On Friday, I took the kids up to Salt Lake and met my friend Sarah for the afternoon. She lived in Jersey while we were there and moved back to Utah around the same time as us. It was fun strolling the city together again!
Temple Square was so beautiful. During the conference broadcast last weekend, they showed clips of the square with all the beautiful flowers so I really wanted to go see it in person, even though we went a couple weeks ago with my sister. So much more was blossoming-it was gorgeous. It reminded me of the day we were married, a little overcast (no hail today, unlike our wedding day) but Spring flowers everywhere! I love being able to take Eva to the temple grounds to show her where we were married and show her the importance of the temple.
It’s only April and we have used our Thanksgiving Point membership countless times. It’s been such a great gift and so much fun, plus it’s really convenient since we literally live in walking distance to the venues. This week we took our buddies Danica and Reese with us to the farm and the gardens. It was quite a dreamy day! You may have read on dholdy’s blog that she is not an animal person. Now, I’m not a huge fan either but now that we’ve been to the farm a handful of times, I definitely have come around to the chickens with the feathers on their legs which makes them look like they’re wearing bell-bottoms AND the pygmy goats. Oh, how I love those little goats. The pigs are also a fave (although they weren’t out this time around), I think that’s because I watched Babe all the time growing up.
It was adorable watching Reese and Eva interact. Eva would share a popcorn with her, Reese would toddle after her in the gardens.
Thanks for all the pics, GF. That’ll do pig, that’ll do.
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2016-04-08 22:24:142016-04-08 22:24:14Thanksgiving Point Farm
My good friend Hannah was in town and I had tickets to see Aida one night, so we headed up to SLC and made an evening out of it. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then walked around City Creek afterwards. I loved walking around a city again, it made me want to go up there more often and take advantage of all the shows and concerts SLC has to offer. And as for my first opera, I loved it. Some of the music was even familiar to me, which always makes those types of things more enjoyable. I can’t wait for my bff to move back here this summer so we can have more girls’ nights like this again!
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2016-03-24 08:46:322016-03-24 08:46:32A Night at the Opera
Last week, a friend from church and her kids joined us at Wheeler Farm for some Fall fun… we rode a little cow tractor, went on a hayride, saw lots of animals, played in the hay maze, and got to pick out some pumpkins to bring home. The farm is open all year long (and mostly is free)… we will definitely be going back!
On my mom’s last day, the weather was a little rainy but we worked around it and still did some fun outings! First, we met up for lunch with TJ’s parents, then headed down to Provo Canyon to walk around Vivian Park. My parents stayed there a couple times in a cabin when visiting us in college, so they always like coming back to the area. Sorry for the blurry pic-but it’s better than nothing!
In the evening, we went to Gardner’s Village for their Witchapalooza. It was pretty busy but still very enjoyable! Everyone was dressed up as witches and the whole place was decorated for Halloween. We enjoyed a caramel apple together and watched Eva dance to Halloween music with other kids on a little stage! It was a perfect last night with my mom!
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2015-10-25 09:27:272015-10-20 23:36:41Vivian Park and Gardner's Village
Continuing the fun with my mom, we went to BYU’s campus and Salt Lake City together. I don’t have any good pictures from BYU, unfortunately Finn was a little fussier that day but we still had a great time on campus. It always makes me so sentimental seeing that beautiful place with so many memories!
We visited Temple Square and City Creek Center and the weather was perfect again! Eva even played in the splash pad at City Creek! We couldn’t get over how beautiful the flowers were on Temple Square, they were truly incredible!
My dad left earlier, but my mom got to stay and spend more time with us. So, we headed to the Hogle Zoo up in Salt Lake. It had been a really long time since I had been, I forgot how nice and pretty of a zoo it was! They still had the dinosaurs up, which I thought was really neat but Eva was a little unsure. She thought they looked too real and didn’t understand why they weren’t behind bars! Finn was a complete angel and slept through the entire trip!
Our church has been emphasizing the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I have to say, it has been a really good reminder for me. It gets easy to slack off a little on Sundays. When we moved out here, we felt like we were in limbo for a bit since we weren’t in our own Ward or home so we made some excuses on why we could bend the rules a bit. But now we’re back on track and trying harder to go to all of our meetings, get to church on time, and keeping the rest of the day holy and different than the other days of the week. It’s actually been a positive experience and I’ve enjoyed noticing the difference it makes in our home on Sunday.
That being said, this past Sunday we drove through the Alpine Loop and walked around Sundance for a bit. The weather was perfect-it was about 65 degrees up in the canyon and it got me so excited for Fall to come! So, if you’re looking for an activity on Sunday to get out of the house-go on a scenic drive!
I just had to add this funny photo… we laughed so hard about it. For whatever reason, TJ was holding Eva so strangely, it’s like he had never held her before. And the lady taking the picture said, “Uhhhh are you guys sure you’re camera ready?” We didn’t realize what she was talking about until after we saw the photo! Haha too funny!
The Friday evening before Labor Day, we had Eva’s cousins over to swim for the last time. It was a little chilly, especially once we got out but it was so fun to all hang out. I’m so grateful that TJ’s siblings live here and that we have kids who love playing together. Now, can MY siblings and parents move out here too???
I LOVE this photo! You should have seen them all playing and running around together. They really love each other and I’m so grateful Eva gets to be a part of it all again now that we are back in Utah… it makes it all worth it.
https://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.png00Katiehttps://katiederrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/logo.pngKatie2015-09-15 10:42:002015-09-10 10:45:15Last Swim of the Season
We have had a couple fun playdates recently. I’ve been trying to pack our weeks with activities so that we enjoy these last couple weeks without a newborn and to pass the time!
One afternoon we went to the aquarium with some friends. It was my first time at this new one and I really enjoyed it! We went to a little 4D movie and Eva asked once she put on the glasses if we were going to go under water. She cracks me up.
Another afternoon we went to the splash pad with Eva’s cousins. These girls in their tutu swimsuits are just so cute!
And then on Thursday evenings, TJ plays flag football with some guys from the Ward while we chat with friends.