Writers block update

I have had a severe case of writers block all week and life has been pretty routine, so when in doubt cop out and do a weekend recap.

I will start with Thursday because of the Utah holiday of Pioneer Day. I never have been into Pioneer Day. It always seemed weird to me that we celebrated a state holiday in July but in historical context, I guess it makes sense. Brigham came down said, “This is the place,” and the rest is history. This year we decided to do something different. We had some friends over for dinner last Pioneer day and he gave a toast of Happy Pie-n-Beer day. I had never heard of this but apparently up on the base it is common place to hear this. An idea was born that day to have a party for those of us, who wanted to celebrate our own way. Really, it was a simple concept; Pie and Beer. Bring your own beer and bring a pie to share. Throw some dead animals on the grill (in the case of hot dogs, several dead animals), get some fruit, chips and dip and you have a party. Mandy made homemade root beer and it was on. It was nice and mellow. A bunch of family and friends relaxing in the yard while the kids ran roughshod all over the place, what could be better. There was plenty of pie for all:

I tried my best to polish off most of the pie but alas, the beer and burgers got in the way.  Next year we assign people to bring pie. It actually saddened me that so many innocent pies had to go to waste.  No one got out of hand or too obnoxious (although I tried but it wasn’t my fault). Just a great evening. Thank you again to all who came.

Friday had to work.

Saturday, we did a couple of little chores, cleaned up the yard a little bit, changed the battery on the truck, and lounged for most of the day. We needed a break after all the work that went into to making the house and yard presentable for the party. That night we decided to make the trek up Weber Canyon to Taggarts.

We have lived in this part of Utah for almost 14 years and we have always heard about how good Taggarts is. So we thought this day was as good as any to make the trip past Morgan to eat dinner. We arrived about ten minutes to five with the intention of walking right in and getting sat at a table. Most of Morgan County it seemed had the same idea. After being told we had a 30 minute wait, we decided to stroll the grounds. For reasons unknown they have a pair of Peacocks roaming around the restaurant like sentry’s guarding a castle. Out back they have a nice Koi pond and deck area.

We waited our allotted time then sat down to eat. If you are ever in the Morgan or northern Davis County area, make the drive and check this place out. It was that good. Mandy had the veggie sandwich, Connor had the kid’s fish and chips, Alex obliterated an adult size 1/3lb bacon cheese burger and I had the ham, cheese and spiced apple wrap. All the sandwiches are on homemade pitas not normal bread. Wait, ham, cheese and cinnamon spiced apples, in a wrap? Yup and it was damn good. For dessert we split carrot cake and Alex choose the cheesecake brownie, while Connor had the chocolate chip cookie. I’m still convinced Connor made the best choice. 

Sunday we slept in and really for me 8AM was a godsend. I cannot remember the last time I slept that late. This just in….I was just informed my lazy butt slept in that late on Father’s Day. However, I don’t count Father’s Day or Birthdays as official sleeping in days. That is expected and the non-expected sleep in days is what really counts. Now back to the blog.

I took in a quiet moment on the back porch with me, the birds and a cup of coffee before the rest of clan stirred.

Mandy came up with the great idea of heading to the pool that afternoon. After consulting the internet and looking at several options we chose Clearfield and off we went. Clearfield is a nice pool that is mostly indoors with a normal pool for lap swimming and a diving board. There is also a lazy “river” that is more akin to a whirlpool (or toilet bowl as the boys called it), a kids play area and a waterslide for the bigger kids ages 8-36 or older. If you have read this blog before you know of Connor’s struggles to try new things fears. It again manifested itself on the big waterslide. We again tried begging, bribing and encouraging for hours to get him to ride it. When Mandy finally convinced him it was an early Bday present to her if he would just ride it once, he finally agreed to go. Again, as soon as we hit the pool it was, “can we go again?” We went again, and again and again and again and again and again. That’s when I got, “why didn’t you tell me it was so much fun Papa? I would have done this sooner.” Grit teeth, grit teeth, and I’m over it. Had a blast at the pool. . It was great just to unwind for four hours.

For dinner we had grilled chicken, with grilled corn on the cob, salad and watermelon. It was good but dessert was Butterscotch Beer Floats. 

We had a guest (you know who you are and thank you) bring the boys some of this for our Pie-n-beer party and they were so good we (I mean I) came up with the idea of adding ice cream (I am the most humble guy I know). If you are a Harry Potter fan, I imagine that is what butter beer tastes like. Pick these up and Harmon’s, add Ice cream and thank me later.

 

See that wasn’t so hard. Writers block meets weekend update.