Nixon.

Ugly mini dog;

Funniest personality, and enjoyable to tease. Maybe someday we'll have an ugly funny dog, too.

What's for dinner?

About a week ago before we came up to stay at my parents' place, I talked to my dad on the phone. Kind of out of the blue in the middle of our conversation, my dad asked, "Are you a good cook?" I was confused as to why he was asking me, but I responded with something on the lines of, " I'm not an amazing cook, but I can cook." I thought maybe it was just him trying to make conversation as to how I am doing being a wife, or something.

Then it dawned on me. I thought, My mom isn't going to be in town for the duration of our stay, so he's wondering if I can cook for him! I see how it is. Sure enough, the next thing he said was something like, "Because I'm not (a good cook)."

I thought it was kind of funny, and decided to make it a little challenge for myself. As mentioned in a post or two ago, my mom had told me I had free reign on buying whatever I wanted/needed for cooking, etc. Also, I was very excited to use all the things I don't have, when it comes to any kitchen appliances.

Needless to say, I tried a few new recipes on my dad and husband. I do have to admit that I didn't cook/bake as many new things as I wanted to, but I did make a small dent. Here are some of those things that I had tried for the first time:

Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Pesto Penne

Picture and recipe found here.

This was easy and pretty good. I was expecting more of a bold flavor, but it wasn't bland by any means either. Wolfgang was a big fan.

Rachel Ray Chickpea Burgers

Picture and recipe found here.

For some reason, I was really excited about this one. The men on the other hand? Not so much. Considering I was the cook, I made them anyways. They turned out ok, but I did have too high of expectations. If I were to make them again, I would cook them on a grill or George Foreman, etc instead of a skillet like I did. I also would use original bread crumbs and not Italian flavored...I didn't take a good look at the label that my mom had, until it was the last minute.

And of course, a dessert:

Chocolate Coconut Bars

Picture and recipe found here.

This turned out really good. Not in any way healthy, but that's why they are so yummy, right? One person who had made these described them as tasting "Just like Samoas Girls Scout Cookies" which led me to them. I do have to say they definitely don't taste just like them, but they are still delightful.

I'm really enjoying trying new things. Once again, thanks Pinterest.

Kayaking

This is my cute husband. Today we went kayaking on The lake {notice the capital "t"? Lake Powell IS the king of all lakes. period. biased?}


We didn't quite go where we were planning on {I don't want to talk about it...} but we did do a little exploring in a cove/mini canyon. As you can see from the picture above, we were a hot mess by the end of our journey; it was exhausting but we had a great time.

Needless to say, pain killers are already our best friends tonight.

The American Crew.

A week ago, we went to the American Idol tour concert. We got a lot of grief for going to such concert, but I do have to say... it was so fun! This past season was the first time Wolfgang or I have watched the whole season through, and naturally, we got attached to the contestants. Oh reality tv!

Here's a little recap of a few {most} of the performers:

Although Naima wasn't a favorite and didn't last long in the top 11, she really was awesome live and really knows how to entertain.

Paul is so dreamy. He stole our hearts for sure. Wolfgang was even caught in one our videos saying, "I LOVE YOU PAUL!!!"

Pia is the sexy, (seems to be) humble amazing singer of the crew,

Haley is the cute not- so-humble talented singer,

Stefano sucks in real life too,

Casey is the cool kid with creativity,

James is the ultimate awesome rocker that can rock the house and entertain like he's been in the business for years,

and last but definitely not least, Scotty McHottie is still my ultimate cowboy crush. Never mind he's only 17.

At the end of the show, we left fully satisfied, complete with scratchy voices from yelling, and ringing ears to last a day.

The most surprising thing about the whole event? There were SO many older people there! No joke. 50yrs + were at a surprising high in the audience. A few sat by us, and I don't think they enjoyed our enthusiasm. But come on, you're at a concert! You've gotta have fun with it, and be ridiculous, right?

Here are a few bad quality pictures of the concert, for your enjoyment.

Tried and tested: Approved.

Remember how I was hatin' on Pinterest? Well, now I'm obsessed. I really like how I can get ideas about ways to decorate our apartment, how to make a lil garden in tight spaces, and most importantly...how to make delicious food.

With that said, here are some recipes I have tried this week that I wanted to share.

Mozzarella, Tomato, and Avocado Salad

Picture and recipe taken from here.

I couldn't find the mozzarella pearls anywhere, so I bought a small block of it and just cut it up in little cubes. I thought this recipe was good, but nothing amazing. I think it would have been better if I had bought a baguette to eat it with, but I didn't. I may or may not try it again, we'll see.

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

Picture and recipe taken from here.

I'm sure you've all had some form of this, one way or another. It reminds me of my mom's delicious taco soup, with some slight variations. This is really good and has a slight spice to it (I can't handle spice too well, so I thought it had a small kick to it, but others may not) Super easy to make, especially if you use "Slow Cooker Liners." Best thing that ever hit the earth. (thanks Amber!)

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Picture and recipe taken from here.

Isn't that love at first sight?

I made them yesterday, and they turned out really good. They were a big hit, especially with the husband; he's pretty obsessed with peanut butter and chocolate combined (more specifically, nutella and peanut butter). I'm not a super huge fan of peanut butter, but I still like these. You can't go wrong with sweet n salty. They are a little time consuming, but not hard at all.

A few specific tidbits: use mini pretzels, and when making the dough into little balls, you really do want to make sure that they are little, otherwise they squish out too much when you sandwich them between the two pretzels. Also, when melting the chocolate, I used about half the bag of a big bag of chocolate chips (so about 12oz worth) and the amount turned out great with just a little bit to spare, enough to dip a few strawberries into :)

Can't wait to try more recipes this weekend/next week. I'll be at my parents house, and I'll have free reign over all my mom's appliances and ingredients! Yesssss.

Rainbow. Sponges.

If you asked me what was the best thing ever invented, I would say something like toilet paper, or Dr. Pepper.

But this lady on youtube? She'd say... SPONGES!!

Abandonment.

Ok, so it's been a while since I've blogged, (well, "a while" in my book). I blame it on the fact that I'm still pretty upset, but not as bad as I was a week ago, about my blog being ruined (in my eyes, at least) b/c of Google +. It's so convenient how they now warn you when you delete a picture, that it will be "deleted from all other Google products: picasa, blogger, (etc.)" Fail. Thanks guys.

But you have to see my point, I've been blogging for about 3 1/2 years, and now 653 pictures (that's how many were in the album when I deleted it) are just GONE?! All that time and effort, just to disappear with a click. It's just a lifeless blog now; but then again, I guess that's what "traditional" journals are like, right? No pictures and all words? That sorta helps. Not really though. Call me dramatic, but seriously, it's not cool.

But alas, I guess the blog will go on. I've got a recent concert to account for, recipes I have tried/want to try that I want to report about, and a vacation coming up starting this Friday, so...here I am, and I'll be back to blogging soon!