We LOVE Cafe Rio

Especially when it's FREE!

Thanks to my sister in law - I found out that Cafe Rio was having a customer appreciation day in Idaho Falls and every customer got a FREE entree.  So I took all 3 boys and we went and got dinner.  Kade was really excited about the sweet pork salad.  He kept saying - that store has all the right stuff, this salad is so good I can't even believe it,  I need to find more of the sweet meat at the bottom to eat with my salad - I was thinking all the same things :)

My only recommendation after over indulging on delicious Cafe Rio food is to not run 5 miles - I feel sick now!  But we have so much left overs that I'll probably do the same thing again tomorrow :)  I have NO self control.

Memorial Weekend Fun!

We got our first attempt at a garden planted yesterday. The boys were very anxious to help and are excited to eat what we grow - hopefully something grows! :) We planted peas, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, onions, zuchinni, cantaloupe and tomatoes (from seeds) which we've learned after will probably NOT work here. We are learning - I guess we have to start somewhere. Here is the before shot - if we get anything to grow I'll post more pictures.
On Saturday my Mother In Law rented the 21' tall inflatable waterslide that we rented last fall with our friends. It is from Idaho Fun Jumps here in Idaho Falls. It is so much fun! We had it for 8 hours and spent all day enjoying the nice weather, eatting yummy food and playing on the slide.

After playing outside in the sun all day on Friday - Ty got heat stroke or heat exhaustion or something Friday night. He had 104 + fever and was just shaking from the chills. His breathing and heart rate were super fast. After some Motrin his fever slowly started to break and he was completely fine by morning. But on Saturday he took it easy and was in the shade a lot.

Here he is chillin' with Rich's hat and sunglasses.

Again - Ty relaxing on the slide

I packed Zack up the slide a few times. He cried the whole way climbing up and coming down - but I think he secretly liked it :) Kade was doing all sorts of tricks on the slide but the front flip was one of the more impressive. He and his cousin Riley played on the slide for the full 8 hours.

Nursery

Zack still has until the 20th of June before he is officially suppose to go to nursery but we couldn't wait any longer and I took him in on Sunday.  I was planning to just stay in there with him since he is not officially 18 months but after sitting there for 20 min. watching him run around and play I asked the teachers if they cared if I went back to Sunday school.  They happily said sure and that they would come find me if they needed me.  When I went back to pick him up after a very quiet relaxing Sunday School and Relief Society all the teachers said he did so good and ate ALL the snacks :)  I think he probably ate all of his and everyone elses - he really doesn't know when to stop.  If food is around, he wants to eat it.  He was so happy to be there, he could run around and play with toys and kids - he could care less if I was there or not.  Even when I came to pick him up he didn't come running to me, he climbed up on the little chairs and sat at the little table and looked over at me so proud that he was sitting there.  

Hooray for nursery and happy kids who love to go!

Cookies!

favoritefamilyrecipes.blogspot.com

This is a fun blog I like to visit to get new recipes and ideas for things to change up are regular meals.  I LOVE this chocolate chip cookie recipe.  The recipe makes about 100 cookies and we probably could eat them all at one time but we try to control ourselves!  I usually make up the cookie dough and bake off however many I need or want at the time and then make the rest into balls and freeze.  The picture is curtesy of Kade :)

Then whenever I need cookies I can just pull them out of the freezer and bake as many as I need.   This has come in so handy so many times when I need a treat to take to the visiting teachers or a neighbor or a family outing. 

Here is the recipe:

3 1/2 cubes real butter softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups brown sugar packed

4 eggs

2 TBSP. vanilla

6 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 TBSP.  baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 lb. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars, add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Mix dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture.  Add chocolate chips.  Scoop with a small ice cream scoop.  Bake at 325 for 8-9 min.   

** The recipe says 325 for 8-9 min.   Mine are never done in that time.  I bake at 330 for about 10-11 min.  **

ENJOY!

WORK IT!

I love warm Saturdays where you don't have any plans but dinner later with your husband :)  I started off the day by using my Mother's Day present - a new running visor!  It was my first outside run of the season and it was so nice to be running outside rather than pounding the treadmill.  My hips were a little sore from a really long run on the treadmill Thurs. night but I still went 6 miles.  That is a great way to start the day!  Rich went for a run after I got back.  

The boys played outside with friends all day, Zack seriously slept ALL day - he napped for 6 hours today.   Kade and Ty got really excited when they heard the ice cream truck coming around.  They grabbed their money and ran outside to wait for the truck to come.  We saw the truck parked a few streets down so the boys were out workin' the corner trying to get the truck to come down to where they were standing.  They were waving their hands and money in the air. :)  The ice cream truck made it's way down to them while playing the always festive CHRISTMAS MUSIC - that's right, the ice cream truck was playing Christmas music.    I guess it is better than last year's creepy pink van that played Pussycat Dolls.

Kade and Ty enjoying their ice cream!

Field Trip

Last week we went to the zoo with Ty's preschool class.  The weather was ok for us, a little cold, but at least it wasn't raining.  There were about 1,000 kids there on field trips, but Miss Lori had paid for a docent to show us around so we all got to go in the back way and skip past all the crowds:)  Our docent was GREAT!  I am not a big animal person, but I really enjoyed having her tell us about the different animals and specific things about the animals here that this zoo.  

Ty and his friend Carter bundled up at the beginning while we were waiting to get started.

Zack LOVES animals - he was more than excited to see the monkeys swinging and jumping around.  

WICKED

My sister Rachel and I and our husbands went to New York 2 years ago and while we were there we went to see Wicked.  We LOVED it and when we heard it was coming to Salt Lake we wanted to see it with all of our family.  We got tickets on Halloween and have been so anxious to go.  When it came time to go not all of our family could attend but I was so happy to be with 3 of my sisters, a cousin, my aunt and uncle and my sister's in-laws.  There were 10 of us.  We all met for lunch at the Olive Garden before the show.

My aunt Reesa and uncle Mike joined us for the play.

No matter how many times you see this play it is always - AMAZING!!!  I love it!  It is so funny in parts it makes me cry, the singing is beyond great and it is so creative.  It totally gives you a different perspective on the Wizard of Oz.  

Next up: Lion King coming Fall 2010 to Capital Theatre.

Storm Troopers

We went up to my parents for a day last week and these are a few pictures from our stay.  I made french toast for the kids for dinner and left Zack to eat his on his own.  He ate all the french toast and then stuck his sticky fingers in his hair.  He was a mess!  But everyone thought it was so funny.

Kade and Ty are so into Star Wars and when they found these snowmobile helmets they thought they looked like storm troopers and had fun pretending to be storm troopers.

Zack found a baseball hat for him to play with.

First cook out of the Season!

We had our first cookout of the season when our friends stopped by on their way home from a family reunion in West Yellowstone.  We love any chance we get to hang out with our friends.  We took them down to the river and fed the ducks and then walked up and around the temple.  It was the perfect weather to be outside.  When we got back we pulled out the fire pit and had our first official summer bbq.  We only ate hotdogs and smores but it was still a lot of fun.