Cupcakes

It was my mom's birthday yesterday. I was getting ready to make a cake and realized that I do not own a cake pan. I don't make dessert very often, and apparently I never make cakes. So I instead made yummy chocolate cupcakes that were so, so moist with a swiss buttercream frosting. I don't like frosting, I'm the annoying person that scrapes the whole top of the cupcake off to avoid having to eat the frosting. This frosting was quite good, in fact I actually ate it. Today Jeremy added cocoa to the remaining frosting, which was even better. (I took this picture on my phone-I'm impressed with the photo quality!)

Sailing in Our Landlocked State

Happiness and Contentment

Jeremy went sailing for the first time on our honeymoon. The swells were large and we both got off the boat feeling queasy, however, ever since then, he has been searching for ways to quench his thirst for sailing. Three years ago he took a week long sailing class in San Francisco. For 2 summers he crewed on any boat that would have him out at the Great Salt Lake races, and he regularly browses the KSL classifieds for reasonably priced sail boats. **Thankfully, we have other financial goals to reach before we make a high maintenance purchase like that. Needless to say, he is a skipper at heart. 
This year a company on Utah Lake started offering sailboat rentals. Yeah for him!! I didn't like sailing when I was growing up, but I was excited for him. Last weekend we set sail for an afternoon. Jeremy watched the wind forecasts very closely that week. We were to have nice 14-15 mph winds coming from the SW. When we got on the water, I don't know if the wind even qualified for a light wind sail. However, we had a fun time swimming off the boat and just being out on the water. Ethan did ok at first, then not so great. He got sea sick and threw up (thankfully I do not have a picture of that part). We will try again on a shorter sail and keep him above deck. I think that may have been the problem. We took him below deck to see if he would nap down there multiple times, not a good idea. Once he threw up, he felt much better and so did one of our friends that had been feeling a bit sick, a vicarious experience for her I suppose. It turned out to be a fun experience for all, including me. 

**If you would like to go sailing let us know, we like to invite friends.

My mom and Ethan - pre-seasickness

Green Smoothies

A friend recently invited me to a class about green smoothies. The basic idea is that we don't get enough servings of vegetables each day and especially the dark, leafy greens that are so good for us. This is a great way to eat larger servings without trying to eat your way through a whole bunch of rabbit food. Ever since the class I have been making green smoothies for us several times a week. Delicious, feel good food. My favorite combination so far is 2 cups of spinach, 2 cups of swiss chard, 1/2 a peach, 3 slices of pineapple, 1/2 cup cherries, half a small zucchini, a cup of ice, 2 cups of water and either some of the pinapple or peach juice for sweetening. These are all estimates since I just throw things in the blender. I decided that bananas are a little overpowering, so I have started using zucchini for the creamy part. It is fun to try new combinations and see what we come up with.

The most surprising part of making these is that Ethan LOVES them. He knows the color and when he sees it, he expects to eat it. I mix in a little of his cereal to thicken it so that I can spoon feed it to him. Jeremy also requests these regularly.

4 really good years

We just celebrated our 5 year anniversary. You probably think I have a misprint on the title of this entry, but it's not. We have had 4 really good years (the first was... well, I made it quite rough...I don't think I was ready to be married). Jeremy always plans great anniversary celebrations. This years was no exception, my favorite so far, and we didn't even go anywhere. We weren't ready to leave Ethan overnight, but a solid 8 hours of fun felt like a vacation. I was so relaxed after our outing that I felt like I had just had a 2 hour massage. Jeremy did not tell me what we were doing, he just started the date by taking me to Gourmandise Bakery. We enjoyed lunch on their peaceful outdoor patio. I had a Brie sandwich with pears, prosciutto and sour cherries, and he had an Au Jus Sandwich. I have pictures of everything we did, but I will spare you. Next, we went and parked under library square. He continued to point out various landmarks, like the Cathedral of the Madeline and the pyramid skylights that poke up out in front of the library. We walked to Les Madeleines, it is the best french pastry shop in Salt Lake, not the world. We picked out our standard favorites, pain au chocolat and Kouing Aman. We walked back to library square and enjoyed climbing the outdoor steps to a beautiful view of the whole city (almost like the view from the Eiffel Tower). So by now you have probably started to get the theme. We had a "Paris in Salt Lake City" date. From there, we walked over to the Broadway movie theater and saw "Midnight in Paris." We both loved the movie, a must see. We almost always go see an afternoon movie on our anniversary, I guess it is something we rarely do the rest of the year. It has become a fun tradition. After the movie we drove by the Eiffel Tower (Trolley square tower), just as lit up and  sparkly as usual. Then we went for a paddle on the Seine river (Liberty Park pond). We enjoyed strolling in the park, paddling on the pond, riding the ferris wheel and the carousel, and wading in the seven canyons water feature. After a leisurely while at the park we headed to the Paris Bistro for our dinner reservations. It was the perfect evening for a patio dinner. We had Foie Gras with poached figs (great figs, not so sure I like the other stuff) for our appetizer and then I had a grouper entree and Jeremy had a duck entree. It was wonderfully peaceful and the service was so good you hardly noticed them buzzing around. It was a very lovely day! Special thanks to Jeremy for planning such a fun date and to my mom for spending time with Ethan.
I know you have been wondering what we did for the five year gift since it is the year of wood (who came up with these gift ideas??). We now have a beautiful, small Valencia orange tree on our front patio. It is alive! The way I hope we always keep our marriage.

Green Grass and Shiny Brass

Outdoor concerts are the feeling of summer! (As I type, I am missing one because I didn't think the people around me would appreciate Ethan tonight - a bit of a rough day). Next weekend, I will hire a baby sitter. We recently took Ethan to his first symphony concert. When the music started, he waved his arms around and moved excitedly to the music. I wish I had a picture of that part. He was distracting to the people around us, but the good--awe, how cute-- kind of distraction! He was also quite the people watcher. We left after the first half, while he was still happy. Summed up: good first experience.

Zion National Park

We love hiking in Zion, so this is an annual trip for us. Typically we go in October, but this year we went in June (we might still go again in October). Jeremy's sister lives in Springdale (the gateway town) so it was quite a treat for us to be able to stay with her. She was a wonderful hostess and Ethan loved her immediately. It was fun to do this trip with Ethan because we did different hikes than our staple favorites. We thought Angel's landing might be a bit dangerous with him on our back. We did the Pa 'Rus Trail, the Riverwalk, Emeral Pools, and a couple others. We also drove to the Kolob Terrace and visited Grafton, an old Ghost town. Ethan loves hiking and he is very good about smiling at everyone we pass. Due to all the rain, emerald pools was more of an amber copper color. It was beautiful and the lower falls were gorgeous. There were beautiful wild flowers everywhere. Great trip!!

Grafton - The Ghost Town

Emerald Pool

The Deserted Reef

We haven't taken a weekend trip for a while, so both Jeremy and I were itching to get out of town. We headed off on a sunny Friday morning to Capitol Reef. In order to keep the trip relaxing we avoided I-15 in Utah County by driving on the west side of Utah Lake. It has become one of our favorite drives, hardly anyone is on the road and the view of the lake and Mt. Timpanogos is beautiful. We also like to stop at this farm in Goshen and buy fresh eggs ($2/dozen, what a deal). I am sad to say that when we stopped by but they must have been out doing chores because there was no answer. I started to wander the farm to find them, but there were some very big dogs behind a fence and I did not trust the fence.

So we continued on and stopped at another favorite place, The Red Barn in Santaquin. It was 9:00 a.m. so what else would you eat, but sour cherry turnovers and chocolate almond ice cream. Ethan was most interested in the ice cream. (We haven't started him on solids yet, but he has quite an interest, maybe soon). We also enjoyed their chocolate covered cherries, kettle corn and strawberry cherry salsa later in the trip. A few hours later we arrived in Torrey, which looked like a ghost town so we never spent anytime exploring the town. 

We went straight to Capitol Reef and had our first picnic of the year complete with: Pan Bagna (my mom's specialty sandwich), grapes, Pringles, Izze soda, pumpkin cookies for dessert, and 70 degree weather. We picnicked right next to an orchard that was in bloom. 

We hiked and then headed to Cowboy Cabins. There were 4 cabins on an original 150-acre pioneer ranch. This was a highlight for me. It was a tiny cabin with everything you need for a few day stay. The stars were spectacular the first night--I was so tired the second night that I forgot to check. The second day we took a scenic drive to Boulder. We were planning to do a long hike, but when we got there it was so windy we changed our plans and did a simple hike and picnicked in the car. Ethan loves hiking, or shall I say riding in a pack while someone else does the hiking.

We had reservations at Hell's Backbone Grill. The restaurant was good--although each of us had our own commentary and critique. I think my dish was the best, pumpkin pinon enchiladas with a sweet habanero corn cream--very good. The desserts did not disappoint. We had the lemon chiffon cake and the chocolate chili pot. Both of these recipes are on their website and I recommend them. The next day we woke up to snow and headed home. We had a nice visit with Jeremy's parents on the way. Good trip, nice to finally check Capitol Reef off the list -- don't think it makes the cut for a second trip. Zion and Arches are too much of a favorite.