My Birthday Trip to San Francisco

Wow the Redwoods in California are breathtakingly beautiful. Just outside of Santa Cruz we ventured down the coast from our hotel in San Mateo. On our travels we stopped and shopped in a quaint little seaside village called Half Moon Bay. We also saw a beautiful old lighthouse which was built back in 1871. They were doing a restoration so we got to see the lens that goes inside of it, it was very intricately designed. On Wednesday Matt and I ate at a restaurant called Jacks in Pleasant Hill just across from our hotel. On Thursday we spent most of our day in Sausalito. It was a beautiful place to watch all the boats at harbor. Gorgeous houses dotted the hillside and shopping there was great, we even purchased some fun artistic sculptures for Miguel and Mikayla. We ate at a yummy place called the Salsalito Taco shop. We loved our trip here and most of all were impressed by how friendly everyone was, service was phenomenal and the people who live there equally as nice!

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles

The perfect cookie in my book. Soft and sweet and simple to make. Served with a scoop of your favorite sherbet or better yet a sherbet float made with sprite, makes a very refreshing summertime treat.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 and 1/3  cup sugar
2 eggs
(cream above ingredients together)
2 and 3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
(mix dry ingredients together then add to wet mixture)

Roll dough into 1-2 inch balls then roll in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Smash slightly with the bottom of a glass. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes (I take mine out right at 8 min. even if they look a little under done.) Let sit 1 minute on pan and then place directly on a cooling rack. They come out perfect every time. Yum!
Recipe source: my friend Lori

Lovely Perrenial Gardens

We visited Park City today with Matt's parents, Alesa and our youngest kids.

We went to this beautiful hotel just to tour it and see the lovely view from the balconies.

It was all quite a sight to behold.  I was especially take with the perrenial gardens.  It inspired me to one day plant something of such beauty myself.