Preston and Megan Dahlgren

The Actor and the Housewife

2009-08-28T10:16:00.001-06:00

The Actor and the Housewife: A Novel by Shannon Hale

My rating: 5 of 5 stars I loved this book! Although I was unable to read it all in one day, I tried my best! I laughed, I cried, I called someone in another state to let her know that she HAS to read it. I thought the relationship between Becky and Felix was great. I wish that I could be as quick on my feet as Becky (i.e. Shannon Hale) and wonder what it would have been like to be around them. I rarely buy books new (or at least within a few months of them coming out) but I am in the process of buying this, for the sole purpose of lending it to others to read. LOVED IT!!! View all my reviews >>

Preston Dahlgren, R.N.

2009-07-12T17:42:00.002-06:00

So I have been meaning to post this for a while, I just haven't had a chance. Who knew that summer vacation could be so busy!!

As you can see by the title, Pret passed the NCLEX and is officially a Registered Nurse. There is quite a story behind it, though.

So the minimum questions for the NCLEX is 75. If you only get 75 questions, you either bombed it, or passed it easily. Well, Pret got took three hours to take the 75 questions and then was kicked out of the test. He had felt better about it than the first time, but still wasn't sure, so he had no idea whether he had passed or failed. Needless to say, he was a little anxious to get the results.

He had taken the test and not passed in March, but his results were still posted on the testing site. He paid to get the results of this test (taken June 17th), but tried too early, so it gave him the failing results of the earlier test. He called to let me know that he hadn't passed (I was in Wyoming with my parents) and so we were all really bummed that night. He was able to hang out with and talk with a few friends to keep him occupied and distracted, but it was still a rough, depressing night (and I wasn't even there to scratch his back as he fell asleep. It was sad!) Our mothers were probably the most upset about it of all of us--my mom couldn't stop moping and his mom just didn't know what to think about things.

Brenda (Pret's mom) has a really good friend that became a RN about a year ago. She told Brenda about checking the State of Utah Professional Licensing department (DOPL) to see if he had an active license and trying to beat Pret to knowing the results of the test. Well, Brenda was awakened at 4:00 in the morning after he found out he hadn't passed and was prompted to go and check the DOPL sight just in case. When she checked, it showed that he had an active license as of the day before! She went running into their bedroom and woke up Pret's dad, Dan, and they decided they ought to let Pret know.

Well, we don't have a land-line and Pret turns his phone off to charge at night, so they had to drive over to our house and pound on the door/ring the door bell repeatedly (because we have an air conditioner going in our bedroom) to try to wake him up. They finally got him up and he was a little disoriented. They had printed off the page and showed him and I think he was in a state of shock. I had actually left my phone on so I could use the alarm, so I awoke at 4:30 to see my mother-in-law calling me. But when Pret answered, I was really confused. I asked why if everything was ok, and he replied, "Sort of." I then asked why he was calling from him mom's phone and he then proceeded to tell me the whole story. I was so shocked that I didn't really know what to say. We chatted for a bit and realized what had ended up happening with the "unofficial" results still being posted. It was amazing the difference in talking to him. He was a completely different person!

I was pretty tired, so I just kind of hung up and drifted back to sleep, but Pret was so hyper that he just went to the gym before he had to go to work. It is amazing what a difference having two different results make.

So Pret has now been working as a RN for almost a month. It has been a transition, but he is enjoying doing "real" work and more than anything, feeling like he is free to do what he wants and not feeling like he has to be studying all the time. We have enjoyed working on some projects together that we haven't had time to do since we moved into our place last summer. More than anything else, though, he has been working hard at de-bugging our house. We seem to continue to get infested with ants and now earwigs. We attribute the latter to all the rain we had at the beginning of the summer. What a pain!

I am still working on getting the pictures I took onto the computer. Please be patient!

A Mindbender and Thowing Things Out

2009-06-18T14:49:00.003-06:00

For those of you who paid noticed the "puzzle" I posted at Christmas, you know that I really like word puzzles. Here is one that I found while going through some old things from high school. Although I have done a very good job of throwing out a lot of the things I still had in my old room, I couldn't just dump this one in the bag.

Here is an example of the questions and answers to this puzzle:
16 O. in a P. = 16 ounces in a pound

As before, I will post the answers in the comments section. Good luck!

1. 26 L. of the A.
2. 7 W. of the A. W.
3. 1001 A. N
4. 12 S. of the Z.
5. 54 C. in a D. (with the J's)
6. 9 P. in the S. S
7. 88 P. K
8. 12 S. on the A. F.
9. 32 D. F. at which W. F.
10. 18 H. on a G. C.
11. 90 D. in a R. A.
12. 200 D. for P. G. in M.
13. 8 S. on a S. S.
14. 3 B. M. (S. H. T. R.)
15. 4 Q. in a G.
16. 24 H. in a D.
17. 1 H. on a U.
18. 5 D. in a Z. C.
19. 57 H. V.
20. 11 P. on a F. T.
21. 1000 W. that a P. is W.
22. 29 D. in F. in a L. Y
23. 64 S. on a C.
24. 40 D. and N. of the G. F.

I have all the answers, but guarantee that I didn't come up with them on my own, so again, GOOD LUCK!

As for the cleaning-up, I (Megan) am home in Sheridan for a few days finally going through my old room and getting rid of my stuff. My mom has been using the room as her office for a few years, but I am ready to know that I have all the stuff that I will EVER want from it. It has been fun to re-live many memories, buy I am shocked at how much stuff I kept around for so long. It has been quite invigorating to throw old stuff away.

I have realized a few things as I have done this:

I had wonderful growing-up and high school experiences with very supportive parents and siblings, crazy and clean friends, and wonderful teachers and church leaders
I am very spoiled living in West Jordan with curb-side paper recycling
You forget about a lot of things, both important and not-important, that can be remembered by just reading a short phrase or seeing an old picture
I would rather take the time to read- and look-through things (old notes, programs, cards, etc.) now than keep them around for another 9 years thinking that I will look at them "some day"

I am glad that my parents have let me come home and tear into their time and living space and thankful for a husband who supports me in going on my own and applauds my "throwing things out."

I love Sheridan and Wyoming in general in June. Thanks to all the rain, everything is so beautiful! I love the smell, the sights, and the feel of being away from the city and in the wide open west. I will post some pictures that I took along the way next week (or the week after, depending on the time I have and the different pictures I take.) I can't wait to show them all.

Anniversary

2009-04-29T15:39:00.006-06:00

April 14th was our 3rd Anniversary! We can't believe it has been that long! It seems longer, just because we have known/dated each other for so long, but then again, it doesn't seem like enough has passed for it to be three years.

Here is a quick synopsis of what has happened over the last three years:

April 2006--wedding

July 2006--trip to Wyoming for reception

August 2006--Megan ran 1/2 marathon in Provo, UT

September 2006--trip to the Czech Republic

January 2007--Pret started nursing school

April 2007--1st anniversary at Anniversary Inn

May 2007--Megan finished cross-stitch for mom (post&picture)

May 2007--Trip to Vegas and survival of The Desperado

August 2007--Pret passes first summer from hell in nursing school!

August 2007--become homeowners/slumlords as we buy our duplex (that is rented out)

August 2007--Trip to Yellowstone and Megan's 1/2 marathon in Logan, UT

September 2007--Megan starts teaching full-day kindergarten

December 2007--Megan first reads Twilight and the saga/addiction begins for the Dahlgrens (mom-in-law, grandma, aunts, etc.)

March 2008--Megan has sinus surgery and a week later we move in with Pret's parents

April 2008--we get Kate, our beautiful Llewelyn Setter puppy

April 2008--2nd anniversary in Lava Hot Spring, ID at Lionsgate Manor

June-July 2008--Megan begin teaches CORE Academy around the state and Pret begins his last summer of nursing school

July 2008--being make-over of our duplex preparing for our occupation in August

August 2008--we finally move in to our "first place" on Sugar Factory Rd. in West Jordan

November 2008--Megan sees Twilight with friends, and then again with friends as Pret was disappointed she saw it without him! :-)

December 2008--Pret finishes nursing school!!!!

January 2009--Pret takes Kate hunting in Arizona and she does awesome!

February 2009--Pret goes to Cancun with friends and Megan goes to North Carolina to see friends

March 2009--Megan and Pret take FIRST (there will be more!) cruise to the Bahamas and become addicted to Smoothie King and piña coladas

April 2009--3rd anniversary

So Pret had flowers sent to me at school (I totally was not expecting them as we had decided that the cruise and a nice dinner was more than enough money for us to have spent on each other). The best part was, they ended up getting sent to Megan Roberts (he had sent me flowers from the same place before we were married, and I think they just had that name on file already), which really threw the office for a loop as none of the secretaries had known me as Megan Roberts and there are two Mrs. Roberts and another Megan, but none that went together. They finally figured it out when I was the one who could read the card, which was written in Czech (ok, I honestly couldn't "read" it, but I have seen "I love you" in Czech enough to know what it said.) It was really cute! I had a huge smile on my face the rest of the day!

Then, we had Michael and Shannon (Megan's sister and her husband) over for dinner of crab, fried chicken, yummy salad, sweet potato fries, and strawberry shortcake. Their anniversary was on the 10th, but they had not been able to do anything special for it, and we love to hang out with them. We ended up talking way past their kids' bedtimes, but it was wonderful!

Anyway, I just had to share the picture of the beautiful flowers and sweet gestures, and wonderful memories of the last few years. I sure love my husband! He does so much to support me and I know that we work well together as I support him through his endeavors as well. Here's to many more years to come!

Vacations

2009-03-22T19:49:00.012-06:00

So I realized that it has been way too long since we posted, but if you only knew how crazy life has been... Plus, we are currently picking up a wireless signal from our new neighbors, so we actually have internet at home for the first time since we've been married. Who knows how long it will last, but we are taking advantage of it for now.

Yes, the title of the post is correct, because we have separately and collectively been on 4 trips in the last two months. Pret began the vacation spree by going hunting with Kate (our dog, for those who don't remember) and his dad and brothers in Arizona for a week the end of January. I taught for the week and slept more than I have since who knows when... Kate did an awesome job hunting and we look forward to more hunts with her in the future.

Then, as a birthday/graduation celebration, Pret went to Cancun for a week with some friends. I opted not to go and save my vacation time for later. While he was gone (getting lost, avoiding baracudas, and browning in the sun) I went to visit my friend, Lauren and her family in North Carolina. She and Dallas had a beautiful baby girl, Lindley, the end of December, so it was fun to go and see her. It was a pretty quick trip, especially because I was delayed in Chicago for an extra 4 hours because of a storm, so I didn't get to NC until about 11:30. I was able to enjoy NC BBQ and relaxing times with friends. Lauren and Dallas were wonderful hosts and I look forward to seeing Lindley again soon. :-)

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we have some new neighbors. Sadly, our renters on the other half of our duplex had to move out of the state. They were an adorable little family and we were just working up to trying to share the Gospel with them. But we have found some new tenants who seem to be people who will take good care of it and help us out. I just heard a lot of banging on the wall, so they must be hanging stuff up.

March 11-17 Pret and I went on our first vacation just the two of us. We flew to Ft. Lauderdale and went to the beach there the next day. That was wonderful to just be on the beach and enjoy the sun and the water. Then, for those of you who know us (and specifically Pret) well, know that he has a hard time going a day without exercising and working-out. So we found a Gold's Gym just a few miles from our motel and headed there for one great, but humidity-enduced sweaty workout! It did help us feel better about going on a cruise the next three days and eating whatever and how-much-ever we wanted.

One of our friends used to live in the area, so he recommended our dining for the evening which consisted of Cuban cuisine at Padrino's and ice cream at Jaxson's.

Right after this picture was taken, my ice cream got pushed up into my shirt--luckily I was able to get it soaking and all is well now.

The next day, we slept in and then took a drive down the coast by Miami. That almost cost us the cruise as we got stuck in traffic. I had forgotten to look at the check-in time, and we were an hour and a half late. We only made it on the boat (the Norwegian Sky) with about 15 minutes to spare.

These pictures were taken as we were driving along the coast. The sign on the back of the bus kept flashing "Call 911" but as we drove past, the driver did not seem to be in distress, so we didn't do anything. It was kind of funny, though.

We started the cruise by working out in the gym and watching the land disappear and the water change color from the treadmills. That night, we enjoyed dinner from one of the more formal restaurants on the ship. It was great (and kind of weird) to be able to walk out after eating and not have to pay the bill. We called room service a little later and enjoyed some snacks in bed. I think that was one of the highlights for Pret as he has always enjoyed room service!

The next morning, we docked in Nassau, Bahamas.
This is us waiting for the excursion to leave the dock. Our boat seemed huge when we were right next to it! We rode a catamaran to a little island and enjoyed some beautiful snorkeling. I loved seeing the blue-green fish and Pret just enjoyed being in the water. We looked through the village a little, but mainly just went back to the boat and chilled there for the afternoon. We went to a great dance/music show that night and Pret ordered the first round of Piña Coladas. Then, for some entertainment, they had their version of "The Newlywed Game." We were worried that it would get a little vulgar, but it wasn't too bad. The funniest part was one of the couples was LDS and from Utah (they said they were from Utah and we deduced the first part as they declined the free drinks to "loosen them up." It was pretty enjoyable! We played some ping-pong that night as well, and then fell asleep to movies in bed (after a second round of room service snacks).

On Sunday, we had a day on the beach. Pret snorkeled for about another two hours while I read and slept in the sun. I didn't get into the water until the very end, but it sure felt nice. We both got just a little burned that day, but overall we did really well in keeping the sunscreen on so we just got tanned and not burned.

I'm not sure what is wrong with the color on these next pictures. I am kind of bummed, though.

Here is our "hello" to everyone from the Bahamas!

This was the beach. It was pretty crowded, but I found just enough room to lay out and soak up the sun!

Here were were on our way over to our island. That's my Hunk of a Husband!

That night we just took our time getting ready again after our day in the sun, ate a late dinner, and spent some time just walking around the ship and enjoying one last night without any pressure to do anything. We went back to the room with our final piña coladas and Pret watched TV while I finished up the book I had borrowed from the ship's library.

In the morning we slept in, had our last breakfast in bed, and disembarked at about 10:00. It was really quite sad to leave and we were planning all the future cruises we want to take as we waited in line to go through customs.

As we were on our way to Miami on Friday, we happened to stop for a smoothie for Pret at a place called "Smoothie King." Pret got a yummy piña colada one (can you tell what his favorite flavor is?) but sampled one called "The Hulk" and wouldn't stop talking about it the rest of the 20 minute drive to Miami. He was already planning on going back (we were staying in the same area on Monday night) and said it would be the only thing that would be good about ending the cruise. So after another good work-out at the gym, we headed back to the Smoothie King to get some smoothies. I will admit, it was pretty good. We enjoy Jamba Juice quite a bit, but Smoothie King does have it beat. I was lamenting to a friend about it last week and she informed me that there is one a mere 20 minutes away (verses 2,000 miles), so now we just have to decide if and when it is worth the drive.

That night we ended our vacation with a dinner on the beach-front and a stroll down the beach. I think of all the pictures I took, this one of Hollywood beach is my favorite. We had our "dream-come-true" long walk on the beach at sunset and it was great. Pret and I collected sea shells for me to bring back to my students. (I just gave them each one today and they were pretty excited about it.)

Afterwards, we couldn't decide whether we really wanted ice cream or not, so we decided to go back to Smoothie King for one last scrumptious taste! It was delicious.

Our vacation ended with a long flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Denver and a scramble to find a ride home home when I realized that I had given the wrong time to our scheduled pick-up and they then couldn't do it. (Thanks again, Michael, for coming to get us on such short notice!)

Wednesday it was back to work for me and back to studying for Pret. Pretty depressing after all the relaxing. Utah did welcome us back with 5 beautiful days of 60+ degree weather, but then shocked us with snow last night and today.

Happenings

2009-01-19T17:51:00.003-07:00

December started off with the Dahlgren Family Christmas party. This was the first time that we had ALL been together since Chad left on his mission in January 2006. It is always fun to get together with them and the opening of presents always ends in a paper-ball fight! :-) Lots of fun!

Then, as noted earlier, Pret passed his finals and was able to graduate. This was taken after his graduation. We don't have pictures together very often and I think this is a pretty cute one!

He is now preparing for the NCLEX and will take that in February. He has applied/interviewed for a few different jobs and will hopefully find out about one in the next couple weeks.

His parents, Dan and Brenda, came to the graduation ceremony and survived! It was pretty boring. Our friend, Toffer, was there as well, and served as the photographer for this picture. After this, we went out to eat at our new favorite Chinese place--Enjoy Chinese Food. It is a classly little place right around the corner from our home.

This is really a horrible picture of me, so don't look too closely. The first part of the week of Christmas I surprised my sister, Melanie, in Vegas with a trip to visit her while Pret was hunting with his brother and father in Mesquite. From the moment that she first saw me, my niece Lauren was glued to my hip when I was around her. It was fun to spend time with the whole family. I look so awful because I was in the middle of a nasty cold. I can't complain too much because it was the first time I have been sick since my surgery and the resulting recovery in March/April.

The saddest part of it was that just moments after this picture was taken, Lauren, in her attempt to run back in to go "potty" before our trip back up to Mesquite, hit her head on both cars and cut her cheek open and gave herself a pretty good goose-egg on her forehead. It didn't result in stitches, but complicated the night just a little. Thanks so much to Alan's kind-of sister-in-law for taking me up to Mesquite while Alan went to the ER and Melanie went to work.

The rest of Christmas break was spent sleeping, sleeping, visiting with friends and playing games, eating junk, sleeping, and oh yeah, sleeping. It was great! I can't believe how much I slept over the break. Pret and I really spent some good quality time over the break with each other and friends and family.

Pret got be a raquetball raquet and we have both been playing a lot with friends and each other. I thought I was getting better, but today Pret beat me 15-0, 15-6. It was pretty pathetic, but still fun. I guess I need to keep practicing!

Graduation

2008-12-09T17:34:00.005-07:00

So Pret found out today that he passed his last two finals for Nursing School and will officially graduate this week. He still has a few trainings and his boards to finish with, but he is more or less done dealing with "school," which is a huge relief! I am so happy with all that he is accomplished. He will be an awesome nurse!

Crazy Carols

2008-12-08T11:35:00.004-07:00

Hey all! I got this from one of the teachers at school and thought it might be kind of fun.

Identify the correct titles of these carols which have been written with opposite meanings from true titles. I will give you the first one as an example. I will post the answers in the comments section.

1. You Curse Us With a Sad Christmas--We Wish You a Merry Christmas
2. Noisy Day, Vile Day
3. Satan Work Ye Sad Slobs
4. Down Under the House Foundation
5. Blah! The Silent Devils Cry
6. Sad Young Sinner
7. You're Awakened From a Black Christmas
8. You'll Be Gone for Groundhog's Day
9. Gold Chimes
10. You'll Have a Black Christmas with Me
11. Irving, The White-Toed Christmas
12. The Dozen Nights of Halloween
13. T'wasn't The Day After Christmas
14. You're Getting Everything for Christmas
15. Here OUt of the Trough
16. Sorrow From the Heavens
17. O Go, All Us Sinful
18. Don't I See What You See?
19. The Last Whisper
20. It Went Under a Noonday Fog
21. You Few Peasants
22. I Hears Father Hitting Scrooge
23. Crawling Through the Rain
24. O Miserable Day
25. Zelda, The Rain Woman
26. O Big Residential Area of New York
27. There Goes Scrooge
28. Strip the Ceiling
29. O Blueberry Root
30. Whose Old Man Is This?
31. Peanuts Freezing on a Windowsill

GOOD LUCK!

Blogs

2008-11-19T15:39:00.002-07:00

So, I tried to update our blog list so they are more catergorized. If you read this blog and find that yours is missing, or know of any others that we might be interested in (mutual friends, family, etc.), please leave a comment here so we can add that.

Thanks so much for all your faithful reading!

Our new home!

2008-11-18T12:12:00.007-07:00

Here are the other pictures I promised forever ago. Sorry it has taken me so long to get them posted. Wish some of you could see it in person!

Things that Make You Go WOW!

2008-11-14T12:36:00.003-07:00

So, at school, our kids are doing projects for the Local/State/National PTA "Reflections" contest/program. The theme this year is "Wow!" (Completely as a side-note, because I wasn't thinking about this when I first started this post, but when they did the kick-off assembly, they asked few of the teachers to share their thoughts and as the teacher shared, they were to hold up a poster that said "WOW!" They asked me, but I ended-up sharing something that makes me say "¡MOM." It was quite embarrassing, but funny at the same time.)

Anyway, as I was driving to school on Wednesday, I saw two groups of geese, flying. The first one was really cool because they were in the middle of changing the lead. Anyway, if I could have stopped to watch, I would have, but alas, I just thought to myself that I wanted to blog about it so I could remember it! So enjoy these pictures, that were the best samples I could find on Google images, and remember the times that you have stopped to go WOW when you have seen migrating geese or anything else that makes you go WOW.

Feel free to share those things in the comments section! It will be fun to see what people think!

Pay Attention

2008-11-02T18:25:00.005-07:00

We we shown this video at one of our teacher work days. It is pretty powerful. I know that many people are against cell phones, and I have my own moments of pro/con opinions, but it does give us something to think about. Enjoy!

It does have music, which really adds to it. And although it is a little long, it is worth watching the whole thing.

A Few Months Late

2008-10-20T16:33:00.003-06:00

So I promised pictures from our trip to Wyoming and stay at Bear Lodge at the top of the Big Horn Mountains and I am just a little slow/late in getting them up. Pret saw me working with them and said, "You should post that one on the blog," so here I go...

This is the one Pret requested me post. We are a pretty cute couple, huh!

Each "family" wore a different color. The Wrights (Michael and Shannon, James, Katie, John, Ben) wore red, the Weinands (Alan and Melanie, Michael, Susan, Tyler, Matthew and Lauren) wore gray, the Roberts (Craig and Abby, Noah, Sarah, Emma, and Hannah) wore blue, Pret and I wore green, and my dad and mom (Mike and DeDee) wore black.

Here are the children couples. I love them all!

I guess we Roberts women make our husbands a little crazy!

Pret was teasing our nephew Matthew (who adores Pret!) with this scarf. He kept telling him he was pulling it out of his nose. It was hilarious! We were all laughing so hard!

Early Morning Garbage Run

2008-10-09T12:07:00.001-06:00

So picture this--it's 10:00 at night and you are laying in bed trying to fall asleep when all of a sudden you realize that you forgot to put out the garbage cans and the garbage truck comes in the morning. "No big deal," you think, "I'll just take them out in the morning before I go to work."

Morning rolls around, your alarm goes off at 6:45 and you know you have to be out the door at 7:30. "I've got plenty of time," you think to yourself, so you hit the snooze and head back to dreamland. All of a sudden, you are awakened, not by your alarm going off again, but by THE GARBAGE TRUCK! It is not even 7:00 and the truck is loading up your neighbors' garbage. WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?! Since when did the garbage truck come at 7:00 in the morning?!?!

So this week, when it was 11:30 and I realized that garbage hadn't been taken out, I knew there would be NO snooze hitting this morning. Well, maybe just one, but definitely not two hits of the dreamland button. So out of bed I climbed at 6:54 this morning (9 minute snoozes are the best!) and quickly took out the bag that was in the kitchen still, and dashed out the door. We have three big cans, a green waste, a recycling and a regular garbage can. I knew, based on past experience, that I better get the garbage one out first. I got it safely to the curb and went back for number two. As I was lining that one up, I thought I heard the roar of the machine coming down the street. By the time I was on the street with can number three, I could see the bright-light approach of the garbage truck coming down the street. I breathed a sigh of relief that I had gotten our stinky garbage out to be taken away to the stinky landfill! As I hurried back inside to get my lunch ready, I glanced at the clock--7:01!! Crazy garbage men!

So You Think You Can Dance

2008-09-24T12:02:00.007-06:00

First of all, a big thank you to my mother-in-law Brenda for making this possible!

Now I know this might seem bad of me to finally post an update with this when there are plenty of other things that have been going on, but I just had so much fun last night and was so obsessed this season that I can't help it.

I am such a huge fan of So You Think You Can Dance--even more so than Biggest Loser and American Idol. I think it is because I have always wanted to dance, but have never had the time or money for lessons. I know I can sing alright (not nearly AI quality, but I can usually hold my own), but NEVER will I be able to dance like that! Anyway, as the season ended, I got really sad. Luckily, Brenda was equally obsessed with it, so she decided after all the craziness of last summer and all of our hard work on the duplex (pictures of that coming soon!), we deserved a break. So she bought us tickets to the tour!

It was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am shocked that I still have a voice after screaming so loudly at the dancers. It was fun and real. And I mean that because when dancing, you can't fake it. At all. Period! There were a few mis-steps here and there, but for the most part, all of the dances were great. They showed my absolute favorites, but didn't show a few that I really enjoyed. I am going to post as many as I can here (Thanks YouTube!!).

This one is my absolute favorite! (Katee and Joshua, the top girl and overall winner, respectively)

This was the crowd's favorite and is becoming one of mine, too (Chelsea and Mark). I love the song!

This was the other of the crowd's favorites (Courtney and Mark). It is really funky, but really cool.

One of my favorites, but wasn't performed at the show last night (Courtney and Gev).

And one that has become one of my favorites because it was performed last night (Katee and Joshua).

From last season, with Sabra and Neil. This dance was nominated for an Emmy for the choreography.

And as I am completely obsessed with Katee and Joshua (you couldn't tell, huh!), here is a fun little montage, accompanied by one of my favorite artist, Clay Aiken.

Anyway, I am glad that Joshua won and it is obvious that Katee is an amazing dancer as well. I hope you enjoyed some of the dances!

CRAZY!

2008-08-19T13:36:00.001-06:00

Ok, so obviously I haven't gotten things updated. If you only knew... As soon as I find my camera and some time, I really will get to updating this, mostly now with pictures of our new place. Much love to all!

Coming Soon....

2008-06-26T07:45:00.002-06:00

Pictures from the Roberts Family Reunion at Bear Lodge in Wyoming and the Dahlgren Family Reunion in SLC and Yuba Lake. PROMISE!

2008-06-06T18:58:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I have slacked a little on our updates of Kate. She is getting so big! The pictures don't show very well, but she is getting really "ticked," meaning she is getting very spotted. The spots are dark and light brown and will be beautiful when they totally show through. These were taken a few weeks ago but it has taken me a bit to figure out how to get them on the computer!

I think my timing on this picture was pretty good, don't you?

Here she is all stretched out so you can see some of the spots on her back. They are even more defined now.

She has now pretty much destroyed this slipper. She was chewing on so many other things and this pair of slippers was about 10 years old, that I finally gave in and let her have it.

Here you can see how big she is standing up. You can also see the strapping (coming out of her head) that has saved the straps on our bags. Oh, the simple toys in life (the maroon rope and brown strapping and another strapping in our room were about $5 from the fabric store.)

Now that I will have my camera home full-time and more time on my hands, I will hopefully be a bit better about getting more updates in general and more pictures of Kate on here.

Proud of My Dad

2008-05-05T16:08:00.003-06:00

In honor of my dad's birthday last week, I want to show off his photography work. Many of you know that he has been going to school for the last year in a photography program at Northwestern Community College in Powell, WY and this is his final portfolio. He told me about it and the link because he used one of my bridal pictures for it. I was quite happy. It is fun seeing him do what he wants to be doing and doing well at it!

roberts-imaging.com

Also, some sad news: my dad's father, Harold Delbert Roberts of Pocatello, ID, passed away yesterday. He has been sick for about a year and just really not doing well for the last three months or so, so we are all happy to know that he is in a better place and free of the ailments he has been suffering with for so long. We will be traveling up to Pocatello on Saturday for the funeral and will look forward to being with the RobertsClan members.

Isn't she cute?

2008-04-25T13:49:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I guess I owe a bit of an update...but we'll get to that in a minute. I want to add a cute little video of Kate playing with a balloon.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So our life has been crazy the past 6 weeks or so. It started when I had sinus surgery (for a deviated septum) the second week of March. I was basically out for a week, supported by Pret, Brenda (my mother-in-law) and Shannon (my sister) in person and many others through thoughts and prayers. The recovery went well, although Pret and I are both realizing that we are not ready for kids--me because I got sick and was throwing-up every hour for four hours one morning, and Pret because he is not ready to take over for me when I am sick (if morning sickness/general tiredness is too much) while he is still in school.

The next week, I only had to go to work for two and a half days, but I was working hard at home in preparation for moving. That's right--we are no longer house- and cat-sitting. The Johnsons have returned from the Czech Republic we are now living in Pret's parents' basement. Thanks so much to Brenda, Shannon, Michael, James, Katie, Ben, and John's spirit (he was sick with influenza, so was there only in spirit) for all their help moving. It is only temporary, as we have purchased a duplex and are just waiting for one side to become vacant. That will be the end of May, and then we have some fixing-up to do around there, so hopefully we will be in our own home by the end of June!

Our New Arrival

2008-04-13T21:50:00.003-06:00

Pret went hunting with his dad and brothers over Christmas and came back wanting a dog. He talked to his brother Dave, who has bred many a dog and we were on our way. He let us know that he was planning on breeding his English (Llewelyn) Setter in the spring and we could have one of the puppies.

Here are some pictures of the puppy we got--Kate.

So, Kate was born six weeks ago tomorrow and came to us on Friday night. Pret went and picked her up and took her over to some friends' house where she scared their dog Nally (see post about cat or dog?). He finally came to pick me up from the Wright's house at about 1:00 a.m. where we introduced her to a few of the family (Michael, Shannon, Aunt Diane and cousins Sarah and Amy). Then we brought her home to my in-laws (I guess I need to update everyone on that--it will come, I promise) and introduced her to her room.

She had fun sniffing around, playing a bit with her towel/ball, hiding under the bed, and snuggling with Pret. After about 15 minutes, though, she was just plain tuckered out. So she fell asleep on the bed. We set up a little bed to the side and by 2:15 we were all asleep. She slept fairly soundly for about 3 hours, but then I had to get up and let her out. She is not house-trained, but we are working on that. She played with me for a bit, but then she was tuckered out again. I tried to go back to sleep with her in bed next to me, but I think I was a little too excited, so it never really happened.

Finally, at about 6:30, she had to go out again. I took her out and by 7 we were both fast asleep. She slept in bed with us, occasionally interrupted by puppy-mares, until about 9:30, when none of our bladders could hold it any more. She played and slept off and on for the rest of the day, but then we left at about 5:00 to go to Lava Hot Springs, ID for our 2nd Anniversary.

We stayed at the Lions Gate Manor and enjoyed a night in the Medieval room in a four-poster, canopy bed after a nice soak in the VERY HOT hot pools. We recommend the city (if the outside temperature is between 50 and 70 degrees, but definitely no more and less only if you like that kind of thing) and the accommodations to anyone who is willing to pay a little more (it is an "Anniversary Inn-type place), but really enjoy the experience.

As we were pulling into the driveway back home, we were both entirely too anxious to see our baby again. Dan and Brenda (my in-laws) had taken very good care of it, but are now anxious to get a good night's sleep. Dan said that they had a good play at about 2:30 this morning for about 15 minutes before she was ready to go back to bed. Brenda just keeps laughing at me because I really used to not like dogs, but having been around their four dogs for the last few years, they are growing on me. I think I still like cats better, and am definitely missing Miss Kitty, but I already love Kate a lot and look forward to watching her grow.

I will try and post pictures of her weekly growth, although I don't guarantee that they will get posted weekly. Come visit her soon if you can--she's pretty cute!

Happy Birthday Pret!

2008-02-29T08:55:00.003-07:00

All About My Hubby...

How long have you been married? 2 Years on April 14th

How long did you date? Oh boy, that is a story in an of itself!! We have known each other since meeting in Sunday School in 1997. We hung out a few times during my freshmen year at BYU before he left on his mission, but not even on any "dates." We wrote a few times while he was on his mission in the Czech Republic and then he called me after he got home. We went out a few times that summer (2003) but then I went on a study abroad to New Zealand, so it ended then. When I got back, I moved in with my sister who was in the same ward as his parents, so we attended the same Singles' Ward. We had mutual friends, so we started hanging out again. He got back at me for dumping him the summer before, so he dumped me in October (2004). Finally, after I was dating another guy and he was dating my best friend, he cam and told me that he still liked me and wanted to try again if things didn't work out with the other guy. About a month later we broke up and a few weeks later, Pret and I went out again. Then we dated for about 8 months again before he propsed... All in all, we "dated" on and off for about 2 1/2 years before he were engaged.

How old is he? 26 as of yesterday and he is not happy about it. He has the "Peter Pan" syndrome and doesn't want to grow up!

Who eats more sweets? It all depends on what we are eating. He east larger quantities in general and when I am in the mood I will eat and eat, but he will eat any time. He is definitely the chocohaulic in our family.

Who is taller? He is. He's about 5'10" and the perfect height because I can put my head on his shoulder and in the crook of his neck.

Who can sing better? He would say me, but I think he has a fine voice. I love listening to him sing!

Who is smarter? It all depends on what we are talking about. He is better with medical/biological stuff and money management for sure. I have just a good all-around knowledge of things (computers and technology are two that I would definitely beat him out on!)

Who does the laundry? I do it for the most part, but if I ask him to, he will do it for me. Laundry was actually our first disagreement that had me in tears...

Who pays the bills? I do. He has to remind me to do it, but I am the one who does it. We do all of our budgeting and transferring together, though.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.

Who mows the lawn? He does. But I try to do it when I can and know that he is busy. I don't mind it too much.

Who cooks dinner? I do. He is great at coming in and helping me with the little things, though.

Who drives? Both--I will drive if he is tired or just sick of driving. Neither of us mind driving.

Who is more stubborn? Neither of us backs down very easily, but we will admit when we are wrong!

Who asked who out first? Which time? We took turns initiating the first date.

Who kissed who first? He kissed me when I told him I wouldn't go camping with his family until I knew that he was serious about our relationship. We kissed before we held hands!!

Who said "I love you" first? He said it verbally first, but I had written it on his back first.

Who proposed? He did. He planned it all out with my best friend and sister and brother-in-law. He designed the ring with my friend and then surprised me in Las Vegas at the temple. I still get excited when I think about it. I wasn't expecting it for a few months, so I was totally surprised.

Who has more siblings? He does--3 brothers, 1 sister. I have two sisters and a brother.

Who wears the pants? We both do, it depends on the subject. But more accurately, we are a two-headed monster with equal say. That is what gets us in trouble sometimes...

Most of all, I love my husband. On his birthday, he deep-cleaned our kitchen counter and bought me a rose! He is sweet and kind and sensitive to my needs, but at the same time, he is strong and makes me feel safe as he takes care of me.

Thanks for being my perfect husband!

Remembering President Hinckley

2008-01-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

Wow. A lot of feeling went through me as I heard about the death of President Hinckley. Not much of me was sad at first thanks to my testimony of the Plan of Salvation--knowing that he would be with his wife, mothers (knowing that his birth mother died and his father re-married), father, siblings, etc.--as well as my testimony of the Gospel and knowing that this is Jesus Christ's church and not "President ______________'s Church."

It didn't hit me until I was laying in bed not wanting to get up the next morning and thinking about his death that it would be sad. It will be especially hard for young children to grasp and understand. That when I teach "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet" to the primary children this summer in preparation for the program in the fall, I will not be holding up a picture of Gordon B. Hinckley. Will the children recognize and understand that this new face is now the one who is President and Prophet of our church? I hope so. I look forward to sustaining and receiving counsel from the new president, but will still look back on what President Hinckley taught with love and honor.

Anyway, I have heard of two great tributes to President Hinckley. One by a CNN reporter named Glenn Beck. I had honestly not ever heard of the guy before, but I saw this video on another blog and it really touched me, so I thought I would share.

Then there was this one from KSL news in SLC from KSL.com

Carole Mikita reporting

LDS Church President Hinckley conveyed a warm personal touch toward all the Latter-day Saints. They considered him a friend.

This is the story of one of those friends who shared a love of faith and good humor with the man he called prophet.

If President Hinckley ever would have needed a personal public relations man, Norman Rothman would gladly have stepped forward. They often shared stories. Both loved faith and family, and their time on earth ended the same day.

So often called "The people's prophet," President Gordon B. Hinckley enjoyed meeting and greeting. Friends and neighbors say he felt comfortable in his own congregation, which met in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Annette Rothman, a member of President Hinckley's ward, said, "Every time I would go to church, if Norman wouldn't be there because of the pain in his back or something, President Hinckley would say, 'Where's Norman?'"

Annette Rothman is talking about her husband, Norman. In 2004, they traveled back East to be with President Hinckley as he dedicated a new temple in Manhattan.

At the time Norman Rothman said, "This is my town. It isn't that I don't love Salt Lake City and the prophet, but this, New York, this is where I was born and raised and educated, the son of a New York City cab driver."

Annette Rothman said, "Two weeks ago, President Hinckley came to the ward in a wheelchair. [It was the] first time we'd ever seen him in a wheelchair. And when he saw me, he stood up out of the wheelchair and he said, 'Annette, how's Norman?' I said, 'President, he's still in a coma,' and President Hinckley said, 'You tell him we're praying for him.'"

Then Sunday night while visiting Norman in the hospital, she learned President Hinckley had died.

"Then I leaned over to Norman and I said, 'Sweetheart, I have to tell you something. President Hinckley passed away at 7 o'clock tonight. Now you can go.' Tears came down his eyes, and he died within minutes," she said.

Annette says one thing Norman promised her was that he would never die before President Hinckley, and he kept his word.

Annette Rothman said she and her family have decided to hold Norman's funeral on Saturday afternoon, the same day as President Hinckley's.

They both touched me and made me cry. He was a wonderful man and will be remembered with love by all!

Book Review: Twilight Series

2008-01-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is from the blog of "A Former Student's Father" in my friends links. He is not LDS, but has a great view on life. If you enjoy his book review here, you should check out some of the other stuff he writes. He can be slightly crude, but it is so dang funny sometimes!!

http://flieswithoutwings.blogspot.com/2008/01/book-review-twilight-series.html"

Someday I really will do a "real" post, we just don't have time!!

Super Bowl Sunday

2008-01-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

LAME UPDATE WARNING!!

So those of you who keep up on this blog may remember my entry about Monday Night Football and our not so positive attitude toward professional football. Pret actually sat down and watched "THE GAME" on December 29th with my brother-in-law Alan and said that he kind of enjoyed it, so that may change for "big games" in the future.

More, I write about this thinking of growing up and the Super Bowl Sunday Parties that my family would have. My dad, brother, and sister Shannon all enjoyed watching the Super Bowl, and at that point, I didn't recognize the arrogance of professional football players, so I would watch too.

Now days, though, we don't care much about the Super Bowl. In fact, I think we have been over at Pret's parent's house for the last two (maybe even 3) years, and we haven't watched a minute of it. Now that his brother is back, though, we might have it on in the background just to be able to watch the commercials.

Anyway, my whole point in creating this post, which I know is lame considering it has been almost a month since I have updated it and now I am updating it for this, but I read this really interesting information about Super Bowl Sunday. This little article said that it is the second highest day of food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving. Super Bowl Fans/Viewers will consume 14,500 tons of chips, 4,000 tons of popcorn and 8,000,000 pounds of guacamole!! That is unreal! I don't know that we will do anything special for food, even if we are watching it. But those of you who do, enjoy on our behalf!!