Fat Tuesday - or I am such a dork!

I knew the missionaries were on the calendar for the day before Fat Tuesday. So I woke up Monday and thought "Man, I have to make a King Cake and Jambalaya for the Elders" We started the tradition of having a King Cake on Fat Tuesday a couple of years ago. We hide a little plastic baby in the cake and whoever gets the piece with the baby inside has good luck for the coming year, and also gets to host the next King Cake Party. Never having made Jambalaya, I wanted to give it a try this year (I even peeled and de-turded fresh shrimp).
I spent all afternoon in the kitchen, invited the Lyons over to enjoy the feast and waited for the Elders to show up. No Elders! Then I went online to read more about Mardi Gras, and low and behold - looked at the calendar and realized I was a week early! Sheesh. We had a good meal, enjoyed the cake, and we all snickered at my senior moment. The leftover jambalaya is in the freezer for next Monday when the missionaries are really supposed to come, and I will make a new batch of dirty rice and a new King Cake - maybe.
Brechin was the recipient of the baby in the cake. He can have next year's party. I will come!

Chilly Days in Iowa

 
 
 
 
We really can't complain about the weather on our recent trip to Iowa. The first day in Omaha was cold, but then things warmed up once we got to Des Moines. We had a good visit with Grandpa Stubblefield and took him out to dinner. I doubt he recalled we were there, but at least we got to check up on him and extend our love.
We did some interesting things, while visiting Josh and Courtney. Grant Wood's painting "American Gothic" was on loan to the Des Moines Art Center, so we made a trip there and got to see the original work of art. There were some other great paintings on temporary display depicting rural life in Iowa. I really liked it! Saturday we went to Tristan's swim meet in Pella. Pella is a quaint dutch community about an hour drive from Des Moines. It is a lovely little town and boasts Pella Window factory. We visited a few cute shops in between Tristan's races and had a big lunch at the Pizza Ranch. Sunday, of course, was Delaney's blessing day. She cooperated great for the actual blessing, but was not happy when it was time for photos. We also went to Jordan Creek Mall, and they have a great play area for kids. Thanks to Josh and Courtney for being such wonderful hosts. And thanks to Asher for letting us bunk with him. He wasn't feeling well our last 2 nights, so I kicked us downstairs, so Grandpa's snoring wouldn't bother him. As you can see - Asher and Grandpa were best buddies and took a Sunday snooze together. From the minute he saw us in his room the first morning, he called grandpa "daddy." He even hung outside the bathroom door when grandpa showered and called for "Daddy." And, of course, Dacia was so excited to see us, and reverts to bad behavior when Grandma is around. I am a bad influence on her!