Graduation to the front porch:

I know, that ALL of you have been waiting, dieing to hear, just about to fall out of your seats to know, that our little plants have graduated from their little pots. :) One of Dane's little surprises for me last Saturday was two shiny, new pots for our basil and oregano. We are happy to announce that they have made it to the front porch.

Happy 6 Month Anniversary Dane and Bridget!

Yesterday, June 28 was Dane and my 6 month anniversary. (I know, some of you teased us for celebrating this as an "anniversary", but for the first year, this is BIG!)
When I got home from an enrichment activity that we had in the morning, this is what I found waiting for me on the kitchen table: (I knew it was going to be a wonderful day!)Beautiful huh? My man knows how to treat me!

We took the rest of the afternoon off to ourselves and went for a few little adventures. One of which was a beautiful drive up Provo Canyon to Sundance. It was a little cooler up there, and very beautiful. I always forget how breathtaking the mountains in Provo are! After that, we went to the mall, returned some things and did a little shopping. It was very fun. Dane took me to dinner at one of our favorite places, Bombay House, and we ate ourselves full of amazing Indian food. Mmmmmm....I think they must put some sort of addictive something in their food. It is super good. While we ate, we brainstormed some of the highlights we could think of from the last 6 months. It was so fun. Some of the ones we came up with were:
Trip to California
Cruise to Mexico
Dane's birthday
cooking dinner together
being able to eat breakfast and dinner together almost everyday
the two months where we watched all 4 seasons of "Lost"
Cuddling
Snuggling
Our families
Ella
getting my new bike
bike rides with our biker gang
SmartCookie
Eating out...a little too much
Stan's
Our house (we love it!!)
Our ward, tons of WAY good friends!
Game nights with friends
Otter pops
Seven Peaks
Dane giving me flowers for no reason
Dane giving me flowers for special reasons (these were highlights for both of us)
RedBox
RedBox promo codes
....and many many more!

We came home for the evening to watch a movie and make cookies. The cookies are definitely where our next adventure came in. Note: This is NOT what our cookies looked like, but what they were supposed to look like :)For some reason, the first batch of cookies we made seemed to have trouble cooking. Dane pulled them out of the oven, and as the recipe said that they would still be soft and to let them cool on the sheet, he did, but even after cooling, he scraped one off and onto the cooling rack, and then watched it melt through the rack and drip all over. It was definitely still dough. So we tried to bake them again for several minutes, and they did "bake" but were still super soft after letting them cool for several minutes. Anyway, to say the least, the next batch worked out a lot better, maybe because we made the cookies a lot smaller.

So, I didn't want to spend too much of this post on our cookie fiasco, but did want to take a chance to say how wonderful these last six months have been. The best of my life! I am so grateful to be married to a man who is fun, caring, hardworking, valiant and who never fails to share his love for me! I love you Dane, and I am excited to see what the next 6 months will bring!

Remembering Nick

Some of you may know, others may not, that my best friend growing up passed away in a car accident while I was on my mission. His birthday was yesterday, June 24th, and I thought I should make a post on the blog about how much I miss him. I have a picture of Nick and I on a ski trip to Whistler. It's in our bedroom, so I see it everyday and I always have a memory or two shoot through my mind of our frequent trips to White Pass, our experiences on swim team together, or spending time with him and His parents (Bill and Linda) at their cabin in Idaho. Nick will never be forgotten to me. He had an infectious smile and was always a blast to be around. He added so much adventure to my life! It is still sad to think he is gone, but he still lives on in our hearts and memories. 

Happy Birthday Nick! I miss you, and can't wait to see you again. We'll never forget you!

-Dane

"do you have any candy?"

I just had to post a quick little story today about our latest visitors these few days. I think it all started about a week ago when we had a little knock at our door. Dane and I both looked out to see who it was, as the top half of our front door is a window. We didn't see anyone! I couldn't imaging that we had been door-bell-ditched, so I got up and opened to door to find 4 little kids, each about, ummm....5 or 6 years old? They were so cute. The first thing out of the mouths was, "Do you have any candy?" We had a little conversation through which I learned that they had been to most of the houses on our street and were still empty handed.
For those of you who don't know, yes, Dane and I are still on that no-candy thing that all started on his mission, but when those cute little eyes were looking up at me, I remembered the stash of movie-candy that we got for our wedding with a big popcorn bowl, popcorn and lemonade. (BTW, what a great wedding present idea!) We have been saving it all this time for something, and I guess it was these little girls. Man they are so cute.
We sent them away with hands full of M'nM's, but not before I made them say "Trick-or-treat!" That was really cute too, and they have been back several times since then. Yesterday we gave them an otter-pop and whoppers. I wonder when is the next time they will come back....umm probably today!
We may run out of candy soon, but I want to keep at least a little bit on hand so that they will keep coming back.
Now that I think of it, I used to be those little girls. Does anyone remember the Ryders? They were this little, sweet, old couple who lived on the other side of my neighborhood who we always used to go visit, just for the purpose of getting candy from them. I aways wondered if we bothered her, but now that we have our own little visitors coming, I think I understand a little how she felt. It is really fun to have little peeps come say hi!

Let there be life!

Dane and I are proud to announce that we have little green sprouts popping up in our house! No, it is not what you wishful thinkers are thinking :)
Abbie gave us some little pots at her book party and we planted oregano(left) and basil (right). The party was a week ago, and Dane has been eagerly waiting to see any sign of life coming from them. We were so excited to wake up yesterday morning to see their little green heads poking out. I have never grown anything before and was half expecting them to die. I guess I shouldn't speak to soon huh?
We have been perfecting our pizza recipes, and lately we have been experimenting with making a margarita. Let me tell you, fresh basil is where it's at. Mmmmmm....I am imagining pizza in the near future!

P.S. does anyone have any good recipes that use oregano?

Summer bike rides, here we come!

Well, the bike shop was definitely open for us today. Dane and I headed over to pick up his bike with newly tuned/fixed breaks and road tires and my dream bike. I haven't gotten a name for her yet, but she is pretty amazing. Yeah, I love my bike. It kinda reminds me of the one I rode on my mission, but less clunky, more comfortable, and way more cute. When we began the search for a bike for Bridget, I never imagined that I would find one that seemed so me. I love it! The color, the style, the leather-like seat and matching handle bars....I am in love, of course with Dane, but also my bike. Is that ok?

We went out for a few rides this evening, and just when we decided to take them out to take pictures to post our good friend Katie Smith happened to walk by and took this picture above for us. Thanks Katie! So her is the bike, front view:

Back: ooooooh....ahhhhhh! p.s. notice Katie in the back walking home? Shout out to the Smiths!

Oh, and of course, with Katie came Jack! We love Jack and had to include a picture--couldn't resist.

The day of closed

Yesterday was the day of closed places for Dane and I. It seriously got to the point where it just became funny. It all started out when we drove to Sandy for me to go to a baby shower of one of my dear friends, Allison (Ross) Steck. Dane had heard about this great deli in Salt Lake that was famous for selling over 100 different hot sauces, so we decided to head over there before going home because we were already over half way there from Provo. We found it easily, parked and then as we walked in, the woman at the counter said, "We're closed! We close at 3:00 on Saturdays." Dane told her that we had come all the way from Provo, but she didn't seem very sympathetic. My thought was, "Why was the door open?! It was almost 5:00, and we just walked in..."So we got back in our car and headed back home, with little idea of what had just begun.

Since we were in the car and had time to drive, we thought it would be a good time to exchange something Dane got for his birthday that we had in the car with us. The store was in Springville and guess what? It was closed too. It wasn't very late in the day and we still didn't really have plans for the night so we headed home and stopped at a couple bike shops on the way. We have been wanting to get a bike for me for a while so that we can bike together to school, and other places. We have done a little looking around and found one that I really liked, but wanted to check out some other places before purchasing...The first bike shop we went to was closing, and we went in for a few minutes. It was just long enough to figure out how much I really like the one we had already found, and how great the deal was. So we decided to go back there and check it out again. We were even thinking maybe we could go on an evening bike ride! Well, it was closed.

We were getting really sad at this point, and just went home. Mike and Katie Smith's place is on our way and they were out playing in their garden when we went by. Dane said, "The Smiths aren't closed!" so, we stopped and said hi to them for a little while. Jack even decided he wanted to go for a little walk with us. It was a good way for us to be cheered up a little, but by the evening we weren't exactally in the mood to go anywhere else and decided just to watch a movie. I went to RedBox and stopped at Smart Cookie on the way home to get a little treat. Note: for anyone who wants to know, cookies are probably Dane's favorite thing (besides me, of course) in the whole entire world. He loves them. He would rather have a cookie than any other treat, or maybe food too. And Smart Cookie is his favorite place to get cookies. I have to agree, they are amazing. So I pulled up, and started laughing as I saw a sign on the door that said, "We will be closed Saturday 6/7/08. Come back Monday for more cookies!" Of all days to be closed, Smart Cookie picked the most ironic one for us. I couldn't help but laugh.

Belated Posting

Well, now that we officially have our blog set up, we have a lot of catching up to do. We have a ton of pictures on Dane's camera that we haven't been able to get off due to a missing USB connection cord, but alas, that dilemma has been solved. So just a heads up, the next several posts may be a few months behind :)

Let's start with the most recent: Our trip to California for Memorial Day weekend.

For those of you who did not know, we took 5 days (F-T) and drove to the great state of California to visit Dane's mission and some good friends. (P.S. Dane would want everyone to know that we got great mileage on the way there and back in our sweet little civic: 42 mpg.)
We drove all day Friday making a stop in Woodland to have dinner with a boy that Dane taught who later got baptized. He was great. We drove around the little town and hit the road again to spend the night in Santa Rosa with Merilyn Gillis. She is and absolute sweetheart. I never thought that anyone could love Dane as much and I do, but I think she comes in pretty close. In spite of her under-construction/remodeling home, she surprised Dane and I with an open-house the next morning, inviting friends from the ward because she knew we would most likely not be able to see them any other way.
We headed out after breakfast to Nappa Valley to see the charming towns of Sonoma, St. Helena and the beautiful vineyards of NorCal, met lots more people and had some great food. It was so beautiful and so wonderful to meet everyone that Dane has been telling me stories about over the last several months. There was not a single person who didn't tell me about the legacy that Elder Smith had left behind, what a great missionary he was, and all that the next missionaries had to live up to. Again, it was great to be reminded of what a catch I have!
We spent the night in Santa Rosa again, and went to church in Fairfield the next day. Visited some more great people, drove back to Santa Rosa, and had desert with Dane's mission president, President Stoddard.
Then we got back in the car (I know, we drove a ton....just writing about it is making me tired all over again...) and spent the night with Dane's good friends, Matt and Mimi Snow. They live outside San Fransisco in Walnut Creek. They are totally fun and took us to see the big city the next day. That is when we remembered that we had promised everyone we would take pictures, so here they are:
We liked this one because you can see the trolley we rode and the crazy roads of San Fran. Look how steep it is!! (apparently no one who is actually from there calls it that, according to Dane)

We stopped at Pier 39, it is a pretty famous, touristy spot, but was one of the only places open on Memorial Day. It was fun. This is an old pier that is not used anymore, and for some reason no body knows why, hundreds of sea lions decided to make it their home years and years ago. They were pretty funny to watch. I think they were showing off for us.

More sea lions.
We stopped at a bakery on the pier and got soup in these amazing bread bowls! mmmmmm.

We really had great food on this trip. Dane took me to In-and-Out Burger and made sure that I got my burger "animal-style", way good. AND even though the one in the city we were planning on going to was closed, Dane did all he could to get me Baja Fresh Monday night when we went back to Walnut Creek. MMMMMMMM! It made me so happy.

Happy Birthday to my Love!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANE!

I think that most people start a blog with a big life-changing experience, like getting married, having a baby, or moving far away. Well, my excuse is that Dane and I have wanted to do this for a while but never felt like we had the time, or a good time to start it. So here it is, our blog. I put it together for Dane's birthday and surprised him with it last night--along with a few other surprises.

Without his knowing of the plan, we celebrated his birthday yesterday with a big surprise party (literally bursting out of the seams of our house). I was so happy with how many of his friends showed up for the big surprise. I invited over 25 people, of course thinking that half or a little more would show, and there were only a few people who called me at the last minute to tell me they couldn't make it. We were crowded, but it was a lot of fun. Dane was so happy to be able to see everyone there. Thank you to all who came and all who couldn't. We love you! I think it says a lot about Dane's character for how many good friends he had there. He is one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for!

I am so grateful to have Dane in my life. He is the most wonderful, caring, fun, loving, exciting thing that has ever happened to me. He is one of those people you cannot help but love. Even when I try to be even a little mad, he always seems to make me laugh and forget all about it. I love him soooooooooooo much. He is such a strength to me, emotionally, academically, and spiritually (even physically...he can change the battery in the smoke detector without any effort, let alone a chair; he can reach every little nook in our tall cupboards for me, and do much much more!)

I love you Dane!

Happy Birthday!


Dane and his cake:

Some of Dane's friends at our place:

Posting Premire:

Well, for all of you who have been waiting, we are finally here. Yes, online.


This is how it all began. Enjoy