Fun Things to Do in June

SummerFest Orem
June 12-13

Asian Festival
June 13
Free

Free orem Concert


Strawberry Days Festival
June 14-21
$15

Iceland  Days
June 26-28
Free

Domestic Tasting Class
June 30th
$25

Shakespeare Tour
All Summer
Free

AWESOME Alternative to Color Me Mine

I love Color Me Mine. Painting and creating is so soothing and in my personal opinion a great way to spend an afternoon... or three. I once had to take 3 trips to Color Me  Mine to finish my mug. But my date did too so it worked out just fine.
The downside of Color Me Mine is the cost. It takes all my budgeted "fun"money to paint for an afternoon. And for 2 people it can break the bank. So I have FINALLY found an amazing substitute for Color Me Mine. Per usual, most of my amazing ideas are supplemented by Pinterest, so find several tutorials and other decorating ideas here.

Supplies: (for a one stop shop, go to Walmart)

1.  Oven bake clay such as sculpey. Or air-dry clay.
2. Cookie cutters, large circle or other shapes. You can also use items found around the house
3. Bowls to mold your clay
4. Paint Brushes
5. Acrylic or other types of paint. If you are using the bowls for eating make sure you get non toxic paint.
6. Glaze paint- also non toxic, dishwasher safe.

Process:

1. Roll the clay into a ball and then roll it out with the rolling pin. Uniform thickness
2. Press in cookie cutter to create your desired shape
( if you have any lace, or stamps you want to use now is the time)
3. Place the circular clay in the bowl to conform the clay to the bowl shape. Allow dry for 20 minutes
4. Carefully remove and let the clay dry the rest of the way in the oven. Optional to sand paper the bowl at this point.
(If it is air dry...just let them dry....)
5. Paint and glaze!

Upgrade to an Experience:

Make an in-house studio. Make stations with different brushes and paint. Make signs for each station. Play music in the background.  Have matching aprons.

While waiting for the pottery to dry you can make dinner or desserts.
Go to Barns and Nobel and read books
Get Hot Chocolate or other yummy drinks
Sing and Dance to Pocahontas's "Colors of the Wind"
Play Twister
Go to an art Gallery: Moa, Springville Museum, Provo Library Art Show

Viva Peru

I love themeing everything. It makes dates, fhe's and activities more memorable. Its pretty easy to start the theme with a movie, because movies have endless themes. And everyone likes watching movies. So here is a themed idea centering around PERU.

First of all choose the movie. I'm thinking Emperors New Groove or the Road to El Dorado, but any type of Aztec, Peruvian movie. You can add more details depending on the movie, I'm going to base this experience around Emperors New Groove.

To start you can go on a llama tour at the Utah Valley Llama Farm.  The farm is in Spanish Fork there may be a minimum number of people in your group, but give them a call and see what you can work out.

After visiting with the llamas, go to Se Llama Peru in Provo. This restaurant has the BEST Peruvian Food around. I highly recommend the ceviche.

Once you are done eating, or before you go to the restaurant. You can make sand art. Peru is famous for the Nazca Lines. Images carved into stone. But sand is easier. Find a place that has sand, a volleyball court, a beach, a sand box and use your feet or rakes and make an image in the sand. If possible make a design that you can view from above to admire your handy work. Get inspired with some ideas here.

Finally, retire to your abode and put on Emperors New Groove and admire the fact that you too have touched llamas, eating interesting Peruvian food, and experienced a little bit of Peruvian culture.

Paddle Boarding

  I know it's been raining a lot lately. That may be an understatement. It has been raining A TON lately. And that makes it hard to think of summer and the sun and all the fun activities you can do in the warmth of summer. But when summer does finally decide to show it's face, you should go Paddle Boarding!
You can rent a paddle board and drive it to a lake, or if your car is not big enough just rent a board from Utah lake or Deer Creek Reservoir. Soak in the sun and play with your friends, or your soul mate.

$ 15 an hour Utah Lake Marina 
$20 an hour Deer Creek Marina 
$30 a day Outdoors Unlimited
$45 a day Runoff River Adventures 
$65 a day UVU 

Experience Upgrade:

Pack a Picnic
Try some Paddle Board Yoga
Build Sand Castles Afterwards
Bring Pool Toys to Swim with After
Watch a Beach Movie (Surfs Up/ Soul Surfer/ Endless Summer)
Paint Sea Shells
Learn to Hula Dance
Have a BBQ
Snorkel

Chocolate Factory Tours!

Did you ever watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and wish you could go on a crazy chocolate tour (minus kidnapping squirrels and being turned into a blueberry). There is a chocolate factory in Salt Lake that lets your tour the facility for $1. The tour includes samples (of course!!!) and you get to see how they make their sugary goodness. Link to their website here.

Upgrade to an Experience:

Watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after the tour
Try your hand at making your own candy
Make your own Chocolate Tasting

Soap Factory

I love Color Me Mine, but it is little pricey. The Soap Factory is a similar set up. Come in and create your own soap. Choose from scents and ingredients to make your perfect blend. And it’s only 5$. Pay for an experience and a product. The perfect combo! Get directions and more details here. 

$5 for lab fees per person

Ingredients $0.05/ gram

Upgrade to an Experience:
Hand Massages
Create a theme of "clean" and buy groceries  at a farmers market for a "clean meal"
Add to the soap theme and blow bubbles

Foot Painting

So this is one of my personal favorites -slash- my go to when I need an adventure idea on the fly. Foot painting. Whenever I tell people this is the activity we are going to do they always assume that we are going to use our toes to paint. This is an option, but I think it is more challenging, and therefore more fun, to use your toes to hold a brush and paint with that.
So for this activity you need paper, paint, paint brushes and water. Use water color paint, acrylics, crayola, it doesn't really matter. Place newspaper all around your painting floor space and put a piece regular paper or water color paper on top. Pick up your paint brush with your toes and paint away!

To add to this activity:

• It is fun to print our a picture that everyone is trying to paint. Each picture turns out so differently its sometimes hard to tell you were all painting the same object...
• Foot painting sometimes turns into painting feet, do what you want.
• Use a sheet and secure it down, put paint on your feet and dance to your favorite song and see what it looks like in color. 

Movies that compliment this activity

• Footloose
• Happy Feet
•  Cinderella
• Little Mermaid

Hot Chocolate Tasting

Outside activities excursions are getting tricky now that the weather is getting colder. To compensate, lets rock some indoor adventures! One idea I got from drinking AMAZING hot chocolate from work is a tasting date. To explain the idea I am going to use hot chocolate, but you could use it with any food: eggnog, ice cream, cheese... whatever you feel like. 

So this is how it goes. You go from generic to specialty. So for hot chocolate you by some store brand packets, some nestle mix, Swiss mix, maybe some Abuelita or Stophers and then like maybe melt some Belgium chocolate bars in milk. Then you pour some shots, add whipped cream to each, and top off with  cinnamon or chocolate shavings. Label the brand of each chocolate shot with tape on the  bottom of the glass (you should probably do this before you pour the hot chocolate). Then have your partner mix up the glasses and take turns drinking from your shot set and guessing which hot chocolate is which. Who knows, maybe your favorite hot chocolate is the generic stuff!

To add to this activity...

• You can add an extra level. Once you find out which hot chocolate mix is your favorite, figure out what your favorite toppings are, cream, half and half, cinnamon, nutmeg, hazelnut and so on. You could make shots for days!!
• Or put different ice cream in your shots and see what flavoring you like
• Look up a recipe for legit Belgium hot chocolate and make the real thing at home!
• Choose different flavors of hot chocolate and drink shots blindly to figure out what your favorite really is.
• Play Beer pong with hot chocolate shots, using marshmallows as the ping pongs

A Date Around the World!

Have a traveling bug? Let’s take a trip around the world… in Provo.
There are places in and around Provo that have a unique culture or ethnicity. Put a few ideas together and take a date around the world.

For more fun, make a passport and get a stamp for each place you visit!

Or give your date a packing list of as many items as they can find.

 Examples would be

• France: berets, mustaches, striped shirts, 
• India: white shirts and sashes
• Tropics: sarong and sandals

Let the fun begin!!

Ever seen Stonehenge? 

Orem has it’s very own Stonehenge! Slightly smaller, and more intact then the original, Orem Stonehenge sits on the grass of a local business. Bring Hot Chocolate and gaze at the stars or try to remake the stone formations with your bodies.

Location: 435 W Center St, Orem, UT 84057

Price: free

Indoor Tropical Island resort? 

There is such a thing in Germany, the worlds largest indoor water park. Recreate this experience by going to the Old Mill pool, it is a tropical island inside the complex. Complete with palm trees, sand, and water. Just make sure you have a way in, because it is locked half the time.

location:724 W 1720 N, Provo, UT 84604

Price: Free

Prauge Bakery

Eat some traditional Czech Kolaches.

Location:  434 W Center St Provo Utah, 84606

Price: Around $3

Love Lock Bridge Paris. 

There is a bridge in Paris where you place a lock on the chain of a bridge and throw the key into the water. Buy a lock and key and find a bridge to keep your heart’s secrets.

Location: Find a bridge

Price: $3 for a lock

Sushi in Japan

Try any sushi bar in Provo

Location: Google it

Price: Varies

India

The Hari Krishna Temple is a Indian architectural marvel on Utah Soil. Take pictures and pet the llamas

Location: 311 W 8500 S, Spanish Fork, UT 84660 

Price: Free

The Alps of Switzerland.

Go to Sundance and ride the lift and pretend you are in the alps of Switzerland and Germany. I guess you could also go skiing and it would be European too.  

Location: 8841 N. Alpine Loop Road, Sundance, Utah 84504

Price : $25 for 2 people

Waterfalls of Europe

Iceland and Switzerland are renowned for thier beautiful waterfalls. Provo conveniently also has many waterfalls too. Print out a flag and take pictures, or have a cheese picnic near a waterfall

Location: Waterfall

Price: Free

Gelato in Italy

Gloria's Little Italy has the best gelato in Provo. A classic Italian treat, in an Italian themed restaurant

Location:1 E Center St, Provo, UT 84606

Price: About $3 a scoop

Chocolate of the World

Pop and Sweets has an assortment of European chocolate. Grab some foreign sweetness to eat on your trip.

Location:42 E 1230 N St, Provo, UT 84604

Price: $3 per candy

Mexican Craters

Swim in  tropical waters of the Homestead Crater and pretend you are in the jungles of South America.

Location: 700 Homestead Dr, Midway, UT 84049

Price: $15 per person (try to find a group on)

Foreign Cinema

Check out local screenings of foreign films, like BYU, or you could just Netflix it

Location: depends

Price: Free

Halloween Series Take 6: Destroy Your Pumpkins...In a Fun Way

Halloween is coming up fast! And what are you going to do with the pumpkins you have rotting on your front porch? Why not smash them like you've been wanting to do all October! Cornbelleys has an event the Saturday after Halloween (which is this Saturday if you didn't realize). Bring your pumpkins and watch them get destroyed. Bring your friends or a date to enjoy the fun.

To add to this activity:

• On the way to Cornbelleys, stop at every sign that advertises pumpkin flavored food. 
• Have a pumpkin seed spitting contest while you wait to mash your pumpkins.
• Dress up in your Halloween Costumes, or make some Thanksgiving costumes to celebrate the upcoming holiday
• Have a surprise food fight with pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Destroy your pumpkin- destroy your date!
• All of the Cornbelly activities will still be going, so you can explore and have fun after the smashing.

Halloween Series Part 5: Provo Library Clue

Another unique Halloween Date. Dress up as the characters from  Agatha Christie 
Arthur Conan Doyle, orDashiell Hammett  books and play a Who Done It murder mystery at the Provo Library. Play at your own pace, clue style. Search the library from room to room finding clues to solve the mystery! Go to the website to fill out a request form to play.
Free!

Provo Library Website

        

To add to this activity:
Dress up as characters from the book
Walk or ride bikes to the Provo Library
Watch a mystery movie afterward- The authors represented in the Who Done It murder mystery have created famous detectives. Keep the theme going and watch one of the represented detectives in a movie.

1. Agatha Christe- Hercule Poirot
2. Arthur Conan Doyle- Sherlock Holmes
3. Dashiell Hammett- Sam Spade 

Halloween Series Part 4: Cycling Ghost Tours

You love Halloween? Do you like spooky things? Do you like riding bikes? Then here is your soul adventure - Cycling Ghost Tours! Ride your bike around the spooky sections of Provo and hear stories about why they are so spooky. The tour lasts between an hour and an hour and a half is only conducted on Saturdays. 

To add to this activity:

• Meet up with your date or group before the ride and deck your bikes out in glow sticks. 
• Rent a tandem bike for the bike tour.
• Afterward get hot chocolate and recount the ghost stories you just heard.
• Watch a scary movie.
• Have each couple, or in small groups go back to the tour stops by themselves to take a picture.

To find out more about the Cycling Ghost Tours look at their website here. 

Prices:
$8 per person
$12 for a group of two
$5 per person for groups with 3 people or more 

Win Free Things for Carving Pumpkins!

The Provo Events department is having a Pumpkin Carving Contest! And all you have to do is take a picture. We all carve pumpkins on dates, or with our roommates or with our families, so why not win some free stuff while we are having fun? Take a picture of your carved pumpkin and post it to one of three sites.

1. Instagram and tag @provorecreation
2. Post it to Facebook with the same hashtag
3. Post it in the comments of their Blog

Post by October 31st and the winner receives 4 skating passes to the Peaks Ice Arena, and 4 certificates to yougurtland, that's a double date just waiting to happen!

Check out the Provo Events blog site here for more details, or look at the Provo Events Pinterest page here for ideas on cool pumpkins to carve.

Good luck!

Neon Trees-This Weekend

This is big news. You should pretty much cancel everything and make it to this concert. It's Neon Trees, and its free! There's not really anything else you could ask for. Downtown Provo is closing off center street and the local Provo band is performing in front of NuSkin. It's going to be EPIC! So you should go. I almost didn't post this because I didn't want tons of people showing up and ruin my chances of getting good seats, but I figured that cant be helped, so everyone should just come party.

Halloween Series Part 3: Creepy Performances

Now that Halloween is around the corner, there are lots of opportunities to watch some of your childhood Halloween Movies, and attend some Holiday themed plays. 

Adams Family At the Scera Center of Performing Arts
The spooky weirdness of the Adams Family is perfect for Halloween
This play ends this weekend.
Tickets are $12 per person.
SCERA Website

Much Ado About Zombies! A steam punk twist on Shakespeare's classic play. Put on by the Covey Center for the arts, show your friends you are cultured while celebrating Halloween.
$14-16 per person
Covey Website

If you live in Utah you need to see this performace at least once. the Odyssey Dance Theater puts on Thriller every October. These performances are held all over Wasatch County, so pick the venue closest to you.

$ about 30 per person

Odyssey Website

This Weekend the Orem Library is showing a screening of Roald Dalhs Witches. The story of a boy and his grandmother taking on all the Witches of England. 

Orem Library Shows a screening every week, the schedule for October is as follows:

10/3/2014- Witches

10/10/2014- Poltergeist/ Hauntings

10/17/2014- Gremlins

10/24/2014- Adams Family

Free Event

Orem Library Website

Halloween Series Part 2: Think Outside the Can

While Classic Halloween activities are fun, be creative and think outside the can. Literally.
One alternative to carving pumpkins is to make lanterns.

• You will need tin cans, of any size, black paint, paint brushes, candles, hammer and nails. 
• Take the hammer and nails and puncture holes in the can to the shape or word you want. You can spell out a word or outline an image. 
• Then,  paint the can black, with black paint or spray paint. 
• Put a light in the can and your Halloween Lantern is complete! 

New Event Link

While searching for fun things to blog about, I came across the Provo Library Events page. And it is packed full of fun things I have never heard of but definitely want to try.
The link is here and I'll also add it to the Create Your Own Adventure Page.

Halloween Series Part 1: Pick a Pumpkin in a Patch

It is never to early to start thinking about Halloween. Halloween Dates and Adventures included. Now until October 31st , there will be one post a week completely Halloween Themed.

To Begin:

Pumpkins.

Why not pick your own pumpkin. Not from the store, but actually take a wheelbarrow or wagon and pick a pumpkin from the stalk, from the ground, grown from the earth! There are several pumpkin patches to choose from and there are several websites that will list these wonderful pumpkin patches. So here is a list, of those lists
scout me a pumpkin
HeeHaw Farms
Gardens.com
Halloween Attractions

Of course, you can always type in "pumpkin patches in Provo Area" yourself and find a patch that way.

Now that you have your pumpkin, there are several things you can do with it. But lets be unique here, we are on an adventure, we are not just taking this pumpkin home to carve, we are going to carve it in a cemetery! or an vacant lot! or abandoned building, or a cabin in the middle of the woods! or the lake! Or wherever else you can think of, but make it spooky, this is Halloween!

You can also paint your pumpkin or whittle your pumpkin. You can smash pumpkins, you can float your pumpkins down the river, first one to the end wins.

Pumpkins are a wonderful Halloween tradition. In the comments, post pictures of your carved pumpkins or fun pumpkin ideas.

Organic Date

Before it gets too cold, and all the fun outdoor activities start closing down, go out and visit a farmers market. There are several in Provo, and even more in the surrounding area. Take a date, or a group of friends and explore the fresh produce local farms have to offer. Choose a recipe before hand and search for the best price best quality from the vendors. Once you have your grocery bags full, take your friends home and make a fresh, organic meal with the food you just bought. 

To add to this activity: 

• You could ride your bikes
• You could bring blankets and have a picnic on the grass
• Have lunch at the food vendors or food trucks
• Some markets have live music, sit back and take some time to enjoy the sound
• Bring chalk or lawn games to enjoy in the market atmosphere
• You could even visit a farm, click here, or for a list of farms that are open for tours click here

Farmer's Markets in the Provo Area:
Pioneer Park Farmers Market
BYU StadiumFarmers Market
Wasatch Farmer's Market List

Iron Chef

There have been many variations of this show, but Iron Chef is the original classic. To turn this into a fun group activity you need kitchens enough for each group or couple. As a group decide on 1 to 3 secret ingredients you must use in your cooking creations. These can range from: lemons, almonds, brown sugar, pineapple, strawberries, bacon, chocolate, spinach. Go shopping in teams for the secret ingredients, and whatever other ingredients you may need. Separate to your separate kitchens and at a specific time meet back up to be judged. Find a non partial judge to declare the winner.


There can be several categories of winners, or several categories of judging the dishes:

• Most Creative Use of Secret Ingredient
• Best Display
• Most Delicious 

Pre-Date

You could buy white aprons and decorate them. Wear your newly decorated aprons to the Iron Chef Challenge. You could make matching aprons 

Girls Night

Iron Chef but with cupcakes or desserts. Get a group together and choose a secret ingredient to be used in making cupcakes.You could also choose a shape that has to be used in decorating the cupcake instead. After, watch a movie and enjoy your desserts.