After Easter with Nick's family

 Rachel's spring break was after Easter, so they came down on Monday afternoon to spend a few days here. Or, rather in Washington County where it is much warmer than here.

Monday they went straight to the All Abilities park and splash pad. We had soup for dinner here that night, baths and bed. Poor Kaylee was exhausted and had a headache and Jane would NOT go to sleep. Nick ended up in the TV room with her all night.

Nobody slept late on Tuesday ( or Wednesday!), unfortunately. But we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast and them most of us (all but Mike) went to Red Cliffs. We hiked a bit, went for burgers after, stopped by the bank to see Eric for a minute, then home. Grilled steaks for dinner. Baths and Bed. Our big jetted tub is a hit for three of the four kids. LOTS of bubbles ha.

Wednesday, they were heading home, so we just ate and played with toys, Kaylee did laundry and washed and remade all the beds. Nick helped Mike to get a bunch more dirt out of the window well hole on the north side of the house.  We celebrated Jane's third birthday just a couple of days early, then They left before lunch. 

Short visit, but fun to spend time with them. Some photos for your enjoyment. Red Cliffs and playing with toys.

Jane pretending that part of the medical kit is a tablet. 

Another pretend "tablet".

Playing with "Stuffies."

Stopping to watch the caterpillar.

That old Cottonwood stump looked a lot like an elephant.

Old Cottonwood stump. Perfect for photos!

Soft, silky sand was the big draw and delight. And caterpillars. Until we found the water. Nick is a great rock skipper!

Eating at Freddie's Steak Burgers and Shakes in Washington, Utah.

Playing with Bright Builders. Logan with Nick and Kaylee.

Rachel  making orange juice.

Jane opening her boxed set of Little Pookie books.

Emily. She cut her first tooth while here!

The window well and window hole is progressing. Slowly but surely.

Here's Jane frosting cupcakes with some OLD lady.  

On their drive home. I think she was pleased with her Pookie books. I read them all to her before she left, and she fell asleep with them on her lap on the drive home. Aww. Little readers. Love them!!

Easter 2022

 We just went to Church. And napped afterwards...

Our Ward Easter Program was really nice, the music marvelous, and the Primary lesson on Christ's resurrection was good, too.

We had our family celebration BEFORE Easter, on Saturday.  Only I forgot to take a picture. 

Robert and Janet came down on Friday afternoon. We ate out together at Pizza Factory, played games in the evening together.

Saturday, Mom and Dad came over for a lovely ham dinner, and Robert and Janet went home to Provo after that. Short visit.  Dinner together was nice. Mom told me later that she doesn't want to come to my house any more because it's too hard to get into. Two steps are too much. She has no strength any more.

On Sunday, one of our little Primary kids dropped off these cute bunny pudding cups for me and Mike. Yum! 

My Empty dining room. Why, oh WHY did I not take a photo of us all around the table?!

Traditional Bunny cake. Kind of sorry-looking, but I think it tasted fine.

Waterman

 

 

 

Mike and I went to the theater this week to see the new-ish documentary, Waterman. It's about Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii.

We learned a lot and really enjoyed it!

He was an Olympic swimmer and went to four Olympic games!  And he's the one who popularized surfing.  Finally, surfing is an Olympic sport, just as he suggested many, many years ago.

The film had lots of good historical footage, plus some re-makes with actors. It was well done and I'm glad we went. I may just have to try surfing again. (Nah. JK)

Timberline Restaurant in Beaver

 Timberline Restaurant

This place has been on my bucket list for a long time.  Mary Christensen taught foods at Cedar High for a number of years. (Eric was one of her students)  She told me all about this great place, the great chef, the wonderful food about 10 years ago?  Maybe not that long, but it was when we did Water Aerobics together at SUU and I haven't done Water Aerobics after work at SUU for many years now.  She took classes up there to be taught and tutored by the chef and he was wonderful with the students and very talented at cooking.

Stopping in Beaver for a full meal is seldom convenient.  Either we've just left home and are not hungry, or we don't have time to stop and eat because we're on the way up north and have to be there with no time to spare, or something like that. Or we're almost home and it's late.  It's always SOMEthing.

This trip was the time. Finally!  We were driving home from Herriman on Monday because we had a 5 pm appointment with a landscaper at our house in Cedar.  So, leaving at noon withOUT eating lunch first worked out just right.  We did grab a few carrot sticks and Cheez-its just so we wouldn't be uncomfortably hungry on the drive.  The two-hands-on-the-steering-wheel-at-all-times harrowing drive through the violent windstorm!  When we got to the Beaver exit, we could hardly see the exit signs or ramp!  That was one spot on the freeway where the dust was interfering with traffic flow and could have been disastrous. So it seemed EXTRA good to exit and head to the restaurant at the South interchange.

It did not disappoint!  It was so good, very fresh and homemade (just like Mary said), and talk about generous portions!  Yowza. I ordered a chicken alfredo. Only they didn't have chicken so offered to sub with shrimp. I do like shrimp, so that was fine. Chicken was coming later on the truck. Mike got a French Dip sandwich.  The bread was freshly baked, the meat was tender, fries yummy. But my pasta!  It was so yummy.  And I swear they served it to me in a mixing bowl. That serving bowl was HUGE and quite full.  I ate plenty but saved and brought home enough for me and Mike to have it for lunch the following day--along with left-over foccaccia bread. Fresh. Plentiful. Pure butter in the alfredo sauce that separated when I re-heated it in the microwave. But still--buttered noodles with cheese flavoring and garlic. . . 

Anyway, it is now checked off my bucket list of things to do. Silly, huh? It's the little things. Mike was impressed enough that he said we might just drive up there and have dinner again sometime on a date.  I mean, years ago people used to drive from Cedar to Milford for Chinese food that was supposed to be super good, and there's folks who always go to Beaver to eat at the new Creamery place. But I think I'll stick with the Timberline Restaurant, thank you very much!

Herriman again! In April, 2022

 Wave bye-bye, Emily!  She's pushing a dolly stroller through the house.

Playing Peek-a-boo over Daddy's shoulders.

Kaylee making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with some of her helpers.

 This was a bit of a spur of the moment trip to Herriman. *I* was just up there last month, but Mike stayed home sick. Nick was getting a new calling as a member of their Ward Bishopric, so we worked hard at getting a sub for our Primary class on Sunday and headed up on Saturday around noon.

Kaylee always has good meals--and she made TACOS for dinner on Saturday. One of Mike's favorites.  But mostly we just played with kids and watched their family play and work together. Sunday was full of church from 9 to 11, then games. And naps for some. It was a fairly quick trip and we're glad we went.  I actually stayed home with kids so just Nick and Kaylee and Mike could go while Nick was set apart for his calling later in the afternoon after church.

We drove home on Monday at noon through 60 mph PLUS winds! Yowza. So much dust in the air every where.

This is Dino-Nick who grabbed a cookie off the counter with his teeth and Logan is just cracking up! Nick needed hands to help him eat the cookie.

Jane's learning to play the Memory/matching game.  For about 2 and a half minutes. ha.

Fun fishing game with lots of giggles.

 

 

There's dust blowing in the distance, but up close are lots of fields of vibrant lavender-colored flowers.  Weeds, actually. Purple mustard perhaps. They ARE pretty. This photo hardly does it justice.

To look at Mike sitting there on the couch, you'd never know he's lost close to 20 pounds. We still have a long way to go, the two of us.  But we are progressing and getting a little smaller and lighter each month, so that's good.

That pose!  Logan is drawing on a little scribble pad. He's so intent!

Sometimes, it's just the simple things--like wooden building blocks!  That's what is entertaining Jane.

Me and the girls.

 

 

 I tried to post a video. Probably isn't going to work. Sorry. It's just dust in the wind.

We were watching field after field of bare ground just go soaring away all along the freeway on our drive home Monday afternoon. I commented that the poor people here in this county are losing their fields!  Mike said, "Look on the bright side--someone else is gaining a new field!"  So I guess we can think that St. George blew to Cedar, Cedar's dirt went to Parowan, Parowan's went to to Beaver, Beaver's dirt to Fillmore, etc, etc. . . all the way up the state.

Talk about dirty cars! Ugh.  We exited at Beaver and in the few seconds from the car to inside the building, we had grit in our teeth.