Take a Hike!

Tuesday was a great day. Not only did I throw a fun birthday party for my friend Jessica, but my work day was pretty awesome too. It was a beautiful day outside. My department at work... remember how I told you they are awesome? Remember how sometimes we go on fun activities instead of working? Like going to the movies, or when we did this? Well yesterday, we worked until noon and then we all packed up and went up to Sundance. Not only that, but my co-worker, Paul.... the one that worked on the Polar Express, He asked me if I wanted to ride up to Sundance with him on his motorcycle! I never turn that down. So I got to leave work, ride on a motorcycle on the freeway and up the BEAUTIFUL canyon on a nice sunny day! That would be enough to make my day awesome, but it gets better....

We get to Sundance and we ride the ski lifts up the mountain. Since I don't do any type of snow sports, this is my first time on a ski lift... and I love it. Just a fun relaxing ride up in the air with a beautiful view of the mountains and greenery around us.

After our ski lift ride, we had lunch at the top of the mountain. We all had boxed lunches that the company had bought. These were like gourmet boxed lunches... they were amazing. The boxed lunches even came with cheesecake.

After eating our lunches, we went on a 3 mile (total) hike to Stewart Falls. I have been before, but hiked from a different direction. It is a beautiful and easy hike, and the water fall is awesome.

After we were done with the hike, we all went home and I was still home sooner than if I worked a full day.
Recap:
Beautiful Day+ Half Day of work + Motorcycle ride + Gourmet lunch + fun hike + beautiful surroundings + Home early = Awesome Day! Thank you to Novell and my awesome co-workers!

Photo of the week 18

Charming little Cafe in Sundance, Utah.

Rockin Birthday Party

Tonight I threw a birthday party for my good friend in the ward, Jessica. She is a HUGE fan of the band "The Who". Seriously... biggest fan I have ever seen of any band. When I found out her birthday was coming up, I told her I would throw her a birthday party at my house and decorate a cake for her. So I did just that. What was the theme? The Who of course! Seeing her reaction to the cake I decorated for her was worth all the work of putting it on. Lots of people came and everyone had a good time. To go with the band theme, we had rock band set up in the living room. It was a rockin time!

Happy Birthday Jess! Thanks for being an awesome friend. You ROCK my socks off!

Bottle Rockets

Tonight we had FHE as a ward. As our monthly competition, we decorated and launched bottle rockets. Our rocket did not win, since it didn't go the highest, but I think ours was one of the coolest looking rockets. My team decorated it camo for General Mills!

Here is our FHE group

And here is our rocket

The launch! 

It was a great activity. Everyone had a great time and it is so nice to be able to spend time outdoors!

Homemade Headbands

Jamie had lots of crafts for us to do when I got here. One of them was making our own cute headband. You can make them just as cute as the ones you find in the store for however much money, but we made them for free with stuff Jamie already had in her craft room.

First we cut the strips.

Then each strip needed to be hemmed.

Then you get to have fun and be creative as you decorate with different materials, ribbon, buttons, beads.... whatever inspires you.

Here is how both of ours turned out. I think they are super cute!

Weekend Get Away... Part 2

My weekend in Arizona is almost done sadly. It has gone by pretty fast and I have not been taking as many pictures as I did the first day. That doesn't mean that I have not been doing a lot.

I have been playing with my adorable niece and nephew a lot, Jamie & Dan took me out to dinner to this cute restaurant that is on a farm. After that, Jamie and I went to get pedicures. This is the first time that I have not gotten a flower on my big toe, instead they did zebra print on all my toes. I think it is awesome. This is also the first time that I have gotten the "Spa Pedicure" instead of a regular pedicure... mostly because everywhere I have been I have never had the option. Extra things you get, legs and feet massaged with sea salt, feet dipped in hot wax and then your legs massaged with hot rocks. It was pretty awesome. What wasn't awesome though was my massage chair. It was too hard, I feel like I got punched in the back. It is still kind of sore from a couple days ago.

We have spent a lot of time chatting, Jamie and I have also done a couple of crafts (which I am doing separate posts about, AND I even baked and tried a new recipe (which I already posted).

Last night Jamie and I went to see a play put on by a community theater. It was "The Wizard of Oz". It was cute, but it was definitely amateur. It was WAY too long! What I liked best about it though, were the kids and the costumes.

Other than that, we have just been hanging out. It has been fun... we have church and then I get taken to the airport. Goodbye Arizona. Hopefully I will see you again soon.

Lavender Lemon Cake

Before I give the recipe of this super delicious cake, funny story about it....

From the title, you know this recipe calls for Lavender. Well, I have never bought that ingredient before for a recipe and nor had my sister. We go to a health grocery store that my sister has near her house, look through all the herbs and find lavender. Well, you scoop out how much you need and weigh it and depending on how much it weighs, is how much it will cost you. We only needed 5  buds, which doesn't weigh anything and looks like we didn't even put anything in the bag. We wondered how much they would charge us and laughed at the idea of it being free because it didn't weigh anything. My sister Jamie feels like this is a waste, so adds more to the bag just so it will be worth buying. This is all we were getting at this store. We go to check out and the lady checking us out just looked at us like we were wasting her time. She tells us it might cost a nickel or something so to just take it and leave. So Jamie was right, it was free because it didn't weigh anything. :o)

Sadly, a couple of days go by and I get ready to make the cake and that little bag of Lavender is nowhere to be found. So I made it without the Lavender. But it was so good.... I am excited to make it again WITH the lavender.

Lavender Lemon Pudding Cake

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 lemon (zest & juice)

3 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 package instant lemon pudding

1/2 cup whole milk

3 cups confectioners sugar

5-6 organic lavender buds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring butter to room temperature. In separate bowl, mix butter and sugar with hand mixer, beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and lemon zest to form batter.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add flour mixture to batter and blend with mixer. Meanwhile, prepare instant pudding and allow to set for five minutes. Add pudding and milk to cake batter, beat on medium for 2-3 minutes.

Pour prepared batter into greased Bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Allow cake to cool for 30 more minutes, it will shrink down a little bit inside the pan. Remove cake from Bundt pan, and place on plate to cool another 20 minutes.

For lemon lavender icing: Bring 3/4 cup of water to a boil, then place 3-4 lavender buds in boiling water and boil for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and remove and discard lavender buds, then allow lavender infused water to cool. In separate bowl, combine the juice of one lemon with 3 cups of sifted confectioners sugar. Add 3 tablespoons of lavender infused water. Blend together to make icing- add more confectioners sugar if necessary to thicken. Once cake is cool, pour icing on top and garnish with a few fresh lavender buds, then dust with confectioner's sugar.

All done. If you love lemon cake, you will LOVE this. It is so moist and full of flavor. Enjoy!

Weekend Get Away... Part 1

Yesterday I got up early after staying up way too late at the Backstreet Boys Concert and Ash took me to the airport. Thanks Ash!

I am in Arizona for a long weekend visiting my sister Jamie. Day 1 (yesterday) was awesome. Right after Jamie came to pick me up from the airport, we went to Cave Creek to go visit my Grandma Mills. It is always fun to see my Grandma and spend time with her. I love how often I have been able to see her this last year. Such a treat. She & my sister think that I should move here. I am not totally opposed to the idea. After playing at Grandma's house and having some snacks......

(This is what my Grandma's fridge looks like when she knows visitors are coming)

we then went out to lunch to Mimi's. it was a nice morning/ afternoon. Perfect way to start my trip.

Then we came back, to the house, hung out (were super tired) and we went to the store to pick up some stuff, came back and we made crepes (Jeanna would be SO proud of me) and my good friend, Rashae (my Cruise BF for life) that now lives in AZ that I had not seen in a year came over! It was SOOOO good to see her and catch up! LOVE that girl. 

Great first day of my long weekend get away trip to AZ!!! More fun to come!

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 19

This morning I was at the airport. Of course... I was people watching. I was sitting waiting for my flight and next to me was an older man (50's) and across from him was an older woman about the same age. They started a conversation about the flight and then it led to other conversation. There was totally flirting going on here... especially on the man's part. Eventually he thinks of an excuse to go sit right next to her and then soon after that her conversation led to a story that included her husband. I could tell the man was disappointed, when she mentioned this, but the conversation politely continued. He was not wearing a ring.... but she was. Don't you look before you start flirting? Just saying...

Comments I get from people when I am at the airport are #1- about my pretty pedicured toes when I go through security... because I am usually wearing flip flops, therefore have to be barefoot when I go through. #2- My brown and white poka-dot suite case when I am at bag claim. Why? Because it stands out more than the rest. Which is why I love it. I know right when my bag is there, no question. P.S. Today's flight was the first one I have been one where the flight attendant on the speaker phone was a little comedian. She ended the flight with a song even. She sang to us "You are my sunshine". Everyone clapped for her. Too bad I was too tired to really appreciate it. If that were my job, I would probably do the same thing.

It is time for a new Ward Directory. My ward does a great job with the directory... I think. It includes maps of where everyone lives and where the bishopric lives. The first two years I had someone take my picture, like they normally do in-between classes. The next year for some reason the previous picture didn't work and they couldn't take a new one of me because I was in Guatemala, nor could they get a hold of me since I was not just out of town, but out of the country. So... they picked one of my pictures off of facebook to put in the directory, which was fine... except they chose this total glam shot from my sisters wedding years ago while everyone else in the directory had the normal picture. The next year, when the new directory went out, my picture was a different one they choose from my profile pictures on facebook. I didn't choose it. I was fine with it though. This year, I didn't request a change, but again a different facebook profile pic was chosen for my picture in the new ward directory. I just think it is funny that I don't request these changes, but they are putting in these pictures of me that I obviously like of me if I have had them as my profile picture on facebook. I have to say, its pretty awesome that I don't even have to ask to have it changed and they pick these pictures for me.

Tutoring this week. Sara and I show up and it was the FIRST time EVER that not one kid was there! We had no idea where they were. We couldn't even see them outside in order to bribe them to come in with Popsicles. It was sad, but we tried.

I love Novell, but something I don't look forward to everyday is the elevator. There are 4 of them, and I try REALLY hard to get one by myself everyday... but that doesn't happen very much. I just find elevators to be so awkward. It is not that I have a hard time talking to strangers, but in the morning I don't like talking.... to anyone. I am just that way. Plus, elevator rides are usually not long enough to have a real conversation. So... if someone does start a conversation with you, its usually about the crazy weather or they make a joke about work such as... "Its only Tuesday" or "finely got through the day" or "Is this week over yet". Even if you choose not to say anything (like I normally do) you still have that awkward silence for how ever long you are in there. Anyway, I just don't enjoy it, unless I am in the elevator with someone I know. But that doesn't happen very often either.

Backstreet's Back! Alright!

Remember the other week when I made that shirt for a concert coming up? Well, tonight I got to wear it! Don't be jealous, but I got to be a teenager all over again and go to the Backstreet Boys concert. It was a blast. Sure we had to wait 2 hours for them to come on stage, but it was totally worth it.

First of all, we had a HUGE group of girls that all came to the concert. Look how excited we are to go.

These are the ones that made shirts. We all picked lyrics from different BSB songs to put on the back of the shirt.

They sang some of their new stuff, but more importantly, they sang all the classics that we LOVE.

The only parts of the night that got me irritated:

#1 - That we waited 2 hours for them to come on. They started a half hour late, and then their "opening act" was just a DJ that played music. Then he finished and we STILL had to wait another half hour.

#2 - When everyone started dancing, the risers we were on started shaking and I thought I was going to die..... but don't worry, I didn't.

#3 - Everyone was screaming SO loud (out of excitement of Backstreet Boy's return) that my ears may still be ringing.... for a while.

#4 - There was this seriously tall guy RIGHT in front of me.... so I totally had to lean into Lorelie the whole time just to see the show. Unless he sat down, which wasn't very often.

#5 - Same tall guy was with his new bride. I only assume they were newlyweds because  saw rings on both of their fingers. What bothered me about them was that they couldn't keep their hands off of each other the whole time and kept kissing each other and he would rub her back and move her bra strap around and so on and so forth. Listen peeps, you are married now, you can do that stuff at home. If they were not directly in front of me and not blocking my view, I am sure I would have cared a lot less, but alas... not the case. Ironically, BSB sang one of their new songs "PDA" (Public Displays of Affection).

Other than that.... we had a complete blast singing and dancing our hearts out. I have gone to many different kinds of concerts, and I love them all! BSB was so fun though, because I LOVED them in Jr. High & High school when they were really big (a lot of girls that were there were not even born yet). But watch out, because BACKSTREETS BACK! ALRIGHT!!!

Photo of the Week 17

A little preview of the latest photo shoot.

FHE- Provo Canyon

For FHE yesterday, we joined with Rob's group again. It has become almost like he is my partner. It was funny because my partner and his partner were gone. Anyway, it was great fun with the Millers (2nd Counselor of Bishopric). We sang a primary song with the ukulele....

We took pictures (inspired by all the family portraits going on around us)

Made S'mores

Chris taught how to make the "perfect" S'more

We played the cup game (rhythm game)

Also played Chubby bunny. Priceless...

Other awkward moments up the canyon:

#1 - The family Next to our group yelling at their kids so loud we couldn't hear the spiritual message Rob was trying to give to our group.

#2 - During the lesson, 3 families wearing matching clothes walked by taking family pictures.

#3 - Girl in graduation robe taking grad photos looking VERY depressed. No smiling pictures.

#4 - Guy walking by holding a Chihuahua wearing a pink ruffly top ( I didn't see a girl with him)

#5 - A couple sitting next to our group making mac and cheese from a box in camping cook wear. Hard Core.

#6 - "New Guy" almost killing brother Miller because he decided we needed more wood (even though we didn't) and decided to break it against a pole (instead of using the ax we brought) and the wood piece went flying and hit brother Miller smack in the arm. He almost cursed.

Can you tell I'm a people watcher? So many interesting people in this world.

Ward Variety Show

Friday Night (Pre Girls Night In- Movie in the Fort) we had our ward "Variety Show". I put in the "" because its not so much a variety. There were about 20 performances and about 97% of them were singing, or playing an instrument. Not that that is not great and all, but two hours with no variety gets a little on the boring side. Everyone kept asking me if I was going to sing in the show. I said heck to the no. If I want to sing... I will sing in church or a fireside. Variety shows are the rare times that come along that you get to do something different and or funny. Let me tell you... we REALLY brought variety to the show. On top of that, all 6 of us discovered a new talent. It was fun, it was different and we pulled it off with only two days of practice. Its not perfect, but it still turned out pretty awesome.

Without further ado, here is our Flashlight Show that we performed in the Talent Show. Enjoy!




P.S. The video looks a little cut off.... so you might want to click on the video to watch it on YouTube.

Here are the girls behind the flashlights - Me, Lorelie, Ashlee, Kailee, Jalise & Jeanna

Crepes

First I have to give a shout out to my dad.... since it is Fathers day after all. My dad is the coolest dad ever and I love him more than I can say. I would do a whole blog post about it.... but I did last year, and everything I said then is still true now. So if you missed hearing how cool my dad is.... check it out here.

It has been a while since I have done a recipe, mostly because I was on the crazy diet. But I'm not anymore, so it has been fun and exciting to cook again. I just hadn't tried anything new... until tonight. It is silly really. It is not like I have never had crepes before... I had just never made them myself. My family didn't really ever have them growing up. They sure are good though, especially for dessert! So my friend Jeanna, who is pretty much the crepe EXPERT, showed me how it is done tonight. Taught me how to do it and then had me make a few for her roommates birthday celebration.

For those of you who have not made them before like me... the recipe is simple. It can fit on a small ripped off piece of paper... like Jeanna has here.

You throw it all in a blender. Mix it.

Then you pour some in a pan, make sure the layer is real thin. When it starts to bubble, you flip it and let it cook on the other side.

Then its topping time! We used Nutella (one of the best things ever made) sliced up banana's & strawberries, whipped cream and powdered sugar.

YUM!!!

Here is Jeanna (my Crepe teacher) and I after making my first Crepe. Tender.

James's Wedding

Today my good friend that I great up with, James, got married to his beautiful bride, Jessica!

Katie, Violet and I drove together to their reception. It was a blast! Not only did I have fun dancing, but it was SO fun to see all my Santa Barbara friends there. My good friend Monica was there too. It is always fun to see her. Our friend Cody was there, it was really fun to see him. I think it had been 6 years since I had seen him last.

It was fun to see everyone with their spouses and families. I think it is pretty awesome that after so many years we have all stayed good friends and just pick up right where we left off when we see each other.

We decided to get a picture of the people there that were in our age group. We all went to Jr. High together. In fact, below is a picture of us at Jr. High Graduation with some of our other friends, and then tonight at the reception 14 or 15 years later. Crazy that it has been that long! I feel old.

David, Cody, Katie, Violet, James & Tracy

My favorite quote of the night by Allan after he told me they were moving to Georgia and I would miss their going away party because I am going to be in AZ.

Allan: " Its okay if we don't see each other again. There will be a glass house in Heaven for people from Santa Barbara. We will see each other there. Except Cody will not be there.... because he only lived in Santa Barbara for a year. Brady will be there though, but only if he goes by Brady and not Austin, because he was cooler when he was Brady".

It made me laugh. I almost had forgotten how funny he was. Love my Santa Barbara friends. They rock!