S'mores

Our summer bucket list included making s'mores over a bon fire. Unfortunately with all of the wild fires in the Utah mountains this summer there are some serious fire restrictions going on therefore making it difficult to have a fire, making it difficult to roast mallows for s'mores. But being the problem solver that I am, I didn't let that come between me and my gooey summer treat. We started up my parent's grill and roasted them over the coals.

Even though the marshmallows had expired in January and we only had one Hershey bar to go around the s'mores were great and I got to cross another activity off my summer bucket list!

Summer Theater at Sundance

 It's no secret that I'm a HUGE fan of musicals (my favorite movie is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, for crying out loud). On the screen or live I'm never one to turn down a good musical. One of my favorite places to experience my favorite art form is at Sundance in the summer time. Every summer they partner up with UVU's theater department and put on an extraordinary show. This year they put on one of my favorites (Adam's too) 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. And holy cow it was a good show. 

 We grabbed dinner and met up with my family for a good night of country fun. The play was wonderful and the cast was extremely talented. We had a ball,  singing, laughing, crying (mom...apparently "glad that you were born" is a tough song to get through without bawling, if your a mom). Afterwards we went on the moonlight lift ride and husband and I whispered sweet nothings to each other in between kisses. We had a great night.

 This is such a fun tradition. We love #Summertheatre at Sundance! 

Saturday is a special day

 It's been at least 6 months since either of our cars have been washed. Today it finally happened.
 It truly was a special day.
Isn't having a clean car the best?

Details from a rainy weekend away

We headed north for a cozy condo weekend with family. Here are some details of our trip:

 Cinnamon french toast, cozy blankets and fresh pine

 Wrought iron fences, rain covered flowers and ice cream

 Hours of card games, beautiful scenery and my lacy sister

Not many pictures of us due to the fact that, well we were greasy and in sweats most of the weekend.
It was bliss. Hope you had a great weekend too!

Fourth of July

The 4th of July is right up there with my favorite holidays. The fireworks, the bar b que, the warm weather, it's all sort of magical. We had so much fun this year celebrating our nation for two days straight. Get ready for an overdose of fourth of July fun in with the Anderson's. 

Day 1:

On the third we upheld tradition and watched fireworks in my parents neighborhood at Eagleridge golf course. 

 We had a picnic and got everyone together for a fun night.

Best friends Liz and Josh joined us for the fun.

  The fireworks were beautiful and did not disappoint. Eagleridge always does such a good job we loved it.

 After fireworks we headed back to the house and had some fun with sparklers
(my personal favorite part of the 4th!)

Day 2: 

On the fourth we hosted a housewarming party bar b que with friends and family. Adam got to try out the new grill and Todd supervised. Best friend Haley and little sister Ally prepared yummy treats in my new kitchen.

The menu consisted of burgers, bar b que chicken and corn on the cob. For dessert I made a fourth of July inspired cheesecake and there were lots of yummy sides. I still can't get over how good those cherry limeades were...IBC thanks for that!

It was so fun spending the day with such awesome people.

All in all a successful fourth of July! Topped of with a second helping of fireworks.

 

Hope you had a great holiday as well!

Farmers Market

Farmers market is
busy and hustle bustling
fresh smells and loud sounds
yummy things to taste and pretty things to see
bunches of lavender and a new herb garden came home with me today 

Saturday Afternoon

We went to the Utah Arts Festival this weekend and had a blast. There were so many things to do and see (and eat), hence the overload of pictures. 

 My sister and I and my mom had to look at all the hats and hair pieces, they made us wish that we were British and going to Ascot.

Adam and Todd even found booths that they liked. Jessi found an owl painting that she couldn't live without. And we tried some greek yogurt.  

 There was a sand sculpter that was busy sculpting away a beautiful flamenco dancer. He was so talented.

 We met up with good friends Liz and Josh and tried the festival lemonade.

 The food of course was fantastic. Mom tried a crepe, I got a bbq chicken pita with mango salsa. We were pretty stoked.

 I found the most perfect painting that I am so excited to display in the kitchen of our new apartment.

 It was such a fun day with so many amazing pieces of art work, and just cool things to see in general. I glad we were able to spend the day with good friends and family.

Shredded Chicken Taco Salads

Picture this: 9 hour work day, less than 5 hours of sleep, grouchy husband, grouchy wife, bad hair day all come together for one culminating event: Dinner time. Before being enlightened I would say it's a subway night, but now I have the perfect solution. We're talking about 4 ingredients. 4. You can handle that right? Right. Two words for you: CROCK POT. Two more: Taco Salad. Are you with me? I am going to make this so easy for you. Here's the recipe that will change your life:

Southwestern Taco Chicken

 

Ingredients: 

4 chicken breasts

2 cups chunky salsa

2 cups frozen corn

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

Dump all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on high for 5 hours, in the last 30minutes shred the chicken and allow to soak up more juice. Serve over tortilla chips, with lettuce, cheese, limes, cilantro, etc...

So flippin simple huh?

Weekend Away

These are some of the shining moments from our cabin weekend. Isn't it amazing how beautiful the simplest things can look through the lens of an iPhone? I'm still wondering how it's possible I've lived so long with out one. Anyway that's a different post. This weekend my aunt and now uncle were married at my grandparents cabin in bear lake. It was a blast to spend time with family and see people that I don't normally get to. We built fires, and had long talks with new cousins, we ate grandpas famous cabin breakfast, and made ourselves sick eating too many bear lake raspberries. We visited LaBeaus and went shopping, and spent too much time laughing. Overall it was certainly a weekend not to be forgotten - this is what summer is all about, I'm so grateful for family, and good friends.

A few things you should know

A Fact:

I am loving my coral nail polish
(urban seriously has the best nail polish colors EVER.)

The Truth:

Adam's macbook needs a new hard drive...goodbye Nordstrom sale.

A Link:

Can we go to all 12? www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-coolest-hotel-bathrooms

A Story

After I fell asleep last night Adam joined me in bed after finishing up some homework. When he climbed under the covers we had the following conversation (which by the way I have no recollection of):

Adam: Hi Honey, I'm here

Amanda: Oh hi pie

Adam: What ya doin?

Amanda: (The correct answer here would be sleeping) Watchin a movie

Adam: (A little surprised) Oh really? What movie?

Amanda: Sad Break.

Have you seen Sad Break? Yeah neither have I, that's because it doesn't exist...other than in my unconscious mind...so yeah.

On that note hope you're having a great Thursday!

Lately....

I made a chocolate cheesecake...weighing in at, at least 34 pounds.

Em's became my favorite Restaurant...yet again.

Because I got this

(pine nuts, Gorgonzola, chicken, asparagus, mashed potatoes, heaven)

In other food news, I roasted my first chicken.

(Lemons, rosemary, garlic, butter, holy holy chicken)

Husb and I celebrated one year of marriage here

He bought me a new dress

He's afraid of heights

Friends and I celebrated Tess at a bridal shower held in her honor

And then she was married...go her.

(and Kimball, go both of them.)

Lately life has been busy, with school, work and new projects and tasks that I'm never sure we'll figure out how to accomplish, but somehow always do. The mantra as of late has been

"One Thing at a Time"

The more overwhelming things get the more that is repeated in my mind.

One semester at a time, one day at a time, one hour at a time, even a minute at a time

Anyone can get through a minute...right?

I guess that's refreshing?

Addie, Mandy, and Cali

Dear California,

I hate you.

But maybe it's just because I'm jealous of your perfection.

Adam and I had the lovely opportunity to take a little summer vacation a few weeks ago. And frankly, between never seeing each other, how crazy both of our schedules can be, and how crazy they're about to get it, was something that we both really needed.

First stop was in the fabulous Las Vegas.

Adam had never experienced sin city so I felt that it was a mandatory stop.

We stayed in an amazing suite at the Paris and enjoyed a fun night out together.

Next stop was in Temecula known for a beautiful wine country. Where we stayed with Adam's awesome Aunt and Uncle and their family (They grow grapes in their backyard and I ate them and they were delicious, that makes these relatives extra super awesome).

They took us to Old town where I saw this:

Shut up, I know right?

And Ate here:

Where Adam ate his 4th Chile Relleno in two days.

(Ok maybe only his 2nd but over the course of 5 days I'm pretty sure he ate one a day.)

After our fun day with the Anderson Clan we met up with my family in Corona, where we stayed with my mom's cousin Ryan and his wife Julie and their adorable dogs.

See here:

(ADAM HINT HINT)

We had a crazy day at Venice Beach.

Where Jessie turned into a teddy, Ally ate a Snow Cone the size of Mars, and where we found our inner Gilligans Island.

Then we had a jumping contest:

Why wouldn't we?

On our last day of vacation we visited the most wonderful, happiest place on earth.

Yay.

Oh he loved it!

I don't understand it but they all love Bugs life.

This is us at 9am

This is us at 3pm (I'm getting too old for it)

Last, we stopped here:

Penny's diner, where you're always referred to as sweetie and the french toast is always hot.

A favorite for truckers and fifties fanatics alike.

(who happen to be in the middle of a desert.)

Oh and their walls are a white board.

Go team.

It was a great trip but instead of motivating me to jump in to a new semester of school with energy and excitement, it only left me with a lingering desire to pack my bags head back to CA for a more permanent stay.