CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITOL MUSEUM

One Saturday morning, we woke up with with sun, and headed out to the Tower Cafe for breakfast (the cornmeal blueberry pancake was amazing!) and then to tour the CA State Capitol. We live about 15 minutes from Downtown, so we are fairly close to the capitol and all of the other state and government buildings in the area. We admired the beautifully restored dome to it's 1907 Art Deco' area and the mint condition hallways reconstructed in the 1940's. We learned about past CA Governors in the portrait hallway, went to "lobby row", and the assembly hall. We had two older couples in our tour group, one from Iowa & another from England. They were so sweet and asked such great questions during the tour! The couple from Iowa (a retired school teacher & librarian) had visited 40 state capitols while driving and touring cross country in their RV. It was a really fun morning and we enjoyed exploring the building on our own afterwards. There are SO many exhibits, we will definitely be back!

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM

I have fond memories of homemade ice cream as a child. It always involved pulling out our old ice cream maker from the fridge, setting it up on the back patio, and making sure the extremely salty rock salt pieces stayed on top of the mixture while it churned. That creamy and cold treat is the epitome of summer in my eyes. Since we don't have an ice cream maker, I settled with this no churn recipe I found online, and jazzed it up with some fresh strawberries and a hint of sea salt, to keep with my childhood memories. Served on a cone & topped with sprinkles, this was the perfect way to cool down after an extremely hot weekend here in Sacramento. 

CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR

This past Saturday, we started the day early and hit the California State Fair at Cal Expo (home of the CALIFORNIA letters that sparked the original entrance for Disney's CA Adventure). We spent the majority of the morning admiring the beautiful Clydesdale horses and stables before enjoying the county float exhibits inside. San Diego upset us by not participating (what's up with that?!) but the Northern CA counties did NOT disappoint! Sacramento County won three blue ribbons and Sonoma and Monterrey were close seconds. It was a fun morning spent walking around and exploring. We discovered a water park inside the expo, and will for sure be going back for a day of water slides! We splurged on frozen lemonade to combat the afternoon heat, as well as trying a deep fried Twinkie, which was surprisingly delicious! We love going to the fair, and thankfully it only comes around once a year. I'm not sure our waistlines could handle it if it was a regular occurrence.

CHICKEN COBB SALAD

In the warm summer months, we tend to live off of simple salads with fridge staples. I love a good Cobb salad, so this has become almost a weekly rotation for us. The chicken in this salad couldn't be easier; I purchase a big flat of chicken breasts, bake them in the oven or crock pot, and then use my handy stand mixer to shred the hot chicken. I then split it in half, throw one half in the freezer for another week, and place the other half in the fridge to use during the week. From chicken tacos, BBQ chicken pizza, and this Cobb salad, it's the perfect staple for easy summer dinners. Besides the chicken, anything with avocado & bacon is my good friend, making this salad a favorite of both myself and Derek!

4TH OF JULY WEEKEND

We spent time this weekend with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins who also live in the Sacramento area. We kicked off the weekend with a huge celebration held in Rocklin called "Celebrate America". A large local Christian church sponsors it, and it was amazing! Patriotic songs, great performances, and huge firework display. We spent the afternoon of the 4th swimming in their pool, BBQ'd for dinner, and played games before setting off fireworks in the street. We lucked out with not having too warm of weather, and the breeze kicked in that evening making it an enjoyable evening! It was a fun day spent with our family!