Ingrid Michaelson

Last night, I attended the Ingrid Michaelson concert in SLC, at The Venue (which felt like a jail). It was a perfect GNO starting with a delicious dinner at Z Tejas. She had two amazing opening acts, Alternate Routes, and Storyman. They got the night going strong, and they were a blast to listen to. I'll be downloading some of their tunes shortly.

(Alternate Routes)

 Ingrid has a song on her new album with Storyman, so it was very cool to hear them play that together too!

Let's talk about this cutie. She's hilarious for firsts, and is AMAZING live. I couldn't get over it. It was such a dream to finally hear her live after all of these years. I will definitely be looking for her next upcoming concert!

Emily pointed out my "suspenders" in this picture. Ha it's my purse! I could have been SO hipster at that concert ;)

She has the wittiest humor, and you could tell her band just absolutely adores her too. Check out her new album: Lights Out here, it may be my favorite (aside from her classic songs).

(please excuse her weird website with the dancing men, it's from her music video...)

Also, did you know she's married to Greg Laswell? Em looked it up after the concert. He was there and sang with her too! AND, he opened for Sara Bareilles when I saw her way back when, and have been obsessed with this song he sings. What a power couple!

Being tired from the night before is always worth it if you attend a concert! So glad I was able to see Ingrid live!

Europe

Our good friends Madeline and Andrew are leaving us for Europe this week! To say we are jealous is an understatement. Oh how we wish we were joining them for those 2 weeks! It was a fun night filled with yummy waffles, an FHE lesson, some hockey..that I didn't watch, and some self timer pics. We will miss you guys!

Also, this. I secretly love Emma Stone. From her lisp with her raspy voice, to her pulling off platinum blonde, and red hair, I love it. And, she always has the best lip color, am i right?

Who knew she could rap like that!?

wishing it could be a 3-day weekend

This weekend was so much fun. On Friday we were in SLC, at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, supporting our girl Lex at her wedding! Unfortunately, I was a bad friend and didn't get any pics with the bride. But she looked absolutely stunning, and it was fun to be with the gang chattin and dancin. The best part of the night was that I got to see Mindy, who is serving at Temple Square on her mission, so she was able to get permission to come to the reception! It was such a great surprise, and I talked with her for 30 minutes just us, and I loved it! We then went home and turned on the latest Shark Tank episode, obviously.

Saturday morning we got up early to go to the gym, we did some things around the house, and then somehow, we ended up watching 1 too many episodes of Law & Order (we don't even watch this!), and took naps listening to the rain. I think we deserved it, and I also think you should always take a nap when it's raining. I loved having a lazy afternoon with my squeeze. We then decided that Cafe Rio sounded like a delicious dinner, so we headed there, and were going to use our free movie tickets once again, but whatdoyouknow the showing only had the first row available. So, we went to the 9:20 showing, and had time to spare again! We walked around University Mall, playing the "what smell is this" at Bath & Body Works. Sitting by the fireplace, and doing other fun stuff-just the two of us. We headed to Captain America, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! I don't even think I have seen the first one, but man, was it good. The only "superhero" movie I like is Batman, so I was really surprised. It was awesome, and we loved it!

Sunday we had yet another great church, and a new Relief Society was called, so I'm excited about this new and great change. We headed to Shelley's for some dinner, sessions of hair breading, followed by homemade cookies with friends! It was a great weekend, and now that Tanner isn't in school, I feel like it should be a 3 day weekend, because I don't ever want to go to work the next day!

Hoping this weather decides to get warm again, and stay that way. We've had some bipolar days, and I'm kinda ready for the heat to be back!

Ellen

I have always wanted to go to Ellen's show, but now I am convinced that I just need to do something cool, so that I can be flown out there. Ok ok, I won't, but in all seriousness, I've thought about it. Ellen is just a great gal, isn't she? I think she's hilarious, and I hope someday I really can go to her show. 

Southwest Airlines has this really cool, awesome, and hilarious flight attendant, and her funny flight video went viral pretty dang quickly. You can watch that here. 

I love that Ellen gives back, and spoils people who deserve it! 

In other news, Tanner finished his last final, and I couldn't be happier. A: Because the mustache will be gone (he says it helps with finals....) B: I will finally have my husband back for more than 2 seconds, and we can actually talk when we are in the same room now! YAY!

Our Easter Weekend

I'm slightly embarrassed at my lack of blogging this week. I've had so many things I have wanted to write, but I just didn't have time to sit down and write them! Life is seriously moving too quickly, and I'm realizing it's the first of May next week. Wasn't I just saying that last month? By the time vacations come, they're going to be done within the snap of a finger, dang it!

On Good Friday, I hosted an Easter Egg hunt at work, I got to have lunch with my sweetie pie in between my errands coming down to Utah County, we had an Easter Picnic hosted by the Bench's with great food (even though I wasn't able to eat that much due to arriving late because of lovely work) fun outdoor games, and finished the night off with some Shark Tank in sweats.

I brought a delicious carrot cake-poke cake, that I sadly didn't take a picture of. But, it's basically a Better Than Sex cake, carrot cake-i-fied. It was delicious, and I think you should make it. Now.

Recipe below.

we were in an egg

On Saturday, Shelley and I went to Power Pump in the morning, laid out in my backyard with Morgan, took a Target run, an In n Out run, and came back and watched The Help with a side of gelato, all while Tanner was studying all day at school, and taking tests.

i love that we have our very own Tulip Festival in our front yard! I hate that tulips don't last very long though!

Twinners, as usual.

On wonderful Easter Sunday, The Easter Bunny made us some monkey bread (who made that an official tradition last year, and wants to name it Bunny Bread), and even hid a basket! Jk guys, I'm the bunny.

We dressed up for a very spiritual church filled with the most amazing violin solo I've ever heard, and then we spent dinner up in Woodland Hills with family, and ate until we all felt like throwing up.

My go-to Monkey Bread recipe below.

In this post I said I had gotten an Easter skirt. Well, I wasn't going to allow my husband not to get all dressed up in something new too! This picture is horrible, but the bunny gave him that cute floral tie, and considering he will be doing a lot of interviews in the future, I think he can never have too many ties! :)

Our "family" is living in their aunt and uncles house while they're on a mission, and we love taking advantage of that huge, beautiful home. They're technically not family, but it's easier than saying my brother-in-law's, wives', sister's, husbands, aunt and uncle's house. Right?

What I loved most about Easter, besides the wonderful food, was the new movie our church made. It went viral very quickly, and people started using the hashtag #becauseofhim and I loved looking through those pictures. I was really able to reflect on our marriage, life, and family, and realize how truly blessed we are to live where we live, have the friends that we have, be able to further our educations and skills, etc. I love this movie because it gives me the chills every.single.time I watch it, and I'm pretty sure I watched it at least twice everyday last week. The music is breathtaking, and I can't help but tear up at that perfectly beautiful baby. I think it's absolutely amazing, and if you go onto the mormon.org/becauseofhim link after the video, I love reading the "Easter story". It brings so much peace, and I love that just because it's no longer Easter, I can still watch this every day, and feel the love from my savior. 

"There is no such thing as the end because of Him".

On Monday, I had my first golf tournament of the season, and luckily it was in Highland, which isn't that far. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and I wore my jacket for most of the day because we would still catch a nice breeze, even when the sun was getting hot. Once I took it off, the sunglasses were on, and the arms were stretched out. Because I was in a super cool golf shirt, I got a nice red v, some white shoulders, and some great burn lines on my feet from my SaltWaters. Luckily it was all made better by grabbing 5 dozen donuts from Daylight Donuts (they're the bomb), and being able to take some home!

I came home pretty exhausted from the long day sitting out in the sun all day, and all I wanted to do was have dinner already prepared, finish up laundry, and sit on the couch and watch Castle with my little friend. And, that's exactly what we did! Side note: It's really hard to share our washer and dryer with renters. Since we only have Saturday-Tuesday, if I slack on the weekends, it's always catch up. But good news, I got every single stink in thing cleaned! I love that feeling. Anyways, a couple weeks ago we ordered pizza with Tanner's sister to watch the final March Madness basketball game. They delivered it to us so late, that after calling and complaining twice, they gave us 2 free large pizza's in the future, and our delivery gal gave us a free root beer. Cha Ching! So, I decided that last night was a great night to order a free pizza since I wasn't cookin! After being on the phone for 40 minutes with the manager trying to figure out why they couldn't find my previous order, or even my name in the system, we got the employee discount, and it was delivered pretty quick. (This was my second time getting pizza delivered in like 10 years, and I might be obsessed now!) When Tanner opened the door, he made a bug-eyed/laughing/what did you just do face, and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Come to find out, I ordered Papa Johns pizza, when 3 weeks ago, we got Pizza Hut delivered… we got a good laugh from that one. We made sure to give him an extra nice, big tip!

Spring weddings and outdoor activities are approaching, and I couldn't be more excited for upcoming plans! 

Easter Tradition Monkey Bread

Followed from good ole' Pillsbury

I never add nuts or raisins, because I like to focus on the ooey gooey-ness, and that's it!

• 25 min
• total time1 hr 5 min
• ingredients7
• servings12

Ingredients

1/2

cup granulated sugar

1

teaspoon cinnamon

2

cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

1/2

cup chopped walnuts, if desired

1/2

cup raisins, if desired

1

cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4

cup butter or margarine, melted

Steps

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large -storage plastic food bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.

2. Separate dough into 16 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts and raisins among the biscuit pieces.

3. In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.

4. Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Carrot Cake Poke Cake

Followed from Something Swanky

I used a boxed Betty Crocker Carrot Cake. I was able to find the Cream Cheese Cool Whip frosting, and don't go without. The topping on this cake will make you die and then wake up, and eat some more. I did not use nuts on top, because some of our friends are allergic.

Ingredients

• The 9x13 Carrot Cake recipe of your choice, baked and cooled (I used a box mix)
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 8 oz Cool Whip
• 10.6 oz Cool Whip Vanilla Frosting (Cream Cheese flavor if your store carries it, mine doesn't)
• 6 oz (half a tub) of whipped cream cheese (must be whipped)
• Approx. 1/2 cup caramel sundae sauce (just pour on as much or as little as you'd like)
• Approx. 1 cup chopped pecans (sprinkle on as much or as little as you'd like)

Instructions

1. Leave the cake in the dish it was baked in-- this is not a free standing cake.
2. Poke approximately 20-25 holes, spread evenly, over the top of the cake with the bottom of a wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over top, trying to fill the holes as much as possible.
3. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together the cool whip, the cool whip frosting, and the whipped cream cheese until smooth. Spread over top of the cake.
4. Pour the caramel sauce over top of the cake, and sprinkle with chopped pecans.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, really overnight is best.
6. Cut into 12 squares to serve (you can cut more, 1/12 is a pretty large piece!).

Notes about this recipe:

• Cool Whip Frosting is not the same as cool whip. But you can find it right beside the cool whip in the freezer section of your grocery store.
• You will not be able to stop eating this. Just a fact.

The Weekend, a Green Chili Burro, and a Laker Game

Life just doesn't seem to slow down! The semester is almost over, and it makes me excited for things we have planned in the near future.

If you're thinking about going to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point, don't waste your money. Just hop on over to our house, and I'll even give out complimentary snacks and water. ;)

Friday night Tanner and I got all dressed up for a date night-I even threw on some wedges! I got a gift card from work to Macaroni Grill, and then we had movie tickets from Christmas, so the plan was to go see Captain America.

If you've been to Macaroni Grill, you know that you can draw on the tables with their crayons. Tanner and I set a timer and said we had to draw a house in 30 seconds, and see which one was best. If you know me, you know I can't draw to save my life, and in this post, I show another embarrassing example.

As you can see, Tanner obviously won. 

We had about 2 1/2 hours left to spare, so we ran over to Provo Beach Resort, and got some delicious BlueBell ice cream at Ike's! We both got the most delicious Blackberry Crumble that had pie chunks in it. MMM. I've asked a couple more times this week to go back, and it's only Tuesday.

We sat out on the bench and watched these two cute families with their little kids running around, and it was so relaxing, and FUN!

Before we got to the movie, we stopped for some um...Prune Juice. If you ever have to drink that nastiness, which I would never wish upon anyone, make sure you refrigerate it, I promise it helps.

We got to the theater early, but to our despair, only the front two rows were open! I forget that you can reserve your seats now...We don't go to movies often!

Saturday morning we attended the Bijou market on Center Street with Shelley, and it's always so fun to browse! They also had the Art City Donuts food truck, so we couldn't resist going.

Later, Tanner did a ton of yard work, got our sprinklers up and running, and studied. I was lucky enough to head down to City Creek with Shell, and help her find a graduation outfit, because she's cool and graduating this semester! Woot woot!

J Crew just got matching skirts and dresses, and we actually both bought those so that we can match in Carlsbad. Thanks to my loving husband who I adore so so much, and who is the best ever, and totally rocks, for letting me buy an Easter skirt! ;)

Later, in Anthro, they were giving out lemonade, and I spilled all on the front of me. That shirt is hand-wash only, so it dried just like that, and I got some awesome looks the rest of the day. Tanner says I have a hole in my lip, because this has been happening to me way too often.

After a relaxing evening, and a wonderful church the next morning, we had Brim and Scott over for dinner. My sister made some Green Chili Burros the week before, and my whole family raved about them. The recipe is deceiving-but I should have known better-please, don't put your meat on HIGH for the first little bit. I never like how it turns out, and unfortunately, when we had guests, I messed up. I like it slow-cookin on low. So, I'm sure they will be a lot better next time. They were still good, but the meat kinda stuck in our teeth a little. eek!

A while back I realized there was a Laker/Jazz game, and I found some really cheap tickets. Since it was finals week, I couldn't keep it a surprise, and I had to let Tanner in on the secret. We went with our buds Madeline and Andrew (they like the Jazz-yuck!) and we enjoyed our reallllly cheap seats, hence the wall behind us in the next picture. We saw Phil Dunfy from Modern Family, and danced the night away. It was such a fun Family Night, and we even had a lesson while eating at Costa Vida! 

Friday's Make Me Crave Fries.

It's Friday, ya'll. 

Nothing that makes me happier.

And the title has nothing to do with this post, or anything at all. I just like fries, and I could use some Guru's sweet potato fries right about now-yes, even at 9:30am.

It's been SO nice outside. At work, some gals and I go for a walk everyday, on the path that's next to the TRAX. And yesterday, we went TWICE just because we loved it so much, and we think 15 minutes outside will give us base tans..better than where I was, right?

Last night, we made dinner out of whatever we had in the house (since I haven't been to the store since last Saturday-bad wife) ate outside on the grass, and talked! It seriously was such a great night. And, we even topped it off with a Reese's shake from JCW's. 

Then, a new TV show popped on, called Killer Karaoke, and it was so unbelievably stupid, we just couldn't stop watching. Everyone was so weird, and for some reason we were completely glued. Below is a clip that might get you laughing.

I'm looking forward to an awesome weekend ahead with some fun plans!

About Being in the Ensign

Last January, on the day that one of my best friends, Christy, got married, I was posing out front of the temple in my own wedding dress. Why? Because we were asked by one of the church photographers to be in the Ensign. If you're unfamiliar with the Ensign, it's a monthly magazine that is sent out by the LDS church. We were told it was going to be a really great experience, and something our whole family would treasure for years. It was all fun and games until we realized that Tanner didn't have his gel, or a suit, that I had to wear a jacket and a flower in my hair, that we would be looking directly into the sun, and that we would potentially be seeing friends waiting for Christy. It was also just a little awkward being in my wedding dress at the temple again, taking pictures. It just was. 

We signed the agreement, and were told it could never show up anywhere, it could be in April's Ensign, or it could be blown up in a visitor's center, 20 years down the road. We had no idea when or if we would ever see a copy of the picture.

Last April, we received a picture message from my mom informing us that we were, in fact, in the Ensign. We started to receive texts, emails from missionaries, Facebook messages, the whole nine yards. It was funny, it was kind of exciting, and I think Tanner was starting to feel like a celebrity.

A couple weeks ago, we received a picture in a group message of the same ensign picture, and we assumed it was just from last years. But, they "renewed" the picture, and even made it bigger, without us knowing! This issue has been even more embarrassing because it's a lot larger, people have posted to our walls, constantly been texting us about it, people comment to me at work, and someone at Conference even recognized us. Ha, just kidding, that would be so funny though, right? 

We are really thankful that we got that cool opportunity, and that we can tell our future kids that we were in the Ensign. But for now, we are still a little humiliated with how we look. :) 

And for those that have asked, I'm just reminding you that it is not one of our Bridals!

Babies.

Conference Weekend

As I have mentioned before, LDS General Conference was last weekend. My dad was able to get us tickets for Saturday morning, and Sunday afternoon session, and we stayed in SLC with them like we usually do. I couldn't wait for the weekend with them, and luckily we had a full week with Tanners family before, so it was such a party every night! 

Thursday night we watched Tanner and his intramural basketball game with our favorite team ever, and both families went, and we got dinner after. I met up with my parents for lunch on Friday afternoon, and then we went to my cousins BYU Baseball game that night.

It was a cold night, and we were bundled up in blankets. My dad on the other hand was using a sleeping bag, even until we got back to the car! He grew up in Idaho Falls, and I couldn't stop making fun of how wimpy he was! I guess that is what good ole AZ will do to ya!

Sadly these were the only pictures I took from the weekend, because I got the flu on Saturday morning. I had to run out of Conference a couple times, and then we got back home, it wasn't very fun. I felt so sick I didn't even have time to search for Mindy like I did last year, and my mom and I didn't get to have a girls night during Priesthood Session! I felt so horrible, and literally slept all day Saturday and Sunday. I stayed home from work today to rest a little more, and I'm starting to feel better. 

At one point this afternoon, I had Tanner give me a blessing, and then we went on a walk for some fresh air. I'm so thankful for a husband who is worthy and willing, and who has taken care of me this weekend! I can't wait for the Ensign to come out with the Conference talks so that I can catch up on the talks that I missed.

My 5th Birthday Party...I think

Happy National "Don't Go to Work Unless It's Fun Day"! I planned a huge breakfast potluck at work today, and I'm stuffed. I don't think I'll eat for another week! Ha! Who am I kidding.

I've said this before, but my parents are moving out of the only house I've ever known (in AZ), and my mom will occasionally send me old pictures and I love it. So in honor of throwin it back on this Thursday, I thought I'd share a picture. When I turned 5 (we think) we had ponies in my cul-de-sac for us to ride. My parents let me have some pretty epic birthday parties growing up, and I honestly think that's how I got so into parties. I love seeing everyone's reactions, and people enjoying themselves. My one friend still reminds me of my "Madeline" party, where we all got Madeline hats, and my mom dressed up as Miss Clavel (literally I remember her putting on what I called a "vale") and took us on a "walk" in my backyard, I'm sure reading the stories as we zig zagged through the swing set. My mom looked just like her! :)

"In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines ..."

I LOVED Madeline! I also loved begging my nieces to let us watch Madeline when I would babysit. Madeline, and Mary-Kate and Ashley are my go-to's.

Moving on...

I remember (from pictures and from my mother) there was popcorn, and cotton candy, and cupcakes of course. My mom didn't just stop there. She had bales of hay lining the cul-de-sac, and we played musical chairs on them. My mom had hand drawn pink ponies on the invitations, and you better believe she still has a copy! When she sent me this picture, she said, "Marshmallow!" and I thought she was talkin about me. To ensure you, my mom wasn't calling me fat. The two ponies we had were named Marshmallow, and Caramel, and I was lucky enough to ride Marshmallow for my party! Isn't he just the cutest? Thankful for my moms memory!

I hope to become a cool mom like my mom was, and plan awesome birthday parties every.single.year. Thanks momma! 

(Am I a brat to say I hope I have a little girl that looks just like me?)

Four things:

-I hope this makes you laugh.
-Why do I ever think I can wash my hair in the morning? Every morning I set my alarm, and I snooze it 50 times. I'm now on day 5...

-If you want to read about our "love story" I finally took time to write it down here.

-Regardless of your faith, I invite you to watch LDS General Conference with me this weekend! I promise you will find it uplifting, and it will make you HAPPY! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Happy Thursday! It's almost the weekend! :)

Not Letting Myself Get Fooled This Year

Last year, as a newly married couple, I made the biggest mistake ever, and I think I learned my lesson. I made Tanner promise me that we wouldn't play any tricks this year, because I'm still a little scarred from the incident last year. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, go read it, and then make sure you never play that trick, ever.

This is also very weird, because he's studying for another Chem test, and also taking it on Wednesday. FREAAAKKKYYYY.

Anyways, you live and you learn right? I'm giving you a heads up to not ever play that prank, especially because you'll think you cursed yourself for months after and think you're pregnant. ;)

What's the best prank you've ever done?