Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Easter Party Fun

It was so much fun to be able to celebrate a holiday with our Grandma and Grandpa and cousins! The kids got to decorate (and eat!) a LOT of eggs this year. Grandpa is surprisingly serious about his egg-coloring, we learned :)

On Saturday before Easter, we went to the Easter party at Smiths. They close off aisles and scatter candy around and then kids can come and pick it up. It is separated by age group, and Bear totally killed it in the 1-3 category.  He had so much candy he could barely lift the basket :) 

It was a good thing he got so much, because Sam and EJ didn't get much- I don't think they were aggressive enough to push other kids over for some taffy. Bear was happy to share his loot with everyone.  Janie did pretty well, too and was very generous with her bounty.  After donuts and milk at the store, it was time to head back to Grandpa's for an egg hunt!

Aunt Cyndi had the great idea of color-coding the eggs and she was a really good hider. The kids had fun finding them all over the front and back yards. 

Each egg had money, candy, a prize OR a special "pick a prize" paper where they could pick from Grandpa's toys and other cool prizes. Best Easter party ever!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014, Part 3

Grandpa planned a big day of adventure while we were visiting! Aunt Cyndi took her kids out of school for the day and we went to the Tracey Aviary AND the new Aquarium! It was so awesome.

 The aviary is about a million times better than what I remembered from my childhood and really worth a visit! It was fun to just focus on all the different types of birds that you sometimes pass over at a zoo. They have a lot of interactive areas for the kids, too.

This crazy old man picture is just because we inherited my parents Great Horned Owl picture and it is hanging in our library. We have named the owl "Sheldon" after Dad and we dress him up for Halloween (the owl picture, not my Dad...).

After the aviary and a picnic lunch, we all went to the brand-spankin-new aquarium. It was really crowded, but still super-neat and well worth dealing with the crowds- even though some of the tanks weren't occupied yet. 

These pics were taken just before EJ told me that she wanted to explore with just her, Sam and Grandpa. Well, then. Birdy, Janie, Aunt Cyndi and Thomas went off as a group so that is why you don't see any pics of them!

Bear LOVED the jellyfish. We probably spent a good 15-20 min just watching them.

EJ is pointing out one of my favorites- the cuttlefish!

They had a ton of seahorses. They were really interesting to watch.

The "shark tunnel" was really neat. You could see the sharks gliding all around. Bear thought that was pretty cool!

Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Part 2

My favorite part of visiting UT is watching my kids get to hang out with their cousins and get to know their Awesome Aunts and Uncles better. We miss our family so much because we are far away. It is such a treat just to "hang out". As an added treat, my kids got to go eat lunch with their cousins Sam and Thomas at school. Their school lunch is awesome and WAAAYYY better than what my kids get!  The girls thought it was cool to see a different Elementary.

We were all excited that Aunt Cyndi's house was Kittenpalooza!  These babies were so fun to watch and snuggle. I had to seriously remind myself that 3 cats and one doggie are too many furbabies!

Aunt Cyndi really knows how to do holidays. She boiled up a ZILLION eggs for the kids to color and they had a great time together!

Sam wanted to know what it would be like to throw an egg at a house, so cool Aunt Cyndi let all the kids throw a (boiled) egg at the house :)

Mini-Texodus, April 2014- Part 1

 The kids were so excited to go on a "Big, Big Airplane" for the first time that any of them could remember (EJ and Birdy took flights as babies).  They were so cute rolling their bags through the airport!

Our gate was by a big window where we could watch planes take off and land. It also had a ramp where passengers got off their planes. Bear sat and waved at everyone that got off their planes. It was a fun people-watching opportunity to see who would wave back or smile at the cute kid welcoming them to Dallas :)

Getting ready to go! EJ was lucky because she got her own seat across the aisle!

When we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house, the local Smiths had a petting zoo with tiny week-old baby mini-goats. They were so cute I was trying to figure out how to smuggle one back to TX!

We learned Aunt Jenn is a pro at rainbow loom. She showed both girls some new tricks!

I took the girls to Temple Square in SLC to hear The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Broadcast. It was so cool! It was in the old Tabernacle, so that is always special. They had the orchestra and they sang selections from Handel's Messiah for Easter. It was really neat and the girls enjoyed it in spite of themselves... 

 After the broadcast, we toured the Conference Center. Our guide was great and took time to point out the great artwork throughout. The girls thought it was so cool to see the place where they watched General Conference just a week or two before!

We were so excited to see SNOW when we got back to Grandma's house!

The kids loved helping Grandpa take care of his plants. We helped clean out the garden for spring!

 Grandpa took us on an adventure to see the trains! Birdy was bored, but Bear and EJ thought it was a lot of fun!

Texodus: Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed...

Worth watching until the very end...

Texodus: Food Part 2

Holy cow. This is a Burger Supreme Bacon Cheeseburger. It has officially replaced the Bowling Alley burger as THE burger standard. So, so good! I love their thick-cut fries with just the right amount of salt and "real" ranch dressing, too.  We did go to the bowling alley but we realized that it just hasn't been up to par lately- the burgers were dry and not as tasty as before :(

I think I ate my weight in beautiful, sweet and delicious UT sweet corn. Dad seriously bought it for me and cooked it up every meal. For some reason, the corn on the cob we get in TX is woody, dry and bland- so sad!

Grandma K's special pancakes with blueberries and chocolate chips. It might not seem like a big deal to Grandma, but this is something my kids talk about and remember all year long, especially Birdy!

 I can't express my deep love for Kneaders. I wish we had it in TX.  I love their key lime tart (nice and tart, not too sweet!) and their fruit tart (love the pastry cream!).  Their asaigo bread is to die for- that and jerky was pretty much all we ate on the drive home! I just love all the fresh sandwiches and soup options and the fact that it gives you a non-ice cream option for dessert :)

Mmmm... Pita pit.  Just as good as I remember (and the parking was just as crappy...)

Last but not least, I rediscovered my love for JoJo potatoes at the Mountainland gas station in Heber. These are so good- battered and fried with just the right amount of spicy. Seriously, does anyone in TX know where I can get potatoes like this? Not the wimpy stuff they sell in your average grocery deli...

Other food shout outs that I didn't get pictures of include the really yummy meatloaf sandwich and lightly pickled carrots and cauliflower that I had with Kim and family in the Nordstrom's restaurant (can't remember the name, but you can bet I'm throwing carrots in my favorite pickle juice for 24 hrs to see if I can copy those veggies!).  Of course I had a heavenly Logan's Hero- a must anytime we are even CLOSE to Logan! 

Texodus: The Food - Part 1

Sorry, family, but a lot of the attraction of the Texodus lies in the FOOD. There is so much good food to eat from all of our favorite places.  First above we have the awesome breakfast steak burrito from Rancheritos. Giant, cheap, yummy green salsa sauce, amazing tortilla (fresh!) and AMAZING if you squeeze a lime onto it. I won't say how many of these I ate over the month we spent in UT.

*Sigh* Is there anything better than Utah scones with honey butter? Only Utah Scones with cinnamon honey butter!

Chuck-A-Rama.  Unfortunate name, awesome food and scones. It's a UT must-visit.

Dairy Keen- a.k.a. "The Train Place".  Not a big fan of their food (chicken strips are OK, but the burgers don't excite me too much...).  However, they have the fancy soda machine that dispenses the perfect cherry-vanilla diet coke. This summer they also had these AWESOME lunch lady peanut butter bars. Yum!

The extra-special Grandpa-only tradition of "squirty cream".  Isn't he a great Grandpa, folks?

Bear was eager to participate, but the idea ended up being better than the reality. It was pretty traumatizing :)

Dill Pickle lays! These are SO good and apparently you can only get them in the West. They aren't sold in TX. They are so good.

Ahhh- fish and chips at Bertrams in Salmon. The perfect fish and chips (for me).  Crispy beer-battered fish, home made tartar sauce and beer battered fresh-cut fries. Yum (and oh, so good for you!)

There was so much yummy food to document I had to split it up into multiple posts. No wonder I gained weight this trip but it was totally worth it!