Dyer Family

Ode to Avery

2010-06-18T15:24:00.001-05:00

Avery, Aves, Missy Mae, A-town, Ry-ry. She is our little sweetheart.

She poses for pictures, such a ham. She loves her swimsuit. She finds it in her dresser, waves it at me, and pulls on her clothes to take them off.

She loves to read.

She loves to make her sister laugh. I sometimes put her in the pack n' play while I get ready and she loves to do this. Isabella thinks it is hilarious, and so do I.

She loves walks. As soon as she is in the stroller she sticks her fingers in the two little holes that the crossbar hooks into. They typically stay there the entire walk.

She looks more like her mom everyday, what do you think?
She is very independent. She likes to feed herself and likes to play with toys on the floors by herself, but every few minutes she looks up at me just to make sure I'm still there and smiles.
I love this little girl.

Ode to Isabella

2010-05-12T13:23:00.004-05:00

Isabella, Izzy, Is, Bug, Frog, Izza-bug. She is a funny little thing.

She's can squeeze her way between anything, but can't get herself out.

She has "crazy eyes." That's really the only way to describe them. Everywhere I go people stop and and say "oh they are so cute....yada, yada, yada...and that one has...(trying to think of a nice way to describe them)...crazy eyes." They are big, round, blue, and at any given moment you can see white around the entire outside. Oh yeah, and check out the crazy hair to match.

She likes to put ping-pong balls in her mouth...

She likes to empty the entire box of baby wipes...

and eat them.

She'll chase you around the house with this look on her face and snorting. I love this!

Child Prodigy!

2010-03-31T11:23:00.004-05:00

My girls are master pianists already! They didn't even need a lesson!

Although, Isabella likes to climb on the keyboard more than anything.

Which really irritates Avery.

Speaking of climbing... Isabella is a climbing machine! She climbs on anything and everything. Pretty sure she gets this from her dad. He could climb out of his crib by the time he was 1! She is getting really fast at climbing the stairs. She is so squirmy that it's almost impossible to change her diaper. Hence, her pajamas are not buttoned. And she is so strong! Isabella had RSV a couple weeks ago (Avery had it the next week, long couple weeks, glad it's over) and the strong, male doctor and myself could not hold her down to check her ears, we had to call in a nurse for help.
She pulls herself up on everything. Including her sister's face. Yes, if Avery is lying down, Isabella will crawl her way over and use Avery's face as a boost to stand up. If' I'm not giving her enough attention she crawls over and pulls herself up on my leg. It's really the sweetest thing in the world.

cutie patooties

2010-03-11T12:52:00.004-06:00

Boy, I love these girls! Aren't they cute!!

Typically Avery Faces
Isabella being her silly self. She loves to eat her socks...gross, I know.
Now that Isabella is mobile, it's hard to get a picture of both of them together. Here's what happens when I try.

Moo, Baa, La La La!!

2010-03-05T15:52:00.005-06:00

A cow says Moo.
A Sheep says Baa.
Three singing pigs say LA LA LA!
"No, no!" you say, "that isn't right. The pigs say oink all day and night."
Rhinoceroses snort and snuff.
And little dogs go ruff ruff ruff!
Some other dogs go bow wow wow!
And cats and kittens say Meow!
Quack! Says the duck.
A horse says neigh.
It's quiet now. What do you say?

Sadly, I recited the entire book without even checking to make sure I have it right. I know I have it right. Down to which animal "says" and which "goes". This is Avery's favorite book. I read it at least 5 times a day. She doesn't care if she's looking at the book or not. If she won't eat her mashed carrots, I just say "The cow says moo" and she looks up with a big grin on her face and I slip them in.

Our favorite comedian is Brian Regan and I am convinced he is talking about this book in one of his jokes. Here's a link to the video to see for yourself.

http://comedians.comedycentral.com/brian-regan/videos/brian-regan---animal-sounds

March Is Upon Us!

2010-03-01T12:01:00.003-06:00

Yipee! Spring starts in 21 days which is one season closer to SUMMER! This summer will be particularly wondrous. I spent the first half of last summer hugely pregnant and on bedrest. Then of course the second half of the summer was consumed by 2 tiny little babies. So, I spent zero time outdoors. Such a shame, Utah has incredible summers! I couldn't limit it to 10, so here is my list of the 11 best things of summer 2010.

1. Boating. Every Saturday. Everyone is invited!

2. Sunbathing. I know it's really terrible for me, but I love it.

3. 4th of July. My favorite holiday. Oh yeah, fireworks are pretty sweet too.

4. Fruit! Strawberries, cantaloupe, peaches, cherries, watermelon, and although it's not a fruit, it still deserves to be mentioned, corn on the cob.

5. My family coming to Utah. My parents and siblings that are still at home always make a trip to Utah in July. We have been doing it for 25+ years.

6. For those of you that get excited for boots and scarfs... Blah! Boots and scarfs and suck it! It's all about sandals and sun dresses.

7. Looooong Days

8. My Brother-In-Law, Jon, comes home from his mission. Everyone says this, but I can't believe he has been gone for 2 years

9. Long walks OUTDOORS! I go to the Orem rec center and walk around the indoor track, but I'm really tired of looking at those brown walls and the smell of sweat.

10. Grilling. Grilling is awesome.

11. The ice cream truck. Those magical notes make my heart beat every time.

Built in Playmate

2010-01-28T10:23:00.005-06:00

I've been told twins become easier as they get older because they play with each other instead of you entertaining them. I don't know about this. You be the judge....

The video and picture were taken on their half birthday!

The last 2 months

2010-01-21T15:06:00.002-06:00

I decided after my last post that I hated blogging and I was never going to blog again. Haha, sometimes I can be such a teenage girl. I know where Isabella got her drama queen personality. But really I do hate to blog, but I like to read other blogs, so maybe others like to read my blog.

December started with Dallin starting a new job at Ancestory.com. He had been working there for several months as a contractor. They liked him so much that they "bought" him from the contracting company he was working for. He really likes it there and was very happy to make it permanent.

We went down to Texas for Christmas and guess who showed up on Christmas Eve!

Santa!!!!!!

Yes, I am looking at the wrong camera, Avery is screaming, and Dallin has his eyes closed. ehh...
My 6-year-old nephew was not fooled however. He knew is wasn't the real santa because "Grandpa was missing." It really was awesome. My dad really did a good job with all the hohoho's. I hope this becomes a tradition.

Christmas morning was a free-for-all.

At first Isabella wasn't sure what to think of all the excitement.

But eventually she came around.
As always, Avery was just happy to be alive
New Years Eve was spent in Texas as well. To welcome in the new year we decided to play a scandalous game of "truth or dare" minus the truth part. I'll spare you all the details, but lets just say Jared ended the night with an asphalt scrape on his butt, dallin had permanant marker on his chest for days, and Preston may not eat peanut butter ever again.

Of course the best part of the trip was spending time with these people!

My insanely cute nephew Bryce was a champion bowler.

All the Neeley's managed to spend an afternoon rollerskating without any broken bones. That's pretty good considering our history with the sport.
Me, sisters Jenna, Heather, Rebecca, Rachel, and brother Jared

Avery and Isabella got so much attention they didn't know what to do with themselves.

Avery with Grandma Lisa.
Lindsay with Isabella and Rachel with Avery.

And of course I got to hang out with these cute kids which always makes me happy

Nephews Austin and Bryce showing off their spiderman webs.

Niece Leah
We got back to Utah and spent the next week in depression trying to get used to the snow. blah...

The girls turn 6 months in 6 days! Wow, I can't believe it has been that long!

4 months!

2009-12-14T16:37:00.003-06:00

Avery and Isabella are 4 1/2 months! Little Avery is not so little anymore, she passed Isabella!

Avery weighs 12 lbs 1 oz and is 24.5 inches long! She still has a giant head. Her head is in the 75th percentile and her weight is only in the 17th!

Isabella weighs 12lbs and is 24 inches long! They are just about caught up to average sized babies which makes me oh so happy! They healthy, happy, and beautiful!

Hawaii!!!

2009-12-14T16:00:00.003-06:00

We went to Hawaii for Thanksgiving this year and boy was it fun!

We did a lot of this....

and a lot of this...
I don't have a lot to say about the trip. It was relaxing and great to have so much help with the girls!

The girls were great on the flight. The connecting flight from Honolulu to Kauai was not as pleasant, but luckily it's a 20 minute flight...

Beautiful view from our hotel room.

Uncle Devin with Avery and Dallin with Isabella. I love that Avery is checking out her sister!

Classic Isabella face!

...and classic Avery.
Dallin with his girls!
Avery loves being a mermaid....Oh the things parents do to their kids...

Family picture sans Avery (who was napping)

Brothers!

Naked babies!

Family picture complete with Hawaiian shirt.
While we were there we celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary!

Mommy Mode

2009-11-09T22:29:00.003-06:00

People ask me all the time, "How is life with twins?" Motherhood is motherhood no matter how many kids you have. You start doing things that probably make you look a little crazy. I was telling my sister about some of the odd habits I have picked up and she thought they were much funnier than I did and told me I should blog about it. So, Rachel, this is for you.

This conversation happened during Sacrament Meeting while both girls were sleeping.
Dallin: "I'm tired."
Me: "We'll get you home, feed you, and put you to bed."

No, I was not trying to be comical and as soon as I said it I realized what I said and Dallin and I both had a terrible case of the giggles during Sacrament Meeting.

I'm so used to holding a baby in my arms and every once in a while leaning over to give her a kiss on the head that I've started kissing anything in my hands. I've kissed straws, forks, bottles...etc. Dallin finds this very entertaining and keeps a tally of everything that I've kissed subconsciously.

Am I completely crazy?

Thug Babies!

2009-11-06T14:13:00.003-06:00

The girls all bundled up for a walk. Don't they look like little thugs? Although, I don't think thugs come even close to being this cute.

I ran upstairs to grab my shoes and when I can back down poor little Avery was blinded.

Halloween

2009-11-04T09:26:00.002-06:00

A Witch, Vampire, and their 2 peas in a pod!

Avery does smile...I promise!

2009-10-30T10:18:00.002-05:00

After reading the last couple posts, I realized I made poor Avery look like Scrooge! She is a very happy baby and smiles all the time, she is just a little camera shy. I did however manage to catch one of her beautiful smiles!

Today is looking good!

2009-10-28T12:59:00.002-05:00

So far today I have: fed the girls, bathed the girls, played with the girls, put the girls down for a nap, exercised, showered, did my hair (!), put on makeup (!!), picked out an actual outfit (not sweatpants), and even put on earings all before noon! I actually feel like a human being!

Why Hello There!

2009-10-22T17:32:00.003-05:00

Isabella is getting so good at holding up her head!

(This picture is about 2 weeks old, you should see her now!)

Avery on the other hand...She's still working on it.

(This picture was also taken 2 weeks ago, but not much has changed)If you saw the size of Avery's head compared to her body you would understand the delay. She gets it from her parents, we both have huge heads!

Drama Queen

2009-10-22T17:14:00.004-05:00

It's crazy how different Avery and Isabella are already. Isabella is such a drama queen! She is happy and laughing most of the time, but when she's hungry or tired....oh man, she is mad! There really isn't anything in between. She also LOVES the camera. She thinks the flash is hilarious.

Avery on the other hand is more relaxed. It takes a lot more to make her mad and a lot more to make her excited. She's too cool for school and spends most of the day with a smirk on her face. When the camera comes out she just looks at me like...what the heck are you doing.

Here's some examples. These pictures were taken one after the other. Notice the difference between Avery's expression and Isabella's from picture to picture (Isabella on the left, Avery on the right) -- Sorry about the quality, I didn't realize I sized them down so small....

And another example.... (Isabella on the right, Avery on the left)

This is my favorite...they are holding hands. How cute is that!

6 Weeks Old!

2009-09-09T17:43:00.004-05:00

I've been terrible at posting Avery and Isabella's stats. They are 6 weeks old and getting so big!

Isabella weighs 8 lbs 2 oz (she's gained 3 lbs in 6 weeks!) and is 21" long. That puts her in the 10th percentile! That's such an improvement from the 1.5th percentile at 2 weeks!

Avery weighs 7 lbs 4 oz (that's a 3 lbs 4 oz weight gain) and 19.5" long. She's still only in the 3%, but is slowly catching her sister! As far as I'm concerned the bigger the better, so keep on going girls!

They aren't identical, but they definitely look like sisters!

Tummy Time!

2009-09-09T17:37:00.003-05:00

These girls love tummy time!

Little Avery just falls asleep, but at least she's happy!

Isabella couldn't be happier. What a cute smile!

First BYU Football game

2009-09-09T17:27:00.004-05:00

They girls experienced their first BYU game! We only watched it on TV, but that counts, right? BYU didn't disappoint. Thanks Cougars for making my girl's first game memorable!

My sister Rachel with Isabella

My sister Heather with Avery. Avery loved the love sac!

Sleeping Beauties

2009-08-30T16:12:00.003-05:00

I love watching these girls sleep! They love to snuggle!

Our Babies are here!

2009-08-01T08:40:00.006-05:00

Avery and Isabella are here at last! They arrived Monday, July 27th at 3:25 am and 3:26 am.

Isabella on the left, Avery on the right

Avery on the left,Isabella on the right

Avery weighed in at a whooping 4 lbs and was 15.5'' long. Isabella was 5lbs. 2 oz. and 17.5" long. Isabella was in the NICU for only 2 days and Avery didn't send any time at all there! We've had Isabella under the billi lights since we've been home which she doesn't like at all! Someone has to sit next to her and strock her leg all the time or she just cries and cries.

They are absolutely beautiful as you can see and we feel tremendously blessed to have them!

Isabella under the billi light, you can see why she doesn't like them!

Baby Update

2009-07-22T19:46:00.002-05:00

Today I am 36 weeks! We tried so hard to keep the babies in and now that they are allowed to come, they don't want to! I'm no longer on bedrest, but carrying around 12 pounds of babies is never comfortable, so I'm not moving around too much these days. My scheduled C-Section is on August 4th (I will be 38 weeks). If they come any earlier I'll let you know!

Nursery!

2009-07-05T23:32:00.006-05:00

It's almost done! Dallin has been working so hard to finish the nursery before these babies come. The paint and molding is done, the new blinds are installed, and the furniture is assembled. The only thing left is installing the ceiling fan (that room gets HOT!) and curtains. I guess we still have to decorate (put stuff on the walls, etc) but the hard stuff is done and the other stuff will have to wait until I'm up again because I don't think Dallin would even know where to start. Anyway, I'm sooo happy with how everything has turned out so far! Way to go Dallin!

Bedrest :(

2009-06-21T23:24:00.002-05:00

It has been a long day! Sunday morning I woke up at 3:00 sick to my stomach. By 9:00 I still sick and Dallin was worried about me getting dehydrated, so we decided to go to the instacare. They told us we need to go to Labor and Delivery. I felt really silly at this point. Who goes to the hospital for a stomach virus?

So we headed across the street to labor and delivery. The nurse hooked me up to an IV to get some fluids in me and takes some blood to make it wasn't something more serious. She also hooked the babies up to a heart monitor and hooked me up as well to make sure I wasn't having contractions. The babies were fine and there was some activity on my monitor but assured me that it wasn't contractions and just an upset stomach. The blood tests came back fine and the nurse said I could go after the IV was finished. She decided since I was at the hospital anyway she would check my cervix and I was 3cm dilated! I guess it was more than just an upset stomach going on. The doctor said I have probably been having small contractions since I was about 25 weeks but didn't realize what they were. They gave me a steriod shot to help the babies lungs develop and started my on some medication that stops me from contracting.

The doctor decided to monitor me for a few more hours (turned into 5 hours) to make sure I wasn't in labor. After 5 hours I was still at a 3 and that I could go home. He also said I was on "strict bedrest". That means I have to stay home and lay on my side all day. I can only get up for the essentials (food, potty breaks, shower).

I'm 32 weeks right now and they really want the babies to stay in until at least 34 weeks. I go back to the hospital tomorrow for another steroid shot and to check my cervix.

On a good note, I will have lots of time to read. Any good books?

Me and the Girls!

2009-05-26T22:43:00.003-05:00

I am 28 weeks today! These girls have grown a lot in the past couple months. I'm still feeling great, but am starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Nothing more than the normal swollen feet, sore ribs, sore legs....etc. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better pregnancy! I have an ultrasound tomorrow so I'll post some pictures of the babies later. Until then, here are some beauts of yours truly!

23 Weeks

25 weeks

27 Weeks

28 Weeks

Graduation!!

2009-04-26T16:17:00.005-05:00

Yay! Dallin graduated! This was such a great day for Dallin. He has worked so hard the past 4 years and it's finally over. Well, almost over he still has 2 classes to take this summer, but that's nothing!

Diploma in hand! The college of Mathematics and Physical Science (BS is Computer Science)

I didn't mean to blend in with the graduates. I guess that's what I get for wearing a navy blue dress to BYU.

The whole group! Thanks to our family for supporting Dallin!

I'm so proud of Dallin. He is such a harworker and smart guy! Congrats Dallin!

Preggo Mego

2009-04-05T10:59:00.003-05:00

Alright, due to popular demand, here I am at 20 weeks, 4 days. Pretty big for a first (and second) baby, huh?

Twins!

2009-04-03T22:48:00.004-05:00

Wow, were we surprised! We went in for my 20 week ultrasound and not only are we having 1 girl, but we are having 2 girls! I'm still a little shocked, and very nervous!

They are Fraternal and looking healthy so far. They are a little small, so they pushed the due date back a week, but also said if they aren't here by 38 weeks they will probably induce me, so still plan on early August. As of right now they are just "Baby A" (much lower and will be the 1st one out) and "Baby B" (the one that's always kicking me in the stomach). Now that I know I'm having twins I don't feel so bad about the above average amount of weight I've gained. I now feel comfortable putting a picture up of my big belly like many of you have requested.

I'm so excited that my little girls will have each other! I always wanted to be a twin when I was a little kid, but I never thought about having one (or 2 I guess)! It will be an adventure!

New Blog

2009-03-30T14:50:00.003-05:00

Can you believe it? I actually figured out how to change the background on my blog and it was easy! You would think that with a husband who developes software for a living I would have figured out how to do this a long time ago, but being my stubborn self I had to do it on my own. What do you think? It's scary how so many things in my life look the same. This of course stems from my obsession with green!

In other news, I am 20 weeks today and we find out what we are having on Friday! Either way I'm sure the poor kind will be wearing lots of green...haha, just kidding (kind of). But I did promise my husband that if we have a girl I won't make her have a green room. Although, I don't think green is strictly a "boy" color.

Check back later for the big news! We can't wait!!

What The.....

2009-03-11T20:12:00.002-05:00

My doctor told me I was "born to birth." Should I be insulted?

August 12th will be a great day!!

2009-03-08T22:38:00.002-05:00

Hello! We have some exciting news! We are having a baby! Yay! I'm 17 weeks and couldn't feel better! So far this pregnancy thing has been a breeze. Dallin and I are both very, VERY excited! We've wanted this for a long time and I can't believe it's actually happening. Sometimes I just can't believe that there is a little person just chillin' in my stomach. We find out if it will be a boy or a girl in about 3 weeks. Any guesses?

Hello!!!

2009-01-13T22:11:00.005-06:00

Sorry I've been stranger to the blogging world. People have been asking for new pictures...so here are the most recent ones I have.

So, the best news right now is that Dallin just finished his second to last semester at BYU! After a few months of job searching (which really was pure torture) Dallin had several offers all over the US and after much thought and prayer Dallin has accepted a job with Solution Stream in American Fork, UT. The final decision was really between that offer and National Instruments in Austin, TX where we had our internship. Although we would rather be living in Texas, the offer in American Fork was too good to pass up. Dallin also has a few other projects/businesses that he has started here in Utah and we didn't want to leave those behind. There are lots of things here in Utah that we would be sad to leave behind....For one, our townhouse. It seems like I finally have it just how I like it. Another of course is the family we have here. All of Dallin's immediate family is in Utah and most of my extended family is here. And of course, my 3 sisters, 1 brother, 1 sister-in-law, and a niece all within 10 minutes of our house!

Anyway, I guess you can call us Utards. For now at least. I doubt Utah will be our home forever, but we're here for now. By the way, I've been craving some good tex-mex (mmm....Chuy's...) and I can't find any good tex-mex in Utah County. So, since we won't be moving to Texas I need some suggestions!!!

Last Home BYU Football game

I know I look awesome...or like white trash...you decide

2008-11-13T22:03:00.002-06:00

I was tagged twice...and since it was the same tag-thingy, I decided it was fate and better get with it!!

8 Favorite TV Shows
*Survivor
*The Office
*Jon and Kate plus 8
*The Hills
*Anything on Food Network
*Any realty show
*....movies that are on TV
*I've watched 1 episode of Chuck and laughed a lot (Thanks Charity and James)

8 Favorite Restaurants
(not in order, I can't pick favorites...I love you all!)
*Cafe Rio
*Kneaders
*Chuy's
*Lonestar Steakhouse
*Sonic (for drink runs)
*Firehouse Pizza
*Chili's
*Red Robin

8 Things that happened yesterday
* Pilates
* made chocolate chip pancakes
* went to work
* didn't clean my house
* watched seinfeld
* spent a rare night with Dallin with no homework
* finally got the mail after going 2 weeks without a mail key
* listened to my new Christmas CD

8 Things I'm looking forward to
* Seeing the new James Bond movie tomorrow
* Thanksgiving Break
* Heather's choir concert
* 3 year anniversary next week
* knowing where we will be living in 6 months
* BYU vs UTAH football game
* getting my hair cut/colored on Saturday
* finishing painting our house

8 Things on my wishlist
since this is a wishlist, I can be extreme, right?
* a garage
* longer hair
* the streets to be made of water and we use boats instead of cars
* no snow in 2009
* a (full) closet bigger than my house
* Ice cream that is good for you!
* fingers that never get cold
* a glass of diet strawberry limeade that never gets empty

2008-11-08T17:21:00.002-06:00

Yes, I saw High School Musical 3 and yes, I loved it. I giggled like a school girl the whole time.

High School Musical 3

2008-11-08T17:08:00.001-06:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

BOOOO!!!!!!!...AHHHHHH!!!

2008-11-03T20:20:00.011-06:00

Happy Halloween! So, this year our Halloween was pretty low key. I have been sick for the past 2 weeks and didn't spend one minute thinking of a creative costume, or any costume at all. We had some family and friends over and ate lots of good food, and watched some Halloween classics (Hocus Pocus never gets old) Linds with her very "Martha Stewart" bone bread sticks.

...and Heather enjoying them.

The Prayer Hat...don't ask..

Leah with Mom, Briann, and Megan!

Job Hunt

2008-10-26T22:37:00.002-05:00

Hello! I have to be the world's worst blogger...

We've been getting lots of questions about the job hunt, so here's an update. Dallin has had a ton of interviews and is now on the 2nd or 3rd interview for most of them. He has 3 2nd interviews this week and flies to Denver next weekend for a final interview. His first pick is still Microsoft, but of course they are extremely selective! He made it past the first set of interviews and is flying to Microsoft in 2 weeks for a really intense final interview day.

I don't know how he does it. These interviews are not your typical job interviews. They ask questions like:

-How many manhole covers are there in the USA?
-How many cars are there in the USA? (A popular variant is "How many gas stations are there in the USA?")
-You've got someone working for you for seven days and a gold bar to pay them. The gold bar is segmented into seven connected pieces. You must give them a piece of gold at the end of every day. If you are only allowed to make two breaks in the gold bar, how do you pay your worker?

These aren't Jeopardy questions. They really want to know how you think. Of course, they don't care how close you are to the actual number, they just want to see how you thought it through.

Anyway, that's the update. As soon as we accept a job we will let you know!

P.S. if anyone has a solution for the above questions let me know! I don't even want to think about it.

Hello Utah...and Michael Scofield..Yowza!

2008-09-04T22:22:00.002-05:00

Yea! We are back in Utah and get to see all of our wonderful family and friends that we have missed so much. However, we will really miss our family and friends in Austin.

Dallin started school on Tuesday and is looking forward to graduating in April. Finally! National Instruments made him an offer so we may be ready back to Austin for good...who knows!

And most importantly, I have yet another new obsession.....PRISON BREAK! My wonderful father-in-law got us hook. In the past week we have watched 11/2 seasons. Each season has 22 45-minute episodes...you do the math...we've wasted a lot of time. Now that school started we will have to slow down. I also have to admit I have a small (to say the least) crush on Michael Scofield. Sure, he's not as brawny has his brother Linc, but I've always been a sucker for the brainy guys.

What a Loot!

2008-08-18T15:46:00.002-05:00

This weekend was “tax free weekend” in Texas. That means all clothing and school supplies have not tax! Awesome, I know! So, of course I took full advantage of this situation.

We headed over to the awesome Round Rock premium outlets. We made out with some great deals, but the highlight of my trip was Dallin’s reaction to the Burberry outlet. Burberry has beautiful bags, clothes, etc, but they are designer so of course incredibly expensive. I was looking at 2 different $2000 jackets (not to buy, just to look). They were really similar, the main difference being one had a hood and the other didn’t. Anyway, so I ask Dallin which one he liked best and his response was “hmmm…I think I like the one with the hood in case it starts to rain”. You have to remember we were looking at designer coats (not rain panchos), and of course Dallin bases his decision on which one will keep me dry. I love that about my husband, no matter how many times I ask him “does this look good on me?” or “which pair of plain black shoes do you like best?” he always has an answer that makes sense, even when I’m not looking for the practical answer. He tries and I love that about him!

Yummy, yum-yum

2008-08-14T13:58:00.001-05:00

My new obsession is Sprite Zero...love it!

oooo.....ahhhhh.....

2008-07-14T21:27:00.009-05:00

Happy (late) 4th of July! I love this holiday! This year we celebrated the 4th on a beautiful day in Round Rock Texas. I love going to the "small town" celebrations where everyone brings their lawn chairs, eats watermelon, and watches fireworks. The weather was surprising pleasant for Texas in July. A nice 85 degrees with a cool breeze was perfect! Round Rock did an awesome job at making a huge event feel like a hometown celebration. There were probably about 10,000 people that showed up, but it felt like only a few hundred. They had 5 skydivers that landed about 50 feet from where we were sitting on a 5 foot landing circle. I was secretly hoping they would miss the target and land right in front of us (hehe), but they were all amazing. It was quite windy and they still managed to do some pretty impressive tricks in the air. Our favorite was "Sky God". He had over 10,000 jumps under his belt! That's impressive!

Of course the highlight of the evening was the fireworks. It was so relaxing just to sit in our comfortable chairs, listen to the band, and eat our popcorn. There was lots of appropriately timed oooooo'ing and awwwww'ing which always makes me laugh. Dallin and I made sure ours were extra loud to show our patriotism (just kidding....) And of course no 4th of July celebration is complete without sitting in a parking lot for an hour trying to get home. All in all, it was one heck of a night!

Happy 4th!

Elder Bednar is Amazing..

2008-06-30T08:23:00.003-05:00

I love the weekend! This weekend was especially good, so here's why...
Saturday we did normal Saturday stuff...went to the gym, shopping, hair cut (for Dallin). We LOVE trying new restuarants, so we went to Trudy's. It's a Tex-mex place here in Austin and came highly recommended. It was amazing. One of our favorite Tex-Mex places here is Chuy's, but I personally favor Trudy's now. Dallin got the stuffed Avocado. WOW, it's avocado stuffed with cheese and chicken and then fried. It's one of those guilty pleasure foods you can only have once in a while. SO GOOD!

After dinner we went to see the new Pixar movie, Walle. It was also awesome. Pixar always does such a good job and Walle was no exception. It was cute, funny, and of course left you with "warm fuzzies".

The best part of the weekend was Sunday. Elder Bednar's son is in our ward and he blessed his baby this Sunday, so that means Grandpa (Elder Bednar) was there to participate in the blessing.
So, we got to hear from Elder Bednar for the entire Meeting! His wife spent a few minutes at he beginning. She talked about how much she loved Austin and couldn't think of a better place to raise a family. Elder Bednar started by saying he feels like he's home because he has been to our ward more this year than to his own ward in Salt Lake. He had so many great things to say and I was sad that sacrament meeting wasn't longer.

Since is was the 5th Sunday we met together for Priesthood and Relief Society and guess who was the speaker....That's right, we got to hear from Elder Bednar agian. This time he did a Q&A. He said he didn't want it to be "Stump the Apostle" and gave an example of a good question and a not so good question. Everything he said was so insightful and I wish I could have memorized every word he said. I felt so blessed to be in that meeting. How many times will you be in a room with 100 people and be able to ask an Apostle whatever you want? What an experience!

That evening the stake had a 2 hour fireside with Elder Bednar doing another Q&A. Dallin had volunteered to set up chairs so we got to the church 2 hours early! We had the best seats in the house! This again was a wonferful meeting and something I will never forget.

Deep in the heart of Texas....

2008-06-10T20:21:00.011-05:00

We figured since we are in Austin and I consider myself a Texan we better pay our respects and visit the state capitol. We weren't actually planning on going, but we happened to be downtown and decided to stop in and snap a few pictures.

The purpose of our trip downtown was to go to Townlake, which I think is actually the Colorado River not a lake, Texans are weird. Townlake is awesome. It's a lake/river in practically a jungle in the middle of a city. It's conveniently close to everything, yet doesn't have the annoyances of a big city. You feel like you are camping. Our purpose for this particular trip was to go kayaking (hence the sweating face/no makeup look in the pictures). That was sooo much fun by the way. They have night kayaking is a few weeks and I'm sure we will check it out. Anyway, if you are ever in the Austin area it's a fun place.

Dallin and I looking looking fabulous inside the Texas State Capitol.

Megan Standing on the sweet marble state seal.

Dallin in the Texas House of Representatives.

What's going down...

2008-06-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

Alright, here it is, I have a blog. I guess I should say we have a blog, but I'm sure I will be doing most of the blogging.

I guess I'll start on a little update on our lives. Dallin got a great internship at National Instruments this summer in Austin, TX so here we are back in good ol' Texas. My brother got his MBA from UT so his wife Sheri found a current MBA student who was leaving for a summer internship and needed someone to take care of there apartment. It's a great apartment with walking trails, basketball and tennis courts, pools, theatres, a gym, and everything else you could possibly need. It's about 5 minutes to Dallin's job which is great because we only have one car for the summer. Everything has just fallen into place for us this summer, we are so blessed! I found a job just days after living here for the State of Texas. It's a temporary 3 month job and I actually really enjoy it. The best part is I work across the street from the state capitol!

Dallin likes National Instruments and would love it if they offered him a job. I can't really tell you what he does all day because I don't understand it, but I do know he is learning a lot.

We're sad we aren't able to keep in touch as well as we would like, but hopefully we can keep our friends up to date on our lives through our bl0g. Hope to hear from you all soon!

2008-03-26T19:41:00.000-05:00

Yay! Blog....hope this works...