Dan: Post #2

A creative title, I know.

Becca has been gone for a while now.  She went to see a "movie" with her "friend," "Brooke."  Whatever that means...

Seeing that I'm too lazy (and mentally ill-equipped) to create unique blog content, I've decided to post another video.  The following video is my all-time favorite Mormon Message on Youtube.  Lately I've found my thoughts drifting towards employment, supporting a family, ways to make lots of money, etc.

Coincidentally (or not...) I stumbled upon this video again.  I'm grateful to have a father who taught me how to work and taught me how to live.  He is the man.  It's by watching him that I have learned the relative worthlessness of money and the invaluable nature of love, service, sacrifice, friendship, and faith.  His example in my life has, and will continue to be, infinitely beyond quantifiable value.

If you've watched this, watch it again.

Wow...

This just came up on my Yahoo news.

This is my all time favorite hymn ever.

Ever.

Plus, I love Carrie Underwood. (If you listen to the live version that comes up after the first video, she almost sounds even more amazing.)

The first is only the 1st and 4th verse with a musical interlude...it's seriously moving. The second is a softer version with all but the 2nd verse. I heart them both.

Miss Us?

Between my lovely family vacation (see here) and Dan's not so lovely finals (though he's done lovely on them) we've been a little MIA! But not to worry... I'm back, and Dan takes his last final today! Graduation tomorrow and he's done!

I am actually very excited about this. Graduating last year was great. Entering the work force. Meh. But at least no more homework. My evenings are mine. However, I wish my evenings contained more of Dan. And now... they can! While we're making studying his full-time job for the summer (good ol' CFA and CPA tests) I'm expecting to have more time together without things hanging over his head. Or maybe I'll start a honey-do list. I've heard your marriage isn't solidified until you have one. :)

Actually, though, I'm mostly just proud of him. I'm sure I'll get flack from him later for bragging, but I don't care. Because he is awesome and handsome and charming and smart. The kid is graduating in the top of his class, nailed an extremely respected job that no undergrad has gotten in 5 years, passed the GMAT in the 99th percentile, and on top of all of that... he takes care of me. Which can be a job in itself. My mother even warned him that I'm two handfuls. But I digress...

Anyway, I'd love to share more details and specifics about how smart he is, but I know I'd get in trouble. Did I mention that he's one of the humblest people I know?

I apologize for the cliche, lovey-dovey blog... but hey, we were just apart for 10 days. Plus check out this pic. Can you blame me?

What A Weekend!

Wow... What a weekend! And you know it must have been given it's Wednesday already! Yeah, it took that much recovery time.

Dan's parent's are out of town. In Hawaii. In Hana, Maui. Jealous? Yeah, me too. But since they are gone, we decided to escape to their house this weekend for General Conference. I had lots of sewing to do for rendezvous, Dan had lots of homework, and we both had lots of laundry. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men, right?

Things we learned, and hence learned from them:

1. Water Heaters sometimes break when you turn them off Vacation...and subsequently flood your in-laws basement. Sayonara Laundry!

What we learned: With Dan on the phone for "fix it now!" duty, and me soaking up water with every towel I could find... we made a pretty good team. My consolation here: Liz, my mother-in-law, had just previously told me a story from her early marriage that helped me to know she wouldn't wring my neck upon returning home. Sorry I can't indulge... that's her secret to share, and you never know who may be reading this ;)

2. Utah is a fan of freak snow storms. One day it's 65...then 8 inches of snow the next morning! Aka Sunday.

What we learned: Matt and Kate are much more proactive than us. We awoke to them shoveling the driveway. Followed by them making breakfast. Mmm! Pancakes, fruit, and bacon. My excuse for not helping was that I was sick. I thought it a pretty good one.

3. Freak snow storms result in power outages from 3am to 4pm. Aka no sewing.

What we learned:  Resourcefulness. Battery powered radio for conference: Check. Grandma Winters for lunch: Check. Stayed there for the second session: check. Luckily the power came back on at 4, so we spent the next 7 hours finishing up laundry and homework.

All in all, still a wonderfully good weekend. There were some other random lessons about car oil and food buffets, but such is our life, really. I was sick, but I've managed to sleep most of it off the past 2 days. Dan's been a dear and doted on me. I couldn't ask for more.

Now for today... to see how much this girl can sew in one evening!

My name is Dan.

I'm a blogger!  I blog!

Having fun already.  This post is to let the world (my parents and in-laws) know that up until a few days ago I had never - never - lost a game of Scrabble.  Becca and I played three times.  She beat me.  Three times.  Twice - twice - she put down all 7 tiles on her first move of the game.  Without going into the intricacies of the game, that's essentially like rolling a Yahtzee on your first roll, two games in a row -- the major difference being that a Yahtzee is pure luck and a 7-tile word is all skill.  The girl is smart!  Not to mention beautiful and talented and hilarious and everything I could have ever wanted in a wife and best friend.

But enough with the gooey/cliche blog love.  

Um...so this is supposed to be like a journal right?  Well, Becca is asleep next to me right now.  It's 12:50 AM.  I'm basically just staying up to hear her say funny things in her sleep.  She says ridiculously funny things when she's awake so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that her sleep ramblings are hilarious.

Another thing about Becca is that she sewed (dumbest spelling in the English language) a dress today.  She didn't make a dress from scratch but she fixed one she already had...or something like that.  All I know is that it looked really impressive and difficult.  I was all, "Dang, I didn't know you could sew," and she was all, "Yeah, I can sew."  Huh!  The girl is full of surprises!  One day she's gonna come home with a gold medal and I'm gonna be all, "Dang, I didn't know you could curl," and she's gonna be all, "Yeah, I can curl," and then I'm gonna be all, "Figures."  Then maybe we'll get Wendy's or something.

It's too late to be writing this.  Also, I can tell this has too few pictures and baby quotes for a blog...so here's a funny baby:

Dan

Tonight:

I made our plans for tonight...Scrabble. Many of my coworkers have been playing "words with friends", an interactive, back and forth, scrabble game on their phones. Given my lack of smart phone...I've developed a hankering to play Dan. We went through a phase while we were engaged. He always wins. He usually starts helping me try to beat him at the end. I came really close once. But I'm determined to do it on my own.

So among other things, our plans for tonight:

To Get The Scrabble...


To Play The Scrabble:


To Win The Scrabble...

Lurve :)

Got Me Some Hot Shocola!

Mmm... Hazelnut Hot Chocolate. Yum.

It's another overcast day. But today is a good day, it's half over! And, I'm looking forward to my lunch. Ramen noodles with some Alfredo sauce I made the other day. Taste yet to be determined.

The Alfredo is good. And more than the fact that it is homemade, I am proud to say that I had all the ingredients on hand to whip it up. See, that's when I'll consider myself a master homemaker. When I've perfected grocery shopping enough to "have things on hand". With a 6'4 fast-metabolism husband and a wife that, well, has a metabolism... that will be complete homemaking mastery. In my mind, at least...

Mmm! This hot chocolate is sweet! No worries. I'm going swimming tonight and fully expect to work off every last gram of sugar. (Shh... my delusions make me feel better, k?). Actually, I'm just attempting to get back into a shape where I won't drown. I'm helping teach a good friend of mine, which is tremendously motivating. Especially since she's so excited about learning.

Really, though, I love swimming. You dive in, like a mermaid, and just glide through the water. I think it's the closest feeling to flying we can get. Especially those first few dolphin kicks, before you start taking your strokes. Mmm...

The best perk of swimming... The smell of chlorine. I have vivid memories of my sister, her freshman year, standing in the kitchen after practice. My mom and I would get our noses all up in her space, sniffing deeply enough to kill more than a few brain cells, I'm sure. I slow down every time I walk by the RB Pool at BYU and take in deep breaths of that chemical elixir.

Chlorine high? Maybe. Looking forward to tonight? Yes.