Spare Minutes

I've found myself with a few spare minutes... er HOURS in the airport so I thought I'd use the time wisely and start updating a few things. But of course, with limited resources (dirty laundry, leftover corn nuts, laptop) I am limited to writing about recent events.
I'll start with our recent trip to Salt Lake City...
We (Brian, M, Brian's dad and I) jumped on up to SLC to attend a conference and were lucky enough to get to see some family. Our cousin Michelle of outdoor stove fame, her husband and daughter wisked us away on our last night in town and took us up to Red Butte Gardens. As we drove out to the gardens we could see a thunderstorm gathering, but Michelle had packed a great picnic and after days of fast food and buffets we weren't willing to give it up.
We gathered up some tables with umbrellas and ate while it rained around us. The rain turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it kept us all close, eating and talking and then cleared up to a beautiful rainbow just as we were finishing.

Afterward we walked around the gardens. The Herb Garden:












M had a great time with Johanna and her boyfriend. The Children's Garden was great - it included giant lizards, a snake made out of a twisty tunnel of vines and of course all kinds of plants to touch and smell. It was truly beautiful after the little bit of rain.

 

 Cousin Michelle, being the awesomely cool cousin she's always been, brought Miss M a couple of treats. These included a couple a painted wooden fish. Let me narrate some photos for you to give a sense of one of the current favorite conversations:

Miss M: "Mama. MAMA. Pish Kiss."

I am supposed to kiss the fish. The "Pish" kissing does not commence fast enough.

Miss M: "PISH KISSSSSSS"
The end of the conversation varies, but it is usually something like this... 

Your pish kisses are substandard. If this is the best you can do, I'm outta here.

We were happy to see family that we'd like to see more of, happy to spend time with Papa Z and happy to be on our way home!