BeUTAHful Murals in South Salt Lake

Got to spend a morning scoping out new and old murals in South Salt Lake the weekend of MuralFest! I ended up not being able to attend even though I badly wanted to. My Saturday got filled with so many other activities going on. But check out the cool murals I found!

A Sunday Morning in Utah

My view on the way to Winco

I really love going to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform when I visit Utah and it worked out to go with my friend Alice who so kindly picked me up in the Winco parking lot and we headed downtown!

Cinco de Mayo Saturday

I started out the day going to yard sales with my sister, my niece and nephews. I don't really have many photos from doing that so I won't share any here. I bought 1 set of metal lockers which were really cool and only $10! Next, I headed to the Home Show in Sandy which I had been looking forward to going to all week. I don't know why exactly, I don't even have a home in Utah. Even though it was a bit on the small side, it was pretty cool and I met so many nice people! Glad I spent the time to go and so glad that my friend Alice was willing to come along.

Hiking & Real Boba Drinks

My sister actually found this hike for the Blackridge Trail in Herriman by doing a Google search. For some reason this particular one did not come up for me when I typed "easy hikes for kids in SLC". My nephew who just turned 10 has been begging to go on a hike since I got here. That makes this auntie's heart so happy! I did not realize that there was a charge for parking so be warned in case you go...I took a photo of the sign. It's $15 to park...

Camp Ritchie girls camp - Day 1!

  

Day 1 of girls' camp was not the sight I expected to see. I knew there was snow up in the area still and since the Woodland stake is the first stake to open camp for the summer, I guess this kind of thing can happen? But I'm not sure how often it does. I've never seen snow like this up there in the almost summertime...

Toy Fest - Las Vegas!

 

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During the ASD show, this Toy Fest show also started and I got to go! Oh my. I enjoyed the Toy Fest a lot more than I thought I would. I really wasn't sure what to expect but we started the day we getting to do crafts. So fun right?!

ASD Show in Vegas ~ Day 1

 

This conference was new to me but my friend Marie has been before and has invited me a few times in the past but this year was the year to finally go to it. Crazy that the last time I met up with her and her husband was in January for CES and here we are getting to meet up again the next month. SO fun!

The drive out of Ridgecrest was a bit different since there had just been snow a few days prior! So many roads were closed and I was grateful I didn't have to get caught up in that. The roads were mostly dry and I didn't have to worry or slow down for the snow.

I arrived in Las Vegas Sunday evening and got settled into where I had been invited to stay on Spencer Street. Bless Mark's heart for helping me get my bags up the stairs and to our room. I was so excited to sleep on a Murphy bed again!

We went to Blueberry Hill for dinner. I am not sure how I have never been here before... this restaurant is open 24 hours and the menu was extensive. I really wanted to try the Noodle Meatball soup and I'm glad I did. I could have gotten a bigger bowl of it and been fine. But my eyes saw other foods on the menu that I knew I had to try. Plus the soup had onions in it unfortunately so I had to eat around those. But it went alright. 

I ordered this! Oh my. I always think I like this Hollandaise sauce and then I get it and am just like oh, okay. Maybe I feel like it doesn't have much flavor or something. But underneath that yellow sauce were 2 English muffins, 2 hashbrown-style pancakes, 2 slices of Canadian Bacon, and scrambled eggs. Plus a cup of fruit on the side. All so good, so filling, and this lasted me 2 more meals!

Moving on to the next morning...we left the room after a nice little breakfast with our rolling bags, snacks, and sandwiches for lunch.

Here we go!

The ASD show is for vendors to go and sell their items at wholesale prices to people who have shops, businesses, etc. Everything you could think of was located in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Clothing, jewelry, and accessories were the main items in this hall.

I saw these hats that I liked but they were never available for purchase.

Some booths did cash and carry items but all that pretty much happened on the last day.

Some cool items I found...fun owl bag (no need for this but it was a print I'd never seen before) and then how about that, cherries and pandas in the same photo!

The same booth with the cool bags also had these purses that looked like book covers. So unique!

This booth had tons and tons of jewelry. While it was very fun to look at, I only bought 1 thing.

We got to ride in a Tesla (for the Tesla Tunnel) over to the west hall where there were soo many booths and items. It was like Amazon in real life or something. It was crazy to me that there were people there who had their whole booth for sale. I have no idea how much booths were selling for but how wild is that. Go to ASD, buy a booth (like a mini store), and then continue to sell the items or pack them up and take them to wherever you are going to sell them next. Online? Your own store back home? 

Thanks to my friend Marie for the photo. This is the size of the tunnel we were in! It was so much faster to take the Tesla Tunnel than try to walk over here. 

A few snapshots of items that caught my eye.

This cool owl rolling bag. Sadly it had already sold by the time I saw it - see the blue tape?

This teal set of pans! So pretty.

Squishmallows - of course. Aren't you a fan? ;-)

Fun display items. The tree was neat because all those little white lights changed to different colors. I wish I could have that in my backyard!

These lights were SO beautiful. This style had gotten pushed way down in my thoughtosphere but every time I see these, I think about how gorgeous they are to look at and how much I'd like to own one. And with my luck, there was a section selling for 50% off so I got a deal on one. It was very very hard to decide which one to pick but the guys working at the booth (plus Marie and Mark) were patient with me while I hemmed and hawed about it. Lol. 

Just look how eye-catching and gorgeous these are!

Spotted every bird and owl...

These dishes were so pretty!

This is the one I ended up getting. Of course, I put it together that evening so we could all admire it.

After we walked our feet off at the ASD show, we decided we weren't done walking and we went to a Goodwill store and picked up some Aura Bora drinks for a taste-testing party. Stay tuned for that! We also swung by a Walmart for things like chips, queso dip, milk, and other essentials. 

CES - Las Vegas - Day 2!

 
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Day 2 was Friday and we headed to the main hall in order to catch a bus over to the Venetian which is my favorite hotel probably to go check out new and upcoming brands, tech companies from all over the world, and health, fitness, cooking, and more. There's a downstairs and upstairs and probably more that we just didn't have time to explore it all in a day. Keep reading to see all the cool stuff I got to check out!

CES - Las Vegas - Day 1!

Day 1 at CES started out colder, overcast, and rainier than in years past but that didn't damper my spirits and the day went very well. Keep reading to see what I got to see throughout the day.

Mr. Rococo Snapshots

 

I am still so obsessed with this cutie of mine. Can you believe I've had him since 1994?! He's definitely getting up there in age (cockatiels can live 15-30 years) and I love spending as much time with him as I can. Recently he traveled with me and Tony to Utah for 3 weeks. He does so well in the car.

Back in Ridgecrest for a Moment

 

The sunset after dinner at Pita Fresh where I enjoyed 50% off my food for my birthday. 

Last Day in Utah

 

So we started our drive home from Salt Lake on Wednesday the 13th, stayed the night with our friends Heidi and Andrew in St. George and then continued on to Ridgecrest the next day with a few stops in Las Vegas.  

A Wedding Reception!

 

One reason for staying in Utah as long as we did, was to attend one of my besties from my childhood, Nicole, her wedding! It was worth going. My favorite O'Crowley's tacos were there providing food! I miss them so much and am sad they've closed. They didn't have the Pot-O-Gold fruit salad but they had delicious tacos and fruit kabobs. 

Winnemucca, NV Balloon Glow

 

 

 

I got to attend a hot air balloon event in Winneucca over the weekend, because I was invited by my friend Kylee to crew for her at the balloon event. The event started a bit before I got there but I arrived in time for the balloon glow Friday evening to find out that Kylee wasn't glowing so we helped our friend Erica a little with her balloon because once all the balloons inflated on the field.

 

Dinner & Treats in Utah

 

 

I took Reese and Riley to In N Out for some dinner. Reese had fun and got creative with his In N Out stickers.

 

Next we went to a place Tony's cousin told me about called Bubbles. We've been sad ever since a different drink place closed in West Valley that we really liked. Reese and Riley picked their own drinks (same one) and I got something different. Mine was the Pink Dragon with peach fruit pearls on top.  The boys' drinks were called Shark Attack.

 

We also tried the S'mores cookie which was really yummy. Nice and soft!

The employees were friendly and we didn't have any issues. There was actually nobody inside the building besides us and the people working!

FanX Volunteer Experience in Salt Lake City

 
Had to document each day where I parked so I didn't forget!

I found out on Monday I was on the list to volunteer at FanX (like Comic-Con) in Salt Lake City after applying last year! Luckily I was able to arrange things and make the drive from Boise over there and I spent parts of the Thursday, Friday and Saturday volunteering on "Team Doom" basically doing whatever was asked of me which I didn't mind. It was fun to switch things up a bit.



Part of my volunteer time was spent checking people's badges as they came in, sometimes out. Everyone had a wristband to scan at these stations with iPads. I got to see what kind of pass they had and make sure it was valid. Overall, it really went pretty smoothly plus it was fun to see all the cosplay costumes! Some people go all out and get really creative.

When I wasn't volunteering I got to walk around a little bit and snap some cool pictures and do some shopping. Mostly taking pictures. While there was soo much cool stuff to buy, I am trying to save towards some bigger ticket items I'd like to get before the end of the year.

 

While I was sitting at the First Aid tables with band-aids, this group of characters was standing nearby. Fun to watch and listen to them interact with people. They were very in character.

 

Something I really wanted to do was get some henna which, if you know me, is one of my favorite summer traditions but I wasn't able to find a place to do it yet all summer! Luckily there was a booth at FanX and I was able to get a spot in line to get this totally awesome owl in henna on my hand.

I didn't get to sit in too many panels because there was so much I wanted to do but I was able to make it to the Cobra Kai panel which was really fun and also one with Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys and Joey Fatone from N'Sync.

 

 On Saturday I was volunteering from 4-7pm and then got asked to stay and help with the Cosplay Costume Contest. This sounded really cool and I was able to stay and help! The above picture is of the grand ballroom filling up with people who want to watch the costume contest.

 

 Me and another girl were backstage on both ends of the stage. There was a line of people in their costumes and I offered to hold their mask if needed while they were up on stage. A few took me up on this offer and I would take their mask and drop it off to the girl at the stage exit.

Then! We were asked to get everyone together for the awards. We had a sign with 3 characters on it and we went to the area where they were all waiting. We gathered our 3 winners (they didn't know what place they had won) and brought them backstage again. Then we were asked to actually go up on stage with 3 of the winners to present the awards. What what! I was in my volunteer shirt and pants, nothing fancy...got to give the 1st place award in the novice category. Super cool!

This woman was the grand prize $5k winner of the night!

 

 

And...that's a wrap! The room cleared out pretty quickly, it was after 9pm so a very long day for everyone, especially if you were there all day.

If you want to volunteer with me next year at FanX, let me know and I can put you in touch with the right person probably. It's a fun experience with a few cool perks. Be aware, you do need to pay for parking. I ended up parking at the garage for City Creek mall and it's free for the first 2 hours then $2/hr after that. I think the most I paid was about $12. Can't wait to attend again!