Sunday November 21st: As usual, our first stop was St. George. We left early Sunday morning, I would have liked to have left Friday after the kids got home from school, but Erik had to work Saturday. I think we hit a little traffic just before the gorge, but I can't remember all too well so it must not have been too bad.
After massage, lunch, and shopping we went back to the house and my mom stayed for a little bit. It was too cold to swim (obviously), so we played a game of Clue instead:
Tuesday November 23-In the morning, I took Gabie-Roo to Sketchers to buy some new shoes since he only bought his flip-flops with. Besides, he needed new shoes anyway since he had been wearing his old ones from last year. But first, we stopped at the massage place to retrieve my ring. Gabe is almost in a men's size, but his feet are so narrow. We managed to find a pair that fit though. Since Sketchers was in an outdoor strip mall (The Shoppes at Zion), we were able to visit several stores, including Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory where I gave him a dollar to buy some chocolate coins, and a new novelty shop called Frenzy's (I think!) where I bought some saltwater taffy, a can of chocolate-covered bacon soda (yes, it's as gross as it sounds), and a Mario keychain for Gabe. Gabe geeked out when he saw the ginormous stuffed Mario plushies high on the wall and all the other Mario stuff. He told me he wanted the huge stuffed cat Mario for Christmas. I told him at almost $200, that was a little steep. Our last stop was Ross to take back a few items I had bought the day before. Anyway, a nice little shopping trip with Gabe that day before heading up to Cedar City.
Before heading up to Cedar, we stopped to have some Chinese food at the Panda Garden. It was good, but not great. I could take it or leave it. The kids seemed to like it ok.
We got to St. George later that evening. I enjoyed (as usual) going through stuff in this basement. This time it was old journals of Lisa's.
Ian and Elisa insisted upon Panda Express for lunch. Erik and I got hamburgers from 5 Guys, and Gabe got a hotdog from 5 Guys.
I helped make dinner that evening. We made broccoli casserole and Irish Soda bread for a side. Even though I followed the recipe, I overcooked the broccoli (which I actually prefer doing, since it softens it and disperses it more evenly so there aren't big chunks) but I didn't like that the rice burned a little on the bottom. I'll use a different recipe next time, if there is a next time.
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Monday November 22: As usual, I previously had set up a massage appointment for me and my mom at Zion Massage college that day, with lunch at Red Fort Indian cuisine after. My massage was ok, I was mostly annoyed that the girl kept coughing, and she even coughed right in my face. At least leave the vicinity and then cough, sheesh. Luckily, she didn't have anything contagious. We had a delicious meal at Red Fort Cuisine and then went to Michaels where I bought some nice(r) acrylic paints, canvas, and a few other things, and then to Ross to buy some clothes for Gabe and Elisa, and a few Christmas gifts for Elisa as well. Gabe goofily wore his flip flops instead of his Sketcher shoes, so I bought a pair of shoes, but they were too small, so I took them back along with some other things the next day.
Waiting for our food!
My mom had a fun day!
Delicious food!
My mom actually played with us! Ian played too but was a little too young to understand deduction strategies in order to win or even play the game.
Later that evening, when I was taking off my rings, I realized I had left one of my rings behind at the massage place! It was too late to call, but I called the next morning, and they had it save in an envelope for me. Phew.
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Most of the time, the kids played and played and played in the basement. Sometimes with real toys, but mostly on the Nintendo System.
The over-sized Mario. To it's left (not pictured) was the Mario in a catsuit.
We had some fun making memes out of a silly photo of Elisa I took while there.
My parents also had a new rowing machine that Gabe enjoyed being on. I didn't try it, but it looks kinda fun, at least as far as exercising goes.
Elisa slept in Tom's room. Neither she nor anyone else wanted her to have direct contact with Tom's mattress, so we put another mattress atop it. Girly slept pretty high that night!
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Wednesday Nov. 24Before driving up to the Salt Lake area, we stopped at the Pastry Pub in downtown Cedar. My parents didn't come but Erik's parents did! They were headed up to the Salt Lake area anyway for Thanksgiving at the Jensen's home. Our plans were slightly different; we planned Thanksgiving dinner at my sister Tootsie's house but then we met up with Grandma and Grandpa again for dessert at the Jensens. Erik wanted to do some Turkey prep so we stopped in a Tootsie and Marks house in Cedar hills, and Grandma and Grandpa were kind enough to take the kids to their Blaylock cousins who were impatiently waiting to see them!
We ate all of our food (mostly sandwiches) and Erik (before the food arrived) went next door to the FrenchSpot and grabbed us some desserts--creme brulee and a peach tart. Unfortunately, they were out of the chocolate mousse. The food was good, but the mural painting on the wall that I had to look at was really, really bad.
Erik prepping the Turkey that he smoked on Mark's new Traeger grill the next morning. My parents and Michael had already arrived at the house and were spending the night.
We spent the night at the Blaylocks. The kids sure enjoyed playing with each other! I'm not sure why I took this picture, but here's Gabe standing in their kitchen.
