What We did on Spring Break-2

While Grandma and Savanna went shopping ...

The boys and I headed to the mountains.

We took Grandpa along.

Luke was so excited to try and climb a mountain.

The kids put that coon skin hat to good use!

Silly Mom did not think to bring Luke a coat.

All the boys tried to climb the mountain.
When we got home, Tucker would tell people how he tried to climb a mountain but couldn't.

Between Jay and I, we took lots of photos.
Funny thing: we thought my lens was broken. I could only manually adjust the lens, and even then it was really hard to turn.

A few days later I was adjusting it and all of a sudden the lens made a cracking sound, and it worked again! (Maybe I had a piece of food stuck in it- a dried piece of dough perhaps?)

This sounds so ordinary to write, but it was beautiful.
I think the sky in Colorado is such a brilliant blue. Even more so the higher we got.

I loved sharing it with all the boys.
Tucker tried and tried to climb that mountain (as well as Luke) but just could not. I wish we had recorded all the cute things he said about being up there. Even though I can't remember the words I can still feel how cool it was to share his excitement and wonder. It makes my smile.

A scary tale from the basement

I laid down on the trunk in Jay's parents basement to "lift weights."

Luke and Tucker had been playing down there, so I had to step over toys, legos, cars, and dress ups to get to the trunk. Tucker was still playing but I did not see Luke. I could hear him from what I thought was behind the little sofa. He was making ghost sounds and moaning that he wanted out. I started moaning back to him. This went on back and forth, until I asked where he was. In his best moan, Luke revealed "I am underneath you."

What We did on Spring Break-1

We played dress up. Most often the boys switched this hat back and forth to play Davy Crockett.

Sunday Confessions-

Our church building is finished. We are now back in our real building- and our church time slot has changed from 2-5, to the most wonderful time of 10:30-1:30.

I laughed at myself today when I re-read what I wrote. True that I am not a morning person, but now I know that it is easier for our family to just get up and get ready and go. Not wait around.

Here is the confession: When our time was later I just kind of gave up being on time. Getting everyone re-ready for the day, in Sunday best was a little difficult after having a lazy morning. If we were ready to go, great, otherwise I was not going to stress about it. I decided I was no longer going to be a grumpy Mom. So we would just be late.

Then our Bishopric changed. Jay was released from his calling as a counselor with the stake and now serves as counselor in the Bishopric over our ward. That meant that he started attending our ward again, and I was caught. Uh-Oh-someone would actually notice that we were late. Every. Single. Sunday. And that someone who would say something to me about it.

Now with our schedule change I think its enough time to sleep in a little, and then get ready and go. No more waiting around and being late. Today my goal was to be on time. And we were.

It was so good to go to church earlier in the day and be leaving church at the time we would have been leaving for church a few weeks ago.
I loved being back in our own building.
It was good to have Jay in our ward. To be attending church semi-together.
I LOVED having a Sunday afternoon nap.

Yup, I think I am going to really like 10:30 church.

What we ate and drank on vacation-2

Given that I already posted about our wonderful Panini's from Jay's brother Paul for my What to Eat, I think I will call that one, this two, and then just hop scotch around in no particular order to the others. I am throwing all order to the wind. This is a big branch out for my chronological thinking mind.

When we decided we were going to go to Colorado Springs to visit for Spring Break, I hoped we would be able to make it to Denver for Jay and I to attend the temple together. We had not been back to that temple since we were married in 1995.

Now here is where we see what truly motivates me. Sad to say, its food.

Jay messaged me the week before we left to say that there was a Cafe Rio open in Denver. It had just opened up this winter. I was ECSTATIC! I went from hoping to go to Denver to planning to go to Denver! We. Were. Going.

For anyone that lives close to one and see's this as no big deal, you can just come back tomorrow. This is where I go on and on about how wonderful Cafe Rio is and how much I miss it.

When Jay and I lived in Provo, UT, we had a tandem bike that we would ride to a certain sandwich shop on holidays. It was what we did.

Then we had kids and we would drive to a certain sandwich shop on holidays.

Then Cafe Rio opened up. And we never went back to the sandwich shop.

It was the place for us to go. If I was going out with girlfriends that was where we went. If we were going out as a family that was where we went. If Jay and I were going on a date that was where we went. If someone was visiting from out of town, yup, that was where we went.

We moved away from Utah in 2002- it has been that long since I have eaten at Cafe Rio.

Here we are 8 years later. Eight cafe rioless years.

We made it to the temple. Lovely.
Then we met friends for dinner.

Even better to share it with friends!
We went. We ate. We were happy.

It was just like I remembered. But bigger. Delicious. Those tortillas, and the lime, and the guac, and those little tortilla strips on top, the black beans, and the chicken. combined with the creamy ranch. Mmm.

I was so happy- I did not even take a photo. Not a single one of the food! I KNOW!



The salad still tastes better when somebody else makes it. I can try and duplicate it, but nothing beats the real thing.

I would like to thank ....

Our city water department for today's endless entertainment.

For the last few months I have watched as our neighborhood has street-by-street had its water lines worked on. Knowing that sometime it would come down to our house, all I could think of was how inconvenient it would be. How bad our lawn would look. How much dust I would have in our house. How big of a mess it would be.

Not once did I think that it would provide hours of entertainment. Hours.

Tucker and I opened the door this morning to lots of trucks and diggers. We came home from our vacation and work had already been started. But this morning we got to watch them work. I left for a while and came back to see a ladder coming up out of a hole in our front yard.

We had to go and check it out-
We talked to one of the workers- he mentioned that this would be going on for weeks ...

Tucker talked about it all day. To anybody that would listen.
He told everyone about the big hole.

We came home and the hole was gone. I guess they refill it every day.
Here is where the hours of entertainment comes.
Really. Hours.

If you go back up and scroll through really fast, you can almost hear the sounds Tucker made as he moved all the trucks.

Thank you to the city water department. Take as long as you want. This is better than any sandbox that we could build.

What to eat Wednesday- Paul's Panini

A big part of any vacation is the food. And our spring break trip was no exception. Jay's Mom, and brother both share a love of preparing, cooking, and sharing food. When chatting with my Mom on the phone, instead of asking what we had been doing on our trip, she asked what we had been eating. She knows what a trip to visit Jay's family is like.

We had the "luck" to visit Jay's brother Paul and his family on St. Patrick's day for lunch. We were starving when we got to their house. That sneaky leprechaun left us some Lucky Charms, and that was all we had eaten. I was thrilled to find out that Paul was making Paninis.

I was glad Jay took plenty of photos- I knew this was a sandwich we would want to try and duplicate.

Just follow along with the photos-
I don't even think I need to explain ...

Yummy ingredients

That is fresh basil, not lettuce, just in case you were wondering

I even liked the tomatoes! Shocker. Paul likes to get small ones so they are firmer.

Another great reason to pick up a Rotisserie chicken.

The sauce. Yum. Paul says that he takes a" heap of mayo and then douses it to taste with chipotle Tabasco sauce."

Spread the sauce on both sides of the Cibatta loaf. Then add Mozzarella Cheese.

Next, start layering it all on top of one another.

Brush the top and bottom of the bread with olive oil

I love how the sauce slops over the side

Slice and put into the press- I am not lucky enough to have a Panini press- I do have a George Foreman grill-I think I will try and use that.

Then eat!

Oh Yum. This is the best sandwich. Better than Panera for sure!
So there you have it Mom. This is just one of the fantastic things we ate while vacationing!
That yummy bread mixed with the sauce and oh, the perfectly melted cheese.
I should not have waited to type this up so late!