Date Night to the Max

Last year Mike and I tried something a little different when it came to our date night. We came up with a list of things we would like to do (52 in total, so we had to do one each week) and then we (were supposed to) update our blog with a post about each date...

Well, it went... okay. We didn't do EVERY date we had hoped but we did to a good number of them. And while we weren't the best at posting about each one, I believe we did take pictures during the majority of them!

So this year, Mike and I created a date list again, but THIS time instead of creating a post every time, we'll try to take a picture during each activity (which you'll be able to see in our Instagram Feed-so it's almost like a dedicated post!).

So, the official date list for 2013 is...
1-Make of list of must-haves in your dream home
2-Paint each other's portrait
3-Plan our *vacation* for this year
4-Make a map of places we have been and want to go. Make a list of places and sites to see. (We both liked the idea of using this as the start, or a world map)
5-Teach each other something new
6-Build a fort and watch a movie
7-Attend a festival (I hear the Greek Festival calling my name on this one!)
8-Go see a local band (Rooftop Concert Series? -I think so!)
9-Build our Bucket Lists (as a couple and separately)
10-Tandem the River Walk
11-Visit a Museum (We're thinking of visiting the Museum of Tolerance and the Getty Museum for this one)
12-Go to the Farmer's Market (there are so MANY around here!)
13-Go Bowling (of course!)
14-See a Vegas Show (Like Penn & Teller or Seinfeld or whatever Broadway show is in town)
15-Go to a Fancy Restaurant (haven't decided yet where we'd like to go for this one, but I'd prefer Hell's Kitchen!)
16-Volunteer at the local homeless shelter.
17-Play Board Games (we love Monopoly!)
18-Go on a picnic
19-Go to Goodwill or a Thrift store and pick out one item for the other person. $10 budget
20-Get up early and go eat brunch at Communal.
21-Watch stand up comedy (like The Wise Guys or Comedy Sportz)
22-Take Mike's parents out to dinner (they have been so kind and generous to us it's the least we could do)
23-Go for a long walk
24-Make a gift for someone else. Just because. (These are so much fun!)
25-Try a new work out (maybe Water Zumba?)
26-Cook an exotic meal or cook something we have always wanted to try
27-Go up to Bear Lake for the day/weekend
28-Go Country Swing Dancing
29-Play Laser Tag!!
30-Play video games all night
31-Pajama Party! Pop some popcorn, make a pallet and watch  cheesy movie.
32-Go to a basketball game (or several)
33-Make a mix CD of songs that remind you of your time together (For a roadtrip?).
34-Watch each other's favorite movies from childhood.
35-Go to the Strawberry Days Rodeo!
36-Attend Pleasant Grove's Fireman's Breakfast
37-Go to an Outdoor Movie (possible a drive-in?)
38-Spend a day up at Midway and the Deer Creek Reservoir (I'm really want to go cliff-jumping and try Dairy Keen's famous shakes!
39-Hike Timp.
40-Camping Trip... somewhere
41-Silly Photoshoot
42-Visit local Garage/Yard Sales in search of Children's books
43-Teach each other something new
44-Go Geocaching
45-Try the Walmart $20 challenge (we each get $20 to spend on presents for each other -the person buys the best/most presents wins!)>
46-Go on a weekend trip to somewhere outside Utah
47-Take a one-night class together
48-Go to the Provo Beach Resort 49-Listen to a book on tape
50-Go sledding!
51-Have a tv-show marathon>
52-Buy a new game and break it in with friends!


Looks like it's going to be a fun year!

Goals for 2013

Every December towards the end of the month, individuals all around the world start reflecting on how well they've done on their goals throughout the year as well as what goals they may put into place the next year.

Well, Mike and I are no exception. Below you will find the goals that we've decided to work on, together and separately. 

If you have yet to decide what goals you will make over the next year may I suggest looking up Change Anything's post, "How to succeed where others fail." It has great advice on how to go about setting goals and reviewing them throughout the year!

-Ace the GRE

-Fix the truck (aka Vehicle #4)

-Read 2 books a month

-Don't drink my calories

-Journal regularly

-Exercise 4x a week

-Eat on smaller plates

-Blog More! -at least twice a month...

-Continue writing my Missionary Friend twice a month

-GET TO EUROPE!! (July/August)

-Become Debt free January 31st

-Completing all 52 dates on their to-do list this year!

Playing Catch-Up

To say it's been a while would be an understatement.

A lot of things have happened since I last seriously blogged that it's hard to know where to begin... Several changes have occurred at home, but as for Mike and I one thing will remain the same: we are going strong! 

We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary and Mike is in his last semester at UVU so we couldn't be happier! Recently Mike joined a softball team and I was promoted to full time at work so life can get pretty busy, but we also like to make time for fun...

 We participated in several 5ks over the summer, went to the State Fair,

Just a night at the Fair

All the Gates & Hess Ladies

 the Whittaker Family Reunion,

There was Potato Sack Races,

Cattail Coloring

and Slingshot Practice

 as well as a Family Reunion on Mike's side,

It was up in Heber Canyon

Landon in his shades

The Hess Representatives

 and we saw Wicked!!

We had a lot of fun doing other things as well but to understand the fullness of the summer you will just have to follow us on Instagram!

June 17th-23rd (aka the week after Cali)

This week was spent prepping for Girl's Camp and celebrating Strawberry Days!

On Wednesday I had mutual, then Thursday Mike and I had date night!

For our date we built a fabulous blanket fort, complete with couch cushions and tape and then we put on a movie and proceeded to ignore it while we drew each other's portraits. 

Since Mike hardly ever wants to draw, let alone draw each other I jumped at the opportunity! I broke out the markers, our paint, and of course pencils and erasers.

After about 10-15 minutes of intense drawing we compared drawings...

I love both of them!

 On Saturday I hiked up to Stewart's Falls with a couple of our Young Women...

then Mike and I went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo!

We saw some friends from YW's, PG and Provo! 

It was a great week and we were happy to end it with Strawberries and Cream, Rodeo Burgers and Fireworks :) 

Rooftop Concert Series: June

Friday night Mike and I went to the June Rooftop Concert featuring:

Timmy the Teeth

Desert Noises

and

The Moth and The Flame

It was awesome.

The Shine Event

Yesterday was one of the best days I've ever had!!

Mike and I went up to Salt Lake City to participate in The Shine Event. The Shine Event was a morning dedicated to bringing a little bit of Shine to stranger's lives by doing small acts of kindness. We met at Poplar Grove Park and then split up into groups with a list of Services we should do.

Some of the activities asked for a picture to be taken of the action but Mike and I just tried to take as many pictures as we could :)

After we were each given our lists and a bag with correlating items Mike and I took off towards Temple Square.  Within twenty minutes it started POURING  so we ran for cover in the new City Creek Mall. We found tons of people to give our candy to, including 3 homeless men (and their pets), a Security Officer, a Janitor, a little girl who scrapped her knee and a random couple. 

Mike, giving the Security Officer a Thank You note and some Gum

We didn't feel comfortable asking anyone for permission to take their picture so we snuck in the one above of the Security Guard and left the others alone.

However, we took the mission of spreading positive/uplifting quotes to a whole new level. Below are just a couple of the ones we spread across the Block...

We left one at almost every place we stopped.

We were also charged with leaving an inspirational quote, but since we were stretched for time we left the following instead:

 By the time we were all supposed to meet back together it was raining pretty badly...

We were sopping wet by the time we reached our car:

but even with the rain, we both agreed that it was one of the funnest things we have ever done!

Thank you Ashley for bringing the Shine Project to Salt Lake City!

 It was a blast!

(Salt Lake City was so pretty in the rain, I had to share this pic with you guys as well!)

Aye Yai Yai

What's a blog for, if not to document your life, right? 

So, in honor for there to be a record of what Mike and I did this past week, here are some tid + bits I maybe shoulda mentioned...

Cinco De Mayo Party at our cousin, Jordan's (that's Matt and I being napkin twinners).

Weeding and preparing the back yard for the Family Garden!

Second night of weeding and preparing the garden layout.

The Laker's game, because what would life be like with out them?!

The latest of my Country Streak, Alabama's "I'm in a hurry"!

Not pictured, but equally fun events:

Lazer tagging/mini golfing at Trafalga Thursday night and Comedy Sportz on Friday!

Well, that's my week. What did you do for fun?

I Believe (In Love) and Date Night!

Everyone loves Date Night!

I know that for Mike and I it's a nice time to dedicate to doing/trying something new with each other. And for the most part we keep it fairly inexpensive, but every now and then it's fun to splurge and go out to dinner and a movie!

We don't usually go to the Theater unlless we KNOW the movie's going to be good, but Mike found a Red Robin's coupon and was surprised with movie tickets from work so we decided, why not!

So we saw Mirror Mirror, a Snow White tale, and it was.... interesting to say the least. One of my favorite parts, although not Mike's, was the following clip. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

Enjoy!

This one's to you Mike, thank you for taking me out on the town!

Date Nights

So I haven't done a very good job of keeping you all up to date on Mike's and my weekly dates, so here's the lowdown:

Two weeks ago, for our date night we went to my cousin's swim meet. It was the final meet of the season and U of U was facing off BYU. As many of you from Utah know, U of U and BYU are rival schools, but that's not the only reason this meet was special. My cousin, when she was graduating high school got many scholarship offers to Universities all over the nation, including BYU and U of U. 

Well, she was flown out on separate occasions by both schools and shown the ropes and team, but after much deliberation (and a better scholarship offer) my cousin choose to go with U of U. Unfortunately there were some hard feelings when she didn't choose BYU, but hey money is money!

Anyhow, her first year on the swim team she had  two major shoulder surgeries so she didn't compete the majority of the time. However at the last meet of the year she swam against BYU and did horribly (because of her shoulder problems-duh) so this time around she was really looking to prove herself... and she did!

She swam in 3 divisions and was in 3rd-4th place every time. And as this was only her first real year swimming with the team she is only going to get better! So that was a lot of fun!

Last week for date night Mike and I went Lazer Tagging with our friends the Despains! We ganged up against some BYU Freshies and I wish I could say we creamed them but unfortunately we lost by 12... Oh, well it was still fun :) After the Lazer Assault we all went to Gloria's Little Italia for some gelato and other various deserts (Mike had a slice of chocolate cake and I had Teramisu)! 

This week, Mike and I went to the Temple and finished the night with El Azteca's Nachos and Taquitos (so delicious!) and watched Somewhere in Time DESPITE Mike's grumbling complaints. 

Hey, a girl's got to watch her Chick Flicks!

Date Night

It's one of the repeated tokens of advice many newlyweds are given by prospering couples.

It is also one of the hardest things to plan for if your schedule is filled with work, school, and church.

 Ever since our marriage, Mike and I have tried again and again to make the Date Night an intricate part of our lives but unfortunately we have yet to make it a habit! So this year, in order to keep this cycle from repeating itself, we have created a  list (with the help of Mary Louise and her husband) of date nights to be used over 2012.

Date Nights
1. Sketch out a blueprint of your dream house

2. Make of list of must-haves in your dream home
3. Paint each other’s portrait

4. Deliver cupcakes, cookies, etc to friends, family, or nursing home

5. Plan our 5 year anniversary vacation

6. Make a map of places you have been and want to go. Make a list or places and sites to see.

7. Teach each other something new

8. Build a fort and watch a movie

9. Make/Watch home videos

10. Attend a festival

11. Go see a local band

12. Spa night!

13. Cookie bake-off!

14. Build out bucket list (as a couple and as individuals)

15. Make a work of art for the house

16. Tandem the River Walk 

17. Visit a Museum 

18. Paint your own hot chocolate cup at a pottery place

19. Go to the Farmer's Market

20. Go bowling

21. Go see Wicked

22. Go to the Cheesecake Factory (outside budget but that’s ok!)

23. Go to a bar/restaurant to watch a Laker game

24. Volunteer at the local shelter (homeless or animal! Everyone needs to help)

25. Have a water balloon fight with friends

26. Play board games

27. See a movie at the dollar theatre

28. Sample all 31 Flavors at Baskin Robins

29. Make a very specific list of things you love about each other

30. Go on a picnic

31. Go to a Goodwill or Thrift store and pick out one item for the other person. $10 budget.

32. Get up early and go eat brunch at the Communal

33. Historic walking tour (in SLC?)

34. Watch stand-up comedy all night (Comedy Sportz or Wise Guys?)

35. Go see a Laser Show

36. Take Mike's parents out for dinner (Golden Corral)

37. Make a 5, 10, 15 year “basic” plan (I say basic because life doesn’t always go as planned but it could be fun to dream it out!)

38. Go for a long walk

39. Make a gift for someone else. Just because.

40. Try a new work out
41. Cook an exotic meal or cook something we have always wanted to try (THE Cheesecake recipe).
42. Have a picnic at the lake
43. Go Country Swing Dancing
44. Play Laser Tag
45. Play video games all night
46. Pajama party! Pop some popcorn, make a pallet, and watch a cheesy show or movie.
47. Go to a basketball game/swim meet
48. Make a mix CD of songs that remind you of your time together.
49. Go for a long scooter ride to nowhere.
50. Watch each other’s favorite movies from childhood. 
51. Have a rapping contest ;)
52. Do nothing but enjoy being together.

And to help us stay accountable we will upload a picture and break down of each date on here!