The Melting Pot

We got to go with Rachel and Jeremy to celebrate Rachel's birthday and their wedding anniversary.

We went to the Melting Pot.

Here Rachel and Jeremy are trying to decipher the menu. It wasn't in a different language, but there were so many options to choose from (but not as much as the Cheesecake Factory).



Check out this silverware!! This is the same silverware my parents had when we were little! It was funny to see it again and very nostalgic. A three pronged fork?!


I normally don't take pictures during meals, but this was a one of a kind place. We decided to get the whole sha-bang. $78 per couple, for the whole 4 course deal (not worth it! More on that later).

We got house salads, which were bagged, and a little brown at that. Then the cheese course. The cheese fondue part was really good. We got a Mexican cheese and a spinach artichoke cheese (and they were out of spinach . . .) They give you some vegetables and apples to dip. The carrotts were dry . . . I love the apples in the artichoke cheese dip. Then we got the meat course. You choose a cooking method. We both chose a poaching method (boiling in chicken broth). I suggest doing a saute one. The potatoes never cooked all the way through. I think the broth had some kind of wine in it. . .it tasted a bit funny. Personally, I only liked the filet minon meat-it was sooo good, even though we over cooked it a little bit.

This is the meat course. The plate looked really pretty with all the meats (such as "marbled meats" . . .)


Then the dessert was really good too of course! We got a white chocolate and a turtle chocolate (with carmel and pecans). As far as the treats to dip, they are basically the same as Zupas fondue. But the chocolate dips were amazing.

We were pretty full when we left. I have heard before that people don't get very full eating here.

All in all, I think we would go back, and just get the cheese course and dessert. But perhaps we'd leave still a little hungry??

Steam from the stove top and us


It was a really good time. I always love going out with these guys. And I wish we did it more! We live so close for the time being. We need to be better at planning. Rach- when are you guys coming for dinner and bringing Monopoly??

Little Sahara

I wish I had done this earlier, while the trip was more fresh in my mind. Let's see how much I can remember.

Right after Zac's last soccer game where he got his trophy we packed up the car and headed to the Sand Dunes. My Parent's family did the annual family weekender there this year. It was a lot of fun. We camped, and Jeremy (BIL) brought his family's Ranger.

We got there about lunch time. When we arrived Lexie was getting cleaned up after a run-in with the dashboard. Poor thing. She thought she had broken her nose (and probably did since it was still hurting a week later), and she had a small gash on her nose and eye brow. But she was in good spirits and didn't seem in too much pain.

It was sure hot. I was so surprised how warm it was since it was the end of September. It was hot during the day and nice at night.


Then the boys started a game of horseshoes. To be honest I didn't pay attention at all to the score. I don't even know the rules or how to get points. All I know is "all that matters is where the shoe ends up" . . .


Max loved that Rachel shared her gushers with him. I think ever since then he always wants to be with her when she is around.


Rachel also shared her water with him, which then became his water :)


Lexie and Zac having an etch e sketch competition.


Lexie and Ben (yes, her BF came) making lunch.


Our first family ride on the Ranger.



The boys jostled around the whole time. It seemed pretty hectic. I tried to keep Max's head somewhat supported so he wasn't leaning forward all the time. He had a bike helmet on and it was so heavy for him. Zac loved and I think Max liked it ok. He wasn't mad that we took him off, but he didn't want to climb back on right away.

Max thought it was cool to sit on the 4-wheeler all by himself.


He also LOVED playing in the dirt. There wasn't much sand right at the campsite but that didn't stop him. Just like at the beach he loves to put it i and dump it out, over and over.






We use a sunscreen stick for faces, and the dirt stuck to the grease so bad. This is Max after his face was wiped. We was eating Halloween Oreos, not dirt :)


I just thought this picture was funny with his finger right in front of his face


Oh yeah, and reader beware . . . spiders! Yes, black widows to be precise!! The rest of my family went up a day earlier and discovered the many black widows in the bathroom. Luckily, my mom was able to get a hold of me and tell me to grab some spider killer. It was so comforting to have.

I actually think this one was killed with the spray before the picture. Before we left, I counted 14 black widows, 2 of which were the only ones still alive. They were on the ceiling not reachable. But they appeared to have NOT moved the entire time-going in the bathroom was VERY eerie!


The boys would have been ok wearing bike helmets, but I couldn't get a hold of anyone to be sure. So we rented a couple for them at Toy it up, just in case a Park Ranger stopped us. Zac's was so big and heavy, but he still liked it.


After we went out a couple times with the boys, Max started to make this funny humming sound. At first we thought it was whining because he wanted to get off. But in the end it seemed like he was mimicking the sound of the Ranger's motor. And he liked it, even though he could barely keep his posture. It was pretty funny.

Zac's sweaty head taking a rest from the helmet.


On Saturday Night one of Jeremy's friends, whose dad co-owns Polaris or something like that, brought 2 more Rangers. It was so fun to ride around with everyone, even though having kids aboard was limiting. We all went out to get a family picture.


It was a fun trip and I am glad we got to go. This totally makes me want a Ranger. So much smoother and capable than 4-wheelers!

Houston Dynamo

This was his first time playing soccer on a team. He liked it ok. Sometimes he wasn't too into the practice and wanted to go play at the park near by.



For most of the "practices/games" they just did a rotation of drills to get the kids familiar with the different exercises and moves. The coach was awesome and was really good with the kids.


At the end of a couple practices they did a little 5 min scrimmage. During on scrimmage another boy shoved Zac and his knee was hurting but he still stayed on the field. He was kind of limping and didn't care about the ball. But for a few minutes still followed the ball around. When I asked him to come over and what was wrong he just started to cry-10 mins after leaving the field he was fine, but it was cute. I am glad that he is still little and needs his mom. Although, at some point far down the road, "walk it off" will be in order :)


Waiting for their medals.


His certificate

He had a good time. And he did likes to talk about how he was in soccer-over all a positive experience.


The last cheer with the coaches


Then we headed to the primary program practice where they had pizza afterward. This is his little friend Lex. They got to be on the same team. There were also a few other friends on the team. It was fun they all got to play together.

Lexie's First Dance

It was fun to be a part of this, and help her choose accessories and accent colors.



She looks great! and so grown up!


The cute couple, and Ben making a cheesy face.

Zac Sees the Dentist

A few weeks ago Jon and Zac went to the dentist. I took Zac about 6 months ago and was going to have him watch me get my teeth clean and stuff and then he would. But they technicians took him in to the other area before I was done and he was a bit stressed. So he would only let them look in his mouth.

So this time I told him what to expect and that they would take pictures of his teeth and he could see them on the computer. He was all excited for that. And he got to watch Jon first and he was totally ready, and even excited! We didn't even have to bribe him at all.

He did great for the x-rays. You know sometimes when they have to put the thing in your mouth it makes you want to gag...well it does for me... At one point Zac felt like that I could tell, but he hung in there and was perfect.


He let the hygienist clean his teeth



And even did great with the flouride



He didn't cry at all, and didn't even seem nervous! Zac we are so proud of you!

This is the football shooter toy he got. And this is the cool little bird atrium in the waiting area.


PS Jon did great too! No cavities for either of them :)

To top off yesterday, I enjoyed a case of food poisoning all night, now I'm exhausted . . . yes, I'm fishing for sympathy :)

Swiss Days in Midway!

Let's see if I can add text to these pictures and make it somewhat fun. Its been a LONG day. PEEP class, a productive discussion with the school director about changes with Max's school and explaining my position as a parent, a disobedient child, the library with a sick sobbing child who needs to be held, a follow-up email to make sure I didn't sound like an idiot to the school's director, a disobedient child, dealing with health insurance to see how in the heck we can get some speech therapy for Max, and how much each option is going to cost so we can decide what to do, talking with a speech therapist to see if they can work with our insurance, gathering clothes (in the hot attic) and books for the youth to collect for refugees in Uganda, making cookies for mutual, a disobedient child, eating take out :), a disobedient child, facebooking and blogging while waiting for Jon to get home from mutual, a disobedient child, listening to Signing Time in the background . . .I'm tired.

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We love Midway! We had our Honeymoon there and we have been there 3 other times for anniversary weekends. We have been wanting to check out Swiss Days for a few years now, but we never pay enough attention to when it is. This time we were able to make it. It was great. The weather was nice and overcast-not to hot.

There was LOTS of traffic. I expected their to be traffic, and we really lucked out to not be affected too much. We were going to catch a shuttle from the park and ride, but the line looked long and the website said they come every 10 mins that would have made us wait for 45 mins at least with how long the line was. So we decided to see if we could get closer or find a less busy park and ride. But instead we got caught in some stand still traffic trying to get on main street. Luckily, there was a empty grass lot right by where we were stopped and they were selling parking, $5, a steal for how close and convenient it was! It was a 2 min walk to the festivities and we weren't parked next to any cars.

I loved how "crafty" it was. I think the Provo freedom festival used to be more like this. It was not very commercial at all! The way we like it! They had tons of stuff that was fun to see and stuff that I hadn't seen. I am trying to get in to the increasingly large and complex crafting world.



Swiss Day Royalty signing autographs


We spent some time here for the boys. This is where Max learned about jumping and to like it. He was too nervous to venture out on the toys, we just helped him jump on the sides of them. It was great because the next week his teacher said we will work on jumping and toe walking, and he was ready and knew what jumping was already!


Apparently, the food was amazing. We were there for a few hours and the whole time the lines were forever long! Everything was "swiss" which we decided meant there was swiss cheese on it. Swiss tacos, swiss hamburgers, swiss and ham sandwich, swiss and chicken sandwich, etc. We stopped at the shortest line and got swiss and chicken sandwiches, they were REALLY good. Jon even liked it which is saying tons for carnival food!

There were LOTS of things we liked: amazing wood Chinese checkers boards; wood and stone/mother of pearl inlay work; photography; painting; silverware jewelry; detailed wooden construction trucks, and rubber band guns; home decor; kids stuff; bags; etc. I guess you could say this would be like touring Etsy shops in person. I am rarely on Etsy. It was great! Maybe I should shop more on Etsy . . .or maybe not . . .

This was my purchase. I had to be strict, but I loved this saying and the cute hand writing-mine sucks. And I am using it as my jumping off point for Max's room. Now to find some vintage cars/toys/whatever. . .




In my effort to avoid buyer's remorse, sometimes I get, "not buying it remorse". We past the booth that was selling these cute kids canvases and I was trying to justify not buying it. But all I could think is I'm going to regret this. So reluctantly, Jon said, then go buy it. While he patiently waited with the boys by this tree.




We could have spent thousands there. Some pretty amazing art!

Then as we were ready to leave it started to rain a bit. It worked out perfectly that we were parked so close and didn't have to wait an hour to catch the shuttle back to the park and ride.

Traffic back out to the highway was slow. Jon drove on to a dirt pullout to skip all these car trying to get on the highway-I love that! (Normally, he is a VERY conservative driver:)



Beautiful Midway



Max was exhausted


Zac likes getting his picture when ever I get the camera out


There was also some amazing music, choirs, accordionists, little kid groups, cute old man groups, etc. You should check out the architecture on Main street too, I love the feel of the swiss/dutch style.