Baylie Stuff

Our favorite little girl is turning 2 this week. I remember when her parents moved into our ward and I leaned over to Jack and said "we should be friends with them cuz their baby is SO cute". Who would have known that her parents would be pretty great too =). We're so grateful to have such great friends. I've leaned on Kristin a lot this past year and honestly i'm not sure I could have gotten through it without her friendship and support. I love her to pieces! PLUS she shares her kids with me- she knows exactly what I need.

Baylie is turning two this week so Jack and I decided we wanted to take her on a birthday date. I was giddy ALL day waiting for 3:45 to roll around. haha We took her to the Bean Museum up at BYU to see all the animals. It took her a minute to warm up to all the stuffed scary animals but then she ran around like crazy. She loved looking at the fish on the wall and the birds. She knew the names of so many animals and loved telling us what they said.

After the museum we took her to a few pet stores to see live animals. She loved looking at the fish. One pet store had a tank on the bottom shelf with the lid off and she just stood over the tank watching the fish. She also loved the puppies and snakes. Ugh! She was mesmerized with the snakes climbing up the sides and staring at her. We're pretty sure they were planning their dinner. I HATE snakes!

After the pet stores we took her to McDonalds to eat dinner. All she wanted was fries and her apple juice. At one point I dumped her fries out into her chicken nugget box so she could grab them easier and she refused to eat them. It took us a minute to realize she wanted them back in the fry bag so I gave it back to her and she proceeding to put all the fries back in and then she was happy to continue eating them. haha so cute. She loved playing in the play land. Jack even let her go into the big jungle gym slides. haha He thought it was cute till she looked at me from the top and said "Dayna, help" so I sent him in to get her. She loved playing with the "music" (largo piano keys on the floor that make noise when you step on them) and jumping on the guitar.

We made her run errands with us too. I had to pick up a few things from the grocery store and Jack kept her entertained by pretending to run into things or fall and she would laugh hysterically. I'm sure people thought we were ridiculous because we would just stand in an isle for 5 minutes running into things and taking videos.

We're so glad we get to have Baylie in our lives. She brightens our days and makes us smile just when we need it. Happy Birthday Baylie. We love you!

Girls Night Stuff

Margo and I have been friends forever. We go way back. She married her sweetheart almost two years ago and he moved her to Provo so she could be closer to me! (I'm pretty sure proximity to me was the focal point in many of their decisions... right Margs?) Now they have decided to move all the way to California. =( We're trying to utilize our time wisely and spend as much time together as possible.

Last night we had Girls Night at my house. I made a delicious menu of appetizers (you can go HERE to get the recipes). Ever since we started our recipe blog I am kind of obsessed with trying new recipes and I LOVED having someone to try out all the food Jack refuses to eat. Everything turned out so yummy and fun! We ate till we were bursting and then spent the evening talking. We also fit a chick flick in- we went to the dollar theater to see Leap Year (so cute).

I love having forever friends. I love knowing that no matter how long we go without seeing each other or talking, we can still pick up right where we left off. I am going to miss this girl.

Ephraim Stuff

I can't remember the last time Jack and I had been on a date. In the middle of the week Jack suggested we go somewhere on Saturday. I am all for getting out of town. We decided to head down to Ephraim. sigh. We love Ephraim. We go down there every once in a while just to slow down a little and visit our old stomping grounds. Jack claims we hating living in such a small town but every time we go down there I fall in love with it all over again.

We left Saturday afternoon after spending the morning with our adorable niece Kathryn. We may be biased but we're pretty sure she loves us the very most. Jack got her to smile and giggle SO much. Aw. We just love this girl.

After Adam and Angeline left we headed down to Ephraim. We stopped and ate at Fat Jack's Pizza. Their food is definitely worth the drive! (yes, we are aware the name was changed to Roy's Pizza... but it will always be Fat Jack's in our heart) We spent the next hour just driving around. Sitting in our old parking lots and remembering the times when we couldn't leave our drive way because farmers were using the roads to herd their sheep. The first Elders Quorum activity we went to and Jack insisted on wearing his ugly sweater. No wonder we had no friends. Playing volleyball with the only other married couple we knew. Running around the track at night. Renting at least 5 movies every weekend from Movie Gallery.

Life was good then.

Life is good now. I have an amazing husband who wants to hold my hand.

What more could a girl ask for.

New Blog Stuff

It's FINALLY happening.

Better Than Burgers is up and running!

My Mom and I recently started our own recipe blog. We are SO excited about this new hobby.

Check it out at betterthanburgers.blogspot.com

We're having a GIVEAWAY right now. Loaded with lots of fun and fabulous recipes.

Add us to your Google Reader, your blog list or just your daily reading. You are sure to find something that anyone can cook!

Jazz Game Stuff

For Jack's birthday I got him tickets to the Jazz/Bobcats game. I was so bummed that I spilled the beans about the game before his actual birthday but I was determined to have fun regardless.

Jack and I headed up to the game after he got off work and enjoyed the ride up. It's the first time we've seen each other for longer than 10 minutes at a time in almost a week. I miss that boy! We ate dinner at Chili's before the game and then headed in early. We got to watch the team warm up for a few minutes- It's always so surreal to me when I see them so close up. They're people too? Weird.

We eventually had to return to our seats for the actual game. We were so far up that it actually made me lightheaded and made my hands clam up because we were so high. I do not do heights! I'm pretty sure they send everyone who fails an IQ test to the upper bowl. We sat in a really interesting section. Apparently the basketball players hear and care about what the people sitting on the top row think. At least the people behind us sure thought so. I decided that I need to become rich so I never have to sit in the upper bowl again- at least not the top half!

We had so much fun though and making fun of the idiots around us added to the experience. I think giving Jack Birthday presents that I get to enjoy also is a fabulous idea!

Turning 26 Stuff

Last weekend Jack turned 26. I know it's not super old but he's now closer to 30 then 20. Which is just weird. This year we decided to celebrate with friends so the night before Jack's birthday we went to Rodizio Grill- just the two of us. It's one of our very favorite places and we're so happy they built one in American Fork. Mmm...

Saturday Jack requested birthday breakfast so I got up and made pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, eggs and toast. We ate breakfast and opened presents. Jack got a Gift Certificate for a new video card, jazz tickets, a car phone charger and a basketball sleeve. I did SO well at keeping everything a surprise until the night before his birthday when I decided to show Jack my great new planner and for some reason I felt like I needed to show him all the stuff I had to do this week. My page opened to Wednesday's "Basketball Game". I suck at lying so he knew he was getting basketball tickets. Sad. He loved it though.

Jack had a church ball game Saturday afternoon so I tagged along for support. I forget how crazy some of the guys can get in those games. Jack's team lost in the end but I had so much fun watching. Bummer that I waited till the last game of the season to go root for my hubby.

We spent the afternoon at Best Buy picking out Jack's dream Video Card. I hate that guys always want boring stuff for gifts. He absolutely loved it though. He spent all afternoon installing it and trying out his games.

That evening we went to the Mayan Adventure with Sam and Tiffany and Higgs. For those of you who have never been it's a restaurant in Sandy that is themed and has cliff divers. It feels like you are walking into a ride at Disneyland. SO much fun. We hadn't been there in a long time and they had totally redone their menu. I was SO pleased with everything I thought our seats were amazing, my food was really good and we had great company. So much fun. I really wanna go again soon so if you've never been let's double date! (seriously!)


We polished off our night with Ice Cream cake at home. I've been making this for Jack's birthday every year since we got married. It's amazing and SO easy. (you'll have to wait for my recipe blog to come out before you can have the recipe...) It was a perfect birthday. Jack is amazing. I feel so lucky to be married to my very best friend. He truly is the very best part of me. I love you hunny! Happy Birthday.

Sister Stuff

After I spent the long weekend at home with my family I brought my sister Kim back to Orem with me. She's moving out here in June to go to school so we decided she needed to look at housing and jobs. I absolutely love sister time. We spent the week shopping, talking, cooking and looking for houses/jobs.

We spent one afternoon watching chick flicks and crafting. So fun! Here's what we made up.

We drove ALL over Provo and Orem gathering job applications. She did end up with an interview by the time the week was over so I think it was a huge success. She also signed a contract for an apartment.

I love my sister. It was one of the best weeks I'd had in the longest time.
I can't wait for June so she can live here for reals!