Leprechauns, Buttons, Babies, and Cactus Country

This week has some fun stuff to report!! I'll start by unveiling my "secret project" from last week. 

You can call it a cockpit if you want, or you can call it what the girls affectionately named it: "The Way Back" (a reference to a time machine that was featured in a cute animated movie called "Mr. Peabody and Sherman"). I just wanted to build something that gave Gwen a chance to push "all the buttons", ha ha.

Here's the video I took the night before the girls arrived back home from Louisiana. (49 seconds)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LqQY868dLKoiQ8ENA

And here's a video of the girls going CRAZY pushing all the buttons!! (28 seconds)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VXHGVDC3zDKB8so79

I found this shower bench for about $15 and I spray painted it black.

I also went to several thrift stores to find things to use on this project, like an old CB radio, joysticks, etc. And basically anything I could find that had buttons and was reasonably priced. :)

Scott helped me attach everything with either black zip ties or by screwing it onto the bench from the underside.

My Dad added one last fun idea, too. He suggested that I attach an accordion-style plunger that they can use as an emergency landing joystick of sorts. So we did! It is now zip tied to the front right table leg. :)

The girls are having tons of fun pretending they are either traveling through time or saving the world. Abby wants to learn more about what all the buttons are used for in a plane cockpit, so I suggested she call Uncle Benson to see what he knows about such things. :)

As for the rest of the exciting week . . .

Monday: I talked to Kylie in the morning. She was driving home from an errand at the time, but she showed me the view out her front window of the car as she was driving along. They live so close to the Dolomites (Italian Alps) that she said it's only about a 15 minute drive up to the ski resort at the top. Wow. It's so beautiful there!!

Then, a couple hours later, I took my dear friend Jasmine out to lunch. We got all caught up and had a great time visiting with each other. And the food was great too! She ordered shrimp flatbread and I ordered the sweet pork quesadilla. They forgot to tell me there were several jalapenos inside the quesadilla sections. My first bite in, I was dying! The jalapeno I bit into was so spicy that it's like it stuck to the back of my throat in my voice box or something and I was coughing and sputtering, with tears rolling down my face for a good couple of minutes. After I dug out all the rest of the jalapenos, I did just fine, ha ha.

I loved this picture of Hannah that I found that same day, too. Hannah is on the far right, seated next to her 2 sisters. Kaitlyn, on the left, is pregnant and due in May - this is her first baby, too. Megan is in the middle, and just had her baby in October. All three babies are boys and will be within 6 months of each other. How fun to raise them all together!! Plus, all three sisters are within a short distance of each other in Utah, so they will be able to ooh and aah over each other's babies for a while . . . until Jacob and Hannah move to Washington, DC in June . . .

Tuesday: I did a whole bunch of baking. I made 2 loaves of banana bread, and baked a bunch of cupcakes to deliver to my young women class for March. I decided to go with a St. Patrick's Day theme, since it was the day before the holiday. 

I made little "pots o'gold" by using mini peanut-butter cups, a thin layer of yellow frosting, and then I sprinkled on some gold sprinkles.

Before you think I am super clever and creative, I need to confess that I am only good at browsing the internet for images of cupcakes and choosing the one that I want to copy. :) I can copy pretty well. 

So this is how they turned out. 

Green frosting, a little rainbow with clouds, and a nice pot of gold. The girls loved it when I delivered each one to their door. And that's the whole point. :)

Also, Kylie shared this cute video of her and Benson over the past year. It's one of those videos that Google or Apple makes for you to reminisce and enjoy. I loved it so much that it made me get a little teary-eyed. Those two have been through a lot this past year together, and I am proud of them for trying so hard in spite of so many strikes against them over there on the other side of the world. 

(35 seconds)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5i8MKfggy9Zpesq36

Wednesday: More baking - in the form of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies this time for a youth activity later that evening. The kids gathered together to watch a worldwide virtual music concert for about an hour. It was basically a series of music videos put together from different groups of young people all over the world and was really fun and beautiful. We provided pizza rolls, cookies and fruit for everyone to snack on while they watched. Some of the kids pulled their socially-distanced chairs closer together so they could talk and visit more, while others kept their chairs as they were and just chatted from a bit more of a distance.

Thursday: FINALLY Amber and girls arrived home. I say FINALLY because they were supposed to arrive the night before, but due to some stormy and crazy weather down south, they had to be re-routed. (Lots of tornado threats, plus plenty of rain and hail) Originally they were supposed to fly back into Idaho Falls, but ended up having to choose the only other flight option available at the time and that was to go to Houston and then on to Salt Lake City. So Thursday, I spent most of the day driving down to pick them up and bring them home. Luckily, Weston's sister Hilary and her family live close to the SLC Airport and could pick them up Wednesday evening and give them a place to sleep for the night. 

They were so happy to see me, which is always a nice thing!! We stopped for lunch on our way north and got home around 4:00 p.m. Then it was a race to get our Irish/Scottish Dinner prepared. We had postponed the meal so that Amber and the girls could be there with us, too, but we were running out of hours in the day to get it all done.

This was the first hurried and rushed Ancestor Night so far. March has just been so busy with so much going on, travels and such, so we were a little skimpy on dates we could do it. I didn't make a quiz this time, I didn't prepare a family history spotlight, and I didn't even make a video or anything. At least we listened to some Irish Celtic music before dinner. But it just didn't feel quite the same. I'll do better with next month's Ancestor Night.

I literally rushed around the kitchen cooking and getting things ready while Amber got unpacked and settled in. Then it was like, hurry up and come eat!! So we did.

Amber also helped Abby and Gwen to decorate a few more cupcakes for our dessert. (I had saved some for them because they also enjoy this monthly cupcake thing that I do)

I threw down some coins and lucky 4-leaf clovers on the table, along with a clover necklace and a cute Irish button pin for each person. 

The food was delicious! My favorite was the Irish Colcannon Potatoes. 

Recipe here: https://boulderlocavore.com/authentic-irish-colcannon-st-patricks-day/

We also had Cock-a-Leekie Soup (basically a chicken soup with leeks and carrots) - it's Scottish.

Recipe here: https://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-cock-a-leekie-soup-435869

And a VERY tasty purple cabbage salad with a delicious oil/vinegar dressing that had soy sauce in it!

Recipe here: https://www.food.com/recipe/purple-cabbage-pecan-salad-49552

We also had one last surprise for the girls to add to their dinner ensemble. They were super happy with it too!! (it turned the milk in their bowl green)

It was nice to have this pretty face back in the house once again. :)

After dinner, it was rush rush and hurry hurry to get the food put away and the kitchen cleaned up. Scott was busy trying to pack his suitcase for our trip the following day, so I did the dishes and got it all taken care of by myself. By the time I was done with that, I collapsed onto our bed exhausted, ha ha.

Friday: First thing in the morning I got a phone call from Kylie. She let me in on a bit of EXCITING NEWS . . . She is pregnant!!! She told me that at first she didn't believe it. But after doing SEVERAL pregnancy tests and they were all positive, she finally began to believe it, ha ha. She prepared a surprise for Benson by making him a little scavenger hunt with sweet notes all over the place, finally leading him to the information that he would be a great DAD!! :) 

Soon after I talked to Kylie, I got a phone call from Benson. He had found the surprise and called me in a happy sort of shock. 

It's true, he will make a great father, and Kylie will be a wonderful mother. They are happy to share the news publicly, so that's why I'm sharing it here. It looks like they are due sometime around the beginning of December. 

SO WE ARE HAVING TWO BABIES THIS YEAR!!!!!! How exciting is that!!!!! It's gonna be a great year!!

Friday afternoon, as soon as Scott got home from school, we hopped into the car to drive down to Salt Lake. We were blessed to have Jacob and Hannah meet us at our hotel for a bit and they were gracious enough to agree to take our car for a week while we headed out for spring break. 

I brought down some gifts for their soon-to-be-born baby, including some blankets that I've been making and some gifts that Scott's mom, Coy, had made for him, too.

Grandma Coy made him some little booties and a matching baby afghan. They were really impressed with the handiwork and effort that went into them. 

Scott told them about Grandma Helen Harmon who used to make baby blankets almost on a daily basis for years. She would crochet while she watched baseball games on TV, and then she'd donate the completed blankets to the gift shop at Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg where they would sell them as gifts.

And as we took a cute little selfie before they left, Jacob - always being so silly - said that in a staged photo you have to put your hands on the shoulder of the person next to you. (He's been opposed to traditional family portraits for a number of years, suggesting that we do something more creative, like we're all seated like a choo-choo train on a big slide, in order from oldest to youngest, or that we do a winter photo where we all jump into the snow up to our armpits and then take the picture) LOL

Saturday: We flew out early in the morning to Phoenix, Arizona where it is sunny and warm. 

Amber sent us a picture of our back yard that same morning. 

At least we know it won't be sticking around for the long haul. Spring in Idaho means that even if it snows, it will melt quickly and help to green up the lawn each time. :)

We had a really long day of travel yesterday, so much so that it made us decide that NEXT time we come down to Arizona for a spring break adventure, we will just DRIVE ourselves down and save a whole lot of hassle.

First, our plane was late in arriving to the SLC airport early Saturday morning. That made us late getting into Phoenix. While we weren't in any sort of hurry, it was frustrating because it was the first of many delays as we started our spring break fun. 

We ended up at the back of the plane, so it took about 30 minutes to get off. Then another 30-40 minutes to get our luggage. Then a long line waiting outside to get on the rental car shuttle bus, since only 15 people are allowed on each bus due to COVID restrictions. And once we arrived at the rental car facility, we found that the line for our rental car had at least 100 people in line ahead of us. And that is no exaggeration. I am dead serious. 

It took us no less than 3 hours - that's THREE HOURS - to get from the back of the line to the front of the line - just to get a car! 

From here: (the blue Thrifty sign is way off in the distance)

To here:

To here: 

To here:

And finally to HERE:

Once we got our car, we headed off to see my sister, Melanie and her family. We were supposed to be there by 11 am, but instead we arrived around 3 p.m. No food that entire time. It's crazy because we made the reservation for our car on January 1st. It shouldn't have been such a big deal. 

We were told that the problem was in the production line downstairs, where they normally have about 17 workers to clean the cars as people return them and get them ready for the next customer. But because of COVID, they only have about 5 workers to prep the cars and get them clean. 

I think the problem is a lot bigger than just the cleaner guys though. There should be several more facilities to offer rental cars out of the Phoenix Airport. Several of the rental car counters were closed, and there were even some companies next to Thrifty that were closed altogether. I know it's spring break and people want to come to Arizona, but my goodness. We were lucky because we had the whole day to blow, but other people were trying to get to a family gathering, or to a funeral, or another commitment. And there were several families with small children just standing in those long lines for an eternity. I felt so bad for them. That's just so ridiculous that it would take THAT long to get a car.

ANYHOO - after we got over to Melanie's house, we had fun visiting and getting caught up on the goings on. They fed us a delicious lunch of pizza and salad, which was even more amazing because we hadn't eaten since 6:30 a.m. that morning before we left for the airport.

Soon, it was time to leave, though. We were so tired from everything. So we headed north, driving about 1 hour and 20 minutes up to Payson, Arizona. It's up in the mountains and it's so lovely and fresh up here. 

This was on the road just outside of Mesa, heading north. The hillside has the word Phoenix on it. :)

This is part of the Usury Mountain range by Saguaro Lake, north of Mesa. The mountains are so huge! 

This morning (Sunday), we went for a walk up the road from our little AirBnb lodging. This is just a small sampling of the forest we are surrounded by up here. The elevation is 5000 feet up here. They say the summer can get up in the 90s, but it's a popular haven for those seeking refuge from the summer heat in Phoenix, where it can get up in the 120s. 

This is just one of the houses on the road where we are staying. 

This afternoon, we ventured out into the sunshine to play some backgammon. My legs even got a little bit pink from the 62 degrees. Yay! Scott preferred to hide from the sun, not wanting to get sunburned. 

We're about to head out on another walk now, so I will close. Our plans this week are to get outside as much as possible and enjoy the sunshine. Walks, hikes, and enjoying nature. 

Hope everyone else is enjoying spring break, too!