Memorial Day Weekend 2013

We were lucky enough to have Heather and Tim visit for Memorial Day weekend and the entire following week.  On Saturday our family gathered to watch Ashley be baptized.

We followed the baptism with a family dinner at Carino's, which happens to be one of my new favorite restaurants because of their extensive gluten-free menu.
 
After dinner, Trenton and I took our kids and dogs for a walk around Monument Valley Park.  We got down there around 7 so we were blessed to enjoy the residual warmth from the day as we watched the peachy sunset.  Emma enjoyed picking lilacs for me, which are still sitting in a vase by my kitchen window.  Each time I stand at the sink to cook dinner or do dishes, I get these heavenly wafts of the perfectly purple flowers.

On Memorial Day, Trenton and I plopped the kids on our shoulders and wandered around Old Colorado City for Territory Days, which is something I look forward to each summer.  I just love being outside, surrounded by happy people, loud music, and delicious smelling street food. 

That afternoon, we went to a BBQ at our cousin's house out in Black Forest.  They live in a beautiful house on an equally beautiful plot of land.  Later that evening we met up with my family for a picnic at one of our favorite parks.  The kids had so much fun with their cousins.  The night would be have been perfect, except that the algae from the pond smelled like death.  By the time we were all getting our stuff together to head home, the wind changed and the overwhelming odor was blowing in our direction.  People were literally gagging.  I had to resort to using my "hair filter," which is something I came up with when I lived in England as we'd drive by the cow farms and slurry towers.  Blah.

The last evening Heather and Tim were here, we had them over for a summery dinner.  With my newly diagnosed gluten/egg/dairy allergies, cooking hasn't been very exciting for me lately.  But I decided to experiment and came up with shallot, lemon, and parsley spaghetti with tomato, avocado, and cilantro salad, and another salad topped with candied pecans, feta, strawberries, and blueberries, with a basil dressing.  For the first time in weeks, I didn't feel deprived.  Success.  The evening ended with an impromptu tea party before we said our very sad goodbyes.  I wish happy time didn't have to fly so quickly.

 

 

 

 

Summer Wishes

Okay, so I realize Emma was just in Preschool, which only required hauling the kids around 3 days a week, but there was a giddiness inside all five of us as we drove home from her graduation party, knowing that for 2 1/2 blissful months we won't have anywhere to be.  We can sit around all day eating popsicles and playing at the pool if we want.  I won't have to wake Lyla up from her naps to drop Emma off at school, and again to pick her up.  There will be a lot less yelling from the front door for everyone to get their shoes on and to "hurry hurry hurry!!!" There will be plenty of flower planting, museum visiting, book reading in bed, hotdog grilling, marshmallow roasting, movie going, and fresh fruit eating. 

Summer is here!  *Happy Sigh*

And after the craptastic, surgery-filled summer I was forced to endure last year, I plan on making this one epic, thankyouverymuch!

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gastby