Need a sweet treat for Valentine’s Day? We’ve got you covered. We made these Strawberries and Cream Muddy Buddies for our Galentine’s Day Brunch. They are easy to make and taste delicious!
Life is weird as you get older. Four months can feel like four days and it becomes harder and harder to connect with friends that you have loved for years. Good ideas and the best of intentions often fall quickly off your radar and before you know it, a year has gone by.
Well, hallelujah for the blog, because it has really motivated us to stay more connected as friends, despite our busy, different lives. And thank you Target dollar spot, for continually inspiring me with seasonal party favors.
Enter Valentine’s Day, or “galentine’s” if you are celebrating with your favorite gal-pals. I mean, who doesn’t want an excuse to get together, eat great food, and talk for hours? Exactly. We all want that. So naturally, we dusted off our Pinterest boards, bought gold flatware, and invited all of our old high school pals that we rarely talk to but love spending time with.
The menu was a collaborative effort full of simple and fun brunch foods. I was particularly excited about the french toast kebabs. This was literally my first pin ever on Pinterest (like years and years ago) and I was dying to finally make these babies. I adapted the Martha Stewart recipe only slightly and added almond and coconut extract to the batter to give the French toast bites a little more pizazz and they turned out great. Definitely try this fun idea for your next brunch gathering!
Another tasty element of the brunch was the Bacon Broccoli Frittata Ashley made. Rather than baking it in a larger pie dish she baked them in muffin tins and they were a perfect single-serving size.
Megan whipped up a classic berry and granola parfait enhanced with some dollar spot embellishments from Target and she used Noosa honey yogurt—oh man, so creamy, so good!
Strawberry orange smoothie rounded out the menu and Ashley made some strawberries and cream “puppy chow” or “muddy buddies”…whatever you call chex cereal doused with deliciousness..for the party favors in cute little muslin bags (ah hem, dollar spot, again).
The decorations were fun and festive. Check out all the fun pieces below:
Our little “Galentine’s gathering” was awesome. We ate way more than we should have and talked way longer than we planned. It’s amazing how you can reconnect and pick right up where you left off with some friends. I love it when those moments happen. They are both fulfilling and rejuvenating. As we sat and caught up on the events of life since we had last connected, I couldn’t help but feel validated and inspired by these ladies. All of our lives have turned out far different than we planned back in high school and are personalities have grown and evolved in beautiful ways as a result. Some are married, some are mothers, some work full-time, some work at home, some watch CNN, others only watch HGTV, some are going through heartache, some just survived heartache, some love to read, some love to write, some are democrats, some are republicans.
Regardless of our differences, our bond of friendship unites us. And although our experiences have been very different from one another, every time we get together, we realize that many of our feelings are the same. There is beauty and empathy in hearing someone say, “oh my gosh, me too!” May you all reconnect with those awesome ladies in your life that make say, “me too!” And do it over bacon and carbs, obviously.
Winter is in full swing around here, and we’re not going to lie, a lot of days we dream of sandy beaches and flip flops, but just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you have to sit inside all day sipping cocoa. We’ve done some research and put together an awesome list of winter activities to explore here in Utah. Whether you are a weekend warrior, out of town visitor or just looking for a few hours of fun on a random Tuesday, we’ve got it all for you!
Location: The Ice Castles are located in Midway, just outside of Park City, Utah.
Fun Fact: During different times of the week you can meet an enchanted ice princess or enjoy an entertaining fire show with dancers and fire breathers.
Admission: $10 – $18 depending on age, day of the week and online vs at the door.
Who doesn’t love sliding down a mountain with snow spraying in their face? Tubing is what winter is all about. Every city has the favorite tubing hill, but Utah is also home to many resorts and parks that offer tubing fun for the whole family and some of them will even tow you back up the hill! No walking required (now that’s the way to go!). Here are a few of our favorites…
Location: Wasatch Mountain State Park in Midway, Utah
Fun Fact: Soldier Hollow has the longest tubing lanes in Utah, stretching 1200 feet and includes a lift service for hauling people up the hill (so awesome!) They are open for day or night tubing.
Admission: $12 to $26 depending on age and time on the hill.
• Tube is included.
• Sessions are two hours long.
• Purchase tickets online.
Location: Just off I-80 in Park City, 7 miles from Park City Mountain Resort.
Fun Fact: Gorgoza Park offers 7 different tubing lanes to choose from and has a lift that takes you to the top of the hill each time! They also have mini snowmobile tracks for kids and “Fort Frosty”, a winter play area for kids 6 and under.
Admission: $7 to $46 depending on age and time on the hill, average is $27 for ages 5+ for unlimited sledding for 2 hours.
Location: Snowbasin is located in Huntsville, just 15 miles from Ogden, Utah.
Admission: $6 per ride or $18 for 2 hours.
Hours:
M,W,F,Sat: 12pm – 6pm
Sunday: 11am – 4pm
Phone Number: 800-391-9954
You can’t ask for a better way to enjoy the beautiful winter views Utah has to offer, all while getting a little cardio in. Grab some snowshoes or cross country skis and you can be one with nature in just a few minutes. Check out these great locations!
Location: The White Pine Canyon trail is located up Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Fun Fact: You can take a three-hour, five-hour or even nighttime tour with White Pine Touring Center. You can even add on a fireside dinner after the tour Wednesday-Saturday from 6pm-9pm.
Location: North Fork Park is located in Liberty, Utah which is less than 15 miles from Ogden. Fun Fact: This loop will lead you through pretty forests that open up to views of the mountain range. This is about a five-mile loop.
Whether you are looking for a great spot to practice your triple toe loop or just somewhere to have a little fun, check out these ice skating options all across the valley. Just be prepared to fall flat on your butt a few times…those triple toe loops aren’t as easy as they seem, trust us. And if you’ve see the 1992 classic “The Cutting Edge” you’ll know the importance of the toe pick!
It’s New Year’s Eve, the day we resolve to change all the things! The day we feel motivated for progress! Eat better! Lose weight! Sleep 8 hours! Drink water! Spend quality time with those we love! Organize our life! If you’re like us some years you are motivated and ready to conquer the world and other years you are overwhelmed before the clock even strikes midnight. It was on one of those overwhelmed New Year’s Eves that my friend, Angie, told me about having “a word for the year” instead of a list of overwhelming resolutions.
The idea behind choosing just one word is to focus on an attribute rather than task. Let me explain a little more…Think about your ideal resolution list, what would it include? Now dig a little deeper. Why haven’t you been able to be as consistent and successful with these tasks as you have wanted? What is keeping you from accomplishing these goals? You will soon find the answers to those questions are exactly where you will find your inspiration for your “word of the year”. For example, if you want to eat healthy and exercise, but you fail every time because you always cave and find yourself eating chocolate and Diet Coke (us too!) maybe your word for the year could be “self-control”. Or perhaps you just never buy healthy food and are too busy for the gym, then maybe “plan” or “prepare” could be your word for the year. Are you getting the drift here?
It’s amazing to see the difference it makes when your focus is narrowed to one word rather than an endless list. Once you pick your word put it somewhere where you will see it daily–ALL DAY. Put it everywhere! Like on your mirror, a post-it in your car, do some fancy craft, write it on a chalk board, plaster it to your fridge…you get the idea. Then think about how you can stay true to your “word” that day. Take this one day at a time, people, one day at a time. We got this. Here’s what a few of us decided to choose for our words this year…
Danelle: Balance Hello, my name is Danelle, and I am an over-committer, over-planner, and over-indulger. I sleep more nights in a hotel than I do at my house, live off of Delta Biscoff cookies, and am always forgetting something (usually my charger). Despite all of that work travel, I still want to have a life, so I stay up late or wake up early all in the name of social interaction. Please tell me I’m not the only one that thrives in chaos and wears my “busyness” with pride. I know, I know, there’s a better way, or so the organized people tell me. I just have to plan better, prepare more, have boundaries, say “no”, practice self-control, learn to sacrifice, say what I feel, respect myself more, respect other people more, sleep more, eat less, meditate, practice self-compassion, let things go, yada…yada…yada…the list goes on. But seriously, like where do you even start with all of that? AGH! I definitely need an intervention. Like big time.
So when New Year’s rolled around I knew this was my chance. I’ve done the “word of the year” thing before and it was awesome. The hardest part for me is actually picking just one word. How do you pick one word out of all of that mumbo jumbo above??? There’s literally no way. But as I started to dig a little deeper, I realized that perhaps there is one word that might help—BALANCE. Yuck. I already don’t like it—which is precisely why I should pick it. Ugh, I hate it when you know you should do something, but you really, really don’t want to. This is definitely one of those. Please bless this this change only hurts a little. Here’s to 2017!
Megan: Positivity
I’m not the most optomistic person on the planet, in fact, I’m very aware of my sometimes negative attitude. It’s something I’m not proud of but it’s a hard habit to break. I’ve noticed my negativity has really taken a toll on me over the past year in all aspects of my life. Negativity has also played a role in my health and brought me more stress over the past year.
When thinking of a word for 2017, I couldn’t think of anything better than positivity. I’ve decided it’s time to break the negative pattern and change my mindset for the new year. I know it won’t be easy and it won’t happen overnight, but by being mindful of my thoughts and words, I think it’s something I can work towards.
One way to help me work towards this goal is to have constant reminders of being positive for myself throughout the day. This includes having a special message to myself as my screen saver and my bathroom mirror, sticky notes with reminders to stay positive in my workspace and my car and even help from my friends and family to nudge me when a negative thought or word comes out of my mouth.
Ashley: Commitment
Well, Danelle was pressuring me to come up with a word for the year and I thought about choosing “commitment”, but then I realized that is too harsh of a word. I can’t see that word sitting on my mirror all year! It will just make me mad. I tossed around “focus” and “believe”…maybe if I focus and believe in myself I can be more committed without having to actually use that as my word. As usual, procrastination got the best of me and I showed up to our meeting without choosing a word. I gave the girls my list and they unanimously agreed that commitment should be my word…I don’t know, they said it had something to do with the visible reaction I had just talking about commitment. Haha. So, there you have it, I will be facing my commitment demons for 2017.
I kind of feel like I didn’t choose “commit”, it chose me. Through the process of talking with my friends about what our “one word for the year” was going to be, I was indecisive and tossed around the words “focus”, “believe”, “prepare”, and hesitantly, the word “commit”. They asked me the whys about each, and as I was thinking about the different words, I felt like I wanted to choose all of them and by choosing commit I could tackle the entire list. However, “commit” just felt so harsh! So final. So…committed. As I thought about what I really wanted to change this year I decided it is to improve my awful habit of procrastination.
Like most people, I work best with a deadline. I do pretty well under pressure and think to myself, “It’s fine to wait to the last minute. I got this.” However, when it comes down to crunch time and I fail, I always beat myself up for waiting until the last minute! My procrastination lies have failed me many a time. As I thought about the “whys” I started to think that preparation and focus were my issues, but then I realized that my biggest problem was actually follow through. As I thought about the word “commit” and what it means, it stands for determination and accountability and those things are what’s keeping me from following through. So, by choosing the word “commit” I am getting serious about things and will be more determined and accountable in 2017! And hopefully my procrastination problem will improve along the way! Here’s to commitment (I’m already dreading it)!
So follow along this year as we embrace the ups and downs of change together. Pick your word, put it on your mirror, and don’t look back! We got this. 2017, watch out!
Swell Bottle: This insulated water bottle is the best thing! Swell bottles are AMAZING! They weren’t lying when they said that they will keep your hot drinks hot for 12 hours and your cold drinks cold for 24 hours.
Since I love drinking ice cold water, I decided to start using this water bottle at work. I wanted a better option to keep my water cold without having to store my water bottle in a fridge all day. Another plus is when I put ice in my bottle, it doesn’t condensate and get the counters wet while I work. These bottles are simply the BEST! They have so many color and pattern options you’ll be sure to find one (maybe even two) perfect for you! Image Source: Swell Bottle
Herschel: I am in love with this bag. While it may be a bit of a splurge, I love that it can be a gym, travel, overnight, or just an all-purpose bag. I need all the motivation I can get when it comes to gym going or working out in general and a cute gym bag is definitely a push in the right direction. Image Source: Herschel
Salomon Trail-Running Shoes: Now that my husband works for Amer Sports, he’s always bringing home Salomon shoes and other outdoor wear for me to try. I have to say these Salomon shoes are some of my favorite. I hate dealing with shoe laces when I’m working out, so for me the best part is the lacing system takes just 1 pull for an exact fit. They are also very comfortable and have breathable mesh and synthitic lining to keep moisture away from your feet. I highly reccomend giving these a try. Plus, they come in a lot of cute color combos! Image Source: REI
Reflex Power Flex Yoga Pants: A random Amazon rabbit hole, in the name of Christmas shopping, led me to stumble upon these fine yoga pants about a month ago. I am always in the market for comfy, stretchy leggings and I was intrigued when I saw that these had 3,984 reviews on Amazon and 4.5 stars! Anything with over 1,000 reviews always gets my attention, but these babies had nearly 4,000! So I clicked around looking at the reviews, color options, etc. and I noticed that the black leggings were $19.99, reasonable, but the “watermelon” leggings were only $4.99! That’s so cheap! So I decided to take a $5 splurge and try these out to see what the 4,000 Amazon reviews were all about. And you know what? They were right!
These yoga pants/leggings are so awesome. They are sturdy and thick, but super soft and comfortable. They have a built-in pocket for your phone and just the right amount of stretch. All this talk is making me want to go order another pair…they are even worth the $19.99 for the black pair. So if you’re needing some new workout pants give these babies a whirl. If you are unsure and brave you can do like I did and purchase the $4.99 watermelon-colored ones. Just be prepared for everyone to comment, “Whoa, now those are some pink pants” every time you wear them. Haha! Image Source: Amazon
