Places I’ve Been

August So Far

/ jennced15 / 2 Comments

Good Morning Everyone!

We have started this month off with a bang of activity and it isn’t going to slow down before the end of the month. I have all of my weekends tied up until after Labor Day and hopefully I am on the cusp of a job which will impact the month as well.

The whirlwind of activity has everything changing so rapidly. Yesterday while driving to Park City, I noticed the leaves changing on some of the trees . . . what? The girls also reminded me that they start school in 2 weeks . . . what? What I am figuring out is that maybe my diatribe on fall coming too soon to local stores isn’t too far away after all. What is a girl to do? 🙂

If you can’t beat them, join them right?!

Here is my list for the favorite things that I did this week. I hope each and everyone of you are enjoying the last of your summer.

 

1. Deer Valley Music Festival: I have been volunteering at the festival for the last three weeks as a way to get out of the house, enjoy friends, and forget about the fact that I don’t have a job. It has been wonderful!! I highly recommend everyone in the Utah area taking in one of these concerts next year.

  1. Wayne Bartholomew Park: I have now brought my nieces here twice and we love it. It is great family fun for an entrance fee of $0. Can’t beat that! It does get crowded on really hot days and it will be hard to find a spot on the beach but try and get here if you can.

  2. The Dodo Restaurant: This is one of our favorite restaurants in the Salt Lake Valley. It has great food, GREAT desserts, and a great atmosphere to hang out with friends and mingle. My girlfriends and I headed over here for dessert this week to celebrate the end of an era and the start of new things to come.

  3. New Desserts: So the girls stayed the night and we partied hard. We colored up a storm, went to the library and checked out 16 books that needed to be read before they left, went to the lake, camped-out in my room for bed, roasted s’mores and of course had to make a treat. The girls couldn’t decide between something chocolate or citrus so we made both. These lemon cookies were a HUGE hit. We doubled the batch and the cookies are officially gone as of today. The chocolate poke cake was good as well BUT there is a disclaimer of eating it sparingly. It is SUPER rich and is likely to make you sick if you eat too much.

  1. Fall Weather: We ended up with a very cool and rainy day twice this week. Both days I pulled out long-sleeve shirts, wanted a cup of tea and was starting to dream about a Halloween party. Luckily for my mother the party won’t be at her house this year and hopefully I will be able to still get a party in even if I am living in a different location. Fingers crossed!!

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Keeping Cool

/ jennced15 / 4 Comments

It is the 3rd Friday of July so we have made it to the Places I’ve Been post. 🙂 The idea of what to post came to me yesterday while I was at the lake with the kids. I decided to share with you the first 5 of my favorite places to go swimming or at least frolic in the cold water. I have LOTS of favorite places to be in the water and will probably share more in the future.

 

Then we have a bonus post today on how the dog is keeping cool this summer. My friend has shared some of Bruno’s (the dog) antics on the Periscope app if any of you have it.

 

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Tell me some of your favorite places to go swimming. I am always looking for a new place! Share also how your pets are keeping cool this summer. Everyone needs a great laugh to start their weekend!

 

  1. Crescent Bay California: I grew up in Southern California and one of our favorite places to go as a family for a day at the beach was this almost hidden gem. While it is not as hidden anymore it is still a favorite memory of ours.

 

  1. Heise Hot Springs Idaho: I knew my brother married my sister-in-law just so that I could become acquainted with this wonderful place. It is great all year round and is located in a beautiful setting right next the river.

 

  1. Manzanita Beach Oregon: I love this place. It is very low-key, has wonderful shops and places to eat, and all the while a great sandy beach to hang out on if it is a warm day outside.

 

  1. Lake Powell Utah: If you like heat and spending all of your time in the water, this is the place for you. It is very hot and you have to be smart but it is an incredible place to spend your time.

 

  1. Sunset Beach Hawaii: I have MANY beaches in Hawaii that I love but this really is a great beach to spend the day, watching the surfers and the sunset. Everyone has to come to this beach at least once in their lives.

 

!!BONUS FEATURE!!

Here is Bruno biting the hose. Do any of you have this problem with your dog? We can’t have him outside while the sprinklers are running for the same reason; HE BITES THEM AND WE HAVE TO REPLACE THEM. The funny thing is that he stays away from large bodies of water. Very opposite to what my chocolate lab Coco would do.

 

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ENJOY the SUN!!

Everyone Needs to Eat

/ jennced15 / 1 Comment

The post is a day late . . . what?

Okay, so I realized that I hadn’t yet published my post for Friday until right before midnight last night. But you have to understand what was going on.

I prepared for interviews and had one in Seattle yesterday evening. 🙂

AND

I had a baby to take care of and even resorted to driving him around between the 11 and midnight hour so he would finally stop fighting the urge to just fall asleep. 😦

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So how was everyone’s 4th of July weekend? We had a lot of fun just hanging out as a family and doing nothing in particular. I even had my 7 year old niece help me with taking pictures at the firework show we went to at Thanksgiving Point. I thought she did an excellent job!

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What I did do was a lot of cooking. So here are 5 of the things that I made. I have attached the links to the original recipes that I worked from but below are pictures and helpful hints on how I made it.

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Pretzel S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

  • Line your pan with foil . . . really . . . it make cutting them a lot easier
  • Don’t try cutting them 2 minutes after you take them out of the oven they are very gooey at first but will setup

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California Breakfast Casserole

  • Make sure you really thaw your frozen hash browns and place them between paper towel to try and get the excess moisture out of them
  • I used turkey sausage links that I cut in half length-wise

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Three-Cheese Potato & Rosemary Tarts

  • I only used two cheeses because I couldn’t find bocconcini in a store close to me
  • Make sure you use a mandolin to cut the potatoes so they are consistently the same width. The thinner the better.
  • We had extra after dinner so the next morning we scrambled eggs, reheated the tarts, topped them with the eggs and salsa and it was a very hearty breakfast dish.
  • Side note: To my American friends; don’t be afraid of the metric measurements. Consult the internet or your Betty Crocker Cookbook to see the conversions.

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Baby Kale & Blackberry Salad

  • I have a person living with me that has a sulfur allergy so we couldn’t use the kale. I substituted with red leaf  and romaine lettuce.
  • I also substituted goat cheese for the ricotta salata
  • I made extra of the Rosemary Honeyed Almonds at the request of my mother. She has been snacking on them for a week but they need to be stored in an air tight container and when you have just finished coating them and they are soft, spread them out on a piece of parchment paper to cool so they won’t stick to your pan.

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Watermelon Soda

  • Keep in mind that the sweeter the watermelon the less sugar you need to add and vice versa.
  • We used sparkling water and the adults loved it but the kids wanted it sweeter and we could have used ginger ale for them.

Bear Lake

/ jennced15 / Leave a comment
I hope everyone had a great week! Mine had bottomed out at the beginning but it improved as the week went on. I am not going to lie; it has been extremely frustrating finding a job and my severance has finally run out. I actually need a job now. Pray for me that it is a great one. I really need something that is going to invigorate me and keep me happy working for the next ten to twenty years.
In the meantime; we are at the Places I’ve Been post and I have decided to share where I was last weekend with Beki and my nieces: Bear Lake. So here are my five favorite things about the Bear Lake area and then I have included a photo roll from the weekend as well.
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1. LaBeau’s Drive In. They have great lake food and shakes. It is probably going to kill your diet and raise your cholesterol but it sure tastes great after spending all day on the lake.
2. Minnetonka Caves. I love going through this cave but I also love the drive to the cave. It is so beautiful. A great time to relax and get out of the heat of the day.
3. Pickleville Playhouse. I can’t leave the Bear Lake region without spending time watching a great melodrama put on by my cousins and I HIGHLY encourage everyone going to that region to stop in and see a great show.
4. Of course the Lake! It is beautiful! So blue, clear and freezing cold. It actually makes you really glad to have it be close to 100 degrees outside.
5. Jet Skiing. It is a lot of fun to just lay on the beach, play in the shallow surf but it is a WHOLE lot of fun to jet ski on this lake.
I hope everyone does something really fun this weekend! Get out there and explore nature!