January & February, according to instagram

It's been a while since I've done an update about the two of us. We're still alive... barely.

 Stephen has been swamped with school and church callings and I've been working 24/7 and fighting off one thing after another. Currently it's a sinus infection that's been keeping me in bed and out of the kitchen. Sad, I know! Thankfully I was still able to attend the Build Your Blog Conference with my sister-in-law Emily. We had such a fun time meeting new people and learning some great tips for our blogs. The highlight of the conference (at least for me) was getting to meet Maria from Two Peas & Their Pod and Amanda from Kevin & Amanda- you can see our picture with them here. Anyway, I thought I'd share some snapshots of what we did during January and what we've been up to this February.

January started off with freezing temperatures and a lot of snow // It piled up in a matter of hours!

I made one of my favorite kinds of pot stickers- gyoza // I also rolled out some fresh tomato fettuccine 

The tree in our front yard was perfectly flocked with fresh powder // Piles of snow at the grocery store

Stephen's friends from Florida came to visit/ski and James brought everyone t-shirts of himself :)

Out playing in 10+ inches of snow // We had icicles growing outside of our kitchen window

Stephen found a friend at Scheels // We made a Krispy Kreme run... love those glazed blueberry ones!

Being crazy with Mandy at the My Recipe Magic launch party // Date night with Stephen

Baking with Blondie // Making French macarons with Mandy at work (Sur La Table)

I just wanted to thank you for being so patient when things have been slow. Hopefully within the next few days I will start feeling better and things will get back on track- fingers crossed!

Fall break according to instagram

Last week was Stephen's fall break, which meant we got to sleep in, hang out and explore the valley a little more. Oh, and did I mention that his mom came out to visit us?! We got to show her around and take her to a few of our favorite places. Here are a few snapshots of what we've been up to lately:

Making raspberry clafoutis- which was surprisingly easy and super delicious // Hiking in the canyons

Watching Mandy on KSL (aka Baking With Blondie) // Nearly freezing up at Lake Catherine

Discovering the damage that the beavers have made up at Silver Lake // Buying paella supplies from work

Shopping with Jo & finding awesome cougar beanies- go BYU! // Taking glamour shots of Stephen ;)

Riding the ferris wheel at Scheels and freaking out at the top // Watching Jo and Adam go up

Posing in all of the photo booths at Scheels // Yep, another one- did you think we flew back to Florida? :)

Taking pictures with Honest Abe, or just a nice statue of him // Walking around Silver Lake with Jo & Adam

Enjoying nature and getting out before it gets too cold and the snow starts to fall.

Life according to instagram

A week or so ago we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and got a huge slice of Oreo cheesecake for dessert. The Oreo on top was the size of a hockey puck... I was one happy camper! // I've finally started a semi-normal work schedule doing classes at Sur La Table. // This usually means my apron looks like a Jackson Pollock by the time we're through. // It ends up in that lovely pile of laundry that seems to be never ending. Seriously, how do we always have so much? // This past Thursday was my birthday and Stephen surprised me with a lot of really fun stuff including a giant Julius ({Paul Frank)! I case you don't know, I'm kind of obsessed with sock monkeys. // Saturday we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon to the Alta Ski Resort. The canyon is just starting to turn red and orange... it's absolutely beautiful this time of year! We decided to hike up to Cecret Lake- what a view! I love being outdoors and now that the weather is starting to cool off, hiking will most definitely become our new weekend thing! 

Our week, according to instagram

This past week Stephen helped my cut, glue, sand and paint some photography backgrounds. On Wednesday night we had Scouts and I helped him set up an orienteering course. It was a lot more complex than we imagined, we ended up running around the church jamming flags into the ground. We were sweaty, thirsty and incredibly tired, but the kids really enjoyed it, and that is all that matters, right? On Thursday we babysat the Rudder kids, they were silly and full of energy, as always. This past weekend our friend Eric flew down to visit us. We spent a lot of time outside which was probably not the best idea since it was 90+ degrees. Thursday evening we headed to Mojo's for some late night BBQ and tried Cheerwine for the first time. I'm not going to lie, I kind of like it. It's sort of a mix between Dr. Pepper and black cherry cola. On Friday we headed to the beach and spent the afternoon playing frisbee, soccer and riding the waves. Later that afternoon we went to the stadium and watched the US Men's Soccer Team practice for their game against Scotland. Saturday morning we drove to St. Augustine and walked around for a few hours, toured the Castillo de San Marcos, found a really cool flower, ate some cuban food, stopped by Kilwins (a really good ice cream shop) and then came home to rest before the big soccer game. More on the game tomorrow.

DC in 24- Part II

The second half of our day in DC we spent checking out the Smithsonian museums and walking around to all of the monuments. It was an ugly day for pictures but there was a cool breeze and that we were thankful for. First up on the list is the Library of Congress. Next, the Capitol, then some statues, and of course a lovely view from the back of the Capitol of the Washington Monument. Don't worry, we walked all the way down to it (and spotted the White House too). Then behind it we found the Lincoln Memorial and the WWII, Vietnam and Korean War Memorials. They were incredible. Later that evening we went to dinner at a Lebanese restaurant where we stuffed ourselves with pita bread and then hopped on the Metro to soccer game. But let's not talk about that- we'd rather forget about it.

P.S. Thanks Cory and Quinta for hanging out with us/showing us the city!

DC in 24- Part I

Our weekend getaway to DC all started with dinner at Ray's Hell Burger, which was absolutely delicious. The next morning we woke up early and took the Metro to the Eastern Market. We had breakfast (which consisted of GIANT blueberry pancakes) and shopped around. We found a lot of really fun things including silkscreened shirts, sculpted giraffes, candied pecans, unusual vegetables and we even stopped to watch cooking demonstrations. Later that afternoon we walked down to the National Mall and to our surprise they were having the National Book Festival. Stephen got to meet with/have some books signed by Dave Eggers. He was pretty happy about that.