#10: Happy "Hot Mama Day"!

Mother's Day can be a tough day sometimes, but Diane always tries to keep a positive attitude and stay hopeful for the day that we will be able to adopt and bring children into our home. I can't wait for her to be a mom--I just know she will be an amazing one. But until that day, I have officially decided that today we are going to celebrate "Hot Mama Day" instead, since Diane is the hottest mama on the planet! I am so grateful to be married to her! And what better way to celebrate Hot Mama Day than with a bunch of pictures? Party on!

We went to the airport to see our dear friend Maura as she was temporarily returning home from her mission for surgery. She is an amazing mission and we are excited for her to be able to go back into the field soon. We love ya, Maura!

Last month, Diane's sister Marjorie was on bed-rest before delivering her adorable third baby. We volunteered to keep her other two kids for two weeks to make her bed-rest more bearable. It wasn't always easy, but we had a blast. We love her kids so much. Below are eight important important lessons I learned during the two weeks.

Lesson #1: Don't let a 17-month old feed himself a smoothie, no matter how much he wants to do it himself.

 

Lesson #2: Take separate shopping cards. Otherwise, at least one eye is guaranteed to get poked.

Lesson #3: Taking child-size cymbals in the car may lead to the need for ibuprofen.

Lesson #4: Adult-size backpacks look much cuter on child-size shoulders.

 Lesson #5: Dog doors can be used by more than just dogs.

Lesson #6: Few things are more sad than a sweet little kid with the flu. Fortunately, he got better quickly!

Lessons #7: When your dog is not used to being around small children, sometimes he just needs to escape for a while. Here is Diesel trying to appear inconspicuous among some stuffed animals and a plastic baby who is clearly in need of a diaper.

Lesson #8: I look sexy in a mini-van. There's no use denying it.

 

Last month I got to color Easter eggs with one of our cute nieces. Her egg was a combination of periwinkle and orchid (I loved the Crayola 64 color set as a kid!).

We went to Colorado for the baptism of the son of Diane's oldest brother, Ben. The grandkids loved to steal Granddaddy's cane and impersonate him.

This is my "birthday buddy". We rode up and down the sidewalk together, while listening to "Eye of the Tiger" on my iPhone. It was an inspiring workout.

A wonderful meal by some of the best cooks in the world (and a photobomb by one of the most average cooks in the world). 

One of my favorite things to do is catch Diane's mom playing "Words With Friends" on her phone. She is one fierce player!

Caught her again! :)

Last week for Diane's birthday, we went to downtown Salt Lake City and ate dinner at "The Roof Restaurant". The flowers were ALMOST as pretty as Diane.

Posing in front of the beautiful Salt Lake Temple, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

Our good friends, Dave and Alecia, went to The Roof with us because Alecia and Diane are birthday buddies too! Here we are on the roof of the Conference Center (two roofs in one night).

Diane and I went to Chipotle's for "Teacher Appreciation Day". This guy had an awesome mullet. That's the only reason I'm including the picture. I like mullets so much, that if a mullet ran for President, I'd vote for it.

Ben, Sarah, and their kids came to visit us this weekend. Diane took her bike "Lucy" for a quick spin around the cul-de-sac. Five years ago, my dad and I restored this classic 1947 Schwinn bicycle for her. It was probably the best present I've ever given her--dang, I peaked already.

One of the many uses of R2-D2 is a cup-holder (in addition to saving the galaxy).

On Friday night we went to a Peter Breinholt at Thanksgiving Point. It finally felt like summer!

Gettin' groovy with the birthday buddy.

Who wants French toast? We LOVE breakfast at Kneader's Bakery.

Mini golfing yesterday with my fellow accountants and good friends, Jared and Aubrey. Jared beat me by eight strokes--but I got the last laugh when I stole his wallet.

Being married to Diane is a "hole-in-one"!

#9: Zoos!

Over the past few weeks, we have been able to spend some time with our wonderful nieces and nephews at the San Antonio Zoo, Sea World, and at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. We had a great time.

Lions....

Tigers...

And bears--oh my!

And, um, hippos?

Last but not least, a giant elephant!

#8: Everything Is Bigger in Texas AND Brazil.

There were two big trips in the Dalton family this month: First, my 6'7 "little" bro, Matthew, went on his mission to Teresina, Brazil (well, he is still in the Provo MTC, but basically that's a foreign country). Second, Diane and I went to San Antonio, Texas to visit her brother Andrew. Here are some pictures from both trips, because as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand worms". Or, whatever.

Matthew's "last meal" at Training Table. He learned how to match his clothes from me.

Me and Matthew with my sister Amy's husband, Manny, and their two kids.

I actually have a cool goatee like Manny, but it's just invisible.

Matthew's second-to-last meal at "Chick-fil-A". 

Diane recently got glasses, although I am trying to convince her to go with contact lenses instead.

Matthew was officially set apart as a full-time missionary.

My goal is to overtake him as the favorite uncle while he's gone. Bwahahaha!

Love you bro!

One great part about your brother going on a mission:

You get to steal his cool stuff, like this retro U of U football helmet.

In addition to missions and vacations this month, we went to dinner to celebrate

the birthdays of two of my best friends, Paul and Bryan. Happy 30th, guys!

This month, we also got to help bless Jeff and Jenni's new baby.

Jeff looks quite dashing in his bow tie.

Family walk at a local bridge.

Diesel kept getting distra...."squirrel!"

When in Rome...

At the Alamo with Andrew's wife Liz and their kids.

Unfortunately, we missed seeing John Wayne by about 50 years.

Cookie monsters and wookiee monsters at Sea World.

Diane and Andrew: This one's for the birds.

Waiting for the "Azul" show to begin at Sea World.

On Sunday night, we visited the grounds of the San Antonio temple.

It had some amazing stained glass windows.

On the plane home, we sat across from a cute old couple.

We want to be just like them some day--wrinkled but always still holding hands.

#7: February was short but awesome (just like Diane).

What's up, world wide web? February has been a great month. We went up to Idaho to visit Diane's parents and a couple of her sisters (but since she has four of them, I won't go into the trouble of naming which ones). :) Diane's dad recently got a hip replacement, so we went up to see if we could help take care of him (and provide some comic relief). Even though he was in pain, he was moving around like a champ. I sure enjoy visiting with him. He's a great friend and I always look forward to spending time with him.

Here are some pictures from our visit, as well as other odds and ends during the month.

Our youngest niece likes to wear arm chair covers as a hat.

I think it matches particularly well with her cupcake pajamas.

Playing "Telestrations", a mix between "Telephone" and...."Illustrations"?

Yeah, that's probably it.

I pride myself on my ability to act out in public. 

Here I celebrate a stellar 12 point round of "Guesstures".

Family prayer--Diane teased her dad about being unwilling to kneel down.

I mean, come on, it's ONLY a hip surgery.

Diane went to get a pedicure with her mom. 

She wouldn't let me post a picture of her feet though.

We always feel sad when we have to leave, but we always feel loved when Diane's mom stands on the porch to wave goodbye. Can't wait to see them again soon.

I love to sing to along to the radio (particularly to Enrique Iglesias' "Let Me Be Your Hero").

It makes Diane cringe, but I know that deep down it REALLY makes her swoon.

Cheesecake Factory with our great friends, Ariel and Tara, after a Friday night adoption panel.

Our shopping cart makes me look like a much healthier eater than I actually am.

In fact, I could really go for a bowl of Marshmallow Mateys right now.

One of my favorite things about Diesel is that he hugs like a person.

Actually, that's one of my favorite things about Diane too.

My Valentine present to Diane: Cheese danish and tulips.

Diane's Valentine present to me: Lays potato chips and two lips.

We went to a health fair at the local hospital.

Diane's pose made me think of Chris De Burgh's "Lady in Red".

While at the health fair, we ran into our good friend Chris.

Chris is a lot like Superman--

he serves in the temple every week, volunteers on the city council, and even has black hair.

We had a pizza and movie night with Diane's best friend Natalie.

She has adorable twin girls--can't believe they are almost two.

It was totally warm yesterday (like mid 50's, baby!). 

We celebrated by taking my grandma to lunch and ice cream.

Diesel thinks he has good camouflage,

but he forgot to put on his flower-print sweater.

An intense game of Jenga with Jeff. He's got steady hands for an old guy.

I look constipated in this picture, but I'm just focusing really hard.

How much longer can this thing go?!

 Answer: it can't.

Until next time, have a good one!