BYU v. Arizona

I've been slacking in my blogging duties lately.... here's a post, and stay tuned for some more in the coming days!

Heath and I went to the BYU v. Arizona basketball game at the Energy Solutions Arena (where the Jazz play) earlier this month!

It was a "white out", hence us both in white.

 

BYU played great! Cosmo showed up super festive and led a few cheers....

He even let Heath and I take a picture with him!

We had a lot of fun! Plus, added bonus, BYU won, handedly! After the game we went to the Gateway Mall and finished up some Christmas shopping. I love that mall! They had an enormous tree, with pretty sweet lights! So obviously we needed to take a picture in front of it. Unfortunately, the lighting isn't the greatest, but it works, and you get the general idea!

Heath and I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas--we're a little late! More posts to come soon! Now to start thinking about New Year's Resolutions....Maybe check off a few things on my bucket list?

Snow Day!

Today started off pretty frustrating....Heath and I had planned to go up to the Canyons in Park City to take snowboarding classes. It snowed over a foot yesterday and last night--perfect powder. So, perfect day, right? Kind of wrong....

So we left our house, the roads were, not the greatest, yet we plugged along. We arrived at the mouth of Provo Canyon, ready to navigate whatever it had in store for us. Denied. We needed either chains or 4WD. We had neither.

So we head into Orem to buy chains. After many different stores, we found one that actually sold chains (it was almost comical how many stores we tried). Chains on the tires, we drive back toward Provo Canyon. CANYON CLOSED. Denied AGAIN!

My first thought, "Are you serious???". I'm pretty frustrated at this point because, you see, we had reservations with the Canyons...reservations that per their online statement are "non-refundable". Snowboarding isn't cheap. At this point I was pretty sure I was out some major (to me) cash! I made Heath call the Canyons, because, if I am being honest, with the state of mind I was in, I would have either flown off the handle or started crying if they said what I thought they might say....

Let me just tell you, they were SO NICE and UNDERSTANDING! Huge sigh of relief! We got a voucher and plan to take the class in the near future.

So, to make our day fun, we went and bought some disk sleds and headed to Rock Canyon Park for some sledding! We made a few snow angels at the end--what else is there to do in untouched snow?? It was a good day! Enjoy some pics!

Photography

So I purchased a dSLR camera a few months ago, my goal to become better at photography, check out this fun little giveaway I found via a friend! The photography is absolutely gorgeous! I can only hope that I win!

http://meganpapworth.com/blog/

Pretty amazing stuff, right??

Wish me luck!

Halloween & Thanksgiving

So here are a few more updates. Obviously I am really good at keeping this blog updated & current.

Heath and I spent Halloween on our couch watching Monsters, Inc. & eating candy. We had one group of trick or treaters stop by, so there was A LOT of candy!

Heath even made some pretty awesome chex mix (I made some muddy buddies, not pictured).

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful this year. I was at the hospital working--someone has to take care of the sick people, even on the holidays! Heath, however, spent the day up in Riverton, UT with family. He brought me home some pretty delicious food! I was sad I had to miss seeing everyone, but that's the way it goes...

The good news is, Heath & I will be home for Christmas! That's right! We're heading to Oklahoma from the 22nd-28th. Needless to say, we are both pretty excited!

Here are a few pictures to leave you with. The great thing about colder weather is the awesome sunsets!

 

I love this time of year!

Happenings...

So to start off, Heath and I went to True Blue Football for BYU's homecoming back toward the beginning of October...Why have I never been before? That was about the most fun I have ever had! We didn't get too many pictures of us with the blue foam ALL OVER US, but I do have and "after" shot of us after we showered off. Basically True Blue Football = huge slip n slide + mass quantities of blue foam + awesome!

I added this picture of us, mostly because it is just so darn flattering of us! Jealousy is a common response to viewing this picture...Mostly I felt bad because we didn't take a camera in with us because we didn't think there would be anywhere safe and dry to keep it...It's ok though, we have the memory and that's all that really matters!!


In more recent news Heath got inducted to Phi Delta Phi this past Friday. This is an honor society for Law students. They only accepted 16 students from his law class this year. The society is based around the idea of bringing and upholding ethics in the law profession! I am so proud of him!

Heath and I in front of the Supreme Court Benches!

Heath with some of his Law school friends!

Fall in Utah

Every fall Heath and I drive up the Alpine Loop to look at the fall leaves. This year I wanted to try out my new camera with the awesome colors, so we hiked to Stewart Falls. I love fall! beautiful colors, cooler temperatures, getting to wear jackets! I love it all! Here are a few pictures to share with you!

We are so lucky to have so much beauty so close by! It was the perfect little escape!

Bruschetta Recipe

So a few of you asked for the bruschetta recipe, here it is!


Double Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• 6 Roma (Plum) tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (it says packed in oil--I couldn't find this so I just did sun-dried tomatoes diced up, soaked 'em in a little oil for about 10 minutes and called it good....and it was!)
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (YUM)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 french baguette (I used a loaf of french bread, thinly sliced)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven on broiler setting
2. In a large bowl, combine the Roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, salt and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes (I let mine sit over night to let the flavors really blend together)
3. Cut the baguette (or french loaf) into 3/4 inch slices. On a baking sheet arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes until slightly brown.
4. At this point you can either melt a little of the cheese onto each slice of bread or you can top each piece with the tomato mixture, put cheese on top and broil for another 5 minutes or so, or until the cheese is melted. (I did the former)

Eat and enjoy!! I kind of liked the bread lightly toasted so it was still a little soft but crispy, however Heath liked it really cruchy, so try it out!

**I also really liked eating it on a toasted bagel! It made a great lunch!
***PS, thanks for the comments! It's good to know that I'm not just shooting all these posts off into cyberspace :)

SHUSHI.

I've eaten sushi before. But never in Utah. So when our friends Joanna & James invited us to go to Happy Sumo in the Riverwoods, Heath & I were a litttttttle skeptical. But we decided to go anyway & give it a shot. Boy are we glad we did! Talk about DELICIOUS! It was great! Plus we were able to see our friends--always a plus. Here are some pictures:

Our yummy rolls.

I have no idea who that guy is in the back ground...no idea...

Thanks again Joanna & James! We had so much fun & can't wait to do it again!

Bruschetta

I got in the mood to make bruschetta the other day, so I found a recipe and decided to give it a shot. Best idea, ever! It was SO GOOD! not even kidding. My mouth is watering thinking about it. In fact, for lunch today I had just a little left and I toasted half a bagel, melted some mozzarella cheese on it, topped with bruschetta=DREAM LUNCH. If you want the recipe let me know!

Date Night

Heath & I have been trying to make a better effort to have date night once a week--for both of our mental well-being. With Heath being in Law School now--which is time consuming and mentally exhausting & me working--which is mentally & emotionally taxing at times, I think we both need it!

Our first date night we went to Hot Dog King on State Street in Orem:

Heath had the "Oklahoma Dog"--Boomer Sooner baby! and I had the "Venezuela Dog" Here's a picture for perspective:

Pretty big! They were sooooo good! and the service was great--friendly to say the least!

After dinner we went to Shrek: Forever After, cute movie! except for a few crying babies we had a good time!

And afterwards we went and used some coupons at Coldstone....I love that place.....

Yum! I like this date night thing...

Double.

A few weeks ago (has it already been weeks??) Heath & I doubled with my friend Angie & her boyfriend Steve! I wish we lived closer (SLC is soooo far away ;) ) We had a blast! We went bowling at Fat Cats--Steve had a great coupon for Costa Vida/Bowling! and to our pleasant surprise, about half way through, the black lights came on for some psychadelic bowling. Pictures to follow:

Then we went to get some delicioso frozen yogurt where we learned some important things

1. gummy bears in ice cream will turn rock hard.
2. Angie & Steve will absolutely share the biggest most fantastic looking ice cream ever made
3. Cheese cake bits absolutely belong on top of frozen yogurt. 

 So much fun! Thanks Angie & Steve for coming down!

California Vacation

Heath & I were able to have a week long getaway with my family & my aunt's Julie's family in San Diego (more particularly, Cardiff-by-the-Sea). It was gorgeous! We had a great time! The weather was pretty cloudy and cool, but we did get some sun--I have a sunburn to prove it!

Mostly we just enjoyed each other's company, played games, ate, talked explored the beach and Downtown San Diego--as stress free as possible! Nothing was really planned for a change!! It was great! Plus Heath & my dad were able to get in 2 rounds of golf--one at Torrey Pines which was pretty sweet for them! Sara & I got to be their trusty caddies ;)

Here are some pictures from the week as a summary:

Heath hit his ball into the water on the 18th hole and it was sticking out so he played it, left handed and got all wet! (see the middle picture!)

Good food, Wii, great view, Gaslamp district, beaches and good conversation!

# Anniversary Day 2 #

The 2nd day we spent up in SLC for our Anniversary was spent doing some exploring. We did a little more prowling around the Gateway Mall, then we jumped on the Trax and went to this art exhibit downtown. It was interactive, which is pretty sweet in my book--putt putt golf! Here are some pics of what we did:

United States putt putt

This one was made of yarn

This one had salt coming out of it as a hazard

It was pretty fun, & FREE! Each hole was created by a different artist & had its own interpretation. There were some pretty interesting ones.

The rest of the day we went exploring the developing downtown SLC area:

& then we were lucky enough to shoot this beautiful building with our new dSLR camera--a nice hommage to where we were sealed and married just 2 years ago, too bad it was closed for repairs/cleaning!

We had a great time!!

"Naked Mohawk Baby Carrot Jockey"

So on July 15th Heath & I celebrated our 2nd anniversary! We celebrated by heading up to Salt Lake for a quick getaway! You're probably wondering what the title of this blog post has to do with an anniversary? I'll get to that....

We stayed in the Hyatt right next to the Gateway Mall--which facilitated some shopping... But the best part was that we went to the Melting Pot for dinner!

We hadn't ever been there!! YUMMY! The regular food was good, but the dessert? HEAVEN. Here are some pictures...

Heath & I

The spread

 Our fondue pot!

H

Heath with his fondue in mid-drip!

Me :)

And finally, the Dessert!

It was sooooo delicious!

After dinner we headed over to the Gateway Mall to look around in Barnes an Noble (Here's where the blog title comes in....). You can always find some interesting reads in there...Well, this was just such an occasion! We found THIS!

A hilarous book about cake fiascos! seriously, follow the link to check out the blog! But most importantly, here is the reason for the blog title:

And also,

"Come to the Dark Side, we have cake!"

We were dying laughing in the Barnes and Noble!

Speaking of cakes...we also ordered one from Granite Bakery--the same flavor as our cake topper from our wedding cake! Since we ate the topper last year for our 1st Anniversary. Spice cake with cream cheese filling and buttercream frosting! YUM!!

It was a great anniversary and even though it's cliche', these 2 years have flown by!I think we're both pretty lucky!

Trifecta

Ever heard that bad things come in 3's? They do. Here's an example.

Driving through Las Vegas, NV on our way to San Diego, this happened :

 Not cool.

 Then while we were in San Diego, we hit a nail at some point--no picture but we got a flat tire.

Just when we thought we had made it, we got all the way home, and guess what? Our air conditioner to our condo didn't work. It was 90 degrees in our condo. 90!

New windshield, fixed tire (thanks Costco) and a repaired AC (thanks to our trusty landlord), I hope the Trifecta is satisfied... And I think it is, because the very next evening it gave us this:

 Good thing I'm a sucker for a good sunset :)

(more to come on our trip to California soon!)

Bridal Shower-type Things

Tiffany's sister, Jill and I threw Tiffany a bridal shower back in July (can you believe July is over?!), here are some pics of the fun day!

Tiff started off by telling the story of how she and Walt met & how he proposed!

Tiff picking out different pictures of various body parts of Walt's from a pile of pictures!

Guests :)  (You can almost see the food I made in this pic! I forgot to take a picture! Veggie pizza, fruit with cream cheese dip, water with lemon and a paper peony flower I made--by hand!--had to toot my own horn just a little bit!)

About to open gifts

Tiff's mom and one of her sisters

It was a lot of fun! I'm glad I was able to help Jill plan this special day for Tiffany! Heath and I are so excited for her and Walt!