Here Comes the San Diego Sean

We said "Adios" to Orange County today and said "Hola" to San Diego. Anne's fiance, Snuffle-
upagus Sean (I jokingly call him that because they had been together on and off for 11 years before we met him to prove his existence.) lives there and it would be our only chance to get to hang out together. Avoiding the San Diego area has been a priority ever since our family twice made the mistake of visiting Legoland at Christmas time. We are afraid if the boys see signs featuring their favorite toy, we might get roped into going back. I promised myself I wouldn't let that happen a third time.

We managed not to get sucked back in, the boys blissfully unaware that Legos were anywhere in the vicinity. A quick hike in Balboa Park (nope, not the one we biked to, another Balboa. The name was so great they had to use it twice.) and then off to a yummy Indian lunch. So much yummy food meant we all felt like we needed to walk around some more. We had planned to walk along a boardwalk, but didn't quite do that. The boys walked down to the beach and ran around playing chasing seagulls and waves, while Anne and I shivered and huddled catching up on a picnic table watching the sun setting over the Pacific. (I know all my Utah friends are just crying for me shivering in 50 degree weather.)
Getting to know Sean a little better and having a full day with my absolute favorite two people stuck (oh, how I wish I would be stuck here) in Southern California was an absolutely delightful way to spend our last day of 2010.

Parks: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Park Day! Head out on a Southern California vacation and say you spent a day at "the parks" and most people think you mean Disney, Knott's, Legoland (ugh!), Universal Studios or any of the other plethora of theme park dotting the landscape of Orange and San Diego Counties.





Those people don't know my family.
Every year we offer the boys their choice of "parks" and they un-
equivocally and routinely say "Uh, no thanks, that doesn't sound like fun." Alien children! Just to make sure we heard right, Bill and I counter with "Are you sure. You know they have a Simpson's/ Buzz Lightyear/ Snoopy ride, right? Still, no?" Which is predictably followed with "If you guys want to go, I guess we can go." As if Bill and I are just dying to stand in 2 hour + lines to ride It's a Small World. (We checked Anne's Disneyland wait times app, just for kicks to see how crowded it was.) No, parks for us on vacation means finding the best park in the city and riding our bikes to it's playground, to stay for however long we want taking in the sun and air. Now when the park shares a name with a V.I.P. member of the family, well that is just a bonus.


Bill Barber Park in Irvine was a nice 10 mile round trip bike ride to a gigantic city park equipped with pools, play
grounds, baseball and soccer fields, and heaven only knows what else. The boys stayed in the playground area having Bill time them as they did "Ninja Training". Ninja Training amounted to running self made obstacle courses over and over trying to beat their previous times. After our mini-ninjas had been trained, we had to shoot some pictures with Bill and his park. He had scouted some locations on his bike to find just the right signs.


After our fun morning at Bill Barber park (that is just fun to type) we grabbed lunch and headed to Anne's place where we wanted to hike around a wilderness park in her area while Bill biked it. Immediately after paying for parking, the ranger let us know all the trails were closed due to the rains and flooding. We wouldn't give up our walk and found another trail behind her neighborhood. Our last park of the day was Oak Park, and this is where it got ugly. The boys were playing while waiting for Anne and Q to meet us there before dinner. While they were waiting Romney took a hard smack to the forehead when he slipped and fell off the playgrounds zip line. He was in so much pain as we rushed to get ice and Tylenol from a drugstore. With our family histories, Bill and I take head injuries very seriously, and decided we would rather be safe than sorry and rushed Romney to the E.R. to be looked at. Luckily, his pain subsided, the Dr. checked him out and felt confident he was OK and released him to go home. William felt so guilty since he had been the one who was pushing Romney before the fall. Quentin invited William to hang out with him instead of the E.R., but William would not leave Romney's side. Romney came out of the E.R and heard that and said "My life just wouldn't be happy with out William". To which William responded "I would just die without you, Romney." This was especially nice to hear after having to referee an argument about an hour before the fall. Romney and I were both more snugly than ever (and he likes to cuddle) after that scare. We sat in the back seat together the entire way home with him leaning on me and holding both my hands.

Flexible Planning or Planning On Being Flexible

Rain, Rain, go away! Warm and rainy is still better than icy, and blizzardy, which according to the news is what Salt Lake is facing. Blech. No, thanks! Since the rain chased away our bike ride for the day (plan A), we thought we would head to Griffith Park in L.A. for some hiking and playing and generally just trying to be outside as much as the weather would allow (our plan B).


We made it to Griffith-- A coyote looking for a mid-morning snack greeted us, and the sun miraculously peaked out of the clouds for about 30 minutes. Long enough for the boys to get some good playground time in. Our hikes were a no-go today. Between the rain today, plus the previous week's downpour, the trails were awash in mudslide mud and closed to the public.


Mud is not a problem for my guys, closed trails are. We found a playground and after a long car ride up north, they were begging us to get out of the car and play around. We got the brilliant idea to use the sun to hike to the Hollywood sign (Plan C). Not wanting to miss our window of sunshine opportunity, we took off up the hill to the "trail head" only to find it was "Under heavy 24 hour surveillance." and also "closed to the public". A quick google search would have solved that problem in the first place, with an alternative hiking route, but alas, we didn't stop to look first and by the time we would have made it to the other trail, our window would be closed. No biggie-- we had another alternative plan. The Griffith Park Observatory (Plan D).


Since it was raining anyway, we thought we would take in the view from Mulholland Dr. for a minute, and then head to the observatory (modification of Plan D). The view was taken in, a short mud walk was enjoyed and back into the car for more L.A. driving. (Back to Griffith Park). We got to the observatory. The parking lot was full, the cars were lined up down the hill for 1/2 a mile and we decided--Ok, we came, we saw, we got crowded out. Next stop LUNCH! (onto plan E)


Using my handy-dandy iphone Vegout app, we found a place a few miles away on La Brea that looked promising. Not very many dollar signs and lots of stars next to the name is how we pick our restaurants. Not very scientific, but it seems to usually work for us. This time, we were a bit disappointed. It was healthy Japanese (promising, right?) with all kinds of sea vegetables, sprouted brown rice and Kabocha pumpkin. Sounded delicious, however it was bland and needed another dollar sign next to it's name. (Back to Native Foods for dinner.) The store next door to the restaurant was an iron working store, with neat things to buy like metal medieval helmets and armor. Romney was perfectly willing to drop 50 bones on a set of iron clad gloves and a 10 pound, snap -your- tiny -little- neck-helmet. Luckily, after a long discussion about whether or not he should get them, he came up with the solution to have the man (who gave Romney his business card) send Romney photos of the gear, so he wouldn't have to pay for the armor, but could still look at it when he wanted. He is a pretty smart kiddo.

As the sun started poking through the clouds again, yet another brilliant idea came to us. . . (plan F) Venice Beach for roller skating and then the Santa Monica pier for the arcade. Drove out to the beach to find strong winds that chilled to the bone. We nixed the roller skating (modification of plan F). The pier was next. The boys were both excited to test their "passion" levels by putting a quarter in the old machines. They both came out on top. William is "hot-stuff" and Romney is "Uncontrollable" for the record. (As if we didn't know that.)


Cold, but indoors, the arcade got a quick walk through, straight to the place that sold Hot Chocolate (plan G). The boys grabbed a warm treat and asked if we could go home yet. We could. We did. We met Anne and Q at the hotel and headed straight back out for food (always a good plan). The hungry pack of us went to a mall (I feel funny using that word. It doesn't seem fair to use the same word to describe the place we went -to the kind of places we have in Utah. If it has Rolex, Louis Vitton, Gucci, Harry Winston and Cartier in it, it doesn't seem like "mall" works. That word just conjures up horrible images of Sears and JC Penny in our neck of the woods.) Dinner was eaten and the hotel was calling us to our beds. Here is hoping we don't need to come up with as many "ingenious" plans (A, B, C and D, E, F and G like today) tomorrow. Bill Barber Park (Yes, it does exist here within biking distance from the hotel) is calling our names (Well, Bill's anyway.)

Surf and Turf Biking Style

Two angelic little boys lay sleeping last night. Thank goodness for that or else they would have not had energy for what was to come the next morning. . .











When you come from a state that regularly has red-air days that force you inside, or sub-freezing weather accompanied by snow storms, or any combination of the above, you don't stay inside on 70 degree, sunny weather days when you get them in December. The plan- go outside and stay there. All day. Mission accomplished.



We began our day at 9 a.m. biking along the Back Bay trail through a nature preserve where pedestrians, bicycles and bird watchers co-existed peacefully. Miles of paved paths meander through this lovely ecological preserve hidden (well mostly, it is Southern California after all) from traffic and subdivisions. At the end of that trail we ended up at the PCH and made the call to head to Balboa island on our bikes. It was only a mile to the bridge and the promise of an arcade and lunch helped keep the boys excited and motivated to keep on keepin' on.


We visited Balboa (not on bikes) last year, but the boys didn't remember much about it until we got on the ferry. That moment the "oh yeah, I remember"s started to come. I watched the bikes (Thank you very much for the stolen bicycle paranoia, Vancouver.) while Bill took the boys to the arcade for a few minutes. The boys weren't hungry for lunch yet, so we rode our bikes along the ocean for another couple of miles to the Newport Beach Pier and back and hunted down some chow----


Pizza so large it required not one, but two plates to contain it. We felt the boys had earned that pizza slice by biking a total of 18 miles today. They never complained. Nope, not once. Not even our youngest with the shortest legs. In fact, he kept William and I moving trying to chase him down the path. He was so fast. (Bill, of course, had no problem with the speed or length of the ride.)


We hooked up with Anne and Q for a quick trip before the sun went down to park with a wonderful climbing wall for the boys to practice their Parkour skill. We killed some time at a Barnes and Noble and then hit dinner (guess where) with our favorite Southern Californians. Romney spent part of the night amazing passerbys with his rock climbing skills as he bouldered up and down the pillars of the exterior of the shopping center. (That should teach whoever not to build them with handholds so easily available.) Q who spent the evening chasing the boys around playing tag asked why we had to keep them so physically fit. Because even after a long bike ride under the warm California sun, he couldn't catch my two munchkins. (Q gets the benefit of the doubt here though, as he is recovering from a cold.) Our day has now come full circle, as I look to my left and see two angelic little men curled up together sleeping in our hotel room with the scene looking much as it did in the photo at the top of the post. Gearing up for another amazing adventure tomorrow.

Photo note: William, if I ate a piece of pizza that big, I would look like I wanted to throw-up, too.

Food, Family, Freakin' Awesome Weather!

Day One of our Southern Cali adventure. We made great time, had decent traffic and arrived at our nice hotel--only to find, they weren't quite ready for us to check in. No problem. I had not eaten lunch yet. My 3 boys stopped at In and Out Burger along the way to quiet their growling stomachs and I would rather starve. We figured with time to kill before check in, we would just hunt down some lunch for me. The reasons I love my iphone are complicated and plentiful, but the one I will mention now is the ability to find Vegan restaurants in any city, complete with a map and directions from my location. I looked up my choices, and much to my complete and utter joy found at least 10 choices within 4 miles. I picked this place: www.nativefoods.com. Heaven. Completely Vegan! For those of you who have never had the experience of only being able to choose one or two items on a menu, you won't get how excited I am by this. Those who have-- you'll undeniably get it! Imagine having a menu with at least 40! different choices-- all healthy, all tasty and all that meet your dietary restrictions! Yup, when I die, forget heaven-- I want to spend eternity there!
*For the curious (Emily) I ate a Enchilada Bowl complete with a sweet pepper popper for lunch. Went back for dinner (Oh yes, I did!) with Anne. I had a side salad, a bowl of steamed kale and tomatoes, a cup of zucchini-tomato soup and half of a pumpkin caramel cheesecake for dessert. (Anne had a reuben, Bill had a portebello and sausage burger--all of it--DELICIOUS!)


We got checked in and after a bit of a room shuffle (Thinking we would upgrade, but found it was really a down-grade with more square footage and then switching back to the original, nicer room) went on a walk with Anne and Q at Backbay Nature Preserve to try and get some kind of movement happening. It was so lovely to watch the sunset over the pacific (even though we couldn't see the water from where we were "hiking"). Romney was thrilled because he "discovered" the roof of the nature center which was complete with benches and a telescope. He watched the sunset (which he described as looking like a rainbow) all the way to darkness through the telescope. Those moments of innocent joy are happy reminders of why I wanted to get fit to enjoy the outdoors with my men. I wouldn't have missed his "discovery" for anything!

P.S. Did I mention it was 70 degrees today and that we ate both lunch and dinner outdoors?

Vegas, Baby!

When Bill and I were spry and unencumbered by younglings (not to mention stifled by BYU's absolutely mind-numbing sterility) we enjoyed road-tripping to Las Vegas. Palm Trees, sunshine, free shows, cheap hotel rooms and inexpensive all you can eat buffets drew us in and spoke to us-promising adventure and freedom. (Though, we seemed to always pay for those buffets in many other unmentionable ways.) Now that we have our two munchkins, the place, for us, has lost it's once beautiful neon glow- replaced by the filth and seediness that is the actual Vegas. Romney walked around town pointing to various posters and advertisements and simply called out-- "inappropriate". Can't really argue- the place is entirely inappropriate for an 8 year old and a 12 year old.
All that being said, it is the perfect little-over-half-way-there stop on the way to Southern California. Big bonus, my sister Andrea lives there, and we get to see her once a year on our way to our Christmas Vacation Destination. We booked a condo, which fit our "not-a-casino" criteria to have a nice overnighter and visit with my sister.


We hooked up with Andrea to enjoy a nice evening of good Japanese food, a trip to Borders for the boys to spend the gift cards she gave them on some super-fun books, and a tour of both the Luxor and Excalibur Casinos. The boys really wanted to see the inside of the pyramid and castle. What kid wouldn't? though meant for adults, the outsides are designed in such a way that kids are drawn to them like moths to flame.


The boys really loved walking around the outside of the buildings, but once inside couldn't stand the smoke and noise and smells that come standard in those aging edifices. We snuck on the incline-elevator at the Luxor (much to the chagrin of our super-rule-follower-with-no-excuses-or-excpetions, William) and zoomed up to the 30th floor. Our boundary-pushing-at-all-costs-until-I-cross-the-liner, Romney, was in heaven. Feeling like he was a super spy on a mission to infiltrate the secure area of the "guest floors". Once we had let them play a carnival game at Excalibur we realized it was almost midnight Utah time and time to hurry back to the safety of our condo to rest up for the travels of the next day.

I'm Dreaming of a Non-White Christmas

Dreams do come true, snow does melt and Christmas was "non-white" (in Utah that phrase is rare in so very many ways). I thought about apologizing to my fellow Utahns who were praying for snow, but then I remembered that my prayers for NO snow go unanswered 9 out of 10 times, and gosh-darn-it, it is my turn to "win" this year. (Insert the very mature tongue sticking out here).


Christmas with kids is magical, white or not! The boys slept well, but woke up excited and ready to go. They hit their stockings hard and had fun checking out their "big", unwrapped presents. (This is what other parents might call "Santa" presents). Romney was thrilled to get a sewing machine with a book on how to use it and a container full of fabric. He can't wait to make pillows and stuffies and all sorts of cuddly things. William had a note telling him where to find his present using both the german word for christmas tree and the directions "north-west part of the room". Yup, it took our directionally challenged son a couple of minutes to figure out where his big present was hiding. But. . .

it was so worth the hunt. Our 12 year old, technically savy tween was thrilled to see an ipod nano hanging in the tree. He was even more thrilled to find that Bill had loaded it with music for him. He spent the better part of the day with earbuds in-- breaking into random dancing and fits of singing. Loved it!




Romney and William enjoyed taking turns unwrapping Nerf guns, DS games, books, legos and --the piece de' resistance-- they each received a solar powered building kit. The kit builds 30 different contraptions that will all run either on battery or solar power. The boys spent all day building cars, tanks, tractors, planes and had a failed attempt at an elevator (still to come).


My Christmas was merry when I came out to see a set of my very own, shiny, new cross-country skis! Not only did I get the skis I was hoping for, I also caught a glance out of the corner of my eye of a jewelry store bag hanging on the tree. Bill spent many hours finding a place to buy me one diamond earring. Why one, you may be wondering? I lost just one of my precious 10 year anniversary earrings in a park in Park City a few weeks back taking a lovely winter walk with my handsome husband. The ear warmers I had been wearing must have rubbed the back of the earrings loose and it fell out, and I was devastated. They hold sentimental value and didn't want to replace the whole pair, so Bill found a store willing to match it and sell him just one. I can't tell by looking at them which is the new, vs. the original. Great job, honey! The boys always thoughtful get a shout out here as well! William made me a customized ear warmer/headband. He picked out purple sparkles because they matched my new coat, and placed them in the shape of the Wonder Woman crown (using an image from a comic book to help his get it just right). Now I can look like a sparkly Wonder Woman while trying to keep warm in this frozen tundra. Romney picked out a pair of glass earrings that have all of my favorite colors swirling in them and it matches my favorite sweater. Very thoughtful men, the three of them! I love being the only girl!

Bill's big present this year is a chance to fulfill a yearning of his. Woodworking classes. He has been saying he would like to learn for years --ever since we bought a home built over a hundred years ago with a porch in need of repair. I bought him a drill, a wood shop gift card and some Real Salt Lake gear to round him out.


Many of you have asked why our family has never participated in perpetuating the myth of Santa with our kids. This photo right here is why. Why should some fantastical fat man in a red suit be the recipient of this unsolicited, spontaneous display of gratitude?

Hodgepodge

Every time I turn on my computer I am forced to face a number of photos staring at me from my desktop, begging for a place in a blog or at the very least to be filed away in a more suitable digital containment. I keep telling myself I will blog about each and every one. Then I start thinking of the actual process of writing the blogs and decide turning off the computer to not have to face the photos anymore is the easier solution. In order to silence the guilt, I am not going to give each one a rightful blog entry- I figure a few sentences will suffice and allow me and the photos to find peace with each other.

December started with the visit of Anne and Quentin for Bill's dad's 60th birthday party and Romney's baptism. Fun was had, rocks were climbed, snow was played in. Ideas were put into my head about how fun it might be to try cross country skiing in. I mentioned to Bill that I would like to try cross country skiing this year. Bill, no dummy and having 13 years of experience with my flights of fancy, decided it would be best to go before I changed my mind about the whole thing. He took a day off, had me arrange to borrow some skis and we were back at the park to try out my cross country skills (or lack thereof) within a week. This flight of fancy proved to be entertaining. With sunshine, clean fresh air and a method of exercise I am not yet sick of, it was a blast.


Romney enjoyed hanging out with his third favorite Leo (Bill and I being #1 and #2 with our August birthdays) at the 50% off all Real Salt Lake merchandise sale. (You didn't think this family would skip that event. Not with 3 soccer lovers in the house.) Romney was super thrilled to pose with Leo and get a free t-shirt and backpack. William asked to be excused from said embarrassment. Not even the promise of free stuff would sway his decision to stay far, far away from the dude in the lion suit.


Last, but not least, we enjoyed our before Christmas holiday tradition of decorating cookies with the Johnsons. Sugar cookies are to me as Kryptonite is to Superman. They get me every time. So, in order to keep to my one cookie limit, I went a different direction and made vegan gingerbread men cookies. They were tasty, but not TOO tasty. Still fun to decorate. Grateful to have had that time with our friends. (This is the one photo that did not taunt me. I had to pull one off the internet, for I was lazy and did not take any that day.)

Okay, photos-- I say to you--published, now get off my desktop!

The Reason Eight Is Great

Please, oh please, let someone out there have taken a better picture than I did. Why, I lament, did I neglect to bring a decent camera inside the church? Did I forget to bring one from home in a hurry to get out the door? Nope, it sat out in the back of a car getting cold and lonely while I used my stupid iphone camera. What was wrong with me? Family stress? Pressure of the day? Or just plain lazy? Now I will pay with only a crappy photo of the day my youngest son was baptized.

Romney felt loved and special and excited to take the plunge (Yup, pun totally intended, sorry folks.) Here are some of the highlights- I had a blast (perhaps an exaggeration in my choice of words. But I did enjoy the process.) creating the tri-fold program (see the next two photos) for his baptism. It was fun to think of things to say about Romney in the side bar as well as picking out the photos. (See the difference a good camera can make?) The challenge of making the photo montage of his life for the DVD was a stretch for me. iMovie and I are not quite "best friends", yet, but at least we are on speaking terms. The songs were my way of rebelling against the expected formalness of the situation. Having his young life set to a soundtrack of John Lennon, the Beatles, and finishing off with Flaming Lips instead of primary songs was my way of sticking my tongue out at tradition and Utah-Mormon culture. Bill approved of my mild rebellion so he is partially to blame as my accomplice.


As Romney was getting dressed into his whites, he told Bill "I have waited for four years to get my baptism towel". The towel to which he refers is a white towel with his name embroidered on it, exactly like the one that William received from the last primary presidency on his baptism day. Since I am currently in the primary presidency, and had heard no one mention a towel, I was pretty sure (and so was Bill) that he was not getting one from the church. Bill tried to tell him he would get one later, but probably not that day. While Bill is having that conversation, I am having one with the primary president who is showing me the towel she had embroidered with her machine for him. How inspired was she to do that for my monkey at the last minute. Romney was thrilled to see that white towel with his name on it. Both of his Grandmas gave talks for him that meant a great deal to him. William even offered to give a talk on choosing the right and it was bang on wonderful. I was so proud of both my little men. He got his new set of scriptures, a journal from the ever thoughtful Johnsons, and a german CTR ring from William. He was positively glowing when we all left the stake center to head to the restaurant of his choosing-- Old Spaghetti Factory with his family.

Here is wishing the rest of his year is equally as great.

Goose on Thanksgiving

Two vegetarians and a vegan ended up killing a bird on Thanks-
giving. Sounds like the beginning of a joke. It's actually the beginning of our annual St. George Thanksgiving vacation. Just south of Nephi, Bill and I watched as a Canadian goose took off from the side of the I-15, flying low and slow. Both of us thinking, "I hope that bird gets some elevation soon.", then quickly thinking "I hope that bird turns soon." , finally thinking "OH CRAP!" as we watched our windshield shatter. The noise was enough to make our two backseat boys actually look up from their video games and wonder "what happened?" Gratefully, no one (other than that stupid goose, who should have been much further south by now.) was hurt and the windshield stayed intact long enough for us to make it to St. George and call a glass repair company first thing in the morning.

When we booked the trip, it looked like the weather would be sunny and around 60 degrees each day. Just about perfect. Finicky Utah weather changes on a dime and we ended up with 45 and sunny. We skipped the family bike rides, but headed out on family hikes. We walked from one city park to another with Romney complaining about the cold for the mile and a half. Little did he realize we were enjoying sun and 20 degrees more warmth than he would be at home. Once we got to the park, the little man sat on a spinning ride for about an hour. When he finally got off of the thing, he kept drifting sideways until he fell over onto the wood chips laughing. Bill and I couldn't stop laughing either. It was hilarious. Way funnier than the goose joke.


We convinced our boys to go hiking around Dixie rock. They were not into the hiking this trip, but it was really all we had planned to do. Red rocks seems to have the same effect on my boys that they do on me. They sprung to life. We found all kinds of new trails and the boys enjoyed exploring. (Romney saw this photo and said "That's me worshiping the moon and feeling o' so spiritual".)


The next day we found a hike called the narrows, where only children can fit through a small crevice between two rocks. Our boys were elated. A hike just for them. It wasn't more than a couple hundred feet long, but they felt the thrill of independence. The weather turned cooler on us and we all wanted to retreat to the condo for dinner and movies. Bill the brave, got in a couple of chilly bike rides while the boys and I played basketball at the condo. The goose was our most exciting event, but we are all home safe and sound, relaxed and happy.

Eight Is Great!

Saturday morning Romney woke up to 3 bags worth of balloons all over his floor, streamers and a sign complete with Pikachu (a Pokemon) wishing his a happy birthday declaring "Eight is Gonna' be Great!" May I, as his Mama also add, eight is enough! (They just keep getting older, and older).

Time stands still for no man, woman or child and another birthday has come and gone in the Barber household. We are now free of them until next August. No one gets older again for another 9 months, right?
Romney celebrated by having a swimming party. He invited some buddies, told them to bring a towel, and that was the extent of the work that had to be done on our part. Of course, reminding parents, fending questions about possible presents, making 2 different flavors of cupcakes, and making sure we don't let any children drown while on our watch also counts as work. But it was worth it. Romney seemed to have a great time, and most importantly felt special and loved.
The most important part of any birthday party, the presents! He took in quite a haul. Currently he sits in front of me building lego set number 2 of the 5 he received. He is loving every second of it and it should keep him busy for days turning all those plastic bricks into space battleships, submarines and underwater sea monsters. He has played with some crazy tops, bakugan, pokemon cards and has read the very cool graphic novel about an American born Chinese boy. Thank goodness for a birthday party directly before the first big snow of the season. All those thoughtful gifts now turn into ways to keep him from climbing the walls (which we all know he loves to do!)

Chilzz Out(ta of Here)

Hungry after our Hickman hike, but nervous about finding food, we started for home. Sunday in Utah can turn a normal town into a ghost town, Sunday in a Utah small town can turn a ghost town into . . . well what is more desolate than a ghost town? We had a few snacks in case of a serious emergency, but didn't even have to break them out for we found Chillz in Torrey, Utah. With not another restaurant open in the entire town, we made an easy choice to stop and hope for the best. We walked in, and were greeted at the door by this creepy looking penguin. Not sure if that would be a good sign or a bad sign.



After a quick trip to the bathroom, passing the "bitchin' kitchen", things were starting to look up. Any place that labels their food prep area as "bitchin'" couldn't be too bad, right. We figured we wouldn't get healthy food, but with a vegan, 2 vegetarians and a man with stomach "issues" we were just hoping to find something workable.


Cheese pizzas, a chicken burger and, hallelujah, a veggie patty for me! Like I said, not healthy, but better than starving. Pretty tasty, even if completely junky. I even stole a couple of onion rings from Bill because they just looked too darn tasty! (Plus, I had just been on a hike, right?)



After ordering our tasty artery clogging food, we followed the sign that promised a mecca for little boys: "GAME ROOM", it enticed them from the front of the restaurant.



Straight out of the 80's movie Footloose, it was a game room from the 80's complete with Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Pool and a Pin-ball Machine, not to mention the music! 80's new wave heaven complete with Siouxie and the Banshees and Peter Murphy. William was mortified by his mother singing into her pool cue like a microphone between turns at our family game of pool.