STOMP!

James and I were separated for a whole TWO WEEKS =) while I finished out the school year and while he started his summer internship in Dallas. So, when he picked me up at the Dallas airport, he had a little redeemable gift on the seat. It was a homemade coupon-good for one summer musical. James was DYING to see all of them, but I finally talked him down to just one (haha)--STOMP. I actually knew nothing about it except that it was a lot of rhythm and entertainment. Aaaand it was EXACTLY that! But way better. It was phenomenal, and James managed to stay awake the whole time (that's impressive). The performers, as they call them, used matchboxes, brooms, rubber pipe things, buckets, kitchen sinks, just their hands/feet, basketballs, garbage cans, etc. and made music for almost 2 hours that was so perfectly synchronized with the most entertaining rhythms. It was even funny at some parts, and there wasn't even any dialogue. For those of you who know him, Grandpa Hayes would've been amazed at their slap tapping abilities. It's too bad the casting crew didn't know about him.. he would've been a hit. Anyway, it was just nice to go to a musical that was a little bit different. Very original. We loved it!

What the _____ is Whirlyball?

That's what the sign says when you drive by the place. It's funny because that's what I was thinking when James said we were going to play Whirlyball for a Deloitte activity. As you can see, you sit in a bumper-like car with a scoop and throw around a whiffle ball until you hit a backboard looking thing. Interesting... The question is, why did I find this activity in Dallas and not Provo? This place would make a killing on BYU students who love weird date games. =) Yes, I'm including myself. I wasn't surprised that James and his other BYU intern friends stayed the WHOLE time playing multiple games in a row while the wives chatted about Twilight at a nearby table. Who's not excited about that movie coming out in December by the way.. Anyway, I have another reason to thank Deloitte for providing us dinner and entertainment. Oh ya, and if you're wondering if James and Team BYU won those consecutive games against the other interns, the answer is YES. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that they were the only sober ones...=) The other team was accusing Team BYU of having an intermural Whirlyball team at BYU. Hilarious. Now that you're all dying to play, I'm sorry to say that the only cities that have this wonderful sport are Dallas and Chicago.

The OOey, the Gooey, the Soft and Chewy

I finally found the best chocolate chip cookie recipe!! I've been looking for some time now, trying out whatever looks good, and FINALLY I've found the one (thanks to Krista's hint). It's Alton Brown's recipe, and I should've known! If you don't know him, he's the food science guy on the Food Network who knows the reasons for combinations of ingredients, etc. His show is Good Eats. So, as I was saying, I should've known HE would know which combination of cookie ingredients would be best together! And here it is:

THE CHEWY

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Hardware:
Ice cream scooper
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

On this same episode, he also has "The Thin" and "The Puffy" if you're more interested in that kind of cookie; however, I have not tried those.

Zions National Park

James and I enjoyed our trip to Zions so much last year that we had to do the trip again this year on Memorial Day weekend. James's grandparents live in St. George, and they have a roomy house, so we are always lucky to have a nice place to stay (not to mention, they are VERY accommodating. Ben, Bri, Todd, Don, and Clark also joined us this trip. It's something about those boys...they always take the funniest pictures--ones that I wonder if I want to show my future kids. =) But maybe our future kids will admire how their father poses. He's able to keep such a straight face. Anyway, the Narrows (the water hike we did last year) was too cold to do this trip, so we just did a lot of the famous hikes: Emerald Pools, Weeping Rock, and Angels Landing. The last one was the most intense, but it was a lot of fun. The last 1/2 mile or so, you hold on to a chain while climbing up on sandy rocks (don't forget the 100's of feet drop offs on both sides). Of course, I didn't expect to go all the way with my conservative, cautious personality, and I was right. James and I turned around towards the end, and we didn't regret it a single second! We already had hiked for a few hours, so it was good enough and high enough already. What a view.. and what a nice husband to stay back with me.

For Fun! (As my dad would say...)

I'm going to be having a pretty relaxing summer, so why not start blogging!?! Here we come DALLAS in one week!