Happy Birthday Kado!

We wanted to wish Kade a happy 5th birthday. We got a chance to watch him blow out his candles and enjoy friends, family, ice cream and cake. Uncle Roland and Auntie Nell were there, and while they visited Uncle Roland and I talked f-i-s-i-h-i-n-g!! We are schedule to hit Sand Hollow on Thursday. We are hoping for no wind and a warm day.

Buboppy

More Conference Weekend

Saturday morning we just relaxed and watched the kids play. Andrew was working some sort of look here, but I not sure what it was. The pants are part of a Chinese silk ensemble, and the top looks like taffeta. Daniel and Bean dropped a car off at the airport for Rosalyn because she was coming in while were in-line to go to general priesthood meeting.

There were lots of photo opportunities with the kids. Katie and Lydia got matching dresses and leggings for their birthdays and Lydia got a new doll. She doesn't get a chance to love a dolly much because Katie is the grandmaster of all dolls in the Wells home. But, as you can see from this photo, when she occasionally does get a chance to practice her maternal instincts it makes her happy.

After general priesthood meeting, the boys went to the Thai Siam restaurant on State Street. This is a location that Jason Maestri introduced us to and we have loved it ever since. Aaron is getting ready to dive into a bowl of spicy sour soup with lots of mushrooms, herbs, lime, broth, and shrimp. It is a very uniquely Thai soup, and both Bubby and I love it. We also enjoyed some sum tom, which is shredded green papaya in a spicy, limy, dressing. It tasted so good that we finished off the dressing over jasmine rice.

Of course we ordered way too much food but hey, we were celebrating. In the foreground is the ever popular pad Thai, and in the background the red curry/coconut favorite (gang dang). We had a wonderful time and both Daniel and Aaron said they really liked the restaurant. We were able to take leftovers home, and we even got a dessert of mango and sticky coconut rice for Bubby and Babsy to share.

On Sunday morning we had tickets for the 10:00 AM session which, of course, includes the Tabernacle Choir broadcast. We rode Trax from the 21st South station and easily got there in time to be in our assigned seats before the broadcast. As we were getting ready to go, the Ly woke and wanted to "Get down!" She was charming in the kitchen pushing her umbrella stroller around with her new dolly in it.

Jake was as good as a boy can be during our 3 hour conference session. He liked riding up on the train, he enjoyed using the binoculars to see President Monson, and he loved the Nips (caramel chocolate parfaits) with which I had filled my pockets. I am convinced that without them, he would not have made it through the meeting. Bubby hooked up with some Dutch folks that were sitting in front of us. They gave her some suggestions for her upcoming trip to Holland. We were right in the middle of a truly international crowd. We sat near Hollanders, Mexicans, Kiwis (New Zealanders), French, and Central Americans. It was really fun to think that the Church is so global.

This is a great photo of Jake and his Bubby at conference. Sarah says she doesn't think the time will ever come when her girls can sit through a conference session the way Jake did. Of course, he has tremendous powers of concentration and studies the minutest of details. We were glad to share our conference opportunity with the family.

Buboppy

Princess Party

We left Cedar City at about 1:00 PM and after a short stop at the Shade store in American Fork, we arrived at Sarah's in time for the big Princess Birthday Party. The theme was tea party and there were lots of finger foods (including cucumber sandwiches) and fun. We didn't do any real tea, but that was OK. Bubby caught the two birthday girls in full regalia in this photo.

The kids all had a pink frosted cupcake on the lawn for dessert and it was really hard to get them to come back in because the evening is so nice.

Andrew emerged from playing with the princesses in their bed room in this rather unique outfit. I thought the hat was a real winner. He was in heaven with all the cousins and friends and he happily moved from group to group.

We had our first chance to meet little Miss Audrey. She is so cute and tiny. In one more week she will be full term. She is 6 lbs. and doing very well. Melissa said, despite all of the troubles, Miss Audrey is her best baby.

Bubby wanted her picture taken with Mr. Ted who was looking really snazzy in his new vans and cool baseball warmups. He is so very cute and cuddley that we all wanted a turn to hold him.

I took this photo of one of my favorite princesses at the party. Miss Ellie was resplendent in her outfit and played very nicely with all of the other children. I can't believe how much she has changed since I last spent some time with her (this time last year).

Buboppy

A Spring Saturday

We invited Daniel, Rosalyn, and Andrew down for the weekend and they graciously accepted our invitation. They arrived early evening on Friday and after a dinner of zuppa Toscana, bake-at-home bread, and DQ for dessert, we spent a quiet evening playing Crowns, catching up, and generally enjoying ourselves. On Saturday morning, after breakfast and a hair cut for Poppy, we all cheerfully worked in the spring sunshine in the yard. It was a beautiful morning and Andrew helped pick up pine cones off of the lawn. We raked up a ton of pine needles and got them on the curb for the City to pick up this week. About 10:30, we headed to Park Discovery and I got a few photos of Andrew really enjoying himself. It was a glorious glimpse of spring, and most welcome. We are experiencing winter again this evening. It is snowing hard and sticking to every horizontal surface. I am assured that spring will make another appearance later in the week.

I did take this rather random photo of another little girl on the swings. She refused to sit in the seat so she stood, board straight, in the seat and giggled while her daddy pushed her. I know it is weird, but lest you think I am a stalker of little girls, Andrew did the same thing when he first got into one of these swings. His mom had to train him to sit back and bend his knees.

I did get a photo of him after he sat down having some kind of fun.

Daniel informed me that it is a father's responsibility to cater to his child's dare-devil tendencies. Here we see him tossing a squealing Andrew high into the air. Rosalyn had to look away. She didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Andrew did.

I got this nice shot of Andrew and his Bubby sitting on a wooden turtle in the swing area. It was a little windy, but very nice to be in the park. From here we went to lunch at Bruno's (Andrew really enjoyed is spaghetti and meat balls), made a quick stop at our newly opened Walgreens, and came home for quiet time. While Daniel worked on his Sunday School lesson, Rosalyn, Andrew, and Bubby had a nap. I did some annual maintenance on my sprinklers. That always involves multiple trips to the hardware store and I certainly made my trips.

Andrew woke before his mom, so we ran to Walmart (I know, Walmart in Cedar City on a Saturday afternoon—insanity!) and got the stuff to trick out Bubby's bike and have chicken tacos for our dinner. After the bike maintenance, Daniel and I fixed dinner and Andrew played nicely while Bubby and Rosalyn read. After dinner, Daniel, Andrew and I played in the backyard while the "womenfolk" (just for you, Rosalyn) did the dishes.

Once Andrew went to bed, we spent a pleasant evening with "Hetty Wainthropp: Private Detective", had popcorn, and went to bed. Daniel and Rosalyn left at about 7:30 this morning so Daniel could teach his lesson. We did have a little excitement before they left, however. When Rosalyn went to step into the basement shower, the shower door shattered into a million pieces spraying the entire bathroom with broken glass. We are so happy that no one was hurt when it happened. We will get the Jones' Paint and Glass folks to come take a look at it this week.

Buboppy

Temple and a Progressive Dinner

We made the 10:00 AM session at the Dallas Temple this morning. The temple is really pretty and the exterior reminded Bubby of the Boise, ID temple. Our session was small (only seven men), but it was nice. When we stepped outside, we talked a woman who was photographing her visiting parents into photographing us. The wind was whipping, so I buttoned my coat to keep my tie from slapping me in the face. Too bad I didn't get my gig line straight.

We did a lunch at the Corner Bakery Cafe after the temple and then we rested until 3:00 PM. Booty went into work early and so we were able to pick him up at about 3:15 PM. This is the sign out in front of his building, which is located about three miles from their apartment. I know they are glad that they don't have to take the freeway anywhere each morning. We went to a big 15-theater complex to try to decide on a movie. There was general ambivalence about what to see, so we didn't go. There are a couple of films that Bubby wants to see, but she can wait until we get home.

We went to TJ Max and found Laur a couple of new table cloths, and then began our planned progressive dinner. We have no photos of our first stop, a return to Matt's Mexican market. We all (except Laurie who only wanted a taste of her favorite strawberry agua) had an "agua fresca" as an appetizer. Booty had a tamarindo flavored iced beverage, Bubby had a pina colada made with real pineapple and flakes of coconut in the bottom of her cup, and I had an horchata (the best I have ever tasted). We sat in the store and toyed with the idea of eating a Mexican dinner there, but opted for our original plan, Maggiano's in Plano. The restaurant was huge, and located in a really upscale neighborhood.

Having experienced Maggiano's before (the portions are huge) we all shared a spinach and artichoke dip. Matt and Laurie weren't as familiar with the drill, so when the waiter offered half-portions of a Ceasar salad and spaghetti with meat sauce, they both declined in favor of full portions. Here is Matt holding his salad. It was large enough to feed a family of five. It was delicious, and we all had some, but there was plenty to take home for his lunch. He had a massive amount of spaghetti left over to go with it.

Bubby and I decided to share an eggplant parmasean, pictured here. There was enough for us each to eat all we wanted and take a chunk home for Booty's lunch later this week. Of course the atmosphere was wonderful, the food amazing, the service impeccable, and the whole experience quite delightful. We certainly have not wanted for fun and food while we have been here. There are tons of great restaurants and stores in the Dallas area, which suggests that there is a lot of disposable income around.

Our final stop was Salt Grass steakhouse where we saw amazing desserts earlier in the week. Bubby and I shared a key lime pie (the red stuff is fresh strawberry puree). It was sinfully delicious and we licked our plate clean.

Booty and Laurie opted for a huge brownie sundae. They said the brownies were a little too rich, but I watched them put quite a dent in the dessert anyway.

We drove home and passed Mary Kay corporate headquarters (our photos didn't turn out) and we caught the last performance on American Idol (Booty and Laur are following it). We talked to Daniel and Blair and his girls on Skype, and then I went to bed. Tomorrow at 2:10 PM, we begin our journey home. It was been really fun to visit with Matt and Laurie in Dallas. We know that they feel far from home, but this place, and their situation is really very, very good. This looks like a good place for Leo to start out.

Buboppy

Arboretum Day

The previous posting was my first attempt at posting an iPhoto movie to Blogspot. The quality is so much reduced I am not very happy with it, but it was an interesting exercise. Yesterday morning began with a trip to the Corner Bakery Cafe. There are several near here, and the food was very good. Laurie had something called baked French toast (it looked a lot like bread pudding) and all proclaimed it very tasty.

Bubby insisted on a photo with Poppy outside the restaurant, so this is what you get.

We went to the Dallas Arboretum and spring was in full bloom. The tulips were past their peak, but still very beautiful. Lots of colors and varieties as you can see from this photo.

I am sure that I took too many flower photos, but it was fun. This arboretum was very interesting. They encouraged families to lay out a blanket on the lawn and have lunch together. More user friendly than most of these places. People were taking advantage of the lovely morning and the beautiful surroundings.

One of the most interesting aspects of the tulip beds was the color combinations they had planted. We enjoyed the subtle color variations and I took lots of closeup photos (at least as closeup as my camera will allow).

There was a really neat fountain in one section of the arboretum that included four of these water spouting toads. We wondered if visitors took advantage of their cool, but powerful, spray during the summer heat. We did notice that the arboretum hosts a variety of activities through the year including concerts. Most of the acts were names you wouldn't recognize but I did see that Asleep at the Wheel is coming in June. That particular brand of Texas swing is one of Bubby's favorites.

Bubby really liked these flowers, but I am not sure we ever figured out what they are. They were wide open and soaking up the lovely sunshine.

There was a sod house on the site which we thought was an interesting addition. The walls were at least a foot thick and the interior cool. It looked like a better living option than a tent.

Before visiting a monster Joann Fabric store and a huge Mexican market, we had lunch at Spring Creek BBQ restaurant. We all had a brisket sandwich, which you can see Bubby enjoying in this photo. Every few minutes, someone comes around the room and offers hot rolls to all. Of course the hot bread was fantastic. Bubby said she would carry a honey bear with her in future.

Buboppy

Easter Weekend

We spent Saturday afternoon recovering from our early run south and "rigors" of fishing. Laur is plugging along, and as you can see from this photo, is doing just fine.

Matt really had to work at it, but he eventually overcame the clever programming of his new modem and got it to work with his wireless router. In this photo, Laurie and I are happily surfing the net and even transferring photos from one computer to another (Apple makes that so easy!).

For dinner on Saturday night, we decided that the fish weren't ever going to be any fresher, so we battered and pan-fried them. They were lovely little white fish fillets, as you can see, and all ate some. We still have a few, and they would probably be delicious in a fish taco.

At church we ran into Rusty's mom and Trisha wanted a photo. I think the likeness to Hannah is remarkable (for our readers who can follow this thread without my using last names).

This was our Easter dinner, and it was doolicious. You can't beat ham and funeral potatoes anyway, and when one considers the addition of homemade rolls and a nice green salad, the meal was a real success. Of course we all ate extravagantly, but isn't that kind of a holiday thing?

We went for a walk in the neighborhood after our dinner and, of course, Bubby found the trappings of spring all around. I got her to pose by one of the hundreds of tulips we encountered on our way. The tulips are almost through in Dallas but they haven't yet started in Cedar City. That gives us something for which to look forward.

The dynamic duo are staying "classy" in their San Diego shirts. I can't believe that Booty is willing to twin (something I always felt was a little too "cue-aha" for me), but here is the evidence.

We had a lovely Easter Sunday, and hope that all of our readers did, too. Dallas is a beautiful community with lots of churches and lovely homes. I can see this being home, if a person had a job to keep him/her there.

Buboppy