february, birthdays, and stuff

Our  lives have been pretty exciting this month. That's a change, right?  :)

I've been pretty good about taking pictures this month, so I'll show you in photos!

First off, Trevor and I read the last installment of The Wheel of Time. I can't talk about it yet. It's too overwhelming. Just FYI, it's amazing. And you're missing out if you don't read it.

Valentine's Day happened and we had a fancy shmancy steak dinner at home with salad and a garlic loaf. Oh, and we got a sparkling lemonade from Trader Joe's that was crazy good. I want more :)

This was our 9th Valentine's Day together. So weird. We're at the point where we can't remember all of them. I got us a joint gift of Star Trek cookie cutters, which we haven't tried yet, but I'm super excited to.

Then my birthday happened. I'm 25 :/

My work got a giant cake for me and Bob Marley.

And decorated my office; I'm now a pretty, pretty princess.

On my actual birthday, I had probably the best birthday I've had in years. It fell on a Saturday... hooray! So we got up early, had breakfast at Gandolfo's, and went to the Mummies Exhibit at The Leonardo downtown. The exhibit was interesting, informative, and kind of sad. They don't allow photography inside, but this is a little art project we did while we were exploring the rest of the museum. If you go, be sure to go into the nature section full of paintings and art about the world. There's a video about the birds and the bees that is seriously hilarious. Not really for kids though.

We had lunch at a new place in Sugarhouse called Flatbread Neapolitan Pizzeria. The flatbread was delicious (actually, that's probably an understatement; I think about it all the time... sausage, goat cheese, roasted red pepper...), but the pizza was a bit soggy. Didn't matter though; I love trying new places and eating at slightly upscale places that make me feel special :) I know, kind of shallow. Trevor humored me all day! I couldn't have asked for more than trying new food, learning a little bit, and hanging out with Trevor all day.

We had a relaxing afternoon at home :)

Then we went to Bombay House! OMG. I took a picture of the soup that we had first, but then I was too distracted by how crazy good the food was to take pictures after that. This was the perfect place to go. We tried lamb for the first time, and loved it. And all the spices were great. Nothing was gross--which is rare, from what we've experienced. It turned out that our waiter was an old client of one of my previous employers, and he gave us free soup! I crave this soup all the time now. This was a spinach Saag Shorba, and it was creamy, savory, and spinachy.

We had some great family dinners for a bunch of birthdays throughout the month. I love being with our families. It's nice to me knowing that we have them around and can count on them to be friends with :)

The sun came out! After a month of temperatures in the single digits! The sun is starting to set later now, which is such a relief to me. I hate dark evenings. Plus, it means more photo sessions!

Trevor worked really hard and got us bikes! Both are used, but we're really grateful for them. We've been spending some time getting them ready to ride--new seats, fixing tires, that kind of thing. And this week we've been trying to use them more. We had kind of an ordeal with a stripped nut that almost ruined everything, but we made it through. Can't wait for warmer weather!

I started playing Minecraft with Trevor. Oh no. 

 Hung out with family. Got some cute pictures of my niece. She's crazy. Likes to jump a lot when she knows she's on camera, haha :)

This is supposed to go up before Valentine's Day... but Trevor let me use my camera outside on him with a rain sleeve for like 2 minutes. It was snowing so hard! But it was fun to be out in the elements with it. Plus now I have a picture that reminds me how handsome Trevor is. Lookit his cute beard :)

And FINALLY. We're getting a dog :) It's been a long process of figuring out if it's possible, how we can manage, and what we'll get. But we are doing it! We're meeting with one this weekend to see if we'd like to adopt him. So I'll share more about that later when we know for sure!

Vodnik by Bryce Moore [ARC]

Hi guys! Something amazing and totally not normal happened to us last week! We won a contest for an Advance Reader's Copy of a new book called Vodnik by Bryce Moore. Bryce is a brand spankin' new author with some roots in Utah; Trevor and I meet him last year at Conduit and have been anxiously awaiting his book release this March. We were both impressed with Bryce's style and the amount/quality of information he gave at the convention last year, so we've also been following his blog. He's also a librarian--cool, eh?

The book is in the mail, so we don't have it yet. But I'm getting pretty excited! Trevor is also working on an interview with the author over on his blog that should be out right around the book's release date.

We never win anything! So this is a pretty amazing win :) 

Here's a little blurb about the book from Bryce's blog:


When Tomas and his family move back to Slovakia after a devastating fire, Tomas doesn't remember the folktale creatures he befriended as a child. 
But they remember him and his Roma family, and they’re not as friendly as they once were. Suddenly Tomas is in over his head, and he’ll have to strike a bargain with Death herself in order to put things right.
Amidst a backdrop of anti-Roma sentiment, he and his cousin must match wits with myths, and uncover the secrets of Tomas's past before their own futures become forfeit.

Death herself; isn't that neat? You all should check it out when it comes out! I'll be sure to let you know how it is :)

Trevor

1. Where did you meet: A combination of choir and seminary.
2. How long did you date before you were married? Two years and 10 days.
3. How long have you been married? 2 years and 16 days.
4. What does he do that surprises you? Turns off all the lights and makes scarey noises :)
5. What is your favorite feature of his? His shoulders and back.
6. What is your favorite quality of his? His strong values and determination to stand up for what he believes in.
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Gol, which one?! Poo Leg seems to be the most common. I like Honey Bunches of Oats better.
8. What is his favorite color? Uh... I don't think he really has one. Maybe black, but I wouldn't say he likes it that much more than all the others. It just depends on what the color is being used for.
9. What is his favorite food? Apparently it's lasagna still.
10. What is his favorite sport? Teatherball. Haha!
11. When and where was your first kiss? On my mom's couch 2 weeks after we started dating. He pulled the old switcharoo on me and told me he'd wait until I was ready. Tricky tricky.
12. Favorite thing to do as a couple? Depends on the day. Watch movies, go see things like the zoo, go out to eat. Have living room picnic/movie nights
13. Do you have any children? Not yet.
14. Does he have a hidden talent? His vocal abilities and desires are quite hidden from many of his family and friends--we hope more people will be able to share in his talents some day.
15. How old is he? 21 years, 5 months, and six days. Do you count time in the womb?
16. Who said I love you first? I think it was Trevor. Neither of us can really remember. We remember the event--it was in a car when I was dropping him off at home.
17. What is his favorite type of music? Black metal/hardcore/death metal all all combinations thereof. There's probably some other kinds I didn't mention.
18. What do you admire most about him? He's committed to me even though he could be out having a fun life being 21. he admits he loves me and is okay with what that means :) He knows what he wants and believes in and stands for it. He doesn't let other people looking down on him stop him from fulfilling his dreams. He's smart but not nerdy. He freaks out about things like Iron Man and Between the Buried and Me coming to Salt Lake. He likes kid stuff and birthday cake. He can design freaking unique and awesome art in photoshop (I don't admire that he won't make me a new blog background though, even though he can). I admire the times he calls for pizza on his own.
19. Do you think he will read this? Probably not, he doesn't get on the internet very much anymore. Which is okay, in case I got one of the questions wrong :)

Video Time!

Last night Trevor had a show at some kid's house, and it went really well. That mostly means the cops didn't come stop everything... The neighborhood was really good about the whole thing. Even the neighbor kids were watching while they jumped on their trampolines :) I took some video, but the sound quality really stinks. In fact, I recommend you turn your volume off completely because if you don't. your ears will explode... But really, it doesn't sound anything like it should. Stupid cell phone videos. Just watch; you can sort of tell what happens when they play.

I also love that it looks like there's a ghost in the picture right before you push play :)

The next is one I found from FOREVER ago. Actually, from April. Apparently this is what we do during conference...

And last but no least, I few of our little buddies Cinderella and Rikki. Rikki is using her wheel in the first one. I think that's almost the most it's ever been used. I have another one of them just hangin' out together, but it's freaking out when I try to load it, so you'll have to keep your pants on while you wait for that one. I'm pretty sure they love eachother, and that makes me feel better about caging them all day.