Happy Birthday Emily!!!

We haven't posted anything in a while but we have been very busy. One of the more recent exciting things was Emily's visit from Rexburg for her birthday! She came down Friday then headed home Monday morning. While she was here, we probably spent most of her visit making a birthday cake. Not really, but we did spend a few hours Friday night then ALL Saturday morning. It was pretty fun! This was the first attempt at using fondant for both of us, but I don't think it was too bad. Here are some pictures from the fun weekend.

Emily mixing our triple batch of yellow cake.


Cake with yummy raspberry icing.


The frog beginnings.


The finished product!


Happy 20th Birthday Emily!

Not to shabby for our first attempt at fondant and all the special cake carving we had to do. After the cake was done we went to Nielsons Grove park down the road for a little party with family and friends. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, but it sure was a fun day!

The Growing Chives

A quick update on the baby chive. The one little chive got pretty big, but then I went on vacation and neglected it for a week. It is coming back to me now and has been joined by a few other chives that are growing quickly. I'm not holding my breath, but as for now, they're they're still alive!

The Lovely Carolinas

Yes, it has been a few weeks since we've given any kind of an update. I blame this mostly on our wonderful vacation to the Carolinas. It was VERY nice to get away for a week. In an attempt to be cheap, we had separate flights from Salt Lake to Minneapolis then we were supposed to hook up in Minneapolis and be together for the rest of the trip. Not bad, yeah? Well... Due to technical difficulties, Nate ended up getting stuck at the Salt Lake airport for 10 hours! After a very long day, Nate did finally make it to Charlotte only 5 hours after I did.

The rest of the trip went rather well, except for the one time I misheard the hotel lady tell me what exit we were supposed to get off at...oops. On our way down to Charleston from Charlotte, we stopped by the lovely and historic University of South Carolina. From there we drove on to Charleston and due to my little directions mishap, we took the scenic route around Charleston to the hotel. We got to play around downtown Charleston and go the the beach on Isle of Palms. That's the second time in a year that we've been to Charleston. We love it! What can I say? I do have to say though, that we did different things this time. It was fun!

"Will I be going to school here in the near-ish future? Who knows!"


Nate shooting the big cannon at Ft. Moultrie

After a few days in Charleston, we drove up the coast to Carolina Beach, NC. We got a good deal in a new Marriott Courtyard, with our room overlooking the beach. That was lovely!!! Even when we were sitting in the hotel, we could watch and listen to the ocean. Oh! If only that could be a regular thing. I miss the sound of the ocean! The Carolina Beach experience was mixed. The area is a little depressed, but the hotel was very nice! The depressed area did force a local fresh seafood place to cut all prices by 40%, which meant that we got some very yummy seafood for a very good deal.

The beach and one of the pools from our room at Carolina Beach


Annah from our balcony

After a few days at the beach, we drove up through Raleigh, Durham, and Greensboro to Winston-Salem. North Carolina is a beautiful part of the country! It was nice to see lots of green trees again!

We drove back to Charlotte on Saturday and flew back to Salt Lake. It was a long week, but it was a lot of fun! Now we're back to Utah and back to the routine. We're getting excited to see where we're going to end up this summer. For now though, we're glad it's warming up and enjoying having school free evenings together.

Chillin' at one of our favorite sitting spots in Charleston

My Baby Chive

I hate to say this, but I have killed every plant I have tried to take care of in the last year. I am now proud to announce the growth a brand new little chive! It's the first thing I've successfully grown from seed AND it's been out of the dirt a whole day now. I do have to say that I saw it this morning and it made my morning! I was practically skipping out the door.

Ok. It is tiny, but at least it isn't dead yet. Perhaps I do have future in gardening!

Peanut Butter Cake!

Nate has been making lots of things out of the Blue Willow Inn Bible of Southern Cooking cookbook that we got for a wedding present. He's been having a lot of fun! One of todays creation was Peanut Butter Cake with Boiled Chocolate icing between the layers and Peanut Butter icing on top. Very health, we know, but it was very yummy! Here are a couple of pictures to make you all jealous

Nate with his lovely cake.


The Cake! And no, those are not my finger marks in the icing on the pan...

Update Part II

So to continue with the update on the last year, Nate has been finishing up his last bit of school. He will be done with finals a week from tomorrow!!!! We are both very excited for that. It will be fun to see what comes next. As for the next week though, I'm trying to be good and not cause too many distractions from studying. I do have to say that the next week will be hard for me because Nate doesn't have to be anywhere until it's time for him to go to work, so it makes it hard for me to want to be at work when he is home. I did find more pictures from this past year though.

We had a Sushi Night with our very own and very cool Sushi set.

Easter Baskets for me, Nate, and Amy!

A Day in Idaho

I'm trying to be good about keeping this updated, so here is me updating. (We should have actually taken a picture.)

This weekend we made a trip up to Idaho Falls for my cousin Rachel's wedding. We drove up after Nate's Arabic class on Friday then met up with Mama and Daddy at the hotel. It was a fun little trip. We got to see my parents, my siblings, Grandma and Grandpa Dixon, and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins (some of which I haven't seen for a REALLY long time). We went out to Chili's with my family then went to hang out with all the Dixon family before the reception. After hanging out and then the reception, we drove back to Utah. I wish we could have stayed a little longer, but at least we got to see everyone for a bit. I love all these weddings we've had lately. It's like we have had a mini family reunion three times in the last year!