Free day at the zoo

Apparently every last Wednesday of the month from November through February is free at the zoo.  Today was such good weather that I decided to go for it today.  We headed up there after my meeting at the school. 
The parking was down the street to the stoplight!  That's a bad sign.
It was definitely crowded.  But we took it in stride and saw what we wanted.  For Josh that was only the elephants and kitty cats (tigers).   Everything else he passed by to find a spot to sit, empty his lunch bag, put his food back in his lunch bag (without eating a drop), and walk to the next spot to do it all over again.
But it was a nice day outside.  And free.

My chef

McKinley loves to cook.  She makes a mean scrambled eggs.  She has wanted to learn to make more things.  Yesterday I helped while she made us dinner.  She made chicken cordon bleu with an Alfredo sauce, broiled asparagus, and creme brûlée for dessert.  It was divine!  Can't wait for the day my little chef can go it alone and I can sit back and enjoy the fruits of her labor!

She used The Roof recipes for tonight.  Best creme brûlée ever!

Antelope Island

It was the kids first visit to the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island.  It was a long Sunday drive and the weather was great.
The kids wished they could get in the water and roll around in the sand, but that wasn't happening today.
It was lovely countryside with glassy water and beautiful reflections.  It was fun spotting the bison and a few deer and antelope, and no flies in sight.
We'll have to make our way back there in the warmer weather so they can actually play in the Great Salt Lake...at least once in their lives.

the antelope

Happy endings

We used McKinley's ski passport today to try out Brighton. 
After one run Hayden was done!  McKinley's gloves weren't working well, so there were some tears there too.
We took a break at 2:30 inside to warm and regroup.
Luckily we found a small little green run with it's own lift at the bottom of the hill to try out just "one time". 
Eureka!  That was the right fit for my kids second time ever skiing.  4 or 5 happy runs later...and I am glad we were able to end the day with a positive experience.
Sawyer opted out this time and spent the day with Josh and Daddy.

Sacred Gifts exhibit

The Sacred Gifts exhibit is open at BYU right now.  It features beautiful paintings by Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hoffman, and Frans Schwartz.  Tomorrow is the last day for the current installation, and then they switch over 4 of the paintings for the remainder of the exhibit.
I got my tickets and took a field trip today.  The information online says it takes about 1-2 hours to get through.
Ha!  With my 2 year old buddy pushing his stroller around we made it out in 30 minutes !  Fully prepared for that, it wasn't a disappointment.  And I rewarded him for not tripping any alarms with a trip to the park afterwards.
He wouldn't let me take any pictures of him this time, but he would let me take one of the pretty Y mountain.

Waffle Love

I've never had one, so when I heard that the Waffle Love truck was going to be at Gardner Village today, I put it on my calendar.
They make a scrumptious "leige" waffle from Belgium.  It has caramelized sugar that makes it crunchy and sugary on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside.  I opted for the "Nutella Love".  It had Nutella, strawberries and a giant scoop of whipped cream.
Josh and I shared the "nummy", as he called it, together.
Highly recommend!  I wonder if Kent would try one?

Coloring

Josh wanted to color yesterday.  He did pretty good unless I turned my back on him.  Then he colored on Josh, the counters, the chairs....you get the idea. 
At one point I cleaned it up because I thought we had moved on.  I was in another room when I heard blood curdling screams!  He made sure to find me and yell "color!". So our coloring stayed out until dinner.