Dining in the Kitchen

This last weekend, Laura, Liz and Luke came down for the holiday weekend. I had asked Brandon what he wanted for dinner and he replied, "Chicken strips, ranch dressing, pie and cupcakes." Well, that is what we had. I don't think he'll ever ask for that again. Once again my dinner was a big flop! In case you didn't know, there is a good kind of chicken strips and a bad kind. I purchased the bad. It was like we were eating dinner from the school cafeteria. YUM! Oh-well. Live and learn I guess. Brandon has been refereeing and playing men's basketball in our Stake. It just so happened that he was playing our brother-in-law last Saturday! So, it turned into a family event. Tara and her kids came, as well as Shelley, Hugh, Nick and MaryEden. Dustin's team won, but Brandon looked so cute playing that it didn't matter to me. Am I allowed to say he looked "cute" playing basketball??? Then it was off to breakfast with all of us to Granny Annies. We had a really fun morning with family.

When we got home, the kids started on their chores. Can I brag about the kids for just a minute? Without asking they did chores! Liz wanted to do the dishes and so Brandon stood at the sink with her and showed her how to clean off the dishes and load the dishwasher. Luke learned how to sweep the floor and he vacuumed the couches. Laura vacuumed the stairs. They were supposed to be done, but next thing I knew, Luke is sweeping the entry and the upstairs bathroom. When I start mopping, Liz asked to learn how. She did our upstairs bathroom and it looked amazing! Did I mention that they all made their beds and Liz and Luke took the garbage out on their own when we went to Brandon's game? Yup, they are amazing!

I had planned a surprise dinner to Bucca di Beppo for Saturday night. I called on Thursday and made reservations to sit at the booth that is located in the kitchen. We got all dressed up and did our hair and went out to dinner. I had wanted to sit in the kitchen to eat for a long time. The only thing I would do differently is order the lunch portions of the food! We had so many leftovers and our fridge smelled like a big garlic bomb all weekend! But we had a lot of fun watching people in the kitchen while we ate. On Sunday we had dinner with Brandon's family and when we got home, I showed Laura how to make an apple pie. She did a brilliant job! It was so yummy!!

Sunday night, Liz, Laura and I had a "sleep-over" downstairs and Luke had one with his dad in our room. Monday morning was spent hanging out watching cartoons. We got lunch and had a picnic on the floor in the living room and watched a movie while I painted Liz and Laura's nails. I had Tuesday off from work and Brandon was able to take the day off too, so we stayed up late watching movies and then went out to lunch and a movie on Tuesday. It was a great ending to the long weekend!