Our Baby!!!!!

This weekend was so wonderfully eventful. Friday was Pioneer Day AND our two year anniversary. Yippee! Our lil town of Mapleton had their own parade (not that impressive, but definitely full of community pride). Following the parade: tons of live entertainment, food, and games at the city park. We also toured two old pioneer homes, turned into museums, that sit on the park property. One was a tiny log cabin made in the 1800s! I just love that kind of stuff! Soooo interesting - especially the recreated school room! We ate lunch and COTTON CANDY at the park while listening to a pretty good loop pedal artist. (Scott's dying for a loop pedal now.)That afternoon, we escaped the heat with a trip to the movie theater. FINALLY we saw Harry Potter. Good movie, I thought. By the time that was over, we just had just enough time to grab some chinese take out and head to the park for FIREWORKS. Yes, it did rain on us. But yes, the fireworks were worth it. What a wonderful ending to our special day. I gotta shout out to Scott: I sure love you babe. Thanks for an amazing 2 years.

For the past month we have been searching everywhere for the right car. Oh. My. Goodness. I hate car shopping with a passion. By Saturday we had narrowed it down to two cars. When we went to SLC to check out this Honda, I knew it was love at first sight. We got a dang stinking good deal on this baby. It's a 2004 with a little more miles than it should have, but everything else is in perfect condition. The guy we bought it from was so nice. He is from India and him and his wife just quit their jobs, sold everything and are going on an adventure back to India. (Can I please do something like that?!) Anyway, Scott and I are so relieved to be done with the search, and we couldn't have done it without good friends.

Geez, I just have to give a shout out to these good people. We have a couple different friends in SLC that Scott met while doing that 48 hour film festival. One of them was a car saleman and mechanic for 7 years. He came and checked out the Honda to make sure it was in excellent condition and he helped us haggle the price down. (As a side note, we couldn't get a hold of him that morning but found out he lived just down the street from the guy selling the car, so we went right to his house and found him. Coincidence? I don't think so.) Anyway, our other friend lent us a good chunk of the cash needed to pay for it on the spot. We just made it to the bank in time to get the cash too. (Someone else was going to buy the car on Monday, once they got their loan, so we had to act fast.) Now I have the fun task of getting the loan, insurance, registration, and all that jazz. Not complaining though - so worth it, because at long last, here she is...

Rocky Road Deep Dish Dessert Pizza

I just made the most scrumptious dessert and it was sooooo easy! Mmmmmm, enjoy for yourselves...

Rocky Road Deep Dish Dessert Pizza
Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter , softened
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 bag milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• Caramel syrup

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Spray a 8x8 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy (about 1 minute at medium speed).
• Add 1 cup of the flour, sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla and beat until thoroughly blended.
• Beat in remaining 3/4 cup flour to make a soft dough.
• Spread onto bottom of prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is light golden brown.
• Remove from oven& reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
• Sprinkle chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows and pecans over crust, then drizzle caramel over top.
• Return to oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or until edges of marshmallows are light golden brown.
• Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then remove sides of pan.
• Cool completely before slicing into wedges. 

Lessons Learned as a Boy

This is an awesome message! Gordon B. Hinckley recalls a story of an older boy and his young companion as they find an old coat and a badly worn pair of shoes by the roadside. (It's only 4 minutes long, but you will need to pause the music player on the right before viewing the movie.)

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest accomplishment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

Life of a Filmaker

This weekend Scott filmed a commercial for an Amazon contest. 30 seconds of pure genius. It is going to be out of this world. He filmed in Salt Lake and our neighborhood. The kids on the block ate it up. (See picture below.) The pictures give away the ghettoness of how he got the shots, however, if you saw them on the camera you would be amazed.

Contest details: Due July 31st. Five top videos will be chosen by amazon judges and posted on their site on August 24. Amazon members (free to subscribe) can vote and rate their fav commercial (only once). There is a prize for highest rating, and a judges prize. Both are worth 10,000 in amazon money. Sweeeeeeet.

Three heads are better than one.

Go Where You've Never Been

Oh jeez. As usual, so much to talk about and so little time. Hey! I just realized this post will be exciting - It's all about new places we've gone to. Awesome. Get comfy and enjoy the tour...

All in a Day's Work (Scott's writing this part; YAY)
Ohhhhh snap my peeps, I've never done this before and I'm a little nervous. Anywayz, I spent two weeks of June in San Fran n' LA for a documentary I am working on for BYU-TV. It is a phenomenal story about Pete Grimm and Maxine Tate who's unique lives intersected in the Philippines during WWII. The two of them were responsible for many things including the liberation of the Santo Tomas prison camp, the LDS church being brought into the country, the building of the first churches and temples, and much more. Here are a few snapshots of the many beautiful places we visited while in Cali. (Scott also got to stop in LA and visit with his grandpa.)
Da Birthday Boy
Scott's birthday was on June 30. I decorated out to wazoo. (Very proud of myself.) I surprised him with a jaunt to Boondocks Fun Center in Draper. Being a Tuesday, we got unlimited mini golf, bumper boats, go carts, and laser tag. Sweet. Of course we also had to hit up Red Robin for dinner for a free birthday burger and mud pie slice. Yum. Ended the night with the usual presents, cake, ice cream, and a very off-key rendition of the Happy Birthday song.
A Happy Reunion
Saturday morn Scott and I headed up to SLC to meet my college roomie, Carolyn. We only got to be roommates for one semester and it was all the way back in 2006 but she was the best! Soooo good to see her and finally meet her hubby! We got breakfast, walked around the farmers market, reminisced and played catch up on each others lives. (The contraption pictured below was on display at the market. Tinkerbell's summer house or something.)
Stadium of FIRE
Although we tried desperately to sell our Stadium of Fire tickets, we did not succeed, and thank goodness! It was way worth it. First off, the show was broadcast to army bases all over the world. Tons of dancing with fire, flags, and flips. Glenn Beck was awesome as the MC. There was an amazing choir and marching band. Jet planes and army helicopters flew over the stadium. Shedaisy was pretty good; if you're into that kind of thing. Everyone showed their patriotism by singing the National Anthem together for the troops. That was enough to make me teary-eyed. Then the good ol' Jonas Brothers had all the 11 year old girls screaming their heads off. But, in all honestly, they actually weren't half bad! And the Fireworks!! UNBELIEVABLE. There was like three separate pyro displays all lit from within the stadium. So cool. The raining firework debris was a nice touch too. Only downside was it took us two hours to get home. Yikes.
Finding the Perfect One
We are well on our way to finding our next car. You'd think this would be a fun thing to do. HA. However, after test driving tons of different models we have finally narrowed it down: Honda Accord. Now we just need to find the one for us...
After thought: If you haven't yet, check out our music player. I'm so excited about this and I just added a few more stellar songs.

"If music be the food of love, play on." ~Shakespeare