Life gets away.....

In the shuffle of life, keeping up on our doings seems to get away from us.  I just looked at posts that have been started and never finished and there is a lot of them! In order to remedy that it is about time we started to be better at posting. So, here is a little update on the Dills.

Michael is in school this semester. He is working hard, studying a lot and only had 7 classes left to take before he graduates in July. He no longer works at Taco Bell (as of last April or so). He now works as a TA on campus. He is always on the hunt for a new adventure for us to go on, and is very good at encouraging me to follow my dreams. I simply adore this boy. He is so handsome and caring that sometimes I stop and ask myself how I ever got so lucky.

I am not in school this semester, but will be in January. I have 8 classes left to take before I graduate in July. I am currently working up a few surprises that I will blog soon enough. I love staying at home and literally crafting almost all day every day, taking care of my Mdill, and being able to spend time watching my niece Nora. This semester off has been the answer to many many prayers. I have been able to work on and strengthen me.  

Together we love adventures. I think anyone that knows us knows that we are always on the hunt to do something fun. There are a lot of recent adventures we could share, but I won't bore you with tons of photos and whatnot. Rather, I'm going to share one picture my sister Amy took of us recently. I think it sums us up pretty well.

Needless to say, we are happy, healthy, and chugging right along. Yes, we do have our trials, heartaches, and rough days. But, despite those things we wouldn't change our lives from where we are and what we are doing. 

Look forward in the future to posts about things we've been up to in the past and things we will be doing in the future. 

Blog Address Change

So, this is Jenny and this is me saying I updated my blog address. After 2 years of marriage I have changed it to....... drumroll please.....

http://jennydill.blogspot.com/

Real original I know. So if you have visited my blog and an error pulled up you can quit worrying and now I'm still out there in the blogging world.

Double up...

We love love love double dates. That's right. double dates are so much fun. With so many of our friends moving away to far away places like Washington, California and even far away Utah we miss double dates! But this last weekend we decided we had enough!!! We were going on a double date. We got together with my childhood friend Lora (she is the best!) and her husband Jared and went out to the Olympic Oval. It was so much fun! We raced, skated, raced, skated backwards, raced and skated some more until our feet were sore and we were starving. Then off to Applebee's we went. It was a lovely night and reminded me how much I love good friends.

A Memorial Day of Memories...

This last Sunday and Monday was one for the history books. In spite of the constant rain that we experienced in Eastern Idaho all weekend long, we packed up the car to go camping. I was determined to go and no amount of rain was going to stop me. Amy came up for the weekend and Lara is all up for our crazy adventures. It was a delightful time. Some of my personal favorites of the trip include the following:
-The campground hosts face when we pulled up and I told him we were ready for the rain and cold.
- Michael taking over chopping wood after I axed my finger.
- Hot chocolate.
- The perfectly cooked tin foil dinners. 
- The enthusiasm everyone had.
- The skunk we were initially intrigued by but soon turned to irritation with. He even chased Amy and I resulting in us hiding out in the car.
- The fact that we attempted to build a fire in the pouring rain.
- The prayer that stopped the rain.
- Michael's que for thunder.
- Lara reaching for a flaming mallow on the end of my roasting stick.
- Spotting a bear. Living with a skunk. Hanging out with a fox.
- The quote "I've been training for this my entire life!"
- Picnics by the outhouse along the Scenic Byway.
- Using a paper towel as toilet paper.
- Amy's hideous green pants that I made her take off before we could go to Mesa Falls.
- Signing in as Bill and Jeanie from Iowa with our 5 kids at Mesa Falls.
- Using my new sleeping bag in a real case scenario. (Up to this point it had only been tested indoors.)
- Forgetting about homework for a day.
- Being with family.
- Using the outhouse. Call me crazy but it's all part of the experience. And thanks to the camphosts these bad boys were spotless.

It simply was a grand old time. I love making memories!

Be glad you can only see our upper halves.... I'm the only one looking ridiculous here.

Straight up down pour.... Yes that's an umbrella over the fire... what's wrong with that?

SO delicious.

There is a skunk behind me.... This is right before we darted for us.

My love... Mdill 06 ;)

Being All Homemaker-ish

 So in an effort to be all homemaker-ish we decided to give making our own laundry detergent a shot. It is actually quite simple and works great. To buy everything we needed to start up (like a borax, washing soda, a large pot and grater) it cost about 20 bucks. All the stuff lasts for quite awhile so we will be making this for quite awhile with that little amount of what we bought.

We got the recipe for the detergent here.

Enjoy some pictures from our adventure!

Most of the Ingredients

Grating the Soap

Cooking the Laundry Detergent

All in all it was a success. Due to having a smaller pot, we weren't able to add all of the water into the pot at the end, so our detergent is a little thicker than it probably should be.

Another Adventure...

Being off track from school is quite wonderful. Yesterday Michael and I went to run a few things to the Post Office. It was our only little errand. Michael insisted that we didn't go home. So, we made a stop at the D.I. just to see if there were any unforseen treasures, but the darn place was practically empty. I've seriously never seen it that bare. Our treasure seeking was very short lived. Michael still didn't want to go home. So I told him I would take him to a geological sight.... that's right ladies and gents the Teton Dam. We began driving and once we passed this little beauty... 

 

....we just couldn't resist not to keep on driving. Oh Idaho! So that's what we did. We just kept on driving right past that Dam and onto bigger and better things. 

Those beauties to be exact. The drive was absolutely beautiful. There was hardly any snow compared to what I've seen in past winters, but the small amount of white with the yellow poking through was perfectly perfect!

Yup we kept on going and going and going and got closer and closer and closer. The drive was very relaxing, had great tunes, and great great company.

I loved going over the pass and seeing all the backcountry skiers out skiing and the fun trails they left behind. It only made my desire to learn to ski even greater, my fingers are still crossed that I can go sometime this season.

And here we are folks, Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We went into town square, walked around for an hour or so, sipped a hot cocoa, stopped at the candy store (if you know us you know we have a very pathetic addiction to candy and candy stores), and then got back on the road so we could make it over the slippery pass before dark.
The drive home from Jackson was just as pretty, if not more so, than the ride there. The sun was setting, the moon was rising, and our whim turned out pretty awesome. Here are a few more pictures of the ride back. Now no judging, I realize these pictures aren't really all that great, but hey I was in a moving vehicle!

And last but not least we did visit that Dam...

very merry belated Christmas!

I really really wanted to send out a Christmas Card this year, but dagnabit... They can get to be quite expensive, so here is my card I created weeks ago, but never got out. Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Patience

"Be Patient with yourself... Perfection comes not in this life, but in the next. Don't demand things that are unreasonable, but demand of yourself improvement."

The other night I had work and Jenny stayed home working on homework and other things around the house. When I got home she said that she had gone over to our neighbor's house, Thomas and Kayla's, for Family Home Evening. She said they had watched a Mormon Message video titled "Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them". When I got home from work (yes I work a ton it seems like) this evening I had the chance to sit down and watch it. For those of you who haven't watched it yet, watch it here:



This video could not have come at a more appropriate time in my life. Tonight on my break Jenny and I were texting back and forth about our lives and how we need to keep on being better together. Not that we aren't happy or aren't successful in life, but we need to keep on improving daily. If one finds themselves standing still, they are not progressing. In church I remember as a kid hearing you're either moving forward or backwards, there is no standing still on the journey to God. I find this true more and more every day. Every day we have the opportunity to do things that will bring us closer to God. If we fail to do those things, we are only hurting ourselves and distancing ourselves from Him. That is not say He distances Himself from us, but rather we are choosing to pursue other things that instead could be filled drawing closer to Him.

I know that as we strive daily to find ways to improve, we can. The Savior will help us as we draw on His strength. He went through all that we have so that we can be strengthened when we need it. I know this to be true. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the opportunity to live it daily in a country that allows that religious freedom. We are so fortunate to have so many blessings in this life.

This is for the Grandparents

Well Jenny has been the one that has kept this blog alive, so I figured it was my turn to blog a bit! (this is Michael if you were confused) We have sure been busy. When Jenny is busy one week, I find myself having great nights off of work, perfect to want to spend time with her. But when I have the craziest work schedule, I am also slammed with homework, and Jenny seems to have nothing to do. It's all about finding that balance right? Haha. Things sure are good and we still find time make each other laugh and feel special.
So some updates since last time we blogged (for a more comprehensive list look at Jenny's blog here...)

1. We flew home for my brother's wedding in California.
2. Halloween has come and passed
3. I had my 23rd Birthday. 
4. Daylight savings was maybe one of the best late birthday presents ever- I love sleeping in :)

So the real reason I thought of blogging tonight was at dinner. As Jenny was putting the food on the table I noticed a couple things she had set out. 

Jenny's Place at dinner-
Her vitamins that she takes each day

My plate at dinner-
The doctor ordered me to eat an Activia daily

I laughed to myself as I looked at our table and thought of eating dinner with my grandparents. I remember as a kid that immediately following the dinner prayer, both grandparents would take their medicine. I love that we are now starting that dinner tradition so early in life together- I guess it will make it easier when were old right?

Today was a great day. It was a good end to a great week and weekend. This past week I celebrated my 23rd birthday. One of the highlights is captured in this picture below

note: not my baby.

I got to hold baby Carter as everyone sang me Happy Birthday. I love that little guy. He's our neighbor's baby and is about a month old. Some of our neighbors and my sister came over to wish me a Happy Birthday. It was a ton of fun, and my cake was awesome! Jenny did such a great job. It made me excited for our own children's birthday and the themes they will all have.

Going backwards in time, Halloween was two days before that.. We carved pumpkins and had a great time. This was the first year ever that I gutted my own pumpkin. I don't know how I liked the experience. It was so mushy and gross. For those of you who don't know, textures bother me so much. If it is something I'm not used to, it makes me gag. It made me grateful for my parents and all the pumpkins they have gutted out for me. To add to it, I'm not a fan of the smell of pumpkins which also adds to the gag reflex. But we had a great time, Jenny even put on the Halloween Pandora station. It was a ton of fun.

Our pumpkins!

A couple days later, it snowed, which I love love love! Snow means a couple things- cuddling, movies, and hot chocolate. It's been great! While it wasn't a ton of snow, it was enough to get me excited for Christmas- so much in fact that our Christmas stocking are hung up and a few Christmas decorations are making their way out of boxes from our spare bedroom.

The tree outside our apartment

We are doing so well, and are so blessed with all that we are given. We are both extremely busy, but are both so amazed at how much you can love someone even when it feels like you never see them. We find the time to make it happen, and cherish the time we do have together.

My favorite picture of us that we have recently taken--

gotta love photobooth!!

Many a thing...

There has been many a thing going on in our lives the past two months... Jenny spent 3 weeks in Chicago running a camp for inner city girls. We moved. We slept on an air mattress for a good month. We took a canoeing trip in Island Park. Our friends Stephen and Madison came up to visit. Wayne came to drop Lara off to school. Took a day trip to go to the Salt Lake Temple. Ed and Linda came up for a weekend visit. We got a couch. School started. And most recently, we took a weekend trip to Yellowstone to use Jenny's free pass she has been begging to use.
Life keeps us busy. Our love for one another continues to grow and we just keep on having fun and experiencing life to it's fullest. We absolutely adore most everything about our lives (sometimes work and school are a little overwhelming.) and we look forward to continuing to grow together. 

Me and Michael at Summer Jam Camp in Chicago. Michael came out for the last week.

Yellowstone, Momma Linda insisted that we get out and take our picture by this sign. 

Neglect...

We have neglected this blog to the max... Our intentions are good, and we talk about what we are going to put on our blog ALL the time, but life gets busy and more important things get put in place of our blogging. In short life is simply wonderful. Michael is busy working at Taco Bell as a shift manager. And I, Jenny,  just finished up a semester of school and is getting ready to head out to Chicago for 3 weeks. The past three months have been wonderful for us. We were told by many people to make sure we have fun together and I'm convinced that we always and will always have fun. We continue to be blessed with wonderful friends and family along with a lot of opportunities to do cool stuff.

The "cool" thing we recently got to do was go to beautiful San Diego with the Worthington clan. It was wonderful. We had a big surprise at the airport when Katie and Wayne (Michael's parents) were there to pick us up. After a little confusion and a lot of happiness we headed off to meet the rest of the gang at the beach. It was a wonderful trip full of laughter, fun and yeah... Worthington awesomeness. Here are a few pics...

Jumping pictures are a must for us! We are getting to be quite the pros at this and I must say that jumping in my swim suit is a lot easier than jumping in my wedding dress. Plus, there were no grass stains as a result of this jump.

I learned to love smashball when I lived with an awesome group of girls two summers ago and as soon as I saw my cousins brought it along I begged Michael to play with me. I LOVE this game!

Amy insisted that the lighting here was great. So... we posed next to the Walrus tank.

My dad is one of the coolest people I know. Although my family had already gone to this Mexican Restaurant in Old Town my dad took us back so we could enjoy some fine Mexican cuisine.

I love the dolphins and we fed those bad boys. Michael loved it? I think....

We even got to ride a gorilla at the San Diego Zoo.

This is the elephant Michael is going to let me get. I've always wanted one and I think that this one is the perfect elephant with perfectly shaped ears and just the right amount of cuteness.

Mucho love!

Um.... this is us, right outside the panda exhibit. I like to think we are a cute couple, but hey maybe that's just me.

At one point in the trip we lost Heather at the penguin exhibit... so after this I kept telling everyone to keep track of their "Seaworld Buddy" "Zoo Buddy" or "Vegas Buddy". This is Michael and his more seasoned Zoo Buddy. In her words, she is the step up from me. Thanks mom! :)

VEGAS!!!!

A really long post that some may not even care about....

Ok. So married life is pretty good if I do say so myself. Amy said she would help us make it so you could see who is posting what, but until then I'll clear this up. This is Jenny. Jenny Dill.

Anywho, married life is great, different than what I always imagined? Yes! but it's a good different. We try to stay pretty busy and that is just what we have been doing lately.  (*** WARNING*** This post contains a lot of photos, if you do not like photos, to bad!)

First off, for our wedding my little sister Heather was SO SO excited to give us "the perfect" gift she had found for us. She knew we were going to love it and I don't think anyone was as excited as her to give us their gift. (if you were, sorry I think Heather really was more excited) When we opened it we found....... *drum roll please* a blender! So we decided to put this little beauty to good use and made ourselves some strawberry milkshakes. Thanks to Heather for the awesome Wavemaker! 

 We went down to Salt Lake to visit the fam. Since we got married we no longer visit the great So Jo every weekend and have been feeling a little bit deprived of the greatness that lies therin. It was a wonderful weekend spent celebrating birthdays, running to craft stores, visiting with family, eating good food and all that good stuff. On Sunday we had to opportunity to go visit temple square and meet Elder Babbitt (Michael's old mission companion) and his family. They were simply lovely and I can't wait to spend more time with them in the future. Temple square was absolutely beautiful and all the flowers looked immaculate. My favorite = blooming tulips!
 

I really do love him :) Promise!

 Ok so Utah was lovely. Being back in Idaho is great too. We have our own little routine that we are still trying to figure out and we have had a lot of fun together figuring it all out. We recently got a few more additions to our home including a few cute pillows from IKEA and these two little beauties we found at The Trackside Mall in Idaho Falls. It's a cute little consignment shop where all sorts of people sale their whatevers and other people (like Michael and myself) go find them and think they are the coolest thing ever. A friend of Michael and I told us we would love it there, and we do! We found a few things and I'm sure someday we will find a few things more. When we told Katie (Michael's mom) we got a killer good deal on a real cute rocking chair we had to reassure here there are no babies on the way, but that we just love a good deal especially on cute rocking chairs with a old fashioned creak to it. The blue chair is a bar stool from the 1950's and it swivels back and forth. So so cute, and I ramble on and on...

 

  We also have been in the process of establishing a budget and such. We decided that one way we could save money is me cutting Michaels hair. I have yet to convince him that he should learn to cut my hair, he refuses, but I'm perfectly fine with the idea. Anywho, we set out to Wally World to get some clippers to turn the beast into a man. And that's just what we did. There were a few moments when I thought to myself, "Why I am cutting his hair?" But was reassured by his constant reassurances that it would really be just fine, and it was.

A debonaire Mr. Michael showing off his long locks.

I told him to smile... what a smarty pants!

It was a lot of hair! Men are hairy, that is that.

 With spring in the air and flowers blooming all around I have had the biggest desire to plant some little flowers of my own in some sort of pot. Michael always puts up with my silly antics and let me pick out a few plastic pots and some flowers to put in 'em. So now my green thumb can go to work. ***NOTE TO READERS: If these flowers die, totally not my fault. It will be due to the fact that we got them at Walmart and Rexburg is windy and cold.***
I don't plan on them dying anytime soon, and I am simply thrilled to have them sit right outside our door for the summer. I hope they can bring a little bit of sunshine to others as well as me and Michael.

Potted plants... As close to a real garden as I'll get for a while.

 AND THE BIG NEWS!!!!!! We bought a kitchen aid. Yeah that's right we got a kitchen aid.

It. Is. Adorable! 

We are grateful for everyone who helped contribute to this lovely new addition, namely those who gave us cash at our wedding. We have what I like to call our wedding savings, that is the money which we got from our wedding that is helping us get a nice start. We thank all the kind people who gave us gifts. We really would have NOTHING without any of you and our so glad you would help us start from scratch. There have been countless blessings given to us that have helped us so much. I have been so overwhelmed from the amount of love, kindness, and friendship that so many people have shown us. We love you and grateful to each and every one of you who have touched our lives for the better.

And here she is ladies and gents...

First thing we made? Snickerdoodles of course!