chef

bmk | stroganoff, paprikash, tenders, chimis

When I arrived at the kitchen for our Thursday lunch I was pleasantly surprised to find so many goodies waiting for me. B had been a cooking fool this morning!
B had four different dishes for me to photograph and then we got to eat a bit of everything for lunch. Thursday has quickly become my favorite day of the week. I don’t ever want to take this for granted. I’m a lucky gal and that B is one talented chef. 
Beef and Bean Chimichangas

Waiting for the egg noodle dishes to be plated up. Everything is just better at Blue Mountain Kitchen.

Chicken paprikash

Beef Stroganoff
This has always been one of my favorites and it certainly did not disappoint today. 
Baked Chicken Tenders

We had so much food. After lunch we still had LOTS left. B packed it all up for us for the holiday weekend. We are going to be eating well!

bmk | green chili chicken enchiladas

With the girls back at school, B and I finally have time to tackle some of the projects on our to-do lists. One of those things was updating the pictures on the BMK website. 
This is a lovely plan for me because I get to take pictures (LOVE!) and I get to eat the food that B makes for the pictures (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!). 
We started today with his most popular dish and strangely enough one that I have never tried. He made green chili chicken enchiladas and they were AH.MAZ.ING! Holy cow, I could eat those everyday. 
Here’s a few pics from our fun little lunch photo shoot. I can’t wait for the next round. Yum, yum, yum!

fairy tale treats camp

Today was the last day of summer camps at Blue Mountain Kitchen. It has been a busy, busy summer in that kitchen and B hosted some really great camps for the kids. They learned a lot and had plenty of fun too. 
Today’s theme was Fairy Tale Treats and it was fabulous. The kiddos made Sword in the Stone donuts, Princess Cupcakes, Snow White Caramel Apples, and Alice’s Mad Tea Party Cucumber Sandwiches and Tea. B gave them instruction and then they set off to make their creations. It was hands-on and they really made their way around the kitchen. Gwyneth pulled me aside and said “this camp is awesome!”.  
It was a smaller group, with only 6 kids attending. Many of the local schools are already back in session. Having a smaller group is pretty nice though and all the kids, AND B, really enjoyed it. 
Snow White’s Caramel Apples…they opted for sprinkled apples instead of poison apples 
that Chef B is pretty fun!
Making tea sandwiches. 
I was so impressed that they all tried the cucumber sandwiches and liked them. 
Sword in the Stone glazed donuts. Yum!!
Super cute cucumber sandwiches….and they tasted great too!

bowling

Oh my, it has been one of those weeks. Staffing at my studios got flipped upside down, nothing seemed to be working quite right, and I had no time to spend with my family. We were not connecting because there was just no time and that just does NOT work for us. When my family doesn’t work together, life doesn’t work for me and I’m anxious and unhappy.
We had to re-prioritize and that meant a night without work and focusing on being together. That should be simple right? It should be, but it’s not and it required sacrifices from everyone. We have 4 wild schedules and I know everyone just wanted to lay on the couch, but we got it together and went out for the night. 
We grabbed Gwyneth’s sweet friend Ruby and and headed out to Chuy’s for some tacos and then hit the bowling alley. All of us bowled and a few of us cheated and used the bumpers. We had a blast!
Our sweet Annabelle, who is every bit 11 and too cool for school, but we sure do adore her. 
That crazy G wanted a high five before and after each ball she threw down the lanes. We all happily obliged. 
Annabelle is FIERCELY competitive and was not happy about the way the ball was bouncing tonight. She was getting really ticked, especially because she was in last place, but we did some dancing and singing and got her laughing. I am not above embarrassing the children and myself in public for a good time!

chicago with gwyneth

Annabelle asked to spend the day with my mom and her cousins while B, Gwyneth and I explored the city. I think the girls were pretty happy with their decisions and were equally spoiled. 
Our day started with a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. I’ve always loved that museum and I couldn’t wait to share it with G. There are so many amazing paintings and she soaked it all in.

After our morning at the art museum we grabbed Chicago style pizza at Giordano’s. The timing was perfect because it started to rain just as we hopped in line. We waited out the storm with delicious pizza.

We opted for the thin crust and it was even better than I remembered. 

After lunch we needed to walk off all that pizza so we explored Michigan Avenue. 

Another trip to the candy store.

We grabbed drinks on the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower. We had a great seat right by the window.

Then dinner at Carson’s ribs. Another favorite from the years we lived in Chicago. 
We did lots more walking and then ended up at the Cafe Luxe for late night desserts. 
It was a pretty great day with our baby girl!

DIA staycation

We met up with B’s cousin, Amanda who was visiting Colorado for a work conference. It was great to see her! She is such a sweet gal. We grabbed lunch at 5280 Burger Bar downtown. We had plenty of time to catch up and we appreciate so much that she took time out of her visit to meet up with us. 
After lunch we dropped Ryan and Reagan off with B’s dad and we set off for the airport. We had an early morning flight…early, early! We treated ourselves to a stay at the airport. The price tag is hefty, but when you wake up in the morning you walk a few paces and are already at security. At 6 am that’s a wonderful benefit. 
We grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant, Grill & Vine. It was ok. I think we need to give it another try during our next stay. We shared a few different small plates, but want to give the entrees a try. 
After dinner we hit the pool, which may have the most wonderful views I’ve seen in quite some time. The pool is on the top floor of the hotel and you look out over the runways. We were able to watch the airplanes line up for take off and one after one take off into the sky. It was a beautiful view! So lovely and relaxing. It was a night to remember. 
Taking in the views
Annabelle is the queen of the pool handstand.
Showers and slumber and ready for our big trip ahead. 

hot springs

We have driven by the hot springs so many times, but never stopped….until today! I was so excited to finally visit the hot springs, introduce my girls to them, and see what all the hub bub was about. 
That water is called the “fountain of youth” and oh man, it’s  nicccce! It’s about 90 degrees and will ruin you for all other pools. The girls commented that it was a bit stinky but I didn’t think it was too bad.
The pool had a great diving board and we all took turns jumping off…including me and Yaya! There were also two great slides that kept the ladies entertained. Annabelle was drawn to the diving board while Gwyneth couldn’t get enough of the slides. 
My girls are little fish and could have stayed at the springs all weekend. I know for sure we’ll need to plan another trip up so we have more time. 
That view!
We headed back to the hotel to clean up, grab some lunch and check out. It was time to head back down the hill. It was a wonderfully quick trip and makes me love this beautiful state we live in so much. 

fathers day | strawberry festival

Happy, happy Father’s day! 
We were lucky enough to celebrate the day with this guy. He’s a pretty great dad and we were eager to show him a good time today. 
We drive the 3 hours up to Glendwood Springs this morning. The drive was pretty easy and the skies were clear. Everyone was pretty hungry when we arrived so we checked in our hotel and then headed over the bridge to downtown. 
After lunch we made our way to the Strawberry Festival. 
We were there just minutes before it started to rain. We stuck around for the pie eating contest which was under a big tent, but all the vendors started closing up. We missed the rides and food which was kind of a bummer. We had planned to spend most of our day here so we quickly had to come up with a new plan. 
We decided to walk to the corner store and pick up some cards. Our plan was to hang out in the hotel lobby and play some games until the weather cleared up. On our way to the store we stumbled along a beer garden that had an arcade and lots of board games. 
We ended up waiting out the storm playing games at this place for about 3 hours! We had so much fun. We laughed and laughed and had a blast. 
We ended our meal with dinner at a not so great Mexican restaurant and then sat on the patio and plays another few hours of card games. Even thought it didn’t go perfectly as planned it was really a great day and we were so glad to celebrate the best dad around. 

long beach

We hopped up early and headed down to Long Beach to meet up with our friends Abe and Wendi. B and I always loved Long Beach so we were pretty excited for the excursion. Plus, we always have a ton of fun with Abe and Wendi. 
We met up for lunch at The Attic which had the craziest, most interesting menu. They are known for their homemade mac and cheese dishes with flaming cheetos. Yes, flaming cheetos! I had a few bites of B’s and it was certainly interesting and delicious!
We parked back at our hotel which was just 3 or 4 blocks from Abe and Wendi’s place. We parked and walked and really explored the area. 
Abe and Wendi’s little girl, Savannah is 4 and such a fun little girl. She sure did love her big kid friends for the day. 
Our first stop was at the Long Beach Aquarium.  
A lot of the exhibits are outside and it was a beautiful sunny day (I guess most of them are in California…)
There were water features inside that were a huge hit. 
After the aquarium we took a little boat ride over to the Queen Mary.
We had snacks and cocktails on the boat and it was a bit hit with everyone. My only disappoint was there was a Princess Diana exhibit on the ship and we ran out of time (…and most importantly interest from my group). 
When our friends had to head out it was quite a sad moment for Savannah. She hates goodbyes and we had so much fun today and she just cried and cried. I got lots and lots of hugs and she is just the sweetest little thing. We can’t wait to see them when they move back to Colorado at the end of the year.
Our day in Long Beach was a huge success and another highlight of our trip. Such wonderful memories!