Things are getting more fun these days, now that winter is on its way out... Mostly. We had a huge storm on Wednesday the 16th and received much needed and prayed for snow in our mountains and in the valley as well. It didn't stay too cold for too long though, so I think most of the plants and fruit trees will be okay down here. In Logan and Ogden... I dunno. They got 8 inches of snow! I especially love how every Utahn looses their minds over the fact that we have a snow storm in April!! Hello?! How long have we lived here?? I have thought about my past birthday weather and it is always something different! But many times, I remember SNOW.
So for the first few days of April, Phoenix and I got to go up to Ogden for a few days to watch Jennifer while my mom and brother went to California. My dad was home a lot of the time, but he had lots of big projects he was hoping to finish while I was there, so I took care of Jenn and the house while he worked.
It was a lot of fun and so exhausting! Haha. It made me think of how it will be when baby Robyn comes. I'm used to getting a couple hours of alone, quiet time while Phoenix takes his nap. When we were tending Jenn, she waited for nap time to barrage me with questions and conversation. I was so tired I would try to not fall asleep while we talked. I love her. She is hilarious and she knows it.
I loved being able to cook for dad and the rest of the family when they got home. I tried to spoil him ;) Here is one of my breakfasts for him. Mascarpone and strawberry crepes. He said "Oh Boy!!", followed by NOMNOMNOMNOM. Success. Hahaha
I also was able to take Phoenix up to the famous Weber State duck pond, where the geese get their way and the ducks wish longinly that they were as pushy and tall as the stupid geese. (This of course is coming from years of experience at the pond and many a goose bites on the backs of our legs as we made a run for it after they crowded in on us, honking rudely!)
Well I stood corrected that day. I have never met such darling, sweet geese in my LIFE!!! Phoenix was in heaven. They ate softly out of his hand and let him pet their necks!! I was in shock. Then I jumped in on that and got some great videos of our goose friends. It was a blast. Phoenix didn't even try to jump in the water, like he usually does. It was such a good experience and we were all sad when I was out of bread, goldfish I found at the bottom of the diaper bag, and old bits of banana muffin that... I am not sure when or where those were from. We never wanted to leave!
Josh came up on the Front Runner for conference and Easter. It was good to have him there. Phoenix is growing to really LOVE daddy and was out of his mind excited, number one, to see daddy and number two, to see the TRAIN that brought him there. He is obsessed with transportation. Helicopters, airplanes, trains, trucks, boats, etc. When he got to Ogden, we made a traditional stop at Farr's Ice Cream parlor by the Ogden Temple for some numnums. Phoenix got bubblegum ice cream, which was a huge mistake because he thought the bubble gum bits were not supposed to be there and spat them all over the table and us. Josh got the classic burnt almond fudge, and I got the legendary...black licorice ice cream. Oh.. A bit of the celestial kingdom right there. Sigh..
My mom put a sand box with all sorts of fun toys for the boys to play with while they were there. Phoenix threw almost every toy off the deck within the first 20 minutes and then dumped sandy water all over himself and James. It was so typical. And so fun for him until he realized that he was cold and wanted to get out of his clothes... So he sheepishly stalked over to me, not wanting to make eye contact. Hahaha
When we got home after a fun Easter weekend, Blake and Heather's youngest daughter Faith, had her birthday party at Chuckie Cheese. Phoenix was so excited. We walked and and he goes "ohhhh WOW!" and bolts. Hahaha. Funny enough, he did NOT like the little rides they had, but instead, LOVED all the games. He especially liked the basketball shooting games and the skee ball (is that what it's even called??) We wasted all of our tokens on those. In the end, he had enough tickets to buy himself a tiny little pterodactyl and was so proud of it. He held it the whole way home and insisted on taking it with him for his nap. Haha. We haven't seen it since. Oh well. Out of sight, out of mind for that kid!
That week my most favorite companion from the mission Sister Hogge (now Melanie Roberts) came to visit with her family. I was in heaven. There are certain people that you just click with and they make you want to be a better person and you just love life when you are together... Well she is one of those people for me! She has two darling kids and Phoenix loved playing with them. He is getting to be really social and loves to play chase and hide and go seek.
I made some pretzel buns the other day and they turned our really yummy! We ate them with a few different meals and they went well with all of them.. Josh's favorite was dipping them in nacho cheese. I loved them as the buns for the turkey burgers we had with them. Oh! Delicious! I'm so grateful that I am loving being a homemaker. I never thought I would be a very good cook or bake my own bread, etc. But that is becoming a big part of who I am and I love it. It brings me joy and I love that it brings others joy too ;)
So it was my birthday this week, so Josh and I went out to dinner by ourselves!!! It was great! We went to this Belgian cafe I have been wanting to go to called Burges Waffles and Frites. Delicious. I got the Turkey Bacon Avocado waffle sandwich and Josh got the club. We ate outside on Provo Center Street, right across from the new Provo City Temple that is being built. It was a beautiful day and I just enjoyed myself so much. We ended the meal with the "Waffle Monster". A real live monster, as you can see from the picture. It was so yummy. A big thanks to Ben for watching Phoenix! He sure loves uncle Ben!!
