Monday Date Night

this place..... well i have heard from more than one person that the red iguana is the place to eat in salt lake city. not only does it have the best mexican food in the state, according to some people it is the best place to eat period. now i love mexican food... like it could possibly be my favorite kind of food and i have been to my fair share of mexican restaurants. with that said, i must admit the rumors are true. it is very good. now i can't say that it is my favorite place to eat in all of utah but i definitely recommend it. mostly because when we went there, the service was great, the price is amazing for how good the food is, the portion sizes are decent and hello they have all you can eat chips. 

mostly i wanted to try the red iguana because one, i had heard so much about it and wanted to see for myself, and two i once tried to eat here with my family on a monday night and it was an hour wait! even though yourdanos and i were all the way in park city at the outlets we decided to venture across town to give this place a go. we got there at 4:00 and their was only a 20 minute wait. i still couldn't believe it. this place must always be crowded because it was a monday afternoon and there was still a wait. so i guess if you want to eat here don't go during lunch or dinner rush. you will be waiting for at least an hour. 

after dinner we grabbed nelsons frozen custard. what was i thinking not snapping a pick of my ice cream. maybe because when i got it, i pounded it down in seconds. if you know me i am a treat person which means i always have room for dessert. even though yourdanos was so full he could barely walk i told him we had to get ice cream because how can you eat dinner and not have a treat after? its the best part.

                                                        

i ordered one of the mole dishes because i heard they make the best. when i asked the waitress which mole she recommended, she brought out samples of every kind! now that is good service. after dipping my chips in every single one, i decided on the mango mole because i like sweet and spicy combinations. again the rumors were right. this mole dish was yummmmmy, but i don't know if i have had mole before so i don't have anything to compare it to. i guess to the next places i try mole at, beware, my standards are set very high! if i am being completely honest though, i probably won't be able to tell a difference. i don't have a knack for detail. mostly everything is just good to me, i never get too picky. 

a sweet young boy waiting outside the restaurant was nice enough to snap a pic for us. i hate asking people to take pictures. from some reason i think it is so awkward.... it is probably not that big of a deal but i hate it haha. maybe its because most of the time they do it all wrong. either they cut out some part of your body, angle it weird, or we plane just don't look good. you don't want to hurt their feelings and so you tell them you love it but you end up having to ask someone else hoping the last people that took your pic don't walk by. awkward.....

however, i can't say this picture was one of those moments. props to the young sweet boy. i think the pic turned out great. he may have cut a feet out a little too much... i kinda liked the shoes i was wearing... haha just kiddin but seriously. besides eating at the red iguana and nelson's frozen custard, we had a really fun day. we went to the outlets in park city, saw great gabby (3D) and watched three more episodes a suits. 

Sunday Sunset

sunday afternoon i was lucky enough to be able to pick up yourdanos (your-dan-os) from military training. he spent the last two weeks in arkansas, wakin up at the crack of dawn, blowing up things, jumping out of planes....ya know military stuff, while i continued to enjoy my casual summer working at redbutte gardens and nannying my favorite kiddies. i must say that i have major respect for yourdanos and anyone else who is a part of the military. it sounds like hard work and call me a baby but i could not do what they do. 

it is always fun seeing him, especially since this summer we have been doing the long distance thing. he has been living l.a and i have been living in salt lake, both of us doing internships. long distance relationships are definitely not ideal but they are good in a sense because it really helps you to appreciate the other person. it kind of makes the relationship exciting even though the time a part is hard. i really can't complain though because we have managed to see each other every couple of weeks and i have been able to takes some awesome trips to l.a this summer!

after picking him up, i brought him to my house where he stayed until tuesday. we both came back and took naps, then woke up to my momma's cookin. she made salmon with mango salsa on top. afterwards we watched a few episodes of suits. my dad and i have been t.v junkies this summer. we should probably take it easy. we have already finished 2 seasons of persons of interest, half a season of nashville and we have almost finished the first season of suits. we're sick. 

             

            

however the funnest part of the evening was defintely when we took a sunday drive at the perfect time the sun was going down. we didn't even mean to time it this way. we had just watched three episode of suits and thought we needed to take a break and do something else. unfortunately there wasn't anyone around to snap a photo of us to we had to take them ourselves but we did the best we could. i tried to take some pics of the actual sunset, but my camera didn't quite capture how beautiful it really was.

Weekend in Logan

peachy pancakes

my whole weekend was so much fun and the only picture i really have to show for it are these peach pancakes haha. don't get me wrong they are beautiful but it what happened to the rest of the weekend? i guess i will just have to tell instead of show. on saturday night i drove up to logan to say goodbye to a good friend of mine. his name is grayson weeks and he is leaving to start law school in philadelphia.

gray was one of my first friends i met up at utah state. i met him the summer of my freshman year. he was playing with his band, battle school, at a block party. he approached me randomly, we started talking and we have been friends ever since. gray is known for his super classy, gentleman like apparel and not too mention he is the best cook in logan. he is the gentleman of all gentlemans. sometimes i can't believe he is only 26! he is well beyond his years. gray is different from most of my guy friends but that is why i think he is so great and enjoy spending time with him. 

growing up has really taught me to be friends with everyone, not just the ones in your immediate social circle. if you try, you can really learn a lot from another person. though you may not agree with everything they say or think, there is something in just appreciating who they are. i have made it a goal to be friends with everyone and anyone. 

on saturday night we went to dinner at el torro in logan and then to a house show. afterwards i met up with my other really good friend brandon at texas road house because he was just getting off work. if you don't know, i served at texas road house all last year. going back was great because i got to see all of my old work friends. it brought back a lot of memories because i love college so much. it makes me so excited for another semester of school to start this year. 

why the picture of the peach pancakes you ask? on sunday morning we went to herms inn for breakfast. i ordered these because peaches are my favorite fruit. i don't snap pictures of my food too often... well maybe that's a lie.... but how can you resist when they look this good. 

Family Night



first off, my dad's sandals kill me in this photo. he loves those sandals and khaki pants. i am sure he would have worn his khaki's if i hadn't called him out on it the night before. when we were on our way to dinner her goes "natalie look! i am not wearing my khaki's tonight." i was like, "lookin like a stud dad". sometimes he will wear those shoes with his church suit. seriously dad? i mean i know fashion isn't your forte, but come on! haha i love him for it though.

anyways... this family night was actually not a recent occurrence but when i was looking back through old photos of the summer i found these pictures and realized i never posted about it. since i am living at home this summer, a lot of my social life has been with my family. it turns out they are actually pretty cool. i dreaded the idea of moving home last semester but now i am kinda dreading the idea of moving back up to school. what! i have to take care of myself again? i am getting use to the fridge always stalked, no grocery shopping and of course these weekly family nights.  unfortunately two of my siblings aren't in the picture. my brother james was probably out on a date and my sister jen lives in boston. 

for family nights we get real creative.... we always go out to eat. i should make a list of my favorite places to eat in salt lake because at this point i have probably tried them all. red rock is definitely a place we visit pretty frequently. we are always on different pages of what we feel like eating so it doesn't really ever work to just go to mexican or italian. we have to pick a place where there is a wide variety so everyone is happy. they have a redrock in salt lake, murray and park city. 

sista friends

this summer stacey and have become best buds. she is 4 years younger than me, so because of the little gap growing up it was hard to be close. i was always more close to my sister jen because there was only a 2 year difference. now that stacey is older and starting her freshman year at utah state this fall we have so many things to talk about. we both love shopping, boys and instagram so those are probably our main topics of conversation. we are total girls and being with her makes me feel like i am back in high school again. since most of my friends from high school or either married or moved away, it has been nice to have a friend to do stuff with. i can't wait to have her at utah state with me. 

Another Summer Holiday

these are the only pictures i have to show for my 24th of july holiday, dinner at trolley square and my peanut butter chocolate cookies i made for the party i went to. actually, the cookies are more like a failed pinterest attempt. the cookies didn't turn out bad and people said they liked them....(which could have totally been a courtesy compliment), they just didn't look like the picture! haha my stuff never look like the pictures. oh well... i keep tryin anyway.

for dinner we went to desert edge in trolley square. i should haven taken a picture of my meal because it was so good! they have salads, sandwiches, mexican food, burgers ect. this is a place that i love but i always forget about it. it is right across from the spaghetti factory. it is definitely on my top 5 places to eat in salt lake. also, my mom told me that i need to blog about interesting facts so people will read my blog. what? is she saying my day to day life isn't interesting enough? she's probably right. so an interesting fact about trolley square, i guess it use to be an old bus station they turned into a shopping center. cool huh? well there is your interesting fact for the day.

chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter filling

recipe 

>>for these you can use your favorite chocolate chip recipe, then just dabb some peanut butter into the middle of each cookie dough ball before you begin baking. be generous with the peanut butter because when i cooked them i could barely taste that it was there. after the cookies are out of the oven sprinkle a little sea salt on each one! yummmmmmmm :)

How to Bake a Cake

on sunday my momma made this beauty of a cake and added these cute lemon wedges for garnish. 

lemon poppy seed cake recipe:

1 package lemon cake mix

1 package instant lemon pudding mix

4 eggs

1 cup thick sour cream

1/2 c. butter or margarine 

1/4 c. poppy seeds

combine cake and pudding mixes, eggs, sour cream, water, butter and poppy seeds in a large bowl. blend well on low speed, then beat at medium speed for 5 min.

pour batter into well-greased and lightly floured bunt cake pan. bake at 350 degrees for about 45 min. remove from oven and cool in pan

Happy Birthday Drew

     

my friend drew van dyke celebrated his 25th birthday this last wednesday. last night, to celebrate, we went to the Garage. i bet you probably haven't heard of this place and yep it is really called the garage. it is a bikers bar located on 1199 beck street in salt lake. this place is awesome. it is so unique and different from the types of place i usually eat at. it is so texas looking with the desert scenery and the oil refineries in the background. i felt like i was in the t.v show friday night lights. 

at first i wondered why in the world drew wanted to eat at place called the garage for his birthday. i was thinkin somewhere fairly quiet, but not boring, just somewhere we could sit down and talk. maybe like the cheesecake factory or california pizza kitchen....haha well good thing i didn't choose the restaurant because i would have been totally off.  if you know drew, he prefers things a little less traditional and a little more upbeat. i must admit though,  he had the right idea. i am so glad we went there!

besides being a restaurant/bar this place has live music. it sorta felt like dinner and a free concert. i don't know how often they have bands play? i would think just on weekends but i do know. they do have an event calendar on their website, if you are interested. also their food was soooooo gooooood. i may have had the best burger ever. it was called the cowboy burger. it felt appropriate ordering a burger called the cowboy burger because i felt like i was in texas the whole night. the burger had bbq sauce, bacon, onion rings and who knows what other delicious ingredients were in that thing. all i know is that i loooooved it. on the menu they also have chicken fried waffles, sandwiches and other grilled items. this place is a definite must try if you are into doing something different on your weekend night. 

oh and happy birthday drew. love ya so much

6 AM Boating Day

bff's this summer

(the superman shirt has nothing to do with an obsession for superman, just love the merchandise)

my mom is seriously the cutest. talk about staying in shape in your older years, my mom does it all. this lady is active! i am the one trying to keep up with her most of the time. this picture was taken while she was shouting "surfing on the USA" aw girl, ya crack me up! 

james, rock star on the slalom

it took some convincing to get stacey in the water, she didn't go in easily that's for sure

 early morning boating is surely not something i enjoy doing on my saturday. well i take that back. love the boating, hate waking up at 6:00 a.m. early morning boating trips usually go as follows

1. moms wakes us up before running to einsteins for bagels 

2. i am the first one up

3. stacey and james go back to sleep

4. mom loads the boat

5. stacey and james are still asleep

6. i am in charge of getting them out of bed

7. once stacey is awake she always says she is not going

8. mom says yes you are

9. we all wait a bit for stacey to make up her mind

10. she always ends up coming

10. after we load up the car, we all hop in and away we go

(seriously though, this happens EVERY time)

i know i can't complain because boating is the best and once we are on the lake it usually pays off. that is if the battery isn't dead, the weather is nice and the boat is running properly. believe me there have been plenty of days where something malfunctions and we have to drive back home. 

with that said, today was amazing. there were hardly any other boats out on the lake. one of the best skiing days i have had in a long time. 

Girls Night Out

this week the twilight concerts started up again. i had heard from a friend in my singles ward that bell & sabastian were playing. i am a huge music fan but not a huge concert goer. i have never enjoyed them. i think they are too crowded, smelly and loud. the last time i went to a twilight concert was when lupe fiasco came. that did it for me for a while. it was the most crowded concert i have ever been to. this was my first time back since then. i decided to give it another chance. i thought maybe since they charge $5 there wouldn't be such a huge crowd. it was better, but i am still not a fan. 

 i did however enjoy hanging out with my best friend and old roommate julie. we have been friends since my sophmore year at utah state. it has been almost 3 years since we met and i feel like we have known each other forever. it is so sad she graduated this spring and moved to salt lake. she works as a tennis instructor at coach mikes and i work everyday at redbutte so we never hang out. we try to make dinner dates monthly. we do are best to stay in touch. we are total girls and of course whenever we get together we talk about our relationships. we swap stories of how wonderful and ridiculous our boyfriends are. i love her so much, she is such a good listener and is there for me always. i don't know what i would do without her. 

belle and sabastian 

even though i didn't love the twilight concert i still think belle and sabastian have some great songs. thought i would share. enjoy! (covert youtube videos to itunes songs on http://www.flvto.com)

Another Sunny Day

If She Wants me to

Family Night

we are the three amigos living at home this summer. jennifer my younger sister, who is not in the picture, is living in boston. she attends school at Boston University (she's the smart one in the family) james has been home from his mission for a little over a year now (he's also smart and single) and stacey just graduated high school. she will be starting at utah state as a freshman this fall! 

yesterday we had a little family night. we aren't too creative with our family nights considering we just went to dinner but we all share a love for food. with 5 people in the car we couldn't agree on a place to eat (what's new?) so we  drove around for an hour looking for a place we could all agree on. we settled on cheesecake factory at city creek. it's one of my favorite restaurants. how can you not love it? the menu is so big, there is something on it for everyone! usually i am all about the pastas  but last night i decided to get the fish tacos. they were very yummy. another perk to living at home, you get to fine dine a lot more. 

Nanny Days

 rockin our shades

nannying has made me realize what i want to be when i grow up! a stay at home mom haha. nannying has been by far the best job i have had. it doesn't seem like work. yes i have to break up a few fights now and then but most of the time the kids are great. everyday i take them to math and then we usually do something fun before they have to go to swim team. sometimes we will go to the park, library or do crafts but mostly these kids love to swim. it's great for me because i have noooooo problem hanging out by the pool everyday. 

 my little sister stacey and cute eliza on our way to swim team

i seriously feel like a kid again sometimes and not the nanny. yesterday stella convinced me to play "chipmunk". what's that you ask? well you have to see how many grapes you can fit into your mouth at a time! and then i guess you take pictures...? haha 

 the thing about little kids is they can play the same game for so long. i suggested the "catching ring game" which they loooooved, but i did not anticipate how long they wanted to play for. they kept saying "throw the rings again", "now hide the rings". if i dare suggested we stopped playing, i would get the loudest "NOOOOOOO". then if i wanted to get out of the pool to take a break that's when i really got it. i guess sometimes they are the ones giving me the orders. 

i feel like i always post pictures of my girls but how can i forget sam. he loves pictures as much as i do. he is always taken my phone and snappin the selfies. what a goof! 

Boating Day

boating is the ultimate thatcher summer activity, only it seems that each year we get to go out less and less. i guess it is because we are getting older and have 9-5 jobs now. we can't just go out whenever we want, but the days we can go out we make the most of it. this time around we had a new member with us. it was yourdanos' first time ever boating. i love going with first timers, especially when they attempt the one ski. i have to hand it to him though, for yourdanos' first time he did pretty well. he did get up on the one ski for a second and fell down, but he was up nonetheless. 

yourdanos was only in town a couple of days before he headed off to military training in Arkansas. i wanted to make the most of his short time here but i also didn't want to wear him out. i felt like he needed to rest up before his training which lasts two whole weeks! besides boating we went shopping, watched my favorite tv show, took naps and he helped me nanny my kids one of the days. for dinner one night we doubled with one of my bests friends and her finance. when choosing where to eat, i felt like i needed to take him to Hires. i mean who hasn't been to hires? if you haven't you probably didn't grow up in salt lake. it was the restaurant of my childhood! we went after every major school event.  their "big H" burger is the best, most everyone who has been there knows that.