july 2014

i decided to start doing month review posts, so here is july 2014.

we spent the fourth of july in kanab with my parents, little brother, and his friend dane. we stayed at the cutest hotel, the quail park lodge. we absolutely loved this hotel! they had great service, and it was so adorable how it was decorated. they had beach cruisers for the hotel guests to take around town for free, and there was also a fire pit and sitting area where we loved sitting and chatting. if you are ever in kanab, i would definitely recommend staying here.

we went for a delicious breakfast at a restaurant called houston's trails end, which was right on the main street of town where we had a great view of the 4th of july parade. the parade was so fun, and there were some great floats. i especially loved the float with the class of 1964 from kanab high school. they were so funny! they had water guns and they were squirting all of the little kids with water. i thought it was awesome that so many of them were still living in kanab after all these years!   there were also lots of old cars and one really cool vintage fire truck. i love small towns, and  i definitely wouldn't mind living in a small town one day.

 

after the parade, we headed back to the hotel to check out and make our way back to provo. we had a great time eating delicious ham and cheese sliders, and then setting off some cool fireworks that dane's mom had bought for us. it was definitely a great fourth of july!

my family stayed in provo for the next week while max and dane had lacrosse camp at BYU. i can't believe how good max is at lacrosse! maybe one day he'll play for BYU :) it was a really fun week full of lots of fun memories (scheels, provo beach resort with max and dane, countless rounds of telestrations, and the bowl game). we also ate at lots of really good restaurants. (thanks mom and dad!)

since we've been trying to eat out less, we tried some really yummy new recipes this month. we especially loved crock pot veggie lasagna, because in our tiny apartment, its crazy how hot it gets with the oven on!

speaking of apartments, we also had a little bit of stress trying to find a new apartment to move into on the 15th of august when our contract is up. nothing was seeming to work out for the longest time, but we finally had an answer to prayers! we really love the new apartment that we're planning to move into, and it is a huge step up from our current situation.  it has almost all of the major things we have been missing in our current one, (including a dishwasher, A.C., and a bathroom counter) and we'll have much more space which will be great.

overall, july was a great month!

buckskin gulch

me and evan drove down to kanab, ut to meet my parents for a hiking trip and to celebrate the fourth of july. we had a great time on our little trip, and it was absolutely beautiful!

we left provo early on thursday morning the 3rd, and drove down to kanab, ut. once we were in kanab, we met my parents, max, and max's friend dane. we then drove out to buckskin gulch, which is about 40 miles outside of kanab. we drove along a really bumpy dirt road for about 8 miles to get to the buckskin gulch trail head. once we got to the parking lot, we started the journey!

we wet about 4 miles into the canyon, we heard a loud crack of thunder and looked up to see dark storm clouds. since buckskin gulch is a slot canyon, and is considered one of the top ten most dangerous hikes in the world due to flash floods, we naturally got a little worried and started heading back. it was an amazing experience, and i was totally in awe of the beauty of southern utah. if you ever have a chance to do this hike i highly recommend it!

our list

my cute cousin corina has quite an amazing blog, and in 2010 and 2011, her and her husband made a list of things that they wanted to accomplish/do/see that year (sort of a bucket list for the year, so to speak). i know it's already may, and the year is quickly approaching its half way point (wow!) but i loved the idea so much that i'm making one for us now anyways.

so here is our list. we are going to try our best to accomplish everything on this list by the end of the year, and as we do each thing, i'll make a post about it (hopefully...)

1. alpine slides
2. camping in moab
3. hike angels landing in zions
4. backpacking trip
5. eat at bruges in slc
6. eat at red iguana in slc
7. go shooting at cabelas
8. visit the hogle zoo
9. start an herb garden
10. eat hot wings at the original wingers in orem
11. explore the provo library
12. go night skiing
13. go to a byu football game
14. go to one of the rooftop concert series shows
15. visit pioneer village
16. go on a picnic
17. learn to make mozzarella cheese, eat on homemade pizza
18. eat unlimited french toast for breakfast at kneaders
19. visit the peppermint place
20. seven peaks water park
21. eat delicious burgers and shakes at culvers in lehi
22. the living planet aquarium
23. go to a play
24. learn to make sourdough bread from scratch
25. visit the newly renovated bean museum
26. eat italian food at glorias little italy
27. visit the provo farmers market
28. hike to the hot springs
29. make homemade chex mix at christmas time
30. hike mt timponogas
31. take a road trip to las vegas and watch a cirque du soleil show
32. visit the salt lake temple lights
33. stay the night at the grand america and get a massage in the spa
34. ride the frontrunner to salt lake
35. visit the utah state fair
36. ride a horse drawn carrige around salt lake
37. visit a haunted house or attraction
38. eat at hires big h
39. spend the day at thanksgiving point 
40. eat at the lion house pantry
41. try every variety of burrito from the sweeto burrito food truck
42. drink the best water in the world in beaver utah
43. hike to silver lake
44. ride the sundance full moon lift
45. laugh at comedy sportz
46. canoe the provo river
47. hike to timpanogas cave
48. go to the outdoor summer cinema
49. visit the salt flats
50. watch a clark planetarium movie

meet the sharp's

him: evan is a 22 year old byu student who is currently studying to be a doctor with a fancy major that amanda can never remember the name of. (physiology and developmental biology). lover of eggs, any sort of juice, and making amanda laugh till she cries.

words that amanda uses to describe evan: silly, adventurous, hilarious, brilliant, know-it-all.

things you may not know about evan: he is the oldest of a big family of 6 kids. he is obsessed with chocolate milk. he hates the smell of lavender. he is more than happy to always do the dishes as long as he never has to clean the floor (amanda is fine with this arrangement). buddha-amanda and evan's betta fish-love's evan more then amanda (yes, it is possible for a fish to love). he loves to run.

her: amanda is a 20 year old byu students wife, hedgehog lover, and natural living aficionado. passionate about yummy food, cooking, huge trees and the rain. 

words that evan uses to describe amanda: goofball, fun, adorable, evil genius, mini-person.

things you may not know about amanda: her ultimate dream is to one day have their own homestead, complete with chickens and a milk cow. she thinks golden retrievers, and especially her family's dog gus, are one of the best things to happen in this world. she is really good at 15 puzzles, and really bad at card games. she has a bit of an obsession with harry potter. she talks about how much she wants to go to disneyland at least once every week. she hates to run.