My New Favorite Restaurant

Last night Justin and I went out to dinner with some vendors at a restaurant in Idaho Falls called The Cellar. I had heard about this place, but we've never tried it. Probably because it's about thirty dollars a plate, but hey, when someone else is paying, I'll go anywhere.

It was so nice. They had real tablecloths and napkins, which I absolutely adore anywhere, and excellent service. The best part, though, was my meal. I am still tasting it. It was the most delicious meal I think I've ever had in my entire life. The picture is just one I got off of their website, not my actual meal, but I had their Orange poached salmon, which was to die for, served over risotto with vegetables, dried cranberries, and toasted almonds.
If any of you ever get a chance for a nice night out, you have to try this place!

I just realized that my last two posts have been about food. I think I might have a problem.

Ahh, Heaven!

Yes, it's my favorite time of year. Time for Cadbury Mini Eggs. These are my favorite things on earth and bring me so much joy. Every time I go to the store, I can't resist picking up a bag. I already have three bags sitting in my cupboard, just waiting to be dug into.

I always thought that everyone shared my love of these little eggs until I went to college and none of my roommates had ever tried them. Oh, don't you worry, they were converted before long. In the last few years, they started making these for other holidays, but they just don't seem to taste as delicious when they aren't in the shape of a pretty pastel egg.

Anna's Birthday Weekend

Saturday was Anna's birthday and yes, I'm just now getting around to doing her post. We had a busy weekend, though. On Friday, she got to take treats to her class and then after school had a birthday party with her friends. Our house was a little chaotic, but I hope the girls had fun. The party was a flower theme in hopes of spring coming soon and the girls went away with planted flowers and flower frames. Anna enjoyed herself especially, can you say Barbie? I think her friends know her pretty well.

She started out Saturday morning with Justin making biscuit bubble ring, with a candle in it of course, and then opened a few presents. Later that night we enjoyed the second birthday cake with grandpas and grandmas and a little party. I think Anna had a pretty fun weekend.

This is the flower cake I made for the flower party. Pretty much the easiest cake I've ever made. It's supposed to be a sunflower and I thought it turned out pretty cute.

And of course, it wouldn't be a little girl's birthday without the traditional doll cake. The girls called it The Vera Bradley cake because we went with java blue colors. There's only so much you can do with chocolate frosting.

Happy Birthday, Anna. We hope you had a great day!! You're such a fun, adorable little girl!

Happy Birthday, Jenn!

Happy Birthday, today, to my adorable, sweet, super-fun sister-in-law, Jennifer. She is so much fun to be around and extremely tolerant of my kids. I don't think we could have picked a better wife for Clay. Way to go!! We hope you have great day and have fun skiing!

Clay and Jenn

Jenn, Anna, Zack, Avery, and Ellie

Happy #23!!

Snow Days

The kids have finally gone back to school today. They missed three days in the last week. As happy as I was for them to get a few days off of school, I was even happier to send them back. They did manage to have some fun this past week. These pictures are from Tuesday, a day that they actually did have school. Ogden found some neighbor boys riding four wheelers behind our house and stuck almost in our backyard. He was mesmerized by them and stood out in the cold for probably 20 minutes waiting for them to take him for a ride. Sadly, as soon as they got unstuck, they headed home, so he had to settle for playing with his sisters.

Ellie and Ogden started a cute little showball fight. Ellie could do this forever.
Anna opted for building some type of small snowman by filling the dog dishes with snow. Isn't she a doll?

Before they came in, I made them all pose for a picture together. I love how Ogden can't see anything and is trying to lick the snot off of his face. Oh, boys!

A False Alarm

Last night I was getting the kids ready for bed and showered. Ellie was the last one in and apparently it had gotten a little steamy in the house, because all of a sudden all of the smoke alarms upstairs were going off. I didn't realize what was going on at first. I couldn't figure out what the noise was, but the girls knew for sure. I've learned that all of those drills they do at school really do work.

Ellie had just gotten in the shower and put shampoo in her hair when it went off. She jumped right out of the shower, threw some pajamas and underwear on without even drying herself and was ready to go. Meanwhile, Anna had been standing naked in the bathroom trying to change a bandage on her arm. She was freaking out and I told her to put some clothes on. She said, "no mom, I don't want to get burned." I don't think she realized what kind of burn she would have gotten if she ran out in the freezing cold wet and naked. Ogden was running all over with his hands over his ears.

It was driving me nuts because I couldn't smell any smoke or see any flames. I thought maybe the batteries were dead in the smoke alarm and then realized that all of the alarms were going off. I ran out to the kitchen to check the oven that I had heating for a loaf of bread, but it was fine. I felt like such a bad example because I wouldn't run outside in the freezing cold until I knew exactly what was causing the alarms to go off. Eventually, they shut off after the shower had been off for a couple minutes, but they were sure long minutes.

After it was all done, the kids were talking about how scared they were and Ogden said, "I thought it was bad guys or a robber." No, just steam.