Last Weekend: Falafel, DanceSport, St. Patrick's Day

O'Falafel: I have been meaning to go to O'Falafel for the past couple years (ever since I heard about this place since returning from Jerusalem).  But we don't venture up to Salt Lake often, and when we do, we usually go to The Pie (aka BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER HAD).  But ohhhh my. We should have started going to O'Falafel much sooner.  The owner is actually from Jerusalem and has been cooking for years, so you can just imagine how authentic the food is and how it reminds me of my falafel lunches in the old city that I ate almost daily on my study abroad.  We split a falafel and shawarma, and we most definitely will be going back!

Shawarma (lamb) 

DanceSport: 

DanceSport: my sister, brother in law, and nephew came down for the national dancesport competition.  It was fun to watch all the competitions and brought me back to my old dancing days!

I of course had to bring my sister by Sodalicious to indulge in their hot lava and sugar cookies.

St Patrick's Day

I made Sodalicious knock off cookies for St. Patty's day

Green snacks!

Friends over for a green dinner! We had bbq ranch chicken wraps (and in green wraps too!)

One Big Road Trip South

Last weekend, during Thomas' spring break, we decided to do a little road trip. We met up with good friends in St. George and then took off from there.  Here is just a glimpse of our road trip through some photos:

GRAND CANYON

CORAL SAND DUNES

DRIVE THROUGH ZIONS

SNOW CANYON

HOOVER DAM

VEGAS

Ok, Vegas definitely does not deserve all the hype it gets.  Given that we don't drink/gamble/or go to strip clubs, BUT STILL.  I seriously could not understand the hype.  Yeah - the hotel ambiance, shows, and food options are great, but is that worth going through all the nasty smoke filled casinos and seeing half naked women all over? Don't think so. Anyhow, we decided the best part of Vegas was the following:

GELATO.  We found the most delicious gelato in the Venition.  Thomas had blackberry, guava, and grapefruit sherbet.  I had cheesecake, blackberry, and turtle caramel.    

LEGOS. We found a Toys R Us and stopped to get our monthly mini figures. 

THIS CANDY STORE.  A great selection of overpriced (yet tasty) treats. 

We will probably be back because the wax museum was closed due to power outage (which was like the one thing we really wanted to do), and we'll probably grab some gelato too :)

February Highlights

BYU Ballet - Swan Lake.  It's become somewhat of a little tradition for us to go to BYU's ballet every February. 

2011 - Cinderella (no picture :( unfortunately) 

2012 - Snow Queen

2013 - Sleeping Beauty

Hot Chocolate Dash for work! 100% of proceeds went to charity :)

Working the water station!

Our monthly lego mini figures!

Valentine cookies...hehe

New Legos sets!

Valentines from my Valentine :)

Nicer weather = more hiking!

My new addiction: SODALICIOUS.  Soooo yummy. The sugar cookies are the BOMB and so is their "hot lava" - a thick European dark hot chocolate.  We have spent WAY too much money there recently, but it's so addicting! 

Since I can't stop eating their cookies, I found a copy cat recipe online! It tastes pretty similar and then I can eat as many as I want! Here's the recipe: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2014/02/swig-sugar-cookies.html

End of Year 2013 Recap

October: a taste of our Disney World trip! 

Magic Kingdom: 

One of our fav's

Ate at Beast's castle and had the "grey stuff" from the Be Our Guest song

Met Goofy

EPCOT:

Food and Wine Festival 

Animal Kingdom: 

Met Rafiki 

Enjoying a falafel lunch with view of the Tree of Life (there are animals carved into the whole base)

Hollywood Studios: 

Terminator 

Thomas' Birthday: 

Breakfast at EPCOT's French bakery

Thomas got chosen as a volunteer in the Indiana Stunt Show

One of our favorite rides - Star Tours

Ending the evening with Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party/parade/firework show

It was an awesome trip, and we somehow got it all done in 5 days!

November:  

Put our tree up (yep, it went up before Thanksgiving - just couldn't resist!)

Thanksgiving dinner feast - spent it with a couple of friends :) 

December: 

Festival of Trees - people donate these beautifully decorated themed trees (there was over 800 of them!) and they are for sale to the public.  All the money goes to the children's hospital.  It's really cool!! . 

Penguin themed!

MOTAB Christmas Concert - we even got to see Gimli (one of the guests this year)

Temple Square is quite a site to behold all lit up

Our 2013 Christmas card that Thomas made (now a little tradition of ours).  Can you find Quilly? 

Another family tradition - volunteering at the "Christmas Carol" play at the ACT Theatre in Seattle.  So much fun and we got to see the show for free!!

Spending time in Port Orchard with John and Linda

Our means of transportation between families

"Mary & Joseph" dinner - salmon, figs, dates, goat cheese, olives, cucumbers, grapes, stuffed grape leaves, pita and hummus. 

Another dinner at Mom's - nothin' like pizza with weinhards and a roaring fire!

Add in "It's A Wonderful Life" and you've got the perfect cozy evening!

At the park with the dogs

Spending time with my niece - she loves stories!

Thomas is such a great uncle, having fun dancing

All the sisters and Mom together at our annual family  new years party

We're back in Provo now (unfortunately), but have some great memories of a great Christmas!