And to the West- Denver!

For Spring Break, we traveled out to see my sister and her family in Denver.  The trip was so nice and relaxing. The weather was gorgeous, the kids got along well, and my sister stuffed us with some really, REALLY amazing food. It was such a nice time- it was so good to see my sister again and meet her cute little baby. I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Rachel (taken by Noodle)

Raif (also taken by Noodle)

 Making Raspberry Truffles for the Lava Cakes- This was so good, we couldn't resist eating some of the truffles before they were in the cakes.

Rachel, Raif, and Noodle

Mr. Man and Miriam

My sister making truffles and her husband in the kitchen

Beautiful Liesl on her blessing day

Liesl

My sister and Liesl

Noodle and Rachel playing happily

Lava Cake batter

Very yummy lava cake

Peterson eating a well-garnished lava cake

Mr. Man and Miriam happily reading together

 The day we went to the park, it was sunny with a slight breeze and very warm. Everyone shed their coats and Princess rolled her pants up. It was gorgeous. We all got our first sunburn of the season. Muffin got her first one ever. (Oops...next time, we'll remember the sunscreen.)

Muffin in the swing- she loved it!

Noodle on the web- his favorite by far- I think we need one of these in our yard

Princess, Rachel, and Noodle on the web (notice Princess' rolled up jeans)

Muffin was so happy in the swing, that she fell asleep

Gretchen and her 3 sleeping beauties (how does she do that?)

Nutella rolls... delicious on their own, divine with chocolate cream frosting

 The girls made flower clips for their hair. My sister and I had a fun time with Gretl and Princess at the craft store. It was cute to watch the "girliness" come out in both of them. Princess and I have been learning to crochet, so we taught Gretl and Miriam, too. (But no pics)

Making flower clips

The Rocky Mountains

On the way home through Nebraska, we saw so many migratory birds. We took a little ding trip down some back roads to see the Sandhill Cranes. We also saw so, so many snow geese. It was really awesome, something we had never seen before.

Sandhill Cranes in a corn field- they were all over the place, in almost every field we saw

Masses of Cranes in the field

Bad picture, but the white stripe in the middle are all snow geese on a small pond/lake off the highway

CHICAGO!!

At the end of February, we went to Chicago with some friends from the ward. And we went without our children. Don't get me wrong, we love our kids, but it was nice to escape for a day and be a couple. Here's the lowdown:

Friday afternoon we dropped the kids off at one of our friend's house. Thank you Patty! She watched them for a few hours until Grandma and Grandpa could pick them up after work. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa! It was the first time we had left Muffin for longer than a few hours, and certainly NOT overnight. So it was a little hard for me...(the kids, of course, were fine).

Shawn and Garnet

 Appetizers: Scallops with an Asian Sauce, and Smoked Salmon with Rye sushi
Meals: Trout with tomato and herb sauce, stuffed salmon, filet mignon, yellowfin tuna.

After dinner, we walked to the Cadillac Theater to see Les Miserables. The theater was gorgeous and neither Mr. D or I had seen the play before. I have to say, though, I was disappointed with the production. It was highly sexually charged and made us feel pretty uncomfortable. The storyline however, was fantastic. I think that it has many fantastic themes and morals. I really want to read the book.

Shawn and Garnet at the theater

We weren't supposed to take pictures in the theater, so these are officially the property of Cadillac Theater and the company that performed Les Miserables.

After the play, we walked back through downtown Chicago to the hotel. It was so fun to be in a "real" city, with shops on the bottom floors of all the buildings, people actually walking to places and an actual night life. There was a light snow falling, which was beautiful.

Even though we thoroughly enjoyed being in Chicago, there were a few downsides. We heard honking and people yelling on the streets a few stories below us until about 4 in the morning.

Saturday morning we went to the restaurant XOCO. Breakfast was AMAZING. I liked the dinner Friday, but this was seriously good. 

We had churros with chocolate dipping sauce, chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, torreja (french toast with bacon and pecans) and the most wonderful, delicious hot chocolate I have ever had. It is called champurrado and is made with Mexican chocolate and masa harina. At XOCO, they grind their cocoa beans in house, and it is SO GOOD!! I would definitely eat there every time I went to Chicago.

 We had a great time being with our friends and being together.  It was such a fun weekend- we hope to be able to do it again soon!

Noodle's Workbox

We use work-boxes in homeschooling for Princess and Mr. Man. It is a system that works well for our family; it seems to help us get things done. So Noodle has noticed that he does not have a workbox and occasionally will ask where his is. Anyway, last Saturday I decided it was time to get him one and do some real teaching of letters, numbers, etc. I ran into the store while Mr. D sat in the car with the kids. When I came out and got back in the car with the box in hand, Noodle yelled out "My workbox! Now I can do math, too!" It was really cute. I don't even know how he knew the box was for him, but he did. I filled his box and today was his first "school day." He was so excited- it was fun to see him dig into the folders and exercises with gusto. What a great way to start formal learning!