Living It Up

We had some fun outings in the first part of September. Three come to mind:

First, we had our monthly date night with Kerstin, Jed, Alisha, and Nate. This month we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather so we decided to have a little BBQ up the canyon. We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and found a little picnic area with one of those standing grills. It was a “bring your own meat” kind of a picnic, while we brought salad, chips, fruit, and dessert to share. We lit up the coals and grilled our delicious dinners. We brought some big juicy steaks from Walmart and seasoned them with Montreal flavored spices...and the were delicious! Cooked just right and so juicy! It’s always fun to meet up with this good bunch of old high school friends. Jason and I enjoyed the BBQ so much that the next weekend we took the left over coals and had our own little family BBQ at Canyon Glen Park (where we got engaged). We are totally going to do more of those next summer/fall! Bring on the grilled steak, BBQ chicken, grilled corn, and banana boats!

Jason, Charlie, and I also met up with the Gruber clan for the Annual Utah State Fair. It was a very hot day this year, but always lots of fun things to see and eat. This year, Nancy submitted some of her sunflowers for the competition...and she won first place!! She definitely had the tallest flowers there! Go Nancy!

Jason and I got our own little date night when my Aunt Erin offered to tend Charlie. We quickly took her up on the offer. We dropped Charlie off at their place (in Taylorsville) and headed to the Jordan River Temple. The Jordan River Temple is particularly special to me because it was “my temple” growing up...it was where I first went to do baptisms for the dead and it is where I went to receive my endowments. Jason and I did an endowment session and then went to Olive Garden for dinner (thank you gift card). Apparently, it wasn’t Charlie’s night...he just bawled and bawled pretty much all night while Aunt Erin tended him. She tried taking him to a high school football game, but he just wasn’t having it. Grandma Arbon told my dad later, “That boy has a good set of lungs on him!” Sorry, Erin! Thanks again for watching him and for being willing to do it again!