School's Out for the Summer!

I have other posts to catch up on (like the one about my mom and how awesome she is and how awesome Mother's Day is) but for right now this is all I care about...

And this is about how I feel...

And I'm planning on doing plenty of this....

 Oh summer. I've missed you. Let's be best friends, okay?

Married and Still Dating

Dillon and I are pretty lucky. Our work schedules coincide nicely which makes it possible for us to see each other every night. We hang out A LOT. I'm sure the day is coming when that luxury isn't going to exist anymore so I want to revel in it as long as I can.

We try to do weekly date nights. To break out of our dinner and a movie rut (not that there is anything wrong with dinner and a movie) we've come up with a list of alternative dating ideas. We've used a few of the list ideas and we've come up with some activities on a whim.

Our first non-movie date was a little...

I was pleased as punch with my creativity for this one (Stolen off Pinterest. What?). Dillon was a good sport.

     

                                                      Ready to crush it. Dillon a little more so...

             
The set up: some bottles of water, a few glow sticks, a couple of Bocce balls and you are good to go.

The result. Glow in the dark bowling is not our calling in life, but we both had fun! We had to cut it short because it was cold outside and because we live on a street of 65+ residents. Rolling Bocce balls across a wooden deck isn't exactly the most quiet thing in the world.

Our next date night activity was thought up courtesy of Dillon. He desperately wanted to get a coconut because, "They look so good when I slice them open on Fruit Ninja". Yep, his exact words. I love him.

Mmmmmm coconut milk. Funky.

 Because one of us had to and it sure wasn't going to be me.

And the last of our most recent dating adventures..fishing with our friends Dan and Amy. Side note: I'm going to be honest, I feel guilty when I do activities like this. I feel bad. I feel bad for the worm that gets skewered on the hook, I feel bad for the poor fish that gets stabbed in the mouth with the hook, and I feel bad for that same fish that experiences what I'm sure is the unpleasant sensation of suffocation. I'm not saying people shouldn't fish. Anyone who wants to fish...do it. I obviously still partook in the activity. I just felt mean when I successfully caught a fish. Thank goodness we put them all back in the pond.

 The fish I caught. When it started wiggling, I squealed. Like a little girl. Whatev.

 Notice how Dillon is holding the fish in both pictures. No way was I touching that thing.

Some duck eggs by the pond. The mother duck was a bit feisty.

Date nights with my best friend = awesome.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

These are some recipes that we've tried as of late and decided are keepers. They are all extremely easy which I am all for. After the occasional soul-sucking at work, easy cooking is where it's at. 

Keeper #1: Peanut Butter Cheerio Treats. Recipe and instructions here.

These treats are super yummy and AMAZINGLY easy. Think rice-krispie easy but even less screw-uppable. Because rice-kripies have plenty of potential for disaster, believe me. These? Not so much.

Keeper #2: Easy Taco Pizza. Recipe and instructions here.

I see this meal in our future when we have little mouths to feed and not a lot of prep time for dinner. The recipe leaves a lot of room for personal preference and adjustments, as shown by our clearly divided half-tomato, half-onion business we've got going on. I think tomatoes are nasty and Dillon can't stand any kind of onion essence coming in contact with his food.

Keeper #3: Cheesy Taco Soup. Recipe and instructions here.

I think this soup seriously took a total of 20 minutes to make from start to finish. It has a thicker consistency than most taco soups because of the homemade cheese sauce. Dillon declared it a winner, not that he's all that difficult to please (he genuinely likes when things are burnt). I liked it too, especially considering how quickly we were able to throw it together.

Baby Sofia

Last month our friends blessed their sweet baby girl Sofia (who I get to nanny a couple times a week this summer- I'll be able to test out my mothering skills, of which, my dad told me recently I have none. Rude. I think he's just grumpy because I haven't boarded the baby making train).

Us and the Brito family of three

These two. Their bromance is precious. Do you see the salad sharing?

We are so happy that we've come to know and create a friendship with Lindsay and Rob. It's the kind of friendship that's easy and will last for years and years. Rob and Dillon are basically the same person and get along so well. Lindsay and I get along great and definitely agree on quite a few life outlooks. When the four of us are together, there is a lot of gasping for breath between laughs. Friendships like we have with the Britos are hard to find but we definitely found some lifelong keepers (..or at least as long as they are willing to put up with us.)

Glitter and Good News

My life right now is completely consumed by school. I always somehow think that the end of the year will be less busy. It never is. And I get to make this super awesome portfolio in order to receive my level-two teaching license. I might burn it (the portfolio) when all is said and done.

All of that to say that I am behind on the blogging. There have been some life happenings that I would like to remember. None earth-shattering but all memorable (to me).

April 24th was Secretary's Day (officially titled "Administrative Professionals' Day", no hurt feelings and what not, I suppose). My mom works at the District Office for Iron County schools. They have a lot of secretaries. They always do something fun for their administrative professionals. This year they decided to go with a treasure theme (because their secretaries are "treasures". Get it? Eh?). I was enlisted to make cards that were covered in glitter and jewels.
  

 



















Dillon said he felt bad for secretary Tom because he had to have a girly card. I say, when you're decorating with glitter and gems there is only so much you can do to make a card look "manly". (Is there really such a thing as a manly card, anyway?)

My mom later put these on their desks with little tin treasure chests full of chocolate coins and more jewels. I hear they loved their bedazzled cards. I'm glad. The ladies that work on my mom's floor (and Tom on the the technology floor) are all the best and deserve a little appreciation.

**ON TO OTHER NEWS**

Dillon found my old phone! After we had already purchased new phones but I'm not complaining. We have finally joined the smartphone world and I've gotta say, it's pretty fantastic. 

With the discovery of my old phone came the opportunity to post the Easter pictures. I'm not tech-savvy so the best I could do is take a picture of the picture on my phone, resulting in the definition of blurriness. Details to accompany the pictures here on a long and wordy post. 

                    

Left to right: The cute puppy, the not-as-cute puppy alongside pee-covered pants, our shared Easter basket.

(Side note: my family always did Easter baskets, hunts, etc. on Saturday and left Sunday for the more gospel related activities...I'm finding out now that not everyone does it this way. What do you guys do??)

Dillon and Mason post Easter-Egg hunt. I'm sad this picture is so blurry. It was a keeper.

Hot dogs and cotton candy

And the picture that matters most....

Stay-tuned for more titillating catch-up posts :)

It Takes All Kinds

Last weekend our friends Garren and Larissa decided to have a yard sale. They have some big adventures coming up that mostly revolve around moving to New Hampshire so Garren can continue his education in Physical Therapy. Because of that, they decided it would be easier to sell a good portion of their stuff rather than move it all with them. Dillon and I were back and forth at the sale actually buying some things and then just hanging out so Larissa and Garren had company. 

The Allreds

Let me tell you....yard sales bring out all kinds. People are crazy. One lady came just to be mean, apparently. She yelled at Garren and Larissa- telling them they were liars and dishonest people because they had promised a certain item to her daughter and then turned around and sold it to someone else (not at all what happened). It was mean and awkward, not to mention so unnecessary. (Seriously, such a nutbag)

Me and my hottie

But then a few minutes later a cute old man stopped by. I'm positive he had no intention to buy anything but saw an opportunity to tell some younger people his life story. He was funny and sweet while telling us about his 3 month long coma that occurred when he was newly married. He miraculously came out of it..speaking German rather than English (he had learned German on his mission for the LDS church) which resulted in weeks of being re-taught the English language.

The wind/sun combo makes for a flattering pic

He eventually wandered back to his truck and we cleaned up what was left of the yard sale shaking our heads at the bizarre events. All in all I think Garren and Larissa had a good turn-out and we had fun seeing them but I'm pretty sure I never, ever want to have my own yard sale.

Some awesome nightstands and an ice cream maker we took off their hands. They re-finished those themselves and I love them! One day I will have enough ambition to re-finish something myself.

General Conference

General Conference. I love it. I will admit that I am guilty of sometimes accidentally-on-purpose falling asleep right around the Sunday afternoon session. But I try to catch up as soon as I can.  There were definitely some talks that were my favorite which I'll get to in a minute but let's get to the big news first shall we?

CEDAR CITY TEMPLE! Dillon was at work when that announcement was made so I heard it all by my lonesome. President Monson made that announcement and I grinned and grinned and grinned the biggest grin I've ever had. I called my parents who were driving to St. George and shouted in the phone, "Did you hear that?! Are you listening?!" They did and they were. When I hung up with them I felt so overwhelmed by how happy I was. I could not stop smiling and then tears started rolling down my cheeks. Now I've cried plenty of times in sadness and plenty of times in frustration but I can tell you with full surety that that is the first time I have cried out of joy. Sitting alone on my couch, smiling, and crying- that was a special spiritual experience for me. 

Cedar is my home town and I love it. Dillon thankfully loves it too. We would both be more than happy to stay here if we can. We're not sure yet if that's going to be a possibility but we are thrilled nonetheless that a temple is coming to this little town.

Now on to some of my favorite talks:

 Elder Holland

L. Whitney Clayton

President Uchtdorf

 Rosemary M. Wixom

I also enjoyed the words of Elder Bednar. He had some profound things to say about chastity and its importance. He also brought up an interesting point that the power of procreation is one of the tools that Satan does not have and yet it is that very tool he most often tempts us with. Something that is growing more and more prevalent in the world I'm afraid.

And of course President Monson's talk partly because he is an incredible story teller (always so entertaining) and partly because of his over all message that "the great test of this life is obedience".