Where have you been my whole life?

After living a very unpriveledged childhood (my parents would laugh at that) I was finally taken to Lake Powell. Although my dad DID stop by once when we were little kids, because we whined sooooo much and he let us touch the water so we could never say we had never been to lake powell. What a considerate father I have right? People travel from France to come here, apparently it is quite well known my people. And all I had to do was drive a measly four hours away. But don't fret my friends. I am now well acquainted with LP and all it had to offer.

There is nothing better than the relaxation station my friend. Nothing better

Lake Powell was full of tubing until we all had bloody elbows, hiking (or scaling and shimmying up and down 30 foot holes as some people in my family like to call "hiking") Tripoly, reading books, cliff jumping, coughskinnydippingcoughcough, eating and more eating until I told myself I just had to quit because I couldn't justify it anymore, no amount of swimming would make up for my ridiculous caloric intake, and taking in the scenery.

I will never wait 19 years to come back Lake Powell, I promise. Even the mice and carp can't keep me from coming.

My favorite holiday, in pictures

We thought our stripes were pretty cute.

My Favorite Holiday.

I don't know what it is, the late night fireworks, barbeque's, shopping at booths, and wearing matching Old Navy t-shirts. It is just a great time all around.

We started the weekend off by going to Stadium of Fire. It was hard for my family to endure Utah County AND country singers, but I think they would agree that the firework finale and BYU Old Spice Comedian man made up for the first two. It brought back so many memories of dancing down on that field years ago during Stadium of Fire. My terrible memory only brings to mind the bad parts- the blue man group and worrying about getting lost in the crowds of people. But, i'm sure it was fun to dance!

Kaysville.

The city goes crazy.

They started setting up signs threatening to take down blankets that were put up prior to midnight of the 3rd. So to stake out our spot my brother and some friends and me slept on the grass to get a prime parade location. That plan sounded good until six in the morning when cannons started going off every 3 minutes.  You heard me, six in the morning, EVERY three minutes.

So needless to say, we went home and slept for a few hours then went back for our breakfast.

Notice the picture above, it was a MANLY pancake that I enjoyed every bite of.

And then we topped off the morning with the classic water parade. People travel for this thing. I'm not joking it is well known. Little kids loved to spray me? Why? I have no idea, but it made my shirt a leetle see through. Whoops!

Hope your weekend was great!

A cooking competition

A certain friend of mine is in a bit of a baking competition to win over her boyfriends manly food-loving heart. So she called me, and used some serious flattery, telling me my cookies were always good (which is quite the exaggeration), but I am always up for some nice flattery, so I found her a winner recipe.

Just the name makes it a winner.

Million-dollar Caramel Cookies

1 C butter, softened

1 C sugar, plus 1 Tbl

1 C light-brown sugar

2 egs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 C flour, plus 1/4 C

3/4 C cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

2 Heath candy bars

1 bag Rolo chewy caramels

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugars until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

In a separate bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups flour, cocoa and baking soda. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture a little bit at a time and blend well. If the dough feels too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour. Cover and chill dough in fridge for about 30 minutes.

Chop Heath bars into small pieces. Place in a small bowl and toss with 1 Tbl sugar.

Once dough has chilled, wrap a piece around each caramel, forming a 1-inch ball and covering the candy completely. Dip top of the dough ball into the candy topping and place on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 7-10 minutes. Cookies will look quite soft, but do not overbake. Cool in pan slightly, then move to a rack or the counter to finish cooling. Store in a covered container.

I bake mine around 8 or 9 minutes.

So yummy.

Good luck my friend!
(I couln't resist so I made them this morning)

A tiring, perfect day

(Please take notice of the boys face, obviousely disgusted by us)

Yesterday was perfect. 

      The only thing I love more than wakeboarding and boating is a surprise invitation to go boating. Some guys invited us about an hour before they were leaving; spontaneity makes everything more exciting. It was a perfect day at the lake, eventhough the lake was so full that our beach consisted of a hill of weeds. And, no boating day would be right without pain. We had blood, a bruised jaw, and a sore leg.

     Then came 80's night. I personally wasn't born in the 80's so my outfit choices always consist of my warped views from TV shows like "13 going on 30" and "16 candles". At lease I sure hope people in the eighties did not walk around in gross neon tank tees and fanny packs with huge curly hair. If they did, I would have loved/fit into the eighties. Eighties night consists of college students, (and the select few adults who had their best times in the 80's) who come dressed up, (or down) to dance. Everyone then dances to the best music the eighties had to offer, especially "girls just want to have fun."

    By the way, the best dance moves come from those adults that come to dance with the college kids. I hope one day me and my husband will be brave enough to do this.