Rich at his best

Can we put Rich in charge of making these (whatever they are) for Thanksgiving?  : )

Heather's look alike

Does anyone else do a double take when they see the photo on lds.org?  Is it just me or does that totally look like a tan Heather?

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

In case you weren't aware, Mom and Dad have been keeping a giant secret out in their garden.

They're growing some crazy mutant tomatoes.

 Exhibit A: Close-up View

 Exhibit B: A Perspective Shot

Exhibit C: The Side View

Eyewitnesses affirmed that the aforementioned tomato was, in fact, as big as baby Autumn's torso!  It was also confirmed that Mom and Dad have an entire tomato plant full of tomatoes this size.  So, if anyone's in need of a single tomato that could feed a family of four, check out the Wilson tomato farm!  You might just find a gold mine.

Keep up the great gardening, Dad!

Mom's beautiful backyard

Family recital

We had our first ever family recital! The kids did so well. I was so proud of them. I wish everyone could have been there (but it was tight quarters as it was). My favorite part might have been everyone bowing.

You can't see everyone in this pic, but we really crammed them in! 

My good friend Rachel made us this awesome Kit Kat piano! 

The performers (except Jonathan, who provided an encore after we were all done) 

Silly kids (I think Jacob might have just come in from playing soccer)

French Night at Rich's Restaurant

 Mom, Suzy, Kim and I were lucky enough to get tickets to Rich's restaurant for French Night.  It turned out that Rich was the student in charge that night of the whole restaurant!

The menus were beautiful.

The server brought out the pre-appetizer: raw meat and raw quail egg.  Wow!

Being brave.

Suzy ordered escargots (snails), and they came tucked inside a mushroom.  They weren't bad, and the broth was delicious.

Kim won't be requesting them from the Canon Center anytime soon, though.

Kim and Mom with their fried frog legs.  Seriously.  Which, not disappointingly, tasted similar to chicken.

 Suzy's first taste of roquefort cheese.  Can you say STRONG flavor?
(Suzy would probably add the word "feet" to the description of that cheese.)
Wikipedia describes it as having "distinctive veins of green mold." Where's the mild cheddar when you need it?

Melt-in-your mouth beef tenderloin!  Topped with a mild white fish and amazing hollandaise sauce.

I can't remember the name of this peasant soup.  It had lamb, white beans, and lots of other stuff.

Delicious halibut, hollandaise sauce, wild rice, and the most artistic broccoli you've ever seen.  (Not pictured very well here, sorry.)

Kim got the duck.  It had a yummy orange glaze and was really tender.

The night's official sous chef, Rich, running the show very competently in the kitchen.

DESSERT!!!!  (insert drool here) Dessert. Was. Unbelievable.   Mom and Kim got the chocolate mousse.

Suzy loved her creme brûlée.

My apple-pastry was beautiful, and I literally wiped that platter clean looking for any remaining trace of that out-of-this-world caramel/butterscotch sauce.

The whole gang.

It was a great night.  The food was amazing.  Rich was amazing.  And Suzy, amazingly, could jump this high for a picture after eating all 5 courses.

If you give Rich a bucket of water...

I love this series of pictures taken by Mom on the 4th of July.  Great camera.  Great photographer.  Great subjects!

The Color Run

Apparently this next year is Mark and my 10 year anniversary from BYU!  BYU hosted a Family Color Run, so Mark and I signed up our family and coerced Suzy into running, too.  It was just a mile (perfect for our kids), and turned out to be really fun!

Micah and Lily climb a tree in Kiwanis Park while they wait for the start

At the starting line 

Lap #1 (still white shirts)

On lap 3 (after 3 sprays of BYU Blue paint)

Not Suzy Snoozy, but Speedy Suzy these days.  She trained for a 5K and settled for a 1 mile. : ) 

After the race, but before the really colorful part

Tossing the packets of powdered paint

Love this girl

Micah was really nervous about getting "colored," but he enjoyed dousing Becca with orange

Suzy and Mark

Suzy and Janel

Micah took some extra packets of paint home for RUBY!

Sage's colorful face

Thanks for the great photos, Mom!

Anyone want to run the SL 5K Color Run in August?

Grandpa's new set of wheels

Today we got home from running errands and there was a GOLF CART on our front lawn!  Grandpa has a new set of wheels, and he parked it at our place while he ran his errands.
With Aunt Miriam's help, we got busy.

Lily drove first.  No, seriously.  She really drove.  Which ended after she plowed up over a curb into a neighbor's yard.

Eliza drove next, and was a surprisingly cautious driver.

Her passengers were happy.

Sage drove, too.  

She chased after Grandpa.

She even had to drive up into our backyard.  Which was pretty tricky.  We left Grandpa to unstick the golf cart.

The door's fine, by the way.

Then, the moment we were all waiting for....Grandpa drove.

 Happy passengers

Now the big question is....when is JACOB going to come try out the golf cart?