Tucanos with my sisters and Edie

Every time we go to Provo, we try to go to Tucanos. It is an all you can eat Brazilian Restaurant and it is DELICIOUS!! I love their rice and beans, mashed potatoes, and their cheese bread and fried bananas. YUM! This was the last time I got to see Edie--I'm so glad she could come!

Salt Lake Temple

Early this morning Brenda, Yvonne and I went to the Salt Lake Temple. What a gorgeous temple! We had a really nice time and we were excited that the apostle, Russel M. Nelson was in the same session as us!

Veteran's Pool Again

I really love this pool! And after standing in the hot sun for 2 1/2 hours, I had to cool off. Edie met us there and we splashed around in the little pool for a while. Here's a picture of her and all 4 of her children: Addy, Ollie, Nena, and Lolo. Later, we did the slides and went to the bigger pool. I wish there was a pool like this in my neighborhood!!

I met David Archuleta!!

I almost didn't go.  In fact, I tried really hard not to go.  My two younger sisters were getting ready to go.  Yvonne had made angel costumes for each of her 5 kids with David's picture on the front.  She had made posters.  Cindy had made t-shirts with his picture for her boys.  I kept telling myself that it was going to be hot and they probably wouldn't get to meet him.  That it would just be a huge crowd.  But as they got ready, I started to get that pit in my stomach, that if they met him, I would be heartbroken if I didn't go.  Next thing I knew, I was getting ready to go and wearing a David Archuleta t-shirt. (Yvonne had made 2!)  So we drove up to the E center where the concert was going to be that night and waited for their tour bus to drive in.  It was 12:30pm--HOT!!!  When we got there, I saw this car that said "Welcome home, David."  And I realized how it must be very special for him to be coming HOME.  I was glad I could meet him in his home state. We waited around an hour but it was worth it.  We met all the idols but the only ones I cared about were Brooke and DAVID!  I got their autographs and these pictures. They were both super-nice, David was precious--totally humble and real.  Yvonne and I sang to him to see if we could get him to sing with us--I guess he's not allowed.  But he said "You guys are good at that."  Wow.  This was really fun!! 

Raquel and Ollie's Place

After Jeff's, we headed to our friends, Raquel and Oliver's place.  They have a beautiful home and garden in Provo.  (They're the ones that run the Provo farmer's market.)  WHAT A WONDERFUL GARDEN THEY HAVE!!  We had the best time hanging with them, and Susan & Brad and Edie & Naui, and James & Natalie and the kids.  The kids LOVED picking and eating all the strawberries they could find.  As it got darker, we went inside and enjoyed the most yummy apple pies in the world that Susan spent half the day making.  SUSAN, THEY WERE DELICIOUS!  Raquel, I wish I lived there just so we could do that every Sunday for forever.

Dinner with the Gallups!

This afternoon we went to Craig's brother's home for dinner. (Craig and the girls have been there several times this trip, but this was my first time!) So these are the first pics there. I got some darling pics of the girls with their cousin Rachel's kids, Gabe and Sophia. We had such a nice time visiting, playing, and eating. We finished our visit by going to their next door neighbor, Esther's place and meeting her new sheep and checking out their goats and chickens-- FUN!!  Esther makes adorable felted things and we had a wonderful visit as she showed me the many beautiful things she makes. :)

Church at our old ward

Today we visited our old ward to see old friends. Edie happens to be in this ward, too! It was awesome because she gave the lesson in Relief Society! And she did a fantastic job! It was so nice to see old friends and see how children are growing. We tooks these pics after church because I needed to get a pic of the girls in their pillowcase dresses with Nena who I also got one for. Too bad Ceci was sleeping!!

Faustina

Edie and I have our birthdays two days in a row. Hers is June 6th and mine is June 7th. For her birthday this year, she had a party at a restaurant in Salt Lake called Faustina. I wanted to go sooooooo bad!! (But of course, the drive was too long to make it! :) ) The reason Edie loves Faustina so much is because they serve a blueberry souffle with honey lavender sauce!! Ever since I heard of it, I have been DYING to try it. So tonight was FINALLY the night!!! After the tea room, we drove to Faustina. We sat at a table on the patio. It was beautiful. The souffle was everything I hoped for-- very blueberry, very lavendery and very honeyful. YUM!! We ate it as slowly as we could-- it was soooooooooooooo delicious!! I enjoyed so much savoring this with Edie and pretending it was our birthdays again!! Thanks for taking me Edie!! For Edie's blog on this, click here :).

The Beehive Tearoom with Edie!!

So after the Gateway, Craig did a wonderful thing: He drove all our kids (mine and Edie's) home except for Lolo so that Edie and I could get tea together. Oh my gosh!!!! We had sooooooo much fun!! I can't begin to describe it!! We were suddenly in a beautiful, serene room sipping lavender petal & honey iced tea. We also got cream of potato soup and a tomato sandwich to share. Lolo was sweet and fun and delicious. Edie and I got to talk and talk. I think we got kept looking at each other and wondered if we were in a dream? I know it felt like that for me . . . We ended with petit fours that I tried to eat as slowly as possible. Thank heavens we had another stop after the tea room!!! :) So it wasn't so hard to leave.

Playin' in the water at the Gateway Mall

So after One World, Edie and I went to the Gateway where they have these fun water spouts that kids can play in. It was really hot, and really crowded and we were supposed to meet Yvonne and Cindy (but we never found them!) We let our kids play for a while, but it was so hot, that my kids were done pretty quick. Edie stayed while her kids played (with her sister who had joined her) and I went to Anthropologie to cool off and look at cute things. I bought nothing as usual, but enjoyed all the pretty things and heard a Feist song!

One World Cafe

After the Farmer's Market, we met Edie at One World Cafe for lunch. This cafe is amazing. They serve all organic food. They serve you whatever portion size you want and then you decide how much you want to pay for it! They also give out complimentary food for those who have no money. They compost the uneaten food, too!!

The food was delicious!! We had quiche, noodles with veggies in a cream sauce, several kinds of salads, potatoes, berry pie, and oatmeal cookies. We had a great time. The kids ran around like crazy, but luckily, we had a room all to ourselves. I look forward to returning many times!

The Salt Lake Farmer's Market

We left the Van Wagenen's to go to the SLC Farmer's Market. This is a wonderful market full of great produce and tons of booths with beautiful handcrafted things. My FAVORITE were these ceramic teapots made by a local artist. I went to the market mostly to find my dear friend Jenny Tippets, a college roommate, who sells delicious berries there with her husband Jarrod. I also met Yvonne and Cindy there with their families. We had a great time, and I bought the CUTEST dresses for my girls that were made from recycled pillowcases! They were soooo cute! And I LOVED seeing my friend Jenny.