This, that, and the other

In the past little while we (Ryan) have been busy getting the backyard landscaped. It is coming along nicely! We have five cute trees planted (2 maples, 2 aspens, and a spruce). The sprinkler system is FINALLY installed. And as luck would have it, there was a ginormous downpour of rain the same day that Ryan filled the trenches back in, so they have sufficiently settled. Thank goodness they were filled in... otherwise I would have cried for him.

We watched some pretty awesome fireworks on July 3rd. Yes, the third. Our little town does it a day early in an attempt to get a good turnout. I don't think they were disappointed this year, as many surrounding areas had their fireworks cancelled due to the massive amounts of fire in Colorado this summer. I was really quite impressed by the whole shebang - they had food booths, bouncy castles, a climbing wall, and several other fun things to do before the fireworks. Granted the fireworks didn't even start until 10 PM because of wind and that wind was not particularly warm. But Ryan and I had our little camping chairs and cards and we had a good time! 

We saw the new Spiderman movie. It was a fantastic movie, especially compared to the previously made Spidermans. Spidermen? Anyway, I certainly recommend that one. I do not, however, recommend ordering nachos from Rock Bottom Brewery, unless you like really crispy cheese.


We had people over for dinner. Not that this is necessarily a new thing, but I was really really excited about the food we ate (the company was good too; it was a couple of friends/coworkers of Ryan's). A monthish ago after a temple trip with my parents we had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I ordered their Chicken Bellagio, and I was not disappointed. Ryan was even jealous, and that never happens! Then one day on Pinterest I came across the recipe. And it is the legit recipe, straight off of the Cheesecake Factory website. The dish has pasta in a basil oil sauce, topped with a little Parmesan cream sauce AKA alfredo, then breaded chicken, prosciutto, and arugula. It was so beautiful. I also served homemade breadtwists from fabulesslyfrugal.com and broccoli with toasted almonds. 

For dessert I made a bundt cake that is a copycat of a Nothing Bundt Cake that I found on favfamilyrecipes.com. I was originally planning on whipping up a box of brownies due to the more involved-ness of the Chicken Bellagio, but Ryan quickly requested the bundt cake, and how can I turn him down? He was happily surprised when he saw I had decided to make it after all, which made it all worth it. 

We went to a Rockies game. We played the Pittsburgh Pirates. The game was pretty good, and our seats weren't too bad either! Front row! (Thanks, Dad!) We got rained on pretty much the whole game, but thankfully we were prepared with our rain jackets and tarp and we left relatively dry and warm. I can't speak for any of the other people we were with, but the rain didn't dampen Ryan's and my experience! We got to eat yummy Monster Chicken Nachos and Polish sausage and hang out with my family. It was really quite fun. Unfortunately the game was delayed at the top of the 9th inning with two outs before the potential end of the game. We were ahead by 3, so we decided to just leave since it was pretty late and the rain didn't seem to be letting up anyway. The Rockies ended up winning! 

It has been a great summer so far, and I have a feeling it is only going to get better!!