Utah Favorites

3 Things to Do in St. George!

June 8, 2015

Since we’re down in St. George, Ut so often (we just can’t help it!), I frequently get asked what to do when vacationing. While I’d love to recommend staying at “Gramma’s house” to everyone so they can feed the chickens, jump on the tramp, and eat my mom’s delicious cooking, that might be just a tad intrusive. 😉 Instead, I’ve started compiling a HUGE list of our favorite things to do, which I’ll share on here soon! For now, here’s three family friendly activities to do while in St. George that we LOVE!

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Red Hills Desert Garden

I was super excited to visit the Red Hills Desert Garden while we were in town, it just recently opened! Ellie adored looking at all the fish, the desert plants were stunning, and the swings with a view over the city was amazing. We’ll definitely be going back (and taking Brian with us! He missed out on this adventure!)

Anasazi Trail

I hadn’t ever hiked this trail until just a few weeks ago – and I don’t know why I waited so long. The Anasazi Trail is gorgeous! It’s family friendly, doesn’t take too long, and there’s amazing petroglyphs along the way. We hiked it on a stormy day and got an amazing view of the Red Mountain covered in clouds – love!

Sand Hollow Reservoir

At one point growing up, we had a boat that we would take to the reservoir, but now we camp out on the red sandy beach for the afternoon! We bring along a few buckets, shovels (or spoons!), tubes, lifejackets, and snacks and soak up the glorious sunshine. It’s $10 to get in (or $5 with Gram’s senior discount – go Gram!) and well worth the afternoon in the sun. Ellie played in the water for hours!

Spencer posted this photo on Instagram “Using mainly spoons, we’ll dig a tunnel under the city and release it into the wild!” Name that movie!

What do you love to do in St. George? Happy Adventuring!

A Garden Adventure

April 13, 2015

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Tree Top, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #TreeTopInc #raisinggoodapples http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

With our New York visitors in town for the past week or so, we knew we had to take them to one of our favorite places here in Utah. Thanksgiving Point Gardens is always on our list to hit up in the spring and it didn’t disappoint! Tulips, blossoms, and color galore! We packed up the car with the stroller and snacks for a gorgeous afternoon.

Grandpa and Grandma let Ellie feed the fish (good practice for feeding her new pets at home! 😉

Could this be my backyard, please? If only I could keep plants alive for longer than a week. 😉

“I’m ready for an a-venture!” Ellie exclaimed after putting on her shoes. I believe she also made up an “a-venture” song too 😉 This girl.

Someone is becoming quite the daddy’s girl these days and it melts my heart! These two are quite the pair.

No outing is complete without snacks, especially with this pregnant, hungry mama! We packed up a few Tree Top Applesauce pouches for a quick, easy (and no mess!) snack on the go. Not to mention, they’re insanely delicious (and on my list of current pregnancy cravings! 😉

Located in the heart of Washington’s apple country, Tree Top is a grower-owned co-op, deeply rooted in the communities where we work and live. For more than 50 years, Tree Top has been a trusted brand dedicated to delivering top-quality products and premium ingredients such as juices, smoothies and sauces.

We picked up our pouches at our local Macey’s and will be headed back for more this week! In effort to bring awareness to “Raising Good Apples”, Tree Top is partnering with the National Gardening Association’s KidsGardening.org to help educate kids on gardening. For every box of Tree Top Apple Sauce Pouches purchased through 5/31 Tree Top will donate $1 to help KidsGardening.org to help build and grow youth gardens.

We stopped to smell all the flowers, chase the birds, and play in the dirt for a bit, too. 🙂 It was the perfect spring outing!

Tree Top has graciously offered to give away a darling Kid’s Gardening Kit to one lucky reader! The kit consists of: “My Gardening Journal”, Red Tubrug pail, kids gardening gloves, watering can, soft touch hand tool set, favorite five sprouting seeds, and of course, some delicious Tree Top Apple Sauce Pouches. Giveaway runs from 4/13-4/20. To enter, simply leave a comment below telling me about your favorite springtime activity. XO

Foodie Favs: Provisions in SLC

January 30, 2015

Our date nights lately seem to consist of us rotating through some of our favorite, classic restaurants. Our frequent diner card(s) at Cafe Rio are quite full after all those pork salads. 🙂 This year, we are determined to try out some new places here in Utah, and boy did we find a good one last week! We joined up with our good friends and headed to Provisions in Salt Lake. Not only was the restaurant absolutely darling, the food was divine. Provisions specializes in organic, in season, and locally sourced food. Meaning, the menu changes every season! Each plate was incredibly unique, I’ve never tasted such flavors before. The plates are not your typical American plates (as in, they’re not oversized in proportions!) I would definitely recommend going with a few friends who don’t mind sharing. We were able to try so many different menu items by splitting our orders.

This wallpaper was amazing and added the perfect pop!

The menu is slightly intimidating, I had no idea what half the vocab meant, but every plate we ordered was divine!

These are the beets, and for someone that doesn’t love beets, I was in heaven!

The short ribs, steamed buns, and pigs head were some of my very favorites! (The pigs head sounds awfully weird but I promise, it was insanely delicious!)

Mushrooms with a poached egg on top? Another fav!

The mussels were another crowd fav. Ask for extra bread to dip in the sauce, so amazing! The salted caramel chocolate pudding was also amazing (small, but good!), but the favorite dessert was the cinnamon coated donuts with orange dipping sauce.

The kitchen area was beyond darling (the subway tile in white and orange!) and the chalkboard walls (not pictured) were the perfect touch to the atmosphere.

The only complaint that I read online was that the size of the plates vs the price seemed a little high. The price was definitely on the high end for the size, but the flavors were huge! I’d definitely recommend trying it out at least once, and bring some friends!

Date Night and Provo’s Best Kept Secret

September 29, 2014

Brian and I budget for a few date nights every month, but let’s face it, half the time our “date” night turns into a family of three night. 😉 After a few weeks of date/family nights, we decided it was high time to have an actual date night, just the two of us! We dropped Ellie off at a friend’s house and headed down to Provo’s best kept secret – Tamarack. I had perused their instagram and facebook page a few days before and couldn’t believe the pictures I was seeing. So fancy! When Tamarack invited us to try them out, there was no questions asked, we were there! I know I probably shouldn’t judge a restaurant based on it’s looks (because the best Chinese food comes from those little run down places!) but this is one restaurant you can judge based off it’s looks. Because the whole thing looks like it should be in a magazine! Actually, I really just want my whole house to look like it. It was GORGEOUS.

It took awhile before I was done oohing and aweing over the décor, wood and metal accents, and all the gorgeous furniture. (Is it weird that I pay attention to all that stuff? I love it!) We finally got to the menu, oh the menu! I had a hard time deciding, but I finally ordered a limeade, and a steak, while Brian ordered some mozzarella sticks for an appetizer and a burger for his meal. Have you ever seen more beautifully plated food? I felt like we were supposed to be dining with the rich and famous, this stuff looked fancy! I also ordered pumpkin soup with my steak, and can we just take a moment to talk about it? That pumpkin soup was everything lovely and wonderful about autumn, blended up in a huge bowl of soup. It was incredible. Beyond incredible! I could go in for just the soup and be satisfied. Ok, ok, I’ll probably go back and order that steak too, because man alive! It was that good.

We ended the evening with the Rocky Mountain brownie, highly recommended! And yes, I know, talk about a lot of food! We had the best leftovers the next day! So fun to get a night out with my main man and devour delicious, gourmet (and reasonably priced!) food. Ahhh date nights. I’m ready for another one! (Maybe we’ll go back for brunch??)

And while I’m on the topic of date nights….
…I’m trying to figure out how to get one last camping trip in before it gets cold and I get wimpy. Loved this camping date!
…Any date that includes pumpkin cheesecake is the best date, in my opinion. 🙂
…Staying in? Here’s a few at home date night ideas.
…Think I can convince Brian to get take some darling photos like these ones?

Love you all. Seriously, this blog community is fantastic. Happy Monday! XO

A day in the city

September 2, 2014

At the top of our stairs, we have a big, gorgeous photo of the Salt Lake Temple. Almost every day, when we pass by it, Ellie points to it, says “pa-ple!” and we usually proceed to sing the primary song “I love to see the temple.” It’s been awhile since she’s been to the Salt Lake Temple, so on one random weekday, we decided to spend the day in the city. We wandered around the temple grounds pointing out all the flowers, said hello to all the missionaries, and enjoyed the Christus statue even though Ellie was particularly loud while everyone else was trying to be more reverent and quiet. 😉 We made sure to stop at all the water fountains, picked up Stroopwafels at a nearby grocery store, and finished up our day with some shopping and the splash pads at City Creek mall. It was a perfect girl’s outing and a beautiful day to do so!

Park City Getaway

August 6, 2014

My family stayed with us for almost two weeks in July, so last minute Brian and I decided to take advantage of having free babysitters and skipped town! We found an affordable hotel in Park City, kissed Ellie goodbye, and had a quick, not-quite-sixteen-hours-but-better-than-nothing mini vacation. It was fabulous! We ate an amazing dinner at Sammy’s Bistro. I mean, we had to after we found out it was on the show Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. We love watching the Food Network. 😉 I’ve been dying to ride the Alpine Slide and it definitely lived up to all it’s hype. Next time I will remember not wear a dress, ha! We finished the evening off with a walk down Main Street and ahhh-mazing gelato from Cortona Italian Café. Mmm. During the middle of the night I woke up once in pure panic “Where’s Ellie? Where’s Ellie!?” but quickly fell back asleep, reassured that she was at home doing fine. Ha! Such a fabulous getaway with my main man. And thanks to our amazing babysitters for making it happen. XO

I’m definitely adding Park City as one of my favorite places to go in Utah. I wished we could have stayed longer, we had a blast!

Things to do in Utah | Thanksgiving Point Gardens

June 13, 2014

This year we decided to invest in a Thanksgiving Point yearly pass. We live awfully close now and I needed something to keep Ellie and I entertained this summer (and winter!) I love Thanksgiving Point because they offer both indoor and outdoor activities for all ages. A few weeks ago, we went to the gardens. My first time visiting I was nine months pregnant and desperately hoping that all the walking would put me in labor. It most certainly did not, but I did get a good work out in. 😉 I have loved the gardens ever since. Talk about acres and acres of the most beautiful landscape! Spending a few hours there is easy. We made it just in time to see the last of the tulips and they were gorgeous! Ellie’s favorite part was the waterfall…oh and rolling down the giant hill with me. 😉

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Why we love it: a family friendly escape from the Utah desert

Cost: $15/adult, $12/children & seniors (it was well worth it for us to purchase a membership)

Open: March 29-October 1

Ellie’s First Camping Trip

June 11, 2014

Last weekend, we ventured up to Eden, Utah for Ellie’s first camping experience! Knowing how much Ellie loves digging in the dirt and being outside, I was pretty certain she would enjoy camping. Enjoy it? Yes. Love it? Absolutely! That girl was right in her element the entire time.

Ellie and I hitched a ride with my fam a day early and Brian joined us later after work. We hiked to the waterfall (twice!), made countless S’mores and roasted Starbursts, painted, explored, and hit up the lake. On our warmest day, the lake was a must! Our first camping adventure of the summer was an absolute success! And I have a full memory card and lots of photos to prove it!

This trip definitely falls under one of my favorite things to do in Utah. The campsite is called North Fork in Eden, Utah and was only $18/night for the most perfect, secluded, beautiful campsites I’ve ever been to! The waterfall was at the end of the campsite, a great family hike. We’re already trying to clear our schedule to make room for another camping adventure!

Things to do in Utah | Red Cliffs Hike

June 6, 2014

I am really excited to start this new little series on this blog! I often get asked by my northern Utah friends where they should go during their St. George trips and vice versa. Since I’m fairly familiar with both areas, I decided to share some of my absolute favorite things to do in Utah.

Let’s start with a Southern Utah favorite, shall we? Hiking Red Cliffs is definitely a family favorite! Not only is it a fairly easy hike (though it gets tougher the further you go), the trail is also spotted with a few swimming holes. What’s that? Water in St. George? You bet! Bring along your swimsuit, especially if you’re going in the spring. We managed to go at just the right time. There was still some water left, it will most likely be dry by the end of summer. Hungry? There’s picnic sites available for day use under the trees. And if you really want to spend the night, there’s campgrounds available as well. (They fill up fast!) I love being surrounded by those red rocks, they make for killer views!