25 things about Dan on his 25th Birthday

To celebrate this momentous birthday, here’s a little list of things that you may or may not know about Daniel. Here’s one thing I know for sure though, I’m really happy that he’s in my life and that he makes it so happy.

1. Dan will only eat his cereal dry, unless he’s on vacation where he’ll always eat Froot Loops and milk.
2. Dan has broken both arms twice (and both left and right at the same time once)
3. Dan is scoutmaster over the 12 and 13 year-olds in our ward. I think it’s payback for all the grief he caused his scoutmasters back in the day! 
4. Dan totally had an afro in high school. Our kids are going to have the curliest hair.
5. Dan loves finding interesting trees when he’s out and about on adventures– he thinks they’re the coolest things ever. 
6. Dan loves little kids and is a really great Uncle. Alastor and Sandra think he’s pretty awesome. Alastor gets our names mixed up and sometimes calls him “Candace”, though. I think he’ll be a pretty great Dad too. 
7. The first car Dan owned was a genuine Police Interceptor Ford Crown Victoria. He loved it. 
8. Dan’s never had braces or glasses and he still has his tonsils.
9. Dan’s favorite Ben & Jerry’s Flavor is Half Baked and he usually eats the whole pint in one sitting.
10. Dan was valedictorian of his high school class.
11. Dan is the 2^nd of four boys but is the 3^rd tallest. His family is quite tall. 
12. It’s really hard for Dan to not be busy. As a result, our house is really organized and (when the weather is good) our yard is really well taken care of.
13. Dan is quite the romantic, he’ll often leave me little notes around the house when he leaves to go out of town. They’re really cute and he always signs them “Love, Dan W”
14. Dan loves Smash Burger and J Dawgs. Both of which we’re eating at as part of his birthday celebration. 
15. Dan has been to England, Scotland and Wales. He always likes to rub it in that he’s been to Abbey Road and I haven’t. Someday, Daniel! Someday!
16. Dan was supposed to be born on April 1^st. The April Fool’s joke was that he was born in February instead! 
17. Dan is super good at “Three Line Drawings”. I’ll scribble three lines on a page and he’ll make them into a funny picture. We often do these on the backs of the programs at church. They’re pretty cool, usually.
18. Dan loves Devils’ Food Chocolate Cake without frosting.  
19. Dan is dead-set on having three kids. No more. No less.
20. Even though he doesn't play video games very often, he’s really good at Super Smash Bros. and always plays with my brother, Sam when we visit them.
21. Dan prefers Six Flags over Disneyland. But still takes me to Disneyland anyway. 
22. The thing Dan wants most right now is probably a historical plaque for the front of our house.
23. Dan would drink a chocolate milkshake everyday if he could (and if I made them for him, I guess). 
24. Dan’s musical tastes have changed a lot over the years – he was a metal head in high school, liked underground hip-hop in college and is now dabbling in folksy-Americana-bluegrass-style music.

  25.  Dan makes me really happy and we have a pretty great life together! 

Happy Birthday Dan! I love you!

Karylee is Awesome.

Dan's mom is so crafty. She crocheted this baby blanket for Little Baby Workman and we love it. 

Dan had a blanket just like this when he was a baby (it even had pink in it!). Chevrons are very in right now but I guess they always have been for baby blankets. I've never been able to figure out crochet so I'm glad Dan's mom is such a pro. 

Can you believe how cute this hat is? I can't wait till little girl is big enough to wear it! And that little pink bear is crocheted. Can you believe it? I'm so impressed. Thanks Karylee! 

This is what my kitchen looks like right now...

 Yep, so after a year of turning the kitchen light on and off at the breaker box, we're installing a proper light switch. The previous owners decided to cut the wall in half (in order to let in more light? we're not really sure) and in doing so, the light switch, the outlet for the refrigerator and pretty much the power for the whole kitchen were compromised. The fridge is still plugged into an extension cord but that's the least of our worries right now! Soon we're going to have a real light switch, a finished wall and probably even a cute little chalk board over that breaker box. It'll be SO much nicer than switching the breaker every time we need some light! 

No cooking in here! Looks like we're having cereal for dinner! 

It's hard to tell, but Dan is standing on a ladder propped up on the stairs that go down to the cellar. Super unsafe but it's a tricky area to work in. He really should be wearing a hard hat or something for this kind of construction! He's so brave and turning into quite the do-it-yourself handy man! 

the story of the rocking chair and the part where we tell you what we're thinking of naming baby girl.

Looking online for nursery inspiration can be dangerous. I've found tons of pictures of perfect nurseries online and as a result, my taste for nursery stuff is...how do I say this? expensive? particular? It's sad to see things that are so cute and perfect and then see that the particular crib you want is only $300 dollars! But, I'm finding that the harder you work the luckier you end up getting! 

 And on that note, here is the story for today: 

The Story of the Rocking Chair.

 Dan and I had been scouring KSL for upholstered glider-style rocking chairs that weren't $600 dollars like they are new. This proved to be a difficult task. Then, we saw one that looked like it might do. We called and organized a time to see it the next day. I find KSL sales to be quite awkward most of the time - I always have a hard time telling the seller no when I'm standing right next to them in their house. Dan and I decided that if it was good and I wanted to buy it, I should say that it was "perfect" and if it wasn't I would say we had a couple more to look at and we'd get back to them. 

It was an unseasonably rainy warm day for February and we drove up to Salt Lake City to check the thing out. The lady opened the door to her nice house and we went inside. It was beautiful. The decor in her house made it look like we were stepping into a magazine. We went upstairs to her little girl's room to look at the rocker. She explained that her daughter was seven now and that instead of rocking she needed to do homework and that they were building a desk in the place of the glider. Dan and I stepped in the room and the first thing I said, without even thinking, was "it's perfect". Because it was. I sat in it, it was comfortable and it was the perfect shade of green which was difficult to tell from the listing photo. I had fallen in love with a chair. 

We were walking out to move our car closer to the house to load our purchase and started making small talk with the lady. "So you're having a girl? What are you thinking of naming her?" Which is the #1 question people ask after the initial "are you having a boy or a girl" question. And while we are still mulling about names, I told her the one that's been at the top of our list for quite some time. 

"We're thinking of naming her Ruby," I said. 

"Really?!?" The lady replied. 

Dan and I were a little taken aback by her response, thinking that she didn't like the name or that it was super strange or something to her. 

"This is Ruby's chair! My daughter's name is Ruby. She'll be so happy to know that it's going to another Ruby!" 

(As if we needed another reason why this was the perfect chair?!)

"And if we didn't name her Ruby, we would have named her Lily," she went on, "But we thought that it was getting too popular" 

Oh goodness. Lily happens to be our #2 choice and that's the same reason why it's #2 for us. 

We'll have to see her before we officially select a name but, if an experience buying a chair off of KSL is any indication that you're thinking a long the right lines name-wise I guess her name is meant to be Ruby! 

Ruby's Chair! (Can you tell we're painting?)

Oh, and it's three months till little baby girl is due!  We're getting closer to the end! 

Plane Tickets and Cherry Blossoms

Have I mentioned how great Dan's Job is? 

They're sending him to work in Washington D.C. for a month. And seeing as I've never been to our Nation's Capital and have a ton of free time on my hands, I'm going to tag along! I am so excited. It'll sort of be a babymoon. I've been feverishly looking for plane tickets and getting awfully excited. 

It'll be during the Cherry Blossom Festival which will be incredible! I'm going to also take a short trip up to Boston to visit the fam also. 

My To-Do list includes seeing the Cherry Blossoms and the Ruby Slippers, but beyond that I'm not sure what the best things to do are! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! 

All Pictures from Here. 

A Song for your Sunday

This is my favorite favorite song right now. I could listen to it on repeat for hours. A close second is January Wedding (also by the Avett Brothers). Enjoy!