Munchkin

One of my favorite things this summer has been the chance to hang out with the coolest little kid you will ever meet.

Every Tuesday afternoon, the Munchkin and I got to play. We did so many fun things, not all of which I got pictures of.

He helped me take care of the chickens and pick up Bella's poop

We played games (Candyland and the Train game, both of which he beat me at)

We visited the zebra here in Draper.

We practiced calling Grandma on the pretend phone



We went to Seven Peaks.

We went to the splash park

We baked cookies (chocolate chip because...and I quote directly from him..."They are my favorite")

And also because "They are Brian's favorite"

And as a grand finale for our summer of fun, we went to the zoo.

He gave me the most perfect gift I could have ever imagined for my birthday, a bucket of kisses :)

I love this little guy more than I could ever imagine. He is so smart and so observant. He remembers things like you couldn't believe. He is always asking about Brian, but still is too shy to do a lot of talking in front of him. But in all reality, he is a blast to be with,

If you are suppose to love your own kids the most, I am in for a treat.

Anniversary...Year 2

Brian and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past weekend. Since Brian had to work on our actually date, we celebrated early up in Park City. We tried to re-live the honeymoon in about 1/4 of the time, but it was perfect. A little shopping...window and not much buying due to the budget

We ate at one of our all-time favs, Red Rock Brewery

We stayed at the Grand Summit hotel...not as nice as the Waldorf, but it had a beautiful view

We got lots of treats to watch the RSL game

And overall spent some quality time together

On our actual anniversary, I toiled over this homemade gift. We don't buy gifts for anniversaries, but I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided to do it.

As you can see it is "52 things to remember about our life together" It was meant to be put on a deck of cards, therefore where the 52 came from. Overall, it is the major life events in a relationship. Obviously there are some that have been left blank for now (Finding out we were pregnant, The day our first child was born, etc.) but we plan to fill those in later.

This one was done from my perspective, so (crossing my fingers as I type this) Brian is going to make one from his perspective. I thought this was such a good idea for us to be able to reminisce and for our kids and grandkids one day to look back on our life together. I am not the best at journaling (that is what the blog has been for, but I have not been good at this lately either) and this seemed less daunting for whatever reason. I am so glad to finally have everything written down.

One last anniversary idea, and this is going to become a tradition (once again thank you Pinterest)

We took a picture of us holding a picture from our last year's anniversary. Hopefully we will be able to watch ourselves change throughout the years.

(It is not the best...but what can you expect when you need to use a self-timer)



But the most important part of celebrating our anniversary was to remind me just how lucky I am. I have the most perfect husband for me. I have said it before and will say it again, Brian loves me for exactly who I am, and to me that is enough. We have had a crazy ride to get to this point, but I would not change it for anything. We have learned so much over the past 2 years of married life, and 6 years of being together. I cannot wait to see what life is going to throw us over the next year.

I love you Mr. Dahl and am grateful every day to be Mrs. Dahl!!! 

Moving

Brian and I decided to take the plunge and Move. 

The people who know us best know we like to do things backward. 

We bought a house right from the first, and now are downsizing into a basement apartment.

It has not been an easy task and we may never move again...

...But in all seriousness, our goal is to SAVE SAVE SAVE so that one day we can actually buy the home we want, not just the one we can afford. 

It actually is not that bad, and I am kind of liking our cute new home.

Pictures are coming once it doesn't look like a tornado hit our front room

Oh...and if anyone is looking for a place to rent, let me know. We have a cute 4 bedroom home just waiting for someone to move in :) 

10 People who have influenced me

1. Grandma Afton

My Grandma was the most stubborn lady I have ever met, that's where I think I get it from. But she influenced my family every day by simply being a motherly figure. She helped everyone, before she helped herself. That, in my opinion, is what made her sick. But ultimately, she made sure everyone and everything was ok before she let herself reach ultimate happiness.

2. Grandma Dee

If anyone has met my Grandma, you know that she is the most welcoming person on the planet. Everyone is welcome at her home anytime. She has always been there for me. She never missed a gymnastics meet or cheer competition. She graciously takes care of our dog every single day. She provides family dinner every Sunday. She has made Brian one of her own grandchildren. I can honestly say I talk to my Grandma 6 days a week. I am an incredibly lucky girl to have had such a strong relationship with her.

3. Grandma Jean

There is not a more loving, soft spoken woman on the planet. I have never heard her raise her voice. She has supported my Grandpa through all of his crazy adventures and ideas. She has a beautiful mind and a fantastic artist. I have never spoken to her where she does not mention how proud she is of me and what I have chose to do in my life. You can sit with her for hours and talk about anything, and she will listen and give her advice. It breaks my heart that as I am writing this, she is slowing slipping away to a better place. I wish I could speak to her one last time just so she knows what an influence she has been to me if my life.

4. My Mom

I already gave a whole spill on my mom a few posts ago so I won't repeat myself. But what girl can say that her mom is not an incredible influence in her life.

5. Shannon Miller

Growing up, she was my gymnastics hero. She was never flashy in what she did, but she was always a rock. She was the exact gymnast I wanted to be. I still have her poster in our basement. Being like her was what motivated me to keep going when times got tough.

6. Mrs. Gherke

She was my first grade teacher. Looking back, the thing I loved most about her was how much she loved kids and how she made everyone feel like they were her favorite. That is what I strive to do with my kids. Every kids deserves a chance to learn and that is what she taught me, even as a 6 year old little girl. I have carried that throughout my life and into my career as a teacher.

7. Jerolee Maudsley

Jerolee changed my life. She took a chance on me becoming president of my sorority. Before then, I honestly never thought of myself as a leader. I remember her telling me the night I was called as president that she never questioned her decision. She taught me when it is time to butt in, and when you just have to let things run the course. Her believing in me brought out traits that I never thought I had. I am proud now to be a leader when needed. Her most important lesson came the last officer meeting we ever had..."Save your fork, because the best is yet to come" Leave it to Jerolee (aka Nipper La Mesa) to nail it on the head. The best was yet to come, I just needed her to push me in the right direction.

8. Anita Archer

I have never met her personally, but she has completely influenced how I teach my kids. She has this magical touch to keep every child engaged. She believes every child can learn and she proves it in her teaching style. She is engaging to watch as an adult. Her energy is addictive and it makes me want to be a better teacher every time I watch her.

9. Marjorie Hinckley

She never seemed to be in the spot light, yet some of her words and advice are incredibly powerful. One of my favorite quotes by her is "I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived"

That is exactly the life I trying to live.

10. Brian

What can I say? He is my biggest influence. He calls me out on my crap, he stands by me in my decisions, he supports me in my loves and passions, he allows me to be me (and loves me for it), he pushes me outside of my comfort zone to become the best person I can be and he will be an amazing father one day. I love him.

5 passions

University of Utah Sports

It is what I grew up with. We never missed football games, basketball games, or gymnastics meets. As a little girl, I wanted so badly to be a gymnast at the U. Obviously that didn't work out, which is ok. My brother played baseball for the Utes from 1998-2002. Now, my entire family (parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins) all have season tickets to football and basketball. We are even adding a new member to the family who was a cheerleader. It is in our blood and there is no way it will ever leave. It's just too bad my husband can't convert :)

Utah Jazz

You cannot be a Utah'n without loving the Jazz. It is the only thing that brings the entire state together. Usually we are all split 50/50 with Utah and BYU. But when it comes to the Jazz, we all get along. One of my all time favorite moments was watching John Stockton hit "The Shot". Every Jazz fan will forever remember that moment.

St. Louis Cardinals

Baseball is my first love. I grew up at the baseball field watching my brother play. We were raised as we were with the Utes, cheering for the Cardinals. Red is good (Cardinals and Utes) and Blue is bad (Cubs and Cougars)...that is all we knew. This past season was honestly the most exhilarating few weeks of my life. The night of Game 6, I actually stopped breathing for close to a minute when David Freese hit is game tying triple in the bottom of the 9th. I was crying and that hard. I thought it was over. Then to have to go through it all over again in the 10th, going down...only to have Freese step up again and hit that Home Run. I have never been so happy in my entire life. I am so lucky to have experienced 2 World Championships in the past 6 years. It has been incredible.

RSL

This is a new passion that absolutely stems from Brian. He played soccer growing up, and was completely stoked when Salt Lake got a soccer team. He has been going to games since the beginning, and once we met he started taking me. Soccer has grown to be something I love watching. It is completely different from any sport most American's enjoy, which is why there is always the battle of soccer lovers vs. soccer haters. But once you understand it, it is absolutely a blast to watch. We are going into our 3rd year of having season tickets. We started with having 6 tickets in our group, to 8 last year...and now this year we have 23!!! We are so excited to have our own little cheering section.

Teaching

I already gave my spill on teaching in my last post. But I must add that teaching has to be the most frustrating job in the world, and at the same time the most rewarding. I honestly can say I am changing lives every day I go to work. That keeps my passion going when times get hard.

Dream Job

The cool thing is, I actually already have my dream job.

Teaching.

At one point, I thought that medicine was the way I should go.

It wasn't.

I was meant to be a teacher.

It is something that has just come naturally to me.

I get to work with kids, which I love.

And I never have to work weekends or summers.

That is what I call a dream job.

The hardest thing I have ever experienced

I consider myself pretty lucky that I have not experienced a lot of hardship in my life, so I really can't say that anything has been incredibly hard to handle.

But when I look back, I consider 2005 my hardest year.

I started dating a boy (my very first real relationship). We had lots of fun and I felt comfortable with him as we were friends first. I was still so young that I honestly didn't think much into the future. After a few months of dating, he broke up with me. I had never dealt with a break-up before, so I didn't know how to react. Initially, I was sad...not necessarily because of the break up, but because I was losing a friend. For the first few months, I missed him. I think it would have been easier, but my best friend had left for the summer also. I found myself surviving every day.

Luckily, I had been called as president of my sorority. I made a choice to dedicate myself to that. Serving others was the best remedy for loneliness. That alone got me through the summer.

Fall came, and different feelings came. School, sorority and football all came back, and that meant that the life I had with him came back. Sadness quickly turned to anger when I found out some stuff that had gone down with him. I found that the feelings had not disappeared, only were suppressed. I was sad and lonely, and he had moved on. He wasn't crying every night because he missed me? What?? How could this be??? I was mad at him, but really I was mad at myself.

Eventually, I got over it. We started being cordial to each other, and that turned into hanging out in a group, then hanging out alone. It was confusing but I just went with the flow. To make a long story short, I started to fall again, slightly. Christmas Eve 2005 came around, and that meant the past year of my life had been dedicated to this boy. We went to a movie that afternoon, and I wondered if this was the start of something...again. As we were sitting in the movie, I noticed he was texting someone. Turns out, it was another girl. He was making plans to see her that night. I just shook my head thinking "You are such a fool, Emily". As he drove me home, I remember thinking "This will be the last time I will ever be with him" I was right.

I felt nothing. No sadness, no anger, no jealousy...nothing. That was exactly what I needed. It kicked my butt into gear. I do remember New Years Eve very vividly that year. It is the night that I made a decision to live my life. I stopped worrying about boys. I lived my life for me.

Guess what happened 6 months later...I met Brian.

And I have been happy ever since