Sunday, February 19, 2017

Galentine's Day....Say Whaat???

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This weekend, Jessi and I were invited to go to a party. A Galentine's Day party.
 And no that's not a typo!
 
What in the world is a Galentine's Day party? I certainly had no idea. I had never heard of that term before. So I did a little research! 
Turns out, Galentine's Day is a  day you take a day to celebrate the lovely lady friends in your life. 








I believe the term was created on a tv show called Parks & Rec. I've never seen the show but I've heard its good.
 
This specific party was hosted by Kara and her friend Ashley. Kara is the awesome girlfriend of one of our oldest friends Rory.

  
Everyone brought food to share pot luck style, which is the BEST! I myself made a 7 Layer dip, which I always get good compliments on! I decided to be a little festive and make a heart out of  a tomato <3

Jessi made a Apricot Jalapeno Cheese Ball which was awesome!

Kara made crock pot Crazy Chicken, which I found out is just chicken, salsa and honey. OMG so good. We even had some little tortillas to make mini tacos with it.

Mckalle, which is the wife of  our good friend Dahl, brought Mini Weenies. Those things are so good! But by the time we got there alot of them were gone. But we at least got some!
There were also desserts and such as well. It was a pretty good food menu! 

Once we were done gabbing and eating in the kitchen we moved to the living room. We went around the circle and introduced ourselves and told everyone something interesting about ourselves. I actually liked that we did that, it felt like everyone was a little more comfortable since most of us didn't know every person there.

 

After that, they had a craft for us to do! We got to make our own little flower vases! Such a cute idea! 


I am the worst at plants, so I cant really have flowers or anything like that on a regular bases, so I was pretty stoked when I saw what we were doing. Now I have a pretty little decoration that wont die! 



After that, Jessi took me home and I thought that was the end of my night.....NOT! 

Since the girls were having a ladies only party, the guys (Travis, Rory & Dahl) decided to have a Guys Night out at Mckalle and Dahl's house. Rory and Kara live across the street from us, so Travis just car pooled with him.

They had a good fun night of drinking and cards. As I was waiting for him to let me know when he was coming home, I all of a sudden get a call from him at 1130 PM saying that they all wanted Kara and myself to come over and party. Ummmmm ok?! Random? And then they said that McKalle was already picking Kara up at that exact moment and they would be over to get me, so I had to get ready fast....ummmm OK again!?!?!?! RANDOM! 

 

Once we got there we had a great time reminiscing between old friends and hanging out! 
It was a very Random but enjoyable night! And I am soo soo glad Travis was able to hang out with some of my oldest friends and get to know them!
Thank you guys for that!

To end this post: Random plans are ALWAYS the best! :)


Monday, February 13, 2017

An Impromtu Adventure :)


This weekend Travis and I were invited to go with Jessi and her husband Dave to go for a hike up to Fifth Water Hot Springs. That sounded super fun, so I looked into it. Turns out, Fifth Water Hot Springs is located in Spanish Fork Canyon...up Diamond Fork....WHICH is where we went camping over the summer (which you might remember from the previous post, 2016 Overview Pt 1). We got pretty excited when we realized that we knew RIGHT where that was at!
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A little about Fifth Water.

It is a 2 1/2 mile hike that leads you to a natural hot spring & waterfall in the middle of the mountains. 

Image result for Hot springs fifth snowIf you don't know what a hot spring is, it is basically a natural spring that is created from heated groundwater that comes from the earth that has tons and tons of natural minerals. Many many people soak in these natural "hot tubs" and allow the minerals to soak into their bodies. And they do it all year long, whether its summer time or snowing outside! I knew it was going to be cold, so I looked at reviews to see what to expect. A lot of people that went in January, when we were having legit snow storms, said the hike was great. They did mention that during the winter the gate that will take you to the trail head was closed. With it being closed, that means you have to walk to the parking area & trailhead from the road little ways down. So essentially your hike is doubled because of it.

I called the Park Ranger number and the automatic voice said that the Diamond Fork gate was open. Sweet! We didn't have to walk miles upon miles! So we got our stuff ready and headed out to meet up at their house and then we were on our way!

Spanish Fork is about 45 minutes from where we live, and Jessi and Dave live like 5 minutes from us too. Once we got there, we were surprised to not see as much snow as we expected! Even better! As we drove farther into the canyon, we noticed ALOT of cars parked on the road. What is going on?! And then we saw it.....the gate was closed! And all these people were parked here to go hiking up to the hot springs! Bummer! We had a time frame because they had plans later so we decided to bag the hike since it was going to take so long. What to do now?!



As we were heading back down, we decided to get out of the car and stretch our legs and at least enjoy the scenery for a moment. And we are so glad we didn't go for that hike! There was a wind chill! And with how long we would have had to hike, in the cold mountains, that would have made it worse! But the scenery was at least pretty! Haha. After that short trip outside of the car, we got back in and headed back down. We still wanted to go for a hike or something, but the hot spring idea was what all of us wanted to do most.

So, we made another impromptu decision and we drove to Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, Utah....which is up North.... in the opposite direction 2 hours of where we had just driven. But unexpected adventures are always the best! (Thank you so much for driving that much Jessi!, you're amazing!)

So after about 2 hours, we were almost there, and we hit the most potholes in the road that any of us had ever seen! We were all pretty much screaming! It was pretty much comedy!

Finally! We had made it to Crystal Hot Springs! Hallelujah! We were all so ready for some mineral soakin'! The boys had both been when they were little tikes, but neither Jessi nor I had ever been! Dave and Travis kept going on and on about the water slide and that we needed to do it.






Once we got ready, we headed out to the pools. Now, the only hot spring I had ever been too was in fact the one we had just tried up Diamond Fork. So I was expecting pools in natural ground. But to my surprise, it was just like a public pool with 3 pools that looked like hot tubs and then 2 bigger ones. It was a lot smaller than I expected too. So we bounced from pool to pool cause the warmth just wasn't warm enough. It was nice though! In water like that you float, so I was all over the place. haha.





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Dave REALLY wanted to ride the slide, but Jessi had mentioned she though it cost money. Both guys immediately reacted to that. "WHAT?! SINCE WHEN?!" Dave decided to go check it out. 5 minutes later, he comes back out to us with 4 wrist bands for the slide. HAHA! Turns out they were $3 each for unlimited. (Thanks Dave!!!)









Off to the slide we go! OMG! It was so fun! But those stairs are killer. It's like a flight of 5 or 6 stories and when you are out of shape, they suck! Anyhoo! I haven't been on a water slide since I lived in Las Vegas and would go to Wet N' Wild on the strip. I forgot how fun they are! One thing that sucked is I forgot to take my glasses off, so I had to go down with them on. The pressure when you landed in the pool did not make me feel comfortable wearing them. But I went a few more times :)




 


As we found the slide, we also found another LARGE pool just past it and it was WAY warmer than the others! Score!

All in all, I think we all had an amazing time! It was so nice to be out and go on a little get away with another couple. Much Much needed!  (Thanks Jessi for letting me use your Snap photos!)









 Once we got home, we had it planned to go get some Salmon and healthy stuff for dinner to kind of lightly celebrate VDay because with our work schedules, we wont be able to do anything. But on the way home, Travis brought up La Puente. Now... La Puente is a family owned Mexican restaurant and La Puente and I have a very very loving relationship. It's literally my favorite restaurant besides Charlie Chows. So, whenever it is brought up, any food plans are thrown out the window and its nothing but La Puente. So we got ready and went there. SOOOOO GOOOD! and it was slow! I normally get a Smothered Bean and Cheese Burrito with cheese and onions but I decided to go a little healthier and tried shredded chicken instead of beans....OMG! I found my new favorite. It was delicious. Travis was even jealous of my meal.

So for a very unexpected day, it turned out to be one of the best days we have had in a while! :)


Saturday, February 11, 2017

Namaste : Reconnect With All The Aspects of Your Life


A little back story of why I started blogging. 

I originally started blogging back in 2015 because of a yoga instructor I found online called Adriene. She did a web series of daily yoga sessions called 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene. I had always had trouble finding yoga videos that I could easily follow. They all seemed so serious and that's just not my flow. But I found Adriene and fell in love. She uses fun references and doesn't make you feel pressured and that's what I needed.
 
I decided to take a page from the movie Julie & Julia, where she writes a blog for 365 days following every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook, so why not do that for my journey of 30 Days of Yoga?!?!

Flashback to now!
With getting engaged and having to plan a wedding, one of my biggest concerns is making sure I am in better shape for the big day. I want to love how I look in my wedding dress and not regret that I (in my own head) don't look good in my dress. 
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I first found an app called Fabulous. This app allows you to make goals and create habits for a better lifestyle whether healthy or just to just connect with yourself. I started out with some goals that sounded good to me. Drinking a glass of water as soon as you wake up, which allows your body to get started and get your organs running good and then I chose to make sure you eat a protein filled breakfast every morning. I am def. one of those people that skip breakfast. So far it is def. helping and I have created these good habits. I even started meditating because of this app. 

 Do yourself a favor AND INSTALL THE FABULOUS APP!!! :D



I also decided to start being more health contentious. I buy more fruit and try to eat better but I am not making a crazy change. As long as I am being smart about what I am eating majority of the time, I don't think a cheese burger is going to kill me. 

Lemon water has become a big daily habit that I am doing as well. It helps with your digestion, metabolism and gives you natrual energy. I don't want to go a day without it! 






With all this, I decided I kind of wanted to start doing yoga again. I thought it would be a good thing to start 30 Days of Yoga again and re-read my entries to remind myself of what to expect and of course a little motivation.
 So I was looking and realized I never finished writing the entries! Even though I got close to finishing the sessions, I stopped the entries at day 9! 
A little more motivation, I could start those back up and finish the 30 Days of Entries. 

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Last night, I was was going to do Day 3, but I got a text from one of my best girlfriends, Jessi to go to a free yoga class! Hellz yeah! 

Jessi and I go way back to like to when MySpace was still popular! I'm sure you remember MySpace haha. We hung out literally everyday. Jessi was actually the person who introduced my to my finance back in 2010. She went to high school with him and she was one of my best friends. She got invited to a show his band was playing and invited me along. And the rest is history. :)

A true friend is the one you can go months without talking to and when you reconnect nothing has changed.:  Like some friendships as you get older, you kind of drift away. Not because anything bad happened but because you become different people or things change in your life. And that happened for me once I met the Travis. My life kind of went in an unexpected different direction but I still considered her one of my best friends. We would hang out every so often and it felt like nothing had changed. And that's when you know its a true friendship. I am lucky enough to say that about not only her but one of my other best friends I've had since high school Alex :)


But as of recently, we have started to hang out a lot more than we have in years and its been amazing! I've missed her smiley face so much and I am so so so glad we reconnected  :)

ANYWHO! :) 
 
 

So like I said, she invited me to go to a free yoga class with her and her husband Dave because they are trying a healthier lifestyle as well! Perfect right?! 

Unfortunately, Travis had to work but he can join us next time!

We went to a place called Local Yoga located in Murray. This was a cute little hole in the wall place.The instructor was actually one of Jessi's friends from work, so that was nice. It was also Dave's first time doing yoga! Luckily he loved it and did pretty good!

It was an awesome class! And very different than being at home watching your screen haha.

After yoga we went back to their place and had healthy chicken tacos. Those tacos were BOMB! Good job Jessi & Dave! And thank you for filling my belly with food goodness! :) 

So far this health kick is working and I hope it sticks! :)

If you are interested in looking into an at home yoga, please check out 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene. She also has another one called Revolution: 31 Days of Yoga that I plan on trying as well, and you should too!

                                                  Namaste :)
 










Thursday, February 2, 2017

ZOOper Bowl 2017


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It's that time of year again! Superbowl time! 


And this year will be our little guy Tuah's second time choosing who will win this years Superbowl! 2016 was his first shot at choosing and possibly taking the Prediction Crown from his late dad Eli, who predicted right 7/7 years. Tuah had the chance to choose between The Panthers and The Broncos that time around. 
Everyone thought the Broncos would win, but little Tuah wanted to have faith in the Panthers.





Did he predict right? Well...It was a close call...but no cigar. The Broncos beat the Panthers. Maybe he was just nervous about the weight of the crown. or maybe the prediction ability doesn't develop until he's older!!!
 

But that's old news right?! This year is a fresh start and new teams!

PATRIOTS vs FALCONS

Who is he going to choose?
Well the decision was made on February 2nd at 10:30 AM.





With some help from big sister Acara,

 They chose.......

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THE FALCONS!

  What do you think of their choice?!
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Do you think Tuah and Acara will redeem themselves and finally fill the big shoes their daddy Eli left and make Hogle Zoo animal predicitions 9/10 years correct?

I guess we will see this Superbowl Sunday on February 5th!