Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

We were excited to see Mary Poppins at the Capitol Theater. We originally saw this play in London a few years ago and really liked it, but had forgotten a lot of the details in the play. We had awesome seats and the actor who played Mary Poppins was practically perfect in every way. I was tempted to buy the umbrella with the bird on the handle for my souvenir, but I restrained myself. Before the play, we thought we would try a new restaurant that we had heard raves about. The restaurant shall remain nameless since Kristen had food poisoning for a good 24 hours after due to some too rare duck that was served, but the desserts were pretty good. We tried a scrumptious banana split, chocolate torte and my favorite was a concord grape sorbet twisted with a peanut butter ice cream to make a PB&J combination. Our walk to the theater from dinner was also pretty interesting as we found ourselves in the middle of the "Undie Run" through the main streets downtown. With this we are pretty convinced that the end of the world is near.

Nest Fest 2011

Don't you love it when people get back from a trip, and they're all, "Hey, look at my pictures of the trip I went on, and you didn't, and pretend that you care!" That's what I thought, because I'm about to do that right now. Boom!

Our whole entire family just got back from a grand old time in California. It was sort of like the Real World--17 people living in one house for a week, and spending a real lot of time together. It could have ended very badly, but boy, did we have a good time. We love to play the game, High/Low, in which we recount the high and low of our day, so following are our highs and lows of the trip, broken into categories, since I like bullet points:

High: We stayed in a great house this year, and the highlight was the pool. The kids were in it all the time, and some even wanted to leave Disneyland to just go back to the pool. It also had a great hot tub, and it helped to soak our aching feet in it every night. Because we are old. Also, we may or may not have had a pizookie tasting hot tub party there one night.

High: Disneyland! I've said it before, and I'll say it again, it really is the happiest place on earth. We had so much fun watching the kids explore everything, and the rides of course are so fun. If you need a reminder, I will sing It's a Small World for you.

Low: No place for 10 month old babies to crawl around. Poor Davis was strapped in his stroller for a lot of the day, so when Brent finally found a small patch of grass to play in, he was thrilled. Even if he was behind bars.

Low: Day 3 of Disneyland. See how excited we are on day 1? So bright eyed and full of wonder? And this is pretty much how we all felt on day 3--Exhausted. Our feet hurt, and we realized that 2 days in the park keep it the happiest place on earth.

High: The beach! Man, I love the beach. The weather was perfect, and the kids loved boogey boarding, burying everyone in the sand, and collecting shells. Have you ever seen such a big shell collection?

Low: None--did you hear me say we were at the beach? Heaven.

High: The food! We kind of like to eat, and the food deserves it's own category. Julie discovered last year that you can only get certain foods in certain lands. So here she is enjoying a corn dog and cherry lemonade that are only available in a small area of the park. Which makes it all the more attractive, right Julie? And the churros! 'Nuf said. Outside of Disneyland, we stumbled upon two food truck gatherings, which we loved! Oh, how I wish we had more of these here. We also went to a great street fair with $2 shrimp tacos and carmel filled churros (I'm sensing a fried dough theme). Can I get a hallelulah?

Low: Having to leave before trying all the food we wanted to.

High: GNO/Dodgers Game. The fellas all went to a Dodgers game and got these free hats, while the ladies stayed in and had a grand time painting our nails and watching a tween movie (brought by Julie I might add).

We love taking this trip every other year, and as we were leaving, we thought the name of our plane was appropriate, as I know the 18th member of our family was with us too:

I Keep a Sizable Amount of Ground Chuck in My Desk

I can't stop laughing at this scene from last night's Parks and Recreation:

Favorite Travel Apps

For our recent weeklong adventure in California and Disneyland, my two favorite phone apps were Google Maps and Mouse Wait. I LOVE Google Maps! It's genius as it can tell where I am and then I tell it where I need to go and it plans a route. Even if I make a wrong turn or miss an exit, it can recalculate where I need to go from there. It's genius!

Another great find is the Mouse Wait app. It would pretty accurately tell us the wait times for rides in California Adventure and Disneyland to help us plan throughout the day and figure out what to get a Fast Pass for or what we could stand to wait in line for. It even monitors the food, so I could find the best time to visit my beloved corn dog cart on Main Street.

Fashion Police

Only at Disneyland...can grown people wear ridiculous headwear and no one gives it a second glance.

More on this trip to come.

We Heart Our Best Bites

We love the Our Best Bites website with pictures to help you step-by-step through the recipes and everything turns out amazing. We all have the cookbook as well and have been making our way through it and comparing notes of what we have been trying and liking. The cookbook has become a favorite, along with our beloved Ivory Family Cookbooks where everything in there is also amazing. On Sunday when we were trying to think what to fix for dinner, Lilli had said that she loves the Coconut Rice and Kristen and Melinda have lots of veggies from the community garden coop. So, we settled on Bacon Wrapped Teriyaki Chicken Skewers . . . yum! . . have we mentioned lately how much we love bacon! We grilled the veggies and had actually made the skewers in the oven. The teriyaki sauce in the recipe was so easy to make and de-licious! The coconut rice truly was scrumptious - and with coconut milk and some sugar in there - how could we go wrong. We can't wait to try our next thing.

Shark Tank

I have discovered a new fun show on ABC . . . the Shark Tank . . . and I'm hooked. The premise of the show has people who have an invention or an idea that are looking for an investment to continue to grow their business. Then they pitch their ideas to five varied business sharks and see if they can make a deal - or not. My favorite part of the show is the banter between the sharks. A lot of people have good ideas, but not all of them are marketable - and then some could be the next big thing. It's fascinating to see what people come up with. And, it's great fun now that they are in year two, they show updates of the business that were on the show last year and how they are doing now.

Cutest Kids

We have the best time with all of our little kids. Right now our littlest ones, Jena and Davis, crack us up with their sweet smiles and funny faces. Jena squints her eyes and puckers her lips when she comes at you ready for a kiss . . . these were from last October and they make me smile every time.

Davis, our little blue eyed boy, is learning to smile when I come at him with a camera in his face to record these fun moments.

#26 - Get the list of prominent people in the Salt Lake Cemetery and find their gravesites - DONE!

I know, I know...what a weird one to put on my list, right? But I have always loved the Salt Lake Cemetery. I just think it has such a rich history. In fact, the sexton's office has a map of the cemetery with all the famous people who are buried there. If you want to look up a family member, they will print you a DETAILED map, including who is around the person you're looking for and exactly how to get there.

Here were some of my thoughts during my little adventure:

The Salt Lake Cemetery is going to be where all the action is during the Resurrection. 11 prophets are buried there, from as early as John Taylor to as recent as Gordon B. Hinckley.

And, my grandma will have an awesome seat. She's right in the same section as Harold B. Lee.

It's interesting how the prophets all have huge grave markers. I think if they were choosing their headstones themselves, they would pick something more understated. But when your family is choosing for you and realize the legacy you have, I kinda get it. Here's a few examples:

It's very possible to have incredibly tacky grave markers. This means you, everyone who puts a picture on their headstone!

I found Emo's grave. Turns out, it is totally on the map. Background: if you grew up in Salt Lake, you have probably spent some time in the Salt Lake Cemetery looking for Emo's grave. I remember at least two after-dark occasions for me, but we didn't find it either time. Let me tell you: it is creepy even in the bright sunlight. Here's a far away look:

And a close-up. Yes, there really is an urn or something inside the door of this grave stone. Apparently his remains have been moved to an "undisclosed location" due to all the vandalism at this site.

#7 - Try 5 New Fruits or Vegetables - DONE!

As Melinda has already so eloquently described, she and I joined a CSA earlier this year, which means we get farm-fresh produce for 18 weeks. I have tried stuff I have never heard of before, like purple carrots, 8-ball zucchini, mexican squash...you get the idea. Here's a typical load:

The challenging part is figuring out how to use all of this stuff! Any creative uses for kohlrabi? Anyone????

The Best Dad

In our humble opinion, we have the best Dad. He takes such good care of us. From time to time, I have needed to borrow Dad's extra car - a sweet mini van that our Mom used. Whether it's been for carting youth to and from activities or to help me while my own money pit of a car seems to be eternally in the shop - I'm grateful to be able to use it. One day, I had arranged to pick up the van after work and Dad wasn't going to be home. I stopped by the house for the keys - and he had also set out my favorite snack - a nice cold Coke and dry roasted peanuts. It's the best combination and something I always have at his house. It made me smile. It's just a little thing, but one of the ways that I know he loves and cares about me. Thanks, Dad for all you do!