Eating Our Dessert First

While I was in Utah, Laura decided we really needed to eat at this cool place called The Chocolate located on State Street in Orem.   So while Laura's downstairs neighbor watched the kids.  (Thanks, Hillary!), Natalie, Kara, Laura, and I went to get dessert there around 2:00.    The actual place is a pretty old house.   This is a picture of the sign. 

It's a small bakery/cafe. The rooms are simple yet beautifully decorated with sofas and tables.   You order your food, find a room to get comfortable in, and they bring your order to your table.

We relaxed for awhile on the sofa in the "blue room" until our food came.  Yes, we only ordered desserts!

First we had a mint brownie, turtle brownie, fruit tart, and caramel tart. Then two glasses of milk to go with a cookie baked in a little pan with a scoop of ice cream on top.   It's called a cazookie!

Boy was everything delicious!  Needless to say, we were pretty full and not really ready to eat dinner at the usual time.   Eventually hunger won, and besides, there was another new place in Orem we just had to try, so we went to Cafe Paesan, a unique Italian Bistro where they serve cafeteria style, and everything is fresh.  I love eating in Orem.   Of course the best eating of all is right there in Laura's kitchen.  Among other things, she makes some amazing pizza!   We also had some delicious fajitas one night.  Laura got the recipe from Real Simple.com.    It's definitely one I'd  love to try again.

Halloween With the Barnetts

Kart's family has an interesting tradition of dressing up on Halloween and going out to dinner.   I'm not sure the history of that tradition, but it's been fun to see some of their pictures over the last few years of their whole family in costumes.  Since Natalie and I arrived in Utah on the 29th, and their Halloween dinner was going to be on the 30th, we spent a lot of the next day shopping for and putting together costumes so we could join them for dinner.  

After seeing a cowboy hat in the craft store, I decided to be a cowgirl, which was nice because Owen was already planning to be a little calf:

Emma was Princess Tiana from the Disney Movie, "The Princess and the Frog":

Aiden was a fireman that got into the face paint did his own makeup (I love the green eyebrows!):

Kara and Natalie were Salt and Pepper:

It was tough getting her hair poofy enough, but Beth was a beautiful Sarah Palin:

Laura was a cat, and Kart was Papa Smurf:

We all arrived at Red Robin before Kart's family and took several pictures while we were waiting.   The Barnetts arrived in their costumes, and we had time for lots more pictures, since the hostess told us it would be another hour before we could get a table:

Here's a view of the dinner table:

It was fun being part of the Barnett's crazy tradition!

Road Trip with Natalie

On Wednesday, October 27, Natalie closed the trunk of the Mazda, which amazingly held most of the contents of her room, and we set off to cross the country from Virgina to Utah.   Here is a list of our fabulously interesting activities:

DRIVING

SLEEPING

WATCHING THE RAIN AND AUTUMN COLORS IN MARYLAND

BEING BLINDED BY THE SUN IN THE EVENINGS

SLEEPING IN COMFORT INNS (where they offer complimentary breakfast in the morning that includes  waffles!)

ENJOYING SOME PRETTY SCENERY (the color of the sky, and the play of light in the morning were amazing!)

ENJOYING THE DECOR OF THE COMFORT INN IN NEBRASKA

EATING IN THE CAR

EATING IN RESTAURANTS IN COLLEGE TOWNS (Ohio State and University of Iowa)
 *sorry, no pictures*

TAKING PICTURES OF OURSELVES

TRYING NOT TO BE BLINDED BY THE SUN

FINALLY ARRIVING IN UTAH ON THE EVENING OF OUR THIRD DAY!
        (yes - there was snow on the ground)