The Up House

Recently, I went to see the Up house in Herriman, UT with Marilyn and Molly in a young women activity in their ward. We got in for free because the stake president is the guy who built this house. Pretty nice to not have to pay for it.

 

My first impression of the house was just as a excited as everyone else. It is such a cute house, and just like the movie. Carl and Russel were there too! Too bad there wasn't Doug. I love little talking Doug.

The pictures aren't doing it justice because my phone doesn't have high resolution. But it's nice to live just 5 minutes away, I could come back and take more pictures later.

My favorite part of the house is the kitchen. Don't you just love the retro looks? I would totally bought these appliances if they were any near affordable :)

The living room looks just like the one in the movie. They even got the little red bird and the chairs!

 

Love that wall paper

And the cute baby room

I was surprised at how many visitors they've got on a typical Wednesday night. The ticket guy said we were in the 950's. There was still other people flocking around when we left. They must have over a thousand visitors that night, easily.

On the side note, I've been busy working on my little garden. It's so much fun, and the best thing is to enjoy the hard work being paid off. I can just go outside and pick fresh veggies for my salad anytime.

Tossed in some chicken, olive, Parmesan cheese, and homemade pomegranate vinegar dressing 

A little sneak peek

These are 2 collage pictures of my photoshoot on Saturday. I was so excited to do a photoshoot for my friend Monica, the fashionista. All outfits were picked by Monica and modeled by her friend Kris, a "tiny dancer" and a great model :)

The photoshoot lasted for 2+ hours or so, and I have a total of about 450 pictures on my 16G memory card. Not too shabby!

It would probably take me another week or so to complete the album; however, I'm so excited to see good results so far.

You can visit Monica's blog through my friend's blog list to the left of this page or click throught this link.

http://euphoricfashiontrends.blogspot.com/

The quality of the images has been reduced significantly. I'll have to figure something out next time I post my pictures. After all, this is just a little sneak peek :)

My first family photo shoot

 

Last month I had a chance to do a service activity for a family in the ward. I offered photography to a sister in the ward a while ago at the Relief Society service auction. Ally was the one who had the highest bid on my service. She wanted to have new family photos so it was perfect timing. I was kinda nervous volunteering myself because I have never done a family photography session before. I didn't know what it was going to turn out like. I was afraid the pictures would look totally crappy. That would be a waste of their time and embarassing for me. Nonetheless, it was a good learning experience after all. I was quite pleased with the results. Now, I'm ready for more :) 

The Walters, in our ward, are some of the nicest people I've ever met. They invited us over for Family Home evening when we first moved into our home and we didn't know anybody in the neighborhood. I adore their kids: Addy, Kenna, Nick, and Alex. I can't stop raving about how sweet and well-behaved they all are.

One happy and beautiful family ~



I must admit taking family pictures are very challenging, especially with young kids. It's so difficult to get the young children to look at the camera and smile. I have spent many hours in Photoshop trying to swap out the distracted head of Alex with the smiley Alex.

This is a before picture. Note to self- bring lots of toys to get their attention next time. 

And this is a after picture, not great but it works :) 



After a few other shots of the family, Brian realized he had locked his car keys in the car. The parents had to call the cops to help them out so they could retrieve their key and go home afterward. It was crazy, but I didn't even notice a bit until Ally told me because I was so occupied with taking pictures of their beautiful kids. They are all so photogenic, that's why I think the pictures turned out great. Lucky me :)

McKenna

Nick

Addy

Alex

The biggest smile of the day


After I dropped the CD of pictures off at their house, Ally gave me a present, a 'Crazy about cupcakes' book with many different recipes for cupcakes. It was so nice of them to do that. But I do love love cup cakes. Now, i'm off to making cupcakes. Yeah, I think that's all I've got to share for this post. Happy Friday!

Our great little escape

A few months ago, there was a deal on Living Social for a 2 night stay at Zion Ponderosa Resort. It was 50% off, so I didn't waste any time to get it. We went down there for the weekend at the end of April. It was so much fun, especially since it was our first time visiting Zion National Park in Utah. We totally fell in love with everything down there. The sight-seeing was breathtakingly amazing. I can't believe there are so much things to see and learn about this place. We don't have to worry that there's nothing to do in Utah anymore. The fact is there is too much to see; I worry I might not live long enough to see everything. (Editor's note:  Chummy isn't dying, merely being dramatic.-Brett)


It took us about 5 hours to drive from/to our home in South Jordan. Although I must point out the 80 mph speed limit was pretty awesome. It cut down our time quite a bit :) The view was very nice as well even when it was stormy. During this time of year, it didn't get way too hot yet so we could hike during the day.

The terrain


These pictures really can't do it justice because the view is so much more magnificent in person.




In just a few million years, this will become a great arch



The drive through the canyon was so much fun, some people probably get seriously car sick though.



The view of Bryce canyon

 

 Waterfall at Emerald Pool hike

I was so sad to leave our little cabin suite, such a nice place to stay. I couldn't wait to go back another time.



Ok, so Brett and I both thought this was pretty funny :) Who would actually name a road 'End of the' haha

Cilantro lime rice and taco seasoned chicken

I'm so happy the weather has been feeling so much like it's supposed to be. It was so cold the last few weeks here. Last year it snowed at the end of May. I'm hoping it's not going to repeat this year. I'm so ready for hiking and camping.

This is my first attempt making cilantro lime rice. It was kinda easy--I was worried that it might not work, but it did. It tastes pretty decent and similar to the one they served at Cafe Rio, I suppose.



My way of cooking usually focuses on how to make the most of it from the kind of ingredients I already have without having to go to the store.


Pretty much everything I needed to make the cilantro lime rice:
- 1/2 stick of butter
- 1 teaspoon beef bouillon
- 1/8 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (which i left out from this picture, oops)
- 1 cup of chopped cilantro
- 1/3 cup of water

Since I eat rice all the time, I usually have rice left over from the previous day. You could make it by just making the rice first. When it's done, I would go ahead to make the seasoning in a sauce pan.




I put everything except lime juice, salt, cilantro in a sauce pan and brought it to a boil. Then I just poured it over the rice and mixed really well while having the pan on medium  heat. Then I added lime juice, salt, and cilantro. You can adjust to however you want by doing that because some people prefer it with more lime juice, cilantro, or salt. But that was just right for my taste.

I used about 2 cup of uncooked rice






Then, I cooked 2lbs of chopped chicken breast with 1/4 of taco seasoning. The package suggests to use one package of seasoning with 1 lbs of meat, but I like my meat to be a little mild so I only used a little bit of it.
 

Dinner was served with pineapple salsa from the previous day :) Pretty quick and easy recipe that fits perfect with my busy work schedule.