Fun-filled, crazy day…a trip with the  kiddos and friends to the Children’s Discovery Garden at Thanksgiving Point, some curry chicken with sweet peppers and carrots, strawberry salad with a homemade vinaigrette, and brown rice…and a night of painting with Nance.  A wonderful day!

The disappearing shoes…just part of our wild morning.  Everything was packed, ready to go.  Swim suits, towels, diaper, wipes, extra clothes, an extra suit for the dancer, the explorer’s shoes…but they never madeit into the car.  I was havinga difficult time getting the cooler past the car an bikes, so I began slowly backing up the van, out of the garage.  Beingsure to miss the truck droppingoff the moving”Pod,” but somehow found I was hitting something.

After getting out several times and looking around the car, our sweet neighbor, Janet, told me there was something under the car…the stroller.  Thank goodness it still works!  In all the excitement, I never did get our bag in the van.  Though thankfully we had our juice, water, and lunch.  The rest worked itself out…or off I should say!

Perhaps it is because we don’t wear shoes in the house, but the kiddos love to take them off.  We lost 3 pair of shoes at the gardens today.  The only reason we didn’t lose the explorer’s shoes was because they never left the bag that got left home!!  🙂

I also lost the builder for a while.  He was too busy enjoying the lily pads, koi fish, and caterpillar with Alison and Noah (Thanks Ali!).  We had an amazing turn-out at the gardens…I think our group represented half of the morning visitors!  So fun to see everyone, make new friends and meet friends for the first time!  The explorer loved playing with his new friend, Asher, in the water. 

Back at home, the kiddos and I cooked while the explorer got his afternoon nap.  As I prepared dinner, the kiddos were doing some cooking of their own.  By the time Nance arrived, they were helping with the salad preparation by de-top-ing the strawberries.  They loved chatting with Miss Nance, sharing their strawberries with her, and asking about baby Bear.  It was a fun afternoon/evening.

I attribute much of my courage to paint from being friends with Fancy Nancy.  She loves to paint outdoors and would invite me to paint lovely HeberValley whenever she would come visit.  We’ve painted in the blistering sun, snow, rain, and wind.  Mostly we paint a bit geurilla style, out of our cars or on a beach towell.  Tonight she had a bird poop right in the middle of her stroke…”Oh well,” she said, “now its a part of the painting.”  I was a bit slow, so hopefully I’ll finish the green home tomorrow night.  Thanks again to the designer for giving me time to paint!