Thoughts about our thrifty Friday and this Fridays bday wish (Last Friday, This Friday)

If you are not into being thrifty skip down to my birthday wish and tell me which pair you think is cute.

Last Friday: We had a lovely, yet cheap, date night last friday. We were out birthday shopping for me friday night and passed by Krispy Kreme while their hot and ready sign was lit up, so we had to stop to get some free donuts and left with a box and milk. Then we watched a movie we own that we haven't seen in a long time. Our friday date night only cost us $4.50 and we loved it. We both hadn't had a Krispy Kreme donut in like 8 months or so.

Who else loves Redbox?

It has given us many free date nights the last three semesters with all the promo codes. They are too popular now and so they are cutting back on the promo codes which makes me SAD :( They use to have them every Monday and started doing them Wednesdays. I haven't seen one in a long time. So now we actuallly have to pay the $1.07. Oh well, its still a cheap date. ha.

This Friday: I turn 23 and all I asked for is a pair of Smith Sunglasses. These are my two favorite pairs:

1. Smith Shoreline apple tortoise w/ brown gradient. Both of them look really good on. Its such a tough choice.

2. Smith Cameo-I like the logo on the side of this one. I'd get the Red Pearl Rose.

Hiking the Y for our 3rd time

We decided to hike the Y Thursday night so we could watch the sunset. Brooke had never been so she was excited.

We left a little too late (around 7:35) so we didn't start hiking till about 7:50. I took this when we were about half way from the Y.

On our way up

When we got up there all the lights from the city started turning on. I LOVE lights. So to me it was ok that we missed the sunset.
I just like this picture because it make ME look tall. ha.
The cement painted Y behind us.
Brooke and Brandon climbing down the Y

My cute husband! He actually let me take a picture of him by himself.

Sunflowers

HAWAIIAN PANCAKES :)

I was missing Hawaii and craving their pancakes last night so I decided to try to figure out a good coconut syrup recipe...and boy did I! Needless to say, we had a fabulous breakfast this morning :)

Banana Pancakes with crushed macadamia nuts, whipped cream, and coconut syrup
Lehi Roller Mills Pancake Mix-Lehi Pride is the best!! I don't like any other pancake mixes you can buy in the store. These are soo good though. I got so many compliments on these this morning. My aunt went to culinary school and she was impressed. That made me happy.
We unfortunately can't get POG down here so we settled on Orange, Peach, Mango-Dole.

This is the mastered coconut syrup recipe I made last night:

1 (13.5 ounce) can coconut milk

1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups light corn syrup

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Wisk together the coconut milk and cornstarch in a saucepan until the cornstarch is dissolved. Pour in the corn syrup, sugar, and coconut; bring to boil, stirring continually. As soon as the mixture comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Inspired by Lacey

I got this recipe off the the Cooks.com website because I wanted to try out Lacey's cookies. I wanted to use chocolate pudding mix instead and cut Lacey's recipe in half. This one is practically the same as hers. It turned out great. Adam and I are about to enjoy our second batch straight from the oven.

JELLO PUDDING CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2 1/4 c. flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 c. butter, softened 1/4 c. granulated sugar 3/4 c. light brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 1 pkg. (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding 2 eggs 1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips 1 c. chopped nuts, optional Combine butter, the sugars, vanilla and the pudding mix in large bowl, beat until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs. Gradually add flour and soda; then stir chips and nuts. Batter will be stiff. Drop by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 7 dozen

...........the past week and a half.........

We recently just got back from camping

We went camping down at strawberry lake with a party of 19. We had so much fun. Lori, Bryan, Bethany, and Mckay are excellent cooks. The food was so good. Adam and I don't eat that well at home. ha. The boys caught some fish and crawdads (sp?) We cooked them for a snack. The trout was pretty good and the crawdads we called poor mans lobster. We slept in this small little tent our first night. It was a wedding gift. We quickly realized we need to get ourselves a bigger tent. My hubby is too tall for this little thing. We slept in the trailer the second night so we could actually get some sleep.
We went shooting our second day there. I shot a gun for the first time in my entire life! It was so awesome because I hit the clay pigeon on my first shot. Adam was proud :) I am not going to lie I was a little scared at first.
Brooke got a shot of Adam showing me how to hold the gun.

Our last night camping was quite entertaining. We had some Jerry Springer action going on with our neighbors. We got the cops called on them. They were all intoxicated, swearing up a storm, and attacking each other. One of the crazies walked over to our camp.

The whole incident in the words of my sister:

"Ok, so we're all sitting around the fire, just talking, making s'mores, enjoying the peaceful night... when suddenly, we hear this lady start screaming. "I've heard enough from you!" "She attacked me in bed, in BED!" and this lady is just cussing up a storm. So this goes on for about 10 minutes or so... "You broke my arm, you b!" and "I think my tooth is loose" so my sister and my cousin go talk to the camp host and they told us that if it started up again, to go get them. So the screaming has stopped, but an hour later, it starts up again. So we go back to get the camp host, and they drive up in their car and tell us they're going to drive around and listen to them. So we're all sitting by our fire, and we see someone walking up. Turns out, it's the girl that the lady was screaming at. She comes up to us totally drunk (with a thermos full of vodka) and asks, "Did the camp hosts come by and complain about the noise? Because the screaming was coming from my camp" and she proceeds to tell us how she started beating up her sister-in-law because she called her a b. And she shows us her hair that her sister-in-law had ripped out, and at this point it's just ridiculous. I was uncontrollably laughing my head off haha. Anyway, then the camp hosts come up to our camp and talk to the girl there, and she tells them everything! And it turns out that the whole fight started over hot dogs. Wow... hahaha. So long story short they called the sheriff who came by in the morning. Omg.... so funny :P"

Last weekend we went up to Syracuse to visit my dad's side of the family.

We had a huge luncheon with everyone. It was nice to sit an relax and get to know everyone better. We don't visit my dad's side as often as my mom's.
We drove around Antelope Island since its right by my grandpa's house.

We saw a lot of buffalo

and pretty scenery

We had to take a picture by the metallic buffalo at the restaurant where they make buffalo burgers. I think they closed it down this year. It wasn't open when we went.

Last week before we went camping, my sister, mom, and I went to education week. The classes were very spiritual and uplifting. I have to say we do not like the crazy midlife crisis women of Utah. You know the ones who wear the expensive Mek and True Religion Jeans with shirts from Buckle. The ones who have starbucks in hand and let all their friends cut in line just before the doors open, when there is a huge line of people who all have been waiting in line for an hour because not everyone can get in to these popular classes. Ya mormons here are crazy. People cut in front of us twice. We tried to get them in trouble but they lied to get out of it. Stupid Mormons. ha. We got into the classes but some people behind us did not because of them. I thought they were very fake and selfish.

Today Adam quit his job and we went and got our textbooks for our classes. This time they only cost $550. I really don't want to start classes next monday. What a bust. At least my birthday is coming up. Something to look forward to.

Graduation + Anniversary

We graduated last Thursday. It was nice to have both our families come up for it. These are the only pictures my sister posted on facebook, so they are the only pictures I have of graduation. I need to get some pictures from Sheila. Graduation didn't feel that special since we both have one more semester left. It made it even more anti climatic when people asked us what we were doing after graduation and we had to tell them we still have one more semester to get through. It was a pretty cool milestone in our life though, just the fact that we were able to do it together. It was fun having everyone all here. We were able to celebrate for days and spend a lot of time together. We are so grateful to our parents for helping us value education, and all the help we have received throughout our lives to get to this point.

Also, sunday was our big one year anniversary!! :) :) :)

We have had family up here since graduation and they are not leaving till the 6th of September. This made it difficult to get each other cards and stuff so we decided to go to the store together the night before to pick out cards for each other and read them aloud in the store. We got a kick out of it. We picked up some sparkling apple cider on our way out. We slept in on our anniversary and then had a big dinner celebration with all our family (extended family too). It was a good time. Hawaii was our real gift to ourselves, so we didn't feel cheated.

These are some reasons I love my husband so much...

1. Honors his priesthood because he loves me and the Lord so very much (this is the greatest blessing any women could ever ask for)

2. Makes me feel beautiful everyday :)

2. He is so kind, loving, gentle, and very affectionate. PDA doesn't bother him. He always gives me LOTS of kisses and hugs (I love the way he holds me).

3. Is so talented and yet so humble

4. Very Confident-he can do anything, seriously.

5. Smart-reviews shortly before a test and always pulls an A

6. There is not a selfish bone in his body

8. Willing to help out anyway he can with anyone.

9. You can always count on him to be there.

10. Very good listener (this is very helpful for me) and he is a great problem solver

11. Makes sure I know each day that he loves me.

12. He is my best friend and we have so much fun together. We like to be silly a lot. I wouldn't change anything about our relationship. We are very happy and I look forward to many years to come :) I LOVE YOU ADAM TROY TOWNER :)

The Rest of Maui

This is how they prepare the pork
Luau






Enjoying the drinks. I liked the honey girl and the pina colada. It was all you can drink which made sense being almost 100 dollars per person.
The yummy food
Sunset
The dessert :)
Our super nice server.




I don't know how the dancers wear those coconut shells. That can't be comfortable.
Everyone who goes to Maui should eat here or IO's...you can't beat it.

We enjoyed eating right on the beach.

My favorite meal the whole trip. The Pasta Ele Ele. The mahi mahi and pasta were incredible. Everything about that dish was perfection.
The inside of Pacific'O

We liked visiting the animals at the Hyatt. Especially the Penguins.







We went to the Maui Theatre to watch Ulalena. It is a production done to show the story of Hawaiian's people. Its pretty new.

My favorite part was watching this girl.

We took pictures with some of the dancers
We went out to eat at Kimo's after. One of the original restaurants of Maui. I had the filet mignon. Adam and my mom tried out the prime rib. My dad went with the chicken and shrimp. They were all pretty good.
Celebrating the anniversary with this Kimo Pie

We drove out to the last undeveloped tropical paradise of Maui. The Road to Hana we expericed as the road to hell. ha....way to many switch backs and it took all day to drive it.

It was a scary road at times. The car wasn't insured in these areas.
We stopped and had a picnic before our 2 mile hike to the big waterfall.
Sandwiches and fresh pineapple. I miss the pineapple.

Pictures from our hike:

















It was very pretty out there. We really liked walking with all the bamboo around us.
We were told we had to stop here by several people. It was voted number 1 by the travel channel. We tried it and we disagree. My mom's recipe blows this crap out of the water. We did not like it at all. We got two loafs for 7 dollars each. What a waste!

This is how we all felt after the four mile hike and the forever drive (several hours) home didn't help.
We ate a Hula Grill after. We were dissappointed with our macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi. The ice cream sandwhich dessert wasn't so bad though.

More pictures of the time share:

On our way out
waiting for the elevator
Cramming all our luggage into the convertable. Adam and I were squashed like bugs.
We enjoyed flying home on Hawaiian airlines. They gave us drinks several times. We got a dinner and chocolate!! I love those macadamia nut carmel chocolates. We didn't have anyone infront of us...so plenty of leg room. They had a nice size t.v. right infront of us so we could enjoy Ghost of Girlfriends Past. My second time seeing that movie.