Make-Over, Sleep-Over

So the other night Dallin and I volunteered to watch our niece Melanee and nephew Trevor so my sister and brother-in-law could celebrate his birthday. Melanee was planning on sleeping over, since had swimming lessons in Provo in the morning which Dallin and I could just take her to. And for the longest time Melanee has asked over and over again to play with Haley (our other niece, on Dallin’s side) so we called Jason and Shannon to see if we could have Haley over for the night. Then we figured if we were watching Haley we should see if Brynlee wanted to come too so Jason and Shannon could go on a date. So we ended up having all four kids (Mel, Trevor, Haley, & Bryn) and it was so much fun! We watched some Disney movies, and while Dallin was playing with Trevor (doing manly things of course . . . like sleeping and lounging) I gave the three girls a make-over. They were so much fun – we did make-up, hair, and everyone got to put on dress-up clothes. Made me feel like a kid again, and I loved every minute of it.

The One Year Mark – Already!

I can't believe Dallin and I have already been married over a year. Time really does fly by, especially when you’re having fun. :) There are days when I feel like we just got married, and then other days I feel like we have been married forever (perhaps because we pretty much have been together forever…), but I wouldn't change anything about it. I love Dallin more today than I did on our wedding day. I won’t lie, he continues to impress me with how hard working and dedicated he is. I think my favorite part of being married is our pillow talk we have before we go to sleep. :)
Anyway, for our anniversary Dallin took over and planned the whole weekend. We went up to SLC to spend the night. I didn't know for sure what we were going to do but Dallin had it all planned out. We went out to dinner and then went to a musical "A Tale of Two Cities" at the Hale Center Theater. I wasn't completely looking forward to it because I didn't know anything about it, but that changed quickly. The play was so amazing, I loved every minute of it! I also knew how much Dallin loved me because he missed the BYU vs. New Mexico tournament game (when Jimmer dropped 52) to take me to the play. True love for sure. The next morning we went to the Salt Lake temple to do a session and sealings. Neither of us had been to a live session before – it was really neat and the inside of the temple was so incredible and pretty. I’m so glad we did sealings – I didn't cry on our wedding day, but I did get a little teary-eyed in there. Finally, when we came home, I walked in the door and there were a dozen tulips sitting on the table with a present next to them (Dallin loves getting sneaky and having other people help him surprise me). The present was a nice journal with a picture of the Salt Lake temple on it – so it was all part of one big plan! Dallin says the traditional 1-year gift is paper, and the modern 1-year gift is a clock, so the journal was kind of a combination of the two. :) The whole weekend was amazing, and I loved being able to just spend the time with my husband. I can't wait for many, many more anniversaries to come.

Happenings

The last two weeks have gone by really fast and Dallin and I were able to do a lot of fun things. We got invited to attend the Utah County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner. Nu Skin sponsored a table and Dallin scored some tickets – we’re always excited about a sweet, free dinner. We didn't really know at first what the dinner was for, but quickly found out once we walked into the room and saw Mike Lee, Orrin Hatch, Jason Chafetz, and many, many, many other politicians. We stayed long enough to hear Senator Hatch speak, took a quick picture as evidence, and took off.


Two Sundays ago we attended my cousin's (Steve) homecoming. He just got home from serving in the Washington DC South Mission. He did an awesome job on his homecoming talk – he has definitely grown so much and it was so great to see him. As proof of how small the Utah, Mormon world is . . . earlier in the week, I was talking to some friends in my health class about my cousin coming home and I was going to his homecoming, and I found out one of the girls wrote Steve on his mission and the other is from Washington DC and had Steve over for dinner a few times! It’s a small, small world…after all. :)

So Steve’s younger brother is currently in the MTC getting ready to leave to his mission. Well, we knew what time on Sunday he would walk around the temple…so we thought we would walk around the temple at the same time. We got up there and waited for like 20 minutes. We must have seen over 300 missionaries, which it was awesome to see all of them, but they weren’t exactly what we went for. :) Finally, we decided to just leave because we hadn't seen him. As we were walking out, guess who we ran into (purely my coincidence)...my cousin! It was awesome. He looked all grown up and so good. We took a picture and bragged about it to his parents.


Last Thursday was Karen’s (Dallin’s mom) birthday. Dallin asked her if this is finally the year she turns 30, but she said she’s still only turning 29. :) The whole Salmon family got together to celebrate on Saturday – we ate pizza, had cake and ice cream, opened presents, and watched the BYU basketball game. Dallin and I were in charge of making the cake – it ended up looking pretty bad, but I’m told it tasted great! Ha ha, oh well…I guess the taste is what really matters. It was a fun day.



Last Saturday, Dallin scored sweet, courtside tickets to the Jazz vs. Kings game. That’s right – courtside seats! I’ve never been so close before. It was awesome having our feet right on the floor. We got a sweet dinner before the game started, and snacks during halftime. We took a ton of pictures. What made it even better was the Jazz pulling out an exciting OT victory. I'll be honest; I was busy watching the Jazz Bear for a lot of the time. There was a little girl, about 18 months old, that Bear picked up and played with. She didn't cry the whole time he had her, and it was at least a couple minutes. When he finally gave her back to her parents she started blowing kisses to him. It was so cute. So it was a fun night, and it was just awesome going with Dallin and having such great seats. :)





Oh yeah, last but definitely not least…Dallin's little sister is getting married!! I’ll leave the story and everything to Chan, but she and Roland are getting married on May 6th. Can’t wait! :)

Day with the girls.

I really think Dallin and I have the best, cutest nieces and nephews. We had the opportunity to watch Haley and Brynlee the other day. We decided it would be fun to have lunch in the middle of our family room floor – tea party style. We called it our indoor picnic. Then we watched a Disney movie (Dallin talked Haley into watching Rescuers Down Under). I hadn't seen that movie in forever, and it was good times. Brynlee was so excited to see my parent’s dog (Buddy), that she wanted him to watch the movie with us – right next to her. :) We love spending time with our nieces and nephews. Dallin told me that every time he goes on a business trip, he misses me first, and then his nieces and nephews second. :)

Valentine's Day....Without Dallin :)

I love Valentine’s Day – even more now having a husband. But this year was a little different than I thought it would be. I found out about two weeks before Valentine’s that Dallin would be leaving for a business trip – yeah, leaving on Valentine’s Day morning. I was really bumbed. I hate when he goes on trips anyways, but it was even worse that I didn't get to spend our first married Valentine’s together. So, we decided to celebrate Valentine’s early: Saturday night we went out to dinner to Dickey's BBQ (so good, they have free ice cream and pickles!) and finished the night watching a movie at Ryan and Jess's new place. Sunday, we had a Valentine’s dinner with my family – so much fun. My mom went all out and decorated the house and we ate on pink plates and everything.

Then came Valentine’s day . . . and there went my husband. Dallin was so sweet and didn't want me to be by myself all day on Valentine’s Day so he and my brother-in-law set up appointments for my mom, grandma, sister, niece, and me to go get manicure and pedicures. It felt so good and was really fun to get together. I was a little sad coming home though, knowing I’d be alone the rest of the night. Then I opened the door and was shocked to see a dozen roses, lots of Valentine’s candy, and a cute handwritten note from Dallin all spread out on our kitchen table. Dallin got Linc to set it all up (thanks Lincoln!) – it was so cute and thoughtful. I totally started crying and called Dallin right then. It just made me miss him so much more. While talking to him on the phone he told me he hid a present for me – it was a special pair of ear rings. (side story: The first gift Dallin ever gave me was a pair of ear rings, and I thought it was a wedding ring at first. Anyways, I lost that pair and was so sad. So Dallin decided to buy the same pair, which I love!) So Valentine’s Day turned out to be pretty great, the only thing that would have made it better was if Dallin was home with me. He sure is a great, thoughtful, loving husband! :) I guess he was worth the wait, as my grandma always tells me. :)

Superbowl Parties

This year we went to 2 Super Bowl parties. The Salmons all got together at Ryan and Jess's almost-finished house. We ate tons of food, and watched the game in their theater room. It was so much fun. We watched the 2nd half at my parents', in time to see the Packers win. :) I ate so much food that I got sick the next morning. It was all worth it though, and it was awesome to spend the day with family.

Just a sample of the food we had. I made some mint brownies -- first time, and not gonna lie -- they were pretty good! I think I ate 5 of them. I also made some meatballs and 'lil smokies, and they ended up pretty good too. :) Dallin loved them so much he wants to do more football parties in the future! It was a great weekend.




Pictures of the theater and family.







The other party was a little smaller but still just as fun.

Jimmer Fever

Dallin and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the sold out UNLV vs BYU game. Jason got Dallin this awesome "Air Jimmer" T-shirt for Christmas -- well I wanted one too so I had to get the one that sparkles. We got to watch a fun game and see the Cougs win again. Go Cougs!