Dude is 25!

We celebrated Juan 25th birthday in Denver this weekend. I bought him Alias and also a remote control car which is awesome. The best part is when I was reading the reviews for that particular car, they all said, 'my 5-year-old loves this!' Well my 25-year-old husband loves it too!

We ate at Denver's Wazee Supper Club for the yummy pizza. I loved the whole setting of the place, definitely would go back.

And being an ice cream expert, I had to try Bonnie Brae's Ice Cream. It was good, but not my Maggie Moo's.

16th Street Mall. We walked this the first night and Juan wouldn't let me cross the street because he wanted to go up one side, down the other. Well by the time we got to the side with all my stores, they were closed. Juan is finding creative ways to avoid my bad shopping habit.

Larimer Square.

Everyone be sure to tell Juan how old he is now. (I'm strategically ignoring that I'm only 7 1/2 months behind him).

The Tale of love and fate

You guessed it... of a handbag. This is a good story.

So I was at a Shopko in Wisconsin a few days ago and fell magically in love with a beautiful purse (pictured). I was with my friend Julaine who is a penny pincher, so I just couldn't buy this expensive purse in front of her. I lamented and texted a picture of the purse to Juan just to share the beauty.

Next day I'm at the airport and get a text from Juan: "Hey love, I'm at shopko right now. I was going to surprise you with that purse you wanted, but it's not here." Sad day, so I mostly gave up on the purse.

Cut to today. I had a few things to get so I stopped by Shopko. Ok I'll just look 1 last time for the purse. And yes, it was there. But that's not even the good part, it was fantastically 50% off!!! What!

No denying it. Meant. to. be. Juan couldn't find it 2 days ago because 2 days ago it wasn't on sale. It was destined I find it today.

The Trip

Thank you to everyone who let us stay with them, gave us rides, and made time for us to swoop in and interrupt their lives. It was such a fun trip! Here are some of the highlights:

My old stomping ground: Greendale, Wisconsin. Love it there.

Juan had a list of places he had to eat. Here we are at Kopp's for burgers and frozen custard. Juan's list of places were for the burgers, but of course being an ice cream expert, I had to get the frozen custard at each place as well.

We didn't go to a Brewers game, sold out unfortunately. But we walked around the park and took some pictures!

Another one of Juan's places. He loves the hot fudge sundaes. He always makes a note to say Pres Bush stopped here whenever he was in town.

Last couple days of the trip I stayed with Julaine, her husband, and her new baby! It was fun to have some girl time while Juan went home to Provo and studied his brains out.

I'm not one to try new non-chain restaurants. Julaine took me to Skip's and after we had ordered I discovered she had never been there before! We were in luck, the food was pretty good.

Me at Lake Geneva. It was a perfect day.

There's baby Addison. I didn't get many pictures of her! Julaine loves to put bows in her hair and has like 20 of them!

On the way to the airport I just had to get a picture with the ring leader. Julaine's town Delavan used to have a circus, so there was a huge elephant and giraffe in their town square.

Jet set

We are leaving for Wisconsin today! I am excited for a vacation and to attend David's graduation. Juan has been a busy bee these days, I hope he finds time to relax even though his class isn't over until the 17th. Quick trip at the end of the semester... smart? no, but worth it to see his little brother graduate? Definitely.

On a different note, I chopped my hair. I don't love. I'll be happy in 10 days when it's a few inches longer.

Chipotle

My other sister Ginger just did this post on Chipotle. We are now the Chipotle VIP family.

On Saturday, Juan and I were going to meet Heather and Tyler at Pei Wei in South Jordan. Well we were running late so Heather and Tyler were walking around the area, walked into Chipotle to peek at the menu, then walked out. Well the manager chased them out and said he'd pay for them! I get a text from Heather, "we're going to eat at Chipotle, and the manager is paying for all of us." Ha ha I told her, thinking she was just pretending like she gets special treatment like Ginger did. But sure enough we showed up, ordered whatever we wanted, and it was the manager's treat!
The food really is so good at Chipotle, I like how fresh the ingredients are, and while it's a whole lot of food, it's refreshing at the same time. The burritoes aren't smothered in cheese and sauce, and the chicken is so good! I like the little kick of spice. So there we have it, go to Chipotle, so that manager can get his money worth!


Last night we had some friends over, Patrick and Keegan. They are great friends. Patrick was part of our group back in the day when Juan and I were 15 year old kids hanging out together each weekend. We had so many good times! Patrick and Keegan are moving pretty soon here, so we had a fun night of dinner and games. We will see them around throughout life, I'm sure.


PS these pictures were taken 5 days apart. Why is it that guys can get a haircut and look like they lost 20 lbs! Just saying Juan.

Rootbeer Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. rootbeer extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water (optional--only use if dough is too dry)

Cream butter and dark brown sugar until very light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the rootbeer extract.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add a little at a time to the creamed mixture. Add the water only if the dough is too dry.

Chill for at least an hour. Roll into small balls (about 1" diameter).

Place them far enough apart so they can spread without touching each other.

Whether you roll them or scoop them, flatten the tops a bit before you bake them if you like the cookies to be flatter. If not, it's fine. They are good a little thicker, too.

Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes, rotating cookie sheet halfway through.


Rootbeer Frosting:

1 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. rootbeer extract
a few tablespoons hot water

Beat butter on high with an electric mixer until it is fluffy. Add a little powdered sugar and the rootbeer extract. Beat until smooth. Add remaining powdered sugar alternately with a little hot water until a nice spreading consistency has been reached.

Frost the cooled cookies and let stand for the frosting to set up. (It should dry a bit on the top.)

Found this recipe on a blog I read, Cafe Johnsonia, please go to her website for beautiful pictures along with the recipe. The cookies were so good. The picture at the top is her picture, mine turned out ok, (pictured below). The coloring is obviously better in hers, but I bet mine were just as good! They were so yummy, I will definitely add it to my list of desserts I make. They are so easy too, I'm loving that there aren't all these wacky ingredients, I could just whip them up on a Sunday afternoon unplanned (once I have the rootbeer extract in stock of course).

David Copperfield

So Saturday night we are sitting around the house, I'm in sweats lounging, Juan's on the computer. He exclaims, That's what I wanted to do tonight. Yes Juan is a closet David Copperfield lover and really really wanted to go see him in Salt Lake. (David Copperfield is an illusionist for those who don't know). So I say, oh too bad, we missed it (I wasn't as excited as Juan for this event). He follows with, we can still make the 9 o'clock showing. It was 7:44, we live an hour outside of Salt Lake, and I was in my lounge-wear glory. I said, ok let's do it! Juan and I have made a habit of last minute events: Disney on Ice, Vegas, and now David Copperfield.

I was pleasantly surprised by the show. He is a comedian on top of the whole magician thing. We were both extremely entertained and super curious as to how he pulls off all of the illusions!!! It turned out to be such a fun night.