Our carriage ride through Winter Wonderland...

Sometime in November, I happened to be on the St. Louis Parks website, and they were advertising a contest they were doing to give away free carriage rides through their Winter Wonderland, which is a giant Christmas lights display in one of the parks here in the city.  To enter, all you had to do was "like" any or all of their parks facebook pages.  A horse-drawn carriage ride through a park filled with Christmas lights sounded pretty awesome, like something out of a movie, so I liked all of the facebook pages on the list!  I tried to check the page to see who won each drawing (not at all expecting to actually win), but somehow I missed one of the drawings, and weeks later, I saw that I had won!  Luckily, we were still able to claim our prize, and Jacob and I had our first date night since we moved here in August!

I checked the facebook page after our date to see how many entries they had, and the main parks page alone had over 3500 likes!  I felt so lucky and blessed to have won!

The envelope for my tickets--I thought it was cute that she drew the little picture in the corner. :)

The carriage rides are $80 normally, by the way, and that's not including the tip for your driver (which is expected).  The carriage ride is only about 20 minutes, and although it was pretty nice to ride through "Winter Wonderland", it is definitely NOT worth 80 bucks.  But for free, it was pretty awesome!

Our horse's name was Woody.

We rode in the Cinderella carriage, which made me feel a little guilty for not bringing the kids, because Naomi would have LOVED it.  But we really needed a date night!

I wanted to take pictures, but I wanted to enjoy the time with my husband more, so the camera stayed away for most of the carriage ride.  I'm hoping to get some pictures of the Winter Wonderland later when we drive through it with the kids.

Disappointed

I signed up for Groupon months & months ago, and I would check every once in a while to see what kind of awesome deals they had, but since we really had no money to spend, I never bought any of their deals.  Then a few months ago I got an email from them saying that they missed me and were giving me 10 free Groupon Bucks to use toward one of their deals.  I'm not sure how they missed me considering I'd never given them any business, but I wasn't complaining!  A few days later, they were offering a deal in Kansas City for a place called Big Momma's Bakery Cafe--pay $7 for $14 worth of yummies.  I'd heard my sister-in-law Jen rave about their cinnamon rolls on numerous occasions, so I bought the deal!  And since I was using my free Groupon Bucks, I was basically getting 14 dollars worth of bakery yumminess for free!

Jacob & I first tried to use our Groupon last month.  We were in the Kansas City area for the weekend so that we could go to the open house for the new LDS temple.  Jacob's mom watched the kiddos for us, so we decided to make the most of our kid-free outing and stopped at Big Momma's on our way home.  Sadly, when we got to the bakery, they were pretty much sold out of everything.  I was really disappointed and pretty annoyed, especially since we arrived 2 hours before they were supposed to close.  I feel like it's pretty poor planning on their part to be completely sold out hours before closing time.  So we drove home empty-handed & hungry!

This past weekend, we were in the Kansas City area once more visiting Jacob's family, so we decided to try again.  This time, we went on a weekday around noon in hopes of avoiding the problem we ran into last time.  Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was a little disappointed in their selection.  They had their famous cinnamon rolls--the HUGE Big Momma, then smaller ones, and then these little minis.  Other than that, they really didn't offer a whole lot.  A couple kinds of cupcakes, some rolls, and a few cookies were all that I really noticed.   So we spent all 14 dollars on cinnamon rolls--a Big Momma for us to share, a 4-pack of smaller rolls to take home, and a couple minis.

The Big Momma was (I hate to use this word yet again, but it is fitting) a big disappointment.  The middle was doughy and gross.  The rest of it was alright, but it wasn't anything incredible--just a decent cinnamon bun.  The 4-pack was better because they were all completely cooked, and we reheated them in the oven, which I think also made them yummier.  But again, they weren't anything extraordinary--I've had cinnamon buns from the grocery store that I liked as much.

Overall, Jacob & I give Big Momma's 2 stars out of 5.  The 2 stars are because the cinnamon buns were pretty good.  Everything else about the place is why we didn't give more stars.  The doughy, uncooked center of the Big Momma... the fact that they were sold out hours before closing... the small variety of baked goods... and the prices weren't great ($6.25 for a Big Momma and $6.25 also for a 4-pack).  Also, the location, at least in my mind, isn't the best because of the parking.  It's at the Crown Center, which seemed like a cool place, but the parking fees are outrageous.  It's 4 bucks for only 30 minutes!  You can get 3 hours of free parking with validation, but that means you have to actually purchase something somewhere, so you better not just be window-shopping or you'll be paying ridiculous parking prices.

So for our second unofficial Romney Restaurant Review, we give Big Momma's 2 stars.  I doubt we will ever go again, and I probably wouldn't recommend it to my friends.  Go to the grocery store and get an equally yummy cinnamon roll for way less money--that's what we'll be doing next time!

P.S.  Sorry about the lack of photos.  I didn't think about taking any until we'd eaten all of cinnamon rolls.

Jacob's Birthday Weekend

So, when I made my goal to do one fun new thing with Naomi each day last week, I forgot that we were leaving for the weekend to go to Jacob's parents' house. Thursday was spent being a little sick and doing laundry and packing and then working, and then we left early on Friday. So I will have to finish my week of homemade fun this week.

On Thursday, my husband turned 28!! Since we were leaving the next day to celebrate with the other Romneys who live in the area, I didn't make or buy a cake--we would have eaten a couple pieces and then had to throw the rest away. Instead, we had birthday eclairs! I stuck a candle in Jacob's and sang to him all by myself so he could make a wish. Sadly, we didn't get any pictures. I did take a video, but since I'm the only person singing (and it sounds terrible), I won't be sharing that video with anyone!

We had a fun weekend eating German Chocolate cake and root beer floats and lots of other treats, but I didn't get any pictures of the weekend activities, either. I will leave you with a picture of us on Jacob's birthday last year... we were going on a hot date to Fogo de Chao in Kansas City. Isn't he handsome??

Happy Birthday, Jacob!!

Summer

I can't believe that summer has already come & gone! Jacob is back in school full-time at Mizzou (taking 18 credits of nuclear medicine classes and physics... it will be a tough semester!), and I've been busy with chasing after Naomi and attempting (and failing, usually) to keep our place clean and organized.

Most of our summer, sadly, was spent inside our little townhouse, trying to stay cool. I had big plans of taking Naomi to the Columbia parks every day, and going on little family outings, and taking Naomi to the free splash parks. But as it turned out, Naomi is TERRIFIED of water unless it's in the tub, and for most of the summer, we had extreme heat warnings and temperatures in the 100's. So we settled with staying at home and playing in our nice, air-conditioned home.

Jacob and I celebrated our second anniversary on June 9th. We didn't have a babysitter for Naomi, and we didn't have any money to go out and do anything spectacular, so we celebrated here at home. Jacob put Naomi to bed while I ran out and picked up dinner to-go from Chili's, and we ate dinner by candlelight and then watched a movie on Netflix. Jessica, one of my old roommates from Provo and one of my very best friends came to visit us in the middle of July for an entire week! We had so much fun having her here, and we even managed to get out of the house a couple times despite the heat. We took Naomi to the pool one day and forced her to face her fear of water, but she whined and cried as soon as even one toe would touch the water. She LOVES her bathtime, but the pool for some reason terrifies her.

We all loved having Jessica here and were sad to see her go. Naomi especially enjoyed having a new person to play with and entertain her. We love you, Jess!!
Shortly after Jess left, my parents drove out from Pennsylvania to visit for a few days! We all went out to Steak 'N Shake for my 26th birthday, and my mom made a delicious cake--chocolate, chocolate chip cake with buttercream icing. Yum! I loved being able to spend my birthday with them. The last time I got to spend my birthday with my parents was the summer I turned 21, after my freshmen year of college. So it had been a while!

Happy October!

Jacob and I have been having fun this month. We took an evening (before the colors died) to drive up the canyon and look at the pretty leaves. I love fall! Although it is not at all like the fall I grew up with... someday I want to visit the east coast again for fall, where there is REAL green to turn into pretty fall colors. It's just not the same here.

This week we had planned to go to Thanksgiving Point to go through the corn maze and buy a pumpkin on Wednesday night, but it ended up raining all day. I had been so excited to go out and do something, so I was bummed that we had to cancel. So I convinced Jacob to take me to Pirate Island, a new pirate-themed restaurant in Orem. It was really cute. We ate in the Tiki Room, and afterward we spent some time playing games in the arcade. It's meant for a much younger crowd, but we loved it. We even got a pirate rubber ducky with the tickets we won from the games!

This was painted on the wall by our table.

This was our awesome pirate rubber ducky!

The husband :)

Me & the hubby!  This is after I stopped wearing makeup due to pregnancy sickness & lack of caring. :)

Jacob forgot that UVU had fall break this week, so when he realized he didn't have his Thursday night class, we decided to go to Thanksgiving Point that night instead. He has been working every night that he hasn't had class, so it was a nice surprise that he had a night off and we were able to go. I didn't realize that they had so many different things to do there. Jacob and I went through the kiddie corn maze (and got a little more lost than we probably should have, considering it was made for children), and Jacob raced a bunch of little kids on these bikes around a course they have. Regrettably, I left my camera in the car, so I don't have any pictures of him on the little bike. He seemed to be having as much fun as the little kids.

The highlight of my night was my foot-long hot dog! I have been craving a hot dog for the past 4 months, and it's been driving me crazy. I wanted one SO badly. So I gave in and got one for dinner. It was DELICIOUS. Sadly, though, it hasn't eased my cravings one bit, and I still really wish I was allowed to eat hot dogs on a regular basis. As soon as this baby comes out, I am going to eat a hot dog a day.

We also got to go through the haunted corn maze, which really wasn't a maze at all. It was more of a haunted path through the corn. We were a little bummed that it wasn't a real maze, but we still had fun with it. We had to wait in line for a little while until it got dark, so we talked to the two girls behind us for a few minutes. I get scared really easily, and I was a little nervous, so when I found out that they were only 12, I felt a little better. By the time Jacob and I were at the end of the maze, the girls had caught up to us, and I guess they felt like we were buddies since we had chatted in the line, because when one of them got scared, she grabbed onto the back of my jacket and held on until we were completely through the maze.

Note:  This is being posted over 2 years later, but I just now found it in my drafts.

Labor Day Weekend

Sorry for the belated weekend post! Our weekend was just so busy that it has taken me most of this week to recover. Luckily, I was quite ill last night and had to call off work today, so I have had a day to rest and relax, and I have been enjoying it! Other than the being sick part, of course. But I'm feeling pretty decent right now. :)

Friday night I had a girl's night out with some old roommates. We went to dinner at Shoots in the Riverwoods, and it was DELICIOUS! I loved it. Someday I am going to take Jacob there. After dinner we went to Color Me Mine and painted pottery. We did the same thing for a night out when we were still roommates a few years ago, and it was way fun. You have to pay for your pottery and then a studio fee to paint, but you can stay as long as you want. So we sat, talked, and painted for a few hours. It was so great to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in such a long time. Katie took a few pictures and posted them on her blog here, so check them out!

On Saturday, Jacob and his friends Craig and Eric hiked the Y, so the wives all hung out. We went to the mall to get maternity clothes for Sarah. The outing completely wiped me out. I was so tired, I couldn't stand for 10 minutes in the store. I kept having to sit down. I am just not used to this pregnancy exhaustion. I don't like it. :( Even simple things like going to the mall are too much for me.

The rest of the day was full of cleaning and getting the house ready for company. Jacob's brother Benjamin was coming to stay with us until Monday from BYU-Idaho, because his mom was bringing Mary out for school. Mary is starting this semester at BYU-Idaho as well, so Benji came down to pick her up. Which worked out well because we were going to have cake for Jacob's birthday on Sunday, so his mom, Mary, and Benji ended up all being in town for our little celebration. I say "little", but we ended up having 12 people over. It was fun to have so many people over, but the get-together was really draining for me. It had been thrown together last minute when we found out everyone was going to be around, and I wanted everything to be perfect so I tried to do too much. I ended up having an emotional breakdown in front of most of Jacob's family that was here. So that was fun. Hopefully they don't all think I'm nuts. :)

On Monday, Jacob worked and I cleaned up the house a bit from our party. Then we went to an early dinner at Tucanos. It was sooo yummy. Jacob's been wanting to go since we first started dating, but we just didn't have the time or money until now. We splurged and even got dessert. He got some kind of Raspberry cheesecake, and I got the Snickers cheesecake. Yum! But my favorite part of the meal was the sirloin steak. I am not even a steak lover, but oh my goodness! Theirs was so delicious. Our meat guy was so great, he even tracked down well done steak for me (I can't bring myself to eat bloody steak, it's just gross!). Even our drinks were fabulous. I had a Strawberry Brazilian Lemonade, and Jacob got a Passion Fruit Brazilian lemonade. All this talking about our food is making me want to go back! The whole dinner was just superb!

We went mini-golfing Monday night at Trafalga in Orem, which ended up being a pretty sad excuse for a mini golf course. But it's the only place around we knew of, and it was still fun. We went with our friends Craig and Sarah. Craig won the first game and tied the second with Jacob, so he won the honor of being declared "Mini Golf Master of the Universe".

And finally, some pictures!

Jacob & Me at the mini golf place

Jacob doesn't like to look at the camera... or smile!

Jacob eating at Tucanos
And another one at Tucanos

Oh, and on Wednesday afternoon we also went to see the movie 9 for Jacob's birthday. I think Jacob liked it, although he seemed torn as to whether he really liked the ending or not. I liked it, too, which surprised me, because I am not at all a Tim Burton fan.