Sunny Saturday

Last night Dad & Nick were talking about going to the temple in the morning and I said I wanted to go, but it was too early in the morning to have someone watch Autumn.  Well, Dad called this morning at 6:30 to say that Mom had volunteered to watch Autumn if I wanted to go with them.  I jumped at the chance to go and hurried and got up and showered and got ready to go.  Mom came over w/ Dad and stayed w/ Autumn while we went.  That was SO NICE of her to do, especially since I know she loves her sleep and it was so early on a Saturday morning. 

We stopped at Jack In The Box and got a Breakfast Jack since we were a little early and were all hungry.  I guess that’s a tradition that Dad & Nick always stop and get one when they go to the temple.  I was really impressed w/ how good it was and for only $1!  I’ll have to start getting them for breakfast in the future.  The session was good and my favorite part was that all of the tulips on the temple grounds have started to bloom and are GORGEOUS!  Spring just brings me so much happiness b/c everything is recovering from a cold winter and nature starts to come alive.

We came back to the house and watched Hercules (Autumn’s pick) for a little while until Mom & Dad left b/c Dad had to go to work.  I didn’t want to stay cooped up inside all day, especially since it was so nice outside.  Autumn had been asking to go to the park, so we invited Nick to come and to my surprise, he said yes.  I decided to switch things up and go to a different park.  We went over to this place behind the big new mall and to my surprise, they had a huge sandy playground called The Village Beach.  It’s awesome b/c they have sand volleyball courts and a boardwalk and a place for the kids to play.

They even have free beach chairs and beach toys just sitting around for anyone to use.  So now anytime I feel like I’m missing the beach we can just come here and get our fix.  Autumn had a blast playing in the sand and I loved being out in the sun.  I pulled my capris up to my knees to try and work on my tan.  We were only out there for about 45 minutes and I could feel myself starting to get sunburned, so I went and sat in the shade for a while.

We walked across the street to where they have these fun water fountains that we first discovered when Ashley & Bianca came to visit last summer.  We washed off our feet and hands and I let Autumn run around in the water for a little bit.  But, I told her not to get her dress wet b/c we were going to go to lunch w/ Mimi in a little bit.

While we were waiting for Mom to come meet us for lunch, this big dressed up cookie was walking around trying to drum up business for a cookie store around the corner.  Autumn saw it and of course wanted to go say hi.  But, since I have a phobia of people in costumes I made Nick take her over and just snapped pictures from a comfortable distance away w/ my big zoom lens.  She walked right up to the cookie and said hi and gave it a big high five.  When she walked back over to me she had the biggest grin and was so happy.

They have this cool wall w/ all sorts of blue stones all over it and Nick wanted to stand by it and have me take pictures.  He’s such a character and I’m glad he decided to spend the day w/ us instead of sitting home and watching cartoons like he usually does.

As you can tell, she dressed herself today.  She had the jean dress on when I got home from the temple and I told her she had to put on some type of shorts or tights under her dress if we were going to go out.  So, she put on pink tights and her boots.  It’s a hodge podge outfit, but I think she looks adorable.

I wanted to try an artistic shot w/ the blue wall backdrop and thought this was a cute picture.  I put my camera in manual mode and moved the focal point to be on Autumn, which made the wall blurry.

While we were waiting for Mom, I noticed these 3 little boys running around in the water.  Their Grandma had brought them and after they were done playing, she made them sit in these rocking chairs to dry off before they got back in the car.  I just had to get a picture b/c I thought it was so cute of them.

Mom finally got there and we went to lunch.  We were walking into the restaurant when Autumn saw the big cookie again and had to go over and say hi again.  She stood there for a good 3 minutes just walking away to the cookie as if they were life long friends.  When I was finally able to get her to leave so we could go in the restaurant, I heard her say, “I love you” to the cookie.  She’s such a love bug.

We went to the Purple Cow for lunch, and I wasn’t super impressed w/ their sandwiches.  It was OK, but not for $6 and I could have made that at home.  Next time I’ll have to try a hamburger b/c Mom said Dad really likes their burgers.  Nick ordered a chocolate & peanut butter shake b/c our waitress recommended it and she was flirting w/ Nick and he was flirting back.  Mom wrote Nick’s phone # on the receipt when we left.  We’ll have to see if Ashley the waitress calls him.

Autumn was being silly and wanted to hold a chip in her mouth while we took the picture, so I played along and did it too.

After that, we were trying to decide what to do next.  Mom said she needed to go get some groceries and I did, too.  So, we went to WalMart and all split up and went our separate ways to get what we needed.  I happened to walk down this aisle and was surprised to see there were so many different colors and patterns of duct tape!  I thought of Nate, who used to make duct tape wallets and shoes and stuff.  I could totally picture him w/ a flame duct tape wallet.  Who knew there were so many choices?

After WalMart, we stopped by my house so I could put some food in the fridge.  Then we went back to the shopping center so Mom could get her car.  We went to her house and just vegged out for a while and watched TV.  Dad & Autumn went outside to play on the fort and swim.  Then at 6:30, we went back over to the shopping center to see the fountain show.  Dad & Autumn went in the Corvette (in case Dad had to leave and go in to the clinic since he was on back up) and Nick & I went in the Durango.  We got there 10 minutes early and got a good seat.  They had the water and lights coordinated to a few songs.  One song was “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift.  It was cool to hear the water hitting the ground in synch w/ the song and see all the cool lights.

Autumn talked Dad into standing up and dancing w/ her during one of the songs. He’s such a good Papa.

The other song they did was “Great Balls of Fire.”  At the end of that one, the middle water fountain shot WAY HIGH into the sky.  It was so high that I couldn’t even capture all of it in my lens when I was zoomed all the way out.  We had to look straight up into the sky to see where the water stopped.  It was pretty cool.  We were sad that the show was only 2 songs long, but that’s better than nothing.  Autumn kept asking when they were going to start the movie.  LOL.  I guess she thought we were going to see a movie instead of a fountain show.

Nick noticed this big shark mural on the side of a building and wanted to go check it out.

Here he is getting attacked by a shark!  Poor Nick, we knew thee well.  After the show, we came home and I helped Mom make dinner.  We had asparagus, cabbage, and Rice-A-Roni rice for dinner.  We ate, then cleaned up the kitchen, then just vegged and watched some TV.  Before I knew it, it was 9:15 and since we lose an hour of sleep, we came home to go to bed.  I am so glad it’s starting to be warm and sunny and that we were able to do a lot of fun and impromptu things today.