Afternoon at the Museum

Dave's work is amazing and has passes to Thanksgiving Point for their employees to use, so a couple weeks ago we went with my best friend, Lindsey, and her family to the museum.  We had so much fun together.  I never feel like I get to see them enough.  They live an hour away from us so we don't get to see them as much as I would like.  Dave and I have been to the museum a few times now, but it never gets old.  I have always had this weird love of dinosaurs since I was little.  My parents used to take us to Dinosaur Land in Vernal when we were little and I just loved it.  I thought I was going to be a paleontologist when I grew up.  So needless to say I still have fun going and looking at dinosaur bones.  Dave and I both like the brontosaurus best.   Lindsey's kids were loving the area that has water and sand with toy dinosaurs so Lindsey and I got to catch up while Dave and Brian played with the kids in the water.  After the museum we tried a new restaurant in American Fork, The Wild Zucchini. It is like Cafe Rio only it is Italian food.  I had a salad and it was really delicious so I'm glad we tried it out.  

United for Adoption

Dave and I had the opportunity to attend United for Adoption's Second Annual Conference in November.  It was such a good experience and I am so glad we went.  It was so nice to meet and connect with people who are in our same situation and understand the ups and downs of the adoption process.  There were some really great classes and we learned so much.  We went to a class about communication and it just reinforced to me how much I want to have a good relationship with whoever becomes our birth mother.  A birth mother there talked about how talking to a birth mom was like talking to a human.  It was a funny thing to say but so true!  We all have fears and are in uncharted territory.  It was good to realize that she is probably just as nervous and scared as we are.  We also went to a class on positive parenting.  This was Dave's favorite class and I really enjoyed it as well.  The therapist teaching the class had actually been adopted when he was a teenager and it was so helpful to see things from a different perspective.  Lastly, we were able to attend a birth mother panel.  It was our first time attending one and it was so helpful to hear how things are from a birth mother's perspective.  Open adoption is amazing!  Adoption really is about love. 

Austin's Football Game

Last week we were able to go to our nephew's football game.  It was great to be able to watch him play.  His team has been doing really well and is going to be in the finals.  Austin plays center and is so much bigger than the other kids his age he has no problem tackling them.  He towers over them.  He is going to be a tall guy.  We love spending time with family.  While Austin was playing we chased around my younger niece and nephew.  They were being so funny.  They wanted me to roll them up in a blanket like a burrito and then they kept telling me, "Eat me, eat me".  They are adorable.

Austin's team won the game, so it was exciting to be able to celebrate with them.  So glad he is having fun.  After the game, we went back to Kelly and Katie's house and Dave's Mom came over.  It was nice to visit and play a bit more with the kids.  

"Dracula"- Desert Star Playhouse

To help get us in the Halloween mood, Dave and I went and saw "Dracula" at the Desert Star Playhouse.  It was a blast.  We laughed the whole way through.  At one point they were making a reference to Count Dracula on Sesame Street.  Dracula had a number 2 to hold up because he counted two doctors.  He then proceeded to go a little off script, which is always our favorite!  He asked one of the other cast members if they could discard of his big number two, then said "it has glitter all over it, that crap gets everywhere".  Dave and I were dying and the other cast member was giving a valiant effort at trying to keep it together.  It was a really fun night. 

Dave being silly.  I told him we had to redo this picture because it was rude of him to make that face.

Here is the redo.  Apparently he was in a silly mood...

Girl's Night

Every six months while the men are at the Priesthood session of General Conference the girls in my family get together to craft.  This has been such a fun tradition and I always look forward to it.  This year we painted and modge podged blocks that say fall.  I love how even though we all start out with the same blocks our finished crafts look so different from each other.  You can totally see each person's personality in their craft.  When the men get home from the Priesthood session we have a delicious treat.  This year we had chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream.  It was super yummy!  

"She Loves Me"- HCT

Well, Amber got me to do today's blog post... so who knows what will be written :) As you can see we went out on a good ol' fashion date. It was a good date because we both worked a half day and met up at lunch and had the rest of the day to be together. After lunch we had tickets for the the Hale Center Theatre to see "She Loves Me". The production was a musical and I've come to like musicals over the past few years, however, Amber has always been fond of them. The play was really good both in acting and song, and we both had a good laugh. The nice thing about this particular theatre is they have stadium seating and the stage in itself is able to move which allows to good prop and scene changes.

After the production we went to the Porters Place in Lehi, it was recommended to us by my twin brother. As you can see there is old Porter himself photo-bombing us. We both got burgers, but I was a little more adventurous since mine was made with an elk patty. We also got some good scones there too with some well prepared honey butter... one of Amber's favorites.

As always, time does fly by quickly when you're in good company and it was sure nice to get out with the wife and escape the typical day-to-day stuff for an afternoon. 

Bear Lake

Dave and I took off a few days in September for a little vacation and headed to Bear Lake.  Because it was after the normal season we had the lake to ourselves.  It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the water was a vibrant color of blue.

We took our raft out onto the lake and just floated around and enjoyed the sunshine.  It was so relaxing.  It was nice to take a break from work and just be able to spend time together.  

We stayed at a hotel in Logan, and our first night there we ate at a little Italian place called LeNonne. It was so good.  It was a beautiful little home that they had turned into a restaurant so it had a really great ambiance.  I loved their bruschetta, it was delicious.  Dave had a seafood pasta which he really enjoyed.  It had clams, calamari, muscles, and shrimp.  He loves all that kind of stuff.  After, we returned to our hotel and warmed up in the hot tub.  It was a rainy night.  Then we grabbed a hot chocolate and watched "Clue" in our room.  I had never seen it before, neither had Dave.  It was really silly. 

Our last morning there we went to the duck pond at the mouth of Logan Canyon.  We tried to catch some fish but did not have any luck.  A couple of fish did take a bite, but they immediately spit out the lure.  So no fish for us.  Oh well, I'm not a big seafood fan anyway, not like Dave is.  

After going fishing we hiked to the Wind Tunnels.  They were aptly named, it was incredibly windy up there!  The formations in the rock from all of the wind was really interesting to see though.  It was also nice to get out and get a bit of exercise.  Dave and I had so much fun talking on the way to, and the way back from the tunnels.  We talked about our new house and all of our plans for decorating and for the yard.  We talked about where life has brought us, and all the things we are looking forward to in the future.  I loved being able to spend a few days with my best friend.