S'more

Over the past few weeks, we've teamed up with a landscape company to give our outdoor space a serious makeover. We added new trees to create future shade, landscape roses and perennials adding pops of color, and a brand-new fire pit ready for marshmallow roasts. When we first built this house, we had big dreams for our outdoor gatherings with friends and family. Now, those dreams are blossoming into reality right before our eyes. 

We invited Kristin and her girls over for the inaugural marshmallow roast. The yard wasn't quite done - they still needed to add the lava rock to the firepit, but it turned on and we were impatient so we pushed ahead with the roast. 

We served dinner before we headed outside. We had gnocchi with bolonaise sauce. Gnocchi is the food of the month I am working on. Alison was a little reluctant about this food choice because I attempted to make gnocchi twice earlier in the week and both times it was disastrous, like inedible. So she felt like serving this for guests was a risk. And she was right, but fortunately, the risk went in our favor. The gnocchi turned out great. It was tasty. This is why I work on perfecting different meals. Sometimes they don't turn out the way I hope, but I learn something new every time and adjust based on the experiences. Alison made the bolognese sauce and it was excellent. 

After dinner, we headed outside to enjoy the new firepit. Alison and I put together a s'mores charcuterie or as the girls like to say, "a charcutie". It was a hit. We sat around the fire roasting marshmallows and enjoying the warmth of the fire. Anna was funny. She enjoyed the concept of s'mores more than eating s'mores. She mostly warmed up a handful of marshmallows and took bites from them. 

The girls had their fill of s'mores and marshmallows. Then Anna was bored. I brought out Giant Connect 4 and Giant Jenga. Both of which were hits. Sklyee grabbed a blanket and snuggled up on the porch swing. It was a dreamy evening - the kind of evening we dreamed about when we built this house. 

The next week Skylee and Anna came over for s'mores night round two. This time the girls built the s'mores charcuterie board. 

Anna was particularly excited because one of her preschool classmates lives across the street from us. We invited them to join us for some s'mores. Anna was thrilled to spend time with her friend Jack. At first, they were both really shy, but then they came out of their shells and had a fabulous time playing together. They started outside making s'mores and then ended up in the loft playing with toys. They are cute kids.

Skylee and Anna had a sleepover that night. The next morning we got up and met up with Alison's family for breakfast with her great-aunt Julie. Julie was in town for the Manti Temple rededication and we were glad we had an opportunity to catch up with her.