September Review

FALL FIRE

Aaron and I kept talking about taking Elsie camping this summer, and it just never happened.  We're just lazy, I guess.  Finally, we decided we were just going to do it.  There's a little reservoir with campsites just about ten minutes from our house.  But then we got to thinking about packing everything up and not sleeping very well, we changed our camping trip into a little fire pit fun and a quick drive home for bed!

Angie and Qiana joined us for the evening.  Plus, we had the added bonus of randomly running into my cousin Ashley and her family who were up there camping as well.  So fun!

(Worst picture of me, I know!  But the mountains look so pretty, and Aaron looks awesome roasting the wienies. ;)

The girls ran around, played on the playset, went down to the reservoir to watch Cort fish, played in the dirt, etc.  They were loving it. We got to visit, eat some yummy hot dogs, and make smores.

I think this is my kind of camping!


TORONTO

Mitch moved to Toronto earlier this year to open up a new restaurant for the company he worked for in NYC.  Jared, Angie, and I were able to fly out for the family/friends opening!  It was such a neat experience.

Angie and I had a long day of flying, including a couple missed flights (good ol' buddy passes!), but we made it to Mitch's apartment around midnight on Thursday.  (I had been SO sick the few days leading up to this last minute trip, so this day was a little rough for me.  Plus, I felt so bad leaving Aaron and Elsie for four days when I had already been totally out of commission for three days.)  Mitch lives right in the middle of the city, surrounded by lots of apartments, bars, restaurants, clubs, etc.  Angie and I took the public transportation from the airport to this apartment and looked super awesome walking through the city with our bags and travel clothes.  We had to laugh!  Jared had arrived earlier than us, so he had to make a trip on the buses to the nearest Wal-Mart to get bedding for all of us.  Long day for all of us!  

Famous person sighting at the SLC airport.  Do you watch Intervention?  I do.  That's Jeff VanVonderen.

Bates sleepover!

On Friday, we took our time getting ready.  Mitch had to get up and get to the restaurant, so we were on our own.  The weather was rainy, so we headed back to the mall to return some unneeded bedding, walked around, got some lunch.  We took a little nappy and then got ready to go to the Noodle Bar (one of the other Momofuku restaurants).  We ate lots of delicious food and walked back to the apartment.

2nd trip to Wal-Mart.  How's that for excitement?!

Night #1 of feasting

Saturday, the weather was much nicer, so we were able to do an on/off bus tour of the city.  It was fun to go around and learn things about Toronto.  I really didn't know anything about the city.

Do you remember when it was cool to see a Hard Rock Cafe restaurant?  And collect the shirts? 

That night we got to go to Mitch's restaurant.  What a treat!  It was so awesome to see Mitch in action and eat the amazing food.  Some of it made me a little nervous, but I ate it all.  The restaurant seats about 22 people and serves a 10-course sampling menu.  The kitchen is right there in the middle of seating, so you get to watch them cook and prepare the food.  It is such an art.  I loved it.  I loved seeing Mitch do his thing and be in charge.  I was so proud!

Jared, Mitch, Angie, Kim, Vanessa

So proud of our chef!