Finally Summer

Memorial Day

We were invited to go camping in Nevada, but because of little bro needing g-tube feeds during the night we decided to pass on the idea of roughing it without electricity!  So we had a very relaxing Memorial Day. First, we got up early and went to breakfast to Kneaders Bakery and Cafe since we have heard great things about their strawberry and cream french toast.  Oh boy, they were delicious!  I choose a healthier option (low sugar) on their menu the croissant egg, cheese, and ham sandwich, which was tasty as well. Afterwards, we took baby brother home for his morning nap while Daddy went fishing with his nephew in South Jordan.  Later that day, we went to Manila Pond. Little bro and big sister loved walking through the water while little sis went to a friend's house to hang out!

End of the School Year

During the last week of school, little sis had a field trip to the space center, dance festival, fun run, field day, and awards ceremony in her class, which she received the Best Day Dreamer Award and Most likely to be an Archaeologist.  As for big sister, she went to Lagoon Amusement park and got several awards such as Viking Citizen, Viking and Attendance, and Viking Scholar. In fact, big sis was on the honor roll all school year!  We are very proud of their accomplishments this past school year and hope they will continue to be successful! 

Welcome to Toddlerhood Little Bro!

As for our happy little toddler, he is making some amazing progress on milestones. He loves to pull up to stand, can stand without support for a few seconds, cruise all over the place, and scoots instead of crawling! Little bro is finally eating table foods instead of stage 2 purees and drinking cow's milk! When he gets together with our extended family, he loves playing with his second cousins!

Grandpa Coleman's Visit

Grandchildren are Blessings

Since grandchild number five recently joined our family, Grandpa came out from Vermont to Utah for a few days.  My father finally met his grandson. While he was in town, we had a BBQ with Uncle Nate on Saturday September 7, 2013 and went for a drive.  Too bad it rained so much that day! On Monday September 9, 2013, we took Grandpa to our favorite places in Pleasant Grove. First, we went to Chubby's for dinner then went to Alisha's Cravings Cupcakes for dessert.  Afterwards, we drove to Manila Creek and watched the beautiful sunset.  The next day we spent some time with Aunt Karen at our house.  We had  fun getting out and doing things with Grandpa Coleman. I am certain he had a great trip!

Cravings Alisha's Cupcakes (Winner of Cupcake Wars)

 We got "Better than What Cupcake" and "Girl Scout's Samoas Cupcake"! They were delicious!
Manila Creek

Aunt Karen, Grandpa, and me!

Our 2013 Summer Highlights

Big Sister went to Heber Girl's Camp

Big Sis went to Idaho with a friend.

The girls played in the summer rain!

We went up the canyon to explore Cascade Springs and had a picnic.

We went to the Redwood Drive-In to see Turbo

For our 16th Wedding Anniversary, John and I went to Firebird Pizza and Pasta and had cupcakes for dessert at Alisha's Cravings.

The girls went to Seven Peaks Water Park!

Da Vinci the Genius Exhibit in Salt Lake City

For our date night on Saturday January 26, 2013, My hubby and I went to The Leonardo at the Utah Museum for Science, Technology and Art.  There were several kid friendly stations through out the museum.   On the first floor, there is an art/music activity center where kids can create art (sketching, book art, crafts, learn about making a string instruments, etc).  John and I made "book art" by folding pages from an old book. John created a dragon and I just made a pop up book. Upstairs there are other exhibits one about nature (gallery with art work, movies, and displays) and another interactive museum about all sorts of technology such as leg prosthesis, making still motion films, the weather man "green screen" and several other fun things for the kids to occupy themselves for hours! We also purchased tickets for Da Vinci The Genius.  Basically it is a traveling exhibit that displays many of Leonardo Da Vinci's ideas!

It is impossible to imagine our world without Leonardo Da Vinci's brilliant contribution to science and music/art. He is not only famous for his Mona Lisa painting masterpiece he was also a brilliant scientist, inventor, sculptor, singer, and writer.   He mastered both his logical and creative side of his brain by inventing several amazing ideas such as (scuba diving gear, flotation devices, parachute, and helicopter).  He was an extraordinary artist who studied light, shadow, and reflection.  At the exhibit, we saw several samples of his sketches, architect models, paintings, and sculptures (a picture of his 23 feet size horse).  To my surprise, Da Vinci contributed some military engineering ideas by creating a tank, submarine, and military equipment/weapons. He understood civil engineering and physics. He came up with some machine ideas to carry water, place poles, lift heavy objects, etc).  He dabbled in music too by making  musical instruments (flute and drums) and loved to sing.  The medical professionals can thank Leonardo for dissecting and sketching detailed structures and functions of human anatomy! It was very fascinating to learn about Leonardo Da Vinci's life and see how many great things he accomplished.

After exploring the museum, we went to The Blue Iguana for some authentic Mexican food. The restaurant is located downtown Salt Lake City 165 South West Temple in the basement of  Benihana.  To my surprise, we didn't have to wait for a table on a Saturday night!  The waitress poured the water and served chips/salsa right away.  Then we ordered our food (chicken chimichanga and pork fajita platter) and less than seven minutes later our food was done! We barely had time to enjoy the chips and salsa!  So the service was quick and we enjoyed listening to the live Mexican musicians playing their guitar and singing. However, hubby and I were not very impressed with the food and maybe it was because we ordered the wrong thing on the menu. I did not like how spicy the red enchilada sauce was... Then my hubby ordered something that was supposed to be spicy and it was not hot enough for him... For the price we paid, we could get better food from a local cheaper place like Taco Amigo, Betos, or Costa Vida.  I doubt we will ever go back there ever again after that experience...

A Typical December for Our Family

 1. Big Sister had her woman's choir Christmas concert at her junior high school.

2. We went to John's Christmas Casino themed work party at Vuz Resturant in Draper, Utah. We had a scrumptious buffet style food and enjoyed playing some black jack 21 with our "fake" money!

3.  We got up early on Christmas Eve to go last minute shopping and ate breakfast at Denny's!

4.  The Free family had a lazy Merry Christmas (we ate a lot of holiday food, took a nap, and watched several movies in our pajamas)! It was Jagger's first Christmas with us. We spoiled him with a couple new bones and toys! We also admired our "white" Christmas through the windows!

Chubby's Cafe

Since hubby and I are serious foodies, we love trying new places! We have a local restaurant called Chubby Cafe that would be perfect on the Food Network show Diners Drive Ins, and Dives!  Looking at it from the street, it may appear "a hole in the wall place!"  In fact, hubby and I never noticed it until recently and became huge fans! 

The T-Shirt and Sign indoors.

The logo found on the wall!

 We have tried several items from the menu, which include either beef, chicken, pork, or shrimp.  Inside it is decorated with vintage items like old bikes, sport jerseys, fishing stuff, a wagon, etc.  There is also big flat screen TV that usually has a sport's station going.


There is a Chubby Challenge (one pound of beef basically three patties with cheese and one pound of fries).  If you eat it within 15 minutes, you get a free T-shirt or a $10.00 gift card).  It is fun to look at the wall of fame and shame (people who have tried the Chubby Challenge).


As for the tasty food, most the food we have tried was absolutely amazing that has a southern flair. I love how they toast the buns and add some yummy sauce to the burgers or chicken sandwiches, mmmmm!   So far everything we have ordered have been fresh and served hot! The beer batter fries with pink sauce are out of this world!  The kiddos love the mac and cheese and hush puppies!  The jambalaya and Coleslaw are excellent.  Our top five picks from the menu are the following:

1.  Chubby's Cheese Steak 

 2. Louisiana Shrimp Po Boy

3. Grilled Chicken with Swiss

4. Strawberry Chicken Salad

5. Reuben Sandwich or Burger

My hubby and I are huge Chubby Cafe fans and look forward to going back!

Thanksgiving in Mesa

This year we decided to make a road trip to SUNNY Mesa Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving with many extended family members!  We left on Tuesday night November 22, 2011 around 8:00 PM.  We made a pit stop to southern Utah to rest for a couple hours.  Then we were back on the road at 5:00 AM on Wednesday morning. We took the Las Vegas and Hoover Dam route down to Arizona!  We sure enjoyed seeing the desert, cactus plants, and flowers along the way!  Here are the many wonderful family members, which we spent the long FUN holiday weekend with! 

The five Free siblings (John, Elizabeth, Matt, Dave, and Joe) out of eight total with their spouses were in Mesa this year.   Oh how fun it would be to have EVERYONE gathered in once place!!! Below are the many grandchildren.

TURKEY DAY NOVEMBER 23, 2011

We spent Thanksgiving with Dave/Kristin, Joe/Dave, Elizabeth/Ben, Grandpa/Grandma Free, Matt/Chiaki, and many nieces, nephews, and a couple furry friends (Bella and Nutmeg).  We had around 45 people at Thanksgiving dinner.

After stuffing our faces, we gathered in a large living area and sang a couple hymns and Christmas songs with the family.  Anna put hair wraps in the girl's hair.  We are so grateful for our wonderful loving family!  

WHITE FRIDAY AND IRON CHEF FAMILY COOK OFF

Instead of "Black Friday"shopping, several family members got up early and went to the Mesa Temple.  The youth did baptisms while the adults did endowments and sealings.  By the way, it was big sister's first time doing baptisms for the dead.  It was a beautiful experience for me because I brought down some names of my ancestors.  I felt like we accomplished a lot of temple work because of the effort of many family members!

As for our Iron Chef Family Cook off, we divided into three groups. The secret ingredients were the following: bell peppers, mango, Italian sausage, butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, and chocolate chips.  We had to use all the ingredients by making an appetizer, entree, and dessert. 

John and I were on Team Smith.  We met at Jeff and Melinda Smiths (our niece and nephew).  

We made the following:  Bow-tie vegetable sausage with alfredo sauce, butternut squash/ sausage potatoes, mango salsa, and strawberry cheese cake crepes with melted chocolate. 

 
My niece Aisling made a YouTube of all our delicious food!!!

BABY SHOWER AND DESERT FUN

On Saturday November 26, 2011, we went to a baby shower at Brett and Aisling's house for Keli Silva who is having a boy in February.  We played some games, ate some finger foods, and awwwwwed over her new baby things!

While the girls were at the baby shower, the men and boys had a blast in the desert shooting guns and riding mini bikes.

SUSHI YUM

On Saturday night, we went to Sekai Sushi with Matt, Chiaki, Dave, Kristin, Joe, Diana, Elizabeth, and Ben. Since Matt and Chiaki are sushi experts, they ordered for us!  The sushi was AMAZING!  I tried octopus for the first time! We had a fun time talking with each other and trying out sushi.  The eel was my favorite!  After dinner, we got some  Mesa Frozen Yogurt for dessert!  We shared a lot of stories, smiles, and laughter!  What a fabulous group date!

A LONG ROAD TRIP HOME

We went to sacrament meeting with Dave's family, changed our clothes, packed the car, and went home.  We took the Flagstaff route home.  It was a long 12 hour drive home due to slow traffic near car accidents and many potty breaks!  We were so happy to be able to spend Thanksgiving with the Arizona Free families!  We cannot wait to visit them again in the future!

Happy 14th Anniversary to Hubby and Me!

Shoga Japanese Sushi Bar 

Enjoying my dinner, Yum! 

Yes, I am lame eating with a dinner fork in a Japanese Restaurant!  I cannot eat well with chopsticks!  I tried and failed miserably!  Thankfully my waitress offered to bring me a fork, lol!

Here is John eating his food and is a master with his chopsticks!

 On August 14th, 2011 was our 14th Wedding Anniversary! We celebrated by  eating sushi at Shogo in Orem.  My brother in-law Matt and sister in-law Chiaki highly recommended that place! Since they are sushi experts and my sister in-law is from Japan, we trust their opinions!  We absolutely loved it!  The atmosphere was cozy with friendly service. The presentation of the food was very creative, fresh, and authentic.  The restaurant was decorated with black modern and chic furniture.  We started our meal out with a refreshing house salad that contained a couple types of lettuces, mandarin oranges, tomatoes, shredded carrots, and cucumbers topped with an Asian dressing.  We then shared some sushi rolls (playboy and funky roll), and had an incredible dessert chocolate trilogy mousse,MMMMM! 

Our sushi rolls with a side of sauce, ginger, and wasabi

We like to mix our wasabi in with the soy sauce in the small white dish.

The Funky Roll and Playboy Roll 

The funky roll included the following: cucumber, crab, avocado, rice, seaweed, topped with eel tempura and a couple sauces.  As for the playboy roll, it included the following: shrimp tempura, cucumber avocado, rice, and seaweed topped with raw tuna, spicy mayo, unagi sauce and tobiko.

Chocolate Trilogy

What a beautiful edible master piece! It has three layers chocolate genoise, white milk chocolate, and dark chocolate mousse, with dark chocolate shavings, three sauces, and powdered sugar!  Oh, what a delicious treat!  We died and went to heaven!  There was a serious party going on in our mouths!  To our surprise, it was not too rich.  It was very fluffy and tasty!  We are total Shoga fans and cannot wait to go back again to try something new on the menu!  We give it 5 stars!  We left the place feeling satisfied and not over full.  This place is by far better than Happy Sumo and Sushi Ya!

My Visit with Grandpa Coleman Cape Cod Trip, 2011

Last year after several of weeks of not feeling himself and tired, my Grandfather was diagnosed with acute leukemia.  It was a terrible shock for all of us because that was the same disease that took my sweet Grandmother in 1979.  Due to his old age, he decided to not fight the cancer with radiation and chemo.  He was afraid the treatments would kill him.  Luckily, he has been doing well the first several month after being diagnosed due to his healthy life style of eating well and exercising.  A few months ago, the cancer showed its ugly face by wiping out a lot of energy from him.  At the age of 85, he finally retired from his job as a radio engineer for a Classical radio station on Cape Cod and volunteered citizen police officer.  He has a hospice nurse who checks on him regularly. He is getting by with blood transfusions every couple weeks as needed. Thankfully, the blood transfusions have been working for him and it has been several weeks since his last one.  He has been able to do some gardening, some small projects around the house, work a couple hours at the radio station, etc.  He is taking life one day at a time by making the best of it.   

My Grandpa with some old radio equipment downstairs.

A couple weeks ago my brother and I bought some last minute airline tickets to Boston, Massachusetts August 2-6, 2011.  My sister Karen was not able to come this year.  It was a  very quick trip not long enough for all of us but we didn't want to overwhelm him and my step Grandmother.   We wanted to purchase our tickets months ago, but we were advised by our Grandfather not too in case his health got worse.  More importantly, we all didn't know what to expect since he isn't aggressively fighting the cancer.  Since my grandfather is dying, we felt it was important to see him this summer.  I cannot imagine the guilt and grief that I would feel if he died without me seeing him this year.   It has been over five years since I last saw my grandfather and I am not close to him as I would like to be.  The distance in miles between us has made it difficult, but I have cherished my memories spent with him while visiting him on the Cape when I was a young girl, teen, and adult.  He came out to see us when we were kids occasionally too but I was sad we didn't live close by each other.  Over the years, we kept in touch by sending cards, letters, and phone calls.  

My girly girls and me! Big Sister is getting very tall!

Ready Set Go! On our way to the airport!

Nate and me at the airport ready to check in.

~My Journal Entries: My Summer 2011 Cape Cod Trip~ 

Goals: Eat fresh fish every day and spend quality time with Grandpa and Grandma!
Wednesday August 3, 2011 

We made it to Boston around 9:00 a.m. At the airport, I bought myself a ladies brown and pink Boston Red Sox cap and my daughters Red Sox t-shirts .  We were shuttled by bus from the airport to our rental car agency (National).  On the way down to the Cape, we stopped to see the Scituate Lighthouse, which is located on a very rocky shoreline.  The stones were very scared there and we were not allowed to take one as a keepsake. What a beautiful harbor and shoreline in Scituate!
Rocky Shoreline near the Scituate Lighthouse

 Scituate Lighthouse, 1636

   Next, we went to Plymouth for lunch at Cafe Nicole.  The view from this Cafe was breathtaking!  We could see Plymouth Harbor!  I ate calm chowder, fries, and a haddock sandwich.

 New England Clam Chowder and Haddock Sandwich

  To our surprise, we got a $15.00 parking ticket because we forgot to pay the meter, duh.  Good grief, I had at least $5.00 in change!!!  That was a terrible mistake due to lack of sleep and jet lagged from the airplane...  We learned our lesson the hard way, GRRR!  Finally, we made it to Marshton Mills later in the afternoon to see my Gramps and Grams Coleman.  We took our stuff upstairs and talked outside on the patio deck for a couple hours.  Then my grandparents took us all out for dinner at Wimpy's Sea Food Cafe and Fish Market in Osterville, MA.  I tried swordfish with capers for the first time and absolutely loved it!  I also had ginger al, dinner salad, rolls, baked potato, and squash.
Picture from ---->Wimpy's Seafood Cafe

 On the way home, we stopped by 1856 Country Store.  There are several cute souvenirs, decorations, gifts, books, candy, etc at the shop.  My father informed me that he and my mother lived in the apartment above that store many years ago.  
1856 Country Store

We all went to bed early that night since Nate and I were running on no sleep or nap due to traveling and sightseeing.

Thursday August 4, 2011

We woke up to the incredible smell of homemade blueberry pancakes, orange juice, coffee (for my brother and grandpa) and sausage for breakfast!  Nate and I visited with our Grandpa and Grandma for awhile.  We left the house around 11:00 a.m.   Today we spent most the day in Hyannis, Massachusetts.  We went shopping on Main Street. There is a lot to see and do on Main Street, Hyannis!
Main Street, Hyannis 

There are rides for kids, modern art, a large Cape Cod beach chair, several shops, many restaurants, a church, and live entertainment.  What a quaint place to hang out for a couple hours!    I bought some sea shells , a beach tot bag, a salmon pink Cape Cod jacket, some popular nautical postcard and print by Robert Edward Kennedy at Kennedy Gallery, and small souvenirs. As for lunch, we went to an Irish"rustic shire" restaurant called Common Ground Cafe.  The place was absolutely enchanting with handmade wood decorations!  I felt like we were in the middle of a forest among hobbits!  I ordered a fresh tuna wrap sandwich, chips, and bottled water.  They make an amazing homemade dressing  as a dip for chips or spreading on sandwiches/wraps.

  Afterwards, we went to Craigville Beach.  I was able to change my clothes at an old bathhouse.  The ocean water was extremely warm and the beach was filled with sea shells and grainy sand.  We enjoyed swimming and sitting on our towels soaking up the sun.  There were a couple snack shacks across the street.  Nate got a very yucky Coke there (fountain that was maybe expired).  Since my brother is a sales man for Coke, he knows the difference between the taste of fresh and expired product!
Craigville Beach

  We went home around 5:30 p.m.  Grams made homemade chicken pot pie, baby peas, a berry/pineapple yogurt salad, and cranberry sauce.  My grandmother spoiled us with her homemade hot fudge sauce over peppermint ice cream.  We spent the rest of the evening visiting with Gramps and Grams until around 10:30 p.m.  I enjoyed listening to stories about my Grandpa.  Several years ago, he worked with the Boston Pops and met many jazz singers.  He worked for a recording studio in Boston.  He showed us his awesome man cave in the basement!  He has a lot of cool toys such as vintage radio equipment, artifacts from the civil war time period, as well as several original paintings by my great grandfather.

Friday August 5, 2011
We had a light breakfast today cereal, English muffins, jam, and juice.  Nate and I  had a long day planned.  We decided to check out some more lighthouses and hang out at the beach.  Nate is extremely fascinated by the beauty of lighthouses in fact he has a book that contains the location and photographs of all the lighthouses in Massachusetts.  We drove south to Eastham, Cape Cod.  We saw Three Sisters Lighthouses as well as Nauset Lighthouse.  
 Three Sister's Lighthouses, 1838.

 

Nauset Lighthouse, 1923 was a twin lighthouse transferred from Chatham.

 

Next, we ate lunch in Orleans, MA at Lobster Claw.  We shared a plate of fried calamari for an appetizer. As for my main dish, I ordered fried lobster, fries, and coleslaw. We loved the restaurant!  The service and food was excellent!  
The Lobster Claw (Postcard)

We drove to Chatham, Cape Cod to see the Chatham Lighthouse.  What a gorgeous beach!  The water was so blue and the sand was white!  To our surprise, most of the beaches there were for locals only that required stickers (for parking) and there was no public parking near the beach we wanted to hang out at... 
Chatham Lighthouse and Beach

 So we continued our journey to find another beach near the coast.  Along the way, we stopped at the old Eastham Windmill off 6A.
Eastham Windmill 

Then proceeded down the road to First Encounter Beach in Eastham. According to history, First Encounter Beach is where the pilgrims first met the native Indians.  The pilgrims stopped at Provincetown, then Eastham, and afterwards they headed towards Plymouth, MA where they settled in 1620.   Anyway, it was high tide during that time of the day at the beach.  There were a lot of sand dunes which were prohibited to walk on.  I recall the sand was rocky.  The water was extremely warm like Craigville Beach.  Most beaches have very cold water and we were lucky to swim in two warm ones during our trip, Yay! 

We headed back home around 5:00 p.m.  Grams made a dinner reservation at Amari Bar and Ristorante in East Sandwich.  The authentic Italian food was magnificent.  I ordered shrimp scampi while Nate got shrimp parmigiana.  We had tons of left overs for the next day!

 After dinner, we drove out to Sandy Neck Beach.  Nate and I walked on the beach for a few minutes enjoying the sunset.  Sandy Neck Beach is extremely rocky compared to the other beaches.  It is also cold to swim in, although it is a beautiful beach to sit and listen to the waves.  There are beautiful sand dunes there too. 

 
 When we got home, we ate some lemon cake, played a game of Phase Ten, and talked way past my grandparent's bed time! 

Saturday August 6, 2011-August 7, 2011

This morning, we packed up our things and spent some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Coleman.  We had blueberry muffins and juice for breakfast.  Before we left, we had some of our leftover food from Amari Bar and Ristorante and took many pictures on the backyard deck of my Grandfather's home.  I cannot believe how quickly our trip came to an end!  It was so hard to say good bye!  My grandfather truly appreciated the time we spent with him and Grams. We sure hope and pray he can be around for a while.   

If there is another "next time" on the Cape in the future we would like to extend our trip another day or two. Travelling home was brutal!  We saw another windmill on our way to Boston. We returned our car around 1:45 p.m.  

We bought some last minute RED SOX stuff at the airport and were off to New York City around 4:00 p.m.  Since we had a couple hours until our next flight, we ate dinner at a Sports Bar and Grill.  We were able to watch the Red Sox versus Yankees at the airport restaurant.  The Red Sox won that night 10-4, Woohoo!  We proudly wore our Red Sox caps in the New York airport and boy did we get the glares!  For dessert, I got some Ben and Jerry's sweet cookie and cream ice cream!  Our next flight was so messed up in New York.  We had no seats assigned to us luckily we were able the get the LAST minute row seats at the ticket counter since it was a FULL flight.  
No surprise we were delayed, ugh!  
Our gate changed on us three times.  Our "plane" was taken twice by other flights.  There were mechanical problems with the third plane.  So around 9:00 p.m. we boarded a plane from Boston and sat on the runway for ONE HOUR!  I need to remind myself to avoid the JFK Airport next time.  Every time we fly from there we were always delayed due to the heavy airplane traffic. So the captain on our flight home to Utah allowed us to watch free movies and Nate got free cocktails. I slept a little, watched some TV, and listened to my iPod.  My husband John and daughters greeted us around 1:20 a.m. near the Jet Blue pick up parking.   I went to bed around 3:00 a.m.  I was extremely jet lagged for a day and half later.   Overall, we had a fantastic time!  We saw many lighthouses, beaches, and windmills! We ate delicious sea food and Granny's home cooked meals! We went swimming and shopping.  Lastly, best of all we made some wonderful memories with our Grandfather and Grandmother Coleman.