golden birthday!

Had a lovely birthday with our sweet family of three! I turned 24 on the 24th. My golden birthday!

Started out with a free birthday sub at Firehouse...

COOLEST drink machine ever. We spent about fifteen minutes there.

Followed by a free birthday burrito, chips, & queso at Moe's...

We went all out and got the HOMEWRECKER. Chicken, beef, and pork. We have no shame with our free burrito.

Topped it all off with a buy one get one free birthday ice cream at Cold Stone. I got the birthday creation. Soooo delicious! We enjoyed our feast outside in one of our favorite spots on the strip with hundreds of soon-to-be sorority high school girls and their moms. So great.

We needed a little more dessert to polish off our desert. A beautiful cake! I had worked the night before so Dan was watching Jude for me all day (besides feedings), and when I woke up there was a beautiful cake waiting for me! What a sweet hubby I have.

My gift you ask?! A fancy set of bocce ball! We love our backyard games. Then went to work. I must love to work on my birthday!

favorites

a few of my favorite things:

1. taylor swift's "you belong with me"

dan and i have been playing this song at least once a day,

he learned it on the guitar for me and we play&sing.

and our all-time favorite:

blasting the music video in our living room and dancing our hearts out!

spinning, dipping, twirling, slow-dancing, the whole shabang.

it. is. the. greatest.

you should try it, you will be sooo happy.

2. fruit&vegetables

are the love of my life.

the other dan day and i were talking about what it would be like if we had lots of money... like, millions.

i said... "our fridge would be stalked with an unlimited supply of fruits&vegetables."

i have a million dollars and i'm dreaming about fruits&vegetables,

they make me that happy.

in our kitch at this very moment:

apples

kiwis

bananas

grapes

blueberries

strawberries

spinach

bell pepper

cucumber

squash

tomatoes

onions

avocados

lettuce

lemons

limes

mmmmmm!

3. dreaming

about what i want out of my life,

what things are most important to me,

what kind of world i want for my children,

and how i can get it.

it is my minds favorite thing to occupy itself with.

i think it is essential to have goals for my life and really, really think

about what kind of mom i want to be and how i will raise and protect my children in this world.

cuz it's KRAZY out dare.

i might even be starting a blog on this subject alone.

my own journal to refer to, inspire me, and help me in my journey.

loves!

measure in love...

so, we've both been pretty spoiled around here. after our two week vaca to california, dan had two more weeks off school, and i only had to work four nights, and then had another week and a half off... so we've had lots of time together to play games, go on dates, eat fun dinners, have friends over, watch 'deep impact' and 'dear john', do projects, go hunting at least five times [that's all dan]... basically every fun and wonderful thing that we never have time to do every day. so i think it's safe to say it's been a pretty fabulous year so far... mmm!

new years eve was celebrated at home in pajamas with a fondue meat&veggie dinner topped off with some martinelli's {4 pack from sam's club, of course}, a new years toast, some treat-making and munching, lots of games [dominos/skip-bo, the usual], a hyped up dance party in the living room complete with his&hers blinking LED flashlights, a slow dance to aud lang syne, a fake count down, a kiss, a firework extravaganza in the parking lot while dan... walked me out to WORK!! yes, i worked while clocked strike twelve. it was a little devastating being away from my main squeeze, but we managed to sneak a quick call in so we could at least talk and reallly countdown together... we had a delicious buffet at work and most certainly did share some sparkling cider as well! i LOVE listening to bowel sounds on new years eve, it's just the best thing ever.

i had new years day off of work, it was just plush. that was the goodbye to our hoarding days day [see "organization is BLISS" post below]...

highlights thereafter:

...mcdonalds&best buy date...

he got a hot fudge sundae, she got a m&m mcflurry; we then mozied on over to best buy and played some schveet video games [that's as close as we get to those...]. the funniest. we had to fight over them with the 12 year old boys.

...$1 sushi @ surin date...

surin of thailand is a restaurant on the strip... delicious, delicious! on certain days they have midnight sushi for a buck!... we felt soo fun&funny getting carded and wearing our phone restore wristbands showing that we were of age, sipping on our water, being so hip with all the college kids, and just chit-chatting our glistening hearts out. we will most definitely be going back, and if you come visit us we will take you there (!!)

...gymnastics meet date...

alabama vs. penn state. our gymnastics team is a pretty big deal. they were giving away ipads&55'' tv's, so dan and i were just so excited for when we won [not if, when... we were so sure]. we got all dressed up in our bright and fun outfits so the camera would be drawn to us (all very calculated), got there and spent at least 20 minutes filling out raffle tickets for the ipad, found our seats next to dan's geography teacher (she MIGHT have a little crush on him, not totally sure... but she gave him 100% on everything he did and they might have had a moment while she was passing him in the aisle as she complimented his converses). anywho, definitely didn't win the raffle. so we were set on winning the DANCE competition! (YES!!!) dan wouldn't stand up, so i was just hyphying my HEART out & puttin my grove on with the highest hopes, the camera didn't even COME my way... that's just not fair. we're over it. the gymnastics meet was the best, they fly around like no big deal. we just love the taylor swift songs to the bar dance and the sweet home alabama pride on the floor. we totally, totally, and TOTALLY won [whooped their tushes] in that meet.

watched twin towers. i cried five times at least. it was a little cheesy but only in the best way. you should probably watch it {netflix} if you want to love your husband and family more, love your country, remember the past, etc. and we most definitely enjoyed enjoy popcorn, cookie dough, and candy enough for a family of six.

...stake conference&tcby...

adult session stake conference in bessemer, just wonderful&we loved it. we came back to tuscaloosa and went to tcby with our cute friends, had the most fun and funny conversations, and then made a LATE NIGHT TRIP TO WALMART!!! {duh duh duhhh....} which is usually the kiss of death, but we actually enjoyed it! we bought everything from summer sausage to lemons, you really just can't go wrong there. we even had a surprisingly sweet run in with our friend kelly. :] the next morning was our stake conference and guess who spoke? just guess... PRESIDENT MONSON, elder perry, sister dalton, and brother mcmullin. it was FAR too blissful. [yes, it was broadcast from salt lake to the gulf states if you MUST ask]... we heard such lovely stories from our dear prophet and the most entertaining talk on not "STUFFOCATING" ourselves.

...dinners...

we have been cooking and baking maniacs. chocolate chips cookies, m&m chocolate popcorn, funfetti cake, meatball and vegetable stew, corn chowder, corn bread, fajitas, chicken caesar salad, chicken alfredo, chicken fried rice, funeral potatoes, cheesy scrambled eggs, and YES... thanks to megan whitlock i made homemade biscuits and gravy (if you know my cooking then you know it was the biggest ordeal of my life). all homemade and enjoyed fully! we had my cute friend jada over one night and some other friends another, we love it!

...snow ridiculous...

i wish i convey to you the sheer panic and loss of all sense that comes over people when there is even the slightest flurry in this town. it is hilarious and ridiculous all at the same time. it snowed probably 1/2 inch last week, barelystuck to the ground, really not a big deal right? wrong... the university of alabama shut down. walmart & target shut down. banks shut down. the nurses at the hospital STAYED THE NIGHT and slept in patient rooms because they were too utterly frightened to drive in this life-threatening and dangerous "inclement weather" and they were afraid none of the other nurses would show up the next day. we went to walmart the day before... NOT ONE LOAF OF BREAD left in the whole store. people think they are going to get snowed in and so they hurry to the store and buy break and milk. i mean... there is NO TELLING how long you could be STUCK in your car or house with a HALF OF AN INCH OF SNOW ON THE GROUND!!! the university of alabama sent out multiple emails telling the students that they do not need to worry about coming to school for the first day because of the weather. dan's organic chemistry class tomorrow has been mysteriously cancelled. here is the forecast for tomorrow according to weather.com...

38 DEGREES

SUNNY

0% CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION

it's alabama.

overall, we love each other and we love this new math game on dominos (mathinos or dominath, i'm still deciding). oh yeah, dan made a styrofoam plane from scratch that was just so impressive and flew so perfectly! (backwards).

and... real life starts today!

the end!

BISCUITS&GRAVY

we love, adore, and crave biscuits and gravy. i am currently dreaming about a scrumptious plate of them from city cafe... followed by a stroll along the picturesque streets of downtown northport and a stop at the antique store! come visit us and we will take you there!

[how delicious do those look??]

[playing in the vintage toy shop]

lists of doing&buying.

of how i really do seem to love and rely on to do lists. if ever i get a few minutes free at work [usually on my last or second to last night because my freedom is in sight] i will grab a blank piece of computer paper and start anxiously writing&doodling. i feel like i am unloading my ever-working brain. we even got a single "To Do List" in a card for our wedding, just one. but i love it. how darling. i surely haven't used it... oh! i will copy it!

when i get to actually cross things out on my to do list... well, that is bliss. especially things that have made their way on several different lists because i was never able to get them done. my current to do list [the one with 22 (now 30) tasks that i made after we got back from our trip] has the majority crossed out; i couldn't feel better about it.

when i was in nursing school i felt so overwhelmed and beat all the time i started adding mundane tasks that i knew i would get done to my lists [interspersed with actual tasks, of course]. ex:

dance

eat

laugh

say hi to a friend

laugh

brush my teeth

drink water

hug someone

call my parents

walk

it made me feel so productive and proud. [until one day it was commandeered by one of my most un-favorite nursing teachers as she read it so sarcastically in front of the whole class as everyone was laughing at me]

i make lists for grocery trips [always, this is an after marriage discovery, ask megan]. even if there are only 3 things. one time i thought i would be adventurous to venture into the wonderful world of walmart, just me and my cart, and see where i ended up. i ended up spending regrettable more than i usually do, and buying everything from pre-made cinnamon rolls to several brownie and cake mixes. a list at the grocery store gives me purpose, helps me stay within budget, and helps me keep my trips to those ever-so-tempting middle aisles to a minimum.

last walmart trip i was feeling extremely frugal and we tried something new. every time dan or i decided we wanted something that was not on the list [such as the fancy poppyseed dressing or a baguette] we had to remove something that we had already put in the cart, to control unplanned spending. it worked quite well. we ended up putting back one of our lime [which was 22 cents... we tried] and the second bag of chocolate chips].

my frugality advice: check your bank account and take a good, hard look at all the money you have spent recently right before you go grocery shopping {or any other shopping} and it will put things in perspective and infuse in you a new sense of "we don't need that."

good luck!

back to bama!

d&r in real life includes:

singing/playing "let my love open the door" forever we are dueting

grocery shopping at walmart/sam's club

we made very healthy choices

dan's lunch tomorrow includes a loaded turkey sandwich {12 grain bread, romaine lettuce, sweet pickles, and

baby campari tomatoes}, an apple, goldfish&pretzel mix, fruit snacks, and a baby bag of almonds... so proud of the health factor here

planning our weekend camping trip to smith lake

being a nurse again

listening to tegan & sara

being happy little love birds

running through rain in our soaking wet toms

free full moon dinner tomorrow at the school

appyling cica care to dan's back

dan's first day of school is tomorrow! he is taking conversational spanish, biology, organic chemistry, american literature, and geography. it's just so fun we think.

so happy we are after the most wonderful, love-filled, joyous week/weekend with our dear family.

lake love lovely love.

we are in las vegas! jared's wedding is august 14th, so we came out a little early to spend time with the family! we are loving it so much. went swimming, wakeboarding, &sort of tubing at lake mead. ate real armenian food at shish kabob. played cranium &yahtzee. had a gift opening session to kick off the J&K celebrations. went swimming in the back yard. ate lots of delicious food including ice cream [haagen daaz bars, pistachio, sherbet] &tilapia [which kristina liked!], and the famous tomatoes, baguettes, &mozzarella cheese with fresh basil picked straight from the backyard.


it has so been so wonderful getting to know kristina &seeing jared with the love of his life! we just love spending time with our family! [we hadn't seen them for 8 months, that's too long.] &we even got to see dan's dad for a couple hours today {call it a pretty coincidence}!

the best is yet to come! will update!

"let freedom riiiing..."

our 4th of july was very different than any we have had in the past. usually it is filled with lots of family&friends! this year it was down to the basics, him&her was all we really needed. the 4th of july two years ago was when dan and i got lost together at rigby lake, he wow-ed me with his rock skipping skills, &we held hands for the first time at the idaho falls firework show!

i worked the night of the 3rd &was a seriously tired MESS. we went to church, loved the patriotic songs in sacrament meeting with the gusto organ player, loved our little ward, drove home karin &the missionaries. got home&we fell asleep [dan was keeping me company:], &i woke up to a beautiful home-cooked meal dan made for me! steak, biscuits, corn, parmesan potato wedges, &pink lemonade- pretty good american meal right there!

we then played a game of LIFE [rolltidedan vs rachamajama], had some pink lemonade ice cream shakes [dan's delicious creation] made rice krispie treats in the utmost patriotic way, played uno, &dan played me some songs of the guitar. it was the greatest night with the couches pushed up against the walls and a big blanket on the floor, we love just cuddling and laughing and playing:]. we then headed off to see the firework display at sokol park, we found it just in time. it's extremely difficult trying to find a place to watch fireworks on land with no elevations and dense overgrown trees everywhere... never had that problem out west! we tuned into the radio&enjoyed the show. on the way home my phone rang&i got called off work [if the census at the hospital is low, they call of a nurse or two so they're not "overstaffed" or paying more nurses than they need. i happily obliged& we continued our night! we watched band of brothers, and continued to eat the entire united states in order of states we didn't care as much for to our favorites. we left california, nevada, idaho, &alabama for last.

i am so thankful for those men who fought for the freedom of their families& their countries. they truly are heroes and will always be remembered. i respect and love deeply my own grandfathers and forever grateful to them for their sacrifices and what they gave up so i can enjoy the life i have today. i will always honor&remember them throughout my life and teach my children so they know and are grateful for the events that took place in the history of our country. regardless of our countries lack of God-fearing leadership & massive economical problems, we still live in the greatest land and must always we proud of and thankful for that!