I celebrated Mothers' Day with my mom on Saturday. My sister Erin and I took her out to lunch and to see the Avengers. Good times... So Sunday was celebrated just with us Bennetts.
Our church schedule moved to the afternoon, so after sleeping in and breakfast and some gospel study/VeggieTales time, we still had three hours to kill before we needed to be at church. I didn't have the heart to put on another video or read another conference talk, so I suggested we go for a drive up to the Temple Quarry.
The weather was gorgeous, and with most other Mormons in morning church, we were practically the only ones there. I love this picture of Atticus. I was trying to get a sweet father-son-walking photo, but Atticus had to pose.
He was really excited to climb on the rocks.
It was a good start to Mothers' Day. Church wasn't overly sappy, and the men provided ice cream sundaes as our gift. The Primary sang songs I'd never heard, but Atticus looked cute doing it. A friend took a picture to prove to his friend how small our Primary is, and if he ever sends me a copy, I'll post it.
[Completely unrelated note: Our building is being renovated, so we are temporarily using the historic 10th ward chapel, built in 1853. It's a gorgeous Scandinavian-style chapel with intricate woodwork and stained glass and a pipe organ. President Hinckley attended church here as a boy. Our chorister is a 75-year-old black woman from Chicago who likes to wear Indian-style outfits. I told her after the meeting that watching her leading the music in that pioneer chapel wearing a bright yellow
kurti and pants, I was struck by the fact that she is also a pioneer, a new kind of pioneer. Everything comes full circle, and it was totally awesome (for lack of a better word) to witness.]
After church James grilled pork chops (with his signature soy-garlic marinade), which we ate with artichokes and salad, both with a lemon-mustard vinaigrette. SO YUMMY! I also made my favorite super-rich brownies, which we ate while watching the latest Sherlock.
A very good day.
We are on spring break this week, so of course we had to get together with the school friends. We went all out and took the Frontrunner train up to Ogden, where we played on the trains outside the station, then walked through the historic district to a local cafe with really good food. After lunch we walked another three blocks to the Treehouse Museum, which is the coolest children's museum I've seen so far. Lots of great exhibits, a major focus on literacy (books everywhere, topics corresponding to each exhibit), and an interactive play. Afterward we walked another three blocks to Farr's ice cream, a local specialty. We had to wait a half hour in line in the tiny, crowded store, so some of the moms entertained the kids outside. These pictures are from our wait. Once we finally had our ice cream, we walked 5 blocks back to the station. I was really impressed with how well the kids did with all the walking. Even Zoe, our frailest/whiniest one, refused to go on only once, not counting the time she was just pouting about not being able to hold Caleb's hand. We made it to our train on time regardless, and the kids played together the whole way home.
On the way home one of the other moms said, "I feel like the best mom ever." I don't know that this outing makes up for the extra grumpy evening we had last night, but it was a good day. I just wish I'd remembered my camera to take more pictures.