kitchen adventures: cherry lime cupcakes.

I didn't exactly have a recipe for these, just an idea.  They're a lime cupcake with cherry frosting. Not much to change on them, maybe flip the flavors or add some garnish.  Pretty satisfied with the way they came out and that's saying something. 

Here they are close to getting out of the oven. One of these days I'll remember to take pics from start to finish. They even smelled delicious.

Taken right before frosting on the cooling rack. 

Here they are all frosted with some garnished with lime zest. 

adventures in the gym.

While it may not seem like a lot to some of you, this is huge for me. My summer goal for squatting was 200lbs... here it is close to the end of June and I knocked it out of the park. I hit 325lbs. today.  It's an awesome feeling. 

"We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us."

Jean-Paul Sartre

red reef.

This Sunday's adventure took us to the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. They had campgrounds, places to cookout and hang for the day and also hiking. The trail that was taken was the Red Reef trail. I had seen on a few blogs that it led to a couple swimming holes and would be a nice hike. The hike, the scenery... everything about it was gorgeous. Nice and quiet, saw one group on the way in and luckily, got out of there before we saw two groups on the way out.
This was on the road into the area. Seeing this definitely got me excited for the day and didn't let me down at all.

This was the start of the hike. 

This was taken right before you get to the first swimming hole. 

I don't have a good picture of the first swimming hole and waterfall we got to but this was the second one. I'd seen pictures of people climbing the rope and jumping off this waterfall. You can't really see the bottom but the water was pretty deep. The parts I waded through I was up to the tops of my thighs.  

This was the view at the top of the second waterfall. It was beautiful and quiet. 

This is a picture was taken while I was basically standing in the middle of the creek water close to reaching my waist. 

Had to climb over a couple hills to see what was next since the water was pretty deep and didn't have the right clothes on to be swimming through the creek. I really do need to get better prepared for this stuff.

The views in this place were unbelievably awesome. You would never have guess this place existed. The only reminder you had that you were close to a city was the noise of airplanes overhead.  

And this was taken on the way out.

Wasn't fully prepared for this trip, who knew that you could have possibly been swimming in the creek... Oh well, all the more reason to head back here one of these weekends and maybe even bring friends. Definitely going to be better prepared for it. 

kitchen adventures: mountain dew cupcakes.

I've always been a fan of taking a recipe and making it my own. Strawberry peanut butter cookies, spicy peanut brittle... you name it. This time I went looking for this recipe for mountain dew cupcakes, I've tasted them before and they were delicious so I had to see if I could make them for myself. It was fairly easy just a bit messy to make. I'm definitely going to work on perfecting these.

supermoon.

A "supermoon" looks bigger and brighter than a normal full moon. An excerpt from the Huffington Post about it. They can define it a million times better than I can.
"Also known as a perigee moon, the event occurs when a full moon lines up with the Earth and the sun at a specific point in its orbit, called the lunar perigee. That's the point at which the moon is nearest to Earth as it traces its elliptical path around our planet.

Since it's closer to us, the moon appears up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than usual. Coined by astrologer Richard Nolle, the term "supermoon"essentially means a bigger and brighter full moon."

The first pic was taken with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S3).

And this picture was taken with my camera (Fuji) 

And yet another shot taken with my camera. Just about an hour later. 

moving cows.

Cows in this area is pretty much as common as seeing a stray cat on your street. They move them from pasture to pasture. Sometimes, using trailers and other times... well, by horse and herding dogs. It's pretty cool to watch them. If they're moving them with people on horses and dogs they'll usually put the oldest ones in front and the rest will generally follow.

Taken with my S3. While waiting for them to get the cows inside the fence. 

south fork of taylor creek.

This Sunday's hike was in the Kolob Canyon part of Zion National Park. It was about 2ish miles long and not maintained by the park. Was told that this trail is for the people who go mountain climbing. The trail wasn't all that wide and basically, if you ever wanted to take a machete and just thrash through you would have a blast here. The plants and trees were overgrown. It's in between two fingers of the Kolobs and it was a nice morning.

This was taken right at the starting point, sun wasn't even fully up and thankfully... neither were the bugs.

There were a lot or trees and just walls and walls of mountain. Some pretty cool formations here and there.

I'm pretty sure there was even a face or two in one of the walls... Can you see it? 

Trees provided some nice shade, the sand was pink and tired you out a lot faster than you would expect. Getting up some of the hills with just how deep some of the sand was, I was kicking myself I did "legs day" the day before...

It was a nice hike to get out and go but I'm pretty sure I got spoiled by all the creeks and whatnot. Oh well, another hike down and I believe there's about 3 more to go inside the Kolob portion of Zion. 

kitchen adventures: apple turon

During the week I found this awesome recipe courtesy of CASA Veneracion. It's an apple turon (think sweet dessert eggroll). I'm pretty sure it's a keeper.

This is the not yet baked but rolled up drizzled in butter. 

And this is the end product. It didn't need the powdered sugar but it sure does look nice. 

subzero.

There's an ice cream place here called subzero. It's a pretty cool shop, they basically make the ice cream right in front of you. Like actually mix the ingredients together, freeze, mix, freeze and scoop. BOOM. Ice cream. It was the second time going there but this time I took pictures. 

This was the end result. Almond milk base, cake batter flavoring with sprinkles and circus animal cookies. All in a delicious waffle bowl. I'm not even going to try and think about how many calories or how much work it'll take to work it all off, instead I shall remember fondly the deliciousness that it was. 'Til next time my new found friend.

flag day.

Today's flag day and I don't know if you exactly say happy before it.
This picture was taken in February but I thought it kind of fitting for today. It was a chilly morning as you can see a tiny bit of snow on the ground but beautiful sky and crisp clean air that only winter can bring. Taken on my S3.

oh deer. a blast from the past.

Well, not totally the past... but last year. This little dude is Elliot. Just your average deer that can be found around here. You wouldn't think of wild animals as having a personality but this one does. Elliot, at one point, liked to be petted and scratched under his chin, he would give me deer kisses and follow me around when I would visit him. He was abandoned so he was bottle fed and raised. He's just about a year now, growing cute little velvet nubs, chasing tail... all the stuff deer do. I guess he isn't just a deer now but almost a man grown, a buck. He isn't quite as friendly as he used to be probably because he's got real deer friends now.
( I joke around and call it deer pressure.)

This was taken with my LG phone. Last summer. 

double arch alcove. (taylor creek)

This is a short (kinda bad) 360° view of the Double Arch Alcove at the end of the Taylor Creek hike.

famILY.

This doesn't really have to do with anything, just wanted to post this up. It was taken on Thanksgiving a few years ago. Most of my cousins, my sister, myself and our Grandmother. (Two cousins are missing, which I hope will be there the next time.) Can you tell who are sisters, brothers, brother and sister?

This was taken with my fujifilm camera. At the time, I had a LG phone and wasn't too comfortable with it.

spring creek.

This was a really easy Sunday morning hike that was more getting to the scenery than walking in it.

I got stung or bit by something that just seemed to have aimed for my leg and dive bombed right into it. With a few expletives and some jumping around, I even had to check on it. All that's there right now is a big red spot and some yuck. Took some time for me to blurt out a couple more expletives,  curse the bug's life and kept moving. The hike was about 4 miles give or take. Mostly sand,  bugs, saw a snake or two. 

Crossed a tiny creek a couple times, saw where the creek used to be.

There were some places where you knew a gorgeous waterfall used to be but they were long dried out.

All in all it was nice to get out and stretch the legs but I'm not in a huge rush to get back here. 

adventures in the gym.

Today, I hit my max weight on leg press and squats. 315lbs!! Did about 3-4 reps each. Not too shabby for only being a month into heavy weight lifting. A special thank you to those who said I couldn't. This one's for you.

what a trip down to vegas.

So went down to Vegas yesterday which is usually easy driving, a slow car here and there. Whole different story... we were stuck in traffic for about an hour, in the middle of the desert, with basically a magnifying lens on my legs. Thank goodness for AC. It was easily over 100º. It ended up being a truck on fire, completely torched, who knows how long it was there but it was out when we passed it. This is what happens when I so happen to be awake and we run into deadstop traffic... Yeah, I look around for pictures I can take from the car window. 

But we got down to Vegas, ran into another jam. That one wasn't so bad as the first, just your typical go home traffic.Was rewarded with Meatball Spot's delicious pizzas. So it ended up being a pretty decent  afternoon/ evening. If you've never been, please go. Amazing food, cool atmosphere. Town Square in Vegas, NV.

timber creek overlook.

Did this quick little not even a mile long hike because the trail I wanted to do was already packed (got off to a late start). I guess it was nice to see a closer view of what I can see looking out the backyard and just to kill about an hour.

taylor creek.

Taylor Creek is inside the Kolob Canyon part of Zion National Park. A fairly easy almost 5 mile hike roundtrip, the worst part about it was at the very end when you need to climb these stairs made for giants. It was a nice hike, could hear the birds chirping, see lizards doing their pushups, weren't many bugs just yet.

I had to cross the creek a few times. Beautiful scenery, cool perfect about ankle deep creek water and there weren't many people there. (Made the mistake of going on Memorial Day Weekend)

At the end of the trail was the Double Arch Alcove. Wow, that thing was amazing. And it echoes. If you ever visit, make sure to sit on a log or a rock... because the sand gets everywhere.  

This was the view from inside the alcove. A couple groups, nothing too bad. 

One thing I wish I did was take a panoramic of the place. Maybe take a video or two... But since it's pretty close to where I am, I think I'll have to go back and do that.  

this morning's quick little adventure

and now about the camera i'm using.

I've gotten a few questions about it already... and it's just a Samsung Galaxy S3. Well, I shouldn't say "just"... I love this phone and more importantly the camera part of it. It goes with me everywhere and since it's small and light it goes with me on hikes and other adventures I might be taking part in.

I'll be using this phone's camera to post the majority if not all the pictures I post to this. It's become my little project and I hope you enjoy the results as much as i enjoyed taking them.