Happy birthday Dustin

So Thursday is my favorite day of the week. Not entirely sure why, it just is. An even better Thursday is when it's Dustin's birthday! I made this little collage of awesomeness into a big 33. hahaha. I was inspired by a pinterest thing.  He hasn't seen it yet. :) He will, though, when he gets home. This post is for him. :)

So Dustin, you are a unique and wonderful man. How grateful I am that we have been able to spend some wonderful times together. There are so many parts to you, so many things that make you you. You know I love lists, and so here is a birthday list just for you.

The complicated bits and bobs that make up Dustin. (or What makes Dustin Dustin.)

1. Your love of Jeeps.

2. The best sense of humor in the universe.

3. Your love of the gospel.

4. Being an outdoor enthusiast. Example: fishing, hunting, wheeling, hiking, camping, etc.

5. The amazing father you are to our two beautiful young daughters.

6. Putting your whole heart into everything you do whether it's being a young men's leader or mowing the lawn or going to work or loving your family.

7. Your appreciation of snow.

8. Daddy daughter dates.

9. You patience when I ask one million and one questions.

10. Being a hard worker.

11. Diving in and trying before admitting defeat. (I'm not sure defeat has ever happened, though.)

12. Drinking out of the hose. :)

13. Your amazing one armed photo shoots. Of the whole family!

14. Going on drives.

15. Your sense of adventure.

16. Funny faces.

17. Back scratches.

18. Short hair and blue blue eyes.

19. Your amazing barbecue skillz.

20. An oil change for a first date.

21. Helping others out whenever you see someone in need of it.

22. Showing our girls how to fish and hunt and fix the car.

23. Your love of fireworks and fire. (Pyro!)

24. Your varied knowledge in many many many things.

25. Being the best friend any one could hope for.

26. Loving the Bears for 6 million years even though they sucked for 5.9 million of those years.

27. The love we have shared for the last 9 (or so) years.

28. Your love of your family.

29. The natural leader you are.

30. Bringing snickers ice cream and bug juices home, just because.

31. Giggling like a school girl when you find something hilarious.

32. A warm heart to go with your warm hands.

33. Melting when our girls just want to hug their Daddy.

Babe. We love you heaps. Thanks for being who you are.

Our New Ward

Our stake was joined with another stake last Sunday to make one large stake. So now I belong to the Salt Lake Granger Stake and I am in the Granger Ward. We have all of my old ward in our new ward, but we also have sections of two other wards. Today is going to be our first Sunday all together. I am so excited to meet all the new children in our Primary. It is going to be a wild and adventurous day. I'm a bit nervous. I'm still the primary president. We have a program coming up. Wish me luck.


And I came across theses guys when Lete posted a video on facebook. Enjoy.

Back to school

Miaya has started preschool again. She is in her second year. She LOVES it. I love her school. It is such a wonderful place for little ones to thrive. Anyway, this is the only picture Miaya would let me take of her at school. She was too anxious to get in there and for me to go away. Boo hoo. Just kidding. I love her independent spirit! :) I think it would be so much harder if she didn't want to go. So I cried a little while I drove back home from taking her. hahahahaha. I'm allowed.

Because I didn't get more than one shot at school, I took a bunch at home. hahahaha. Enjoy.

Love all that wild and curly hair.

Miaya's 5th

Can you believe this amazing, sweet, precocious, energetic, thoughtful, stubborn, beautiful girl is 5? Me either. But she is. And she had so much fun on her birthday. Dustin (and I) gave her this lei for her birthday. 

Grandma Rhea made her a Candyland cake. Awesome, right?

I made these for her bedroom out of tissue paper! So easy, and so fun, and she adores them.

Check out her left eye in this picture. She learned that from her Dad. ;)

Sarah Pop 

See this is my proof she learned the eye thing from her Dad. 

She got to pick whatever she wanted in the whole world to eat for her birthday, and you know what she wanted? Arctic Circle. Crazy kid. hahahahaha. She loves the play land place there. It's the only one we let her go in, because it's all open and she can't hide or run away when it's time to go. hahahahahahha.

Sarah and Daddy drumming on the slide while Miaya is inside.

Miaya felt like a princess on her birthday. She got to do whatever she wanted (within reason :) and she was very gracious about it. Love you Miaya Pie!

love this song

It's so pretty. So lovely. So soothing.

Blood blood blood

The first time I ever gave blood, I was 18 years old. There was a blood drive in my stake, and so off I went and gave my blood. I was nervous, excited, and a little apprehensive. I was really worried about passing out and such. I didn't. I was completely fine. At that time, one of the people there told me that most people gave blood only once and never did it again. I vowed that I would do it again. It took a long time, but I did. And I did again tonight. I love giving blood. I love doing stuff that is not harmful to me, and I have extra, so why not give it to someone else who might need it. I have also donated my hair a couple of times. It's great. No inconvenience to me + someone else benefits = Why not? Let's do this.

Awesome. Have you ever given blood? Or does the idea make you queasy? Dustin hasn't ever, and probably won't. The idea is very uncomfortable to him. I understand. It's not something everyone can, should, or even wants to do. :)

Hope your day is happy.

No pictures. Again.

I haven't taken pictures in a while. I'm not sure why. But we're having fun. I will take more pictures so you have something fun to look at while you're here. ;)

 So I went to Wal Mart today. I kind of hate Wal Mart. It's not an active hate. I just avoid going as much as possible. The concept of the store is great: one stop shopping. I just have bad experiences pretty much EVERY TIME I GO. Today I had coupons and the lady had already rung everything up and the coupons were left off. (Because I used my debit card, and had already swiped it) She said next time to put the coupons on the little place next to where the card machine is. I did put them there, and told her that. She wasn't too pleased. I felt bad. Not for saying that I did. I was nice about it. I felt bad about the whole transaction, and vowed yet again to avoid Wal Mart as much as possible.

 hahahahahahaha.

 Okay! It's Labor Day weekend, and it's going to be great! Miriam and Daniel will be here in Utah, and we are going to get to meet Jamison for the first time. And the kids get to hang out. And I get to see my sister! wooo hooo. That's fun.

 Dustin is repurposing an old tent trailer. We got it years ago. Seriously. And it's just been sitting in the backyard, being a home to a mouse hoard. Okay, maybe not a hoard but at least 2 mice. They are disgusting creatures. Anyway, it's a bit of a tedious process. Dusting tore it apart in one afternoon, which was a lovely surprise. He's been putting it back together as a flat bed trailer. Very handy. It's lots of trial and error, however. Not such a lovely surprise.

 The weather has been lovely this week here. It was about 100 degrees for a couple of days last week. This week it's been downright pleasant in the 80's. Delicious. I love this time of year. It's still warm in the day time, but lovely cool evenings. OH my. So good. Autumn is on it's way. ::sigh::

 My latest obsession: Pinterest. It is such an awesome thing. A great way to put a bunch of stuff you love online into one place. Like we have a bunch of tomatoes finally ripening in my garden, and I wanted to try making home made tomato soup. I checked out Pinterest, and found this and this and this and this. So that's what we're having for dinner. Yum yum.

Happy Labor Day!

제 이름은 알버트입니다 (My name is Albert) Ég heiti Albert

My talented little sister made this. It makes me happy.