Gone and back again

Well it has definitely been a while and I appologize for the long absence of posts. For those of you who weren't aware we have been in California then in Hawaii for about a month and we had recently returned last week. As you can imagine it has been difficult coming back to reality and having to get back into the swing of things. However, we are surviving.We had a BLAST on our vacation, I will be posting many many posts on what we did during our trip, pictures and videos so keep an eye out for that. I can't believe how incredibly hot and dry it has been here in Utah when we left it wasn't even close to being the way it is now and Hawaii wasn't even this hot! Utah is taking its fair share of fires due to the dryness, heat and stupid people but I'm sure after many prayers we are finally getting rain this summer.  This morning it was overcast and it is now raining thank the lord! we most definitely needed it. Even though I miss Hawaii terribly and wish there was no such thing as reality we are glad to be home :)

He did It!!

Yesterday my dad got a call from Golds Gym saying he needed to report to KUTV channel 2 news this morning at 6:15am for the announcing of the winner for the Golds Gym weightloss challenge. Early this morning my parents and Dustin went down to Salt Lake for the announcement and Dillon and I made sure we woke up by 6:30am to watch it on the news. Just as a background on what this golds gym challenge is and my dad golds gym holds these weightloss challenges where they take your before picture and you are given I believe 6 months to work as hard as you can to lose weight then come back for a final weigh in and get your body fat measured etc. They have an overall state winner for their age group then they have an overall national winner. Last year my dad won $3500 for 1st in state for his age group and 2nd nationally. This morning my dad won $6500 for 1st in state AND 1st NATIONALLY!! He went from 307lbs down to 200lbs in a year and a half!! It was incredibly tough but sooo worth it. He worked out incredibly hard and changed his eating habbits tremendously, talk about self control, determination and perseverance. He definitely is an inspiration for my whole family as well as many others that see him in our neighborhood and at the gym. Since he won last year he has been helping a lot of others in our neighborhood and random people who came up to him at the gym wanting him to work them out. We are soo soo proud of him!

Mini vaca

So as if I haven't said it enough I'm going to say it again but my husband is so stinkin thoughtful, romantic, spontanious, full of energy and excitement and just an overall cutie pie! Last week Dillon surprised me and booked a hotel stay at the Red Lion in Salt Lake for the weekend. We checked in on Friday May 4th after Dillon's recognition ceremony which he had a blast at. He recieved recognition and an award for doing so well on wow surveys and sales last quarter, he was #1 in his branch and #4 in the state, he also won a $50 gift card which we used to celebrate our little getaway he was so excited to have won a prize lol I'm so proud of him. We checked in to a big nice hotel room with an extreeeemly comfy king sized bed and that evening we went to see the Avengers with Cody and Erin.  We hardly get to see Erin so it was nice that she was in town that weekend and we were able to get together with her.  We absolutely loved the Avengers and afterward we all seriously felt as if we were almighty Avengers and could do some serious damage to anyone who gets in our way and causes trouble lol. Dillon and I were even getting all  pumped and about took codys friends out who at the time we never knew were his friends but were walking straight toward our little circle to say hi to him lol then we went out to eat at the Himalayan which is an Indian food place. On Saturday we went and toured the Beehive House and then we met up with Cody at the Living Planet Aquarium. It was soo neat we got to touch stingrays, starfish and lizards and we saw some really neat fish and animals. While we were in Salt Lake we went and hiked up to Ensign peak . Dillon and I had such a relaxing and great weekend, we just love spending time together and being able to go on mini getaways with each other, however we sure do miss the comfy hotel bed lol. 

Easter!

For Easter weekend Cody came to spend the weekend with us so he spent the night on Saturday and we all woke up Sunday morning excited to see what the Easter bunny brought us. This year the Easter bunny brought us lots of candy (Mostly all reeses mmm), kites, yo-yo's, pringles, he brought me hair claws and nail polish along with yummy nutri grain bars. After we took pictures with our baskets and played with our yo-yo's a bit we had a yummy breakfast casserole that had been cooking in the crock pot over night as well as fruit and orange juice. We then headed over to my parents where we all went to church at their ward then went to their house to have a great easter dinner consisting of turkey, sweet potatoes, a beautiful salad, hot soft rolls, jello casserole, mashed potatoes and stuffing. After begging my parents to do an easter egg hunt for us they finally gave in even though they thought we were all too old to have an easter egg hunt seeing as how we are all over the age of 19 but you're never too old to have an easter egg hunt, that just means they can hide it harder. The dyeing of our easter eggs was exciting and let me tell ya....the easter egg dying was pretty intense lol. It was a great first Easter as a married couple I can't wait for many  more holidays to come with my sweet hubby. He's so appreciative and excited to celebrate all the big and little holidays throughout the year together and he loves all the little things we do to celebrate.

BAM!

Yesterday after I got off of work Dillon and I pretty much became gangstas. We went to a shooting range and tried out a gun we are interested in. We are both going to be getting our concealed weapons permit and we will be purchasing our first gun. Dillon has been doing lots of research on all types of guns and we have gone to look at them and try them out ourselves. It was my first time shooting an actual gun so I was a bit nervous.  Dillon shot a few rounds then taught me how a gun works, how to load it and cock it then of course aim and shoot.  He stood by me my first couple times shooting the gun and held my arm and put a hand on my back to comfort me and make me feel more comfortable.  I don't think i will ever get used to how loud it is shooting in doors even with ear phones on because that was one thing that freaked me out a bit, 2nd the fact that I was holding and shooting an actual loaded gun and 3rd the recoil (even though it wasn't too bad). Dillon let me shoot more than he did because he wants me to be comfortable with a gun and he has been shooting before. It was so fun and such a great new experience, Dillon is a natural at everything and looks sexy doing everything including shooting a gun I am one lucky gal .

Temple Visit

Last week we had such a great experience.  We had the opportunity to do the temple work for family members on my moms side of the family.  She has been working so hard on our family Genealogy and it has been such a blessing in the way that she is having GREAT success finding family members and information on them, she even has been contacted by 3 cousins of hers she never knew she had, IN FACT one of her cousins is flying from Kau'i to St. George this summer and my mom is driving down there to meet with her and pick up files and pictures her cousins has on family members. My mom and her cousins are talking to each other on the phone every day sharing information with each other. It's so exciting especially because these records were pretty much non existent for the longest time, my mom thought she would never be able progress with the work of her family.  My parents and Dillon and I took the names of a family of 12 to the temple where we were able to perform baptisms and confirmations.  Dillon and I did the baptisms for the family members and my dad baptized us then afterward my dad confirmed Dillon and Dillon confirmed me.  It was such a great experience to be able to perform these ordinances for our family members and especially with my husband and have him lay his hand on my head and perform the confirmation. The spirit was so strong we definitely felt the spirits of our family members and their happiness.

Valentines day

Dillon and I just love Holidays one of them being Valentines Day When I got up in the morning to get ready for work I hung up the candy letter/poster I made for Dillon on the wall for when he got up to leave for school then I headed out for good ol' work. Throughout the day at work I was sending Dillon texts building up the anticipation for our Valentines Day evening, Dillon had school in the morning but he didn't have to go to actual work because they paid for him and several others to go see Chronicles at the movies for the day (lucky duck) and get paid for it they even bought them gift cards to buy treats there at the theater. I'm so glad he was able to get the job at Wells Fargo it is so good for him and he loves it. After work I had class for a little bit but my teacher let us go home early with it being Valentines day.  When I got I was greeted by my sweetie with a huge hug and kisses and a spotless home, when I walked in to our bedroom he had it decorated so pretty and romantic and left me treats and a pot of a pink polka-dot plant on the bed, he is so incredibly created. I then did a "love hunt" (which is a scavenger hunt) for Dillon where he had to perform the task I wrote on one of the cards before he could read the clue.  The tasks that were on the card were, "take turns feeding each other chocolate dipped strawberries before reading the next clue" "Share with each other your favorite characteristic about each other" "share favorite memory with each other" "poor a glass of bubbly and take turns making a toast" "sweep your woman into your arms and dance to an entire romantic song before reading the next clue" and "kiss your woman like shes never been kissed before" the last clue led him back in to the bedroom where some surprises were awaiting him. Every Valentines day it is a tradition for us to make at home little pizzas so we had fun making pizzas and eating it with bubbly then for dessert we had refreshing Strawberry Shortcake then spent the rest of the night enjoying each other and the rest of our night.  Dillon is so sweet, I love that he loves celebrating Holidays and continuing/making new traditions.  He definitely is one of a kind, I'm so glad I found love and I get to keep him forever :)

Whatchu know about that red velvet cake?? mmm thanks mom!