Laker vs. Jazz

Last night we got free tickets to the Laker/Jazz game, and we went with the McGrath's. It was fun to have a night out with friends, and it made it even better that it was free!

Change

I recently saw this on my Pinterest board, and it was just what I needed to see.

It's sometimes hard for me to remember that every day I can make a small change to become better. Life is hard, and it isn't always fair, but it's through trials, that we can become stronger. I've been trying my best to be the person that I want to be, and eventually to become, but I think even at my age I'm still too young to know exactly who that is. I'm made plenty of mistakes, and I have a lifetime ahead of me for many more, but I hope I figure out who I want to be along the way-and not just on the outside, but most importantly on the inside. 

It was a great reminder to focus more on improving myself, rather than always pulling myself down. I know that takes time... maybe even years, but I'm up for the challenge! Who's with me?

Happy Weekend!

Yay! Another weekend!

I saw this today, and it made me love Ingird even more. I thought this was so funny!

 

Lately

February has been a weird month with lots of ups and downs, but it's been pretty good for the most part. 

To start off, sorry if you're having trouble with our new web address, Blogger has been facing some difficulties redirecting!

-My good friend had her sweet baby girl, and she couldn't be more precious! Look at that hair too!

Also, it doesn't help baby hungriness when seriously all of your friends are suddenly pregnant....

-My mom sent us an adorable Valentine's Day Door hanger that we love! There's nothing better than holiday packages!

-We got to babysit our nieces Friday night while their parents went on their Valentine's Date, and I get emotional thinking about leaving them in a couple of weeks. 

Shirt via: Olive Lane

-My sweet friend Madeline sent me a package all the way from Florida when I was having a bad day. She knows how to cheer a girl up! (Anything involving washi tape makes me happy though...let's be real).

-When I'm bored I bake, and it's not a good thing.

-We are going on our first cruise in May to the Mexican Riviera, and of course it's all I can think about! If you have any tips, tricks, or fun things to do, please pass it my way! I also really want to go to this hidden beach!

-We have not one but 2 friends that just got engaged, and are getting married the same weekend! It's going to be the absolute best weekend ever.

-Last night I was going to surprise Tanner with a Mardi Gras date. I was so excited because I knew he would have no idea where we were going. A restaurant that I was going to buy a king cake for work was hosting a party with door prizes, a buffet, and lots of beignets. I thought it would be so fun to get some Cajun food and just experience something different! After driving twenty minutes to an office building with maybe ten people inside, we decided to leave because we felt extremelyyyyy awkward. I was so sad! But, we have something funny to laugh at now!

Our Valentines Day Date

For Christmas, we received a gift certificate to Ruth's Chris from our Oma & Opa. After some chain of events, it made it really nice to have our meal completely covered and free on Valentine's Day! That place is gooood. Especially their sweet potato casserole, mmmm. We actually headed to Park City for lunch, and then spent the day looking at houses in Deer Valley, riding the Funicular at the St. Regis, and spotting celebrities!! It was so nice to spend the whole afternoon together, and we actually really liked doing lunch so we could just relax at home that night! We stayed up super late the night before, so after a big meal and a long drive, we went home and napped! Then, later that evening we went to the Provo Beach Resort for our favorite ice cream, and to watch people surf on the indoor flowrider!  It was such a perfect, relaxed day with my perfect man. We also took lots of selfies that day!:)

love day

Happy Valentine's Day to my very best friend. He's the one person that I know will always have my back no matter what. He's thoughtful, he's hardworking, he's caring, he's handsome, he makes me laugh, and best of all, his back scratches are on point. I know that he won't think differently of me if I make a fool out of myself, if a say a joke wrong, or if I come home with bad news. He's my best friend through and through. 

I love Valentines week, because it's when we went on our first date, and when I knew Tanner was the one. Its always such a fun time to reflect back.

Thank you Tanner for loving me, my life is definitely changed for the better.  

Our Weekend

On Saturday night we celebrated Morgan's birthday that was yesterday (happy birthday bebe!) at classic skate! We surprised her and it was so fun. Afterwards, we headed to the McGrath's house for some cinnamon rolls, scotcharoos, ice cream cake, and shirley temples. Talk about yum! It was a great night with our friends. And another happy birthday to Mindy who shares the same bday! Hope AZ treated you well!

Clean Nachos

Tanner and I have been trying to eat a little cleaner, when we can, and when we don't have birthday parties to attend with desserts galore, or because we really like pizza, etc. We made these nachos on Saturday, and had plenty of leftovers for Sunday dinner as well. It was delicious, and although my sweet potato weren't "chips", eating with a fork was still very satisfying. Note: my guac was simply just some mashed avocados, lime, pepper, and a dash of garlic salt. And, we used ground turkey, not beef. You really can play these up any way you want! Give them a try!

image via

Ingredients

1. 2 medium tomatoes, diced and seeded
2. 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
3. 1-2 tbsp lime juice
4. 2 cups guacamole
5. 2 tbsp green onions, chopped

For the sweet potato chips

1. 3 large sweet potatoes
2. 3 tbsp melted coconut oil
3. 1 tsp salt

For the meat

1. 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2. 1 tbsp coconut oil
3. 1 green chili, diced
4. 1 lb. ground beef
5. 2 cloves garlic, minced
6. 1 tsp smoked paprika
7. 1/2 tsp ground cumin
8. 1 tbsp tomato paste
9. 12 oz. canned diced tomatoes
10. 1 tsp salt
11. 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. To make the sweet potato chips, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice thinly, using either a mandolin or sharp knife. In a large bowl, toss them with coconut oil and salt. Place the chips in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then flip the chips over and bake for another 10 minutes. For the last ten minutes, watch the chips closely and pull off any chips that start to brown, until all of the chips are cooked.
2. While the potato chips are baking, start preparing the beef. Melt the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and chili to the pan and sauté for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the ground beef and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and remaining spices and stir well to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer and then turn the heat down to medium-low. Cook, covered, for 20-25 minutes, stirring regularly.
3. Stir the chopped tomatoes, lime juice, and cilantro into the beef mixture. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
4. To assemble the nachos, form a large circle with the sweet potato chips on a platter. Add the beef mixture into the middle of the circle, and then top with guacamole and green onions.

Notes

1. Servings: 4-6
2. Difficulty: Medium

5 Things for Friday

1. I've been acting like my work starts later, so that means I leave later, and start later. I don't know why I can't get out of bed, but it just doesn't happen. The results of this is doing my makeup in the car (which isn't too hard, or much work). I knew I was close to the end of my eyebrow pencil, but thought I had a couple days left-I had about 1/2 of my brows drawn on yesterday, so that was cool. I'm sure no one noticed except me...let's hope? 

But down to the real story... The brush on my pencil kept coming off with the cap, and my sis recommended taking it back to Ulta, because their return policy is bomb anyways. Long story short, they exchanged my all-the-way-to-the-bottom pencil with a brand spankin' new one. I meannnn, that's pretty awesome, am I right? PLUS! I got two sample size things of some new hair product I wanted to try-both under $6, so I used my Buy $10 get $3.50 off coupon, BUT I had 300 something Ulta points, which meant I had credit on my account. When they told me I owed $1.60, I was shocked, because I basically just got 3 things for free. THEN when I was told that that was a mistake and they owed ME $1.60, I wanted to cry. I love getting paid to shop! :)

2. Last night I attended an event with my friend Morgan that her company was hosting. Our husbands had class in SLC until late, so we liked being each others' dates. It was featuring Nate, the owner of the Mission belt, who appeared on Shark Tank! Tanner and I have seen almost every episode-i'm serious-it's just making us better future business people-we think. Anyways, he was really great to meet, and told us to appreciate every relationship we have! For example: He has a lot of people in his company that he's worked with or met randomly in the past, and I thought that was really cool! 

We had lots of wonderful things happen to us this night like having my phone randomly start playing T-Swift in the middle of the presentation, Morgan breaking the "runway" lights, and almost hitting some runners on our way out-just to name a few. We make a great pair...

3. You know I'm a big supporter of Olive Lane Tees. They just launched their new spring line, and I'm seriously obsessed! It's making me want to buy every tee and start wearing them without sweaters in this awesome Utah weather we are having. Go take a look-you'll die! I think my favorite has to be the "Roll With Me".

4. I'm sure you've seen the Jimmy Fallon/Ellen episodes around on Facebook, or if you watch their shows. These two make me laugh so hard, and getting them together was just the best! It's on my bucket list to go to own of their shows-sadly we missed Jimmy in NYC by a couple days! I'm gonna keep on tryin!

5. I've said this before, and I'll say it again... I can't believe it's February. When 2015 hit I knew I had a lot of time before we had to pack and move, but now it seems like the days are getting away from us, and I really don't want to leave Utah! I'm starting to have some repeat meltdowns on my drive home from work-what else am I supposed to do on that 40 minute drive! ;) PS, we are moving to San Francisco for Dental school! We can hardly wait!

HAPPIEST BIRTHDAYS TO MY OLDEST SIS, KODI! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

The last January weekend

The month of January has flown by, and hasn't been anything too exciting. As freaked out as I am about having it already be February, I'm ready for a fresh start, and a new month! This past weekend we had Tanner's family in town for sweet baby Olivia's blessing. We had such a great time with them, it's always sad to see family go. 

my wonderful mother in law

we do food right at parties

so fun to have almost everyone together!