Memorial Day Pictures

So I know it's now August and yes it has taken me this long to post Memorial Day Picture. This last Memorial Day was a ton of fun. We went down to Saint David to Stacy and Artie's house for a day filled with fun!!!!

We ate great food and homemade icecream, played on the quads, zipline and went shooting. What also made it nice was that Stevie came down from Idaho that weekend for Jacob's baptism. So my whole family was there and we talked Michael and the Bayardo family into joining us.

Favorite Bottled Root Beer

In my last post I told you about the Soda Pop Shop. We have been on a search for the Best Bottled Root Beer. My favorites so far are Buckin' Root Beer and Sparky's. The rest of these are also very good. It's crazy how all the root beers taste so different. Try some of these out and let me know what you think!

Also I found a website (www.delicioussparklingtemperancedrinks.net/rbeer/Beers.html) that did a root beer taste test and here is their rankings and what they had to say:

Buckin'- Not in the taste test. Too bad it's my favorite

Sparky's - Made by Knox Brewing Co. of Pacific Grove, CA. This brand is not available in the Midwest, but Kevin Knox kindly sent a bottle for us to try. This brand is sweetened with cane sugar and honey, but the "botanical extracts" and spices give the first sip a bitterness which initially put some of the reviewers off. "It has a lot of flavor, its just not a good flavor." "Has a goofy aftertaste, but the taste of vanilla, honey and molasses is pleasant." After the first sip, most of the reviewers warmed to the taste: "A very interesting combo of flavors with a minty aftertaste." "It smells great and its growing on me after the initial shock." Sparky's website. - Score: 3.14

Iron Horse - A train-themed root beer bottled in Edina, Minnesota. "Thick creamy. Very creamy flavor - not much intense flavor - this is a subtle brew," one reviewer wrote. The testers enjoyed the creamy vanilla taste, but some found it a little overly sweet. - Score: 3.52

Abita - Bottled in Abita Springs, Louisiana. The beautiful label features a stylized homage to Louisiana cane sugar, which is this brew's prime ingredient (also listed in the formulation is the secretive "root beer flavor"). Our reviewers wrote: "Pretty good punch to it, but I wish it was creamier." " Sharp on the tongue. I like this, a root beer that wakes me up with fizz & flavor. A bit bitter in the aftertaste, but just for a moment. A full, bold flavor." "Not very creamy. Contains a wider taste spectrum than it does root beer flavor." "Nice little punch, agreeable taste." Abita Brewing website. - Score: 3.43

Henry Weinhard's - Bottled by Blitz-Weinhard Brewery in Portland, Oregon. The reviewers found this brew flavorful and complex: "Nice appearance, interesting taste, complex, vanilla-y. Not what I would expect root beer to taste like, but still good." "Great full flavor. No initial sizzling burst of carbonation, but this one rolls over my tongue so easily I'm sad to finish the sample." Though some did not care for the flavor: "Creamy head. Subtle yet nasty aroma. Complex, subtle, conspiratorial." - Score: 3.40

Virgil's - Another old-fashioned style root beer with all-natural ingredients: anise, licorice, bourbon vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, wintergreen, sweet birch, molasses, nutmeg, pimento berry oil, balsam oil and oil of cassia. Our reviewers enjoyed the complex flavors, but overall found it a bit weak in taste: "Vanilla aroma, refreshing fizz, but I'm not crazy about the fruity taste which gets stronger with each sip." "Molasses-y but not a lasting flavor. Aftertaste is medicinal." "Cola flavor. Not much root beer here." "In the end, it tastes more like RC than root beer." Virgil's website. - Score: 2.69

Fitz's- Not in the contest, but very good.

All you Root Beer lovers ENJOY!!!!

Hello Again!

Like usual it has been a long time since my last post. I'm really not very good at keeping up with things. Well anyway, as you know I have been living in Mesa since January. I love it here, except the heat and not seeing my family very often. I think they need to come up to visit me more, hint, hint.

So the last few months have been filled with all kinds of fun things. First of all for those of you who don't know I am dating a great guy. His name is Michael. And here's a cute picture of us.

Michael and I have tons of fun together and like to stay busy. Over the last couple months we have done all kind of stuff.

FREE TICKETS- Some how we have been lucky enough to get free tickets to all kinds things. We have been able to go see the Diamondbacks play, unfortunatly they haven't been very good. We have seen the Phoenix Roadrunners, which was lots of fun for me since I had only been to one other hockey game in my life. My work gave us tickets to see Cavalia which was amazing. It is a Cirque du Soliel show with horses. The tricks and stunts they performed were so fun to watch. Check out their website http://www.cavalia.net/

OTHER NEW ADVENTURE- Michael likes to take me to do things I've never done so we've been busy...

One night we rode the light rail, which took us down town were we wnt to the Phoenix Science Center. We then took the light rail to Tempe were we hiked up "A" mountain. Then we walked down to Mill Ave. and ate pizza at Slices.

We've also been to:

Jesterz- an improv comedy place

The Soda Pop Shop- a fun store that sells bottled soda from all over the world. They have a whole isle just of rootbeers, so we have been trying all different kinds to try and find our favorite.

Tempe Impov- the other week we went to the Tempe Improv were we saw Iliza Shlesinger the winner of Last Comic Standing season 6. She was funny, but I think I was expecting better. Oh well it was a lot of fun.

We've also kept busy with other things like, going to the drive-in movies, playing games, going to the driving range, eating out, trips to Tucson, Pinetop, Eager, Saint David, and so on. Life has been pretty good to me this year :)

Trip to Idaho!!!

I went to Idaho the other week to visit Stevie! It was a great trip. My mom, grandma, aunt, Stacy, Kayla and Karly all got to go. We had a fun time hangin with Stevie and seeing all the hard work she has done at school. She made a beautiful cake that was displayed in an event show put on by the school. Her cake was for a New Years party with a Swing Dance theme. I'm not going to lie, her cake was by far the best one there and I'm not just saying that because she is my sister. See for yourself....
This was another cake she made for her mid-term. Check out her blog if you want to see more pictures. http://teeanngiggles.blogspot.com/

Since my last post I have done a lot, but don't have any pictures to prove it! (maybe I should get a camera)
Some of the things I have done/am doing:
Moved to Mesa
Started my internship
Making new friends
Cheering for UofA B-ball
Had a Birthday
Two visits to Chauncey Ranch
Went to the Match Play Tournament
and plenty of other things in between.

So far I love living in Mesa. I've been living here about two months and am having a blast. My roommates are all very nice (I have 5 of them) and my new ward has been fun.

For my internship I get to work with kids and horses, what can be better! Most of the kids we work with have special needs, we do some group sessions and some individual lessons. The kids seem to have a great time and I just love to see them smile! Everyday I go home with a different story. It is such a rewarding program. I am hoping to start leading groups and lessons in the next couple weeks!

I'll try to start taking pictures for my next post!

Skydiving

I got to go SKYDIVING again! And it was awesome! I think it was better this time, probably because I wasn't nervous at all. I was able to go with a big group of my friend from Tucson. We had so much fun.
This was our practice jump! This was another practice option.
This is ME! We got to do a backward sommersault out of the plane and then we did some spins during our free fall. We jump at 13, 000 ft, then free fall a little under a minute until we get to 5, 000 ft., I think they said we fall about 1,000 every 5 secs, CRAZY! It is so amazing!My istructor was awesome. He let me pull the cord to release the chute and he let me steer part of the time.

Snowboarding

So I tried snowboarding for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was so much fun and so exhausting! We went up Mt. Lemmon, which to my surprise had decent snow. I was on my butt more often than I would have liked and getting back up was not always easy. And since this was mine and Adam's first time our friend, Jeremiah, chose to take us down Black Diamonds (the hardest trails) for the first two runs. I will say for snowboarding the more difficult and steeper trails where actually easier, well easier to get up after falling I should say. I had a blast and was sore for at least three days. Ever muscle in my body hurt, but it was worth it and I'd love to try it again sometime!

I think a fell on the flat parts more than anything...don't I look great!

Jeremiah definitely has had more practice!