Discovery Park (wood park) in Pleasant Grove is looking sharp with the new upgrades.
We spent two solid hours there. The girls had a blast! It sure became one of our favorites.
A few days ago our dryer gave its last breath after diligently drying our clothes for over ten years.
Today our new dryer arrived.
Hello new dryer. Please be good to us too.
Remember our dryer wasn't longer working? Well, yesterday we said our goodbyes after having it for the past eleven years. I remember we got it second hand from a friend when I was pregnant with Giovanna. I washed her baby clothes in this machine. It was so good to us, but it was definitely time to let it rest in peace.
Miguel Medina came to help us with the truck and moving the dryer from our tiny laundry. It is crazy how we can actually fit a washer and a dryer in that itty bitty space.
A new one will arrive sometime this week. We are not sure if it will fit in the laundry, soooo... fingers crossed!
P.S. Thank you Mindy for letting us wash piles of clothes at your house.
* * * * * * * *
Yesterday, we also got a call from the Department of Health saying that Ale's tuberculosis test came back positive. We are not sure what that will mean for him (and us) for the next couple of weeks. But today he is going in to take a x-ray of his chest.
Please, send prayers on our way. I'll keep y'all update.
This weekend:
1) We slept over the Britos. Mell stayed with the girls while Ale and I went to USCIS office in downtown Salt Lake in the afternoon. We played games, cooked, watched movies, and had a blast.
2) We sang happy birthday to Dominic, who turned FIVE! These kids are growing way to fast! Happy birthday Dom Dom!
3) Giovanna finally got roller blades. She's been asking for one since last summer. She put them on and started rollerblading just like that. Go girl!
4) I made nana Zete's delicious bolinhos de chuva on Sunday for our afternoon snack. Yum!
Our car also gave its last breath a few weeks ago and we've been driving our friends car (Thank you Britos!). We haven't decided if we will buy a new car or spend money trying to fix this one.
Yesterday, Ale went to Utah County Health Department to do some lab tests. Today was my turn to do it. After dropping off the girls at school, I drove down to Provo. I did a urinalysis test and had my blood drown. Next week Ale and I will go back there to get some vaccination shots. (I will explain all that later).
Tomorrow morning, we will be driving down to Salt Lake for an appointment at the USCIS Office. Then we will sleepover at Mindy's. The Britos are off to Caribbean, and we will take our girls to spend some time with their girls. On Saturday afternoon we will head to Lehi for Dominic's birthday party.
Our last stop during our little field trip to Sanpete County was the city of Manti.
The most beautiful about Manti (in my opinion) is that you can see the LDS Manti temple high up from miles and miles away.
We parked our car at the Pioneer Heritage Garden. This is sure the best spot to take great pictures from the temple.
Then we drove up the knoll. We spread our blanket on the grass and we laid down while the girls rode their bike and scooter.
We rolled the hills and we took tons of beautiful pictures. Then we imagined how it would be living in such a little town. (Don’t get me wrong. I would totally live in one!)
On our way back we stopped at Panda Express (one of Giovi’s favorite) to take out dinner.
It was such a fun field trip! The girls are already looking forward for our next adventure.
First settled in 1849, Manti still has more than one hundred building that were built by pioneer craftsmen, more than any other city in Utah. Many of these building predate the civil war. Because the majority of the builders were stone masons, most of the structures are built of oolite limestone quarried from the hills behind the temple.
Continuing our field trip to the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage area in Sanpete County, after leaving the beautiful historic Spring Town, we headed to Ephraim, about ten minutes from Spring City.
But even though it is a larger city comparing to the others, we can still see and feel the Pioneer heritage in their constructions.
We also visited the Co-op (Ephraim Cooperative Mercantile Association)- constructed in the early 1870's and it is now used as a local house of crafts and arts for sale. They have so many cute stuff!
Ephraim was founded as a city in 1854 and incorporated in 1868. There used to be a fort named Fort Ephraim. Supposedly Peter Madsen, who was a person who worked on the fort, was the first to call it Fort Ephraim. Soon the word 'Fort' on the Fort Ephraim was dropped, and the name Ephraim prevailed.
This weekend our family went on a little field trip to Sanpete County. We visited the "Little Denmark", the Mormon Pioneer Heritage area that comprehends twelve little towns.
We drove through Fairview, Mt. Pleasant, Moroni, and Fountain Green, and we stopped in Spring City, Ephraim, and Manti.
In Spring Town we had lunch at Das Cafe, a restaurant with traditional German cuisine. Ale and I shared a Kraut Burger- hamburger patty with sauerkraut, bacon, brie cheese served on a ciabatta bun.
We also upgraded our meal with a delicious potato salad. Their mashed potato was really good too. I love the flavored mustard gravy on top of it!
After lunch we walked around the town to see the beautiful Pioneer buildings along Main Street. Each building has its own story. It was so much fun to get know each one of them.
I woke up today feeling a little sore on my left arm where I took the vaccine. Later on, I started with chills and body ache.
After a couple of Ibuprofen and a two hour nap I woke up feeling much better. But after six hours, I started with chills and body ache again.
Ale’s side effects were a bit more severe with joint pain, nausea, headache, and diarrhea. It was hard for him to work today. Thanks goodness he is still working from home.
According to CDC these symptoms are common and a good sign that the body is building protection, and we should feel better within a few days.
Let’s sure hope so!
In the meantime, Bianca started working on her art project for school. The theme is “This is Me”. She wanted to use paint for her art.
Giovanna will be using watercolor paint. I can’t wait to see it. Last time she used watercolor she painted a forest. It was so pretty!
Today we took the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. I feel relieved and grateful.
So far I am feeling great, but I’ll be surprised if I don’t feel any side effect knowing that the second dose usually hits people harder then the first one.
The National Guard was there helping with the whole process, including giving the shots.
I am grateful for their service.
Now, we need to wait two weeks for the body to adjust to the vaccine, and in order for us to be considered fully vaccinated.
Ale took the Friday off, and together we headed to South Jordan to mini-golf. Last time we went to Mulligans the girls were so little!
Mulligans is my favorite place to mini-golf with the kids. The course themes are fun, and the whole atmosphere is pleasant.
The weather was a bit chilly but the sun in the beautiful blue sky kept us warm. At some point we even took our sweaters off.
Giovanna loves mini-golfing, and she is pretty good at it. (Remember when she went to a golf summer camp?). Bianca just wanted to run around and throw rocks in the water at first, but soon she engaged in some serious play.
She patiently tried as many times as needed to make it to the hole, and when she was too tired to keep trying she would simply put the ball into the hole and celebrate. Haha funny Bibi.
Then after mini-golfing we had lunch at Lucky’s Iron Door, a family-friendly version of Lucky 13 in downtown Salt Lake.
We LOVE their burgers! The girls had chicken fingers and fries- which didn’t disappoint. Actually, Lucky 13 never disappoints.
On our way back home, we stopped at the Outlets in Lehi to check some stores and have a yummy shake at Johnny’s Rocket. It was a truly wonderful day!