{Utah 27 – Stanford 21}

Family / Utah

Hello, Hello!  Happy Monday!

How was your weekend?  Did you have a good one??

The highlight of my weekend is the title of my post!

Utahstanfordscore

My beloved Utah UTES beat No. 5 Stanford on Saturday night!  I mentioned back HERE, that I LOVE this time of year!

I absolutely love college football and tailgating!

Saturday was such a beautiful day!  We’ve had a few games that were unbearably hot, and the last two games were cold and wet….so this weekend was especially nice.  It was perfect football watching weather! A gorgeous fall day, with a slight chill in the air, and the sun shining down on us!  And the game was FABULOUS!  Loved it!

Utah Standford Collage

How was your weekend?  Did you watch any football? Go to any games?

Tell me what the highlight of your weekend was!

GO UTES! 

Ali

{The Most Wonderful Time of the Year}

Family / Favorite Things / Me / Utah

Well, it’s finally here!  The most wonderful time of the year!

I bet you thought I was going to say Christmas, right?

Well, I do LOVE Christmas!  But today is the first day of college football, and the first day of Utah Football Tailgating!  I couldn’t be more excited!  We have such a fun group, and we always have a FABULOUS time!

Utes Collage

Stadium

Here’s to College Football and the UNIVERSITY OF UTAH UTES!

GO UTESUTES SHIRT

CTR
Do you love college football?  If so, what team is your favorite? 

Do you tailgate?

Happy Thursday Friends!

Ali

{Kenny Loggins at Red Butte}

Me / Utah

Hello, hello!  Happy Monday!

Can you belive we are in the last few days of July?  Where has the summer gone?  Aaack! 

It's going by too fast!

Well, I've got another item to check off the 2013 Summer Bucket List!  Slowly, but surely I'm getting a few things checked off!  Last week, I attended an outdoor concert at Red Butte Garden with two friends.  If you live in Utah, and haven't gone to a concert at Red Butte, you are missing out!  Such a GORGEOUS venue!

We originally had tickets to see Earth Wind and Fire, but they ended up canceling (what??), so we saw Kenny Loggins, which was fine by me!  I happen to be a HUGE Top Gun fan, like HUGE as in it's my favorite movie of all time.  Love me some Tom Cruise (don't judge)!

"I feel the need, the need for speed"

Anyway, we had a great time!  The concert venue is pretty large and you are allowed to bring in whatever food and/or drinks you want.  Some people get very elaborate with huge picnic spreads!  Love it!  We just picked up salads from Corner Bakery, grabbed some wine and called it good!
Food

The weather was perfect and the music was great!  A little Top Gun and Footloose, thrown in with some old classics!

 
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Kenny4

Another item off the 2013 Summer Bucket List!  Thanks for a fun night girls! 

And thanks for the tickets Arriann! 

Have you been to a summer concert at an outdoor venue?

What is your favorite movie of all time?

Ali

{A Weekend Away}

Family / Food and Drink / Health & Fitness / Me / Travel / Utah / Vacation & Travel

Hello Friends!  I can't believe we have already finished our second week of July!  The summer is flying by and I can't seem to catch up!!  I hope you had a FABULOUS Fourth of July holiday last week!

I had plans to get several items checked off my 2013 Summer Bucket List over the holiday weekend, and manged to get them done! One of the items on my bucket list was to plan a weekend away.  With the 4th falling on a Thursday this year, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take a long weekend and get away! 

I had such a fabulous time at The Canyons in May when I was there for the Blend Retreat, that I decided to book a room for the weekend in Park City.  I found a great rate on a room at the Sundial Lodge, and it was beautiful!  Our room was on the top floor and had french doors that opened out on to a nice balacony with a gorgeous view of the whole resort:

Resort View
Gorgeous, right?

After checking in to the lodge, we hit up the mini golf course right at the base of the mountain with Madison and George.

 Mini Golf

It was a lot of FUN, but HOT! HOT! HOT!

The next morning Carl and I were up for a nice hike!  We hit up the Ambush Trail and had a great time!  It was so pretty and the hike was a mixture of full sun and shade, so it wasn't too hot. We did have to share the trail with mountain bikers, which was a bit sketchy at tiimes, but all good!

Ambush Trail

Discover New Hikes:  CHECK!

After relaxing in the room for a bit and a quick shower, it was time to head to the dog park!  My Mom and Brother Kevin brought up our dog Chloe, and my other Brother's dog Cooper for a visit.  They are dog sitting, and since it has been so HOT in the valley, we thought the dogs might like to enjoy the cooler temps in the canyons.  They had a great time!  Playing in the water, chasing tennis balls, other dogs, and each other!

Dogs
Aren't they cuties?  Despite the huge size difference, these two are the best of friends :)  We all shared a pizza from Drafts on the lawn later that night, and just enjoyed the scenery and company. 

The next morning I was ready to check off another item from the 2013 Summer Bucket List!  Rent Bikes!

We went on a 14 mile bike ride, which included a ride in to downtown Park City, a pit stop at Starbucks (duh!) and ride back over toward the dog park.  There are so many great paved biked trails all around Park City.  I could have biked all day, if my legs hadn't been screaming at me.  Oh and my neck…which took a little bit of jarring, despite being on paved trails. We had such a great time that Carl and I are looking in to purchasing bikes sometime soon!  So much fun!

Starbucks Bikes

Bike Ride

Rent Bikes: CHECK!

The morning had beed really overcast, which was nice since it was still hot.  It was perfect weather to ride bikes, but not so great to sit by the pool! GRRRRR.  We ate lunch in our room, thanks to stopping for some groceries (Trader Joe's) on the way up the canyon.  We grabbed lots of healthy snacks and some salads, so we woulndn't have to pay an arm and a leg for lunches.  It was nice to know we had some healthy choices right at our finger tips!  Love when rooms have mini-kitchens!  The clouds cleared and we were able to spend a few relaxing hours at the pool.  Yea!

But soon enough the clouds rolled in again.  Carl enjoyed a book on the balcony, while I watched the storm move in:
Carl reading

Thunderstorms

Pretty soon it was a down pour!  I loved keeping the doors open to listen to the rain and thunder!  Summer thunderstorms are one of my favorites!

Dinner that night was at Lorenzo's in Park City.  The food was okay, but the homemade tortilla chips were FABULOUS!  I mean super FABULOUS!  It was like they were twice fried or something?!?!?!  And the salsa bar was great too.  I could have dined on chips and salsa alone, and been a happy girl!

We went back to the lodge for movies and more rain, thunder and lightening! 

View

I was so sad to see our trip come to and end the next morning.  We had such a great time at The Canyons!  I can't wait to do it again!  Next time I hope to be able to do the Zip Line Course and Mountain Bike on actual dirt trails!  My neck just isn't healed enough yet to try them this time!

Before heading down the canyon to grab our puppy Chloe, we stopped in for breakfast at Good Times Bistro.  I LOVE eating outside during the summer!  Even if it is on our own patio in the backyard!  So any chance I get to eat outside, I take it!

Carl chose the Belgium Waffle, and I had the Egg Scramble with onion, mushroom and avocado!  It was sooo good! 

Breakfast

Dine Al Fresco:  CHECK!

All in all, it was a FABULOUS holiday weekend, and I can't to do it again!

Weekend Away:  CHECK!

How was your holiday and weekend?  What did you do?  Do you have anything planned this weekend?  I'd love to hear about it! 

TGIF!

Ali

{Granary Row}

Food and Drink / Utah

Hey Friends! 

I have a new place to tell you about!  Especially those of you in Utah!  But, first of all….have you entered to win a Rug from Rugs Direct yet?  If not…..go HERE to enter!  Who doesn't need a new rug?  For free?

I know, right!

Anyway, Utah is getting hip!  With the opening of Granary Row , it seems that we might be getting bit cooler here in Salt Lake City.  It is a very unique place!  From the website:

"Granary Row is a pop-up market and festival space. It's a community space, as well as a breeding ground for local businesses.

Granary Row is the very sort of "big idea" that it hopes to foster — a bold urban venture aimed at inspiring and fostering the entrepreneurial ambitions of Salt Lake City's creative class. At its core, it's an experiment in ware-steading the Granary with microventures that will make the District their home — in turn sustaining the neighborhood as a place where makers live, work, and play!"    

Carl and I decided to check it out a few weekends ago.  It just happened to be the weekend of the Salt Lake Art's Festival, so the crowd was a bit sparse, which they expected.  Not a huge crowd, but I can see it really catching on this summer!  The whole place is set around those huge shipping containers:

Grannary2 
Grannary1 
Grannary3

There are retail vendors housed in many of the containers, which is pretty cool!  There is also a variety of food trucks each night, and a beer garden (earth, wind and beer) hosted by Uinta Brewing, which is awesome!  Granary Row is located on 700 South and 300 West.  Right in the middle of the street, and adjacent to Kilby Court. There is also entertainment each night on the main stage. For dinner, Carl and I decided on Blue Pablano and it did not disappoint!

 
Blue Pablano 

I chose veggie & steak tacos (with beans and rice) and Carl chose the special of the night (which I can't remember the name of).  Both of our choices were delish! We were able to take our dinner in to the beer garden to dine al fresco and order a beer, which was nice. 

Food2

Food1

We really had a great time! It was nice to just relax, eat some good food, listen to music and just enjoy a nice summer night. I'm excited to see Granary Row grow and succeed!

If you live in Utah, have you check it out yet?  If you don't live in Utah, do you have any spots like this?

Have a great day!

Ali