Friday, August 28, 2009

Color Me Mine

So tonight Austin is out camping in the wilderness with the Young Men in our ward.  That means girls night out!  My friend Marie invited me to go to Color Me Mine.  For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a place that has all these plain ceramic pieces (like plates, bowls, animals, etc) and you paint them however you want and then they fire it in their kiln and whala, you have a wonderful piece of art…well at least you hope.  I decided to paint a cereal bowl for Kylie because she LOVES cereal.  After I got done painting how I wanted it, I put paint all over Kylie’s hand and then she pressed it on the side.  Yeah, she thought that was a hoot.  When I let her go wild with the paint inside the bowl, she was in heaven…until I smashed her dreams with a wet wipe.  She was going a little bit crazy with the paint and the inside, which at one point had a lot of bright colors in it, was turning into a poopy brown.  So I told Kylie she had to stop and when I went to clean her hands, she used her free hand that wasn’t getting wiped to paint designs all over her legs…and her shorts.  Oh well.  I would highly recommend this place.  It’s just north of Borders in the Riverwoods mall.  It is kind of pricey though and be prepared to spend AT LEAST 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  I get to pick up the bowl on Tuesday, so I’ll have to post how it turned out. 

Marie’s cute little boy James

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What did you do this week?

I canned :)

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Camping in the Uintas

As I mentioned in my last post, Austin and I went camping in the Uintas.  Kylie stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Mills and Austin and I got to spend 2 days together – something we haven’t done since Kylie was born.  We left Friday afternoon and stopped for a bite to eat at Dicks Restaurant.  I love this place.  It’s in Kamas and they have the best food ever.  Anyway, I went to use the restroom and as I was trying to leave the bathroom, the door wouldn't unlock.  Ok, don’t panic I thought.  I twisted the handle up and down…and up and down again.  Then it became a jerking, rapid succession of up and downs.  I started to get  a little panicky.  Do I continue to try and get the door open by myself, or do I pound on the door and cry for help?  Well, I thought I would try a combination of the two.  I decided to get a little more violent and ram my shoulder against the door.  If anyone heard me, then I would then let them take over.  Well, I did this for about a minute and somehow the door opened.  I walked out of the bathroom expecting everyone to be staring at me or laughing, but neither one happened.  I told Austin that I got locked in the bathroom and didn’t he hear all the pounding and jiggling of the door handle?  “Nope,” he said.  Well, if I hadn’t of gotten the door open, maybe I would still be in there as we speak…

Ok, on with the adventure.  We got to campsite that Austin wanted to camp in and he was excited that no one had claimed it yet.  It was this cute little site right by the Provo River.  We set everything up and then Austin chopped down a tree or two for our fire.  That’s my man!  Anyway,  I love fire.  I like burning things too.  Once, when I was a kid, I was burning old Halloween candy in my room (and paper and rubber bands and whatever else was flammable).  Well, I guess it kind of got out of control because the flames got quite high.  I tried spitting on it, but that didn’t do anything.  I don’t remember how I got the flames out, but it burned a hole in my rug and the upstairs was full of smoke.  Bet you didn’t know about that story huh mom!  Anyway, I’m by no means a pyro, but I do love burning things.  Hee hee :)  So anyway, I had fun with the fire and then we roasted marshmallows and chocolate for our smores.  Yes, you heard me right, I roast my chocolate bar too.  You have to be quick, or the whole thing will melt into the fire.  It’s a fine art that I have mastered :)  Anyway, I stuffed myself with smores because what the heck, that’s part of what camping is all about.  Eating smores.  It goes together like spinach and melted mozzarella (trust me peeps, its GOOD!).  I eventually fell asleep by the fire while Austin took some pictures of the stars. 

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Having too much fun with his smores…

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The next morning we went hiking.  Austin told me that he thought it might be a long hike, but we would see a lot of lakes.  I told him  that we should go for it.  Well 10 MILES LATER we get done with our hike….  yeah, 10 miles.  I couldn’t really feel my legs after mile 8.  But it was super fun and we did see a lot of lakes.  It was such a beautiful day out too.  We had dinner when we got back to camp and pretty much did what we did the night before…eat smores and take pictures of the stars.  Later that night it started raining.  It continued to rain the next morning and if finally stopped for a while.  We decided to go on one more hike before we left to go back home.  It was such a cool hike.  It started raining on us, but it just added to the fun.  This hike was only like a mile and a half, so it wasn’t bad :)  All in all, it was a great weekend.  Thanks Austin for such a great time!

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Friday, August 21, 2009

Ruth’s Chris

You know, I use to be funny…like really funny.  I remember writing letters to my friends and just laughing my head off at my own witty humor.  Somewhere along the road I got dull and predictable.  Sometimes I read my blog posts and think, “People are going to die of boredom reading this.”  There are a few moments where my old self kicks in again – but those are few and far between.  But today my friends, today you are in for a real treat.  And I owe it all to my fine, sophisticated, classy self.  Ok, this is where the humor kicks in because I am not classy…and it shows.

Last night for our anniversary, Austin and I went to Ruth’s Chris steakhouse in Park City.  As I was looking online to see what I wanted to get (yeah, I do this now because otherwise I have an internal battle with myself at the restaurant deciding what I want to eat.  Call me extremely indecisive).  Anyway, I noticed that they didn't list how much their food was – big indicator that it’s going to be pricey :)

We get there a little early, which I’m grateful for because I have to pee like a racehorse (can you see the classiness oozing off me?).  As I went to wash my hands, I notice that there are no paper towels or the ever so lovely jet engine sounding hand dryers.  My eyes finally rest on this dainty box with rolled up wash clothes inside.  Wow.  Never been in that fancy of a crapper before.

Anyway, we sit down to dinner and they give us the menu.  Ruth’s Chris is one of those places where you buy everything separately.  Your $50 steak doesn’t include you choice of 2 sides – you just buy each individual item.  We had seen a sign in the elevator that said to ask about their summer special – a 3 course meal for 2 for $89.  We asked to see that menu and the waiter never came back with it.  He probably figured we were cheap skates or something (break out the crayons and coloring page for those two).  All I know is that a different waiter came to wait on us from then on(which was fine by me because I liked him better).  We ended up just ordering from the regular menu.  I got the NY Strip with crab meat, asparagus, and bĂ©arnaise sauce on top with a side of fancy fries and a cherry lemonade.  After the waiter left, this other guy came with a tray that had 2 big bottles on it.  He asked us if we would like either a Pellegrino, I forgot the name of the other bottle, or ice water.  Now I had heard of Pellegrino before, but I don't know if I ever knew what it was.  I just stared at the guy because I was trying to figure out if he was offering us liquor or something, but Austin saved the day by saying we would like some Pellegrino.  Oh – so it’s not liquor.  Well I looked at my fancy water that just came out of a fancy bottle and took a big swig of it to see if it reThe Y and Ruth's Chris 012ally tasted any different than regular water.  Umm, duh!  Oh my gosh, it was the sickest thing I have ever tasted.  It reminded me of the times I would be at some fast food place refilling my Sprite and getting only carbonated soda water.  But then again, I guess that's what Pellegrino is.  Bleck.  I wanted to take the table cloth and scrub my mouth out with it.  Classy, eh?  Thankfully our lemonades came shortly after.  We found out later that the disgusting bottle sparkling water was $7.  You live and you learn…

As we waited for our food, Austin told me to try his lemonade because he thought it tasted funny.  He wanted to know if it was just him or because he was drinking the Pellegrino (“You’re still drinking that!” I thought).  So I took a sip and sure enough it was awful.  The waiter came back a little bit later and Austin asked if he could get another drink because his tasted a little off.  “Yeah,” I say, “it tastes rancid.”  Did I just say rancid?  I guess I did.

I told Austin later how I felt hickish in this place.  I mean come on, I put my elbows on the table, I think the concept of putting a napkin on your lap is weird (it has food on it!) and I had to constantly resist the urge to lick my fingers.  Plus I used my steak knife to butter my bread (there’s like 2 of everything on either side of my plate, I got confused.  Who needs more than one fork anyway???).  Austin told me (referring to my comment about the drink) that I should have told the waiter the drink tasted like a squirrel pooped in it.  Hee hee.  We would have been thrown out for sure!

Our food arrived later, and I must say it was delicious.  Probably some of the best steak I have ever eaten.  I was so stuffed by the time we were done, but I had made up my mind earlier to get dessert.  I’m glad I did because since it was our anniversary, the dessert was free.  Of course I got the dessert with the most chocolate in it. When the waiter came with our desserts, I noticed he had a lighter.  For a split second I thought he was going to set our desserts on fire (isn’t that what they do in fancy restaurants?) but he just lit a candle The Y and Ruth's Chris 019that was on both of our plates.  I loved it.  Just that small amount of light flickering on my plate was the perfect atmosphere for eating my dessert.  Granted, I almost caught my wrist on fire because I forget about the dang thing 2 seconds after he set my plate in front of me, but i loved it just the same :)  

As we left the restaurant, I had to just smile as I held hands with my sweet husband. Even though I am the most unsophisticated gal around, Austin still loves me and it’s fun that we can just laugh at all the dumb things I do.  I had such a great time with him and I look forward to our camping trip in the Uintas this weekend.  Just the two of us…. 

Austin trying his sophisticated look

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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Today is my 4 year anniversary!

Today Austin and I have been married for 4 wonderful years.  I just wanted to let him know how much I truly love him and I am so grateful to have met him.  Before I met Austin I thought I was never going to find a decent guy.  I was 23 when I got married, and in Utah years that’s OLD! :)  I thought I would end up an old lady with 20 cats (ok, not cats because I hate them…how about 20 tanning beds, that’s more my style).  He was by far the best guy I had ever met or dated.  He treated me like a princess, and still continues to to this day.  A day never goes by where I don’t know how much he loves me.  I am so grateful that we were sealed in the temple and will be together forever.  I love you Austin!

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I absolutely love this picture.  There’s Dylan, Brandon, Brenna, Damian, and my best bud Marie.  Boy how everyone looks different now…  :)

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Friday, August 14, 2009

Having fun along the Provo River

So I thought I would take Kylie for a walk along the Provo River. There are all kinds of cool spots to stop and take pictures, so I tried my best to get Kylie to cooperate. It was a little difficult because she didn’t want to smile, but I think I got some cute pictures out of my attempt :) I had fun playing around with Picasa when I got home. Enjoy!

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Thursday, August 13, 2009

A day at the park

A few nights ago, Austin went to check on Kylie and found her like this. Can we say creepy! It totally reminds me of that girl on The Sixth Sense that is just sitting with the covers over her head. Anyway, the next morning I come in and she is again sitting in a corner with the blanket over her head. What a cutie...



Thought this was a cute pic of her mowhawk :)
Yesterday I decided to take Kylie to the park...by myself. I knew I was taking a big risk since she loves the park and will throw a fit when we have to leave. Having no one there with me, I really worried I was going to have to call Austin at work to come and get her to put her in the car. But luckily she only pouted for a few minutes. Bribing her with ice-cream seemed to be the key factor in getting her to leave :) Anyway, the WHOLE time we are there, she kept saying, "Come on momma, come on momma." I was kind of looking forward to watching her play, but she insisted I go on all the slides with her :) We had a lot of fun.



She drank a whole water bottle by herself...



I thought I would take a quick video of her while we were there.


I can't believe summer is almost over!!!!