Tuesday, March 22, 2011

{Updated} Inexpensive Utah Activities

No need to spend a lot on entertainment. Check out these inexpensive options:

 
Comedy

 
  • Quick Wits- Fri and Sat Nights 10:00 PM at the Midvale Main Street Theatre… $6 for students
  • And…Go!- Wednesday Nights at the Murray Theatre… $5 if you drop the name (Clint, Gavin, Ian, Taylor, John, Melissa or Kurtis)
 
Local Theatre

 
  • Murray City… $7
  • West Jordan City …$7
  • Empress Theatre in Magna… $9-11
  • Sandy Ampitheater… prices vary on event
  • Desert Star Playhouse… $13.95 for students

 
Games

 
  • Game Night Games (2030 South 900 East, suite E)- Try new board games! Check out their calendar on-line for specifics on events, but Wed and Sat. nights are open board game nights… FREE-$5

 
Sports

 
  • Salt Lake Bees… $7.50 general admission, $50 season student pass
  • Grizzlies… $10.00
  • Ice Skating at the Olympic Oval… $4 admission $2 skate rental

 
Outdoors

 
  • Midnight hike up Ensign Peak…FREE
  • East Canyon $9 car entry fee; canoe rental… cheap!
  • Jordanelle $7-10 car entry free; canoe rental… cheap!
  • Alpine Slide… $11 for adults, $3 for children (child is determined by weight :p )
  • Snow Bird… varies on activity

 
Art

 
  • Gallery Stroll, every 3rd Friday of the month… FREE
  • Church History Museum… FREE
  • Utah Museum of Fine Arts… FREE (for BVU students)
  • Broadview University Open Lab, Tuesday 7:00 PM… FREE (must be 18 or older, because there are usually nude models)
  • MOA at BYU… FREE
  • Broadview University Movie Nights… FREE

 
Festivals

 
  • Living Traditions Festival, May 20-22 at the Salt Lake City County Building… FREE

 
Architecture

 
  • State Wide Masonic Temple Open House, May 21st 10AM- 2PM… FREE, please bring an item of non-perishable food for the food bank

Guided Tours through the Utah Heritage Foundation… Free-$3

 
  • McCune Mansion
  • Marmalade District
  • Kearns Mansion
  • Salt Lake City and County Building
  • Meditation Chapel at Memory Grove

Self-Guided Tours through the Utah Heritage Foundation… FREE

 
  • Tracks to Trax: Connecting Communities Audio Tour
  • Historic Downtown Salt Lake
  • Historic South Temple
  • Historic Buildings on Capitol Hill

 
Don’t forget the Farmer’s Markets at Pioneer Park and Murray Park will soon be coming as well as Free Concerts in the Park! If you have any questions on these activities or want more information contact me!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Baby Whisperer

This is the nickname that Jordan has given himself.  Jordan and I would both love to be parents, but this is not the right time, so we borrow our friends' babies or pitch in whenever we can.  I was helping my friend, Katie, study for her PRAXIS exam and Jordan tagged along to watch her new baby, Jared.  Needless to say, we got in a ton of studying without any interuptions.  Jordan even put the baby to sleep. 

The next night Katie came over to our house to study again while Jordan was at his own test reveiw at the U.  Jared started to get really fussy and started crying.  I took him so that Katie could keep studying.  I took him to the laundry room in our complex so I could change the laundry and I kept talking to him and bouncing him and cuddling him (all while moving the laundry around, mind you) and he kept wailing.  Jordan got home and saw us.  He took the baby and within a minute Jared was quiet.  Jared didn't make a fuss the rest of the night. 

Babies and kids just love him.  I am really luck to have picked Jordan to be the father of my children.  I know he will be a really good daddy some day. 

Here's us with Baby Jared at his blessing

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Healthy Living... We're gonna give it a go.

So both Jordan and I have gone to the doctor's this last week for completely non-related reasons.  The verdict for both of us.... Exercise.  Dr. Boud told me that in exchange for some jiggeterizing/energizing magic pills that he will give me I in turn have to devote my life to exercising.  Seriously, 6 times a week, every week, for the rest of my life.  (After about a month the goal is to not need magic pills to have basic motivation.) Then he said while I'm at it that he's also prescribing Jordan to follow the same advice.  Hee hee hee. 

We are also dedicating ourselves to being better eaters.  Already today, Jordan turned down buying 3 delicious cookies with a Subway sandwich for $1.29 and I brought all the cupcake cookies that I baked this weekend to work.  Baby steps, everyone, baby steps. 

Here's my biggest problem with exercise, though.  It bores me.  So we would appreciate any support, love, freshly grown vegetables from your garden, that you can give us.  This is the rest of my life we're talking about afterall.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

My New Favorite Thing...

Cupcake shops. I wanted to find Jordan the perfect red-velvet cupcake for Valentine's Day.  (I had gotten the idea from my friend, Katie, who had done it for her anniversary).  And so my quest for the perfect cupcake shop began.  One friend suggested Costco (which to be honest since I'm craving cupcakes so badly I may just go buy a 6 pack Red Velvet special), Katie suggested The Cheesecake Factory, another friend suggested Mini's and then I found a bunch more on the internet.  I have now been to So Cupcakes and Mini's.  Both were fantastic.  I will be trying the rest as my blood sugar and pocket book allow. 

For my friend, Lauren's birthday, I got her the "Tiffany's Box" cupcake from Mini's.  Check out the picture below for how stinkin' cute it is!  Also, ignore me... I look like a goober. 


My little sister has a dream to one day own a cupcake shop.  I heartely support this cause.  Especially since I can't bake a cake to save my life.  It is not a talent that was endowed to me in this life- so I will just spend my time enjoying those that others make.

Also, I LOVE the flowers Jordan got me, and no blog right after Valentine's would be complete without a shout out to an amazing husband.  Give thanks to the really good ones!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

2 month Recap

It's been a while since I've last blogged so let me recap what's happened.  Right before Christmas I got offered a job by Broadview University in their Financial Aid Department and instead of starting in January, they me to start training right away.  It was a great blessing because we weren't planning on that income and they were still going to let me take off for a week so Jordan and I could spend some holiday time with the Grooms family.  So my new job is great with wonderful people (you know it's going well, when you're not constantly checking the clock for your breaks or doing the math on how many vacation days you've accrued, when you can take them and if anyone will notice if you're gone.)  Relief!


So in Montana we spent time with Jordan's siblings and mainly just, ate, watched movies and played bubble shooter.  One of our highlights of the trip was going to Canada.  First we grabbed a quick lunch at Dairy Queen, where I was very disappointed that they do not have butterscotch dipped cones.  Really?  I mean, don't Canadians love butterscotch too?  Anyway, I still got lunch and then we went to the Cardston Temple for a session.  Then we went out to dinner with Jordan's cousins, Mike, Lindsey and their cute daughter, Maddie.  The next morning we headed back and had the hardest time finding a gas station (seriously a 20 minute detour to even find more that one or two houses next to each other) and then we got in the wrong line at the border and poor Jordan almost, well, something embarrassing would have happened if we had had to wait another 2 minutes.  I was also a little disappointed because my passport didn't get stamped.  Let it be known that (even if there aren't stamps to prove it) for the first time in my life my passport has been used  more than once!
Back in Montana Jordan and I took up a project of re-doing one of the bathrooms in his parent's house.  We painted it a beautiful green that is supposedly one of the top ten Man Cave colors.  Jordan changed out light bulbs and hardware and his siblings had no idea he was so handy.  Then we celebrated New Year's and the next morning it was time for us to leave.

The snow and ice were really bad on the roads and just outside of the Montana border I hit a patch of black ice.  We were sliding and I turned the wheel and the car didn't respond.  I turned the wheel the other way and nothing happened.  Then I had the thought, "Hit the breaks."  And I said to myself, "No, we'll spin."  "Hit the breaks" came again to my mind.  So I did.  We spun, and spun and snow flew around the windows, I thought I had rolled the car as we flew off the road.  Finally we stopped.  We were stuck in the snow, but only a few feet off the road, facing toward it.  Jordan couldn't open his door if he tried, but we were safe.  He pulled out his phone and called 911 and then Triple A.  An hour and 10 good Samaritans later we were back on the road, with absolutely no damage.  As we looked back, we realized that if I hadn't hit the breaks one of 2 things would have happened: either we would have careened off the road straight into a mile marker at 65 + miles per hour and flipped the car, or the tires would have gripped on the asphalt and my over correction with the wheel would have sent us into on-coming traffic.  Needless to say after we were back on the road I spent the next half hour in tears, and in prayers of gratitude.  The Lord and his fast flying angels were looking out for us. 

January has been fairly uneventful.  Jordan got a new calling and was set apart as the Elder's Quorum 2nd Counselor.  He is going to do an amazing job. 



On Sunday, it had been one year since Jordan and my first date.  He had taken me to the symphony and, obviously, we hit it off really well.  Yesterday he surprised me with a bouquet of beautiful orange roses with hot pink tips and voluntarily taking out the garbage.   We've had a long, hard year to get to where we are, but it's also been a very joyous journey.  I love you, Jordan.