Category: for locals

Weekend Update

We had an epic date on Saturday that lasted from just before 5 pm until after midnight. It was great spending so much time with N. His department at work took us to dinner and then to a Real Salt Lake game. I hadn’t ever been to a professional soccer game before but I surprised by how much fun it was. Apparently our team is pretty good–they won 2-0 and it was their 21st home win in a row.

During the game the section we were sitting in won free Whoppers from Burger King and everyone got these pom-poms with coupons on the handles. E has been having fun shaking our around the house. I think E would have enjoyed the game but probably isn’t old enough to last through the whole thing. If we’re still living here in a couple of years it would be fun to take him.

There are several different fan groups that sit in the south end of the stadium. Two of them have drum lines that drum and chant during the ENTIRE GAME. We were sitting a little close so it was kind of loud but I sort of liked it. It made me nostalgic about playing drums in the pep band during high school games. And it definitely added an upbeat feel to the game. Plus I have to admire the endurance of anyone who can drum and cheer for two hours straight.

After the game N and I realized that if we hustled across the street we could make it to a showing of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I was kind of tired by this point but really liked the movie. I liked the graphic novels it’s based on and I think they did a good job adapting it for the screen. I recommend seeing it; it’s a lot of fun.

The weekend went by in a bit of a blur and now today I’m rushing around getting ready to take E and go visit my family in WA. I’m looking forward to catching up on some sleep, playing with my mom’s dog’s litter of Maltese puppies, and eating loads of delicious Korean food.

Beirut in Concert

Last night N and I went to Pioneer Park in Salt Lake to see Beirut play at the free outdoor concert series the city puts on every summer. We grabbed some tasty Tibetian food before the concert started and ate on the grass. It was a little hot but once the sun set it was very pleasant.

Beirut was GREAT.

There were thousands and thousands of people there but the crowd was pretty good in general.

I liked how the lights on this ice cream stand looked in the twilight.

It’s been a rough few weeks around here but the weekend is shaping up nicely. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up on some work.

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Fun

On Saturday we decided on the spur of the moment to check out the Salt Lake Farmers Market. It was noon by the time we got there but we had just enough time to let E watch a clown tie balloon animals and grab some lunch. When it was his turn E got a balloon lion but when presented with said lion he promptly decided he was afraid of it and refused to hold it. I think he was afraid it was going to pop. We grabbed some really tasty kebabs for lunch, pushed E on the swings for a while and then headed home. It was really fun but next time I’d like to go a bit earlier in the day. It was brutally hot and delicate flower E broke out in heat rash.

That night N and I went to check out a new Korean restaurant in the Fort Union Area called It’s Tofu. While the name seems a little unfortunate it’s a nice Korean place, especially for the uninitiated. It’s decorated nicely and along with the normal menu they give you an album of with pictures of every dish in it. So if you haven’t had Korean before but want to try it it’s a good place to go.

My tofu soup with side dishes and rice

I’m a sucker for homemade tofu so I decided to try their Soon Dubu soup. It was pretty good but a little less spicy than I expected. We also got a kimchi jun (pancake appetizer) which was really tasty.

It’s kind of far from our house so I don’t know how often we’ll go back but of all the Korean restaurants around here it’s the place where I’d take friends unfamiliar with Korean food.

After dinner we headed to Wise Guys comedy club to catch the set of a family friend, Jenna Jones. Jenna was really funny and Keith Stubbs the headliner was good too. I would have enjoyed it more if we hadn’t been sitting by some frat-boy type who insisted on loudly bagging on the comedians in an attempt to impress his date. Bleh. Such are the risks at a comedy club I guess.

Overall, it was a great weekend.

More photos of the salt flats than you ever wanted to see

I’ve been enchanted by the salt flats ever since I first saw them so getting up close and walking around on them was definitely the highlight of the (13 hour!) drive to Oregon. E had a lot of fun running around and sampling the salt.





We were just there but I’m already trying to come up with an excuse to drive the 100 miles from my house back out to the salt flats. They are awesome.

Burgers and Books

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday the three of us had lunch at the newish Smashburger in Orem for lunch and then stopped by the Provo Library’s Children’s Book Festival. This was our second time at Smashburger and it’s fast becoming one of my favorite burger places.

They have a great menu. The first time I ate there I had a Baja burger (pepper jack, jalapeños, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayo) which was really good. I’m not sure how they do it, but the patty was the most flavorful and juicy I’ve had in a long time. The toppings went well together and the whole thing was awesome.

But I’m trying to eat better now so this time around I grabbed the Baja salad which has basically the same flavor profile. It was tasty enough that I didn’t feel deprived for not getting a burger.

Eh, it wasn’t the healthiest salad ever (with all the bacon and cheddar and whatnot) but it was really tasty!

Somewhere underneath all those haystack onions is the rest of N’s Beehive Burger (Honey BBQ sauce, bacon, and cheddar cheese). I stole a bite and it was good but a little heavy on the fried toppings for my taste.

While the restaurant is more stylish than the average burger joint, it’s pretty kid-friendly. When I asked the cashier how much a kid-size drink would be for E she just gave us one on the house which I thought was nice. And since they fry in olive oil and not peanut oil like some other burger places E is free to enjoy the fries.

After we ate we headed down to the Provo library which is located in a gorgeous historical building. I had heard that they were having a children’s book festival and thought E might have fun. It turned out to be super crowded and the lines for balloon animals and the free books were too long for E’s patience. But he enjoyed seeing characters like Curious George and a Wild Thing in costume and giving them high-fives. The other highlight for E was when he found a bunch of stickers stuck to the floor and spent five minutes prying them up and carefully placing them on his shirt. You know, simple pleasures.

Our friend (and one of N’s old college roommates) Brandon Sanderson is a fantasy author and was there signing books but the line of fans was so long we didn’t get a chance to say hi. It feels kind of weird intruding on him when he’s in author-schmoozing-with-fans-mode anyway. But if you like fantasy you should check out his books. And if you have any precocious book-loving kids in your life they’d probably like his Alcatraz series.

Christmas Lights

Earlier this week I went with our church youth group to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. I was with my friend Stephanie (she of the $9 designer jeans fame) and some of the older girls so it was a lot of fun to hang out and chat. We have a lot of great kids in our congregation.

Tonight N and I are planning on taking E to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. It’s right by our house and you can drive through the display in your car and stay toasty and warm. E has really been enamored of the lights this holiday season and I think he’ll have a blast.

The assembly hall at Temple Square.

The Salt Lake temple.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I still have a few last-minute Christmas tasks to take care of (and some that I’ve given up on, like Christmas cards) but I’m hoping to make time for some low-key fun with N and E.

Bargains Galore!

I think I’ve mentioned before that I love dicey warehouse stores. Last Saturday I went with my friend Stephanie to the Overstock.com warehouse to see what they had. I’ve been twice before but neither previous trip was successful: the first time they were closed because a pipe had burst and the electricity was out, and the second time E threw a massive tantrum and we had to beat a hasty retreat. The store’s only open on Saturdays and is way out by the SLC airport so it was annoying when those two trips were totally unproductive.

But this trip was blessedly E-free thanks to N graciously staying home with the little guy and it was the weekend after Thanksgiving so they were having a great sale. Clothes and shoes were all $5 off with most things being priced under $15 to begin with. The place was insanely packed but we still managed to find some good deals.

I got these boots that run about $50 online for…(wait for it)…$8! There was just one pair and they happened to be in my size. And I found a Michael Kors dress for $12 and a pair of strappy black sandals for $4. It was pretty great. Stephanie found a pair of Big Star jeans (apparently one of the designer brands that the kids are wearing these days) for $9. They still had their original $90 tag on them. She was stoked.

So yeah, it’s kind of ghetto but I love me some warehouse stores.

Sundance Film Fest for Locals


In a lot of ways Utah is a bit of a cultural wasteland, but for ten days in January it becomes the center of the film world which almost makes up for the other 355 days of the year. Last year N and I got a Sundance Film Festival ticket package and saw some great movies. It was a lot of fun. We bought a ticket package again this year and will be seeing at least 6 films. A friend asked me to do a post about some of the ins-and-outs of going to Sundance as a local and while I’m definitely not an expert I’m happy to share what I do know.

There’s a listing of the various types of ticket packages and passes available to Utah locals here. Unfortunately, the Film Lovers Package and the Locals Quick Pass (the two best options if you wanted to go see a lot of films) are already sold out. (I guess I should have done this post sooner–sorry, Erica!)

But don’t dispair, there are still good options left. You can buy individual tickets to screenings at either the Park City or Salt Lake City box office. BUT, you need to register ahead of time and then you’ll be assigned a time to show up at the box office in person. You have until this Friday, December 4th, to register and then you’ll receive an email with your time slot. They won’t let you give a friend your time slot and the address you register with has the match your driver’s license. Basically, if you don’t show up for your time slot you’re out of luck. So if you’re planning on going with a bunch of friends it might be a good idea to have everyone register individually to see who gets the best time slot.

That’s all well and good, you say, but you’re interested in seeing some of the best films from the festival for free? Well there’s a way of doing that too.

Every year they have a few free “Best of the Fest” screenings where they show films that won festival awards to locals. It’s their way of saying thanks for putting up with all the hassle of dealing with the crowds and traffic and such. You have to go line up for tickets in person on January 16th and 17th and they give them out on the first-come-first-served basis. Details are here at the very bottom of the page.

The films will be announced this Wednesday, so check out the web site then. There’s practically guaranteed to be something playing that you’d like to see. So if you’re interested, start making arrangements now to attend a screening (i.e. register before this Friday to buy tickets).

I’ll do another post when N and I make our list of things we want to see.

Train Ride!

Both E and my brother Steven love trains. So last week we drove up the canyon to Heber City and we took a ride on the Heber Valley Railroad. There were two trips to choose from: a 3-hour trip and 90-minute trip. We went on the 90-minute trip and it turned out to be just the right length. The ride was a lot of fun. You could sit in the open cars or in the old passenger cars. We switched between the two.

Chugging along next to a reservoir.

E and his Uncle Steven.

E liked climbing around on the benches.

The wind gives E a stylin’ do.

The fall foliage in the canyon was a nice bonus. It was breathtaking.

The only downside to the trip was that E got carsick on the drive back home through the canyon and threw up a couple of times. It put a bit of a damper on things. But overall it was a really nice outing.

If you’re local and have avid train fans in your family I think it’s worth going once. The train rides are fairly pricey ($24 for 90 minutes, $30 for 3 hours), but kids under 3 are free which helps. I don’t think we’ll be going again anytime soon but I’m glad we went this time.