4th of July clip

My sister and brother and I were excited to be part of a 4th of July concert last week.  Well, excited until we peeked at the audience before going out and saw how many people were there!  The little amphitheater was packed, there were at least 1,400 people (which is 2,800 eyes watching).  I got really nervous, but we made it through it!  It was really neat to look out at the crowd and see so many people wearing red, white, and blue!

A few people asked if we taped the performance.  Here is a clip from it!  We mixed two fiddle songs (Orange Blossom Special and Devil Went down to Georgia) into one.  We had fun coming up with three part harmonies for parts of it. Luke's version of Devil was created 'in his head'...so Ash and I learned it by ear (no music) which was pretty difficult to do in a week.  That is probably what made me so nervous, knowing that I didn't feel prepared enough.  But we were pretty happy with the outcome, we always have such a good time playing together.

Our Annual H.D.D.

Our tradition of H.D.D.'s (hundred dollar dinners, for lack of a better name) started five years ago, when Scott and I decided to get dressed up and go to La Caille, a famously expensive restaurant.  We loved the whole experience of fine dining, and knew we could probably spend a small fortune on those types of dates if we had no self control.

We decided to start a tradition of going out to one H.D.D. per year.  We have two rules, first: it has to be spontaneous.  No planning more than a day ahead.  When it feels like the time is right and the perfect opportunity comes up, we just go.  Second rule: go big or go home; we always get valet parking, get an appetizer, main course, and dessert, and dress up.

Last year, our H.D.D. was my surprise hair cutting party.  This year, we made it all the way to June before taking the plunge.  It was a few weeks ago, a day before Scott was going to go to a scout camp for several days.  We wanted to do something fun since we'd be apart the rest of the week. Scott suggested making that night our H.D.D. and we decided that yep, that night would be perfect for it!

Since Scott is such a big meat fan, he has always wanted to try Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  We recently found out that there is one in downtown Salt Lake now, so we decided to go there.

We called and made a reservation, and were on our way! The meal was amazing. They bring your food to you on a 500 degree plate, it was pretty intense.  I was worried I was going to burn my arm!  The meat was the best we have ever had, it was worth it's price!  Our waiter Phillipe was very cool as well, he kept saying "my pleasure" every time we thanked him for something. So classy :)

 One of our favorite things about going to these amazing restaurants (because you know us) is the decor inside. This one had beautiful modern finishes, awesome tile work, and pillows in the booths.  We absolutely loved the look of it.

After dinner, we swung by and walked around "that place we got married", the Salt Lake Temple. It was such a nice summer night outside.

Traditions are so worth it.  We love creating our own, and also love copying adopting fun ideas that others have done.  I'd love to hear some of the traditions that you all have made up or 'adopted'!

Checkmate

We've done a couple projects around the house in the last few weeks.

We have a very simple chess set ($2.99 from Rite Aid) and though we don't play very often, it's just one of those things it seems like every house should have.  Ond day it was sitting out and I practically cringed when I noticed how badly it clashed with our orange living room decor (the squares were black and bright red).

I got the idea right then to cover the red squares with scrapbook paper.  I happened to have a sheet of cute orange paper in the house already, so I used a glue stick to cover the red squares with the paper.  There was also a bright red outline around the board, so I used a black magic marker to color that in.  Then I modge podged the whole thing so that the surface would be even.

We love how it ended up, and now it's sitting out more often than not!

Next, Scott decided to make a headboard for the full size bed in our guest room.  He bought ten fence posts from the store and built a short fence.  He used roofing nails because they are big and shiny, I thought that was brilliant of him. 

We picked three colors and painted it outside in the sunshine.  It was dry by the end of the day and now it is in the room. We were going for a bit of a 'distressed' look, so that made painting easy.  No second coat!

 These were fun little projects, and they were both CHEAP!  Even better!

N.O. T.V.

We are sans TV.  We have been for two weeks, we will be for five months.  It's kind of an experiment...

Our TV was 20 years old., Scott bought it from a guy for $100 several years ago.  It worked well for us, we loved the big big screen.  The only down side is that the TV itself is HUGE, it practically has the footprint of a fridge.

Scott had the idea to sell the TV at the beginning of summer and not replace it until November (we're hoping to get a sweet deal at the day-after-Thanksgiving sales).  Then we can enjoy the nice summer weather and not get sucked in by the TV, which we'll admit happens sometimes.

Well, we sold it just a few hours after putting it up for sale on KSL.com (for....$100!).  It's new home is at a granite countertop shop where a lot of soccer is being watched on it right now.

I miss it a little bit, but I don't think Scott does.  In fact, I think he is secretly hoping November will roll around and I won't want to get a new TV.  I guess that is a possibility...but a pretty small one.

Luckily, we have our bikes, nearby parks, and unlimited Lagoon nights (we used our garage sale money to get season passes) to keep us outside this summer.

Are any of you TV-less too???

Free Music in the Park

It's busy summertime now and I just might have to post a few times a week to keep up!

I want to give a quick plug for this fun group: the Davis County Symphony.

The group was "born" in January of this year, and I joined right when it started.  It has been so fun to be part of something that is just starting out; I have a soft spot for non-profit organizations (what with my job and all...).  We have a lot of fun at rehearsals each week, everyone is there because they like to play- there is no competition between the members.  Those of you who have played in groups before know that's a rare find!

We are playing a pops concert this Sunday as part of my work's Free Sunday Night Concert Series.  I am lucky enough to be part of three of those this summer! I feel blessed to be able to mix my job with my hobby.

Anyways, the Davis County Symphony is playing this Sunday at 7pm at the Ed Kenley Amphitheater (right across from Layton High School.  A pops concert basically means we won't be playing any old classical music.  It's all movie themes and patriotic stuff.

Come by if you are wanting a fun thing to do on a (hopefully) nice warm evening :)