Georgetown

tuesday night (july 23) karen suggested that mitch and i go out for a date.
we didn't know if we would be able to squeeze georgetown in with our agenda
and karen was going to take the girls there on friday while we were at the wedding.
so georgetown was our destination.

it was the perfect evening to wander up and down m street and peek into all the shops.
i was smitten.
absolutely charming.

we passed dc cupcakes.
i wanted to get some, however with the line forever long we kept walking
luckily i noticed a sprinkles tucked in the wall.
i choose a red velvet and mitchel picked a back and white.

finally we settled on serendipity for dinner
an over easy egg on a hamburger is my new favorite
mitch even loved the hard boiled eggs on his club.
and we loved their frozen oreo hot chocolate

thank you karen for letting us explore just the two of us.
it was exactly what we needed.

date night in our own kitchen

life has been busy lately
i've rarely had a moment to sit down and open up my lappy.
it's a good feeling knowing i'm staying busy and for the most part my body is keeping up with me.

friday night we decided we'd go grocery shopping
{for some reason i usually dread it.....}
and we bought ingredients to spend the night in the kitchen cooking an elaborate meal.
gratefully i've married a man who knows how to cook and he pitches in frequently.
oddly enough i think cooking for a large family or group is more enjoyable than for just us two.
i changed my mind though as we cooked side by side for date night.
if only we had enough energy to do date night like this more often.....
we made chicken avocado egg rolls and chow mien.
my favorite was the egg rolls!!
seriously they were divine!
{my momma bear was shocked when i let her try a bite from my lunch on saturday. see momma, i can cook if i put my mind to it}
i can't think of a better way to have spent our night.
it was the perfect way to spend time together bonding and eating delicious food!

four wheeling

last saturday we headed up hobble creek canyon to go four wheeling
the leaves are starting to change
crispness lingers in the air
and i can't get enough of the fall that has arrived

joe and his girlfriend alyson joined us
it was fabulous!!!
plus, i'm proud to say that i've finally managed to overcome my fear of going pee in the mountains {lol}
we all went out to dinner after wards
definitely a fantastic way to spend our saturday evening

highlights of my week

getting a lot accomplished in my yard. my patio is looking a little bare due to the fact I'm finally getting more of my 'collection' planted. it feels good. plus my garden is looking beautiful.

having wednesday off and spending time indoors cleaning and organizing.

taking a nap {even though Mitch has great timing and always wakes me up sooner than I wanted}

taking Abby and Russell's engagement photos and spending time doing minor edits. I love the end results.

having Cezar spend lots of time snuggling me.

sleeping with the windows open and having the nights get chilly.

having date night with Mitch on Tuesday

getting my office put together a little more and hanging some vases {wedding gift} and will plant them with succulents..... sooo excited!!!

spending almost 4 hours with Jaclyn last night having dinner and catching up. Good golly it's been too long since we've enjoyed a girl's night and spending some quality time together! Looking forward to the 18th lady!!

looking forward to spending tonight {Friday} soaking up some more girls time with Nanna. It will be epic as always.

driving Mitch's Z for the first time ever. It's been 6 months since I've driving clutch. I forgot how exciting and fun they are to drive.

making it to yoga this morning. the one highlight of having to switch schedules with Sanna at work. My body needed it {as always}

Derby Darlings

Saturday night we had a chance to watch the local Roller Derby.
My lady Andrea {from work} is on the one of the teams.
She has wanted all of us to come see her do her thing.
We all kind of didn't plan on going
but Chase came up with the brilliant plan of all showing up without her knowledge.

Mitch wasn't so sure of going to see a roller derby.
None of us really knew how the game was played
and we've only heard stories from Andrea
It was surprisingly fun.
Andrea's husband, Paul let us sit with him and he gave us the run down on the game.
Sanna and I seemed to get the hang of it and had a ball watching it.
Mitch didn't get it until we started to get ready to head out.

Dan, Lexi, Chase, Sanna, Mitch and I all headed out for ice cream afterward
We all shared a tiny table at coldstone
I hadn't laughed so hard in a long time.

I'm grateful we headed south for the night
and we have such fabulous friends.
Thanks Ando Commando for showing us your thing ;)

Craving Green...

I'm am so eager for spring and summer right now. I don't want to wish my year away... but I am in need of some greenery in my life! Luckily as I walk through my yard and look at my flower beds I'm seeing signs of spring. I've got tulips and crocus starting to grow. My columbine and Poppies are starting to peak out. Plus my helleborus is budding up and I can't wait for it to bloom!

At work in the greenhouse I love the thick, lush baby tears that cover the floor. It helps with my 'winter blues'.

Yesterday I had the morning off. I headed to Yoga at 8. It's the perfect way to start my day. I find that it helps calm my mind and body and I am able to manage my days better. Once I got home I made my favorite breakfast - Eggs in a basket with avocado. YUM!! Vacuumed and tidied the house some. Did the dishes and put dinner in the crock pot. Mitch and I fell in love with a recipe I found on Pinterest - Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken . It's amazing!!! We've made it twice already and the second time was even better. My two favorite herbs have to be Basil and Cilantro. So when I made it the second time I couldn't resist adding EXTRA cilantro :) Plus I set some aside to add on top when serving. I also had some fresh corn I froze last summer and thought it would be a great addition... which it was! I also made smoothies for lunch. Left one for Mitch in the fridge with a love note on it. I will definitely have to fresh double the amount of raspberries I did this year. {25 cups was definitely not enough}. 

Since it was Friday we made it a fabulous date night. We headed to Costco to pick up a Ninja blender. HOORAY! My little blender just wasn't cutting it for making smoothies anymore. I can't wait to smoothie it up at our house. I'm especially in love with green smoothies lately. {any good recipes?? send them my way please}. Then we headed to the gym to get our cardio on. I can jog almost 2 miles straight now. I feel accomplished. And then did some weights. Dinner was ready when we got home. It was delicious. {You seriously need to click the recipe link above and make it this coming week!} And for the most exciting news of the whole month.... KISSING is back one. Holla!! Since Mitch seems to finally be fighting mono, he gave in to kissing me :) I'm in heaven. Best Friday night in the last month for sure!!

Now if only I was able to take a super long nap today.... Maybe I'll be in luck tomorrow - Sunday.

The highlight of January... the car show

Every January we look forward to going to the car show up at the sandy expo center. It's the highlight of January. If you knew my husband, you'd know how much he loves cars. He's had over 25 vehicles in 9 yrs. I'm not kidding either.

Saturday we headed up to Salt Lake mid afternoon. Went to dinner at the Cheesecake factory. Went shopping for work pants for me since mine have up the ghost the day before. And then headed to the car show.

We loved looking at the jeep adventure they had this year. We decided to for go the HUGE line though. The Fisker display was incredible. Gorgeous electric car!! Admired the Nissan 370z. Drooled over the Audi R8. Loved sitting in the LandRovers. And of course dreamed of the new Mustang 5.0. Then we discussed our personal favorites of Ferrari. Mine is the Ferrari California. And Mitch loves the classic Ferrari. As always we had a fabulous time.

We head back out to car. I was exhausted!! I was ready to crawl into bed. The Judah had other plans... Didn't want to run for us. At all. It'd turn over for us but would then die. No amount of pumping the brakes would help. We were sitting ducks. I was SO grateful I grabbed my coat as we headed out the door earlier and I wore my warm cozy boots. After trying to get the car started 3 dozen times... I finally called our roadside assistance. {I'm so grateful Mitch added that to our insurance policy}. With a tow truck on the way, Mitch called his dad and he made his way from Spanish Fork to Sandy to pick us up. Thank you a million times over Dad for helping us out!! We asked to be towed to the VW dealer there in Sandy.

I am proud to say that even though I was exhausted I managed to stay chipper for Mitch. {I don't usually have the best track record when im beyond exhausted.}

We dropped the Jetta off, filled out the drop box envelope and then Dad pulled up. Mitch went to show him what it was doing. And what do you know... It fired right up. You've got to be kidding us. Mitch tried it a couple more times and it kept starting. We decided it was not worth a chancing it to drive it home so we left it at the dealer.

I was so grateful to finally make it home and be able to collapse on my bed!! Unfortunately the boys were ready to play and had energy to spare.

random tidbits...

I really love my new Kitchen-aid!!! I've used it 3 times in two weeks! I'm dreaming of all the really scrumptious things I can make with it. Thank you Pinterest. My hubby is truly the best!! He knows how to spoil me ;)

Today was a really good day. It's refreshing to have a good day paired with energy. Gladly I never hit my 'wall'. Here's to hoping that I have similar days in my coming week!

My sister Abby says she's going to pixi cut her hair {well... pretty close to pixi}. I admire her!! I love her long hair! I think she is brave to go so bold :) Abby you are absolutely incredible and I love you from the bottom of my heart!! Thank you for being an inspiration to me lately! xoxoxo {BUT I will keep my hair ;) thank you}

Tomorrow is date night for the Mister and I. We are going to the car show at the Expo center. I'm so  excited!! It is something we have done for 4 years now {I believe}. I love looking at all the new models, dreaming of which car will be ours next..... It's the highlight of our January's. To top it off... Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and peaking into the new H&M. :) Hooray for date night!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm enjoying the feeling of not feeling bored and scrolling through Facebook and Twitter. It's nice to focus more on things in the moment.... not silly apps. I feel I've been able to focus on my importants better :)

Urge to make homemade cards. I think a trip to Hobbylobby is in order. Yay for feeling creative!

Last but not least.... I am so incredibly grateful for my dear sweet loving husband!! He does so much for me! and even though he may have areas to improve in {lets face it... I am trying to catch up with him... he by far surpasses me by being the most incredible spouse to ever exist!!......} he is by far the most perfect man for me! I'm truly blessed to have someone who tries so hard for me, to support me, and to be everything I need!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart and more for everything honey!! I love you to the moon and back!

PS. I almost cried when I thought I had wrecked my sourdough starter from my grandpa!! I almost didn't call him, but my poppy told me it was okay to call and talk to him. My grandpa told me I was just fine and said to just 'start' it again. Hoping the morning doesn't disappoint!! I'd be heart broken if my starter died! It's the last of the one I grew up with... its older than I dunno... 40+. I grew up with it. Please pray for my starter! {It's even in the crock I grew up with.}

Festival of trees

 My kind of tree :)

 Darling tea set for the Alice and Wonderland tree

 My favorite color scheme

 This ginger bread house was made by Mitch's aunt. She's incredibly talented!! 

We started out with dinner at Chipotle. 

Yummy.

Scored an amazing parking spot considering the crowd.

Met up with my family

oohed and awed at all the gorgeous trees.

watched Faith perform.

{my sister is incredibly talented!}

then headed home to crawl into our cozy bed.

It was a fabulous night.

Fortune

Date with my Hubby. We ate at Fong's. It's our favorite Chinese/Japanese food!! Love my fortune. Definite truth there ;) lol

Party like a rockstar...

I SO did not want to get out of bed this morning!! Mitch and I even went to bed early. We are both dragging our feet...

Can you believe it's ONLY Thursday?? It feels like it should be Saturday!!

Another crazy day.

I'm glad I spent last night at my house with my men :) it was much needed. Mitch took me to Zupas {I've been dying to go for e-v-e-r} thanks love. I got to work in my yard and I even scrubbed my kitchen down. {you would too if you saw some of the things in my grandma's old kitchen. GROSS!!}

I hope today is a better day than yesterday! I showered this morning and I feel like it's a start in the right direction.

Wish me luck!!

Snow Angel

The weather was less than ideal today. {Snow... Rain.... Snow.... Rain... Snow.....} However I was able to get a lot down in the greenhouse. Hopefully I'll have finished planting all of last week and this weeks plant shipments by close tomorrow. Cross my fingers.

Grant has this BEAUTIFUL plant known as an Angel Trumpet. Holy moly, such a gorgeous plant. Yesterday evening before close he asked me if I'd bring my camera to shoot the angel trumpet and of course I did today. This is like the 7th or 8th time it's bloomed!! Gorgeous!! Grant couldn't resist getting a few pictures with his spanish gals. What a perfect picture moment.



After work, Mitch and I headed up to SLC to find where his testing center is for next week. The BIG Series 7 test!! Down to the wire. We are crossing our fingers and saying many prayers!! Once we tracked down the testing center, I realized we were close to where his sister Ashley works at Verizon. So we decided to stop and say hi :) It'd been too long {like christmas} since we'd seen her. She looks AMAZING!!! She's been working out and got her hair done.... WOW. You look fabulous darling!! It was fun catching up with her and seeing pictures of Kennady. Holy moly she's getting big! I can't believe she's 9 months already. I think we might get to see her Sunday when we visit Mitch's parents for a few :)

We also had dinner out at Cafe Rio. It's by far one of my ALL time favorites!! Their salads can't be beat. Plus we picked up some slurpees on our way home too :) What a great friday night!!