all about food

Some firsts for the Florida kids:

1) Gabe and I were introduced to Cherry Ironport at a restaurant called The Bluebird Cafe located on Main St. in Logan. Mr. Ballam took us there for lunch a few days ago and insisted that we try this beverage. I think the best way to describe it would be really, really sweet cherry coke. It's a soda only sold in this part of the country and it was definitely worth a try. My lips puckered at first, but we got used to it quickly. Pretty yummy. The Bluebird is an old fashioned soda fountain and cafe. It was adorable inside and the food was great. I'll have to take more pics the next time we go. I didn't want to be like paparazzi in front of Gabe's boss, whom was probably approached by at least half the restaurant while we were there. Also, the peanut butter ice cream pie...ridiculous.

2) Cafe Rio!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been hearing about this place for several years from friends and blogs and I could not wait to try it. I had the Cafe Rio salad which did not disappoint. I dove right in and almost forgot to take a picture. It's a flour tortilla with rice and beans and a yummy salad on top with amazing tomatilla ranch dressing. We tried their burritos today but I still think the salad is my favorite! Please excuse the phone camera picture quality.

 3) Red Velvet Strawberry Shortcake. You should make this. I found the recipe via my friend  Amanda's pinterest and I'm so glad I made it. The original recipe is for a four layer cake. Two layers of red velvet and two layers of white cake, alternating. After making all four layers I decided it would fall over if I personally stacked it that high so I made the executive decision to make two cakes each with one layer of red velvet and one layer of white. We had a get together with our host's family so it was a good thing it made a lot :). It' super simple-  box cake mix, cool whip, and strawberries. That's it.

I recently set up a pinterest account and I'm so glad I did. It's a great way to catalog ideas and projects and I probably would never have found this great cake recipe. Here is my pinterest if you want to take a peek. I don't have much on their yet, but I'm sure I'll collect more over time. Does anyone else have pinterest? Let me know so I can follow you :)

Meet Joe

He's our tiny friend. We live in his house.

He likes to wake us up in the morning then fall back asleep with us.

He also likes to give kisses but his tongue is so small you can barely tell.

We really, really wuv him.

(excuse the bum shot, it was too cute)

canyon hike

A couple days ago we headed out on our first ever hike. We headed up green canyon again since it's close by. We took the trails into the canyon and found a cave. Climbing up to it felt like a huge victory!



Then, we decided it might be fun to go up even further. I really had no fear and just kept climbing. I got up on top of the cave.



(my view)

 It was steep, with slick rock and lots of pebbles. So after I made Gabe a little panicked I headed back down which turned out to be a bit more scary than climbing up.

I felt awesome after we got down. Gabe had a battle wound so he was not as excited. We went up further in the canyon and found some beautiful mountain bike trails and camping sites.

All these pictures were taken on our phones. I was a bit nervous to bring the camera not knowing what to expect, but I know for sure I'll have to go back at least to capture the sunset. It was brilliant as we were walking back. It is so beautiful here. I was so grateful for the journey we have been on this year. We left Houston last year about this time. Even though it's crazy and we live out of our suitcases, walks like this up a mountainside help me realize how much there is yet to explore.

I know God has a great path for us lying ahead.

New York (Part III)

The last day we were in New York we visited our friend, Christina. She took us to the most amazing place for brunch called Max Brenners. He is a chef that specializes in chocolate. Need I say more!

Even though it was 10:30 in the morning, we all felt the need to try some dessert. Gabe solved that for us, he ordered a chocolate sampler! It had everything- brownies, fondue, dark chocolate shot, chocolate egg roll, and a chocolate chip waffle. Sounds a little strange at first, but it was genius. I ordered a spinach crepe and Christina ordered blueberry pancakes with blood orange syrup. I have to say it was one of the best meals of my life. Not only was the chocolate good, that crepe came straight from heaven as far as I'm concerned. I'm pretty sure this place will have to become a repeat every time I go to NY.



Not too far from the restaurant we ventured to a store I had been reading about called Fish's Eddy. It was a charming home store with all kinds of fun antique items and interesting pieces.

They had this really cute "cheer up" line and these porcelain hands are made from rubber glove molds. I bought a miniature one to hold my rings. I was collecting ideas for a future house someday.

Isn't this fun art work? We found it in the subway on our way to the airport. Makes the subway a little more inviting I think. :)

We are so happy we were able to make the trip to NY. The first few days we were there we stayed in CT with our friends Brenda and Braden, so it was fun to see the calm side of life not too far from the city. Then Christina let us stay at her place in the Bronx too so we got to see all kinds of places. Thanks so much to our friends for letting us stay. We had an amazing time!

New York (Part II)



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After our lovely afternoon spent seeing the boat house, bethesda fountain and belvedere's castle we headed over to The Museum of Natural History

I would like to take this time to publicly make you all aware that my husband is a subway/public transport genius in NYC. We downloaded subway apps on our phones which helped, but we never got lost, not once. He would just grab my hand tight and weave me through tons of people and we always made it to the right place. Without him I would have curled up in a ball somewhere that would have inevitably smelled.

Thank you husband!

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent. After the museum we headed to midtown to eat at a great pizza place we heard about called Bella Vita. It was delicious!!!

After leaving the little pizza joint it began to pour!! Pour, I tell you. So, we made a quick deicison to hide in a delicatessen. "But we just ate dinner," I mentioned to husband. So, the next best thing was cheesecake. I only remembered to take a picture when we were almost done. Oops. It was heavenly though!

I'm sure you can imagine.

When it stopped raining we headed to see this..

(via)

We loved it!!!! Loved it! I didn't know much about the show going in, but our friend, Jessica Rush was performing in it so we decided to see it. So worth it. I didn't realize how many of the songs I recognized. It was so well done. Everyone was awesome. We both highly recommend seeing this show!

That wraps up the end of day two in the city. Was that long or what??

New York (Part I)

The weekend before coming to Utah, Gabe and I traveled to New York for a few days. He worked with his voice teacher and had a meeting with an agent, and I just went for fun. Here are some pictures to sum up our adventure on Day 1 in the city.

I forgot to mention it rained a lot. Bummer. Although it made the sunny moments even more special!

After playing with his nephew, Aiden in Orlando someones love for Legos came back full force!

If you love to sew or knit, this is like mecca. Beautiful shop!

We had dinner in Little Italy to finish our day. We had the cannoli before dinner of course!

 These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, lets hear it for new york

Mom's Day

We were able to celebrate Mother's Day in Orlando with our families. That morning we had an unbelievable breakfast courtesy of Grant.

(Gerry, Gabe, Gretchen, Garrett, Grant)

Later that day we headed to my mom's house and replanted one of their flower beds.

Then we headed to Sarah's to relax and have dinner.

We love our Mama's. All of them :)