Winter Over?

I won't belabor our travails during our return to Cedar City, but they were many. The most frustrating was waiting an hour for our luggage which had clearly been sitting on the tarmac in the rain. It rained all the way to Cedar City, where the precipitation changes to a light snow. We even had a windshield wiper malfunction that we fixed in the parking lot of an Auto Zone store in Mesquite, NV. Thanks for the kind gentleman who held the flashlight while I made the repairs.

Once home, things really kicked into gear. I had to drive over to Escalante for a board meeting on Tuesday. It was a snow-packed, white knuckle drive, but a very interesting meeting with the Escalante Heritage Center board and the architects who are designing their new wayside exhibits. The snow was pretty much gone by the time I drove home.

After Tuesday, I don't remember many details except that things were busy. Friday night we were just glad to be home and on Saturday we did our early morning shopping and then met Uncle Phil and Aunt Karen for lunch. It was fun to catch up with them. They are planning and preparing for their trip to Japan to visit Jim and Kim during cherry blossom time. Uncle Phil is shopping for an mp3 player and was actually considering buying a Zune over an iPod Touch, because of the added storage. I told him, probably too forcefully, that the gold standard of mp3 players is the iPod. If he needed the added storage, he should still buy an iPod classic over the Zune. However, I pointed out to him that a 32 GB iPod touch would hold about 60 movies. How many did he think he would need for his flight to Japan? Besides, the user interface on the Touch is so very elegant, and then there are the gaming capabilities. I guess he had been getting the same story from Tony, and he said he would buy the Touch, and I agreed to show him how to use Handbrake Lite to convert his DVD library to mp4s. I am confident he will love it.

We went to watch the last T-Bird home game on Saturday night, but not before taking a long walk in the spring-like weather. Sunday was Sunday, with a ward conference an elders presidency reorganization, but a nice weekend. Sorry we don't have any photos to share, but the snow is almost entirely gone from the front yard, so life is very good indeed. St. George will be in the high 60's this week. I could be fishing down there very, very soon.

Buboppy

Going to Church

Of course part of the fun of this trip is to just be around a five-month old Leo. He has started his cereal. He took a little time to warm to it, but now he likes to eat it just fine.



He leans forward from the waist and tries to get whatever he wants into his mouth. You can see that in this photo. He is really awesome in his bumbo chair. He sits up, "like a big man" (Bubby quote).



Leo got a new tie for Christmas from his Aunt Danielle. It had cool soccer balls on it and he really looked smooth when he went to church.



Yesterday when we were shopping we got some lovely asparagus and some pork chops at a great price. We had the butcher cut them special for us, and they ended up a little on the thick side. However, as you can see, Booty did a nice job getting them cooked and on to the table.



Laur made us a yummy carrot cake for dessert and it was a nice Sunday dinner. Of course Leo sat up to the table in his bumbo chair. He got some more mush and another bottle while we were having our lunch.

Buboppy

Valentine's Night in Dallas

We decided to try and get some dinner at about 5:30 last night. Booty and Laur offered to cook, but since we are from Cedar City, and our food choices there are somewhat limited, we opted for "out". Our first choice was Maggiano's Little Italy, however we were told it would be a 2.5 hour wait. So we headed for Patrizio's, a local Italian restaurant. We were told that it would be about 45 minutes wait, so we went in search of a diversion. We ended up in Gymboree where we did a little looking. We didn't buy anything, but Leo did try on some really cool shades. He was quite cooperative while we waited.



Once we got seated, we got right to it. I promised pictures of our dinner, so that is what you are going to get. This is my plate, which was a chicken and mushroom lasagna with a smoked gouda cream sauce. It was magnificent.




Laur had lasagna, as well, but of course Leo decided it was time to eat once the food arrived.



Booty had a pasta dish that contained Italian sausage, lots of roasted red pepper, and penne. It was spicey and very tasty.



Bubby had some eggplant, parmesan style. She had plenty, so we all got a nice taste. It was very good, as well.



Of course Leo was the center of attention in the restaurant and he got lots of attention from nearly every passerby. We had a very nice dinner, and headed home, vowing that if dessert was desired, we would eat some ice cream at home. We never got that far.



Bubby and Poppy are always ready for bed by 9:00 PM, and once we got Leo settled in and watched a couple of episodes of "The Office" it was bedtime for all, including Booty and Laur, who had been up quite a bit with Leo the night before. It seems he prefers his crib (in the room where we are sleeping)to the baby bed in his Mom and Dad's room.

Buboppy

Much More of Leo

Bubby is trying to get as much quality time with Leo as possible. This one was taken when we first arrived. He wouldn't smile for her at first, but can you tell who is coaxing him just off camera. That's right, he is definitely in Mommy Love. Happy Valentines to her!



Booty and his boy. They seem to have some definite facial similarities.



We had dinner at Saltgrass last night. That was the restaurant that Bubby really wanted to visit. We had a lovely dinner. Matt and I had their amazing chicken fried stake. It was truly inspiring. So good, in fact, that Bubby abandoned her shrimp and shrimp (two kinds of shrimp and a baked potato) to help me eat it. She has been sneaking bites of the leftovers all day today. Booty, Laur, and Leo had cheescake for dessert (yes, when Laur went to the restroom, Leo had a taste, and liked it).



We got to witness the wonder of Leo's bathtub "River Dance". He does love his bath and gets all excited as soon as they start to undress him.



This morning, we took our time getting ready to go to the grocery store. Bubby tried to get Leo's photo in his Bumbo chair, but he wouldn't cooperate. We did get this nice photo of Leo and his Mom.



This final shot shows Leo getting his first tech lesson from his Dad. Yep, he is intrigued by the iPod Touch, too. We are having a great time just hanging out here in Dallas. We are out to dinner again tonight. We'll take some photos for our reader's review.

Buboppy

Lovin' Playin' with Leo

We have arrived safely in Dallas and we are taking turns playing with Leo. He is so cute! Possibly the cutest baby in Dallas. Bubby took off his socks and found him as ticklish on his feet as Poppy is. Lots more later.

February Update

We realize that this is old news now, but we did get to celebrate Paul's birthday with him. Bubby made dewlicious cupcakes, but struggled with the frosting process, as you can see. She bakes just a well as Babsy, but her decorative efforts need a little refining. Of course, when it comes to cream cheese icing with orange juice and zest, isn't the proper ratio a teaspoon of icing per bite of cupcake? Happy Birthday, Paul.



As those who follow Jodie's blog will know by now, we had a play date last night with Kado, Zachy, and Sam. Sam is so cute and never even whimpered when his Mom left. I was so impressed. He ran out of gas and took a short nap part way through our play date. He has the most delicious round head, sprouting crop of hair (which I am told has been cut a couple of times already!) and cute little curling ears. A very sweet boy. In the photo, Bubby is considered trying to help him out with a little formula, but once it was prepared he was absolutely insulted at the offering. It just didn't have the correct taste and feel to his pallet and lips.



Zach and Kado insisted that I would not be allowed to take their pictures. Of course, I just waited for my opportunities. Unfortunately, when forced to take them unobtrusively, one doesn't get much in the way of smiles, and sometimes the pictures are out of focus. But I did get the pictures.



We played with the PlayMobil stuff for quite awhile, enjoyed cupcakes, played a little golf, and then read Bubby's politically correct version of Black Sambo. All in all, a fun evening for a couple of out of practice grandparents.

Now we are all tuned up for Andrew's arrival on Saturday. He telephoned his Bubby earlier this weekend and together they worked out the timetable for his arrival. He is coming after swimming lessons on Saturday. I hope we can keep him entertained. We were hoping for some sunshine which would allow outside activities, but there is rain in the forecast. We'll have lots of fun just being together. He knows how to play Old Maid!

Buboppy