The Best Banana Bread I Have Ever Had!

I just got done talking to Tara on the phone and told her I would share this recipe with her. It is sooo good! I got it from one of Nick's relatives who got it from a friend in Boise...You will not regret making this banana bread recipe...Succulent, juicy, melts in your mouth...Here's the recipe:

Haley's Favorite Scrumtrulescent Banana Bread

3 C. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 C. butter
1 C. oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 C. sugar
3 bananas
1 C. buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract

Mix all ingredients together. Put in 2 greased bread loaf pans. Bake @ 350 degrees for 60 minutes!

Glaze
3/4 C. Sugar
1/4 C. prepared orange juice
1 Tbls. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Combine all ingredients and boil for 1 minute. Pour half over each loaf just as it comes out of the oven. Let stand 15 minutes then take out of loaf pans! Yummy! :)

*Here's a tip I heard: After mixing together all of the banana bread ingredients, let the mixture sit for 20 minutes before baking. This will make the banana flavor stand out more in the bread! (I tried this on a different banana bread recipe and it worked really well!)

Moab Trip

The first weekend in October Nick and I went on a dirt-biking trip to Moab with some of Nick's siblings and their friends. We had a great time! I was really nervous the whole time though. I am fairly new at riding so riding in Moab was a little intimidating. I did well though...ended up with two flat tires somehow! Nick and I even found a dead scorpion in the bathroom drawer of the condo we were staying at. I made Nick check everything of ours after that! Clothes, luggage, bedding...everything! I was pretty worried! Luckily no one was injured that weekend from insects or from riding!

Nick and I at Hurrah Pass. The ride was pretty nice. Nick and his brother Justin waited a lot on us girls because we kept on stopping and taking pictures along the way.

Nick took this picture. It was getting dark but you can see how the rock is balanced on top of the pillar. This was a common sight to see in Moab.
"Hello everyone!"
My hot husband. He is a really good rider. I tell him that I am going to be "professional" like him someday!

If you enlarge the picture, you can see me riding on the other side of the cliff. It's a pretty cool picture Nick took.

These are some cliffs at Hurrah Pass.

Nick looking out at the scenery at Hurrah Pass. It was pretty impressive.

Me, Amber, and Rachel. We all have Yamaha 125's and are around the same skill level so it was fun riding together!

Nick took this picture of this Toyota with the wheel broken from the axle. We saw a lot of jeeps and off-road vehicles on the trails at Moab.

More scenery.

Yet more scenery.

This is a real dinosaur footprint! We went on this one ride that took us past lots of fossilized dinosaur tracks. It was really neat to see all the different fossils embedded in the sandstone!

Logan's Wedding

Here's a picture of Nick and Sam on a ride at Lagoon.
We thought this sign at Lagoon was quite ironic considering the sharp pointy fence!
Cuz Ashley and I at the wedding. Aren't we so cute?
The boyz.
The kids were just sitting there saying "Cheese!" over and over again so I turned around and snapped this photo of them.
Nick, Me, Sam, and Cherstie at Lagoon. It was my first time going!
Nick and I waiting in line for a sick ride...I think it was called "Wicked". Needless to say, it was lots of fun!

"Ewww!"
Aunt Lois, Lexy, Logan, and Uncle Mike. I love this picture.
Family and friends.
Best Buddies. I saw them both tear up a few times over the weekend.
They look good! Now that wasn't so bad was it Logan! :)

Skyler's Wedding

Nick's brother Skyler got married this summer in the Salt Lake City temple. Thanks to everyone who went to our wedding and helped out all day and night! It is an exhausting process!

Nick's brother-in-law Stan strangling the crap out of us.

The brothers: Justin, Skyler, and Nick.
The boys showing off their tight ends!
I thought this picture was really cute! These are Nick's nieces sitting around Becky. Notice the baby crying her eyes out! Poor thing!
Here's the Terry family outside the SLC temple.Nick danced with me at the reception. I love dancing with him!

More Summer Stuff

I am trying to get caught up with info. on this summer! After the family reunion Nick and I stayed with my family for a week. Enjoy the pics!

Mom was looking for wild huckleberries on our Mt. Ranier hike.

The family (minus Dad who was at work and Jenna who was pouting somewhere out of view).

We saw some pretty cool waterfalls along the hike.

The scenery was awesome!

Here was a waterfall that had carved its way through the rocks. It's hard to see the path of the water through the rocks in this picture but it was a pretty cool waterfall to see.

This is actually a picture of Mt. Ranier from behind my house when Nick, Mom, and I were horse riding. Not bad huh!

This was a run off or something from Mt. Ranier. The minerals made the river bed very red.

I was sitting on one of those big rocks down there looking at the water and Jenna thought it would be funny to throw a rock into the water right next to me and splash me...It would have been a great idea had she not hit me with the rock! I had a huge welt on my leg and limped around for the rest of the day. Poor Jenna felt really bad though!

Nick and Chase keeping it real.

Here's Chase and I standing on a bridge that was made out of logs. It was kind of scary crossing the bridge because there wasn't much there! Check out the gray water!

Terry Family Reunion

A week after my graduation, Nick and I headed to Puyallup, Washington for the Terry family reunion. It was actually pretty fun! We ate a lot of food, played some group games (waterballoon volleyball, bocce ball, skits, basketball, etc.), and tie-dyed t-shirts. Tie-dying was my favorite of course because it brought back memories of tie-dying t-shirts, socks, and sports bras in a big cauldron in the wild woods of Oregon while growing up. Okay, we weren't in the woods and we didn't use a "cauldron" per say, but we did tie-dye a number of items in our backyard using a big canning pot. :) I definitely enjoyed this activity at the family reunion as well! Well, here's some pics!

Here's Nick and I modeling our sweet t-shirts!

Nick went golfing with "the guys" in the morning and then had fun practicing his swing in the evening at his cousin Kevin's house.

Good form Nick!

He did really good...A lot better than me anyways! :)

Nick and I with his sister and her family and Mom and Dad Terry.

Graduation!!!

I decided I should probably add something to my blog since it has been a while. I graduated from BYU-Idaho July 18, 2008!!! I now have a Bachelor's degree in Health Science and a minor in Exercise and Sports Science. Sounds good huh? I just don't know what I can do with it now. Anywho...It was a big accomplishment for me and I have to say I am proud of myself. My Dad promised me a few years back that if I graduated college, he would take me to Hawaii. I reminded him of that promise recently, and interestingly enough, he doesn't remember making that promise to me! How could he not remember promising me something that big? Why else would I want to graduate! Somebody needs to call my Dad and vouch for me! :) Moving on...Below are some pictures taken the night of my graduation by loving supporters.

" No more school! No more school!"

This is my friend Andrea and I seated together right after we received our diplomas.

Nick and I right after I received my diploma. He was the official camera man for the night. Luckily, we found someone to snap a shot of us. Once I got married, I was a straight A student! Thanks for getting me straightened out Nick!!!

My family traveled for 13 hours just to come to my graduation! This was the best graduation present I received!

My In-laws came to support me also. They take good care of me!