Love Those Summer Days

Around here, we are loving summer and being outside and Dan's days off.

Today consisted of:
♥ sleeping in/snuggling
♥ visiting our friends, Angie and Wesley, and swimming in their kiddie pool
♥ playing pool in our garage
♥ hanging out with Jeremy, Kaela, Jack, and Harlie
♥ helping my grandpa put in the swamp cooler at my parents' house
♥ starting the "spring cleaning" project of cleaning up the outside of my house and enjoying the absolutely wonderful 8:30pm temperatures of summer nights
♥ Dan going to see the new X-Men with friends while Aurora sleeps and I watch an older movie called Roxanne (if you've never seen it, watch it!)

Also, last night when Dan got off work, he helped me with a make-over project involving our plastic outdoor chairs and "peek-a-boo blue" spray paint. Ahh! I love them! Problem to be fixed? The fact that the spray paint residue rubs off on your skin...and, possibly, your clothes...  I WILL find a fix because they're too cute not to!

Pretty Darn Great

9 Things that made the last 2 days of our lives pretty darn great:

1--I started out my Sunday morning with a 1.5 mile walk from my house all the way to the cemetery. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the smells of summer/spring are in the air and I just loved it!

2--I went to church with my family yesterday because Erin was giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting on gratitude. She did great! I ended up staying for the whole meeting and I went to Sunday School and Relief Society with Collette since both our parents are in the nursery. I was so SO glad I went with her. In RS they covered a talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks called "The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood" from the April 2014 priesthood session. It's a great talk that helps us as men AND women to understand the priesthood a bit more. Needless to say, this talk was exactly what I needed. The topic has been on my mind lately and I was blessed to have the confirmation that my Heavenly Father knows me and knows what my needs are by having me be in that specific meeting to hear that specific talk at that time. Then I got to share what I had learned with Dan and we ended up having a good discussion about it. The gospel is so true!

3--Dan came to pick me up at my parents' house after church on Sunday and my mom and Erin were kind enough to watch Aurora for a little while so I could go with Dan over to his family's house to spend some time for Ryan's birthday. That was lots of fun! Cody, Jeremy, and Cody's friend, Carter Brown, were playing the guitar for us; we spent sometime outside flying a huge foam airplane, riding the mini-motorcycle around the yard, and swinging on the tire swing; we had a yummy frenchtoast dinner and lemon bars for birthday dessert; and just spent time as a family. I left around dark because they were about to start a fire in the backyard and I needed to get back to Aurora. Dan stayed for a bit longer and then I picked him up and we headed home. I missed him while he was having his brothers weekend activities so I was glad to have him home!

4--Our whole fam slept in this morning because Dan had the day off. Aurora slept in until 1pm! And even then we had to wake her up! haha That girl!

5--The rest of today was spent with my family to celebrate Memorial Day. Dan and I ran over to check the car wash (Sparkles) for our Uncle Trav while he's gone and then it was on to my family's house. We had the most delicious barbecue in the backyard complete with marinated steaks, dutch-oven potatoes, watermelon, and a summery salad then a jello-poke cake for dessert! It was hot hot hot outside so we mostly hung out under the canopies and laughed and talked until it was decided that we'd better go swimming...

6--Dan, Erin, Cole, Mom, Dad, and I took Aurora up to the Aquatic Center for her first ever swimming trip tonight! She loved it! The water was the perfect temperature and I'm pretty sure she could've just stayed in there for days. She cried when we left haha It was so fun to see how she reacted and it was great that my dad and mom were able to take some pictures for us! First time! Hello! Pictures were a must!

7--After swimming, we all met up at the cemetery to visit my Grandma Dorothella's grave. Alex and Becca met us over there too and my dad played the bagpipes for my grandma. It was such a beautiful moment to hear my dad playing them for her just as the sun was beginning to go down and everyone around was placing flowers for loved ones gone on.

8--To finish out the night, we headed back over to my parents' to play a little game of horseshoes. It was nice to just sit out in the backyard and enjoy everyone's company. And the weather was perfect! We even played fetch with Bec and Alex's dog, Tech! It was fun ...The only thing that made it not so nice was when a stray horseshoe bounced up off the cement behind the pits and smacked Becca straight in the face! Oweee! That poor girl! We'll be moving observation locations for next time... haha

9--When we got home, we all took showers to remove the remaining chlorine and then I fed Aurora while Dan played with my paints I'd left on the counter. When I walked by a couple of hours later, I noticed he had used his artistic skills to paint the ant bait I had on the counter. haha It's actually pretty good! Who knew ant bait could look so pretty!?

Summer Arrived

Summer is in full swing around here! Sunny skies, warm weather, swimming almost everyday (we love our pool), cabin trips, cub scout day camps, movies/JustDance in the backyard, sleeping under the stars, and road trips. It's great!

ALSO, Dan got a new job at a place called IPS! Yay! They do plastic welding and other hands on stuff with tools (haha descriptive, right?). He loves it! He's learning new skills and he feels like he gets to "play" all day. It's a good job for him and just what we needed. He still does a bit of landscaping on the side but we just needed something new. He works from 7am-3:30pm Monday thru Friday so the hours are awesome and I love seeing him come home from work so happy and proud of the work he's doing.

In other news, I've started to teach private swimming lessons again. I was doing them at our pool but that got the kabosh so I'm over at SUU. I have three kids: Ryker Weeks (7), Crue Peterson (5), and Cooper Peterson (4). They're so great! Thanks, Blair, for letting me crowd your pool! haha

I Like Yo Bangs, Gurrrl

Uhm... sooooo after having bangs now for a total of approx. 12 days... I kind of hate them. They are seriously a pain. Especially when swimming. Hence, the ridiculous photos of me at my swimming pool haha BUT just try to overlook that small fact and check out the cute peoples I took swimming with me! This was my first time using the pool at our condo and it was so much fun and such a beautiful day. 

AND after swimming, I made a yummy dinner of what I like to call "Cheesy Rice Casserole" and when Dan got home from working (aka playing in the dirt/landscaping haha), we ate it and then he played Grand Theft Auto on the PlayStation while I played Bejeweled on his Kindlefire. I finished out the night by falling asleep on the couch when we tried to watch The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. It was grand ♥

Cheesy Rice Casserole

3 cups Minute Rice + 3 cups water

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 can 2% milk

2 or 3 stalks of celery, finely chopped

1 can white chunk chicken

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Season Salt

Dried Minced Onion

Salt

Pepper

1/2 cup crushed sour cream & onion chips

1. Make rice according to directions then put in a mixing bowl to combine with other ingredients

2. Mix cream of chicken soup with milk until smooth and add to rice

3. Add in celery, chicken, and cheese and fold into rice mixture until combined

4. Add seasonings (to taste) and mix in

5. Put in a 8x8 glass baking dish and cover with crushed chips

6. Bake in oven for 10 min on 375° F

7. Enjoy!

In other news, I finally saw The Lord of The Rings for the first time on Sunday and it was pretty good. Lucky for me, Dan's parents own all of them so all I've got left to watch is the third one haha

Enjoyable

Things I've enjoyed this last week:

♥ walking Koda with my sisters and then playing fetch in my parents' backyard

♥ watching my dad play in a horseshoe tournament

♥ a trip to the lake on the hill with Cole and Ronnie followed by pizza

♥ spending the 4th in Milford with Dan's family, Mark (my mother-in-law's friend), and his boys, Kaydon and Tyrell and going fishing at Kent's Lake

I'm also enjoying the clouds today. The weather is warm and humid so I'm hoping it rains... we could sure use it! Tonight Dan and I are going to do sparklers at our house. I'm excited!

Must List Of Summer

I was reading Busy Bee Lauren's blog today and thought it would be fun to go ahead and share my list of summer "musts" as she did! Maybe it'll help me to remember to soak up the sun and be happy this summer rather than sit on my booty doing nothing (aside from watching countless episodes from my latest obsession show on Netflix). Isn't summer supposed to be fun??
Now, mind you, so far this summer has been pretty rad BUT there's always room for improvement right? Dan and I were able to go to his family reunion this last weekend and we had a blast but we both came home sick with the stomach bug of doom, thus, I proceeded to spend all yesterday after work laying on my soft brown couch watching Charmed and attempting to do my own gel nails (from far away they look good... uhhhhh...). SO I'm needing a kind of "pick-me-up" today in the form of getting excited and having plans for summer (instead of dwelling on the fact that I'm still feeling sick-ish, I'm at work, I'm missing my other work's (theater) lake trip, and Dan is going to hike Kannarra Falls without me cause I'm choosing not to go). 
And with that, I give you Liz's Summer "Must" List (and also, random photos of the family reunion this weekend)...

Summer 2012 Must Haves:

a. snow cones from The Tiki Shack and fro-yo from Krave

b. new sandals

c. the A/C in my house fixed (Dan...)

d. watermelon!

e. BBQ's and trips to the cabins

f. lots of swimming

g. a tan on my legs

Summer 2012 Must Do's:

a. get a Fuji Film Instax Mini so I can take lots of fun instant photos

b. Groovefest, July Jamboree, and Ren Fair

c. bike rides and bonfires

d. picnic date night with Dan

e. read a book

f. cabin/camping trips and lake trips

g. Acapellastock in August!

h. become better at hiking and a pro at doing my own nails (gel)

i. Seven Peaks!?

j. ZUMBA

Summer 2012 Must Feels:

a. happy

b. exciting

c. in love

d. dreamy

e. blessed

f. spontaneous/outgoing

g. healthy

h. daring

i. relaxed

B-b-b-boating!

Saturday's Sand Hollow adventure was grand!
We arrived at 10am and Kara and I sent the boys off to set up the boat and stuff while she helped me edit some of my bridal pics my dad did way back in the day the week before our wedding.
You guys, Kara is making those things pop! My dad did a good job!
I can't wait to show off the edits!

Then we drove to Sand Hollow and met up with the boys.
Kara's grandpa had let us rent the boat for the day for $75 so that Dan and Shaun could drive around some high schoolers (that work with Dan) for a day date and then we could use it the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, the boat was giving them lots of grief. They got it in the water before realizing that the ignition was shot and had to drag it back out of the water to go get it fixed.
So we set up our volleyball net so the high schoolers could be entertained, met up with Katherine (my friend from my class) and her boyfriend, Kyle (Dan's other mission companion), and headed into Hurricane to see about fixing the boat.

After all was said and done, we finally figured out how to get the boat running and we were on the water around 4pm just after the high schoolers had left.
Jeremy, Kaela, Jack, Tasha, Amos, and Andrew had arrived just before we got back to the lake to do a little four-wheeling so we ate with them (some random dog came up and ate my sandwich right off the table!) and then took off on the boat.
We were on the boat for about 40 minutes and each couple got two turns riding on the tube. After that it got a little windy.
It was so fun! I was a bit scared... haha and the water was freezing but I had such a fun time being with our friends and my sexy hubby!
It's such a small world with all the connections we have between all our friends! It sure makes things fun!
After boating, Dan and I went over to Shaun and Kara's for pizza and games. It was a great day!

AND since the boat gave us so much trouble, we get to take it out for one more day of our choice for free :) Camping, here we come!

Dogs? Or Boys?

Yesterday was activity filled from the moment I got home from school and I LOVED it!

♥ Caleb (Dan's littlest brother) got a new cell phone

♥ Dan, Caleb, and I went to Krave for fro-yo (YUM!)

♥ We learned that Dan and Caleb fit inside Koda and Roxy's dog kennels (hahaha)

♥ We went swimming with Christina, Caleb, Jack, Erin, and Collette at the aquatic center (SO FUN!)

♥ Dan and I went to dinner at Costa Vida and then to see Man On A Ledge with Kaela and Jeremy while my family babysat Jack (Thanks, family!)

GEMS!

Today, I thought I'd take a little look-sie at all the 635 photos I've been so kindly tagged in on Facebook.

Let me just tell you, they are gems!

GEMS!

Take a peek.

♥ Just holding a gun as a child like I'm hardcore... nbd

♥ Riding an tube down "the redneck water-slide" in Heber

♥ Singing karaoke like a boss...

♥ 90s'in it up with our bows

♥ Photo-bombing people's photos like a pro

♥ Throwin' wanna-be gang signs with some Korean diplomats

♥ I think it's been properly established that photo-bombing is my specialty...

♥ Just hangin' out on the side of a busy road with a goat

♥ Just using my hoodie to keep me warm...

♥ "Totally excited" about the child's t-shirt with Twilight mega-star, Edward, on it

♥ Lookin' sex-ay at a football game in my fake zebra glasses... yeeeeeaaaahhh.

♥ Oh yeah! The tu-tu that keeps you from getting a speeding ticket. FACK-T!

♥ ...The split family shot at the Days of 47 parade. HA haha

♥ Keepin' it real on the couch at my cousins' house

♥ Playin' racquetball like a boss!

♥ Posing like the model I really am...

♥ Putting on my "angry face". Seriously, you know I'm angry when I start pointing at you...

♥ Me and my best friend, Mr. Floating-Llama-Head. Happy llama, Sad llama, mentally disturbed llama...

♥ Only the sickest underwater picture you'll ever see

♥ I married one sexy man! Woo!

♥ Being a great life guard (note how well we watch the pool...) with my awesome friend, Marianne

♥ Kickin' someone's butt at Wii Boxing

♥ Lookin' good for my first grade class picture with only the cheesiest of grins right on the front row. HA haha

♥ Always looking my best after being in the pool after-hours at work...

♥ The ONLY way I will ride a long-board on the canyon trail (sitting down)

♥ Flashing some tongue on swimming bus trips in HS

♥ Finger-painting better than any child and taking pictures in the bathroom mirror better than any high schooler ever will. HA haha.

♥ The fam. Back in the day.

"Be thankful the little things in your life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." -Robert Brault

Little Bit of Life

The past couple days have been so fun!

Why?

-I made some awesome cookies. YUM!Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles
1 box Krusteaz Snickerdoodle mix
8 oz. cream cheese
2 T. vanilla extract
Make snickerdoodles following directions on the box.
Add cream cheese & vanilla.
Blend.
Use fingers to form dough into blobs (the mixture is too sticky to form balls of dough) of preferred size.
Dip blobs in cinnamon-sugar.
Place on pan.
Bake for about 12 minutes.

-Tracy & Merrill's boys came over to hang with Caleb.Lots of Xbox was played.
I found out that Tyler and Trevor are picky eaters...
Lasagna Soup was not received well & we resorted to cheese quasadillas for them.

-Jeremy & Kaela came over.Jack likes to play peek-a-boo & found a new place to do it (our blanket rigged-up curtain for our door).
He was so funny to watch.
And while the boys played Xbox, Kaela and I had some good conversations.

-My cousins & aunt came down from Spanish Fork so we all went to the lake & KraveLots of dunking, attempts at hands-up-stands-up, laughing, & chatting.