An iPhone Update on Our Lives

I feel like we've fallen behind in updating on our lives.
Luckily, regardless of where we are, I almost always have my iPhone with me, and I've gotta say, it takes awesome photos. Even though it's not the newest version 4 (with a bigger picture size), I still love that option to take random photos everywhere we go. Plus, the App, ShakeIt Photo, is absolutely incredible. It instantly makes any photo better, and it's fun cause you've gotta shake it (like a Polaroid Picta!) for it to "develop". So some are from that app, others just from the good ol' Camera.
(sorry, the order is all off, cause I rushed to upload them (while at work - eek!) and post this, and didn't take the time to re-organize them)

Waiting for the first of the Rooftop Concert Series, with Benton Paul, to start.

Probably the HUGEST zucchini I have EVER seen. From a co-worker's garden. I made 2 chocolate zucchini cakes with it (no pictures of those - I rushed taking them out of the bundt pan, so they looked horrific)

First football game of the season! Sporting our 5 buck shirts

D sitting in LaVell's spot in the skybox at the game this past Saturday (we won't talk about the outcome of said game, however)

D with 2 of his cousins, Adam and Tommy, at the first football game. Their whole family came up from Vegas that weekend

D often sends me photos of him in his tux outfit when he's at work. I love that handsome man smiling at his camera phone, through my camera phone, at me.

Our  view from the skybox last weekend. Awesome view, beautiful day, miserable outcome of the game.

D took a photo of what I was taking photos of in August - Ilarene and Jason's wedding! Then he texted this to Jason right away so he could have a photo on his phone of the big day

My sister, Karen and her husband, Brigham were flying out of Salt Lake after spending the weekend in Idaho for his sister's wedding - confusing, I know - but I drove my bootie up to SLC to get the chance to see her before her flight. We ended up spending an hour and a half chatting in the visitors' center on temple square, trying to keep cool in the ridiculous heat. It was SO NICE to see her - honestly, seeing my family gives me much-needed stress relief and the ability to keep going with my hectic life.

At our 2nd apartment (out of the 3 we've lived at so far), the door to the laundry room was painted with chalkboard paint. Dylan was so cute and would often leave me messages on here (shoot, I totally forgot to do the same for him - I liked his too much to erase them!). This is what was on there right before we left.

For a friends' dinner a few weekends ago, I was in charge of the dessert. I made a D-Licious pudding cake, then made buttercream frosting for the first time ever, and topped it with raspberry jam and fresh raspberries. Masterpiece, no?

Waiting for the rooftop concert to start. It was a beautiful night, great weather - we just totally didn't think ahead to bring chairs, so we brought blankets and got sore back ends from sitting on the cement parking surface for 2 hours

This was on a drive back from Manti. I love the silhouette of the windmills against the blue blue twilight sky, in the shallow valley between the mountains

One of my freshman roommates, Taryn, got married to one of our freshman friends, James D. Carlson (future General Authority name, right?), and we went to their reception. I've gotta say, this was one of the best receptions I've been to in a LONG time. An ice cream bar, REAL food, and then they totally had an all-out dance party for a good hour or so. I had a blast.

The things we do for love

Not to toot my own horn as a husband, but I merely am writing this post to show Julie how much I love her. Since we have been married, I have watched more chick flicks and gal TV in six months than I did in 24 years combined. Easily. Probably even more in only one week than my whole life before that. I have watched more episodes of Project Runway (probably in double digits) than I have NFL football games this year (0). I have watched more episodes of Say Yes to the Dress and What Not to Wear (I don't even want to count) than I have Yankees games (well, to be honest, still a few, but small in comparison). I have watched the sappy movies (P.S. I Love You), the dropping the one you're with and finding someone better movies (Sleepless in Seattle, The Wedding Planner), the romantic comedies (Failure to Launch), and the ultimate throwing off the shackles of the patriarchal institution of marriage movies (Eat, Pray, Love). Maybe the worst part is--I haven't minded. I'll take any opportunity I can to spend time with Julie. And, hey, I am finally learning all the lessons I missed out on not having sisters...but, chick flicks still suck.

Who wants to watch this?

When I can watch this?

Metro= Gots to Go!

As I've welcomed (well, ok, not exactly "welcomed") back another semester here at the good old 'Y' I have noticed an alarming trend: meterosexuality is in, even here. I want to put my foot down, right now. BYU and its students are usually at least ten years behind every other national trend. So, why did we pick the worst possible current one out there to embrace? I have some theories about why it's so prevalent, here. The biggest theory I have is the ever present So Cal and Arizona force that exists at BYU. With this presence, I have softened my stance a little bit on fake platinum blond hair and orange skin. But, that was the girls. I draw the line at the "men". Remember back in the days when we all wanted to be like Bruce Willis (a man's man) and not David Beckham (who is contractually obligated to take his shirt off after every time he touches a soccer ball and advertise a hair care product while doing it)? I'm almost struggling to remember those wonderful days.

This is a man.

He's wearing a scarf!

         Now, I am not opposed to showering daily, putting on a decent shirt and pants and shaving. I am opposed to it, however, when that showers takes an hour because you have to clean every pore on your body with Beckham's Body Wash, finding your 75 dollar Abercrombie shirt that has strategic holes in it (as to make it look grungy), finding the skinny-fit jeans that fit the tightest and then shaving with a woman's razor as to not hurt your delicate skin and that facial you just got. So, come on, America (and BYU) rise up and be men.

So we're pretty intimidating...

Tonight we decided what our wrestling names would be, you know, if we believed in idiotic things like the UFC.

Julie's name: DEATH by THUNDER!!!!!  (thunder thighs? yeah?)

Dylan's name (ideas....but I don't think any will stick): Death by CHICKEN! or The Thinning Hair Man or The Grower (cause he wishes his hair would grow back, or that his biceps would stop shrinking)

A trip down Manti's lane

A Picture Post!
We went down to Manti the other weekend, to go to a session at the temple there, and to take pictures! For the "artsy" pictures, go to my photo blog, but here are lots of pictures I took of us (more of our individual "model" pictures coming later). Yeah, I pretty much think my husband is ridiculously handsome, especially against the background of the temple, so there are a lot of him posing at different spots around it. And the ones of the two of us, full-length? You can thank my sunglasses, the battery grip, and the grass for keeping this at just the right angle to get those shots, and of course the self-timer. Unlike the one where I am holding it out, this one actually shows more than our faces and the arm extended to hold it out :) But those are classic, too. We just think it's nice sometimes to see all of us. 

I Don't Wanna Grow Up, I'm a Toys 'R Us Kid

It's official: I'm becoming an adult. It's about time. I am 24 years old and married. But, it didn't really hit me until we bought Julie a new (well, relatively speaking. The year 2000 seems likes yesterday to me) car and we had to figure out car insurance. Julie looked into it and asked me whether or not I think Geico would be a good insurance company to go with. I knew two things about Geico.

1- they have a gecko on their commercials who talks and makes me chuckle. But, I hate their other commercials with the stupid cavemen. 2- Kayne West informs me that instead of allowing a gold-digger to get lipo with my money, I should have gone to Geico with my money. So, with this information, I told her it sounds like a good company (Julie researched it way more than that and it seems good). This was a major step in my development into adulthood. Now, I've got to figure out which grad school I want to go, how to pay for it, how to get into it in the first place, start family planning, get a career, etc. (On a side note, when I pick a grad school, I want to pull a LeBron James and make it annoyingly overplayed. I'll hold a press conference with all of my family and say "Dylan Cannon has decided to take Dylan Cannon's talents to (blank)".) Getting back on track, becoming an adult seems overwhelming. But, I take comfort in the fact that so many people have done it before me. So, adulthood, here I come. Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

BYU Football= Family

   Is it football season, yet? As you might have guessed, this is Dylan. I will make no qualms about it: I LOVE BYU FOOTBALL!!! While much of this is due to my love of watching the games (although Jules probably doesn't love watching them with me. I feel I am a pretty even-keeled person UNLESS I am watching BYU games), there are also deeper reasons why I love going to the games and the arrival of football season.
    To me, BYU football is all about family. Since I have been at BYU, gameday Saturdays are the time when I get to catch up with all of my family. Although my family only lives in Salt Lake, I am terrible about keeping tabs on them. It's a time that I get to see my wonderful mother and my fascinating father. I also get to razz my brothers about their hair, being vegetarian, "fruity" (liberal) and for not taking good enough care of my dog, Aggie (who was named after Agatha Christie and not the Utah State Aggies no matter what Alec tries to claim).

   Football Saturdays also allowed me to become very close to my grandparents, Pat and LaVell Edwards. My Grandma has made it a tradition to make us gameday stew after every home game. It is a bit of manna from heaven. Well, probably better. Manna has actually never sounded that great to me. She always takes care of us. Back when he was still coaching my Grandpa would come home after the games, kiss my Grandma and then ask all of us how we were doing in school and what was going on in our lives while not talking about the game (whether we won by 100 or lost by almost that much). Of course, we all wanted to talk to him about football and rant about the refs but to my Grandpa football was a means to an end to teach college students life lessons and make them better. He cared most of all about us, his family, and always showed us where his priorities were. I think because of that, and not because of any of his accolades, my Grandpa is my hero. He would be my hero and I would look up to him if he were a farmer or a construction worker rather than a coach.
   He also unknowingly had a hand in a life-changing day last October when Nate Sell tried to bring Julie into the BYU-Utah State game with student tickets I gave him. When it was discovered Julie was not a student, they would not let her in. My Grandpa came to the rescue and gave me a ticket for Julie to get in with. Because of that, I was able to talk to her briefly. About three months later, at the very spot by the stadium with my Grandpa's name on it where I first laid eyes on the most beautiful woman ever (who is Julie if you didn't pick up on that), I proposed to her. Now, she is part of my family and we are looking forward to using BYU football as a fun and convenient excuse to see some more of my family. That's why to me, BYU football represents family.