weed

a little before one, we made it to lisa's house in the stratosphere.  it is on the mountain right by the U.  not the university, the actual "U" on the mountain.  as i put the car seats in lisa's car, she gave abigail this little brave doll that had been hanging out on her back seat.  well, that little doll was abigail's bff for the next several hours.  what an imagination this girl has!  she was a constantly singing and making up dialogue with this little merida.

abigail even moved her feet to help her walk on the driveway.

 weed took us to this great little breakfasty sort of brunch place.  judging from my experience there, this is where every hipster in the greater salt lake area chooses to brunch.  i don't blame them though, the food was out of this world.  weed and i split an omelet (the johnie boy?  i can't remember... it was a special written on the chalk board) and then shared with abigail off of our plates.  the flavors were impeccable.  the sausage was PERFECT.  i haaaaaave to go back here next time.

they split our order for us on two plates.  so really this was only half of the order.  i have no idea how anyone could eat an entire order themselves.  omelette, toast, and "park potatoes" (hash browns) served piping hot.  mmmmm.

abigail's favorite was the toast... loaded up with the mixed berry jam of course.

her napkin looked like a blood bath.

with good reason.

 

 

photography by abigail.

after we finished at the park cafe, we headed to the actual park (liberty park), directly across the street.  it was gorgeous.  and all full of fall.  crunch autumn leaves everrrrrrywhere.

 

i was in heaven

 we thought it'd be fun to feed the ducks but we all forgot to save some toast from our brunch.  ohmygoodnessitwassoooooogood.  luckily... cheerios to the rescue!  so we walked around to find a warm place in the sun.  we headed to the little peninsula (with another gazebo!) and there were a million and one eager to eat ducks.

 

 

we found some trash that we thought should be thrown away before it blew in the water or injured a duck.  i was holding brady so i gave lisa a stick and told her to go throw it away... y'know, since i was holding brady.  i'm a really great friend.

so. many. ducks.  we kept calling abigail "fearless" because how on earth was she not afraid of all of these giant birds surrounding her?!  lisa helped her name them so by the time brady and i got there (and i'd had to take a short phone call) they were affectionately referring to brownie and blackie and ummm, i can't remember the rest.

see that little mud puddle by her feet?  eventually her foot slipped in and her foot was covered in a thick coat of mud.  so i used baby wipes to clean off her foot and while i was cleaning her shoe, she walked away.  i couldn't figure out why lisa was laughing until i looked up and saw abigail hobbling, half barefoot, down to the water to visit the ducks.  i love that kid.  

see?  literally across the street from the park.  just heading back to get the car.  the one covered in weird berries.  and don't let the empty parking spaces fool you... this place was booming when we were there, but when we returned after visiting the park, it was closed.  otherwise, you wouldn't find any available parking.

by this time, both kids were tired, so we all hopped in the car to drive around sugarhouse and look at all the cute houses.  we also happened to see a chocolate shop and thought it'd be fun to stop in there.  ummm, it was super gourmet, high end chocolate (like $80 for 3 lbs) and looked like the receptionist waiting area in an office building.  but the guy in there was nice (utah state grad student) and let us each have a sample (that originally would be $1.50 for a single little square of chocolate).  lisa got a caramel, i got a dark chocolate truffle, and i can't remember what abigail chose.  but they were all wonderful.  luckily, the guy was more interested in chatting it up with lisa than trying to sell us any chocolates.  

at 4:30, we went to chris's grandparents' house to drop off the kids.  i talked to them weeks ago and they said they would watch the kids for me while my parents and i went to see lisa's play.  when i talked to them wednesday night i told them we were going to see brigadoon at the hale theater and they said they'd just seen it monday night and that it was phenomenal.  raved about it.  then i told them my best friend was the lead.  i felt pretty legit.  chris's grandma couldnt' believe it and went on and on about how amazing her voice was and even went to get her program to confirm that we were talking about the same lisa zimmerman.  ha.  i'm friends with a celebrity.  so when lisa and i showed up to drop the kids off, grandma joan just kept telling lisa how awesome she was.  it was a lot of fun.  pulling away from their house lisa asked, "do you ever get nervous around chris's family?"  ummm nope.  actually, most of the time, i forget they're not my own.  ha.

so then we drove to the citris grill to meet my parents for dinner.  and i took a picture of this merida doll in case abigail asked about her later... at least i would have a picture.

we got to the restaurant at 5 because lisa needed to be at the theater by 6:30 for hair and makeup.  well, this place was cozy and intimate and didn't get busy until later.  and even when it did, it stayed quiet and we were in our booth, never noticing anyone else in the restaurant.  i hate when restaurants are too loud and this one was perfect.  also perfect?  these two things.

spinach artichoke dip (this was only a half serving!) and the apple pecan bread pudding with caramel pecan sauce (in this family, we eat dessert first... or in this case, with/as our appetizer) were both fantastic.  each bite was the hardest choice ever deciding which one i would go for.

lisa got a half order of the cobb salad and i got a half order of the shrimp scampi and we shared.  

dad got the maple cured pork loin and mom got the butternut squash fettuccine (both half servings and they were plenty!) which were also great.  so much good food.

we finished a little after six, moved the carseats over again, and wished lisa good luck!  and then mom and dad and i killed time at rei for a bit.  and got abigail a new nalgene bottle (since her other one got lost in the previous rental car) and got brady a green nalgene bottle (because they are the best sippy cups ever) and did NOT get the maple bacon chocolate the cashier was trying to sell dad on.  i couldn't even say "chocolate" without wanting to barf.  so so full.  so much sugar.  so much food.