What's more American...?

On Friday, we went here:

With these folks:

Signed up here: (Yay for not drinking alcohol. You get a free soda!)

To watch this sport with hot dogs and all:

In this amazing building: (It's air conditioned!)

That has a roof that does this:

It's one of my favorite things. I was sad they didn't open it for the game but they did open it after for these:

Thanks to the Diamondbacks for not making this Utah girl miss her Pioneer Day fireworks!

the power of a flower

I always tell Michael that I love flowers. I like the happiness in them. You can't go wrong with flowers. To this Mr. Frugal counters that he doesn't like buying things that die but he agrees that they are ok for occasional special situations. {Side note: HE was one who on multiple occasions left flowers on my car or delivered them to my school while we were dating. Such a charmer. Now that we're married, I have had to remind him about this a few times.}

This week I was having a low day that was brightened quickly when he came home for lunch with these beauties. I guess he still knows how to make this girl smile.

Vive Harry Potter

I am a Harry Potter fan! I am. I am. I also can't stay awake past 11 pm anymore, so we didn't go to the midnight showing like true blue fans. But we did see "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" on Thursday. I learned my lesson the hard way that I won't read the book right before the movie because then I usually despise the movie. So it's been a few years since I read the 6th book. Therefore, I actually liked the movie. I feel like it did a good job at capturing the parts I remember. EXCEPT for the end. No me gusta. I won't be being a spoiler, because the gist was the same as the book. However, I felt like the book had a lot more powerful ending involving a lot more characters and plot weaving than the movie. I guess that's why books are always better than the movies. Anyway...I want to know what others thought. Let me know. Until then...Vive Harry Potter!

escape

To escape the heat- (previously mentioned) we went here:


Population: 5,000. It's seriously in the middle of nowhere. And it's not exactly the usual place folks "escape" to. Anne Shirley would be very disappointed with it's name too because there is no snow here. It's named after the Mormon explorers that founded it. (Brother Snow and Brother Flake) Although there was no snow, it still was at least twenty degrees cooler than Tempe. This was a welcomed escape.

Despite the small population, this town has this beautiful building:

Another welcomed escape.

It was a great little day trip. It's about a 3 hour drive each way. We enjoyed the scenic drive. Ate lunch at a fine restaurant called "The Skillet."

Michael did some golfing. I'm starting to think it's quite a serious addiction problem. But if he gets a cart in the special deals he finds, then I usually go for the ride. This was actually a fun course. It was beautiful. It went around the temple and through different neighborhoods, off some cliffs, had waterfalls, and most importantly it wasn't that hot.

"The closest thing to heaven:"

We did a session in the temple and drove home in time for a short swim and then Harry Potter Weekend. Not bad for a summer Saturday!

Ode to Air Conditioning

The joke for us has been 'who wouldn't move to Arizona in the summer?' For the real answer to this question see this. Thank you Laura for the answer. Well, we did move down to Arizona during the summer. The majority of June was really not that bad. It was over 100 only a few days, so it was perfect pool weather. HOWEVER, July is now here and it is definitely HOT. This weekend is supposed to be 116! AH!!

Therefore, this post is dedicated to how wonderful air conditioning is.

We realized how grateful we are for this masterful invention last night when our neighbors' air conditioning went out. Not a good thing. Their apartment was as hot inside as it was outside in a matter of minutes. The heat also killed the battery in my poor little car yesterday. Not a good day for heat. After the Andersons saved us from the dead battery, the four of us had a sleepover at our air conditioned apartment! It was a win-win.

To my air conditioning unit: Please keep working!

4th of July

I love the 4th of July! It's a picturesque holiday! I love the patriotism, the parades, the fireworks, the picnics and barbeques. It's a sign summer is really here and it always reminds me of how proud I am to be an American.

This year was no exception. A little different than the traditional, but we still had fun in AZ. we decided on a great low key day that started with a GREAT picnic/bbq at our pool with the Andersons. (Sad I missed the Kaysville Parade. Nothing's better.) We had to take a picture in our best red, white, and blue outfit contribution. Of course we took a very flattering picture where one of us didn't want to pose for a picture and the other one of us was telling the first to smile with his teeth. Therefore it came out like this:

Ok so it was a bad moment to capture. Not exactly Kodak. My stubborn side didn't have this retaken for a happier us. (I know, I need to work on the peace maker thing.) But the stubborn side didn't stop me taking some pics of our fun 4th of July food.

What's more American than Pink Lemonade and checkered table cloths:

Festive Pasta Salad (Not my Mom's perfect kind but still yummy) :

My picture taking stopped before our yummy steaks were off the grill and before the potato salad, chips and watermelon. Trust me though, it was all good.

Despite the grumpy picture, we really did have a great day with some great eats, great friends and a lot of sun. So much, in fact, that we both were way tired and fell asleep. We didn't wake up until middle of fireworks. So lame. How old are we anyway? I guess it was a good thing though because a lot of cities down here cancelled their fireworks to save money in this economy. Therefore I heard the ones that did have fireworks were way crowded. We stayed in our wonderful air conditioned apartment and watched a movie. (Still very American- even if we missed fireworks.)

I still love this holiday. I'm proud to be an American and I'm grateful for the sacrificies and the people that defend this country and keep it free. (Especially family members and friends.) I still can't help but get choked up when I hear students say the pledge or people sing the National Anthem or see men and women in uniform. (Especially when they are being reunited with their families after being overseas- that gets me everytime!)

What a great country!

Lazy Summer Nights

Wednesday nights are now dedicated to an addiction that makes Michael literally giggle uncontrollably (he even let me write giggle) and I will admit it gets me to laugh with it's quick, witty repartee occasionally. It is a guilty habit, but we can't help but watch...


I don't know why it's so funny to watch people try to make it through ridiculous obstacle courses with some serious wipeouts. But it is.