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!)

the best of friends

not too many things can top seeing your BFF for the first time in a YEAR. and this past weekend, i did just that! since we had such a nice long three day weekend, danny and i decided to drive up to rexburg to hang out with meagan and ryan...my awesome friends from north carolina. they got married two weeks before danny and i, and just moved out to rexburg a few weeks ago. since danny had never met them, we drove up and had a fabulous weekend. before we met up with them though, we had dinner with linds and jordan at craigo's on friday night. there were about 45 guys from the city wrestling team hogging the buffet line, but other than that the food was great! i hadn't seen jordan since before his mission so it was great catching up with those two! oh how i love my little linds! afterwards we watched heavyweights, and had some good laughs reminiscing about old times.

saturday morning danny and i slept in...SO nice, and were super lazy. my aunt and uncle (richard and sally) were kind enough to let us stay at their place, and we had pretty much the whole basement to ourselves. we played ssx tricky, (danny's FAVORITE snowboarding game on game cube) ping pong, and snuggled up on the couches and read some great books. danny got to meet my cousin chris (they had a friendly little ping-pong tourny) and richard bought us bambino's to try. (basically pizza in a scone! yummm) around 3 we drove up to rexburg and headed to the village to FINALLY meet up with meagan and ryan. it was SO good to see them!! i couldn't stop laughing when she first opened the door; i was just so excited to see her.



we talked for a while and then headed to teton thai--a delicious thai resteraunt in rexburg, idaho. we met up with one of ryan's mission buddies and his wife, and we had a wonderful time. we stopped at G's dairy on the way home for some scrumptious ice cream, and even had the owner snap a picture of us.

the rest of the night was spent at richard and sally's playing a little bit of rock band and mario party 8. holy cow. talk about intense. it was quite the battle, but somehow (still don't know how they defeated us on the balloon-blowing-up-battle!) they won. we had tons of laughs, and then meagan and i watched the boys play ping-pong. we ended the night with a few games of speed scrabble...and it was hard to see them go! we LOVE you guys, and are so grateful for your friendship! thanks again for letting us come up and play with you!

let the creative juices flow

last monday night danny and i went to color me mine--this awesome place where you get to pick out your choice of pottery, and paint it whichever way you want! they have just about everything the creative connoisseur could dream of, and we had a LOT of fun. we decided to make some cute little bowls to add to our dish collection, and we love how they turned out!

working diligently on our bowls

before handing them over to be glazed and finished

the finished products!

the countdown is on for...

woot woot!! i seriously cannot wait for season five to start up tomorrow! we're having a party at my parents house--complete with pizza and everything. yes, we are all fanatics!
anyone else pumped for the premiere???

mr. and mrs. zincke

on january 10th, jessica dahl and stephen zincke were sealed for time and all eternity in the salt lake city temple. danny and i were invited to the sealing and we are so grateful that we were able to go! jessica and i are one day apart, and have i have lived down the street from her since we were 8. brittany herdman and her husband were at the sealing as well--it is SO awesome going to the temple with girls you grew up with. jess and stephen were glowing the whole day, and she looked absolutely gorgeous. we wish them all the best!

jordan river temple

i am so grateful for the temples across the world! they bring so much peace into my life, and strengthen our marriage a little more every time we attend. a few days into the new year, danny and i went up to the jordan river temple. neither of us had been there before...it was absolutely gorgeous! how blessed we are to have so many beautiful temples so close.

ringing in the new year...

so turns out my calender says we are now nineteen days into the new year, but since i just posted christmas pictures, i figured i should recap our new years celebrations as well. we spent new years eve during the day up in layton with danny's family and while we were there we all went to nickelcade which was a lot of fun! with my tickets i bought some now-n-laters and they turned my mouth COMPLETELY black, so i gave them to bri once we got to mike and bekah's...it was pretty funny! we played a bunch of games, ate yummy food, and rang in the new year with a bang! i even got my very first new year's eve kiss....

yes, we are still alive

whoa. seriously, where has the time gone??? it seems like christmas was just here...but now valentine's day is just around the corner! in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, blogging was definitely set on the back burner. but we're back and running again (especially after this wonderful 3-day weekend). since i never, ever put christmas pictures up, here are a few to give you an idea of what went on this past christmas season.

.our tree on christmas morning.
.snapping a pic before opening gifts.
.danny got me deodorant (without anti-perspirant) which is incredibly hard to find.
.and i sent danny on a treasure hunt, so he was super confused when i gave him a piece of paper inside a huge box.

.the gift at the end of the treasure hunt.
.santa brought me a sweet nike running jacket.
.and he brought danny a beanie from gap.
.i got super spoiled and got a chi turbo straightener. LOVE it.

.the after-christmas mess.
.cute mariah found a stool just her size at grandma's...and a fancy scarf.
.me and my sis.
.sarah and i were matching, so we had to get a picture.

.the biggest shock of the day was finding out that my parents got a brand new flat screen tv, and the wii for christmas!! way to spoil the kids after i leave the house. after spending the day at our grandparents, we hung out at mom and dad's and played speed scrabble and LOTS of wii. we had a fabulous christmas break, and are so glad we live so close to friends and family.