Golfing with the Hubs

For father's day this year, among other things, I told Steve I'd take him golfing. I picked the golf course, and the one I chose was Mountain Dell. I've been golfing a handful of times and once I had been there and had a good experience, so I thought it was a good choice. Oh, and it's beautiful! It was a little hot and really sunny...being JULY, but we had a good time. Sorry no pics of me to prove I was there, but if you ask the guy we were partnered with, he'll tell you, I sure was. I apologized to him when we were done. I'm pretty sure I would be most men's nightmare...really terrible. We had lunch at the clubhouse before and Steve said, "I'm just going to say one thing...Pace of Play." Luckily, my husband is really patient, but he will certainly stick to his golf etiquette. I'm glad we went and look forward to golfing with him again next year. Ha!

I want to go to there:

I don't know about you, but I am in desperate need of a vacation! I am counting down the days to Bear Lake this summer and then California in the fall Woohooooooooooooooooo! When I get antsy for a getaway I think about all the awesome places I want to see in person.

1. Salvation Mountain
I just recently heard about this man made attraction. Think sculpture on a super duper large scale...more like installation to the umpteenth level. I've got to see this place. I am fascinated. It makes me think of the movie Toys. Unreal. Image via


2. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Steve would say I am a nerd, so my plan is to brainwash my boys (shouldn't be TOO hard because, duh, it's awesome) and then we will HAVE to go there. The boys would LOVE it. Or I would. This place looks awesome. Image via


3. The Grand Tetons
I'm not a huge camper, would like to be, but for me, its a little too hard with kids. When I see images of this place I want to see it in person. My favorite images of the Grand Tetons are those by Ansel Adams, such as this:


Thank you for indulging me my daydream....

A Night Away With the Hubs

We spent a night away "Just Because" at the Waldorf Astoria. Steve told me not to plan anything on this day a loooong time ago. Shortly after that he told me why...we were staying here! He cannot keep surprises:) There was no specific reason, but it was great to get out with out children and sleep in a little and relax. We checked in to the classy establishment, dropped off our stuff and headed to dinner at Robert Redford's "Zoom." We love to try new restaurants and we love to eat GOOD whenever we get the chance. This was no exception. It was all delicious, but the most memorable item I ate was "Broccolini." Ever heard of it? It looked like a hybrid of broccoli and asparagus. Cooked to perfection and delicious. The restaurant had a very rustic feel and there was this awesome blues guitar player/singer performing. I love it when there is music at dinner. When we got back to the hotel, the drapes were all drawn, our sheets were pulled back, and our slipper were out and ready for us to slip on. Also, a chocolate was left along with the next day's weather. How lovely!
We love hotels, and I'm really glad we got to experience this one. On top of it all, we were greeted with fresh baked cookies and a personal letter from Steve's friend that upgraded our room. How thoughtful!

Tradition

I don't know about you, but I am slightly fearful of loosing some traditions. For instance, Spanish is the primary language of my family, but my generation and the generation after is lessening the amount Spanish spoken and also the amount learned. A really big tradition in my family is cooking. I have some of the best cooks in my family. Serious. And the funny thing is, all the things they cook are in their head. Once I asked my Abuelita to teach me to make homemade tortillas...the recipe went something like: 4 handfuls of flower. 1 handful of lard. 1 pinch of salt. a little bit of water. They just know how much of whatever, but there are no such things as "cookbooks" in my mom's family. I've been wanting to make some tamales for a while, so I talked to my aunt Abby, and we made it happen. I can't tell you the recipe, but here is the gist:
soak corn husks. Deseed and boil about a trillion dried red chili peppers. blend with oregano, onion and garlic. Sift through fine sifter to keep out seeds and skin. Buy the maza from a Mexican store. Mix with lard and oregano. Cook shoulder of pork, shred. mix pork with blended sauce. spread Maza mixture onto corn husks, spread a fair amount of pork and sauce onto maza. Fold, wrap in parchment paper for less mess. Layer it all into a big pot with water in the bottom (do not let tamales touch the water) steam for about an hour. Eat the most mind blowing tamales ever.
Sadly, pretty much no one in my generation cooks (I can't speak for the ones in Mexico, maybe they do) but us ladies here might be doomed. I am trying though. I made me first batch of Chile Verde the very next day...it was a success!


My aunt said "plan on about 4 or 5 hours." What she should have said..."plan on 8" It was a long day, but well worth it. I asked my aunt, did you just make these so often you remember by heart? She said whenever Abuelita Margarita (my great grandmother) would come into town she would make Rosita tamales. My question was what makes Rosita so special to get her own batch of tamales, she is my mom's cousin, and apparently she was the spoiled one. I hope Rosita doesn't read this or else I just started a family feud. Really. But ANYWAY every time she came into town she enlisted my aunts to help her make the tamales. Things don't quite happen like that anymore...being that everyone basically lives in the same town around here:)

10 things about me.

I've been working on a little project recently. It's about my mom and I've been asking her some questions here and there. Mostly about her childhood and her younger years. I've been thinking a lot lately how "once upon a time," my mom was my age. She was once a mother to a 3 year old. I don't really know that person then, just the person she is now. Weird to think about, really. So I got to thinking, I'd like my children to know about me as a young mom with young children. This is partly why I blog. So they will look back and know what life was like...you know EVERY little detail:) and maybe get an idea of what their parents did for them so when they are 16 year old ingrates they might think twice....just kidding! Ha!

so here is 10 things about me today. it could change tomorrow.
1. I enjoy taking on sewing projects, but I hate that it consumes my life while I am working on them.
2. I've been really loving Mumford and Sons on Pandora. Have you heard them? A little folksy, but really good.
3. I have not ran once since running the St. George Marathon in 2009. I am certainly getting the itch. It's time to start. Who's with me? SLC Marathon 2012? Ogden 2012?
4. I am currently on my 2nd run of Sex and the City reruns in about a 3 month span. I'm just getting to the good part...you know where things are going great with Carrie and Aiden, but Big starts popping up. Oh man, seriously, best season. I love watching this show because for some reason it reminds me of one of my favorite vacations...Steve took me to San Francisco for our 1 year anniversary. What a sweetie.
5. Photography is ALWAYS on my mind. How I want to take new pictures, where I could take new pictures, who I could take new pictures of, what I could take new pictures of.
6. I make a to do list on a daily basis, and rarely refer to that list. Not sure why I do that.
7. I am a primary teacher and I really love it. I love the kids in my class and I love the age (7 turning 8). A couple of weeks ago I was asking the kids what we might be tempted to do, and no joke, one kid said MURDER. Oh man, gotta love em.
8. I love to read. Lately, I have a harder time making time, but when I finish a good book I feel really happy inside. And accomplished.
9. My house is rarely entirely clean. I've tried doing it all in one day, breaking it up through the week, but it just doesn't happen for me. HELP. How do you tidy people do it?
10. I love to make my kids laugh. This is often done through lipsincing, dancing and silly faces. Their laughs are priceless.

So tell me 10 things about you today.