Dave's 32nd Birthday

We stretched Dave's birthday over quite a few days this year, which was really fun. On the 27th, Dave took the day off because of the weather, so we all drove to the Riverwoods and used the Tucano's birthday coupon. The boys loved eating until they were sick, and Miles' favorite part was using the tongs to get the meat. He didn't actually eat the meat, but he loved the tongs!

On the 28th, Dave's actual birthday, the boys and I made him a German chocolate cake and gave him sunglasses and a gift card to Joann's to buy vinyl for his boat seats.

Then on Friday the 3rd, we picked the kids up from school with Lucy in the car, drove to the Ybarra's and dropped off Lucy (Miles was pretty upset to leave his doggy), and then took the kids to Abby & Casey's to spend the night. They ate pizza, walked to 7-11 for dessert, and watched a movie. In the morning, Abby made them banana pancakes and scrambled eggs. Jett told me that I need to start putting salt and pepper in the eggs because "it brings out the flavor."

After dropping the kids off at Abby's, Dave and I drove just across the city to The Holiday Inn Express and checked in. Honestly, I had reserved at that hotel because it was the least expensive decent hotel, and I was really surprised at how nice it was when we entered. Our room was on the 1st floor, so we had a vaulted ceiling; we loved having a king size bed and a fridge and microwave as well.

After check-in, we drove to downtown Provo where we ate at Black Sheep Cafe and I cannot tell you how amazing it was. It was like, Sundance Foundry Grill good. And, as it turns out, just as expensive. But we figured, it was our "vacation" so we were okay spending that much on ourselves, and my parents had given Dave some money for his birthday, so that definitely helped with our little getaway.

Dave got the Green Chile Pork Navajo Taco and I got an off-menu entree which was a filet mignon on top of a bed of braised red cabbage, with a side of asparagus with a spicy carrot sauce, and parmesan mashed potatoes. It look amazing and tasted like heaven. We also got cactus pear lemonade, which was delicious, and for dessert, we got a chile creme brûlée that was just a little spicy and incredible, and a chocolate strawberry mousse which was pretty good but nothing special.

After dinner we went back to the hotel until check-out the next morning. We slept in so we missed the free breakfast, but it was just nice to not deal with kids first thing in the morning. We actually hadn't been away from the kids in 5 years, and had never been away from Miles, so it was a much needed getaway and it let us recharge our batteries in a sense.

Then on the 5th of March, the Ybarras had us over to celebrate Dave's birthday with a taco salad dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert. They gave Dave some $ for his birthday, so he was pretty excited about that. I think he had a pretty good birthday.

Cruise's Robot: Zim

Last month, Cruise built his first working robot and named him Zim. He had gotten a book from the library about building your own robot, so he told me the stuff he needed me to buy and built a robot! He got some help from dad to hook up a remote so he could turn it on and off.

He is now working on his second robot and wants to get sensors for it, so we'll see how that one goes.