Lunch Ride

Greg, Ross, and I enjoyed a quick ride over to Red Robin for lunch today. I thought we should ride to the Red Robin in Nampa, but decided my boss might not like us to take a 2 hour lunch! Even though it was a short ride, it was still fun to get out and ride with my coworkers. We should ride on our lunch breaks more often! Here's a pic of our bikes at the restaurant. My bike is the one in the back... it still looks kinda small compared to the boys' bikes, but not near as little as my Rebel looked next to their bikes!

Market Meal

I made my first trip of the year to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Tyler, Jen, and I rode bikes downtown and then met up with Jared once we got there. I know I've said this before, but I absolutely love the Market! I love supporting local farmers and artists, I love people-watching, I love sampling all the food. This time I came prepared with a backpack so I would have a way to carry all my food home... and I definitely needed it! Here's what I purchased:

• Marionberries - these were huge and super sweet... we ate them right then for breakfast!
• Tart apple chunks with cinnamon & sugar - this dried fruit is one of my market staples. I buy a package every time I visit the market!
• Harry's Teriyaki Sauce - This teriyaki sauce is sweet and oh so good. So far I've only tried it over rice, but I think it will be a delicious salmon marinade.
  
• Romaine Lettuce - I bought lettuce from one of the local farmers so I could make a salad
• Spinach and Artichoke ravioli - This ravioli by Ferranti Pasta is fabulous. Last year I bought some of their salmon ravioli which was the best ravioli I had ever had!
  
• Whole Grain Bread - I love Great Harvest bread, so I couldn't pass this up...
• And I had to buy a glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade!

I decided I wanted to make a meal with only fresh ingredients from the market and my garden. This is a picture of my dinner last night... ...the lemon plates are a bit distracting, but you get the idea. I tossed the ravioli with some olive oil, fresh tomatoes from my garden, and some sauteed eggplant from Kate's garden (Kate joined me for dinner). We topped the salad with a pepper and some broccoli from Kate's garden and tomatoes and onions from my garden. And we made garlic bread with the bread from the market. So fresh and so delicious!

Get Out Your Kleenex!

I have never gotten into So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD). From what I gather, it is a reality show similar to American Idol, but for dancers. Last night, I went over to Erin's house to watch a movie. As we waited for everyone to show up, we watched part of an episode of SYTYCD from earlier this week. There are only 8 dancers left, so I thought they were all good, but one of the dances particularly touched me... so much so that I was moved to tears! I have never felt emotion from a dance before as I felt last night watching SYTYCD. This video is almost 8 minutes long... it's got a short intro explaining that the piece is about breast cancer, then the dance is only a couple minutes, followed by comments from the judges. Watch it - you won't be disappointed!

I'm an aunt again!

Tanner James Harris was born last night, making me an aunt again! Congrats to Mandi (who only had to push for like 2 minutes!) and TJ! Tanner is a beautiful little boy and I can't wait to watch him grow :-)

Dining Downtown

I love eating in downtown Boise and trying new restaurants. This week I was excited to try out Bar Gernika. Bar Gernika is on the Basque block (I guess Boise has one of the larger Basque populations in the US), and is just this tiny little bar/restaurant that I've never seemed to notice before. In fact, I had never heard of it until it was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. I have a Leadership Meeting over lunch once a month with the Registrar (Kris) and the other Associate Registrar (Steve), and was excited when Steve suggested we go to Bar Gernika for this month's meeting spot. I decided I'm not a huge lamb fan, but the croquetas were amazing! Wanna see what the restaurant is like? Check out this video:

Making Connections

As I've mentioned before, one of my goals this year was to get more involved, including joining professional organizations. I started attending monthly BYU Management Society meetings in January. The meetings have been enjoyable - everyone is friendly and the speakers are interesting, but I've honestly felt a little out of place. Almost everyone else who attends the meetings are men in suits, most of which are old enough to be my dad or grandpa... not that that's a bad thing, I just didn't feel like I quite fit in. I was excited at one of the luncheons earlier this year to meet Melanie. I guess we technically met (although I didn't remember it!) in 1998 at BYU where Melanie helped a girl who lived in my dorm hall with her homework once a week (or something like that). It has been fun to get acquainted with Melanie over the past few months, and we've been able to get together a couple times to just hang out. She is really cool and we get along well. I've wondered if maybe I joined BYU Management Society just so I could meet Melanie :-)

Here we are one evening last month enjoying dinner at Good Thyme Grille, a small restaurant where my friend Stephanie works.

A Weekend of Theater

This was definitely a theater weekend for me! Last night I volunteered at the Shakespeare Festival with BYP. They only had us help out before the show, at intermission, and after the show, so during the show, we got to sit on the hillside and watch the play. Last night's show was The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The play was based on Charles Dickens' final novel. Dickens died before the novel was finished, which made for a very fun play - since there's no set ending, the audience got to vote on a couple of the key decisions at the end... kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure book :-) Anyway, the play was excellent, and it was fun to meet more BYP members. I love the Shakespeare Festival - I hope to make it back again later this summer!

Tonight my ward went up to Starlight Mountain Theater. I love going up to Starlight (probably because I love Garden Valley!) Here's a picture of Jen, me, and Tyler at intermission.

The play tonight was The Boyfriend - it wasn't my favorite play I've seen there :-( The best part of the night was seeing my brick! Last year I donated money to help out the theater, and this was my first time back up, so I was excited to find my special inscription!

What Am I Doing Up After 3 in the Morning?

I went to see Harry Potter, of course! To be honest with you, I think the whole "midnight showing" thing is funny... I really don't care if I'm not the first one to see a movie. I was talking to Jen on Sunday, though, and realized that with everything I already have planned this week, the earliest I would be able to watch the movie would be a Saturday matinée. Jen didn't want to wait that long to see the movie (yes, I'm blaming this on her!), so we ended up getting tickets to the 12:05 showing tonight (or rather this morning!). The movie was excellent - there were several parts that were EXACTLY how I pictured in my mind when I was reading the book. I also liked that this movie wasn't as dark as the last couple. It is definitely worth watching, and made me excited for the last couple movies.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. I'm glad I have a flexible work schedule because I was able to take a few hours vacation in the morning so I can sleep in. Oh, and just to document the night with a picture, here's Mandy, me, and Jen waiting for the movie to start. I'm glad Mandy was able to join us! And no, none of us dressed up :-)

The Unveiling: The Master Bathroom

Many of you know that I am remodeling my bathrooms... mostly because it's almost all I can talk about! I have hated my bathrooms since I moved into the house. They were totally stuck in the 80's, with one pastel pink bathroom (tile, counter top, flooring) and one pastel blue bathroom. I've been saving my money and finally took the plunge and contracted out my remodels. The master bathroom is finished, and I couldn't be happier. A big thanks to the guys at Tresidio for making this happen!

Here's a couple before pictures so you can see that I'm not lying about how ugly the bathroom was.
And here it is now! I have a beautiful new knotty alder vanity, tile floors, tub-to-ceiling tile shower surround, granite counter top with a tile back splash, new energy efficient toilet, new lighting, and all new oil rubbed bronze fixtures. I have a temporary shower head in until my nice hand held one gets here. I also got a pretty new shower curtain with matching towels and rugs. All I have left to do now is find some cool artwork and I'm set!
My guest bathroom remodel is underway... stay tuned for pictures in the next couple weeks!

Family, Friends, and Fireworks

I loved that the 4th of July was on a Saturday this year. I got a ton done on the 3rd - ran errands, washed my Blazer and my motorcycle, cleaned my garage, pruned the bushes, sprayed weeds, cleaned my house, etc. Because I got all my "weekend" chores done on a Friday, I was able to kick back, relax, and enjoy the holiday on the 4th. I woke up early and had a yummy pancake breakfast with Beki and friends from my old stake, had a BBQ that evening with my immediate and some of my extended family, and then I headed downtown with Katrina and her family to watch the fireworks at Ann Morrison. They did a great job with the firework show - it seemed like it went by fast, but I heard it was actually 27 minutes long! Overall, it was a great holiday weekend. I wish every week was a holiday week :-)

Happy 4th of July!

I decorated my table for the occasion... are you surprised? :-)

Season Tickets

I just realized I never blogged about this... a couple weeks ago I bought my first ever set of Boise State season football tickets!!! I am pretty excited :-) I know it's only July, but I can't wait for football season to start. I'll be in Bronco stadium for each of the 7 home games cheering my boys on! Go Broncos!!!

Zions Camp

Last weekend was my ward's pioneer trek (we called it Zions Camp). We drove up past McCall Thursday evening, set up camp, and had a delicious dutch oven dinner. The next morning, we divided into "families", dressed up in pioneer clothes, packed up all our gear into handcarts, and set off on an 18-ish mile hike. At times it was hard work pulling the handcart - especially the women's pull where we went straight up the mountain side! It was also surprisingly hard going downhill because the handcart was heavy and we had to keep it from running us over! There were planned stops along the way where we listened to pioneer stories. Listening to those stories while we were trekking made them so much more real to me. It is amazing the trials and struggles that those early pioneers endured. I can't imagine getting up day after day and walking beyond the point of exhaustion. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord watched over them, as He watches over us today.

Around lunch time, we stopped and the men left to go "find buffalo" (they came back with beef jerky). While they were gone, all the women shook jars of cream to make butter. I have never done that before, and it was kind of cool to see the butter solidify. Once it became solid, we drained off any remaining liquid, added some salt, and enjoyed our fresh butter on some rolls. There wasn't a very good picture of me making butter, so I'm posting this one of my cute sister :-)

The trek finished at the Ranstroms' ranch - what a beautiful site at the end of a long day :-) I was pretty tired, and went straight to bed after the fireside testimony meeting that night. When we woke up Saturday, we broke into groups to do service projects. Our group helped the neighbor across the street set a bridge and chop and haul wood. I tried my hand at splitting a stump using a wedge and sledgehammer... I wasn't the best aim (I kept hitting the wood next to the wedge), but I did manage to split a few pieces of wood :-) Overall, the trip was a success - it was such a great experience and I'm so glad I went!

Birthday Flowers

I had a really good birthday this year... I wasn't necessarily looking forward to turning 29 (for some reason I would rather be 30), but my friends and family helped me have a great day. My morning started off with a delicious breakfast brought into work by several of my coworkers (thanks Terri, Diana, Ross, and Jami!) Then, for lunch, Mandi, Beki, and my aunt Kathy took me to lunch at Smoky Mountain.... mmmm, I love pasta. That afternoon I had a fun surprise - Jen had sent me flowers :-) I have never received flowers at work, so it was a fun surprise! I have often been (secretly) slightly jealous of others who have received flowers at work, so this special delivery definitely made my day. I ended the day with a hike to Tablerock. As I stood at the top of the mountain looking out over Boise, I was once again reminded how lucky I am to live in this beautiful city. It was the perfect end to my day!