Father's Day Weekend

So life has been a little stressful for Joe recently because he is trying to get as much of his research done as possible and get ready for a thermodynamics conference he is speaking at next week, but this weekend we had some fun.  

By Friday Joe was spent and needed some kind of change up from his daily schedule, so we went out to dinner at Terra Mia.  We have been thinking about going there for a while and had a coupon on the fridge to use.  It was good, we split a crab/lobster ravioli and pizza.  We loved the lobster sauce the ravioli was in, but the actual ravioli wasn't particularly exciting.  We both agreed that the pizza was better and Joe really liked their crust and bread.

On Saturday we went to the farmers market in the morning in search of fresh peaches but were disappointed to find out there were not really any "farmers" at the farmers market, but there were some pretty cool pictures we looked.  In the afternoon we went to 7 Peaks (water park) and met up with Sarah, Cameron and Sadie Pluim.  It was nice to have another couple there because we were able to take turns watching the babies.  So we have a tube rental and they have a tube rental, so we took turns taking off with the tubes to go down waterslides.  It was really nice to actually ride some of the slides they have instead of just walking around the baby pool with Kyra (which is what we normally do).  At the water park KYRA TOOK HER FIRST STEP!!!  We were on our towel and she just decided to go for a step!  It was really exciting and Joe was sitting right there to see her do it!  She still isn't a particularly confident stander but I think we may have a walker within the next month.

Kyra playing with another babies tube

After we left 7 Peaks we went to Kmart to get Kyra her own baby tube, because every time we go she always walks up the the other babies and hangs on their tubes (as seen above).  That night we went to Macey's grocery store for their soft serve ice cream and fixing for fathers day dinner.  we put our sleepy baby to bed when we got home and watched The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1982 version.  It was a good movie but a bit cheesy and the main character drove Joe and I crazy for the first part, but it was really good by the end (even if the acting wasn't amazing).

Sunday I got up early (well earlier than Joe) and made his requested fathers day breakfast, crepes with fresh fruit and whipped topping.  It was delicious!  We used fresh nectarines, strawberries, and bananas as well as fresh whipped topping and cottage cheese (which was a great add to the flavor).  after breakfast I made Joe open his father's day presents which consisted of a DVD containing three cartoon movies (An American Tale, Balto, and The Land Before Time), a knife sharpener (because he is always complaining about dull knives), a small charcoal grill, grilling utensils, and a mint chocolate truffle.

Kyra giving dad the present DVD from her

helping dad play with presents

So with all his new grilling equipment, we had delicious steaks, grilled zucchini, grilled pineapple, mashed potatoes and a salad.  We were both pretty full afterwards so we decided to not make a dessert and instead we had homemade kettle corn a few hours after dinner.

Car issues, Water Parks, and Chocolate Cake

So since my last post our wonderful car has decided to die 2 more times!  That makes 3 times in the past month!  Which is annoying...but the most annoying part is it sounds the same EVERY TIME!!  So Joe has been super frustrated and will probably bite our mechanics head off.  We like our mechanic because he is honest and doesn't tell us we need $400 worth of fixes every time we go in (which other mechanics do) BUT they are failing to find the real problem behind our car not starting!  First it was a sensor that went bad, then it was the fuel injection....but pretty much they do something to make it work for a week and then it dies again.  Needless to say, we have finally been able to put our home teacher  to work helping tow the car (and he saved us one time when Joe and I were together).  For those of you who don't know, home teachers are an LDS calling to watch over and help other families both spiritually and physically if possible, everyone has or should have a home teacher in our church.

So the most current car problem happened on Sat morning when Joe was working on his research at school (yes he worked 4 hours on a Sat after a full week of work) so to try and get his mind off of the car and cheer him up a bit we went to Seven Peaks, a water park in Provo that we have passes to.  It was fun but super windy which made it a bit chilly.  They have a little toddler pool area that we take Kyra to and she likes to hold our hands and walk around in the water, meeting new people and stealing their toys.  Kyra and I have been to the water park a couple of times each week but Saturday was the first time we put Kyra's head under the water...she wasn't a fan.

Sunday night we were invited over to Joe's cousins house (Ashley and Jared Jones) for dinner and games and we were asked to bring dessert.  So after a looking around a bit for possible ideas I decided I was in a chocolate mood and that I wanted to try out a cake from a book I had just finished reading: Devil's Food Cake (recipes here).  The cake ended up tasting really good but the frosting was a little funny (tried to use a recipe we already had and halfed it, which apparently just doesn't work out).  But it was good and Joe had fun with mixing frosting with cake for the middle layer which did end up tasting delicious.

Kyra Updates

• Enjoys to play the piano and add notes to dads playing- stands up, barely reaching the top of the piano and plays notes
• Played Organ with dad at ward choir practice- knows the pedal notes make noise and climbed on pedal board to play, making Joe stop playing due to laughter and an a cappella verse for the choir while Kyra was moved out of reach
• Spider crawls- using hands and feet with but in the air
• Bad sharer- steals other babies toys and food.  Doesn't always play with the toys, just steals them.

She is a thumb suckers, but only when tired or hungry

Found the TP when mom was blogging 

Recent Books

• The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
• Devil's Food Cake by Josi Kilpack (Lemon Tart is apparently the first in the series)
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton -currently reading