New and Exciting Changes

A few months ago Chris and I have made the decision that we wanted to buy our own home.  We went and looked at homes, but we couldn't find anything that we loved.  So our dear friend, Maria, proposed the idea of building a new home rather than buying an existing home.  That was immediately as intimidating as it sounds.  Building a home?  That is something that people who have been married for 10 years do.  We have only been married for 3, there is no way that that is something we could do.  We flirted with the idea for a few weeks trying to figure out what was going to be the best option for us.  Many prayers and deep discussions later we decided that building a home was the right thing for us to do.  We found an amazing new development in Springville that was perfect for us.  It is only about 10 minutes south from where we live now, and the area is great.  The style of homes that the builder does is arts and crafts, and it is really cute.  We will pick out the exterior colors early this week, and all of the interior later on this week.  They will start construction sometime next month, and we will be in 90 days later.  We will be moving into our home late January.  There will be many posts to come about the process of our home.  We are excited to get started.

Our lot.  I know, I'm a nerd for taking a picture of dirt, but I am excited.

My Latest Endeavor

Last week I started a Web Design class and I am really liking it so far.  I know that it has only been a week, but I have already learned to much from it.  It is an online adult education class that UVU offers and it is 6 weeks long.  I decided that this would be a fun thing for me to learn and given Chris' career choice, I know that it would come in handy knowing this information someday.  Plus, I have the world's greatest tutor.  This is what I have done in the class so far.  I know it doesn't look like much, but I am pretty proud of myself.

This is how the code looks.

This is what it looks like in a browser.

I learned how to format it a little bit better in this lesson.

He will Make a Good Dad Someday.

Yesterday Chris and I went over to my in-laws for dinner and some swimming with the nephews.  Watching Chris interact with the Henry and James is so much fun for me to watch.  I know that he is going to be a really good dad, and I have never doubted that, but I love seeing him in action.  It makes me excited for whenever we decide to have children.  He was a really good sport and got in the water with them, played all of their games, and he also helped James with this swimming, which was adorable.

Chris helping James swim.

Chris and James were trying to stand on the blue thing.

Henry succeeded with standing on the blue thing.

Chris and James finally got it too.

Happy Birthday America!

The 4th of July is my second favorite holiday, so I like to pack the day full of activities and celebrations.  This year was no exception. This 4th of July was a pretty awesome and busy one.  It started out with going to the Freedom Festival parade in the morning.  Thank goodness I live so close to the parade route.  I don't know if I would go again if I didn't live 8 blocks away from it.  There were a ton of people there, which is to be expected.  After the parade we went to a BBQ at my sister-in-laws house.  Emily and Dave sure do know how to invite people that make some yummy food.  After the BBQ we went boating on Utah Lake with the Gardner family.  I know that some of you don't know this, but that is a big deal for me.  I used to be absolutely terrified of the water, and I am not sure why.  But I am getting over my fear which is great because now I get to have fun on the boat and in the water too.  Everyone did a bunch of wakeboarding, and I decided to try it for my first time.  It is much harder than I though it would be. Landing on my face a lot sounded more fun than actually getting up so I did that about 40 times.  I still haven't gotten up, but I am determined to try again and succeed.  Once we got the boat back and cleaned up Chris and I were able to shower and grab something quick for dinner, then it was off again to the next activity.  We met up with Chris' family again and watch The Stadium of Fire fireworks from a distance.  (That way we didn't have to fight with the terrible traffic that happens right after the finish.)  Henry and James also bought some fireworks with their own money, so we also had a fun firework show with their fireworks.  It was really cute to see how proud they were of their little and simple accomplishment.  Needless to say, it was a fun packed day of non-stop fun.  It was a great 4th for Chris and I.  

Chris getting out of the lake.

Chris is really good at wakeboarding.

James getting ready to jump in.

Henry practicing his diving.

Poppy helping the boys light their fireworks.

Happy Birthday America!

I Guess I've Seen It All

A few days ago Chris and I saw something amazing and gross and hysterical all rolled into one event.  We went to McDonald's, (Yes we eat at McDonald's.  And yes, we enjoy it.), and saw the greatest thing.  We were in the drive-thru line waiting patiently for our turn to pay.  I looked in the rear-view mirror, and you'll never guess what I saw.  First, a minivan.  That's expected.  Second, overweight people in the minivan.  Again, nothing too out of the ordinary for McDonald's.  But the last part of the equation is the best. . .  Once I looked a little closer I noticed something very unusual.  Something that I would have never imagined.  They were both eating a burrito.  Yes, you read that right.  They were both EATING A BURRITO while they were in the McDonald's drive-thru line ordering themselves some more food.  I didn't know what to think of it.  I wasn't sure how to react.  But, I think that that is the most incredible thing that I have seen in a long time.  Chris and I were laughing really hard and couldn't believe what we had just witnessed.  I guess when it comes to food, some people don't have limits.

Birthday Weekend in Oceanside

This last weekend Chris and I went to Oceanside to visit my sister-in-law Liz and her husband Michael.  And let me tell you, it was so much fun!  We left early Friday morning.  Our flight was scheduled for 7:15 in the morning.  We were actually too late to check in for the flight, and we thought that we were going to have a Venice airport experience all over again.  (Delta is the worst.  Because of our Italy experience we will never fly Delta again.)  Anyway, our flight to and from San Diego was with U.S. Airways.  They were so nice and accommodating with us.  We missed our flight out of Salt Lake, and they just automatically scheduled another flight for us and didn't ask any questions.  It was amazing.  So thank you U.S. Airways for treating us great.  We got to San Diego about noon on Friday.  Liz and Michael were great and drove us to and from the airport, and everywhere else we needed to go.

Once we got to their cute little apartment in Oceanside, we sat and talked for hours.  We all helped out and made dinner together.  Friday night we had Indian food.  It was delicious.  Later on that night we went for a fun little night swim.  We had so much fun doing that.  Chris and I hadn't been in a swimming pool in over 3 years, so that was a great thing to get back in and swim away.  We tried to watch a scary movie that night, but Chris was so tired from traveling, and not sleeping the night before that he fell asleep about 10 o'clock that night.  Liz and Michael took us to our hotel and we decided to meet up again the next morning after everyone was well rested.

Saturday was a lot of fun.  That is the day that we went to Legoland.  That's right, every couple in their 20's should visit Legoland.  We are setting an example for you all.

The entrance of Legoland.

We actually had a blast while we were there.  There were obviously a ton of families with children, but we didn't care.  We loved it.  It was really fun for Chris and Michael.  Legos are easily Chris's favorite thing to play with to pass the time.  Liz and I loved to watch our husband go into a child-like state.  It was really cute of them.  We started out the Lego adventure going to the Build and Race Center.  It is an area where you can build your own car, out of Legos of course, and race them against other people.  Chris and Michael were all over that.  They love that idea.  They raced 2 times.  The first time the cars ran into each other, so no one won.  The second time it was really close the whole way, then Chris' car pulled out ahead at the last second and beat Michael.  But just barely beat him.

The final products.

There were also rides that we went on.  One of the best ones though I didn't even go on.  Only Liz and Michael went on this one.  But Liz was so funny on it that it was probably my favorite part of the day.  Here is a link to my Facebook page where I have posted the video.   http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150843345200855&set=vb.622610854&type=2&theater  I promise you are going to want to watch it.  It won't be a waste of your time.  We spent about 4 hours in Legoland.  After that we went over to the Aquarium that they have right next to Legoland.  That was Michael's favorite part of the day.  He thought that it was pretty cool.  We all did.  After the Aquarium we went to Trader Joe's.  That place was magical.  I am so glad that we are finally going to get one here in Utah.  It is going to be in Salt Lake, so a little bit of a drive, but it'll be worth it.  For dinner that night we went to Chipotle.  That was also an amazing place.  Come to Utah please!  After dinner Liz and I had a dance party in her living room.  The boys did not want to join us, which seemed odd to me.  All boys love to dance around their homes to random music. . . Right?

Sunday we went to the beach and Liz and I went shopping.  That was wonderful.  I love both of those things so much.  Liz was really nice and helped me my personal shopper.  She went around every store and just pulled things that she thought had potential to be cute on.  She did a good job because I bought a lot of stuff.  So thank you Liz.  I need to hire you full time to do that for me.

Liz and I at the beach.  What a great day.

Monday. . .  Monday was a bitter-sweet day.  Bitter because that is the day that we had to go home.  And sweet because it was my birthday!!  And anyone that knows me knows that my birthday is a way big deal to me.  That day Liz took Chris and I to Hodads for my birthday lunch.  (Michael wasn't there sadly.  He was the only adult and had to work.)  Hodads was so good though.  The burgers were amazing. . .  The fries were amazing. . .  The atmosphere was amazing as well.  I would give my 25th birthday a 11 out of 10.  Thanks to my wonderful sister, Liz.

Hodads for my birthday lunch.

The trip was a huge success.  We are already trying to figure out the next time that we can go to the wonderful city of Oceanside and see 2 of our favorite people again.  Thanks for showing us around Liz and Michael.  We will be back very soon.

Memorial Day Fun

On Memorial Day my family and I went to The Hogle Zoo.  I hadn't been in a really long time, so I thought that it would be a lot of fun for us to do together.  Plus, Kenlee and Tyson are at an age where they would enjoy all of the animals that are there.  We made it to the zoo, and boy was it crowded.  There were SO many people there that day.  For some reason it didn't occur to me that that would be an issue.  It was still a lot of fun though.  The rest of the post will be some pictures that I took while we were there.

I love to take pictures of me and Chris.  He is a good sport.

The Donio family with the elephants.

Grandpa and Tyson looking in the waiting for the tigers to go into the water.

Kenlee thought that the giant ball was pretty cool.

The giraffes are my favorite.

This is the wild side of the Allan children.  Jake is the gorilla.  Zach is the snow lepord.  I am the giraffe.  And Ami is the elephant.  It was fun to have all 4 kids together again.