A Merry Weekend

Heidi's parents, Gay and Bevan Bastian, visited Salt Lake City the weekend of January 22, 2016 to see the opera, "The Merry Widow."  The last time they saw The Merry Widow was the night Bevan proposed to Gay, 30 years ago.  They spent Friday night at The Anniversary Inn, a Christmas present from Gay, and Saturday night with us.

Mauresa, Heidi's sister, invited the Bastians to dinner at her SLC apartment.  The Bastians invited Dave and me to join them.  Taylor, Mauresa's boyfriend, helped Mauresa cook a four-course gourmet meal that they served to us.  After dinner, we all left for the opera.  Dave and I went straight home, but the Mauresa and Taylor took the Bastians, after the opera, to the Utah State Capitol, overlooking the city, where Bevan had proposed.

The next morning, the gourmet meals continued.  Mike and Heidi invited the Bastians and us to a breakfast at their apartment of eggs benedict, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and Heidi's carrot muffins with cream cheese frosting.

 Gay and Bevan brought Heidi's sister Jessica's three-year-old, Andrew, with them to breakfast.  He is now potty-trained and gets to spend a week at "Camp Nana"--the Bastians' farm in Axtell, Utah.  "He likes to drive things," Gay says, so Andrew will get to ride the tractor and the sleigh (if not drive them).  I was charmed by how many endearing names Andrew got called during breakfast--"puppy," "lamby," "dolly," and "poodle."  He is beloved.  I liked to imagine Mike and Heidi's children someday getting called "puppy" and riding the tractor.

 Heidi and Mike put last touches on the eggs benedict.  Dave and I took Michael to breakfast in Perth, Australia, one morning, I remember, and he ordered eggs benedict.  He pronounced it his favorite breakfast dish.

 After breakfast, we took a look at Mike and Heidi's new foos ball table.  "We discovered we both like foos ball when we spent New Years with Heidi's parents," Mike said.  "Since we both like it so much, we decided we needed a table, too."