What can't you do with cardboard?

So...I have to confess that I have a hard time throwing away old cereal boxes, cake boxes, anything made of cardboard...because I just might need it someday, right? My other confession is that I do need it pretty often, and so I keep saving it and making little things out of it. On my mission it was a salt shaker, with my roommates it was a mail keeper and shelf dividers, and well...Miles and I laughed the hardest when he found the "outgoing mail" box I'd made out of a squished mac'n'cheese box, some tape, and a sticky note. I was shooting for functionality on that one, but hit somewhere more around trailer park. :) However, it graced the front door of our house for several afternoons until one day I forgot to bring it back in after the mail went out, and Miles happened to see it when he came home. We are now mail box free again.

Anyway, this week I decided to make a weekly dinner calendar, as part of my quest to become a good cook someday. I thought about printing one out, then changed my mind and got out stuff to draw one, and... yep, you guessed it...it somehow turned into a cardboard project. This time, though, I was determined to make it apartment worthy, and after a lot of experimenting, some tape, and about a million trips back and forth to the craft cupboard I think it turned out cute:

I knew that this wrapping paper would come in handy someday!

Also, the roughly 500 little wedding dinner and sealing insert cards left over from our wedding invites are the perfect size to cut in half and write my dinner plans on to put in the pockets each week. Score again!

Jess and the big 25

Best birthday ever!!!
Okay, so it was not another Six Flags adventure, but we did have a blast! Miles had work that morning, so I worked on making my cake and cleaning up the house for all the upcoming birthday festivities. :) And hey! Thanks for all the cards and funny phone calls! They made my day!

Miles's card "made out of recycled materials"

Thanks for all your cute cards and birthday wishes!

That night Miles surprised me with a card he'd made at work, which was adorable. Let me see if I can put a picture of it on here...

We took advantage of a couple of the free birthday dinner offers (score! although the IHOP server totally recognized us and I think she was suspicious) and then we headed back to our apartment to share some birthday cake with friends from the ward and down the street from us. It was funny to be celebrating without family all around, but we did end up having a great party, so much so that we didn't all go to bed until about 11...oops! This was the first time we've really had people over just for fun, so it was awesome to find some people our age to hang out with and make up for our missing adventures w/Clint and Aubree and Rebekah and Steven and our Provo friends. So fun!

We also discovered the most amazing game ever. Carcassone. We got it as a wedding gift, and put off playing it forever because the box looked boring to me, but the other day we opened it and now I think we've played it something like five times in the past week! Except Miles has beaten me every single time we've played! You can expect to be entertained by it when you come to visit us, because we're dying to share it with someone else :) Anyway, we're excited for the upcoming visits with Miles's side of the family, and I can't believe how fast time is flying past!

Miles turns twenty seven!

Miles's birthday this year was a blast. I noticed a week or two before that Six Flags was having "Mormon Family Day" on the 17th (thanks, ward bulletin), which meant that we could get super discounted tickets. Sold!

The festivities actually started the night before, when we had all  five of the missionaries over for dinner and cake. Miles let me make his cake, and although you can still tell it's not from a famous bakery, I had fun and I think it turned out pretty good! And it was sooooooo delicious! Here's the missionaries singing, and Miles working on blowing out those candles and filming at the same time:

The day of, we took off for Six Flags and had lunch on the way. It's amazing how fast a one-hour car drive goes when you've driven to UT and back three times in the past few months! Neither of us had been on any roller coasters since high school, so Miles was stoked and I was a little nervous. As it turns out, we both still have it in us! Well, there was one moment on the first drop where we both blacked out a little, but after that we were champs! Take that, highschoolers!

Miles is sporting his button. I am sporting
some good rolled-up jeans :)

We also heard somehow that if it was your birthday you could report to Guest Services to pick up your "birthday button." OOOooo! We thought that would definitely get us through some lines a little faster, and made a beeline for Guest Services. When we got there and proudly told them that we wanted a birthday button for Miles, the girl behind the desk pulled out a blank "happy birthday" button and wrote "Miles!" in the name slot. It turns out that that's it...no free rides, no ice cream cone, not even a birthday ring toss game, just the privilege of wearing the button. Nothing to do but wear it with pride!

Ta-daaaa! the birthday man himself!

One of the best parts was that in one of the lines we met a couple from Anaheim and really hit it off. We had two hours to talk with them, so the topics ranged from where the best camping places are to what a temple marriage is. They were so much fun, and hopefully we'll be able to hang out with them again sometime soon. That ride was worth the wait, too--they strapped you in the seat like normal, but then as you took off the seats tilted back, so half the time you were hurtling through space with nothing below you. I was terrified, and remember screaming, "Never again!!!," but once we landed safely, I was sad that the line was so long that we couldn't do it again. That one was Miles's favorite. :) Also--James, this is for you--we did the Superman. It shot you backwards up a huge half arch, so you were hanging face down, then dropped you back. Quick, but fun. We did a bunch of other fun rides and made it home by about 10:30, just in time to sing again and have one more piece of birthday cake. Keep in mind that the missionaries had some, too--we did NOT eat that much cake all by ourselves, hehe! But on second thought, I think we could have if there had been more...that was some yummy cake!

There are now only 7 candles. Easier to get your wish!

It was a super fun happy birthday for the best husband ever!







p.s. I posted the beekeeper pics in September...don't miss that one!!!