The BK Lounge

This weekend we finally took some time to dive into cleaning the house. We keep a pretty clean house, but there was the elusive spare bedroom that just kept piling up. A twin bed, a bike, boxes, camping gear, laundry baskets...you name it, it was piled high in the spare room. It was starting to make me feel claustrophobic...and if I am feeling that way, you can bet that Becca was over the top! We went in head first and a DI trip and hours of cleaning and organizing later, we have a spare room that finally fits us.

BEFORE


AFTER

Of course, as we were cleaning, Ellie helped remind us that we'll never get rid of all the clutter. These are two of her favorite toys: a hair tie and a shoelace.

We ended the night by treating ourselves to a dollar movie....

And grabbing dinner at our local Chinese haunt, "Charlie Chow's"

In appropriate birthday fashion, Becca's birthday celebration lasted four whole days. Although she didn't technically turn 22 until Sunday, June 12th, we got the party started early and it went all weekend long. It was nice to have a more leisure, relaxed weekend, as opposed to what went down on her 21st!

On Thursday night we went to Bountiful to celebrate with her parents and sister. We love hanging out in their backyard, spending time outside on the patio and enjoying each others company in general. Among Becca's gifts were two fish and a tank. Scully and Mulder lived happily on our table for a few days...may they rest in peace. We are NOT good with fish. Ellie's lucky we're much better with cats. :)

On Friday we decided to play hooky from work and spent the day like little kids at Seven Peaks Water Park. Last winter Seven Peaks SLC (formerly Raging Waters) had a killer deal: season passes for $35 dollars! Well, we decided to check it out and we're so glad we did. We started the day boldly on tubes, cruising down the water slides. Well, it turns out that waterslides are WAY more fun when you're 7 than when you're 27... I was all arms and legs flying down those slides. Knees and elbows were flying in all directions as I plummeted down the slick tubes and I had many of "burn" to show for it. It felt like being in a pin ball machine...no gracias! So, after three or four tries at recapturing our childhood on the slides, we went for calmer waters and spent the rest of our afternoon floating on the Lazy River. Bliss. :)

After Seven Peaks we hurried home to change and hit the theatre. Next up?

RENT came to Pioneer Memorial Theatre and we wouldn't have missed it for the world. Both Becca and I love the music and storyline of RENT, but neither of us had ever seen it on stage. That's why when PMT announced their musicals, we jumped on the chance to go. We bought our tickets 6 months in advance and awaited the day. Finally, June 10th rolled around and we got to celebrate Becca's birthday by going to the theatre. What's crazy? When we rolled into the theatre our seats were next to none other than Kristie and Rachel Swain--Becca's mom and sister!!!! How nuts is that. Pure luck, total coincidence. We each had seperately purchased tickets and didn't even know that the other was going until that moment! Too crazy that we ended up in the seats exactly next to them! Date night happily turned into a family affair, and we enjoyed the show.

Saturday morning dawned and we took off bright and early for a hike in City Creek Canyon. This beautiful watershed walkway is only about a 4 minute drive from our apartment and has become one our weekend traditions. It was nice to start the day with a hike up the canyon. Afterward, we whisked ourselves to Park City for some shopping and dinner. Park City is one of our favorite places and we love to getaway there, whether for an evening or entire weekend. Becca has been PINING for new Reef flip flops. She has worn her pair into the ground for 3 years straight and it was time to buy some new ones. With the help of her parents birthday donation, she was able to walk out of Pac Sun with this face:

A very happy birthday girl. For the record, she purchased the EXACT same flips that she'd had before. That's my girl--sticking to what you love.

After shopping we headed to PC's Main Street. It was a beautiful summer day and we wandered the street to find a new place to eat. We ended up at the No Name Saloon, a place that is always packed to the brim over Sundance. Based on that popularity vote, we decided to try it out and OH.MY.GOSH. We're so glad we did!

The atmosphere was awesome--old decor, stacks and stacks of liquor, and a relaxed feel. The food was out of this world, though. I went with the Buffalo Burger, what the Saloon is famous for, and wow... it was KILLER. Becca looked at me with disgust when I ordered that. I made her try it and her frown turned upside down when she realized A) it doesn't take like Buffalo smell and B) it is the best burger we've ever tried. We got a bit tipsy on cold drafts and chalked it up to a great birthday evening.

Sticking with tradition, after dinner we went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for our favorite treats. I always get a mint chocolate covered oreo and Becca gets whatever assortment of toffee she is in the mood for. We also shared a white/milk chocolate covered nutter butter. Ugh...this place is like heaven for me. Love you, RMCF!

After a fun evening in Park City we headed home and watched our Netflix, which happened to be Letters to Juliet. It was an easy, lazy, fun watch that we both liked. Becca loved it much more than I did because two of her favorite actors happened to be in it! Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero starred together as Guinevere and Lancelot in Becca's childhood (and grown up) favorite CAMELOT. These two were back on screen together in Letters to Juliet and, according to the "extra features", are married in real life. Becca's romantic heart about died when she found this out and it turned it into quite a fun night.

On Sunday morning we celebrated Becca's ACTUAL d.o.b. by opening presents that I had stashed in my night stand. Here is Becca on birthday morning sampling a taste of her birthday cake (for later!)

I got her a superman t-shirt in her favorite color, the latest album from her all time favorite, Senora Gaga, and a card that had sirens (and about drove our cat insane). After breakfast we headed up the canyon to Ruth's Diner...we love that place for breakfast and just can't get enough. We were pleasantly surprised to find live acoustic music to accompany our breakfast!