had Tootsie Rolls, Bubble gum and Junior Mints to snack on in the kitchen.

We also had our 3 year anniversary this last week. Where has the time gone?Hey family...you see what I am holding? You better be afraid when you come over for Christmas...very afraid.

for steph and the little "e"

2009-10-24T11:35:00.000-06:00

Here ya go Steph...the best darn fruit leather/fruit snacks EVER!!!! I'm sure glad little "e" likes them too.

last minute retreat to...

2009-10-18T23:10:00.000-06:00

It was great. The weather couldn't have been better. The toddler was cooperative most of the time and when she got tired, she would cry "TENT!!!! FIRE!!!!" It was almost very funny. She just loved those marshmallows and the fire and generally, the whole camping experience. (THANK GOODNESS FOR PORTABLE DVD PLAYERS) The Mrs got to hike to Morning Glory Arch and Delicate Arch, which is quite possible her most favorite place in the world...and the Mister got to bike his heart out. We love vacations especially when they go as well as this one considering the last minute decision to go at all. Here are some more pictures of all the great times we had:

The Lemonader

2009-09-29T18:24:00.000-06:00

So at the beginning of September I was in Nevada with my family using some of my vacation time. You should go here to check out all the happenings there (there are some pictures of Millers Pit just for you Rick and Barb).

Exhibit A:Below is The Lemonader...how much cooler can you get? My sister and I found this at D.I. and even though we didn't buy it, it's memory will alway live on in our minds. Who thinks of these things? The Lemonader? Really? Pretty darn cool...and dorky...and funny.

Exhibit B:At work, we often get pens and pencils and other random goodies from other offices we work with. One day, someone brought in these gummy candies that looked like band-aids. YUCK!! The most disgusting thing about them was the little red center, so you weren't eating any ol' gummy band-aid...you were eating a BLOODY gummy band-aid. Wow, I think I was the only one curious as to how they actually taste. oh yeah, they were gross.

Bytheway, has anyone else in the Provo area noticed the failed attempt to install the new stop light on Center Street? Makes me laugh every time I see it.

Ninja Goat

2009-08-29T14:26:00.000-06:00

Ok, so the past few weeks have been CRAZY and filled with fun and adventure.

FIRST: The Tour de Utah was this past week and we got to see a little bit of it. Forrest had fun soaking in all the cyclist-society stuff. It's like a different world when you go to these places. No one is afraid to walk around in spandex, and if your not apart of the cycling world...like me...you sometimes have no idea what people are talking about. Rock Racing was a really sweet team. I guess they have this bad boy/rebel image because they sponsor guys that have been caught for drugging and give them a second chance. They are all amazing riders.

SECOND: Another great day at the lake with Stew. Mark got to join us and it was so fun. He had the best crashes ever.

THIRD: The girls at work decided we needed a little break so we went to the Cheesecake Factory and had a blast. We were taking so many pictures that you would think we never see each other, when we actually see each other 40 hours a week!

FOURTH: I decided to drag Forrest along a "death march" as he calls it, up Mt. Timpanogos. It was beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better. We started up the Timpanooke side at 7am and reached the summit at noon. We took a long break at the top and saw the Ninja Goat of distraction. When you are at the elevation of 11,000 ft, your head starts doing funny thing. We turned a corner and saw this little white mountain goat baby. I stopped and tried to get my hubbys attention without scaring the little one. I wasn't sure if it was actually there or if my mind was playing tricks on me but Forrest saw it too. By the time we got the camera out, he had walked over the rim. We follow him and to our surprise, he is NO WHERE TO BE FOUND!!! Seriously, there was nothing but cliffs on the other side and he just disappeared ... LIKE A NINJA!!!! We got back to the parking lot around 4pm and needed to get home to eat some real food. I thought I was doing such a good job sunscreening my face and arms but forgot my legs and now I am suffering the consequences of 10 hours in the sun. OUCH!!! We also saw 3 moose...one of which was right on the trail and we kinda sneaked up on it by accident.

Hey Dan-ello!

2009-08-18T11:18:00.000-06:00

My little sister was in town school-clothes shopping. She is staying with our cousin who has two adorable little boys. I tagged along for some of the afternoon and when we were in the van, that cutie pictured above says from the back, "HEY DAN-ELLO!!!(because I guess Danielle is really hard for 2-3 year olds to say)" I turn around and he continues, "check out my muscles!"

thank you smiths...

2009-08-15T23:14:00.000-06:00

So while grocery shopping at Smiths tonight, we went by the $10 movie bin and guess what we found. THE MIGHTY DUCKS!!! Do you guys remember this? I was about 6 when this came out. We watched it as soon as we came home. I think The Mighty Ducks II might be just a little bit better but, still so good. And so cheesy. It is fun to watch movies you thought were so cool when you were little and finally get all the adult humor (even if it is innocent) and all the other awesome jokes and totally unrealistic plot lines. Like who sentences a lawyer to coach a pee wee hockey team as his community service for a DUI charge? Apparently the good ol' folks in Minnesota do.

Pioneer Lake

2009-07-29T20:01:00.000-06:00

Thanks Stew

NeverEnding Sippy Cup

2009-07-25T22:31:00.000-06:00

These amazing toddlers are my nieces and nephew. Aren't they adorable when they are sharing their germs?

My friends

2009-07-21T14:17:00.000-06:00

I miss This Girl and This Guy

Tour de Donut

2009-07-11T16:45:00.001-06:00

That's right everyone, Tour de Donut. It's this great ride in American Fork where you are supposed to eat as many donuts as you can shove in your face!!! For every donut you eat, they subtract 3 minutes off your total time. There are three laps of 7 miles. Every loop you come back to the start and eat donuts!

The Trek sore of American Fork was one of the sponsors so the whole shop rode.

Some passed on the donuts and just stuck to water.

Some were a little reluctant...

...but then gave in.

Some had just 1 donut the first round and called it good.

Some were ferocious and had 9!

This dude was the winner last year and came again to keep his crown. He ate 29 donuts. 21 the first round and 8 the second.

The techniqe of the day was the "donut sandwich" where you squish 3-4 donuts together.

Others were more tame and just stuck to one at a time.

It was great and fun to see people get sick from sugar overload. This will defiantly be on our calender next year.

you all know what this post is concerning...

2009-07-08T17:28:00.000-06:00

That's right...the 4th of July. It's a great day. We started out early to see the balloon festival. As stated in earlier posts, I had watched and followed the hot-air-balloon racing my entire life, well, maybe just when I was a kid. (see picture below...that's me on the far right. My mom is the pretty lady in the hot air balloon and my siblings Melissa, Devin and Cousin Matt. Notice that amazing mullet on the far far right? Oh yeah, those were good days.)

So me and Forrest and my mom went to watch and it was great. Just lots of people with cameras watching giant balloons inflate to the sky.

We really liked this one of Tony the Tiger.

Forrest then headed out to Saratoga Springs area to test out a mountain bike park. He had fun with his dad and brother.

If you look closely on this one, you can see his "concentration face".

Then off to Hobble Creek Canyon for the annual BBQ. Our family has had the same pavilion in Kelly's Park for the last 14 years. That's right, 14 years. This year that all changed when someone at the reservation department at the library decided to have a drawing instead for the pavilion spots. We show up for the great feast and we totally drive right past our group because we aren't even expecting to be somewhere else. It was good regardless and had lots to eat and laugh about.

This little dude is playing with a WORM!

And this one is taking the water fight pretty seriously.

These are my moms siblings (and mother). This seems like a lot but there are still 3 siblings missing. I can't remember the last time this many were all together.

Back to the house for more fun. We are dedicated 4-square players. We take this pretty seriously as well. Almost as much as water fights.

Nice form ehh?

This is half line to get into the square. The other half is just to the right (blocked out by the roof line)

The reigning championYou know the rest.... fireworks, dancing in the street, finishing off the BBQ food. It was quite an exhausting day for a vacation.

the early bird gets the...balloon?

2009-07-03T22:08:00.001-06:00

That's right...the balloon. Me and Debbie were working out in the morning (something that is totally kicking our butts) and on our way home we saw this hot air balloon teetering ever-so-closely to the roof of Smith's on Freedom. We stop and check it out and there it goes! DIVE DIVE DIVE right into the street. We rush over there and hop out to help. Luckily, I had my camera with me. I am an acclaimed hot air balloon rescuer from my early days as a youngster living in Orem but this was a first for Debbie. It was great and such a surprise. My day was great after that! Who gets to help pack up a hot air ballon? We my friends...we do.(PS we miss you Meredith!)

This video clip is so cute.  The owner of the balloon let all the little kids there help roll out the air.  They all jumped on and steam-rolled that thing like no other.

we know...

2009-06-27T16:39:00.000-06:00

ouchie

2009-06-24T20:48:00.001-06:00

This morning Dani was on her way back from shooting some engagements and got this phone call from Forrest who was out riding his mountain bike:

Forrest "Hey there, got a question for you"
Dani "Ok..."
Forrest "Do we have any non-stick gauze at home?"
Dani "(in a slightly suspicious voice)Wwwwhhhhhyyyy?"
Forrest "Oh, just got a little scrape on my arm"
Dani "Are you ok?"
Forrest "Well, I got in a little crash and it knocked the wind out of me a little but I can breath fine now"
Dani thinking: GREAT!!!! My husband can breath fine now...but couldn't a few minutes ago...and he has a scrape...how bad is it really?....what's the extent to this crash...can't be worse than the one a few summers ago...he will be fine...but what if he really isn't fine and shouldn't be driving....then I'll miss work this morning and take him to the hospital...I wonder if they can fix road rash at my office....will I have to wash and scrub the dirt and rocks out of his arm..."Well, I'll see ya in a few minutes then"

a little vacation

2009-06-20T13:40:00.000-06:00

We had a great vacation to Lake Powell with Dani's side of the family. It was great and better weather than here in Provo. Here we are on a Sea-Doo that goes up to 70 mph (dani was a sissy and only could stomach 35 mph).

We brought down a wake-skate which was really fun. Wake-skates are like wakeboards without bindings to hold your feet on the board.

Famous Rainbow Bridge.

Cathedral Canyon on the way up to Rainbow Bridge.  It was a tight squeeze in some areas.

more from the promised land

2009-06-13T12:13:00.000-06:00

the great and famous salt flats

the most traveled road in Nevada...old I-80

Yup, that's a giant polar bear on the Commercial Casino. During the holidays, the bear will get makeovers. Santa hat in the winter, bunny ears for Easter, and a cowboy hat for Cowboy Poetry week.

Wendover Will of West Wendover. The town is split in two by the Utah-Nevada boarder. The time zone is Utah, but everything else runs like it's all Nevada.

Weekend away

2009-05-27T19:30:00.000-06:00

This weekend was great. We went to Battle Mountain, Nevada...my(dani's) home town. It's was a long 6 hour drive but we made it! The weather was great and sunny and warm and there was no wind. I LOVE THE DESERT!!! I just think the desert is great. here are some reasons why:
1. I love how DRY it is. I hate humidity. When we lived in Rexburg for 10 months, I about died because it was just a teensie bit more humid than Nevada. As long as the humidity level is -15%, I can handle any temperature.

2. SAGEBRUSH rocks! Right now, the sagebrush is this beautiful green and smells heavenly, sweet and delicious. When it rains in the summer time, it is even more fragrant. I even love the dead ones that become tumble weeds that roll across the freeway. Some are small, just going to your shin, and others are huge, going up to your chest. It's like carpet for the desert floor. So cool!

3. CASINOS. No I don't gamble...it's just that I was raised with casinos in every town and grocery store...yes...even the grocery stores had a few slots. You walk in to get a gallon of milk and there are the "DING DING DING". And who can discount the amazing light show each one displays when the sun goes down. Also, you can always get something to eat at any time of the night. McDonalds wasn't open 24/7 but the Casinos sure were.

4. CRAZY LINGO. I moved to Nevada from California when I was 9 and a school mate told me that her dad was working the grave yard shift for the week and I thought "You mean so many people die here that they need people to be digging graves all week long?" I was a little freaked out. Little did I know about the crazy work schedules that the miners work with days, nights, graves, ect. This last trip, we drove through Elko as well as Battle Mountain and it was fun remembering all the names to the construction firms, the different mines, popular street names, ect.

5. NOTHING. The beautiful nothing that is in Nevada rocks. It's one of the few places I know where you can drive to the end of a dirt road and the nothing is just that...nothing. It's not owned by anyone, it's not doing anything...just a bunch of sagebrush and lizards ready for you to explore and no one is going to say anything to you about trespassing.

6. SUNSETS. Nevada has the most beautiful sunsets ever. They are always full of color and they seem to move with the clouds and the mountains. I haven't ever seen a sunset like the ones in Nevada. They are so captivating that catch you off guard and there is nothing you can do except stare at them. It's also cool because the prettiness isn't just where the sun is setting, the color is all around the horizon.

I LOVE NEVADA. Forrest doesn't quite unterstand it but oh well...I LOVE THE DESERT!!!
PS I took some great pictures of my siblings in the desert and they are posted on my photography blog. The link is on the side.

check this out...

2009-05-19T18:38:00.001-06:00

This weekend was fun working at my cousin's wedding. My whole family chipped in and made all the food served. This video of me and my sister dipping strawberries is just a fraction of the total strawberry count of 1500. WOWZAW!!

Utah Lake...early season

2009-05-10T21:07:00.000-06:00

This weekend was fun. Dani went to the lake with the friends while Forrest had to work(sniffle sniffle). Our friend Stew has this theory that if you add the water temperature and the air temperature together and they equal to 120 degrees, than it is warm enough to go out on the lake. This sounds good in theory, but when you are out on the lake and the water is 60 degrees and outside it is only 60 degrees...you start wondering how he convinced us to go that day. It was sunny and yes...it did warm up a little bit but...BURRRRR. Everyone wore the wet suit and I had the special privilege of wearing the dry suit. It was very uncomfortable to get in and out, like a big space suit, but I stayed dry the whole time. The water turned glassy smooth a few hours in and it was beautiful. Oh yeah, this summer is going to be a good one.

Middle Aged hacky sack

2009-04-27T21:31:00.001-06:00

Now that all the snow is melted from the Provo trail, Forrest is out all the time with his little brothers and Dad. They love to longboard after work until it gets too dark to see.

So this weekend, I went to Sacramento to see my family over there. I forget what a little bubble Provo is until I go somewhere else. Example:THE AIRPORT!!! I tell you what, everyone goes to the airport. It is fun to see all the different walks of life. While on one of the plane's, I over heard this conversation between two mid 50 year old business men:

Business man 1: Are you ready for a 3 hour layover in San Fransisco?
Business man 2: Oh yeah, I'm always ready for layovers. I brought my hacky sack.
Me thinking:(Hacky sack...mid 50's...two guys...airport...gray hair...are they serious?)
Man 1: Hacky sack? My kids love their hacky sack. I haven't played with one of those in at least 20 years!
Man 2: Well, I haven't played with one in a few years myself, but I always bring one with me just in case. I always have one.

I just couldn't help but picture these two middle aged men in business suits at an airport terminal playing hacky sack and it almost made me laugh out loud.

Pshaw!

2009-04-16T18:21:00.000-06:00

Here is what "magical amazingness" Forrest can achieve on his new snowboard.

This is not another Easter Post

2009-04-16T17:49:00.001-06:00

Just kidding! This is totally another Easter Post
So I am the best Easter Egg hider ever. I had a few teenage boys stumped on this one egg for like 10 minutes...which is actually a long time when it comes to finding brightly colored eggs in your yard. 

Can you find the egg that stumped the boys in the picture above?

Forrest also got to have a great day at a Never Summer demo day at Brighton. He got to test all the latest and greatest new boards NS makes. Lets just say, he was happier than a clam when he got home.

I won the award for...

2009-04-10T20:50:00.000-06:00

...the most horrible blogger EVER. Does anyone else relate to the 'boring blog syndrome' where you sometimes don't know why you even own a blog because you can't think of anything to blog about because you don't have kids? Well, that's where I am at right now so I apologize for future boring/pointless/random/etc posts ever. ANYWHO...

This past weekend was General Conference for our church and it was wonderful! We got to listen to really spiritually uplifting messages and got to spend the day together with our friends. I made this amazing breakfast, really it was amazing. Let me tell you what was on on the menu:

almond french toast
pear pancakes
blackberry waffles (and plain)
coffee cake muffins
blueberry muffins
orange juice
bacon
strawberries
homemade maple syrup

Man oh man. I just have to thank Martha Stewart because she gave me most of these recipes.

Sidhartha

2009-03-28T07:28:00.000-06:00

Forrest and I went night skiing/snowboarding last night at Brighton and his little brothers, 17 and 15 years old, went with us. Here is one of the many conversations we had:

Brother 1: "Got any tissues?"
Me and Forrest: "No"
Brother 2: "Mine are in the trunk. Just use your sleeves"
B 1: "Well then, here we go!"
Everyone else: "NOOOO, WAIT!!!!!"
B 1: "It is done, the booger has been picked"
Forrest: "Just don't put it anywhere. Hold onto it"
B1: "Don't worry, I'm just gonna throw it out the window"
ME: (sigh of relief that I won't find a 17 year olds booger in my car.)
B 1: "Goodbye booger. I can't believe I just did that. Now a mad scientist has all my DNA to make a perfect clone of me. He is gonna come along and take my boogie and make a clone and it's gonna be the hottest clone ever. And when he asks the clone what his name is, he will say 'Sidhartha' (in a weird raspy voice). And I won't even know about it. Next thing you know, he will be treating Sidhartha like a slave and making him do all crazy things."
B 1 as the mad scientist: "Sidhartha, pour me a drink and fetch me my slippers"
"Sidhartha, shoot that 8 ball into the top left corner"
"Sidhartha, ....." and it just kept going. After every request, Sidhartha would always simply reply in a strange Egor voice "Yes master"

After this, all I could this was...wow, we need some tissues in our car.

blog...ugg

2009-03-23T22:44:00.000-06:00

here ya go...a blog...another blog by another couple you probably know in some association. oh believe us, we will enjoy every waking moment of this, don't you worry your little heads off. we will be so excited to share with you moments of our life. just make sure that you don't make this the only means of communication. deal?
P.S. we thought this star we saw on the sidewalk at Vegas is really funny. humanitarian-showgirl? who knew that was possible?