Monday, March 30, 2015

Surprise All Day Date to Denmark and Back!

For weeks Joel had been planning a date, and I had no idea what he was planning! A few weeks before our date he comes up to me, "So this will be an all day date. Do we want to bring Emma?" I hurried and replied, "Heck no! This is our alone time date! I don't want to have to worry about nap times, baby food, diapers, wipes, or any of that stuff! I want it to be just you and me." Thank goodness it was, because during our date we couldn't stop saying how badly we needed alone time!


Cheesy enough... Joel and I did look at each other A LOT. Haha!! I can't believe how relaxing it was to be with him and not worry about anything.

Now you all know I have a lot of freckles ;)



It was quite cold, as you can tell from my face ;)


My face when the boat started moving...

Our boat left around 9 in the morning, and it was such a pretty day in Gothenburg! The sun was out and actually slightly warm. The boat had to travel out of a canal to get to Denmark, so Joel and I enjoyed time on the deck until it got too cold and we couldn't see land anymore.





Sooooo many people were on the boat!









We decided to head downstairs and check out what the store had to offer. It was then Joel explained to me that the tickets to get on the boat are very cheap, because they expect you to buy a lot on the ship. Now Joel and I don't drink or gamble, but that is basically what everyone else was doing haha! It is much cheaper to buy alcohol on this boat, go to Denmark and back, than it is to buy it in Sweden. I couldn't believe how much everyone stocked up on alcohol!! Joel said it is common when someone says, "Oh we're going to Denmark for the day." people know you're going to buy lots of alcohol. 

Most everyone carried their alcohol like this ^^^





When I was facetiming my mom she said, "So what do mormons do on this boat??" Well... Joel and I played guitar hero!!! I forgot how much fun that game is! We also played ping pong and air hockey (which I totally beat Joel at!!) in the family section of the boat, away from all the gambling and drinking. The boat actually had a really nice area where the kids could play! When our kids are older, I think it would definitely be fun to take them on this all day boat!

The boat is 3 hours to Denmark, but you can choose to take the same boat back that leaves after an hour, or you can be in Denmark all day until 9 pm which will get you back in Gothenburg at midnight. Joel and I chose to take the same boat back because we didn't want to be gone that long! That one hour in Denmark was kinda tough. We basically had time to hurry and find a restaurant, eat half of our pizza, run back to the boat, and eat the last half there! I wish we had at least one more hour in Denmark.... oh well. When it is warmer we probably wouldn't mind staying there all day! Then we could also visit the tip of Denmark where 3 different oceans meet... next time for sure ;)





The one picture we got of us eating pizza ;)

Any guesses which one of us got new converse shoes this past summer??

The last hour or two on the boat we completely crashed we were so tired!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Emma Elaine: 1st Birthday Party

On Emma's birthday, March 8th, we had a little party at my sister-in-laws house! Eva is so great at decorating and baking, she really saved me! My plan for Emma's birthday party was to keep it simple. I at least wanted the color theme to be mint, gray, white, and gold... the color scheme I have for her room ;) I thought, "If I make the decorations for her party so I can later use them for her room, it is like hitting two birds with one stone!" So that's what we did! And I am so happy with how everything turned out.

We had some close friends and family come over to Eva's after church where we had lasagna and nutella cake! I'm happy to have celebrated my little girl even though she was content carrying around a play phone the whole time... she had no idea all these people were here to celebrate her! I guess it was also a party celebrating my first year of being a mother as well ;)

Here are tons of pictures from her birthday party, thank you everyone who came and supported us!!

Emma's nutella cake recipe HERE. We did double this cake to feed more people fyi ;)









































Eva and I almost bought the same shirts for Emma! Great minds think alike I suppose! ;)







Emma knows when she claps her hands, everyone claps after her. Who trained who here??