Can you find Idaho Falls?

I know it's been a long time since I posted. I actually have a few posts to come soon. In the meantime, can you spot Idaho Falls in this video. There were a couple places I recognized.

Texas Roadhouse

I have a few other date ideas that can be done anywhere but first- my husband's birthday dinner. I was surprised when he picked Texas Roadhouse because although I love steak, it's not really his thing (I think it was in part a favor to me). Texas Roadhouse in Idaho Falls is usually busy on the weekends but they have call ahead seating which helps but even if it's a spur of the moment thing like it was for us the wait wasn't too long. Once you get seated they have super good rolls (the picture really doesn't capture them) and peanuts to snack on.

We really enjoyed our meal, each meal comes with two sides so we could easily share them with our daughter. My husband doesn't like steak but he says Texas Roadhouse has some of the best chicken. He really liked it and I enjoyed the steak, it was even amazing as leftovers the next day.

BYU-Idaho free concert- Salt Lake, Pocatello, Rexburg

The BYU-Idaho choirs and orchestra will be performing free concerts in Salt Lake, Pocatello, and Rexburg. The concert is Bring Forth my Zion. The concerts is free but does require tickets, information for each city below.

POCATELLO - Thursday, March 8, 7:30 p.m., ISU Stephens Performing Arts Center: Admission is free, but tickets are necessary. They can be obtained in person at the ticket office or by calling the Stephens Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at (208) 282-3595.

REXBURG - Friday, March 9, 7:30 p.m., BYU-Idaho Center: Admission is free, but tickets are necessary. They can be obtained from the BYU-Idaho Ticket Office at (208) 496-3170 or (800) 717-4257 (open school days from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) or online at www.byui.edu/tickets. A BYU-Idaho pre-show dinner at 6 p.m. is available for $15 to those interested (deadline to order dinner is March 5).

SALT LAKE CITY - Saturday, March 10, 7:30 p.m., Salt Lake Tabernacle: Admission is free, but tickets are necessary. They can be obtained at the Temple Square Events Ticket Office at www.lds.org/events, (801) 570-0080 or toll free at 1-866-537-8457.

Jazz Big Band Dance

I mentioned this last year the date is Saturday the 18th and all the other details are the same as last year. I hope if you get to go you have a great time!

Book Store Date

I said at the beginning of this blog that sometimes I would post date ideas that could be done anywhere- I haven't done great at that but I am going to try and post more now.

I have only done this once and really enjoyed it. I got the idea from Love, Actually and she has posted an actual card you can print out with some of the challenges on it. We did it at Barnes and Noble at the Grand Teton Mall but you can do it at any bookstore. The way it works is you and your date split up in a bookstore with three challenges of books to find and then you meet up and share. We did three sets of three while we were there, I wouldn't recommend trying to do more than three challenges in a set because then you have more books to carry and more time apart. Here are a list of challenge ideas.

- Find a map or a picture of some place you would like to travel to.
- Find a book that you think your date would enjoy reading.
- Find a book you read during high school.

- Find a recipe that you would like to try.
- Find a book that has "Happily Ever After" in it.
- Find a joke to tell your date.

- Find a date idea for a future date together.
- Find a self help book that applies to you.
- Find a book that has a character with the same name as your date.

- Find a poem that describes how you feel about your date.
- Find a children's book you liked growing up.
- Find a game or project you think would be fun to do together.

You can mix up the challenges however you want. We did it with our baby in the stroller so it worked out that we didn't even need a babysitter. It's a great date to do and then grab a treat after.

Main Street Grill- Ririe

I am sorry I don't have pictures of this but the other night we went to Main Street Grill in Ririe. It is exactly where you would think- on Main Street, in Ririe. The burgers were really good and they are pretty reasonably priced. You can get it cheaper by not having fries with it, my husband and I were good with just getting one thing of fries to share. I had a chiken burger and it was such good chicken. It takes a little to get your food so if you don't have time to wait you can call ahead to order 208-538-6106.

Soda Springs, ID- Man-made Geyser

For those of you who follow this blog, you will notice that I haven't been posting every week. My goal was a year and I got almost there before my husband and I decided we want to repeat some things, we will be posting still whenever we do something new, which I hope will be pretty often.

On to last weekend! We went to Soda Springs. Each year the first weekend in October and April we listen on the radio to the LDS general conference which has two 2-hour sessions on Saturday with 2 hours in between. It is the perfect time to go explore somewhere new. Last Saturday we drove to Soda Springs, ID.

Soda Springs has a man-made geyser. It goes off every hour on the hour and the spray lasts about 7 minutes. It's not that exciting just to watch but if you are willing to deal with the sulfur smell you can get right up into the spray, which is really fun.

Between sprays we walked across the street to Main Street Diner- we weren't sure what we were going to think but the food was so good. My husband got hand battered chicken strips and I had a hamburger. It was a really good place to eat and the timing was perfect to go back across for the next hour's spray.

Further down Main Street they have a great park that we also stopped to play at. It seemed to have everything, swing sets with baby swings, merry-go-rounds, volleyball nets, basketball courts, a big gazebo. It was a fun place to stop and play too.

There are other historical parks and things throughout Soda Springs but we didn't take the time to go see them all. We really enjoyed our day, the drive was nice and the time there was really fun.

Also, as a note for an upcoming event, Events 4 Idaho has a short description of the Annual Chocolate Fest in Idaho Falls which will be held on October 22 this year.