5th Anniversary Getaway

This past July was our 5th wedding anniversary! We wanted to do something special and tried scheduling an overnight trip to the beach in Texas or something, but it just didn't work out with getting Grandma in town to watch Seth. So when we bought some cheap airline tickets to Utah we decided to take advantage of the family babysitters. Destination: Logan, UT. I know I know... not exactly the most exciting anniversary destination, but it actually turned out to be perfect for us.

First up, a quiet, child-less car ride with beautiful fall colors and good tunes. We made a quick stop at Arctic Circle (fry sauce and huckleberry sundae!!!!) then...

Spent some time in the Logan Temple

We stayed in a really cute Bed & Breakfast called Seasons at the Riter Mansion. The owners were great and we loved the experience.

We ate dinner at Le Nonne, a nice Italian restaurant in an old historic home. Stephen surprised me and ordered a penne pasta with Gorgonzola cheese and pears! It was soooo delicious. I ordered ravioli filled with sweet potatoes and ricotta which was equally amazing. I read mixed reviews online about the quality of the food, but we would definitely recommend it!

When planning for the overnight trip, we decided to spend most of our fun money on Saturday's activity, so after dinner we were a little stumped about what to do with the night. There was nothing in the theaters we wanted to see badly enough to pay full-price movie fare for, so instead we decided to stock up on the snacks and buy a cheap movie from Walmart. Sad, but true: we went to Walmart for our anniversary. The movie we agreed on was Mrs. Doubtfire. I'd never seen it and it'd been a long time for Stephen. Unfortunately it's about a couple that gets divorced and STAYS divorced (hahahaha romantic, huh?), but we ignored that part and instead enjoyed Robin William's antics.

In the morning we got to enjoy the other half of the B&B: the breakfast!

It was hot chocolate, a delicious cheesy egg & ham breakfast casserole, grapes, and apples. Perfect for a chilly morning.

We spent the morning at the Farmer's Market enjoying honey caramels and fresh raspberries and then did some shopping.

We wanted to eat somewhere "local" to Logan for lunch, but we were too tempted by Costa Vida to pass it by. San Antonio may have Tex-Mex, but we have yet to find sweet pork to match Costa Vida and Cafe Rio.

Our main activity on Saturday was a 2 mile race called the Great Inflatable Race on USU's campus. We are NOT runners, but it sounded like a fun thing to do.

Changing in the car=awesome.

Stephen sporting his KIPP wristband and the great-inflatable-race bracelet.

We had some time to kill before the race started so we checked out this amazing used bookstore on Main St with literally tens of thousands of books (maybe more?). It was very entertaining.

Then, the race! It consisted of several inflatable and other obstacle course things. We had a bunch of fun obstacling and taking videos along the way. At the end there was a slip and slide with some pink jello-y stuff. Overpriced? Maybe a little, but it was fun to do something together and we laughed a lot.

Last but not least, we treated ourselves to some Aggie ice cream and headed home.

All in all it was a great weekend. The cool weather was a fantastic break from San Antonio's mugginess, the food was delicious, and most of all I enjoyed having time alone with my best friend!

Jargon

Today one of Seth's church buddies came over while his mom had a Dr.'s appointment. He and Seth had a grand old time running around, throwing balls, playing with trucks, and chattering. I like to think that my speech therapy ears can understand every toddler, but more often than not I am stumped by their crazy jargon. I imagine nursery leaders must get pretty confused by the barrage of different languages they hear every week. Seth's pronunciation is pretty clear, but there are several strange pronunciations he has held onto. I know I've written about some of them on this blog before, but there are a few new ones too.


Bee bo = Belly button. Thanks, Sandra Boynton.
Dave = Joseph Smith. What? I really don't get this one.
Do or Die! = "Doo-da day" as in "Camptown races sing this song Doo-da, Doo-da... Oh doo-da day!"
Mama Pots = President Monson. President = Pots, Monson = Mama. Flip flop the words and whala! you've got Mama Pots.
Mama Eyring = President Eyring. Logical, huh?
Monteydada = Snuggly bear blanket. Used to be snuggly monkey blanket, but we lost that one!
Noni = Moroni (I guess church words are tricky)
A dee sa pots = Silly nonsense phrase that may have once meant something, but now Seth says it just to get a laugh out of us.
Te tel = Temple.
Tee tots = Aunt Krista (it also used to mean chicken and kitty cat, but he has since developed those words).
Wefi = Nephi.
Yo yos = Yogurt.


If only we had known what "Do or die" meant when Seth repeatedly shouted it at the pool lifeguard over a period of 15 minutes. Maybe we shouldn't have egged him on with our giggles :)

Seth must miss his family because he always tries to find them when we are in public. He finally learned to say "Grandma" but is still working out the gender details. Unfortunately I don't have enough fingers to count the times he's yelled out "Grandpa!!?" to random women at the store.

Seth also likes to find friends and famous figures. Every little boy is "Ben," every old man is "Mama Pots?" (which he says *crystal clear* leaving poor old men everywhere wondering what mamapots means), and bearded men are always "Jesus."

I know this picture has nothing to do with this post, but isn't it awesome? We had a GREAT Stake Pioneer Day celebration.

p.s. I have given up on blogging about our summer trips and visitors but you can see a great album documenting the fun on my facebook. We are really lucky this year and will be seeing most of our families again this Fall so I'll try to be better and take pictures/blog about those adventures.

Reassurance

Usually I just use this blog as a picture dump and update of family activities, but seeing as I have way too many pictures to go through from our trip to Utah it'll need to wait a bit longer.

I have really enjoyed reading this year. I don't speed through dozens of books like some people do, but I have read more books this year than any of the past few years, and I've found some gems!

My most recent read was Phoenix Rising, a fictional YA book by Karen Hesse about a nuclear accident in Vermont. The morning after the shooting in Colorado I opened up to these paragraphs:

Science class kept echoing in my mind. Today was our first full day back at school since the accident. Instead of his regular lesson plan, Mr. Sobel had talked about nuclear stuff.

I liked it better when science didn't come so close to home. When it fit neatly inside a textbook, with five questions at the end of each chapter, questions easily answered if you read the assigned pages.

I thought she did a great job at expressing what it feels like to face something you weren't expecting and don't want to face. Further down on the same page, she states very simply this major theme through the words of the main character's Grandma:

Sometimes you have to do things you'd rather not.

 Events like the awful mass shooting are unwelcome reminders that this life is full of things we'd rather not do or deal with. In difficult times, I am so thankful for the reassurance I find through words like these:

All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it. -Joseph Smith

And these:

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. -Mosiah 4:9

And these:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. -1 Peter 1:3