the weekend of love

it doesn't get much better than being able to spend a three day weekend with your sweetheart. no work. no school. not a care in the world. BUT what makes it even better is when your sweetheart plans everything! this past weekend, i really didn't have to worry about a thing. and boy was that wonderful! our valentines day weekend was definitely one to remember...and this is why:

saturday morning we woke up, packed, and headed to shirley's bakery to pick up some cinnamon rolls for sunday morning's breakfast. then we got on the freeway and headed south (i still had no idea where we were going at this time, but i was hoping it was manti...) and sure enough when we got to the manti exit, danny turned! we got married in the manti temple almost six months ago and i never have been able to do a session there before, so valentines day was the perfect day to do it. the weather was beautiful, the workers were so cute and nice, and the spirit was so strong. i love going to the temple. especially manti.

after our temple session, we went to our favorite little three-in-one restaurant. they have pasta, pizza, and the cutest little ice cream parlor we've ever been to. we had a delicious meal and then got back on the road...(from here on out i had NO clue what danny had up his sleeve.)

we then drove another mile south to a teeny, tiny little town called teasdale, utah. yup, pretty sure i never ever knew this town existed. we pulled up around seven o' clock and the whole town was already shut down. we finally stopped at these cute little cabins--pine shadows to be exact--and there was a little note posted on the office door that said, "mckinley--cabin #3. the door is open, keys are on the table, make yourselves at home!" so we took all our stuff into our cute little cabin and unpacked, when we noticed that all the food we had packed for dinner had somehow gotten left on our kitchen table! we weren't too worried about it at the time, because we weren't too hungry so we started "return to me"--which i have never seen before! best valentine's day movie ever! around nine i was starting to get super hungry so we decided to set out and search for food. we drove around for about twenty minutes...no luck. finally, we saw a subway sign in the distance but when we pulled up there was no one to be found! i seriously have no idea how anyone in those small little towns get food. we never once passed a grocery store! it made me so grateful to live in provo. at around 9:30 we spotted a sign for "sandstone inn" and somehow beneath it in tiny letters i saw "restaurant and motel." we drove up the hill and finally found the restaurant, but to our dismay it said it closed at nine. we were having the worst luck! but since it was valentines day, and we were starrrrrrrrrrving we decided to run in (luckily the doors were still open) and beg them to feed us. once inside, we felt like we had stepped back in time; everyone seemed to know everyone, and it was the smallest little diner. but they kindly gave us a table and told us we could start dishing up at the salad bar. we ordered their malibu chicken, and we definitely should have asked them what was on it before ordering. they smothered horseradish all over the grilled chicken--so i mostly ate from the salad bar and the fries that came with it. but the apple pie for dessert made up for it. we returned home with full stomachs and then star gazed for a while because the sky was completely FILLED with millions of stars. it was incredible.


sunday morning we woke up bright and early and danny made me breakfast in bed and then we reluctantly packed up and checked out. we went to church in richfield, but before leaving the wonderful town of teasdale, we had to get a picture of the weirdest church building we have ever seen! we think it was just used as a cultural hall but still...

we made it home sunday night and still had president's day to enjoy! i am so grateful for my wonderful husband who made this weekend possible.

best valentines day ever.

gus gus returns...

so remember in my last post when i said we have too many mice?? unfortunatly i wasn't just referring to our first visitation from gus gus #1. turns out gus gus has a brother. and he's a little quicker than his sibling. two weeks ago danny and i had a SUPER late night. he was out partying with his buddies (they were throwing a bachelor party for elliot) and so i decided to go hang out with the fam (since i hate being home alone). once we finally were home for the night, i was starving so i poured myself a bowl of cereal and was eating it on our bed. danny was in the kitchen. this is what happened next:

danny: OH MY GOSH (screaming from the kitchen)
jessie: what??
(and then i saw it. a tiny little furry creature dart into the bathroom and around the edge of the sink.)
jessie: EEEEW. (as i spilled the milk from my cereal ALL over the bed)
danny: let's trap it in the bathroom--i'll get him once we're done eating

now that you have that nice mental imagery. get this. five minutes later danny went in with a broom and a box ready to kill. until he started yelling again saying, "it's not in here!" yeah. turns out we have a hole right behind our toilet that neither of us have ever noticed before.

i have nightmares still.

virtual tour: part one

many of our friends who live away from us have wanted to see pictures of our humble little home. we are still very much in the process of getting it exactly how we'd like it...but by the time that rolls around we will probably have moved! as for now, i've captured the first front three rooms to give you all a feel of what our home is like! (the bedroom and our living room will be posted shortly...they are still in the process of either a) being clean for a period longer than ten minutes or b) being completely ready to show to the public. until then i found a couple other pictures of our backroom that i took when we first moved in. it looks a tiny bit different now. i'm just wetting your palate for more pictures to come.

the layout of our home is slightly strange. after walking up a steep flight of stairs, you get to our front door. from there you enter into a super ghetto entryway (sorry no pics)...and THEN you enter our kitchen! the picture above is what you see once you walk into the kitchen.


danny helped me make the corkboard above the sink. he is the greatest! we still need to put pictures up but it adds a nice touch.

our spacious bathroom that we love.



our backroom/living room. one day we'll have a normal place where the living room is the first room you enter. but we love our unique little home. it is PERFECT for us! (minus all the mice!)