Two July Fly-bys!

July usually sends our two Mesa families returning to northern Utah. 
With eleven kids between them, 
they come for EFY (Especially for Youth) at BYU, 

tennis camps and visiting friends and relatives. 

We get to be a stop-over, and  we  celebrate! 

Stacy, Maddy, Max and Luke arrived Saturday, July 14, 
in time for barbecued ribs (the twins' favorite!), dilly pasta salad, Summer Tomatoes bruschetta, 
grilled corn on the cob and Nielsen Custard cones.

They went to church with us on Sunday, then we returned home and had a waffle brunch 

before they hit the road to return home after having been away for two weeks. 

A week before heading to Utah, they spent time on Lake Powell with Tom's entire family - 

I think there were almost 50 of them.

Then Tom flew home to work. Stacy and the younger kids drove to northern Utah 

and they stayed with Mindy, Jeff and kids while Maddy attended EFY.

It was so fun to have them visit for a minute!

The next weekend, Emily, Anna, Ben, Becca and Sara stopped by, returning from up north 

where Anna and Ben attended EFY, then the next week, Ben attended tennis camp. 

The week previous to that, they celebrated the 4th with the Gilberts

 at Paul and Susan's beach house on Coronado, 

Ryan flew home to work and Emily drove the kids to Utah. 

Their biggest highlight was visiting their son Pete in the dorm, where he is living 

and attending BYU Summer School 

before he leaves on his mission to Armenia/Georgia.

They arrived in time for barbecued salmon, grilled corn on the cob ( we're loving this way to cook corn), 

broccoli salad  and . . . 

. . . panna cotta with balsamic berries and cream for dessert. 

They left Saturday morning after Roger and Emily had a quick run 

and I fixed Huevos Rancheros, gluten-free style.

Mid-summer fly-bys with loved ones are the best!

HAPPY - Father's Day, Birthday, 4th of July AND . . . Eating!

Seems that we have been doing some summer celebrating.

And each of these celebrations involved some seriously good eating!

Father's Day found Roger and I home and he celebrated his most excellent fatherhood 

with wonderful church meetings, heart-felt calls and cards from his children 

and a delicious grilled salmon dinner. 

I fixed a Mexican street corn salad that was yummy. 

I made a vanilla bean pudding from scratch and baked an angel food cake, 

then made a strawberry trifle. Roger loves strawberries!

We made a quick trip up north for a wedding reception (Jeff's youngest sibling, 

Steve, got married in the Payson Temple) and I got a long-overdue haircut from Jessica. 
And Roger and I visited my Aunt Grace in her lovely new surroundings. 
She recently sold her home and moved to a Retirement Living Center. 
It was wonderful to surprise her and we visited for over an hour. 
She looked great and I wish we had remembered to get a pic. 

Blake had recently turned ten and we took him out for his favorite for his birthday present - 

a burger and fries!

The 4th of July found us back home in St. George 

and Roger and I decided to invite some friends over for a hamburger cookout.

Our friends Kathy and Lorin Nielsen and Suzanne and Neil Dixon were our fun guests.

Kathy brought a delicious potato salad and green salad and Suzanne brought a large fruit plate. 

I fixed summer tomato bruschetta, baked beans and double-fudge brownies 

to go with Red Barn's maple nut ice cream. 

Red Barn in Santaquin is our favorite stop when we travel up north in the summer 

and we always get their delicious maple nut ice cream.

I told the kids that the only form of fireworks we had - 

Trader Joe's "popping" candy cookies!

They were delicious, by the way. 

Trader Joe's doesn't make a bad cookie!

Las Vegas has a Restaurant Week every year to raise money for charity 

and to allow people to try a pris fixe menu in participating restaurants. 

There are so many wonderful restaurants to choose from and I finally picked one 

for us to try for lunch on our day trip to Vegas.  

(I read through every single lunch menu!) 

It was Public House on Restaurant Row in the Venetian. 

And their food was even more delicious that it sounded on the menu!

Roger and I shared each other's picks:

Heirloom watermelon and fresh fig salad 

Wagyu beef nachos

Fresh halibut on lobster mashed potatoes

Wagyu short ribs on truffle mashed potatoes - and we had create your own dessert, choosing your base and toppings  - I had butterscotch pudding base and Roger had blackberry cobbler base, each topped with amazing toppings, including homemade ice cream, cookies, sauces, etc. YUM!

And while we are on the topic of food, I've just thrown in a couple of pics of recent food I've fixed.

One of Roger's clients gave us some delicious fresh apricots from his garden.

Tyler Florence's pancakes with apricot syrup

Grilled salmon marinated in apricot gastrique with grilled fresh apricots

Happy celebrating Summer and Happy Eating to all!