{unwrapped}

{serving side by side}

Festival of Trees has a very special place in my heart. I have had to let go of many other opportunities to serve...simply because I don't have as much time as I used to and I want to invest as much time as I possibly can in my babies. It became a matter of priorities...and my babies will ALWAYS win out in that contest. Festival is the one thing I have held on to. It is such an amazingly fulfilling and rewarding event. I am HONORED to have been asked to serve on the Executive Board for Festival of Trees this year (and hopefully for YEARS to come). I can't tell you how much it means to me, that the man in my life has the desire to play a very active part in Festival. Jeff not only was a HUGE help on our first decorating day this past Saturday, but is also volunteeering at LEAST one shift EVERY SINGLE DAY of Festival...including tree-wrapping late on Saturday night and Tree Delivery on Sunday morning. I am so overwhelmed by his interest and his hands-on support in something that is so important to me. Although Saturday was CRAZY busy with hardly a second that I didn't stop walking from one end of the Expo Center to the other for almost 6 hours (but so awesomely productive)...and this week will be (I am sure) absolutely outrageously busy....Jeff and I have so much fun together - even when we are working. Jeff felt extremely sorry for the poor white trees that I personally feel are really ugly and not very "Christmas-y," and had therefore chosen NOT to use. He showed the white trees a little lovin'...and somehow persuaded me to use one of them in one of the displays. LOL! So funny.

Our first day of Festival prep was made even better, when we picked up my sweet babies from having a fun play date with their cousins (MUCH love and gratitude for my sister Pulse who took all of them to Chuck E Cheese so I could dedicate the first half of Saturday to decorating the lobbies at the Expo Center) and the four of us headed to see "Arthur Christmas."

SUCH a fun movie..and a perfect way to end an awesomely productive first day of Festival prep....snuggled up from all sides by my babies and my best friend. Pure awesomeness.

There are approximately 87 million things that I love about Jeff. :-) But one of the greatest, is his support of things that are of such great importance to me and his willingness to serve wherever he is needed. SUCH an attractive quality. What a great honor to be able to serve side by side with this amazing man...and my best friend. So richly blessed.

(Many thanks to my long-time friend Jennafer Martin, who took these wonderful pictures of me and Jeff at the end of a full day of decorating. They turned out so awesome....by far some of our favorites!! Thank you Jenn! Sure love you!)

{festival of trees}

The past two years, I have served on my dear friend Kathy Bess' Festival of Trees committee. Being a part of this amazing fundraiser (100% of all proceeds go to Primary Children's Medical center) has been a life-changing experience for me. Even as a committee member, it was one of the most exhileratingly exhausting weeks. And that was just with working a shift or two during the week of Festival and prep leading up to Festival. This year is my first year on the Executive Board for Festival, which I am learning is such an amazing responsibility....and one that is so overwhelmingly fulfilling. In addition to months of preparation and meetings, Festival for Board Members lasts just over a week (with set up and clean up...instead of the 4 days that it is open to the public) and we are AT Festival from 9 AM-11 PM every night except Saturday...in which we are there from 9 AM - approx. 2 AM wrapping trees...and then back again on Sunday morning at 8 AM to deliver trees. SUCH a great responsibility...but such AMAZING blessings in my life as a result...so rewarding. What a MIRACLE it is for me to have this opportunity to serve.





I was assigned to join a team of 3 other wonderful Board Members to be over ENTERTAINMENT for Festival this year (I will be CAMPED OUT...and running around like crazy....at the NORTH STAGE this year. So excited!). In addition, I was asked to take on the additional assignment of decorating all three lobby entrances into the Festival and was happy to do so.I am so overwhelmingly blessed to have the opportunity to serve in such a great capacity. I am also SO richly blessed and grateful for MY own new committee that so willingly accepted my invitation to serve, and the COUNTLESS hours they have spent preparing for Festival and the hours they WILL spend volunteering AT Festival with me.












These amazing volunteers are not people who were just sitting around waiting for something to do. They are ALL people who DON'T have time to be there...and MADE time. As a result of their great sacrifice and desire to serve, there is an AMAZING spirit among the volunteers at Festival. So much love for these great people and for this amazing event...for such a great purpose.







And though the Festival will not be open to the public until this Wednesday, November 30th, my committee and volunteers (along with the committees and volunteers of 84 other Board Members) started our prep MONTHS ago and started decorating at the Sandy Expo Center this past Saturday. I was so overwhelmed to have over 20 volunteers (including a number of my committee) gather on Saturday to assist in decorating all three entrances to the Expo Center. And so, when you visit us at the Festival of Trees this week and notice the beautiful Christmas Displays outside each of the entrances, please take a moment to thank this amazing group of people in your heart, for the time they have sacrificed and the great care they took to designing what will bethe FIRST thing you see before you enter Festival of Trees this year.


Much love to my committee and these wonderful volunteers for your great service on Saturday...and your continued service this week. Also, a very special thank you to Chas (who has been so amazing to accomodate my crazy schedule this week, knowing how important Festival is to me. So grateful for his support) and all of the other angels who will be helping to watch my babies this week, so that I am ABLE to be of service. YOU are great blessing to me. It's going to be a GREAT week at Festival!!!

Come and join us at FESTIVAL OF TREES...November 30-December 3 at the SANDY EXPO CENTER!! 100% OF ALL PROCEEDS from FESTIVAL OF TREES goes to PRIMARY CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

{my life is...awesome}

I am right on the verge of beginning of one of the busiest weeks of my year...Festival of Trees. I am on the Executive Board this year and will be very literally LIVING at Festival starting tomorrow morning, Saturday the 26th, until Sunday afternoon, December 4th. I should be in bed resting up. However, I cannot get caught up in Festival without first blogging about yesterday and today....very likely two of the most wonderful, peaceful and memorable days of my life. And so, I won't rest tonight...until that's done.

This year, all of the Dahlquist girls were scheduled to be HOME with Mom and Dad for Thanksgiving, which was scheduled to be celebrated up at Dad's Cabin. Happy day!!! (As you can see in the picture above, the Dahlquist Girls, aka "Charlie's Angels" have GROWN in number, quite significantly!! :-)) My best friend Jeff picked me and my babies up bright and early yesterday morning to drive up to the cabin. I am sure many of you are wondering about Jeff, since I haven't mentioned him here before. Some of you might recognize Jeff from a photo shoot I did of him a few months ago. (Little did I know then...just how much he would mean to me.) I mentioned a while back that I have been dating...but that I wouldn't be very open with details. Oddly enough, as OPEN as I am about SO MUCH...I am VERY private about my private life...and will continue to be. It's something special, even sacred...and well, PRIVATE. When it's something that is a miracle in my life...I want to protect it. That being said, I fully plan on sharing more about Jeff here on my blog in the near future (truthfully, it is not for your sake...but for mine. I need to write about him.). However, I won't go into that now....because a few simple lines about this man in my life would never do him justice. It wouldn't even come close. So until I am able to try and somehow put Jeff into words...just hang tight and be cool with knowing this alone...that he is my best friend.

So anyway, the four of us headed up to the cabin and arrived with PLENTY of time before the Ping-Pong Tournament for all of the guys in the fam. So, while the little cousins played, I warmed Jeff up for the tournament by showing him my mad ping-pong skills. We Dahlquist girls grew UP playing ping-pong. But to be honest, it has been probably 15 years since I'd really played...so I wasn't sure if I still had it. FYI. I still do. :-) In fact, it's probably a good thing that the tournament was only for the guys...or I would have cleaned house. :-) Needless to say, we had a blast warming up. I think I surprised Jeff a little bit with my skills. I'm not your "average" girl. LOL!

My sweet niece McKaylee sat downstairs and watched us play and we talked and giggled until my stomach hurt. Among millions of things....Jeff makes me laugh. I love that. We had so much fun coming up with fun "distractions" Jeff could use to "throw off his opponents" in the tournament - from things as simple as spinning his paddle in his hand, to suddenly breaking out in Irish dance in the middle of a game. LOL! After we warmed up, it was time for the guys to play. Unfortunately, this year, it was only for the boys 12 and older....so Kaden and his cousin Bubba (Alex) had fun playing other games. (That will be different next time around....so that they too can participate. I wasn't a fan of that rule. No bueno. :-) However, it was so fun to have two new guys join us for the tournament and for Thanksgiving this year...my Jeff, and my brother-in-law Jordan's little brother Blake. So fun having them both with us.



What a blast to watch our guys play, cheer each other on and "talk smack." Guys are awesome...but ESPECIALLY the ones in OUR fam! :-) And in the end, my nephew TAYLOR won the championship match against Opa (my Dad)..and won a trophy filled with bright colored ping-pong balls. YAY!!! What a great way to start out our fun day at the cabin.

By tradition (mainly because it's simply more practical to take pictures BEFORE we eat and possibly get messy...and because it is easier to wrangle up my babies at the beginning, than after they get busy playing with their cousins), I gathered my little ones and had Jeff take a few pictures of us. I couldn't decide which I liked best...so I am putting them ALL in this entry. Oh my heart....I can't even put into words how much I love these little angels. Plain and simple - they...are....my....life. Love these pictures that Jeff took of us!!



Since there was still a little time before we were planning to eat, I also had my niece Whitney shoot a few pics of me and Jeff. My very FAVORITE shot of us is the one that I posted above at the beginning of this entry. But here are a few other favorites...



Jeff looked so sharp...he always does. He is such a classy dresser and loves his French cuffs, tailored shirts and cufflinks. Love that. Yesterday, he wore the pair of monogrammed cufflinks that I gave him for our three month anniversary. I loved them when I picked them out....but loved them even more when I saw how awesome they looked when he was wearing them. :-)

Jeff was so great to help me by putting out my little love notes that I had made to go at the top of each place setting, while I took a few more group/family pictures of my family. As you can see, he was PRETTY EXCITED about it. LOL!

A few more pictures that we took prior to eating our delicious Thanksgiving feast, starting with a fun pic of ALL of the Dahlquist cousins with their Aunt Kimbo..and then by themselves. SO love all of these beautiful Dahlquist babies!!!



Oh my heart...love these beautiful girls SO MUCH!!!! What a blessing it is to be their Aunt!!!!



Kaden had grown out of the white shirt that I have for him (he doesn't wear it very often) and I was in a slight panic, until I remembered that we still had the white shirt and tie that his Daddy loaned us for his DRACULA costume (still need to blog about that....stay tuned...). Happy day! Kaden and Bubba were so excited to see that THEY HAD MATCHING TIES! Love it. Such cute kids. Love these awesome boy cousins SO MUCH!!!


Oh my cute Mama. Bless her sweet heart. So much of what I love about myself comes from this amazing woman. She never does ANYTHING half way. As always, the table was decorated to perfection and the meal (thanks to her planning, and the many many many hands that prepared it) was out of this world. Love this picture that Jeff took of me and cute little Mama (I obviously had to squat about 8" for this picture. LOL!)...definitely one of my favorites of us. So love her...and greatly appreciate all she and my wonderful dad do for our family.

My food assignments for this year were the same as they've been for a while now. LOL! I brought Pretzel Jell-O Salad  (looking slightly different this year, since EVERY store I went to was out of frozen raspberries and I had to resort to using frozen MIXED berries...which STILL was delish) and (by tradition) Aunt Jan's Sweet Potatoes. Heavenly.

Dinner was amazing and was prefaced by a beautiful blessing by Dad and then our traditional singing of "WE'RE ALL TOGETHER AGAIN" and the "DAHLQUIST FAMILY CHEER." If you've never heard us sing that...it's pretty impressive....and possibly even a little overwhelming the first time. LOL! After we finished, my brother-in-law Brady was laughing and said, "We should ALWAYS videotape the newcomers' reactions while we sing that. So awesome to see their faces." I am fairly certain that Blake and Jeff have never seen/heard anything quite like that. *sigh* I love us. And as is tradition, all of our guys (except cute Blake, who I am sure wasn't aware of the "dress code") were "Dressed Up From The Table Up" (Shirt and tie on the top and jeans on the bottom) - a tradition that Dad started with the missionaries when we lived in Hamburg.

The entire day was pure heaven. After we ate, we sat around the table and reminisced, visited and laughed together as a family....with my babies close by and my best friend by my side.


While everyone visited, Hank (Pulse and Boo's dog) snuggled right up next to Jeff. Jeff loved it...and started craving a puppy. LOL! Bless his heart. ;-) Love Hank in his cute little sweater...

Somehow, while Jeff was in the middle of a conversation, I was able to catch this photo of him....and I love it. Such a great shot. :-)

While the cousins were all playing, Jeff and I decided to go up to the loft for a little bit to relax. It was SO heavenly to hear all of the family chatting below, the kids giggling and running around everywhere and to be snuggling up to my best friend for a few moments of alone time, while Jeff read jokes from a book called "5001 of the Best Jokes"...which Jeff and I are fairly certain were actually 5001 of the LAMEST jokes ever. LOL! They were so bad...we couldn't HELP but laugh. After a little time for us, we headed back downstairs and sat and visited with everyone.


After our meal was all cleaned up, Oma and Opa had a fun surprise for us....a KIORA STICKS performance (rhythmic tossing of these red/brown sticks. Tried to find a YOUTUBE video or even a Wikipedia definition and couldn't find anything to link you to. Sorry.)! :-) My goodness...what crazy awesome memories of our childhood. Mom and Dad taught us how to "play" these when we were little...and surprised us with a SET OF KIORA STICKS and the music on a CD, for EACH family.






There is SO MUCH that I love about my family...SO MUCH. But one of the things that I love the most, is that we are a family of MANY traditions and a family that spent a LOT of time PLAYING together growing up. We didn't even have a TV...it was all....US. Love that! And this activity was one of the things that we would do together as a family. I love my Mom and Dad so much for doing SO MANY things with us when we were growing up..and love them NOW for passing on these fun traditions to OUR little families. So awesome!! Love this picture of Dad below....ready and waiting for everyone to gather for our family picture. LOL! This is such a classic "Dad pose." Love him so much!!!!


Later that evening, I told Jeff that this Thanksgiving Day had been a PERFECT sample of who my family is, if he wanted to know what we were really like. We sing, we laugh, we cry, we chat, we play, we are firm in the faith...and we LOVE on each other like there is no tomorrow!!

After hours of relaxing and spending time together, we packed up all of our babies and headed home. I had planned to do some Black Friday shopping this morning, so Jeff and I dropped my sweet babies off to spend an evening with their Daddy on our way home from the cabin. After we dropped them off, we ran a few errands and then went to Jeff's home to just "be" for a while. We snuggled up, relaxed and talked and talked and talked (oh my heart, how we can talk).... We talked over Hamburger Helper and V8 Splash about what an awesome day it had been. I honestly can't remember a more memorable Thanksgiving Day and a Thanksgiving night where I knew that there was no where else I wanted to be...and no one else I wanted to be with. The past few holiday seasons have been a little challenging for me (simply due to the changes in my life situation), and in contrast, this holiday was nothing less than Divine. Believe it or not...I am at a loss for words. Nothing I could possibly write could come close to describing how my heart felt yesterday..and still feels today. After so much heartache.....my heart feels so complete.

As I sit here tonight and think upon all of the happenings of yesterday, I am overcome with emotion..and feel so overwhelmingly blessed. This year has been challenging...but FULL of miracles....SO COMPLETELY FULL of God's tender mercies. And yesterday, in one room, I was surrounded by my very greatest...and most beautiful blessings. I was there in the midst of my wonderful family...ALL of us there together. Not a single one of us missing. And my babies....I was there with my babies. My sweet and beautiful angels.....my life. And at my side, my hand in his, a man that I can't even start to write about without my heart burning and my eyes completely filling with tears. At my side, was my best friend. And for however long God has planned for him to be my "traveling companion" on my journey....I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Yesterday and today, I received a very powerful taste of what HEAVEN MUST be like. It took my breath away....

The blessings of yesterday flowed into today with my best friend.  No point in sleeping last night, when Black Friday shopping actually started late last night (Thursday) this year! What the deuce?! A long night and a long morning of Black Friday shopping (with only a little rest in the middle), a relaxing lunch at Zupas and more shopping this afternoon. Thousands of people out shopping and yet somehow, I didn't notice anyone else was around. :-) We make each other smile...and can't seem to stop. It is nothing short of AWESOME. And when I drove home with my little ones after helping Jeff move in some new furniture for his new home, I looked down to see if I needed to get gas.....to find that Jeff had completely filled my gas tank when we had swapped cars for me to go and get my kids. I cried. He blamed it on the "leprechauns" in my car. LOL. *sigh* Love him.)

You know, I've noticed that I tend to throw around the word "awesome" a lot...so decided to look it up online really quick. Love this..."awesome: to inspire awe - an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like." It's no wonder I use the word so often. Yesterday was AWESOME. Last night was AWESOME. Today was AWESOME. My family is AWESOME. My babies are so PURELY and PERFECTLY AWESOME. Jeff (and the way he makes my heart feel) is AWESOME. My angel friends are AWESOME. My own personal Savior Jesus Christ and my great and loving and merciful God....are AWESOME. In short, my LIFE....raging storms and all....is AWESOME.

{so much to be thankful for}

Oh my heart....words could not adequately express the gratitude I have in my heart NOT ONLY TODAY....but EVERY DAY. So overwhelmed by God's Grace...and the COUNTLESS miracles He has given me in the midst of so many tremendous storms this year (which, in turn, have ALSO been miracles and GREAT opportunities for growth in my life). Oh my heart. How grateful I am for so many blessings....even as I count them EVERY SINGLE DAY, I still could never name them all. If life seems heavy for you and it seems as if there isn't as much to be thankful for this year....I pray that you open your eyes and see that GOD IS THERE...THE MIRACLES ARE THERE. We just have to SEE them. There is SO MUCH to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving....from one who is so overwhelmed with gratitude today..and every day that I am given one more day to live, learn and love. Life is amazing...always.

{go utes}

Yes. These are my fabulous new work out pants. Yes. I bought them on purpose. Yes. I realize they say Utah Utes. Yes. I know I was raised a BYU fan and went to BYU....Yes. I know this. All of these things considered, I still LOVE these yoga pants. Because Yes. I still completely do not care who wins or loses ANY football game as long as it's a good competitive game. But do you know why I REALLY love these yoga pants? They look and feel FABULOUS on me!!! It is ueber-impossible for me to find awesome workout yoga pants that feel amazing and aren't FLOODS (awesome to be a tall chick). Biggest reason for their awesomeness though? They feel amazing...LOOK amazing....and DUDE....I found them at D.I. (Deseret Industries) today for $1.00. ONE DOLLAH!!!!! And to a bargain like that, this Cougar fan will happily hoot and hollah with an energetic "GO UTES!"

{my big miracle}

Who is this perfectly delightful angel that BRIGHTENS every room with her smile and heavenly giggles and always seems to be singing and dancing her way through every day? Who is this spunky little girl with attitude, determination and so much love in her heart and light in her soul that it very literally emanates from her very being? Who is this soft and tender love bug that is completely content to snuggle up to her Mama and whisper sweet somethings in her ear? Oh my heart....this beautiful angel is MINE! SUCH a BIG miracle...in SUCH a little girl. And what GREAT LOVE God must have for me, to send this angel that truly radiates with His pure and heavenly LIGHT. Oh my precious baby girl, my little Seneca Zella. You are my baby, my angel, my BIG MIRACLE....and you absolutely take...my....breath....away.

{miracles}

Oh my heart. In the midst of some of my greatest storms.....I experienced such breathtaking miracles this weekend. One was the beautiful peace that came to my soul as a result of the great courage of a beautiful sister in Christ and the other miracles, a result of overwhelming generosity and Christlike service....all of which completely fill my heart and soul with gratitude for a very good and loving God...and His children, who live close enough to Him to have been guided to serve. I cannot go a moment longer, without publicly sharing my love and gratitude to God and these precious angels. My heart is so full.....and my life, in the midst of these great storms, is a CONSTANT miracle!!!!

{learn the tango}

AN EXCERPT FROM A CONVERSATION WITH KADEN LAST NIGHT AT DEL TACO ("Taco Tuesdays!! YAY!):

MAMA: "If you could POOF yourself ANYWHERE in the world, right this second, where would you want to go?"

KADEN: "Mexico."

MAMA: "Really. Why's that bud?"

KADEN: "Cuz I want to learn the tango and learn to speak the language. That's where I want to serve my mission."

So funny on one level (about the tango. LOL!).....and yet so ridiculously awesome that he is already thinking about serving a mission. *sigh* Awesome Mama moment. Had to share. That's all. :-)

{pure joy personified}

Hard to believe that my sweet Seneca is 6 years old today...when it seems like just yesterday that we brought this beautiful, dark-haired angel home from the hospital. Little did I know, how she would rock my world. Slow down, Baby Girl....what's your rush? You're growing too fast for Mama..... *tears* Oh my heart....so much love for this precious free-spirited angel. Happy Birthday, Seneca Zella!! You are living, breathing proof that God lives, loves us and wants life to be FUN, even a little SILLY...and breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL!!

Oh Baby Girl....how we giggled today...we truly giggled ourselves sick over your yummy birthday lunch. Love that your choice is always "Broccoli Cheese Soup at Kneaders." Such a grown-up lunch for a baby girl.....and one of Mama's favorites too! :-)


Nothing better than having lunch and LOTS of laughs with you today. Love seeing you so happy...and your happiness is SO contagious. What an amazing day!!!!! Mama loves you so much Seneca! You truly are PURE JOY PERSONIFIED!!!!! Happy Birthday Baby Girl!