moab in may

i am so behind in my blogging.  

so behind, in fact, that i haven't even posted about my school's humanitarian trip to moab the second week of may.  we go somewhere at the end of every school year to offer audiology services to people in need.  last year we went to costa rica, the year before the gang went to the dominican republic.  this year we were supposed to go to mexico, but everything fell through shortly before we were supposed to go because we didn't feel like it was a safe time to be traveling across the mexican borders.  so instead we decided to help out some of our local friends in need.  we headed down to moab for a quick trip (we left monday morning and returned late tuesday night) but we sure had a good time.  

first stop- the moab charter school.  we got the entire school screened in about 2 hours and had the rest of the time to play in moab.

that night we all went to arches national park and it was a fabulous evening!  i'd never been to moab or hiked to any of the famous arches and i was seriously so amazed by all the amazing rock formations.

we all spent the evening at the watermelon house.  a fabulously ghetto house that fit us all quite comfortably.  we spent the entire evening playing card games, poker, eating junk food, and laughing.

the next day we all got to choose what activities to do- a hike to the various hot spots throughout arches and moab or a canyoneering trip.  megan and i decided to go with the boys on the canyoneering trip and it was awesome!  the day started off cold and rainy but turned out to be fabulous "canyoneering" weather.  one of the boys in my class knew about a "secret hike" that very few people are able to go on.  we spent the entire morning walking, hiking, rock climbing, and scrambling up some huge red rock boulders.  thank goodness those boys were so patient with me and megan as we tried using our short legs and weak arms to scale those large rocks and rock ledges!

we eventually made our way through a canyon to some ledges and then rappelled down. 

we continued onward and made our way to the highest point in all of arches- elephant butte.  the view was absolutely amazing (but it was sooooo windy) and i can't believe we made it to the top so quickly and with no casualties!  at the very top there is a canister holding a register of all the people who have made it to the top- we all wrote our names on it with pride!

on our way down we hit another drop that we had to rappel down.  this was a fun one especially since we had the chance to take some pictures of us hanging upside down. some of us were better at getting our legs up than others.... (mike)... haha

this trip ended up being so fun and i am so glad i was able to go.  i really like that we are all able to spend some time together at the end of a crazy year to just laugh, relax, and have a great time.  i'm going to miss my classmates that are a year ahead of me (and are currently off working at their 4th year externship sites) and was so glad i could spend some quality time with them.  we become like a family and it's always bittersweet to finish a year off and see people move on.  but... just one more year and that'll be me!

here goes nothin!

well, the time has come for me to announce to the world that my craft blog/business is officially up and running.

sassyblossoms.blogspot.com

now i have a place where i can put pictures of everything i have been selling at the farmer's market this season.

i'm not going to lie, though... i'm a bit nervous!

i hope people like my stuff.

maybe i'll sell a thing or two.

i'll be adding more to it as i get more pictures taken, but if you venture over there now, you'll have a good idea of what i have to offer.

it might help if you leave me a comment and let me know what you think :)

so please do me a favor and peruse my blog... and, if anything, you'll love the photography.  my fabulous friend michelle is a great photographer and she was kind enough to let me borrow her beautiful child and take pictures of all of my inventory.  she is amazing and you should check out her photography website here for more of her great work!

sassyblossoms.blogspot.com

xoxo,

liz

bad combo

so i'm flying home from houston today and had to make a layover in phoenix.

i was unfortunate enough to have a middle seat and my flight was anything but glamorous.

old man next to me:  no deodorant on and kept burping after drinking his tomato juice.  gag!

younger lady next to me: immediately took off her shoes AND socks as soon as we boarded the plane.  i through the stench was bad enough but then she managed to pull her feet under her booty, causing her toes to touch my arm.  i'm pretty sure i gave her the look of death.  she finally took the hint and managed to prop both feet up on the chair in front of us and left them there the entire flight.  the air conditioner was broken on the plane and the smell lingered the entire 2 1/2 hours.  ahh... double gag!

also, i was watching glee (first-timer, here) on my laptop with my headphones on to distract myself from my two neighbors.  she thought it was her place to tap me on the shoulder and ask me every 5 mins or so what was going on in the show. 

i pray that my next flight is better.

it HAS to be better!

memorial weekend

i am the worst picture-taker ever.

over our holiday weekend, we didn't take any pictures.

not a single one.

but this is what we were up to:

i sold at the farmer's market again on saturday morning.  josh came with me this time.  it wasn't super busy because it was cold and all that darn rain.  oh well, i still love it.

josh went to wendover with his friends.  they got tickets to see some comedian and then hung out for a bit after.  they had fun and he didn't lose too much of our money :)

i spent saturday night working.  after getting off, i rented a chick flick, got some ice cream and french fries, and cuddled up with my little tess.  i have no shame.

sunday we headed to slc and had dinner with my family.  my mom and dad made some delicious food.

monday morning josh went fishing with his bro at rockport.  they got up at 4:45 am (which also meant i got up that early) and spent about 5 hours fishing.  too bad they didn't catch a single thing.  better luck next time??

monday morning i went to the cemetery with my family.  it has been years since i've gone and i was very grateful to go and hear stories about my dad's dad and my grandma's parents.  i especially loved listening to the bagpipe players as they walked around the gardens. 

monday afternoon josh's parents made some delicious lunch for us.  we gorged ourselves yet again!

josh and i hit up the mall for a few hours stocking up on summer apparel and clothes to take with us to sunny mexico.

i was lucky enough to get pedicures with my mom and sister to get our toesies ready for mexico.

it was low-key, but a truly fabulous weekend!

hope yours was just as fabulous!

s'more popcorn, please

i made s'more popcorn for our LOST party tonight.  i think josh and i died a little inside when we tasted it.  delish.

tastes just like the s'more popcorn i had at the gold star cinemas in chicago a few months ago!

recipe found via disney's family fun website.

recipe:

1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 cups freshly popped popcorn, cooled
1 package mini marshmallows
2 cups crushed up graham crackers
1 cup chocolate chips (or more if your hubby is anything like mine)

instructions:

combine the brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and cook over high heat for 5 minutes (this mixture gets very hot).  remove from heat and stir in the baking soda.

combine popcorn and the mallows in a large metal or heat-resistent glass bowl (don't use a plastic bowl!).  drizzle the sugar mixture over the popcorn, then stir in the graham crackers and chocolate chips.

let the mixture set until cool enough to handle and form them into golf-ball-sized balls.  we just poured them into a greased pan to cool and then cut them into bars.  to each their own!

try this recipe.  it is fantastic.

a little of this, a little of that

here's a little wrap up of what we've been up to the past month or so...

being the die-hard jazz fans we are, we jumped at the opportunity to see game 3 of the jazz vs. nuggets with josh's co-worker trent and his wife kirste.  the game was awesome... sooo loud.... and we had a great time.  too bad the jazz had to get swept by the lakers in the 2nd round.  whelp, maybe next year.

josh and i celebrated our 2nd year anniversary on april 30th.  we did dinner that night at tepanyaki in layton and it was delicious.

we agreed that we would not do anniversary presents this year due to lack of sufficient funds.  however, both of us are terrible at pulling our end of the deal.  josh surprised me with a wii, wii fit, and games.

i surprised josh with his very own macbook pro.  he was shocked (to say the least) and a very happy boy!

laura has come up to logan a few times and decided to help me become more domestic in the kitchen.  so, we made these delightful oreo truffles...

and these yummy cake pops!

the farmer's market started on the 8th.  i didn't know what to expect, but it was fun!  i decided i will probably only do it every other week or so- it's a lot of work to get everything made, get set up, sell all morning, and take everything down.  i have no pictures from my booth (maybe this week i'll take some), but here is a cute onesie i made for a little boy...

i was able to attend the wedding reception of one of my alaska girls, lexi (aka samoa).  her wedding was complete with a roasted pig, hawaiian music, hula dancers, money dances, and more.  it was fabulous and she looked amazing!

a few of my alaska gals.  i can't believe it has already been 3 years since we were living the crazy life in juneau.  i seriously love my alaskan family and love that we've all stayed so close after so many years.

my first trip to moab.  it was for my school's humanitarian trip and we had such a great time.  i'll post more on this later.

my 25th birthday.  the day was spent with my little sisters shopping for our upcoming mexican vacation, lunch with my family at the cheesecake factory, and ended with the wedding reception of one of my younger cousins. minus the fact that josh was stuck in logan working and i was in murray with family, i had a great day!

lemon raspberry cream cheesecake.  my favorite ever.

in other news...

i registered for the st. george marathon.  it was a decision i made on a whim but i thought it would be fun.  sadly, my team didn't make the cut in the lottery.  now i'm debating on running the top of utah marathon or if i'll just stick with the 1/2 marathon again this year.

josh and i finished up another school year.  he did well in his classes (yay!) and i can add another 4.0 to the books.  we are sooo happy to have the summer school-free!

3 1/2 weeks till the girls and i head to houston to visit miss stacy and see her neck of the woods.

4 1/2 weeks till our vacation at an all-inclusive resort in the maya riviera!

half full

as of today i am officially 1/2 way through my graduate program!

i choose to look at it in a positive way and say the glass is half full...

i am confident that these next 2 years are going to fly by

much faster than these past 2 years have gone.

they just have to!

i'm seriously thrilled... ooo-de-la-ly!!!!