a few of my favorite spring things

these things aren't all limited to spring, but they happened to occur recently...so they are a few of my favorite spring things right now.

dave's grandparents recently moved and we inherited their grill. here was the first thing we made...shish kebabs (by we i mean dave, the grill master). they were delicious!! thanks to grandma lorrie and buster we also inherited some patio furniture that we enjoyed last night with grilled burgers and brats on the balcony with our friend chris!! we missed you anna and sascha.

ted's montana grill...my first time trying bison and it was fantastic!

the tree blooming right outside our living room window. it seriously exploded overnight and really does look like popcorn (popping on the apricot tree)!

flowers from my husband for no reason! this happens throughout the year so it's not just limited to spring (lucky for me)!

i hope everyone is having a great spring! we've had two days of weather in the upper 70's and tomorrow it is supposed to be rainy/snowy and in the mid 40's. i had to celebrate spring while it still feels like it.

dang it!

all day yesterday i thought it was thursday instead of wednesday, which pretty much stinks. i thought i had finally convinced my brain of the truth, but this morning when i woke up i thought, "it's friday!" imagine my disappointment when i realized it is ONLY thursday. oh well, i think i have come to terms with the fact that i have to wait a little longer for the weekend. happy THURSDAY!

i'm back

i have definitely been slacking with blogging lately. work is crazy, life is busy and to be perfectly honest, when i have gotten home at night i have been too lazy to blog (yes, that is very lazy), although not to lazy to check out other peoples' blogs. so i am getting back on track...slowly. there will be more posts, especially about our fun weekend with the wesslers, but this is a start!

family!!

over the last month or so i have been thinking about what a wonderful blessing my family is in my life. i remember thinking this as i had a fun lunch chatting and laughing with my sister-in-law kari a month or so ago, when my brother-in-law mark had a last minute trip to denver and we got to spend an evening with him at my parent's house, when my brother ryan came into town for general conference weekend (and dave learned firsthand how the todd's can talk...and talk...late into the night and early into the morning...and we didn't even have all the girls here!) and this past weekend as dave's sister, erin and her husband, john came into town for a visit.

me and ry

during general conference i was touched by a talk given by cheryl c. lant about righteous family traditions. i was overwhelmed with gratitude for the righteous traditions that have been taught/passed onto me by "goodly parents." my parents have always been an example to me and i feel like the quote below describes the way they have always tried to parent and the traditions they tried to instill in their kids; and the traditions i hope to pass onto my kids one day.

"I would invite all of us to take a moment to reflect on the traditions in our lives and how they might be affecting our families. Our traditions of Sabbath day observance, family prayer, family scripture study, service and activity in the Church, as well as patterns of respect and loyalty in the home, will have a great effect on our children and on their future. If our parenting is based on the teachings of the scriptures and of the latter-day prophets, we cannot go wrong. If every time there is a challenge our hearts turn first and always to our Father in Heaven for direction, we will be in a safe place. If our children know where we stand and we always stand on the Lord’s side, we know we are where we need to be."

thanks mom and dad. i love you!

meet frank!

at the end of february i had an event for work in atlanta. it was my first time being the overall event manager for this kind or size of event and it was TONS of work. however it went really well (good thing since i was in charge) and there were even some fun perks...like meeting frank caliendo. he is a hilarious impersonator, has his own show, "frank tv," on tbs and is currently doing commercials for dish network. he did an hour set for our group after dinner and i was rolling (although not literally. that could have been viewed as unprofessional). following his show a small group was invited to a "meet & greet" to meet him...greet him...and get their picture taken. so here i am, meeting and greeting frank caliendo (he was actually really nice).

while i must say that i have NO desire to be famous, when i saw how much he got paid to do an hour set or how much other entertainers charge that we consider getting for events (i'm talking about $1 million dollars to play a concert for 45 minutes-1 hour...wow), i wish that i could be famous for an instant. seriously, why couldn't i be funny or have musical talent or be motivating or good at pretending i am someone else or something! honestly, frank caliendo made more in *1 hour* than i make in an entire year. something seems wrong about the whole thing. but nonetheless i am just a regular person and at the end of the day i am fine with that!

8 months and counting!

i have been married a short enough time that i still count months. friday marked 8 months of being married and it seems almost impossible that it has been that long. it has gone so quickly, although i shouldn't be so surprised because life seems to speed up as you get older. it has been 8 wonderful months of learning, loving and laughing. i have been happier than i could imagine and my love for dave has already grown more than i expected. i have been blessed by his kindness, his thoughtfulness, his willingness to sacrifice, his humor, his patience, his testimony and his love. and life is never dull with him around...i never know what to expect (as illustrated by the pictures below...memories of dating and marriage so far). i am so grateful he is my husband and i can't wait for an eternity more with him. i love you baby!

a day at the museum

on saturday we went to the denver museum of nature & science with my dad (we were sad that my mom wasn't feeling well and couldn't come). here are a few things i learned:

• i want to visit switzerland one day. we saw "the alps" at the imax and it was so beautiful (although it confirmed that i don't want to climb a killer mountain in the snow any time soon...not that i was really considering it)
• at the "hall of life" i learned i need to lose some weight and stop eating unhealthy foods. but i do have a great vertical jump (there were some fun games in the hall of life)!!
• the "egyptian mummy" exhibit confirmed that i want to go to egypt. it also made me glad they don't mummify people anymore...the hook through the nose that pulls out the brain sounds really uncomfortable. not to mention the removal of the internal organs (although sometimes they wrapped them in linen and put them back in. how nice!)