One third of the way to death...

Nick last night: "Tomorrow my life is a third over"

Liz: "Why?"

Nick: "Because I'm only living til I'm 78"

Hope the last 2/3 go as great as the first...

"If I had a hunch, breakfast, dinner, and lunch..."

What happens when peppers go on a KILLER sale?

We get a COLORFUL dinner!

We at the Dall household LOVE peppers.

Do you have any good recipes calling for peppers?

P.S. you win a prize if you can finish the song in the title...

Child's Play

We went tubing at Soldier Hollow with ARUP (cause I intern there and get some fun perks!)

My husband had more fun than any other kid I've ever seen sledding...

We practically had to drag him off the hill!

Booties!

Check out these BEAUTIES!!!

I bought the pattern - and then realized I don't know how to crochet!

So a co-worker had his wife make me these for me!

If I get really ambitious, maybe I'll be sending these out for Christmas gifties next year... but don't hold your breath!

2012 Goals

Well, another year has come and gone. I did a pretty good job on my goals this year. Ran the Ragnar, Went to the temple (nearly) monthly, and went to Mexico, San Diego, and Florida.

No, I didn't learn to swim - but I'm DETERMINED! So, it's on the goal list AGAIN this year (I think we're going on 3 years now - someone please help me!)

Liz 2012 Goals

Weekly journal writing

Create a personal history

Learn to swim

Play the piano more often

Have personal prayer

Graduate with my masters degree

Serve

Motto: "Freely ye have received, freely give" -Matt 10:8

I have felt a VERY strong prompting from the Spirit that I need to give more of my time, talents, money, and service to my Father in Heaven's other children on this Earth. Since making that decision, the Lord has and continues to show me those who need my help. I hope I can be a faithful servant this year and always.

The Dalls in 2012

2012 Dall Family Goals

Monthly temple attendance

Go on 3 out of state vacations

Hold weekly family home evening

Memorize “The Living Christ”

Participate in more service to others

Read the Book of Mormon

Be the best Sunday school teachers ever!

Motto: “Freely ye have received, freely give”

– Matt 10:8

Introducing A.J.

Goodbye Alice. R.I.P.

Hello A.J. (Alice Junior)

Nick's car was backed into and totaled the day before Thanksgiving. It's been over a month, but the insurance finally came through and we found this beauty for almost the same amount the insurance paid out. Here's to hoping A.J. will be a gem for many, many more years (It is a 2001 and has 47,000 miles on it) to come. And no more car issues - Alice was only 11 months old. It's not fun to car shop more than once per year.

Yeah, Nick might be a little yuppy granola with his Volvos - but he's the most politically conservative guy out there. So it balances out right?

Homemade

We got one of these babies for Christmas from Nick's family.

It's like the holy grail of kitchen appliances.

So I made my first batch ever of homemade bread.

Yes, I am 24, but did not come from a 'homemade' kind of family...

Someone come visit me so I can feed you all my delicious homemade bread.

Christmas 2011

Our Christmas was lovely.

It's lots of fun waking up next to your best friend on Christmas morning. And we didn't even miss out on the not-having-kids-for-Christmas-is-not-as-much-fun thing because I shook Nick awake bright and early reminding him that it was Christmas.

No idea why I have no pictures of ACTUAL PEOPLE...

Yes, the stockings were a wedding gift - Brilliant!

We are happy and SO very blessed.

That's my dad!

Yep - my dad is the REAL Santa Clause!

(And yes, that's a REAL beard)

(Here's the story: My dad (who is maybe going through a 3/4 life crisis or something - because let's face it, he's beyond mid-life), has been growing a beard for quite some time now. Well, it's a *cough* lovely white bushy beard. At the wedding of my best friend from childhood last week, the photographer approached my dad begging him to be Santa at the mall on Christmas Eve. He accepted, and we had a grand old time!)

He will now live on in the memories (and pictures) of hundreds of kids for the rest of their lives...

Guilty

Yes, this was our purchase at 9:30 last night...

Bring on the New Years resolutions.

P.S. Somehow we got rum flavored icing - YUCK! Our late night sweet binge backfired on us.

Growing up

My best friend from childhood was married this weekend. When we were young, I remember sitting on the swing in the backyard eating popsicles. He would always put his arm around me and say, "When we get married..."

Funny how things work out the way they do isn't it? I couldn't have asked for a better childhood friend and I couldn't be happier with where we both ended up.

Thanks for all the memories Steven.

San Diego

We hopped on the plane on Thanksgiving night for a weekend of fun in...

San Diego!

Went to Mission beach:

Watched lots of soccer games:

Nick drooled over how cool the surfers were:

And bought these lovelies at Rite Aid - because it got down to the 60s one night... Brr.

That's what I call some weekend fun.

11-11-11...

...Was truly the BEST day of the year! These two beautiful girls came to visit me.

Ashley, thanks for being my best friend and angel. I love going on walks until our legs hurt while we figure out all the answers to the questions and problems in our lives and realize how shockingly similar we are. They are some of the most spiritual experiences of my life. Love you! I'll be coming to Minnesota SOON!aas Just about the time when we need those answers to life once again.

October fun

Class was cancelled tonight - so I have time to update the blog! Yay!

Fun work party with my lame 7AM decision of a jack-o-lantern costume.

Promoting healthy parties

And then eating unhealthy pumpkin-faced pizza

My pumpkin collection on the porch :)

Fun fall hikes

We're happy

Scuba!

We've had a lot of fun over fall break. Our newest adventure? Scuba diving!

Crafts!

Pinterest is my new best friend. I love it - I don't have to come up with the creative ideas, I just execute them! Here is my first project! Ingredients: yarn (which I got for FREE), PVC insulation (I found a pre-made circle at Michaels for cheap, but I think PVC is less than $2), and felt ($0.29 a sheet). From start to finish, it took less than 3 hours. I'm all about short, easy crafts!

Who wants to come do crafts with me?!?

Itchy Scratchy

If you know me you know:

1. I very much dislike clothes shopping.

2. I have the most sensitive skin on the planet.

I did a big thing last night. I threw out these PJ pants I've had since I was like 12 (yes they had tons of holes, were faded, and even somehow had paint on them)! Why did I throw them out? Because I found a pair of pants softer the originals!

I spend most of my days and nights scratching away at my skin and I have to have 'special' pants to go to bed in because otherwise I'll scratch all night (which makes Nick not very happy). I finally found some that don't irritate my skin! It's the miracle of the day! Bonus - both pants are from Old Navy - it's the place to go for COZY!

I am so happy and less itchy!

Why do you care about this post? If you ever want soft workout/PJ pants... Old Navy has them!

Home home home

I'm so behind on posts. Anyway, we spent a few nights on this lovely setup...

Then finally moved into the place we call home!

Moving is painful (especially when you have to do it twice in a month)

Love Katie and her welcome basket!

Before.

Stay tuned for after pictures!

Everything was perfect...

Except for one thing...

We came home to a flooded, not once, but three times apartment. Once we entered the good old USA, I received a text from my brother about the situation. LUCKILY, we had him housesit and he was able to get everything out before it got damaged. So upon landing in Salt Lake at midnight, we learned we would not be spending the night at our apartment. Instead, we set up shop at Nick's house with the whole famdamily!

The next morning, we looked at the apartment, smelled the AWFUL mold, nearly tripped over the warped wood floors, and realized this was NOT the place for us (because my dad, as a general contractor, knew this was NOT the first time this has happened - even though our innocent-looking 92 year old landlord tried to tell us it had never happened before, well, maybe 2 or 3 or 7 times...)

Now I want to bring you back to about 3 weeks before our wedding. Follow me...

We checked out this place Nick's uncle suggested, which turned out to be my friend's old place! But, it was not terribly desirable. So, despite this VERY strong feeling that this was a good place for us, I decided I wanted to keep looking around, just to see what else was out there. Well, I found a place I liked and we jumped on it. Despite my pushing to get everything moved in before our wedding, I couldn't get my other half to do a dang thing! So, we were half moved in as we boarded the plane to Mexico.

Back to present...

We decided THAT day that this place was not the best place for us and it wasn't where we were supposed to be. We felt strongly that we needed to call the other place we had looked at before. That night, in adherence to Nick's REAL SALT LAKE soccer obsession, we decided to go to the game last minute even though we were still homeless. We sat RIGHT IN FRONT of the people we were planning to call about their apartment! They said they were still doing some work on it so no one had taken it. We nearly shouted, "we'll take it!" They needed a week to finish their work, but said we could have it.

They re-did EVERYTHING and it's SO LOVELY! We are so happy here and finally have a place to call home. Moral of the story: The Lord knows where you need to be and He always takes care of you if you wander too far from His will. I feel silly for ignoring the prompting the first time, but grateful for second chances.