Golf, Park, and Citrus

The post title pretty well sums it all up, so I guess you can stop reading now- but proceed if you would like...

Saturday was a really great day - in the morning we took the girls to a golf clinic at a nearby park. It was FREE and put on by the Junior Golf Association of Arizona... they called it the Itty Bitty Open - how cute is that?! We just had to register the kids ahead of time, and both girls got a free little set of plastic golf clubs and a visor. :) They were thrilled! Emma did just get real golf clubs for Christmas, but they specifically requested that kids do not bring their own clubs. Becca was thrilled to get to be involved with a golf outing with daddy this time around. They had a pro golfer there to give the kids a little class on the different types of clubs and what they are used for, and how to hold a golf club. Then everyone got to go out on the make shift 9-hole course and practice. I was proud of the girls for doing so well! They tried their best through all 9 holes, without getting frustrated. Emma was actually pretty good and hits the ball 95 percent of the time that she swings. Pretty sure that's more successful than her mommy would be. haha.









Daddy got to be the caddy



After the golfing, we went to Olive Garden for lunch, thanks to the gift card we got from my brother for Christmas. Thanks Aaron! In the early evening, before dinner, we decided to take a walk to one of the little parks nearby. I love doing simple outings with my little family. We really love hanging out all together! I guess that's a really good thing, cause we're kind of stuck with each other. :)




Ben is so fun with the kids... he is always quick to jump in and play with them - he even tried to teach Emma the fine art of jumping off a swing. :)




The sunset was really pretty as we walked back home... and the girls (and Ben) wanted to climb on the big rocks... made for some rather dramatic pictures.



On a side note- for Relief Society this week we had a service auction. One of the things I ended up getting to take home from it was a beautiful, big basket of citrus from one of the cute girls in our ward's backyard. We've been getting creative this week trying to eat a ton of oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. In addition to just eating the oranges on their own, Ben also made some orange sherbet - it turned out really yummy... much like an Orange Julius in frozen form. We also made a big pitcher of lemonade, and I'm trying to get the energy to make a batch of orange rolls. I'm planning on making this recipe from Pioneer Woman. Here's hoping they turn out delicious!

Enjoying the weather and good food!

I love 3-day weekends! I love it because it means one more day I don't have to get kids all up and ready for school. :) Granted, it's nice having kids out of the house on school days, but sometimes, I'd rather just take our time a bit in the morning and hang out together all day. On Friday night we ate out with Ben's family at Lo Lo's Chicken and Waffles. Ben's brother Peter has been telling us how great it is for a while... and we've been becoming rather familiar with chicken and waffles in the past couple years, by making our own at home... but it was fun to go out to eat at a place that specializes in chicken and waffles! It was delicious. And I also ate grits and tried a bit of fried okra! It was quite the experience!

On Saturday, we used our new Phoenix Zoo membership for the first time. Ben's sister and their family got it for us for Christmas... so nice!! I intend to fully enjoy using it plenty this year. We spent almost 4 hours there this weekend... the weather was awesome! It's been in the mid-70's this week, so we weren't pushed out by the heat.







They have what they call "The Polar Slide" at the zoo right now, so Emma used her own money (earned from her grandma for reading her first Magic Tree House book!) to pay to go on it... Ben rode on it too on the slide next to hers. It's supposed to be like sledding, but without snow! :)



And a video... I like Emma's little screams...












Jake LOVED petting the goats (this was his first time)... Becca was nervous, but finally tried it. :)











Jake mid sand-throw - naughty, naughty



Emma is a monkey... and has been since she was a baby

They have this crazy cactus slide over by the koalas - and as you can see in the pictures, there is quite a large drop between the end of the bottom of the slide and the ground. So, the kids kept flying out of the slide and landing on their face, bum, back, etc. It was funny really :) But Ben decided to assist them as they came out - which was also funny...





Oh, how I relate to the kangaroo... I often feel like a mother roo with all my babies in my little pouch... haha






Since Emma got to do the Polar Slide, Jake and Becca were appeased by riding the carousel at the end of our zoo visit. It's always a pleaser!





See my belly? It's big. And I'm carrying high as I always do :)

On Sunday night we grilled - I LOVE it when we grill... because it means Ben does all the work and I just get to eat yummy food. We had grilled chicken (which Ben butchered himself - per Alton Brown instructions - and then brined and seasoned), with grilled vegetables, and a salad. It was all lovely.


While we were outside tending to the grill, the girls noticed all the hot air balloons up the sky. So we took a picture...



On Monday we spent some time at the local park. The girls mostly rode their bikes and Ben played basketball... I lost twice to him at PIG. bummer. Jake was all over the place... I wandered from place to place trying to keep up with him. And once again, the weather was perfect!!





Jake is a CLIMBER and even though there is a little kid playground and a big kid playground at the park we go to, he prefers the bigger one... and I don't have to help him at all - he goes down the big slides and then makes his way up to the top again. It does make me a bit nervous when he starts peering over the high sides though, but apparently not nervous enough to stop from taking a quick picture :)





Emma's gotten so good at riding her two wheeler! I'm very proud!

Since Emma's been learning how to ride her bike without training wheels, Becca often says to us, "I NEVER fall over on my bike mommy!"... not sure she realizes that she has 2 extra wheels keeping her up... haha.



On Monday night we got to eat out again with Ben's family at Pappadeaux's. It's a really fun New Orleans style seafood restaurant. Ben ordered soft shell crab and when it came out I freaked out a bit. It's ugly little crab legs were sprawled all over his plate... I thought the thing might crawl right off the table and jump on my face. icky. I can only handle seafood if it's cut into a nice fillet. :) Here's the kids hanging out outside the restaurant...

Snow Day!

Emma's Kindergarten had a snow day today at school! Snow doesn't ever come to Phoenix, unless you buy it and have it put there. haha. So, they had a big pile of snow delivered to the playground for the kids to all play in for a little while. I was amazed at how much fun a bunch of kindergarten kids can have on a little snow hill...






Happy January!

A lemon...

Look! We grew a lemon! That's correct... just ONE lemon. But doesn't it look like a nice lemon? Our tiny tree (that we planted in the spring) worked really hard growing that one lemon.... we hope that in future years it will decide to work just a little bit harder and grow maybe 2 or 3 lemons ;) We decided we should do something special with our nice lemon, so Ben came up with the idea to try to make lemon yogurt. He's been wanting to try to make his own yogurt for a while... and lemon yogurt is a favorite around here.... and making a batch of lemon yogurt would only require one lovely lemon. So we picked it and made some... The yogurt was a little runny this first time around... but it tasted great... and now we have an idea of what we're doing to try again and leave it warm for a longer period of time in hopes that it would thicken up more.

As part of our family home evening tonight, we went out to Yogurtology. We've been hearing great things about it from friends, so we finally tried it out for the first time. We'll definitely be going back! It's all self serve yogurt of many flavors, and lots and lots of toppings (and even yummy goodies specifically to put on the bottom of your cup, for a fun surprise at the end). They charge by weight, so you can load up on as many toppings as you want... we just got one big frozen yogurt creation to split among us... with the kids picking several toppings each - everything from strawberries to sour gummy worms and a big brownie at the bottom. haha. The kids were much too busy chewing and fighting over the last bits of ice cream to smile for a picture... here they are mid-chew...