boiled chicken is for losers

This March was the first time any of my Marches have ever been mad. I'm a basketball fan, and my dad likes basketball too, but we're not religious about it and I definitely don't ever remember filling out a bracket for the NCAA tournament. Oh the joys of having a boyfriend.

But seriously.

It was fun.

Especially when I was beating him.

And even more especially because my method of selecting the winners each round was pretty illogical (aka I basically had no method at all).

One Friday night, toward the beginning of the tournament (I feel like it was the second round, but I could be wrong), Colby and I went out to watch a few of the games. Lucky for him I'm 21, so it was legal when we found a great atmosphere at a bar nearby. And yes, that was a joke. We actually went to this wings place called WingNutz and had some amazing mango chipotle wings with homemade ranch and bleu cheese dressing. Dang they were good. I want to go there again just thinking about 'em. After Lehigh beat Duke (which was fantastic, even though it messed up my bracket), we walked across the street and got frozen yogurt. Finally. I am only obsessed with frozen yogurt and after months of dropping insanely obvious hints, Colby finally took me. It was so exciting that I had to document it.

The next morning, Daniel participated in the Rex Lee Run, so Colby and I went to support him at the finish line. Too bad the kid is too stinking fast and we got there a couple of minutes (literally) after he'd already finished. Even so, Colby got to give him the offering of Gaterade (which induces a memory that is extremely significant in the lives of each one of us--especially Adrian), and everything was just peachy.

This was the weekend that we were supposed to go camping, but it was supposed to rain and snow and there was a flash flood warning where we were going to camp. No bueno. So we took a weekend getaway at my parents' house. On Saturday night, Daniel, Megan, Colby, my parents, and I had a party. A pool party. In the rain.

We roasted hot dogs,

ate them,

then played in the pool,

and the hot tub.

Here's a shout out and giant thank you to the Meinzers for offering up their backyard to us for the evening. It was such a blast, regardless of the weather. Heated pools are definitely the way to go.

That night we all went back to the house, got in our comfy clothes, and watched a movie. At that point we were all exhausted, so we went to bed. Megan and I may or may not have stayed up for another two hours chatting while (we found out later) the boys were upstairs tossing and turning on the rock hard Sleep Number bed that they didn't realize they could adjust to their level of comfort. I honestly felt bad, but it's still humorous. Pretty sure they'll never let that happen again.

Not too long after that weekend adventure, Adrian and Colby went to Park City to go skiing for the last time. I actually ended up driving next to them on their way toward the canyon when I was driving to work that morning. Destiny...it's a beautiful thing.

Anyway, on the first run of the day, Adrian broke his collar bone. Poor guy. I felt really bad, so I decided we should do something nice for him to cheer him up.

If you can't read it, it says the following:

Dear Adrian, we hope this card brings you some "(Almond) Joy." We're sorry your bone is in "(Reese's) Pieces," but you're such a "Big Hunk" that I bet you'll "Skor" some lovin' from the ladies once they see that sling. Their "Kisses" will make you feel like "100 Grand" in no time. You had quite a "Fast Break" on your first run, so next time try not to snowboard so "Nutrageous"ly or your collar bone will get even more "Twizzler"ed. Let's hope it doesn't "Take 5" months to heal, but if it does, we're no "Milk Duds" so we're always here for you. "U-no" we love you.

Talyn & Colby

That weekend, Daniel, Adrian, Colby, and I went to the Real Salt Lake game at Rio Tinto Stadium. It was especially awesome because the tickets were free with our pass-of-all-passes (thanks Mom and Dad)! All we had to do was stand in line at the box office that morning--so that's what Colby and I did. We waiting in line for about an hour, got our tickets, found a local library so Colby could study, snagged some lunch, ran some errands around town, and met up with Daniel and Adrian for dinner before the game.

We also may or may not have anticipated being hungry later, but since outside food isn't allowed in the stadium (and we weren't about to pay out the nose for some sustenance inside), we snuck our treats into the stadium via Adrian's sling. It was a beautiful thing. (Rhyme! Totally unintentional.)

Other than being cold (which was just me, I'm pretty sure) the game was extremely fun, even though it was kind of a sorry one to go to. We lost because one of our goals didn't count for a very lame reason. Ugh. Sporting events are usually a good time though, and we weren't disappointed. It was a really eventful, productive, and adventurous day in Sandy, Utah.

The next weekend was conference weekend, so naturally Colby had a mission reunion. Being the gentleman that he is, he volunteered to help with some of the food prep and we were assigned to boil and shred 10 pounds of chicken for the chicken salad sandwiches. Luckily it only took us 4 hours. Oh wait. Yeah, that actually happened. Pretty sure we still smelled like boiled chicken at the reunion the next night. Oddly enough, we ate the smallest portions of that chicken salad that we possibly could. Good times.

Colby and some of his peeps

Colby relearning the skill of asking for phone numbers

That night we had a slumber party with my parents and the next day we worked out and watched the conference sessions with them. On Sunday Colby and I got to go to the afternoon session because our friend Adrian is the bomb diggity and he invited us.

We were in a bit of a rush and then the lines were extremely long so we were in more of a rush and then the elderly woman checking my bag was really suspicious of me "hiding my pocket knife" in the bottom of my purse (as in they were attached to my heavy keychain that sinks to the bottom no matter what). Anyway, I finally got the green light so we headed to our seats. Our tickets were for the plaza (the lowest level) and they were literally closing the doors when we were speed walking up to them.

Luckily Adrian's sister, Twyla, and her friends had saved seats for us, so we weaseled our way past the guard (aka the elderly woman who stood at a towering five feet tall, give or take) and found our seats.

I definitely need to talk more about general conference, but I guess you'll just have to wait on the edge of your seat until I do...