Old Friends and Amish Country

Last week, we were so lucky to have our good friends, the Chouinards visit us from Buffalo, NY. We met the Chouinards back in our good 'ol med school days at the University of Utah. We were next door neighbors in the student housing apartments, playground buddies, and Carly was my angel, babysitting Andrew and Logan when I was working.

We decided to visit amish country while they were here. About an hour into the drive, their "check engine" light came on and our tire went flat, but that couldn't stop us! Onward we went, even on the spare!

Our first stop was to Heini's Cheese Factory - CHEESE HEAVEN! They have about 50+ different kinds of cheese, and you get to taste each one! Hey locals, if you haven't been to Heini's yet, go NOW! Really, get in the car and GO! And bring a small ice chest. You're going to need it for all the loot you're going to want to bring home. Did I mention several flavors of Cream Cheese Fudge? Oh yeah!

We also got to take a tour to see where all the magic happens.
The next stop - Rolling Ridge Ranch. Also a definite must-see! The kids and I went once before when my mom was in town, but it was every bit as fun the second time! I was glad Bryan could come with us this time to see what all my raving was about!
Riley and Hannah were so cute together. Hannah was IN LOVE with the "duckies" at the petting zoo.

Logan's really not in pain - this is his picture smile.

Andrew, how did you get so grown up?

Andrew and Valen ready for the wagon ride.

Could these tall smarties really be these same silly little kids? (Timpanogos, 2005)

Funny side story - when Andrew was about 3 years old, I was chatting with Carly in the hall of our apartment building when Andrew and Valen ran inside the Chouinards apartment and locked the door... with the keys inside. We asked nicely for them to please open the door - nothing but giggles came from inside. We then begged, bribed, pleaded, shouted, and threatened, but they wouldn't budge. About 15 minutes later, they finally decided to open the door, and BOY WERE THEY IN TROUBLE! Come to think of it, it wasn't very funny at the time, but it sure is now.

Okay, sorry for the detour down memory lane. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

The petting zoo is fun, but the best thing at the Ranch is the horse-drawn wagon ride through 80 acres and feeding HUGE animals up close! It is such a riot! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!

Carly, Valen, Riley, and Andrew

Hannah feeding the Zonkeys (zebra-donkey mix)!

Summer and Andrew

Andrew and Bryan feeding the water buffalo.

An ostrich and Riley getting a good look at eachother.

Summer and Hannah
We finished the day with a yummy meal at Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen. I can highly recommend the roast turkey platter. YUM! Aaaand the mashed potatoes...and the bread...and the applebutter...and the cole slaw...and the apple sauce. It was all so good!

It was so great to see Carly, Valen, and Riley again! We'll catch you next time, Justin (he's working hard on his master's thesis, so I guess we'll forgive him ;) )! It was so much fun to relive old memories and watch our kids make some new ones together! Thanks so much for coming! I hope you had as much fun as we did!