Let's Catch This Business Up

This post covers pretty much everything that has happened this year. I know. Five months of catch-up. But really, these highlights themselves didn't seem to qualify enough for their own post while I was still in school. Together they make a nice little blog entry though. 


Dillon and I, with the other science teachers, checked out the St. George Dinosaur Track Museum to see if it would work as part of our 8th grade field trip

During our fossil unit, the other science teachers and I decided to make bug candy that looked like amber fossils for the kiddos...300+ candies for the record. The meal worms were ordered food grade, nacho cheese flavored (so gross), just in case the students decided to actually eat them (most of them didn't).

The final product

I saw a woman at this year's USTA conference that seriously has to be Amy Farrah Fowler's long lost twin (and I discovered that trying to sneak pictures of strangers is prrreetttyy awkward).

Dillon and I celebrated Valentine's at home this year.

Mmmm...macarons. I found these babies on Etsy at
etsy.com/shop/ellemercedmacarons 

Flowers and M&M's from Dillon

Some bored teenagers thought it would be cool to shoot out our car window (and others over the course of about a week). Little did they know that that is our wrecked car that will be making it's way to the salvage yard soon so...whatevs. (Is it a little embarrassing that it's still sitting in front of our house? Maybe. What can I say? Not a top priority).

We celebrated my birthday. Dillon let me open my presents early.

We had no birthday wrapping stuff, so he just kept putting things
in this bag one at a time :)

Then we went down to St. George for glow-in-the-dark mini-golf and shopping.

Such a winner staying strong, holding those bags while standing in
Victoria's Secret.

And ended with my birthday "cake" and white hot chocolate from Starbucks. **Sidenote: So, remember how Rainbow Chip cake basically rocks my face?? They discontinued it! Like, gone. Seriously, I think I hate Betty Crocker. They replaced it with some Funfetti nonsense. Not the same folks. Not.the.same. The frosting is nowhere to be found except for on Ebay for obscene prices. In my totally deserved depression, I told Dillon that I just wanted a coconut cake donut for my birthday from this awesome donut shop in town. They closed the week of my birthday. Despair, I tell you! But Dillon found these at Starbucks and they were pretty rockin' too so, all was well.**

We traveled to Delta for a quick visit and I helped the niece and nephew create some slime. (This is the best and easiest-to-make slime I've come across--water, borax, and polyvinyl alcohol. You can totally order a Polyvinyl Alcohol slime kit through Amazon. I recommend it over any of the slime recipes that involve Elmer's glue).

The Britos came down to visit (which we loved!) and we decided to hit up the Children's Museum in St. George. It's completely free and so fun for little kids (and adults).

I made Dillon help me chaperon another school activity- the Science Olympiad. The bus ride = not awesome, but the kids had fun and we all learned a lot.

We found out we're pregnant! Which I have no picture for, except for the pregnancy test. I feel weird about posting it...mostly because we all know what had to go on that stick for the results to pop up. Am I the only one who thinks that? Someone please tell me whether or not it's weird! I apparently am not secure enough about it to have my own solid opinion.

My dad graduated with his Masters in Education. Go him!

We announced that we were pregnant. It was earlier than we were planning on but apparently no one told my brother to keep it a secret so he let all of Facebook know. I was also soooo sick that I had missed practically every other day of work that week so people were already suspicious.

As school whittled down a school talent show was held. A few of us teachers banded together and learned the dance from "What Does the Fox Say?" I only have pictures...no video but I'll bet it exists on social media somewhere.

And now summer is in full swing. I look around our house thinking how much it needs to be cleaned..and then I read instead. This one has been my latest. I actually liked it, which may be a bit morbid and probably makes me weird.

Love Week: Those Three Little Words

As Love Week continues, we're going to share with you our story of saying those seriously big deal words. If you missed our first date story, you can find it here and if you missed our DTR moment you can read about it here.

DaNae's Version:

After becoming "official" Dillon and I spent every moment we could together before he left for Christmas break. It was the longest break evvveerrrr. Nothing like starting a new exciting relationship to stall it for a few weeks. Although he did come back to Cedar for a weekend and I went to Delta for a weekend (where I met his family for the first time which should probably get its own post one of these days).

After the break was over (or maybe during?) we found out that our friends Kurt and Kaylyn had moved up their wedding date to January 16th. As the date drew closer, Dillon and I, and our friend Austin, made plans to leave school early and head down to Arizona for the wedding.

We were pretty enraptured with each other the whole trip, lots of snuggling and sneaking kisses. There was love in the air with it being a wedding. Dillon and I kept whispering to each other, "You make me happy" which, looking back, I'm guessing was our safe way of hinting at those three little words. The whole time we were there- waiting outside the temple, helping decorate for the reception, and all the other inbetweens - everyone kept teasing us about being a next. I think that it kinda caused Dillon to forget how to breathe but I was loving it and soaking it in.

We drove back to Cedar on the 17th and headed to Dillon's apartment to spend even more time with each other because clearly two days in a row was not enough. All of Dillon's roommates were gone. We had the TV on but didn't notice it much. Dillon was talking, I don't remember what he was saying (maybe something about having fun that weekend), when all of the sudden he mumbled, "Because I love you..."

I paused and asked, "What did you say?" Now, I had thought I heard him correctly but I needed to be safe. Let's all take a minute to imagine if I blurted back, "I love you too!" when that wasn't what Dillon had said at all. Collective shudder. Backpedaling. Asking Dillon that question, though, made him nervous and he wouldn't say it again (I'm sure he thought I was freaking out) but I finally coaxed it out of him a second time by telling him that I was pretty sure I knew what he had said. I told him that I loved him too with no hesitation. We had known each other for such a short time but I had fallen for him completely.

(**This is a complete side story but too good not to share. A few weeks after dropping the L-bomb for the first time I was at Dillon's apartment with him watching a movie when I suddenly felt dreadfully sick (I ended up with some vicious combination of the flu and bronchitis which turned into pneumonia). I rushed to the bathroom and threw up pretty violently. Between gasps I heard Dillon say through the door in a comforting voice, "I love you". I had to laugh; what a moment to remind me.)

Dillon's version:

Our friends Kurt and Kaylyn, who set us up on the blind date, were getting married in Arizona on a weekend in January. DaNae and I, plus a few other friends, were going to meet down there the night before the wedding. This was our first road trip together, so we were very excited. Plus our friend Austin volunteered to drive down, so we pretty much hugged and what not in the back seat the whole ride (poor Chauffeur Austin). We took the Vegas route to Mesa and apparently missed an important turn and ended up in Flagstaff. It wasn't a big deal just added an hour to the drive. The day of the wedding was a lot of fun. Outside the Mesa Temple Austin took a lot of pictures of everyone, including a couple of us that are our and our families favorites of the two of us. After the wedding, the reception, and spending the night at Kaylyn's parents house we drove back to Cedar. ( A lot of cuddling again. Did a man just use the word cuddling?) That night we were in my apartment watching movies and talking. I remember telling a hypothetical story to DaNae and at the end I mumbled "Because I love You." Honestly, it kind of slipped out (Even though I did feel that way. I was smitten. I was in deep smit.) and after DaNae replied "What did you say?" I thought "Uh oh! Reel that back in. Told you that you'd screw it up."(see DTR story) So I tried to play it off like I said nothing, but if you know DaNae she is more persistent than that monkey that won't let go of the banana inside the vase even though his hand is stuck. Anyways, she beat me down verbally, so I finally said it louder and she replied "I love you too!" very convincingly. Needless to say I felt very happy and relieved that she felt the same way.(It also shut that stupid voice in my head up for a while.) So we laid on my bed for a long time, both very mutually happy.

Love Week: The DTR Moment

Our second Love Week installment.. If you missed the first one about our first date(s), you can find it here. This second tidbit is about our DTR (or Determine the Relationship) moment which coincidentally is also our first kiss moment.

DaNae's Version:

After our initial dates, Dillon and I made plans for about three more dates- hot tubbing (where I was convinced that he'd wave goodbye after seeing me in all my albino glory), church Christmas devotional, and Monday night football with his man friends- over the course of the next week. Things were going great. No deal breakers had come up. Everything seemed easy and comfortable already.

The night of our fifth date (the Monday night football) Dillon took me to my house and walked me up to my porch. Once we were on the porch he started telling me how much fun he had been having with me over the last couple of weeks. I kept interrupting him like a dork. "Me too!" "I had fun doing that too!" I could tell he was getting flustered with my interruptions so I closed my mouth. He was definitely being fidgety and refused to make eye contact in the midst of his (what I can now assume was a) semi-prepared speech.

As he was winding down he ended with, "So I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend...". I answered in the affirmative and then he leaned in for a kiss. I had a brief moment where my brain went, "Uh-oh...it's been a while since I've done this. Are my skills gone? It's like riding a bike, right? Guess we'll find out".

We made yet more plans to see each other that week and he hopped in his jeep and drove away. I went inside and flung open my parents bedroom door loudly proclaiming in a singsong voice, "Guess who's got a boooooyyfriiieeeennnnndddd??". Poor souls. I woke them from a deep slumber. They managed a sleep-ridden congratulations and I went downstairs to my room where I'm pretty sure I fell asleep smiling.

Dillon's Version:

For our fifth date I asked DaNae to come to Monday Night Football with my buddies at Ryland's apartment. It had been a tradition for my friends and I to watch every Monday night game and I figured if DaNae could stand to be around me during football she was even more special than I thought. It was the Jets vs. the Patriots and I don't remember much about the game because I was really nervous. I'm not sure when I decided or if I even told anyone, but I decided that that night was the night I was going to ask her to be my girlfriend. Even though this was our fifth date there is always the voice in your head saying " she doesn't like you and even if she does you're gonna screw it up". So after football I dropped her off at her house again. We were on the porch in front of her house. I remember rambling and finally saying "So I was wondering if you would be my girlfriend?" she said yes so I moved in for a kiss, which was also very nerve racking(remember you're gonna screw it up voice.) It was awesome! I then went to my friend Austin's apartment and told everybody there "I gots a girlfriend." (DaNae here...Dillon thinks it's funny to purposely be grammatically incorrect. I've tried to tell him otherwise to no avail. Sigh.)

Love Week: The First Date(s)

Love week! My friend Elyse, introduced me to the idea of Love Week. Her version of it is what I would like to do in the future but this year I decided to have Dillon and I each share our versions of significant times in the initial stages of our relationship. Today..the first date. This is how we met and this is how we both felt about it. Mine is a typical longer-than-necessary detailed girl version. Dillon's is more straight to the point. I love them both.

DaNae's Version:

My friend Kurt had been pestering me about dating (my dating life in particular, he was engaged) for a few weeks when he asked if I would go to the college dance with a guy he'd set me up with. I was wary to say the least, not exactly eager to jump on the blind-date-horror-story bandwagon. I reluctantly agreed and prayed he would be someone normal that I could have a conversation with.

I told my mom about my upcoming date and we decided that it called for a  new dress (because the only things I had that didn't qualify as simple church wear were prom dresses and that was not happening...and also because my mom always got excited when I had dates..probably because I wasn't exactly a pro-dater during my college life). We took a trip to St. George and decided on a cute black dress, which automatically meant I was going to wear my cute black heels. (Heels generally make me about 6'- 6'1" but I was over having a complex about it. I decided if I guy couldn't handle my height he could move right along..ain't nobody got time for dat. I did find out later that one of the first things Dillon told his mom about me was that I wore really tall shoes..)

Waiting for Dillon to pick me up, my parents tried to insist that I introduce him. "I don't even know him! I can hardly say, 'Hey, we just met but here are my parents" were my expressed feelings I believe. So when Dillon came to pick me up, I opened the door and said something to the effect of, "Hi...those are my parents. Let's go." Real charm right there.

As we rode with the group to Pizza Factory I remember thinking, "He's hot...probably out of my league...was this outfit the best choice?...my hair feels like it's frizzing already...I really don't like dances...hope it goes alright...I'd rather sit and observe than dance...it's awkwardly quiet in this car...oh thank goodness we're at the dinner place..." and a million other first date thoughts.

I knew most of the people in our group so during dinner my naturally sarcastic side came out with a few biting remarks at one of the group members. I noticed Dillon was pretty quiet and thought, "Welp, just ruined the date right there..scared him away with my sarcasm. I should probably reign it in. Maybe I can still convince him I have a nice side."

After dinner, we changed at a friend's apartment and headed to the dance. As we were walking in, my heels became a hindrance in my attempt to elegantly walk down the stairs so Dillon offered me his hand. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, to my surprise, he didn't let go. I smiled to myself and we walked into the dance.

I was nervous about the dance, I'm not a huge fan of that kind of dancing. I really prefer to be an observer but I couldn't do that in this situation so I decided to fake it. Dillon made it so easy. Neither of us were the uninhibited dancing type so we mostly played around. He taught me some basic swing dancing moves. We preferred the slow songs because shuffling in circle was easy.

The whole night, we never stopped holding hands. The conversation was easy. We asked the basics about each other and laughed at our attempts to dance. I was loving it, but that little self-deprecating devil on my shoulder was making me wonder if it was a one night thing...if Dillon was just always this nice to his dates...if this hand-holding, close-dancing business was just some dating etiquette he was following.

When he dropped me off at my door he was friendly but kept his distance. He thanked me for coming and that was that. My first thoughts, "Knew it! He didn't even ask for my number. He must act like that with all of his dates. Well, at least it was fun..but dang it!".

My friend Kurt texted me later that night to ask if there was going to be a second date. I texted back that it didn't seem likely since Dillon didn't ask for my number or anything. So Kurt, being the helpful soul that he is, did some detective work and figured out that both of us had a really good time and that both of us wanted to go out again but Dillon had wussed out (his words) when it came to asking me for my number.

Our friends set-up a second group date. Dinner and movie. While at the movie Dillon held my hand the whole time again and the voice in my head was all, "Dude! You're messing with my head! If you're this attached to my hand, you better be this attached to me too. No more hand-holding dating etiquette." But at the end of this date, Dillon asked for number and we actually set-up our third date for later that week. We both had finally figured out that the other was just as into us as we were into them..and.it.was.awesome.

Dillon's Version:

I was set-up on a blind date by my friend Kaylyn and her fiance at the time Kurt, and all they told me was her name, DaNae. The 3 of us went to pick her up at her house, and I remember waving very quickly at her parents as she ran out the door. I also remember thinking "oh a pretty redhead". We then went as a group to the pizza factory and ate. After eating we went to Kaylyn's apartment to change for an SUU dance (like highschool but in college) while DaNae left the room to change Kurt and Kaylyn held their thumbs up signaling a question as to whether or not they did good. I gave a double thumbs up back and nodded yes (apparently they did the same to DaNae who responded in kind). We went to the dance and I held her hand pretty much the rest of the night. We also danced although I am jealous how good of dancer Kevin James is which tells you how bad I am at dancing. However, DaNae was on drill team in High School and could move. After not scaring her away by my pathetic dancing, I took her home. I was never good at the end of the night thing (do I go in for a hug? handshake? is she fiddling with her keys? when was the last time I had a mint?) that combined with the fact that she was pretty and also intimidating made me think "oh she was just being nice"(a common thought for me and other men/boys) . At her front door I folded like a lawnchair, and gave her a hug and left (without her #). Later that week I talked to Kurt found out she did like me, and we set up a 2nd date. At the end of that date I made damn sure to get her number the 2nd time.

Snippets and Stories

Oooooh heeeeyyyy. Remember how I have a blog? Yeah...me neither apparently.There is so much that I want to catch up on that I figured I would do it as part of the obligatory "Year in Review" post (with only part of it being an actual review).

So to review the first half of the year when I actually kept up with our lives..

I discovered exactly how much I love my little rat-dog during this occurrence. I also had to come to terms with the fact that my hot husband has a baby face and so, much to his dismay, gets flirted with by fourteen year old girls quite often. I admitted that I really am a big science nerd here (but I mean, come on, it is so COOL!).

Dillon and I witnessed some decorative vehicle-lingerie. I reflected a little on the big picture. We discovered that yard-salers can be a little crazy and kinda mean. We continued to date each other. Dillon became a full-fledged engineer. We visited the "Happiest Place on Earth". I learned a very important fact about dairy cows. And I shared exactly how we teachers manage to maintain our sanity here.

And now for the rest of the year. Let me break it down month-by-month.

August
Time for a couple of stories. First, at school we have an emergency shower in the science lab. My first year, not a single student bothered to even notice it. My second year, I had a couple students pull the handle because they were just so darn curious. So at the beginning of this year I thought I would quell that curiosity by being all "Hey, everyone look at the shower. Let me show you how it works. Fun, huh? Don't touch it unless you're on fire, deal?" Instead it went more like, "Hey look at this. (Pulls handle with bucket underneath). Uh...awesome (as water shoots OUT as well as down)." And then I think it must be a timed shower. It's not. So I pull the handle again, thinking that will turn it off. It didn't. So then I sat there all drenched watching as the lab is slowly flooded. My co-worker heard the noise and came over asking about the situation to which I intelligently replied, "Oh ya know, I don't know how to turn it off." She thought I was being incredibly calm. Really I was just being an incredible struggler. My brain doesn't exactly hop to solutions in emergency situations. But all was taken care of. The kind hearted head custodian came squeegee equipped and cleaned it all up; and then proceeded to show me three alternate ways to turn off the shower. Definitely one of my finest moments.

My skirt about two hours after some dry-time.

Second story. One night, Dillon and I were sleeping pleasantly side-by-side when all of the sudden he started flailing and freaking out. I rolled over to ask him what was up when his arm gave a final flick and a mouse landed on my face, specifically my lips. Take a second, read it again. ON MY LIPS. I sat up with an unearthly screech and felt that wretched little creature run down the length of my body and off of the bed, and then smacked Dillon and yelled, "What did you just do?!" He responded with a very coherent, "Wha? Wha?" Apparently, he wasn't awake for his spaz attack but his subconscious took care of that mouse running all over his body. I filled in him (in very nice, dulcet tones obviously), "You threw a mouse on my face. On.My.Face. I'm not sleeping in here!" I gave my face a thorough scrub and we slept in our front room after setting some traps. It was a traumatizing experience to say the least.

September
My classes did a few slime labs so I decided to make some to bring home to Dillon.

 Look! So dendritic! Who knew food coloring would act like that?

  

Dillon's mom turned fifty so all of his siblings and their families went up North to hang out with her and celebrate her birthday. The main event was Hogle Zoo.

The nieces and nephew. So perfectly sums up each of their personalities.

It rained for a bit while we were there so we all found our way to take cover.

Once the rain stopped we finished up seeing all of the creatures.

And then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese's (Did you guys know it was Chuck E. Cheese's? My whole life I just thought it was Chuck E. Cheese.) This is how we felt about it..

Too many bodies, not enough space.

It was also Steve's (Dillon's dad) 50th birthday so we all made a second trip up North. This time to hang out at Boondocks which was a blast.

October

Halloween finally started growing on me this year. Once I became too old for trick-or-treating Halloween became kind of lame to me. I'm not too into the scary/gory side of things but the cutesy things are becoming more fun. This year we went to the Staheli Family farm with Steph and Austin. I think it will be on our tradition list.

We also had a Halloween movie night with a little Halloween treat (thanks again, Pinterest).

My mom's office always dresses up for Halloween and visits the schools. This year they did a Duck Dynasty theme. My kiddos loved it. 

My madre's on the far left

November

November was a pretty big month for us. We made some big life changes. First, we bought my Grandpa's house.

It was such an ideal situation. We ended up going through a title company and set everything up so that we pay my Grandpa directly. No loan needed.

We also had a situation where this...

Led to this...

I love this new car! I'll tell you though that people were real quick to make Dillon and I feel bad for this purchase. That part I did not love. I think people find it hard to believe that we can jump into a house payment and a new car payment without starving to death. Being a young couple, I know that our situation is not typical. We're blessed. Plain and simple.

I also got new bangs, which is clearly also a big life changer.

December
December was full of fun as it always is. I found time to get decorations up early enough to actually enjoy them this year.

My parents came over after my mom's Christmas work party. My dad won fish during the white elephant activity. He was just going to leave them in a bag outside and let them freeze but my mom told him that was mean so he decided to come to our house and feed them to Little Buddy. Little Buddy just stretched out his neck, checked the fish out, and then went about his business. The next morning he was as interested as ever in his food pellets and the fish were swimmin' around. I guess we have new pets. **Update, we've gone from four fish to two so maybe Little Buddy is just biding his time. Poor fish**

We went up to Temple Square. Dillon had never been and every year we say we'll go but don't end up doing it. A few things we learned: don't go on a weekend, don't go the same night/time as a Jazz game, smile and enjoy it even as people are shuffling you around in their hurry to get from one end to the other.

We went to a couple good movies. I saw Frozen with the middle schoolers right before the break and immediately decided that Dillon needed to see it too. And I maybe downloaded the soundtrack. Worth it.

Dillon very nicely obliges me through all the chick-flicks and kid movies that you could imagine so I definitely owed him a trip to this movie. And I actually like it. It's my favorite out of all the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit movies. I didn't even start counting all of the ways the movie could have been shorter during this one. That's a success for me. And I also downloaded this song after the movie. But seriously, listen to it and then try to tell me it's not a beautiful song.

Christmas Day! The best day of the year. Dillon and I checked out our stockings. My favorite is the teeny frying pan that is perfect for one egg. I eat eggs all the time just to use it. I think Dillon's favorite was the fruitcake. (He always wants to try it so this year I got him a miniature one. He was so excited..until he actually tried it. It's super gross. So he says).

Our presents to each other. Dillon: tie, shoes, Star Wars, Xbox game, and giftcard. DaNae: new slippers (49ers of course since Dillon got to pick), comfy boots, sparkly bobs, shower gel and Hart of Dixie season 1.

We then had our scrumptious traditional biscuits 'n gravy breakfast, and started a new tradition of building a Rice Krispie Holiday Train. It was so easy and way more fun than a gingerbread house. Those cookie homes always frustrate me. They never turn out how I want them to and usually fall apart. This train on the other hand came with a fool proof kit and guide (makes sense since I'm pretty sure it's made for five year olds). 

After that, we headed over to my parents to spend time with family. These cute miniature humans came with their parents to open their presents and entertain us.

We also had an early Christmas with Dillon's family which I have just now noticed I took no pictures of. We went to Delta the weekend of the 20th where we got to go to the Firemen dinner Friday night and spend time with Dillon's family all the next day. They all got us much requested Home Depot giftcards (as did my family) which we are excited to put toward some small scale home remodeling.

That's all folks!

Tonight Dillon and I are going to consider our New Year's resolutions, maybe more vigilant blogging should go on my list.