BOO!

Why are ghosts such bad liars?

Because you can see right through them!!

Haha. Happy Halloween! We are in LA this weekend enjoying the sunshine. Have a great weekend! 

Halloween Lift

Two years ago, we went on our first date married with the now McGrath's. We attended the Halloween Lift Ride up at Sundance, and we had a blast listening to the new T Swift album, and snacking on Pumpkin Bars. This year, in honor of Taylor, we decided to do the exact same thing. They've sure amped it up this year, it was so fun! When you first walk to the Ski lift, there's corn hole, and some pumpkin bowling, so of course the boys had to participate!

We reenacted our photo from those two years ago, except this year, that scarecrow was fake. We punched him to make sure, because last time I was sitting on a mans lap and had no idea!!

If you're looking for a fun fall activity, take the Sundance lift! The Halloween edition will be over soon, but it's such a fun evening out all bundled up.

We had a good time with our friends, reminiscing on the olden days! But, we think these days are even better!

The Best Pumpkin Bars You Will Ever Taste

Today calls for another fall recipe: Pumpkin Bars. These are the absolute bombest. And, don't forget about that amazing, addictive cream cheese frosting! MMM!

Pumpkin Bars

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 and 2/3 cups sugar

1 cup oil (I use coconut)

1 can (15oz) pumpkin 

Frosting:

1 8oz. package of cream cheese 

1/3 cup softened butter

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 Tbsp milk

sprinkled ground cinnamon

Directions:

In your mixer, combine eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. 

Add the dry ingredients, gradually. Mix well.

Spread batter in a greased 15x10x1 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

Once your bars are cooled, cream together butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.  Mix on high speed until smooth creamy. Sprinkle ground cinnamon on frosting, or leave bare. I think they look cuter with cinnamon! 

 

Dish up those suckers, and make sure you have people to share them with, or I promise you will eat the whole pan!

Utah's Fall

The past couple months I have really been enjoying this beautiful Utah fall. The colors are so rich, and the weather has been amazing. Mark my words, this has been the best one yet.

When I moved to Provo after I graduated, I wasn't a big fan of Utah. Even when I got married, Tanner and I weren't fans either! It's only been this last year that we've really fallen in love with Utah. Coming from Az, where all it has is beautiful desert sunsets, and great December weather, I never even knew what "fall" was. It makes me extra grateful for the time I've had to enjoy this fall. I know it sounds crazy, but it feels like such a great "send off" to wherever we may live for Dental School. Who knows, we could stay in Utah, but I'm so grateful it's been so beautiful, and that I've really gotten to enjoy Utah, just in case we sadly get to leave it.

The past 2 weekends I have been home alone while Tanner has been traveling for interviews. I've gone on some beautiful nature walks and runs (one time at the Provo river by myself at dusk-never doing that again), and I LOVE taking pictures of the colors!! I'm seriously obsessed. 

When Tanner saw this picture, he asked if I had made those circles myself haha. It does look kind of fake!

Saturday I decided to drag a friend along this time, and luckily, both husbands were out of town, so we literally spent all day together. It was one of the funnest Saturdays-we both said that!

We hiked the Y, made a Costco run, ate an early lunch at Kneaders, I visited her at work, and then crazy enough, the boys were on the same flight home! So we stopped at City Creek, grocery shopped at Harmon's, then finally got to see our men. It was such a good day!

I'm thankful for the time Tanner and I have been able to have apart-crazy I know-but it's made our relationship stronger, and there's no better feeling than when you get to see your loved one after missing them! I'm also very grateful those last 2 weekend are over, because these next 2 weekends, I get to be his travel buddy! Eek! I've been waiting for this week for too long! 

I've been wanting to make some cookies & cream cookies for a while now, and I thought what better time than for my husband's intramural football game! I then had the great idea to use orange halloween Oreos to have some orange chunks as well. Sadly, the orange mixed in, and they ended up looking pretty pink, but the color didn't matter, they were so yummy! 

Grab your ingredients & preheat your oven to 350:

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 package Cookies n'Creme pudding mix

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

10 Oreos, chopped

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

I got home pretty late, and needed to start making the cookies quick! I'm sure I'm not the only person this has happened to... so, open up the wrappers, and cut into chunks-they'll get soft in no time!

Cream together butter and sugars.

Stir in the pudding mix.

Add eggs and vanilla to cream mixture.

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt into mixture.

Crunch up some Oreos (10-14) and add, along with the white chocolate chips.

Look at the pretty colors! I'm so sad it got so mixed in.

Bake for 7-9 minutes.

Happy weekend baking!

Bambara-SLC

We went to a new restaurant for our Anniversary dinner, and let me tell you, it was delicious. Tanner's brother suggested Bambara to us, and it was so fun to try something new together! I swear food is the only thing we really spend money on, because we love good food, and love trying new places! 

Bambara is an "American Bistro" and the presentation of the food was absolutely beautiful! Like I said in my last post, there was an open kitchen, and I loved that. There are 4 chefs, including one pastry chef, and everything was brought to you immediately when it was done, so everything was so fresh.

I also loved that they personalized our menus, it added such a cute touch!

I'm going to apologize for the quality of pictures...Tanner is always too hungry to sit and take pictures, so I have to sneak them as fast as I can!

To start off, they bring every table the softest bread ever, with a side of hummus.

I got the salmon (typical) and it was laid on top of mashed potatoes, and had shaved pears on top. The flavor was so unique, it was really yummy. To be honest, it wasn't my favorite salmon, but I've had a lot of salmon in my life. I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend it!

Tanner got the New York Steak, and the herbed frites. If I go back, I'll definitely get this, even though it's more of a manly dish. It was DELICIOUS! Thankfully Tanner shared lots of it with me, I just couldn't have enough!

We ended the night with a turtle ice cream sandwich. Oh. My. Gosh. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Pecan Crusted Dark Chocolate Cookie, Salted Caramel Drizzle, Cocoa Nib Crackle. Does that make you want to go just for dessert? Because you should. It was SO GOOD!

Bambara has such a unique menu, we will definitely be going back!

Our Anniversary

I still can't believe we just celebrated two years of marriage yesterday! Two years seems like so long, but also so so short. 

We celebrated with dinner on Friday, because Tanner had an interview this weekend, and our anniversary was on a Sunday. Tanner surprised me with dinner at a new restaurant (it's seriously our favorite thing to do) in downtown SLC. It's called Bambara, and it was so absolutely delicious. We couldn't stop talking about it afterwards! They even personalized our menu for us-it was so cute!

you can see the open kitchen behind me-i loved that! and, look at how darling the seats are!

classic hand holding-at the dinner table-pic. the best.

it was such a classy looking restaurant.

After dinner we got to walk around and enjoy the beautiful fall colors, the brisk air, and the city!

I understand you may think I don't have eyebrows, but I do... 

I just trimmed my bangs don't you worry.

I love that my husband is my best friend, and these have been the best 2 years of my life!

TWO

October 19th, 2012, I married the love of my life. I can't imagine life without Tanner, and I don't know how things could get better than this! I fall more in love with him everyday, and I'm so thankful I get to spend eternity with my absolute best friend. 

Here's to 100 more! I love you!

My favorite week of the year

October is my month. It's my favorite month of the year, the leaves are changing, the air is brisk, I get to wear sweaters, and my birthday and anniversary are both in the same week. I always thought it would be a crazy week (which it is!) but I love celebrating for a week long. It's the best!

My birthday was on Tuesday and it was such a fun day.  My office cubicle was decorated, I got a free sub from Firehouse with friends, and I got a free bundlet from Nothing Bundt Cake. I then came home and felt spoiled by that cute husband of mine.

We got sushi at Happy Sumo with the Zylstra peeps, and then walked around the Riverwoods after. On our way home I was wondering why Tanner was taking the absolute longest way, but I didn't think anything of it because I was FaceTiming a friend. We got home to a couple friends surprising me, and we celebrated with dessert! PS, did you know October 14th is National Dessert Day? They seriously named that holiday after I was born. My husband and friends made me feel so loved, and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me!

Our anniversary is this week and I can't believe it's been 2 years. Time sure does go by fast!

breakfast in bed

birthdays are fun in the office

Soph wanted in for the pic, and I decided that we need a child. You look better.

i love him.

sis selfie

wasn't quite ready for the pic, but he's still dreamy.

Thanks for the birthday wishes!