'Tis the Season to go Picking

What a lovely day! And we thought we would get some berries while the gettin's good. We went with our friend, Amy, and her son (Winn's buddy), Josh, out to Chiles Peach Orchard's strawberry patch.

 

When I conceived of the idea, I had this romantic vision of me picking berries in a white flowing linen dress and bringing them to my husband and daughter sitting close by on a picnic blanket under lovely asian inspired umbrella. Schaun would quickly clean them and hand them off to our friends who would dip them in some homemade lemon curd and sit idly enjoying the day. I wouldn't get the tiniest stain on my dress and we'd all have a jolly afternoon. Very Victorian era.

What really happened was barely throwing on some jeans and combing my hair (barely) and hauling ourselves out the patch where it would be incredibly awkward carrying our children on our backs (or fronts...depends on the baby carrier) while we tried to pick enough berries to make our HUGE containers look remotely full. Amy finally released Josh into the patch so he could bash around among the berries. And I finally set Winnie down in the patch where she was content to pick berry after berry and shove them into her mouth in succession. By the time we were done, she was drenched in strawberry juice from head to toe.

After the picking was done we sampled all the strawberry treats the orchard had to offer in its cafe (strawberry donuts, strawberry fudge, strawberry milkshake...very Forrest Gump) and drove our screaming children home for naps. It was a fantastic excursion that we hope to repeat next year!

Amy and Josh - excellent friends and great company!

Josh having a ball running around.

Winnie found the strawberries. 

And more strawberries.

And then there was more.

This is us...no white dress but awfully romantic anyway.

p.s. I did make some freezer jam that was delicious but *gasp* I forgot to take pictures :)

The big 1

You guessed it. Winnie turned one.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and as soon to be toddlers do, she awoke bright-eyed and crying her eyes out because of a fever. Nice. We gave her Tylenol so she could pull off the party and kept her away from the other kiddies. She did wonderfully and didn't melt down with sadness until late afternoon.

We had a party for her and invited her little baby friends along with some adult friends of ours. Rachel's parents were in town for the festivities and thank goodness for that. Not only was it great having them visit for the week from Connecticut, Rachel bit off way more than she could chew during the planning of the party and Grandma and Pop-pop saved the day by helping with Winnie, grocery shopping and cooking. As we always do in the Florian family, we had a great time planning a party together.

 Of course, Rachel's dad wouldn't let her BUY deli meat "when you can just roast the turkey yourself." So he literally roasted the turkey all night long so it would be ready to make sandwiches in the morning. And yes, it was delicious. My dad is king sandwich maker. I added my own fresh herb vinaigrette and Grandma did the assembly. They were delicious. Schaun was on Winnie duty and at the park early to claim our spot under the pavillion. Things almost came to fisticuffs but his mad negotiation skills prevailed and all was ready for Winnie's birthday bash when we arrived (late).

Gift bags for Winnie's friends...bubbles, balls and treats. Love doing this stuff!

You have to have balloons at a birthday party. Plus Winnie loves them.

Winnie's best buddy, Josh.

Another friend, Mia, indulging in her first cupcake. What an honor! 

 Mom and Dad loving Winnie

 She had a little giggle fest when we all sang happy birthday.

 Then she was confused.

That's right. Winnie's #1.

Visiting Family in the Great State of Utah

Schaun and I didn't plan on seeing his family until Christmas this year and realized that it would have been more than a year since we last saw them. So we did a last minute flight search, found something affordable and off we went.

Our first stop was to Payson, UT to visit my sister, Melanee, niece, Marlene, and great-nephew, Nolan. Of course we enjoyed the company of their families, made dinner together and let the babies play. It was particularly wonderful to see Marlene again. I haven't seen her in a year and at that time she was in the very first stages of recovering from brain surgery. I'm sure there's a more accurate and complicated way to describe her brain trauma but, if I understand correctly, she had a stroke. She was 21 years old, newly married and pregnant.

She's got a long road ahead of her but on this part of it she has made amazing progress. First of all, she had her son, Nolan. A year ago, she struggled to prop Winnie up in her lap and now she bends down and picks up my 20-pounder with ease. That's just a small example of her progress. Thankfully, Melanee had recently moved to UT when she had her stroke so she was there to help Marlene and Stephan pick up the pieces and start moving forward. Marlene and Stephan have since been able to move in with Melanee and Randy and she works hard as a mom and grandma (she loves even harder!)  We were so happy to catch up with them!

My great-nephew, Nolan. So cute!

Nolan and his mom, my niece, Marlene.

My sister & bro-in-law, Melanee and Randy

Winnie was fascinated with Nolan's head!

She couldn't get enough of Marlene's wheelchair.

Us.

Winnie lovin' Melanee's kitchen drawers

We spent the rest of our trip in and around Ogden, where Schaun's family lives. It was such a nice visit. Winnie was in her glory with all the people around and she took immediately to Grandma and her Aunties. It took her a bit to warm up to Pa-Pa Wheeler but it happened! There were lots of playdates with cousins, car-rides to get her to actually take a nap and tons of snuggling with Grandma. We were glad to be there for Schaun's Mom's birthday. The whole family got together and took her to dinner and we also had a family get-together at Schaun's brother's home. I made her favorite cake, black forrest. That'll be a separate post :) We took family pictures and Schaun got to visit the Ogden Temple with his sister, Shaylee. It was really fun to see Winnie with everyone. She LOVES being around people and Grandma has more toys than a little girl could ever want!

Love this pic of Schaun's parents, Jeff & Lael!

Winnie "helping" Grandma set the table.

Winnie and Pa-pa Wheeler

Grandma Wheeler trying to get a smile out of grumpy girl.

Schaun & his siblings.

Winnie's cute cousins! Enoch, Gideon, Harmony & Malachi.

Another adorable cousin, Oliver.

Us. And pretty mountains.

Did I say it was a great trip?!