Toothless turns one!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOTHLESS!!!!!

So today, Toothless turned 1. David got him for me last Mother's day, and we decided that he needed to have a proper birthday with an added celebration. Today, Toothless got extra food, sang to, his cage cleaned, and Meaty was nice to him all day. (Meaty is Toothless' pet/bff. He was supposed to be food, but Toothless wanted him as a pet instead) And at the end of the day, Toothless said that he wanted us to go out and celebrate so we did. :) We tried out the new Mandarin Chinese restaurant in town and it was actually quite good! (I'll talk about that later)

We stopped off at Walmart and David decided to surprise Toothless with a football and fitted gloves! He even said that I could use them at my football games! (what a great turtle!) We then ended the night with delicious snow cones from the Snow Shack, what a treat! When we came home, Toothless was just overwhelmed with all of his presents and surprises. We both sang him happy birthday and made sure that Toothless was settled for the night. Since he had such a big day, he wanted to retire to bed early.

David and I are just so grateful for Toothless-he has brought us so much joy over this last year and we are excited to spend many more with him! Happy birthday little guy!

Yay for today!!!

No pictures today. Why you may ask? Well, it's because my gut is the size of a 15 pound watermelon. Today was delightful-started early with sending my little sister Jana off back to Provo, and then sent David off to work. I had about 20 min to myself and just sit and ponder. It was the best 20 min of the day. Until I forgot that I hadn't packed my lunch yet-so I rushed and did that and literally sprinted out to my car for work. (the neighbor was laughing at me the whole time because I forgot something in the house and I stalled the car trying to keep it running and go up really fast.) But anyways....work was great. I'm almost done with training at the bank and I am super excited to start being an official tell for real. I mean playing with fake money is great and all, but I need more interaction with people throughout the day!

Side note: Today I was trained by Robin, she is a delightful woman with a lot of experience under her belt. She is kind and warmhearted and I want to be more like her. She greeted me with a warm smile and a hug and said "welcome to the bank! I'm sorry I wasn't here last week, but let's get started..." I instantly felt at home and calm. We talked throughout the day, reviewed what I had been learning all last week and she was just wonderful. When I had questions, she made me feel smart for asking 'the right ones' and if I ever made a mistake she would say, oh it took me years to really figure these things out! I found out that we were 'soul sistas' because we had similar wedding rings, and taste in clothes (she like to wear black, gray...and sometimes color, haha like me!) She took time to get to know me and my family and even invited me to go to her house for dinner sometime soon-it was just nice to feel special and not just the 'trainee' Oh how I adore Robin, and I am so grateful for her today.

Ok, back on track....today was great, I got off work early and headed straight home, picked up David and we went to the TEMPLE!!!! WAHOOOOO!!!!! Oh how I love the Temple and its peaceful power. You enter and whatever problems you had that day just melt away, and you instantly feel at home. Nothing can beat the feeling of being in the Temple with your hubby-knowing that you both are doing what is right. Well, also tonight our dear friends Lindsay and Devon were getting out their endowments for their wedding on Friday! So excited for that too! Wahoo! :) Well, after a glorious session David suggested that we go to Craigos. (ok, it went more like....

me: I feel gaunt
david: well what do you want to eat?
me: doesn't matter
david: no really, what do you want?
me: seroiusly, doesn't matter, I"ll have whatever tonight
david: what do you want
me: ok, PIZZA!!!!
david: so do you want craigos, dominos, little cesars, pizza hut...
me: doesn't matter
david; mandy just tell me
me: no you pick, i picked what kind of food
david: well....how about little cesars...
me: uhhhh maybe not...
david: then what do you want?
me: craigos? maybe?
david: I could do craigos
me: OH GOOD, I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD SAY THAT!!!
david: why didn't you just tell me in the first place?
me: mumble mumble mumble
david: what was that? I can't hear you?
me: doesn't matter, we're getting PIZZA!!!!

If any of you were wondering if that's how we did dinner every night, it is. haha doesn't always end up being craigos, but switch in different foods and that's pretty much how it is daily. haha-you'd think I'd learn.

Ok, so now you all know-after an all you can eat pizza buffet including dessert pizza (ooo I love orero!) I am sufficiently stuffed for the next 2 days and want to go work out but know if I move, I'll regret it later.  So I'm committing to work out tomorrow, and if I don't...well, I 'll have David think of a punishment. Overall, life is good and I couldn't be happier :)

Dutch oven cooking

Dutch oven cooking, a mystery until tonight. What an adventure! This past Tuesday, I went to Young Womens (a youth group put on by my church) and they were going over the final plans for the Ward Dutch Oven Cook-off for today. Slightly embarrassed and puzzled, I just smiled and looked excited then once I got home I searched it via google and entered into a whole new world (I just thought of Aladin...) But seriously-there are some intense dutch oven cookers-I would suggest you google it as well and see for yourself.

Tonight, while googling gave me a pretty good idea of what I was in for-I experienced it on my own. After some initial laughter from the other adults, we got started and I helped with the potatoes.

Before I go on, I would like to just let everyone know that I currently live in Rexburg, Idaho. The land of college students, potatoe farms and big trucks. I have graduated (yes mom and dad, I actually did graduate) from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a degree in Communication and LOVE it! While I may not be using my degree to its fullest, I am loving my full time job as a teller and enjoy life so much! I have the greatest husband ever and we have a turtle (toothless) and his fish friend (meaty.) While I work, David is slaving away at school and work as well. I am so grateful for him and for all he does for us. Since we've been here-I have come to realize that while I may not have been a sheltered child, I am not fully aware and someone ignorant to the farmer/cowboy ways. (like dutch oven cooking) So needless to say-I have had my eyes opened many times to new and fun ways of the west.

Moving on...sorry about my little rant/life story/update, but seriously-it was so cool, I was asked to slice the potatoes previously for the event, and with my wonderful food processor I was able to get it all done in a matter of minutes. So I perfectly sliced these MASSIVE potatoes for the event. So I get to the cookoff and we start making these potatoes with bacon, onions, tons of different spices and they turned off incredible.

Not only did we do potatoes, but we had cakes, chicken, baked beans and a variety of other foods all made from these little dutch ovens! It seriously was incredible and it was such a party. Now that I have been sufficently filled and smell like delicious smoke and meat (the hubby loves it-haha) I have been on the look out of how I can purchase a dutch oven and where I can start making delicious meals from the backyard. I love learning new things!

Julie's baby shower

What a fun day! It has been filled with plenty of food, photos and lots of family and fun! Julie is one of the greatest girls you will EVER meet. She is so kind and beautiful and can make anyone feel like a million bucks. Her amazing mom and cousin put on a great suprise baby shower for Julie today and I had the opportunity to join in on the fun! There was tons of delicious food and some fun games and lots of gifts for Julie's baby boy! Her husband, Morgan, (who is also my cousin) joined in on the fun and experienced all of the excitement with us all.

Overall it was a ton of fun and I met some wonderful people as we joined in celebrating Julie and Morgan's future baby boy! Congrats you two-you are going to be the best parents ever!