ricks and i just returned to davis from our spring break in utah this last saturday. here is the recap: i left march 8 bright and early (4 am to be exact) to catch my flight out of sacramento. ricks was to follow a week later when his spring break actually started. the first week i was in utah, my time was spent doing various things with my mom to help my sister. my sister, alicia, had just given birth to her triplets and was laid up in the hospital recovering from a c-section. the triplets came much earlier than expected. in fact their arrival was so unexpected that alicia had 2 baby showers planned for the weekend that she was in the hospital. my mom and i were sent as ambassadors to her ward shower. we brought along a computer and skyped her in from the hospital to visit with her friends and neighbors. the following evening, my sisters and i had planned a family shower for alicia. the shower went on as planned and again, we skyped alicia in from the hospital. it ended up working out really well.
so, the first 2 nights i was in utah, i went to a couple of baby showers! i had previously created a registry for my sister on myregistry.com and, once the showers had taken place, it became my mom and my responsibility to return extra items in exchange for necessaries. we ran around all week, registry held firmly in hand, gathering any as yet unpurchased essentials. it was fun spending time with my mom but i think im ok if i never see another target, kohls, or walmart again. anyway, we could what we wanted to done and alicia's house is not totally outfitted for the kiddos to come home from the nicu.
speaking of the babes, only parents and grandparents are allowed up into the nicu and so i still havent been up to see them- although i do have tons of pictures courtesy of my mom. they are teensy tinsy little babes -each around 3 pounds at birth and very slowly packing on the weight. i think at the latest weigh-in, the big boy was 3.12 pounds. there are 2 girls and 1 boy: ethan, elli, and amelia. im excited to be their aunt and to get to know them.
throughout that first week, not a whole lot happened besides working a couple of shifts at the provo hollister, getting a new phone, and helping my sister out. by friday, i was very excited for ricks to come. my mom and i picked up ricks late friday and then we all went home to crash.
on saturday we had ricks' family over for a swimming party. it was fun to quickly catch up with the davis family. and by quickly, i mean quick- all the little kiddos were pretty worn out after swimming for an hour and then, after a short dinner, everyone went home. so, with more of an evening leftover after the party than anticipated, ricks and i watched moneyball. sunday was church and family dinner. my mom (who gives gifts for any and every occassion) gave us our easter presents because we were all at home. the boys got a light up toy - because all boys need to act like they are 5 every once in a while- and the girls got some awesome charm bracelets. and, of course, sunday wouldnt be complete without a visit to my grandma wilson's home.
this particular week, my family was planning on going on a trip together. we had discussed potential locations but nothing ever really came together and so instead we decided to just hang out in utah. now, looking back, it was definitely a good thing we were all in utah because of the triplets' arrival. so, in lieu of a real vacation, we opted to have a staycation.
monday i had made plans to have birthday lunch with ricks mom and sisters. we went to buca di beppos and ate well. that afternoon my mom and my sisters went and got manicures while enjoying sees chocolates. that night we went to Big Fish to watch a movie in the theater. we chose Dr No and ate Buffalo Wild Wings and pizza. it was really a lot of fun-one of our more favorite activites of the week. tuesday we went with my mom to check out the crate and barrel in salt lake, buy some kitchen things, and eat lunch at cheesecake factory. YUM! that night, ricks went to salt to be with his dad and i started feeling pretty yucky. wednesday we got massages and then spent the afternoon with mindy and elsie riding bikes and making hummus. it was really fun to spend enough time with elsie and to see her come out of her shell a little bit. she is such a cutie. we left mindys to see wes, danae, and robert. we were going to go bowling but the lanes were so busy that we chose to go back to the snows home and just have a chill evening enjoying each others company and some good food. ricks and i are really grateful for friends as wonderful as wes and danae. i had felt pretty terrible all day and really didnt get much sleep that week either and so by the time we left the snows, i was ready to get home. i went to sleep with a pretty bad fever and woke up radiating heat. i felt poor enough that i missed out on an opportunity to go flying with my dad. ricks still went and im extremely jealous because they flew to jackson hole, over the tetons and around yellowstone. and i just laid in bed feeling gross. as the day wore on i started feeling a little better and even went to get some food with alicia and my mom only to come home to lay on the couch a little more. the upside of all this was that i got to watch an episode of frozen planet on the discovery channel which totally blew my mind. it was really cool.
thursday night, we went to the culinary school at uvu for dinner. having dinner there was one of the more fun dinners that ive ever had. theres a lot of food, so you get to try a little (or a lot) of everything and most everything is made pretty well. i really loved the chicken tikka masala and the potato dumplings with spicy chipotle chutney.
friday was our last day in ut and everyone wanted to do one last thing with us. we went bowling with kim and ksenia, visited mindy who gave us a really sweet care package for the drive home, said hi to neal and family briefly and then saw ricks' parents and tami and family. that night we had dinner at pat's bbq. it was pretty funny to watch us eat. youd think we were starving the way we wolfed down the food, but man, was it good! the last item on the agenda was to bring my sister-in-law some dinner at her new job while simultaneously checking out slc's new city creek shopping center. we visited paulina at tumi and then walked around. it was crazy crowded at the mall but, admittedly, the mall was pretty cool. im glad i got to see and i think it will be fun to go shopping there in the future.
it was really really good to see family and to relax a bit and help a bit, too. i love my family a lot and its hard living away from them but it just makes it that much sweeter to come home and be with them.
saturday we prepped the subaru for the drive home and quickly stopped by my grandma worthingtons to pick up some famous strawberry jam. we then drove pretty solidly from 830am pacific time to 630pm with only a couple of stops for gas. its good to be home. we taught our primary classes and made some rolls to go with the jam and now its back to life as usual.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
friend of the river.
ricks is the newest friend of the river! this summer ricks will be interning at a non-profit in sacramento called Friends of the River. the group is californias statewide river conservation organization. and yes, i did just steal that from their website. i cant think of a better way for my river boy to be spending his summer than to be working to preserve rivers - although i think that he cares more about preserving kayakers rights to rivers than actually preserving rivers... just kidding!
happy birthday ethan, elli, and amelia!
SO MUCH TO WRITE ABOUT. my goodness.
well lets do this thing in chronological order shall we?
first was vday and my bday. for valentines, ricks made steak and gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and i made creme brulee. we exchanged some simple gifts: flowers, smores, and clay for me, snackies and an "i love you more than ___ loves ____" white board for the boy. then we watched the west wing. super romantic.
for my birthday we ate at plutos and went bowling. one of the girls on our bowling team had her birthday the same day so we ate cupcakes. by the way our team is currently ranked 5 out 12. we are the bomb.com. for my birthday, ricks made his first ever cake, from scratch, no less and with buttercream frosting! it was verrrry yummy. and then ricks went out of town that weekend for jrcls conference which he really enjoyed. i just partied in my pjs. it was awesome.
school school school.
weekend: this time it was yosemite. we left on friday with bobbiejane and dave in tow and headed south. we had 18 inch twizzlers and mountain dew to keep us happy on the drive as well as a little chipotle for dinner. we got to yosemite and immediately headed out to check out the stars sans light pollution. it was amazing!!!! that night we stayed in a cute little cabin that was so nice and warm and then woke up the next morning ready to hike to the top of upper yosemite falls. i dont even know what to say about the hike. first of all, it was beautiful. the falls were gorgeous and the weather was perfect (60s, no snow, no crowd.) but man, did that hike kill, but... at the same time, it really wasnt that bad. i dunno. i guess some parts were super hard and others were fine? it was fun either way and im way glad we did it because the view was gorgeous.
after the hike we wanted to catch horse tail falls on fire. there are a couple of weeks during the last part of february when the sun hits the falls just right so that the water looks like flames. it didnt really seem like the park was that crowded but i guess everyone that was in yosemite parked to see the fire waterfall because dang, was it crazy along the road in front of el cap. we waited and waited and not much happened to the waterfall but then we learned that the phenomenon isnt really visible to the naked eye. to really see it, you need to take a picture. so we took pictures and in the pics it looked a bit more fiery but still wasnt much. so we left beautiful yosemite without any super awesome fire watefall pics. we are so glad we went to yosemite and even gladder we went with the culbertsons. they definitely made the trip fun.
school, school, school.
weekend: this time around, it was san francisco. ricks had no school on friday and i didnt have any work and so we lounged around like it was going out of style. on saturday we woke up, had a slow morning, and then headed into the city. our goal was to scope out the mission district.
we landed on valencia street and wandered around from shop to shop. favorites included an absolutely killer video rental store with films arranged by director, genre, and subgenre. loved it. we also really enjoyed an italian shop with countless varieties of peppers and olives and a great pasta selection. we also found a mid-cen modern furniture shop. i wanted to move in then and there. everything was beautiful!
dinner was delfina. we had a prosciutto and arugula pizza and an olive sampler appetizer. YUM. we are definitely planning on going back. it was so very good. we were glad that we had a late lunch though because somehow we still had to wait to be seated at 3 in the afternoon. i cant imagine what it would be like at noon or 7. next door to delfina is tartine bakery on one side and birite creamery on the other. that day we chose tartine so that we could get it to go. you see, we werent exactly hungry after gorging ourselves at the pizza shop... tartine was already sold out of the pain au chocolate unfortunately and so instead we purchased bread pudding, a lemon tart, and a coconut tart. the coconut tart had a puff pastry shell with a layer of chocolate on the bottom. way yummy. the lemon tart was too tart for me but the bread pudding was to-die for. super good. i cant wait to go back and to try something more chocolatey!
we had a little time to kill before picking my parents up from the aiport and so we decided to drive to half moon bay. the drive to the bay was enchanting. all along the way was christmas tree farms. it was so fun to see all the christmas trees at various stages in their life. the bay was beautiful. we got there in time to watch the sunset. ricks and i felt pretty cliche but enjoyed the moment as we held hands and walked up and down the beach with all the beautiful "cliffs."
after half moon bay, it was time to see my mom and dad. my parents spent a couple of weeks in thailand and on their way home to utah, they had an overnight layover in san francisco. once we met them at the hotel, it was quickly decided that dinner was needed. we headed to the broadway grill and ordered meat all around! a couple of steaks, steak frites, and one meatloaf. my parents told us as much as they could about their trip before we headed to bed. the next morning we woke up bright and early so we could see as much of sf as possible before their flight. first, we of course went to mamas for breakfast. i tried the buttermilk pancakes. so very yummy and delicious but i think next time ill get my favorite chocolate and cinnamon french toast. i sure love anything with chocolate. after breakfast we found lombard street and took the 2 second drive down the winding road. the road was a lot smaller than what i had imagined but it was cute. the best part was the view of the rock at the bottom. most of the day was spent exploring the presidio. we stopped at a few really fabulous viewpoints, one of which included a naked guy enjoying the freezing ocean water. i guess you havent really seen sf until youve seen a naked person in sf. so... done and done! moving on. my favorite place that we stopped at was baker beach. it was a different view of the bridge than i was used to and it was also really fun to watch the psycho dogs running around. ricks was the designated driver all weekend (city driving = scary for lex). there were a couple of parking mishaps and i may have uttered a naughty word. i was pretty embarrassed that it popped out, especially in front of my parents! oops. but, as my dad said, it was nothing more than an archaic form of french. haha.
finally, it was time to say goodbye to my mom and dad. we dropped them off at the oakland airport and then drove back to davis. i promptly fell asleep in the car. i was worn out from a fun weekend.
last but certainly not least: today my sister gave birth to 3 beautiful babies! i am thrilled to go home this thursday to see the sweeties. i am so happy for my sister and her husband. they are going to be the cutest parents in the whole world. these are happy times for their family.
maybe someday i will load pics from my camera. but its not likely.
well lets do this thing in chronological order shall we?
first was vday and my bday. for valentines, ricks made steak and gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and i made creme brulee. we exchanged some simple gifts: flowers, smores, and clay for me, snackies and an "i love you more than ___ loves ____" white board for the boy. then we watched the west wing. super romantic.
for my birthday we ate at plutos and went bowling. one of the girls on our bowling team had her birthday the same day so we ate cupcakes. by the way our team is currently ranked 5 out 12. we are the bomb.com. for my birthday, ricks made his first ever cake, from scratch, no less and with buttercream frosting! it was verrrry yummy. and then ricks went out of town that weekend for jrcls conference which he really enjoyed. i just partied in my pjs. it was awesome.
school school school.
weekend: this time it was yosemite. we left on friday with bobbiejane and dave in tow and headed south. we had 18 inch twizzlers and mountain dew to keep us happy on the drive as well as a little chipotle for dinner. we got to yosemite and immediately headed out to check out the stars sans light pollution. it was amazing!!!! that night we stayed in a cute little cabin that was so nice and warm and then woke up the next morning ready to hike to the top of upper yosemite falls. i dont even know what to say about the hike. first of all, it was beautiful. the falls were gorgeous and the weather was perfect (60s, no snow, no crowd.) but man, did that hike kill, but... at the same time, it really wasnt that bad. i dunno. i guess some parts were super hard and others were fine? it was fun either way and im way glad we did it because the view was gorgeous.
after the hike we wanted to catch horse tail falls on fire. there are a couple of weeks during the last part of february when the sun hits the falls just right so that the water looks like flames. it didnt really seem like the park was that crowded but i guess everyone that was in yosemite parked to see the fire waterfall because dang, was it crazy along the road in front of el cap. we waited and waited and not much happened to the waterfall but then we learned that the phenomenon isnt really visible to the naked eye. to really see it, you need to take a picture. so we took pictures and in the pics it looked a bit more fiery but still wasnt much. so we left beautiful yosemite without any super awesome fire watefall pics. we are so glad we went to yosemite and even gladder we went with the culbertsons. they definitely made the trip fun.
school, school, school.
weekend: this time around, it was san francisco. ricks had no school on friday and i didnt have any work and so we lounged around like it was going out of style. on saturday we woke up, had a slow morning, and then headed into the city. our goal was to scope out the mission district.
we landed on valencia street and wandered around from shop to shop. favorites included an absolutely killer video rental store with films arranged by director, genre, and subgenre. loved it. we also really enjoyed an italian shop with countless varieties of peppers and olives and a great pasta selection. we also found a mid-cen modern furniture shop. i wanted to move in then and there. everything was beautiful!
dinner was delfina. we had a prosciutto and arugula pizza and an olive sampler appetizer. YUM. we are definitely planning on going back. it was so very good. we were glad that we had a late lunch though because somehow we still had to wait to be seated at 3 in the afternoon. i cant imagine what it would be like at noon or 7. next door to delfina is tartine bakery on one side and birite creamery on the other. that day we chose tartine so that we could get it to go. you see, we werent exactly hungry after gorging ourselves at the pizza shop... tartine was already sold out of the pain au chocolate unfortunately and so instead we purchased bread pudding, a lemon tart, and a coconut tart. the coconut tart had a puff pastry shell with a layer of chocolate on the bottom. way yummy. the lemon tart was too tart for me but the bread pudding was to-die for. super good. i cant wait to go back and to try something more chocolatey!
we had a little time to kill before picking my parents up from the aiport and so we decided to drive to half moon bay. the drive to the bay was enchanting. all along the way was christmas tree farms. it was so fun to see all the christmas trees at various stages in their life. the bay was beautiful. we got there in time to watch the sunset. ricks and i felt pretty cliche but enjoyed the moment as we held hands and walked up and down the beach with all the beautiful "cliffs."
after half moon bay, it was time to see my mom and dad. my parents spent a couple of weeks in thailand and on their way home to utah, they had an overnight layover in san francisco. once we met them at the hotel, it was quickly decided that dinner was needed. we headed to the broadway grill and ordered meat all around! a couple of steaks, steak frites, and one meatloaf. my parents told us as much as they could about their trip before we headed to bed. the next morning we woke up bright and early so we could see as much of sf as possible before their flight. first, we of course went to mamas for breakfast. i tried the buttermilk pancakes. so very yummy and delicious but i think next time ill get my favorite chocolate and cinnamon french toast. i sure love anything with chocolate. after breakfast we found lombard street and took the 2 second drive down the winding road. the road was a lot smaller than what i had imagined but it was cute. the best part was the view of the rock at the bottom. most of the day was spent exploring the presidio. we stopped at a few really fabulous viewpoints, one of which included a naked guy enjoying the freezing ocean water. i guess you havent really seen sf until youve seen a naked person in sf. so... done and done! moving on. my favorite place that we stopped at was baker beach. it was a different view of the bridge than i was used to and it was also really fun to watch the psycho dogs running around. ricks was the designated driver all weekend (city driving = scary for lex). there were a couple of parking mishaps and i may have uttered a naughty word. i was pretty embarrassed that it popped out, especially in front of my parents! oops. but, as my dad said, it was nothing more than an archaic form of french. haha.
finally, it was time to say goodbye to my mom and dad. we dropped them off at the oakland airport and then drove back to davis. i promptly fell asleep in the car. i was worn out from a fun weekend.
last but certainly not least: today my sister gave birth to 3 beautiful babies! i am thrilled to go home this thursday to see the sweeties. i am so happy for my sister and her husband. they are going to be the cutest parents in the whole world. these are happy times for their family.
maybe someday i will load pics from my camera. but its not likely.
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