Princess Puppy

I haven't posted a scrapbook page in forever and I just love the way this turned out! So, I thought I'd share it with you all.

Last year for Halloween I dressed my cute little puppy up as a princess! She was a rascally little 1 year old and didn't love wearing a dress. (She isn't the most girlie girl, if you know what I mean.) But, she wore it with a smile for her mama. Isn't she cute?! We had to get a little creative with her belts to hold up the dress… it wasn't exactly made for a dog. But, we made it work and I think she looked cute!!

Yummy Food

http://www.flourishingfoodie.com/2012/03/creamy-avocado-pasta.html

You all may have seen this lovely photo making it's rounds through Pinterest lately. I found it a while back and repined it for later. I am happy to say we made this last week and it was super yummy! The dressing was really creamy and I hope we remember to make it again sometime! We roasted tomatoes from our garden and mixed those in - super yummy! We also roasted the garlic because let's face it - roasted garlic is always better than non roasted :) The other slight modification was using whole wheat noodles because we like them best. Spencer also thought it could use some roasted red peppers and I agree! We'll add that next time and see how it goes. So if you've pinned this and not tried it - you need to!

We also tried a new recipe from our most favorite grill book ever. It's the CookingLight Way To Cook Grilling book found here:

http://www.cookinglight.com/entertaining/menus-for-entertaining/essential-grilling-cookbook-recipes-00400000043620/

I think we got the book on Amazon or perhaps Harmons :) We are addicted to both so it's hard to keep track around here… hehe…

Anyways - we made a delicious black bean burger with a yummy mango salsa dressing. The one modification I will be making going forward is skipping the scallions in the salsa. I had never cooked with scallions and thought I'd give it a try and follow the recipe. However, I didn't like them and they overpowered the rest of the flavors found in the salsa. I think I'd half the amount and maybe just use a regular onion if I wanted. I'm starting to think I'll try skipping the onion all together - personal preference. The bean patty was delicious! It kind of fell apart while grilling because we didn't chill it, and we used a metal skillet/grate thing. I think we'll stick with our regular pans going forward…

Spencer also grabbed a bunch of apples at the store to juice them. It was delicious! I'm so glad he remembered that we had a juicer! I keep forgetting… But I love it every time we use it.

Lately

It's been a while since I've bloggity blogged so here are a few updates of things we've been up to lately :)



For my brother Steve's birthday we went to Lagoon! (yes, a few months late, it was a post birthday celebration!) It was fun to hang out with my siblings and cousin. I think I must be getting old because the rides were really starting to get to me. I've never felt sick on a ride before but that pirate ship made me feel awful! I remember the days when I could ride all of the rides all day long and never get sick. What is happening?! Have we discovered the fountain of youth yet?! Help! haha...









We went to Red Iguana 2 and ate super yummy food for my best friend's birthday! I ended up getting verde mole chicken enchiladas. The sauce almost tasted Indian, it was a very unique delicious combination.  Plus it didn't burn off my tongue - YAY! Thanks for having a birthday so we could celebrate! :)

Our friend had a "Washed Up Super Heros" birthday party at the Tav on Friday night. I was having a difficult time deciding on a costume. The day of the party I had no ideas. So I asked the girls at work for their help and Whitney came up with a great plan - to be Thor - she decided that we must have the same hair stylist because mine is the same length/color as Thor's… I was not originally planning on making any sort of elaborate costume because I really wasn't feeling it. (Plus Thor who has lost his strength and turned into a girl was funny enough!) I didn't have a cape, and we all know how necessary capes are for super heroes so I went searching through our lovely Farmington stores. I walked into Ross and BAM right there in the front, with all the halloween items, there was a warrior costume for 12 whole dollars. I couldn't resist - I HAD To buy it! It was just too perfect...

Don't you love the PVC Pipe/Duck tape mallet?! hehe.. My cute husband made it for me, and he helped me modify the helmet to look more Thor like. He also helped create the circles. About the circles - they threw some people off. But EVERY Picture of Thor has these round circle things on his chest plate. Seriously, go Google it! I browsed through the images so that's what I did and it was a great conversation piece. Everyone asked what they were for - I don't know!?! It was never mentioned in the movie (that I can remember) but they are there! So please, if you know the purpose of the circles, please share!!

We also went to Antelope Island for a day - Spence and I decided it should be called Buffalo Island because there seem to be more buffalo than antelope. We were out there scoping out the scenery to see if there were good places to take Becca's senior photos. (I still can't believe she's a senior!!)

Schoko dressed up like a cowgirl with her bandana. I'm not sure what is up with her silly ears, but it's cute. What a cute, silly pup!

I was able to go to the UTAH vs BYU game this Saturday. My friend's boyfriend was unable to make it so I got to take his seat. (Super Lucky for Me!) It was a great game! I tried curling my hair with a flat iron for the game and it totally worked. Naturally, I had to document this so, I made Spencer take a picture of it before I left. Didn't it turn out cute?! And didn't he take a great photo!

Here are a couple of pictures from the game! :)

We won! Yay! It was quite a complicated ending. Here is a very brief summary. The game looked like it ended, so the fans rushed the field, but there was one more second left. So, the one second played while the fans were on the sidelines. The fans, again, rushed the field. There was a flag on the play and the refs deemed a 15 yard penalty for the fans running on the field before the end of the play… SO Here's a funny picture showing all of the fans waiting/watching from the sidelines!

We were sitting on the South End Zone so we got to clearly see the BYU field goal attempt bounce off of the right (East) post - confirming our win! 24 - 21 YAY! :) The fans got to rush the field for real this time! hehe…

I'm excited for FALL! It has been a great summer, but I'm ready for it to cool down a bit! I never thought I'd say that - because I love love love summertime. I really must be getting old :) hehe. I'm looking forward to my cute fall decorations, the leaves turning, pumpkin spice goodness, soups, and oh so many other things.

My Husband Must Love Me

This is proof :)

Last year while in Jackson Hole, Wyoming I found some amazing boots. They were gorgeous! I really wanted them but they were way too expensive. I couldn't justify the purchase, even as pretty as they were... leather, cute colorful stitching, comfortable... ah. All year I thought about them, dreaming about which ones I would want to get if I could.

This year we again went rafting. We had a great time camping with friends and relaxing. We found our new favorite restaurant in Alpine, Wyoming. I was looking forward to eating at the Cheeseburger Factory. When we got there it was closed, just like that. Gone. Due to an unfortunate event that the landlord raised the rent! Who does that?! Now it just sits there vacant, and I didn't get to enjoy my cheeseburger! The NEW Favorite place is Tootsies - they have great pizza! So, if you're ever in Alpine please stop by so we can keep this place around! :)

Naturally, we stopped in Jackson one day to shop a bit, and there were those boots! Those horribly expensive, beautiful boots! I was eyeing them and thought "no - I can't justify this purchase - just walk away." So I did just that - we walked away and continued along our trip.

The night before we were leaving Spence turns to me in bed and says "I've been thinking - why can't you have those boots? I have nice watches, why can't you have a nice pair of boots?!" Really?! So what are you saying!? He said, we should go get you those boots! The next morning, we packed up, and went completely out of our way to go get the boots I'd been dreaming of. This is proof he must love me because he hates to go out of his way and backtrack, plus they were expensive, and he'd thought of it all on his own. What a sweetheart!

Here are a couple of pictures of these amazing boots:

Aren't they perfect?! Look at the cute flowers, hearts, birds, colorful leather, ahh... Now I just need to find the perfect outfit to go with them! :)

So there's one of the many ways my cute husband has spoiled me, and shown me that he loves me :) Thanks hun, I love you too!

4th Of July

Spencer had been wanting to go on a hike. So, for the 4th we went on a hike up Davis Creek Trail. This is his favorite trail, and he'd been wanting to go all season. It was a beautiful, long, hot hike! I thought he was trying to kill us :) hehe but it was really fun!

This is the only hike that the dog gave up on us. We were almost done with the hike, and she decided she was done. She tried to stop in every shady spot to lay down. (The poor thing - I felt so bad for her!) I was worried she wouldn't make it down - I mean, we were so close. How do you tell her that?! We kept dumping water on her back to try to help cool her off, and took it slow. I still can't believe she gave up like that. She's done this hike multiple times and typically would be doing laps around us. So this was strange. I guess my puppy is growing up and doesn't have the same energy she used to have.

Isn't this a great view of the valley?!

 Look at Schoko's tongue hanging out - it was hot!

  Isn't he cute?

 We found a few waterfalls :)

Relaxed and ate lunch in the shade

Don't we live in a beautiful place?!

Later we went to Spencer's brother's house for a BBQ and Fireworks. We left his house a bit early because we had work in the morning. As we drove up I-15 we could see all the fireworks from all of the venues across the valley. It was kind of cool. Overall I'd say we had a great Independence Day :)

Five Short Years Later :)

For our 5th Anniversary we splurged and had a great staycation to Park City!

We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Resort :) Where they kept bringing us cookies...

We had our own deck where we enjoyed some champagne that evening...

...Overlooking the pool...

This place was bling! Three fireplaces, two full bathrooms, a full kitchen, laundry room, etc... It was basically a condo for the two of us for the weekend. We wanted to live there forever :) We checked in early and relaxed in the hot tub (it was a bit cold outside for July - actually quite refreshing) and decompressed from life in general. (No more thinking about work and chores - why is that so hard to do?) At that point it really started feeling like a vacation.

We then walked around Park City where we spent too much money :) and found Mountain Town Olive Oil Co and bought some fun oil and vinegar. I'm excited to try some new creations with these new flavors.

We got ourselves anniversary gifts:

We both got a watch, and I got this lovely new purse! 

For dinner we went to High West Distillery and had delicious food and drinks! I am still craving the french onion soup... so yummy!

It was such a relaxing weekend, and I had so much fun hanging out, just the two of us! I think I want a staycation, every weekend :)

I did miss my puppy pup - how could you not miss this face? She was tired on our way home from Camp Bow Wow. She must have had a fun weekend too!

A Little Bit Of Life

Here's what we've been up to...

Bath Time! :) I think she likes to be clean, she always shows off after her bath. She was just sitting in the tub anxiously waiting. It must have been a while if she was wanting to be clean...
















...Playing with Tika and her family :)

Playing in the freshly cut grass...

 ...Planting flowers and little weeping pines

...some agility fun! She can now (most of the time) jump through her hoola-hoop. It sometimes makes her mad and she bites it. Silly dog.


















Surviving deadly canyons in Zion National Park...

...rock climbing around town

... relaxing in the evenings with good friends, food, and drinks :)

May Recap

This past month has flown by. I really can't believe it's already Memorial Day Weekend! This is a much needed break for me, we've been busy. Here's a quick recap on what we've been up to.

Spencer got a new job. He's now working from home and will more than likely travel a bit. We had to make a few trips down to Ikea for some office furniture, ordered a few things online, visited the office store, etc. He's now all set up and loving working from home. I think this means he'll want to leave the house more and be, you know, social. I'm sure working from home can get lonely so it's a good thing the puppy keeps him company ;)

I've been busy at work trying to figure out what my new job is really going to be. I'm not really sure yet but I know things are changing. I have to take another test. Uhg. I really have no motivation for it but it has to get done. Not fun.

We went to my sister's Utah Symphony/Youth concert where she got to play with the symphony. She was second stand of the first violins. Way to go Bex! She's way better than I ever was :) To put it in perspective, I was in the second violins, second stand (I think?!). SO she #1 - made first violins and #2 was the second best of that group. I'm so proud of her!

(This picture is awesome, for some reason I never know where to look when having my picture taken on a phone?! My eyes always look weird.)

Schoko is being a better dog every day. She still has her little moments when she wants to do what she wants and doesn't care what we want. Those are starting to happen less frequently. We went hiking with her friend Tika and it made me wish she had a buddy to run up the trail with. But we're not ready for that quite yet. I guess Tika will just have to come with us more often! Schoko has learned she doesn't need to meet every dog/kid/person on the hike. She even left some of the dogs alone when I asked her to! Here is a picture of us at our favorite waterfall up Adam's canyon. The water was icy cold. Thanks friends for coming with us!

Mom got her a new collar for outdoors. This way her cute pink collar can stay pink (not grey like it gets after being in the mud) and her new collar can get as dirty as she wants it to be! I think red looks good on her :)

I also went on my first outdoors rock-climbing wall. It was scary. I didn't make it up the first time because I was too scared to continue on. The second climb wasn't quite as scary so I made it to the top. Spencer is a pro and climbed it effortlessly his first time. Thanks Jarge for taking us! Here's a lovely picture of my attempt at rock-climbing.

The weather has been so nice that I busted out Schoko's swimming pool. She likes to scratch at the fish on the bottom of the pool and drink the water. She'll even put her whole nose in the water to cool of her face. It's pretty cute :)

I'm so excited for summer!

My Cute Shelter Dog

I joined a class with Western States K9 College to help train shelter dogs to give them a better chance at finding a home! We work with the dogs each Saturday for an hour or two until they get adopted.

Here's the cute dog I'm working with! We practiced sit, down, and taking treats softly this past week. She did great! She really tries to figure out what you want her to do, is very gentile, and loves treats!

You can find more information about her through the Salt Lake County Animal Services. Her details are here. This is a screenshot of her details. Isn't she pretty?!

They found her without a name, so she doesn't really have a name. It looks like the shelter staff have named her Boo, but I think she looks more like a Sasha :) What do you think?!

The Salt Lake Pet Super Adoption is coming up on May 4-6th. She may be there since Salt Lake County Animal Services is participating. I'm going go try to go that Saturday since we won't be having class that day :)

Utah Puppy Hoodies

A few years ago I found an awesome pattern at the fabric store for dog sweaters. Since I didn't have a dog, and my dog would be way to warm with a sweater, I made some for my friend's cute puppies!

The first one I made was for cute little Harley:

As you can see it was a bit too big. The arms were too big and she got a bit lost in the hood... hehehe... Where did she go?! You can barely see her under that hood :)

I sure do miss this girl! She was such a good dog. May you rest in peace little Harley pup.

Learning from my past experience, I made her little sister Mia's sweater a bit smaller and with short sleeves. I love the way the sleeves turned out. I was a bit worried since the cuff was a bit small for the width at the top of the sleeve. But, it scrunched up very nicely, and I think looks a bit more girly :)

She tried it on yesterday (dang it, I didn't get a picture!) and it looked so cute! It was a little bit big, but not too bad. We could say it was a bit roomy :) The short sleeves definitely work a lot better than the long sleeves. And yay, I got it done before football season! (Score for me) I've only been working on this for like a year and a half.. hehe.. I tell you, it's so nice not to be studying. Now I have time for fun projects like this one!

I used my mother-in-law's embroidery machine to stitch the letters. Also learning from past mistakes, I cut out all the pieces and stitched up as much as I could, leaving enough room to fit each piece in the machine. Last time I had to take out stitches to get it to work... not fun. The drum is a patch I found online. I really like the way it turned out! Maybe I can make a thin one for Schoko or maybe another tutu? We'll see...

Now Mia can help cheer on the team with us on game days! Let's Go Utah!