Namaste

I guess from a blogging standpoint, I do much better when I'm off sleep verses when I'm on it. Now you know what I'm not doing and wish that I was. But I felt it time to update everyone on what I have been doing. I have embarked on a journey to conquer my mind and body. I'm hoping this is all very dramatic.
About a week ago I started going to Yoga School. It's a 4 week intensive training where we learn everything about Ashtanga Yoga (well, not everything) and then from there we get certified to become teachers. It is so much fun. We spend the first hour of class doing our Sun Salutations and talking about yoga and our observations. We usually chant and do some other crazy stuff too. Then we spend the next 3 hours going over the poses and all the details of that. For those of you not interested in yoga this may sound boring, but I assure you it is far from boring.
I should get back to studying, we have a test tomorrow, but here are a few pictures of Ashtanga Yoga posses. I'm hoping to get there some day.


Namaste

Banana Cream Pie

Well, I did it! I successfully made a banana cream pie--crust and all. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to many of you. Many of you may be thinking that Melanee knows how to cook, so why should this be a big deal? Well, it's a big deal because my mom really didn't make pie very often. So, I really never learned. As far as making a crust on my own, that never happened. I usually just buy them pre-made. So, this is a breakthrough for me. I think I'm going to start making pie all the time. I can't live with the fact that there might be something in the kitchen I don't do well, so I guess I'll be practicing more. Maybe then we can put a few more pounds on Ammon.
Here's the birthday boy with his pie (a few days late, but at least it made it). I used a different recipe than what Ammon's mom uses. We both decided that this recipe isn't as good as hers (notice the tact that my husband uses, but we really did come to this decision together). So, I think I'm going to go ahead and try out Mama Dahl's recipe next.
I'll keep you posted on my pie progress. Perhaps I will need some taste testers, is anyone interested? Let me know. I need to go have some pie now, if you'll excuse me.

Midnight Plans for Utopia

There are many kinds of people in this world, and there are many people who fall under more than one category. I consider myself one of the later. I have many interests and many talents. I have quirks (like the fact that I have to have the toilet lid shut at all times, except for when in use). I also have many things in my life that I would like to be better.

This is not making a whole ton of sense. I have a million things running through my mind and am lacking the words and syntax to put them together. It probably doesn't help that I should be asleep in my bed, I am not asleep in that bed, instead I'm sitting up after valiantly trying to get to sleep. I should just mention here that I am on Ambien. That is one of the drugs that they have to get your driver's license number before they'll sell it to you.

Breath. Okay, what I'm trying to do is give you a little taste of what happens in the mind of an insomniac on drugs. This should be fun. I have been lying in bed thinking of the things I want to get in order in my life. One of the things I am generally good at is keeping my little world organized and in order. One of the things that I'm not so great at is doing ANYTHING in the heat. Based on those two facts, you can guess about the piles of things I have laying around needing to be organized. So, I was lying in bed making plans to get organized.

For the last few weeks Ammon and I have been going on house hunts. This is something we like to do when it is hot and we want to be in our air conditioned car. We have found several things we would love to buy, but nothing is really in our price range. So, it has been decided that we will be sticking it out here in Provo at least until the end of December. After that, Ammon graduates and gets a pay raise and then the sky is the limit.

I've been reading about ways to make your life better. Don't worry, I plan to tie all these threads back together here in just a minute. I have been reading about how overall health needs to be just that, overall. So, if you are going for well being, you need to foster that in your life, including in the environment that you live in. Your home and those things around you should bring a sense of calm, health, and peace into your life. I think some of it is a little granola, but at this point with me being on mass amounts of narcotics I'm probably in no position to point fingers.


Okay, so, my life is a mess right now because of my health, the heat, my lack of organization, and my dislike of my neighborhood. Don't worry, everything is wonderful in my marriage, at least I have that part down at the moment. I can't move into a new, big home that would help me to weed through the mess in air conditioning, so I need to come up with another plan. Here is what I came up with. I think I'm going to tear apart the house room by room and make it more comfortable, more organized, and adorable. I am going to paint some of the furniture and refinish other pieces. I am going to repaint my walls (any votes for colors?). I am even thinking of trying to create some art of my own. I'll keep you posted as that endeavor progresses. So, I think I'll start with the living room. Next I'll do the kitchen. Then the hallway (which will be easy) and then the office. I think I'll save our bedroom for last. Or maybe I won't...Maybe I'll go ahead and do that one sooner rather than later, then perhaps I could create the proper mood to get me to sleep.

This probably doesn't make a lot of sense. But I needed to get all my plans out of my brain onto something else so that I can get to sleep. I have a big job interview tomorrow that I don't want to screw up, so I should probably stop this. Basically I wanted to say that I'm going to try to turn some of my weak points into strong points by approaching them in a way that is fun. I can get myself organized by redecorating, which I want to do anyway. The redecorating will make me feel like I've already ended up in an entirely new house and thus I don't need to move. And the healing environment that my newly organized home will produce will solve all of my health problems, thus making my life bliss.

In other news. During this mass overhall of Ammon and my living space we will need to make sure that everything is in order and is as heavenly as possible. So, we will be having a party to give away random decorations (currently there are many flags, a train, some Christmas lights, Santa, and the ten commandments) and at this party we will be raffling off 4 very special furry friends. I'll keep you posted.

Old Man Ammon

This past Sunday we celebrated Ammon. It was a wonderful day. We went to church, we took a nap, and then we drove around looking for houses to buy (mostly because we had to keep all the windows open because the birthday breakfast got a little smoky, so it was too hot in our house to remain there, so we drove around). We had a fabulous dinner later on as well. The Banana Cream pie is yet to come, I'm hoping for tomorrow but am terribly intimidated about making my own crust and doing it in the horrible heat.
Anyway, I think Ammon had a good day. I had a wonderful day being with him. I'm so glad that he was born and is here. And here are a few of the toys we have had to enjoy since Ammon's birthday...Okay, so we got him in May, but he was always meant for Ammon's birthday. Now he is officially ours. We even got the title a couple days before Ammon's birthday. That was a long awful story, but not for this blog. We finally have it and Apollo is officially ours. Well, Ammon's.
Now, I know what you may be thinking. What on Earth is that? I haven't seen one of those since, elementary school? Well, yes, Ammon and I have a deep dark secret. We love the old school Nintendo. So, thanks to my dear cousin and his wife, we are the proud owners of a Super Nintendo. One of the first.
Mario is our favorite. Ammon really likes Super Mario 3. Super Mario 2 is my favorite.
Ah, back to the good old days when Nintendo was easy and cartoons were still good.
On a less exciting note, Ammon is also getting 2 new pairs of jeans and a new pair of dress pants for his birthday, just as soon as I can drag him off to the store to pick them out. He is so hard to buy pants for. Way too tall and way too skinny...but just right.
Happy Birthday Ammon! And thanks to all who sent cards and called to wish him well. It was a great day, family really helps to make a birthday special.

Doctors

Brian Regan does a comedy act on going to the doctor. He talks about how there is no valet parking at the emergency room and what a big oversight that is. Then he talks about how doctors ask the most insulting questions. "What seems to be the problem today?" "Well, I'm no doctor, but...."As many of you probably know if you have been on the blog lately, I suffer from insomnia. I have slept about 2 nights out of the last 7. Anyway, I went to the doctor today only to find out that I have insomnia...shock!
This reminds me of the time I went to the doctor over my headaches that I was having daily. They were really bad. Anyway, after poking me and making me feel uncomfortable the doctor told me that he knew what was wrong with me. I had Daily Chronic Headaches. No kidding.
Well, after this experience I thought I needed some comic relief and that maybe you all would like to enjoy that with me, so here are a few links to follow for some fun:
Emergency Room Part 1
Emergency Room Part 2
Enjoy!

Sleepless Nights

Just out of curiosity, what do you all do on sleepless nights. This is my fourth sleepless night out of the last five nights and I'm starting to get tired (pun intended). If you have any practical advice let me know.
P.S. See, I can write a short blog.

The Funny Things They Say

As summer usually goes, Ammon and I have had a lot of opportunity to hang out with family lately. It has been wonderful to have family BBQ's with hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad. And let me just tell you, the Dahl family can make a mean potato salad. As Ammon would say, there is nothing more patriotic.
As we have spent time with family, we have been able to enjoy our nieces and nephews. We have so many, and they are all growing up too fast. But the best part about these kids, is to hear what they have to say and see what they do.
My dear sister-in-law, Jennifer, just had her new baby. When I asked her oldest son, Isaiah, what his new baby sister's name was he informed me that it was "Rainbow Sprinkles...I mean Savannah." Little Luke (Jennifer and Enoch's middle child) is not so sure how he feels about the new baby. Yesterday I was out playing with the boys, hoping to give Jennifer a little break and some much needed sleep. Isaiah and I had gone upstairs to watch a movie while Luke was asleep. He woke up though and wanted his mom to read him a book, instead of hold the new baby. When Jennifer asked if he wanted her to put the baby down he was quick to affirm that was what he wanted.

This is a picture of Luke playing captain at the park. That hat is simply adorable on him, but it makes it hard to get a decent picture of his face. I am kicking myself for not getting a picture of the boys in the wagon together.
While at the park I taught Isaiah how to ride down the fireman's pole. Sorry Jennifer. I hope that wasn't a mistake. On a side note, after we had gotten home from the park, Isaiah colored some wonderful pictures for me to see. He wrote his name on one and informed me that from now on his name would be spelled "Isaih," no extra a needed.
Luke's favorite part of the day was either quizzing me on my letters (he is very smart and very good at his letters) or getting wet in the kiddie pool. Well, he likes to splash and he likes to spray his brother (and me) with the hose. While at the park his favorite part was walking on the little concrete barrier that surrounds the play area. This is a picture of him concentrating on not falling. (I just want to make a note that I had written cement barrier and while Ammon was proof reading this for me he changed it, it is true, he is a concrete snob.)

Isaiah is a little monkey. We went back and forth on the monkey bars (with me holding his legs) and he climbed up and down every slide and anything else that was climbable.
The week that Savannah was born and Jennifer was in the hospital, I was able to go spend time with her boys again. Grandma had just bought a kiddie pool for the boys and Isaiah was soaked from head to toe. If you know this boy, you know that he has no meat on his bones. He is all skin and all bones. The poor kid was freezing! It was a really hot day, so I had him come sit by me on the concrete to warm up. He didn't last there for long, he was up and in the pool again. Then he'd come back shivering. He sat down next to me on one of these occasions and said that he was going to start sitting by me every time he got cold. I replied that I thought that was smart. He turned and looked at me very seriously and said, "Is that a plan?" "Yes, that's a plan."
While climbing through this series of tunnels, Isaiah informed me that it was a changing machine like the Sneetches had. He kept going through and saying he was changed. I asked where his star on thars was. The next time through Isaiah came out with a little foam letter that he found proudly held up to his chest. The next time through he managed to get a shoe stuck to his head. He was proud of that one, telling me that he now had a "shoe on thars."
Lest you think that the only niece and nephews that I have are these three kids, I should tell you about a recent adventure that we had with the Johnson crew. The one in green is Clarissa who is sitting next to Deseret (Desi) with Carolina in the middle. Hyrum is the happy child on the right, and Liberty is the sweet girl on the left. Just for the record, this was their Christmas picture this past year, this was not taken on the Fourth of July, which is when this story took place. Early on the 4th Ammon and I decided to join the Johnsons for a hike up to Grey's Lake. Ammon's parents and several of his siblings, live in a place called Starr Valley out in Nevada. It is one of the prettiest places you'll see. They live right at the base of the Ruby Mountains. Grey's Lake was up these mountains. We set out in the morning for the lake, all of us. Robert (these lovely children's father) was carrying Carolina while the rest trooped up the mountain side. Our one mile hike quickly turned into four, and it was all very uphill. Hyrum happened to be the youngest walking and seemed to be having trouble. So, we decided that we needed a trail blazer and had Hyrum lead the way up the mountain. He talked the entire way up the hill telling Ammon all about his various weapons and such.
I think the most impressive on this trip was little Liberty. She is such a tiny girl, but she can go go go. I think she'll be a runner. Poor Clarissa and Desi had to take turns carrying one of the heavy packs up the hill. They were great with it. And just when the hike would get to its steepest the girls would break into song, keeping us all moving and happy.
Mark (Ammon's father) often says that he used to think it would be good if small children could talk, because then they could tell you what they need. After Carolina started talking (way before her time) Mark says he's not so sure that was good anymore. Carolina has more personality in her pinky finger than most of us has in their entire body. And boy can she talk. For some reason, she has decided that she likes Ammon and me. She'll come running at us full speed and throw herself in your lap while showing her teeth. Then she gets up and runs off. She was a good sport through the entire trip. But poor Robert was sore the next day.
When we got to the lake the boys went fishing and the girls went to go swimming. Now, I have swam in some cold water before, but this just took your breath away. There was still snow all around the lake and the water had obviously not been liquid long. When I stepped in the water, my legs instantly started to ache and it took my breath away. Going all the way under was so painful, and I sprinted out of there as fast as I could. It did feel good afterwards. I was impressed to note that Marianne, Clarissa, Desi, and Libby all went all the way under. I didn't think those girls had it in them. Boy was I surprised. What a bunch of troopers. They are some tough kids.
We all slept well that night after a big BBQ.
All of my nieces and nephews are brilliant and fun. These are the ones I have been able to spend the most time with lately, but I love all the time I get to spend with each of them. The Davis children are about as energetic as they come. And boy do they have a lot of confidence. I have never met children as out going as they are. The Davis family lives up in Seattle, so we don't see them often. The first Christmas after Ammon and I were married we went up for a few days to see them. This was the first time I got to spend any time with the Davis children. Mark, who is the youngest, is affectionately called a red headed ball of caffeine by his older brother. It's a very apt description. I sat next to Mark in Thelma's van as we drove around to all the sites. This was a few years ago and Mark was still in that stage where he talks, but only Mom can understand him. He would talk to me non-stop. I would pick out my name on occasion, but generally had no clue what he was saying. He would talk at a million miles an hour and then start cracking up at himself. I still have no idea what was so funny. But it was so funny. In a recent blog written by Thelma, she told of the swim meet that Braeden (the oldest) and Emma (the middle child) participated in. Apparently Braeden's shorts were a little too big. But he laughed it off. Emma had goggle trouble, yet had a wonderful time. If you want more info on them, you'll have to check out Thelma's blog. But they are great kids. Braeden is nearly as tall as I am now! I don't know Emma as well, she is still a bit shy around me, but she sure isn't shy around others. What a funny girl. I love to hear stories about them. We need to get up there more often.
And let's not forget the Cobian children. Lilly has finally started warming up to me. She is a real character. I was sitting on the stairs when she and Carolina attacked me and drug me off to jail. Then Carolina was the dragon that guarded me and Lilly was the prince that saved me. She is such a dear. Last time we were out there she was so proud to show me her new headband (which was lovely). I just adore Lilly and her facial expressions. Little Reuben is a crack up. He is currently convinced that he is Buzz Lightyear. He will push the button on his chest and his arms shoot out to the sides as wings. When I asked him how he was doing he melted me with the laser on his arm.
There is another Dahl to add to all this. Little Olivia is such a dear baby. I have never seen a baby smile as much as she does. I love to get her laughing (which is so easy to do) and I love that she will come to me. She makes my day brighter every time I see her.
Well, this got long, fast, but I would like you all to know that I have the best nieces and nephews. I'm excited for the ones yet to join our family and love being an aunt. One of the sweetest things that ever happened to me was hearing all these kids call me Aunt Melanee after I joined the family. What a joy!

A Tour

Yes, it is indeed 2:30 am and sleep is nowhere in sight, so I thought I'd take you on a tour of our little life.

Meet the children. Ammon was deeply offended that I would take this picture with the flash. He is now claiming that all of our fish are blind. They didn't even flinch...
This is my frog. He is affectionately named The Frog. This little guy is hilarious to watch. He spends most of his time in his little cave, but when he comes out he rules the tank. He loves to beat up on the other fish. Even the sharks are scared of him.

Good neighbors are close by in this area. After all, this is a sign that our neighbor, Carl, keeps outside his house during the summer months.I don't know if you can read the bottom very well, but it says 3500 years old and still right...

We name our transportation since we don't have children to name. This is Jane.
Steve the Great.
Ammon and I both have bikes that are fairly new. This is what I get around on.
And this is what Ammon gets around on. His is a little more high tech. This is Apollo. I am now competing with him for Ammon's affections.
Doesn't he look happy?
This is Paco, whom we are trying to sell. This was Ammon's first bike, the one that started it all.

I'm very proud of my garden. I don't have kids after all. I love to grow roses and vegetables. Take a look.
My vegetable garden.

Corn.

Peas!
This is our little living room. It is such a fun room.

Our little garage.
Stay tuned for pictures of our other neighbors: the house that Christmas threw-up on and the house with four chihuahuas.

It's a good little life. I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Welcome

Hello.  This is probably the only time that I will write in this, but Melanee is adamant that I write something.  So hello.  Welcome, we hope you enjoy reading about us, seeing pictures etc.  I'm not very good at keeping in touch with anyone I know so maybe this will help.  Thanks for visiting.

Our History

I think this is an appropriate place to record a brief history about Ammon and me. Let's see, back when we were both 15 years old there was a youth conference out in Ruby Valley, Nevada (close to where we both lived, though we lived in different towns). As luck would have it Ammon actually came to this on (in an effort to get out of his summer job for a week). After we all arrived at the church we divided up into "families" where Ammon and I were slotted to be brother and sister. He nearly switched families but ended up staying (coincidence? I think not).

The conference was out in the middle of nowhere; they had us camping out there. We had to hike in the dark out to the camp ground. Ammon and I managed to get ahead of the rest of the group so it was just the two of us. We walked and talked over the long walk. Well, I talked and Ammon listened. I was under the impression that I was annoying him, but he was so cute that I thought I'd risk annoying him longer. That whole week I tried to get Ammon to speak to me. I finally succeeded one night when we all sat around quoting The Princess Bride. Ammon was the only one who could keep up with me and I was very impressed. Before the rest of us headed out Ammon was whisked away and I was left with only his name, phone number, and mailing address.

Ammon claims that before the next dance he tried to call me but never got through. He also claims that he told his brother, Tabor, about me. I'm not so sure. We did write a few letters back and forth. Meanwhile, Ammon turned 16. At the next stake activity, a youth dance, Ammon actually showed up, another surprise. We danced and snacked and spent the entire evening together, much to the consternation of one of the girls that had been in our group and had a crush on Ammon.

And so it went until December when I finally turned 16. For my birthday Ammon gave me a copy of The Princess Bride to read, which I was thrilled about, and he took me out for our first date (both of our first dates ever). He claims that he was smitten with me from the day we met. I must admit that I was smitten with him as well. I wasn't allowed to single date until I turned 18, so for our first date we went to the birthday party of one of my friends. We ate at Pizza Barn, had ice cream and Baskin Robbins, and hung out at Walmart, woo.

Our dates were basically a repeat of the first. We usually had just one other friend with us and we would go hang out. We often went to one of my friends house to watch a movie. In fact, it was at my friend Lauri's house during such an activity that Ammon got up his courage to hold my hand the first time. Prom came and I was able to go as Ammon's date (he held my hand on this occasion and gave me a peck on the cheek at the end of the night, he was so shy).

Ammon and I talked on the phone all the time. Actually, I talked at him on the phone. He said very little, which drove me crazy. That, and being so far away, it was an hour drive just to see each other. So, at the next youth conference I broke up with him. We wrote one or two more letters, wrote a couple of times, and then didn't speak again for a few years.

Right before my senior year (right after Ammon had graduated from high school) my family decided to move to California. For some odd reason I thought I should write Ammon a letter. It was so strange because I was convinced he hated me (and for good reason, I hadn't been very nice when we broke up) and thought the last thing on earth he would want was to hear from me. I had continued to think about him over the years. I compared every guy I dated to him, but no one added up. Anyway, I finally wrote the letter right before we left. A few weeks after getting to California I got a letter from Ammon. He wanted to email back and forth, but every time we opened up an email program our computer would crash, so I told him that. He thought I was making excuses, but we wrote back and forth for a while until our computer was under control, then we would email.

We emailed the entire year. It was pretty casual at first. Towards the end of the school year it got more serious though, and more frequent. In fact, Ammon started calling me some. I had a boyfriend at this time (which Ammon didn't know). I was planning to break up with my boyfriend, but I didn't want to do it until after graduation. When graduation rolled around I headed out to Nevada to see my friends graduate. Ammon and I were able to hang out and he even took me out that night. He held my hand! I about died, we had decided to just be friends. Then he moved in to kiss me, but I flinched (I did have a boyfriend after all) and he backed off. When I got home from this trip the first thing I did was to email Ammon to find out what that was all about. It was discovered that we both wanted to be more than friends and thus it began anew.

Ammon told me he loved me that summer. I was smitten, but I was scared and it took me a while to warm up. He came down to California for a weekend and we finally had our first real kiss, it was heavenly, but I was mad at him for kissing me in the theater, it was too cliche. That weekend flew by way too fast. Ammon had his mission call long before this and I wasn't looking forward to the ensuing 2 years.

I went down to spend the weekend with Ammon right before he left on his mission. I'm sure his family was confused at why I was there. I know Ammon didn't tell them how serious we were. Ammon asked me to wait for him. I said no. I was 18 and about to go off to college for the first time. But I did promise to write and that in 2 years we would pick it up where we left off. I cried for 3 days after he left. There were days while he was gone when I would just lie in bed and read over the last few letters that I had gotten from him, it was the longest, hardest 2 years of my life.

I went away to school and dated around some. I was proposed to twice (but obviously didn't go that direction). The problem was that I wrote Ammon and told him all about it. It took 1 month to get a letter back and forth, so that was a hard time for both of us. I missed him and wanted him to still want me, but was terrified he would wake up one day and realize he was too good for me. It was hard on him because he was helpless. I finally ended up going to Russia (which made the letter exchange even slower) and lived there for 9 months and then traveled around with some friends. I wrote to Ammon the entire time and told him everything. I was completely in love with him, but was terrified of having my heart broken.

Right before Ammon came home from his mission I wrote to him and said I didn't want to see him for a good month. He would be returning to school in Provo and I was up in Rexburg, so I figured it would be easy to avoid him. Ammon didn't like this plan. The day after Ammon got home from his mission he called me. We stayed on the phone for about 3 hours even though we didn't have anything to say to each other. The next day when he called I asked him to come and see me that weekend. It was labor day weekend, so after church on Sunday Ammon drove up to Rexburg to spend the next day with me. What an awkward and wonderful reunion. I was so worried that he would take one look at me and head in the other direction. He assured me that when he saw me I was in no danger of having him leave. He held my hand and kissed me that night.

We saw each other a couple more times, talked on the phone everyday, and wrote emails back and forth constantly. I finally decided that I either needed to let go of my fear of being with him, or lose him (not that he would have given up so quickly). After I came to this realization it only took us a short time to get engaged. In fact, we were engaged a month and 9 days after Ammon got home from his mission.

Our engagement was rocky since I was still scared of him leaving me. On top of that we lived 4 hours away. But we made the plans and were finally married in the Salt Lake Temple. That was one of the most wonderful and beautiful days of my life. What a man. We adore each other and the last 3 and a half years have been nothing but wonderful.

How is that for a mushy story?

Jumping on the blog wagon

After months of looking at other people's blogs and thinking about how much fun that would be, but that I didn't want to copy others, I have decided to start a blog for Ammon and my family. We shall see how this goes. My goal is to avoid venting and to simply keep you all updated on our life. And maybe this can help me to do a little journaling, since I seem to struggle with that. Anyway, welcome to our blog and stay tuned for more exciting entries.