Food and Fun

What a healthy dinner! Of course after, we filled up on BYU Mint Brownies that Brynn and I had made. We just googled "mint brownies" and that was the name of the recipe that came up. Our brownies however, were True Blue because we didn't have any green food coloring.

Anyway, thanks to http://bountifulbaskets.org it has been like summer every day with all this fresh garden produce. Bountiful baskets, in case you don't already know is a food co-op where you get a good haul of fresh produce in exchange for a minimal fee and some volunteer effort. This is our second time ordering. We got avocados, oranges, strawberries, blackberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, romaine, squash, and a coconut. Total cost $15.00. Something about having a basket full of garden surprises makes it way more fun to eat veggies. ( You never know what you're going to get when you show up) We've had salads every day. The bread is ciabatta bread. I didn't know what that was when I ordered it but I thought it sounded fun. It made for some tasty garlic bread. I first heard about this organization from Michelle. Has anyone else joined? So far so good...

We could have lost all our dinner at the carnival which we headed to shortly after. The people on the ride before us did.
The girls absolutely would not let the weekend go by without making sure we took them to the carnival. Kate and Brynn were up for all the wild rides. The carnival workers don't really enforce the height rules so I was able to take them on the whirliest twirliest ride there. Luckily, we all kept our dinners down but there was plenty of screaming! Cannon and Adrie went on the Merry -go -round. At least we didn't lose Bud this time but we did lose Dad. He kept getting sidetracked by people that I didn't know...which could only mean that they were clients.
Fun times for everyone!

Wild Things

This week I am feeling exceptionally grateful for child leashes. You know those cute little restraints made friendly by attaching a stuffed bear or monkey on the back? Here is why.

Earlier in the week we met up with our cousins for a k12 field trip in the big city. Before the event we met for a picnic at the lovely Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake. Picture a river with a pond on one side, rolling hills and a playground in between and a road on the other. The first big upset to this scene of tranquility was that cousin Z fell off the monkey bars and was screaming in pain. Did he break his arm we wondered? Fortunately Z's mom got ahold of their doc and they made the plan to give him some motrin, put his arm in a sling, and when they got home in a few hours they would xray it. (No bones were sticking out and the screaming had died to a whimper at this point.)

So, it was off to our fieldtrip at the Planetarium. However,when I looked around to gather up the kids Cannon was missing. He was nowhere in eyeshot. Do you know what a sickening feeling that is to lose a kid even for a second? How long had it been? Did he go down to the river or over to the road? Kate , Z's mom, and I divided and ran, asking anybody if they'd seen him. After a minute or so a guy shouted and pointed. About a quarter mile away a jogger was standing with Cannon..or following him rather as he continued to wander.

"I found this kid in the road and called the police." he said, not so compassionately. That made me feel even sicker. Of course I was profoundly grateful to the man for "rescuing Cannon" and especially grateful that he was found and unharmed. The police were called back and told everything was fine. I thanked the guy again and again and off we went to our next adventure...the planetarium...this time with the CHILD RESTRAINT I had packed in the car.

It also came in extremely handy the following day when we went to the zoo. In fact, there were lots of toddlers wearing them. It sure made a world of difference in our experiences. One guy stopped me and laughed as he told me how he used to think those things (leashes) should only be used for animals and then he had 4 kids and realized they were lifesavers. Of course, I quickly agreed.

If you think that leashes are inhumane than either a) you haven't had kids or b) you haven't had kids.

Anyway, we had a wonderful day at the zoo; perfect weather, not too crowded, Cannon on a leash. Sure--he tugged at that thing and sure--we clotheslined a few innocent people but the security of knowing where my little guy was made all the difference.

Now for some happy photos.

The baby elephant was adorable!