Restaurant Review: Boise Fry Company

Roderic, Clara and Hyrum after eating their fill of fries.

When coupons came in the mail for a restaurant that specializes in fries and makes burgers on the side, I was intrigued. The coupons didn't say exactly what to expect, just that they serve different kinds of fries - sweet potato, Russet, Yukon Gold, etc. Being pregnant and sensitive to getting cravings based on suggestions, I decided I had to try it out. I dragged Stacy (OK she drove, but I invited her!) along and we took ourselves and our combined 4 children on an outing to Boise Fry Co.

Let me say right off that this is not a restaurant that caters to children. At. All. It only had 2 tables that would sit the 6 of us and they were both bar height. The only kid friendly (or pregnant lady friendly) drinks they offered were milkshakes and Sierra Mist.

The staff was very friendly in explaining our options for fries. There were more than 15 different kinds of fries offered. Shoestring, curly, home style and regular were the cuts. Russet, Gold, Purple, Sweet, Yam, White were the potato choices. I ordered Home style Russet and Curly Purple to try. They were tasty. The condiments bar was a lot of fun: Ketchup, Fry Sauce, Blueberry Ketchup, Roasted Garlic and Mayo, and Teriyaki.

The burgers were HUGE. Stacy and I could have gotten away with ordering one burger for the 4 kids to share.

Will I go again? Perhaps with adults only. Do I recommend it to you? Yes I do, but take a coupon with you!

Hyrum speaks

This picture of Hyrum was taken on 1-3-10, his first day attening the Sunbeam class at church.

I think 3 year olds have the most interesting things to say. Hyrum is no exception. Here are some of the things he has said recently.

"Dad, that piano can play itself?" [1-10-10 during the special musical number in Sacrament Meeting]

"Mom, I want to name my new broyer Hopterhopter." (For those not fluent in Hyrum, Hopterhopter is helicopter.) [1-15-10]

"Dad, I don't like the sun to come up, just the shade to come up." [1-15-10]

Recently, Roderic and Hyrum have been telling each other to "Pause" when they need to leave the room for any reason. Like "Pause the game" "Pause the book" "Pause the tv show" (which we can't do) "Pause the playing with Legos". Perhaps we watch too many movies that we can pause. I don't know but they are cute!

After Roderic said that he'd like our baby brother to be named Donald and our baby sister to be Daisy, Hyrum said, "I want to name my baby broyer Goofy." [1-23-10]

Me: "Hyrum will you help me make a blanket for your new baby?" Hyrum: "It's not my new baby! It's our family's new baby." [1-27-10]

Healthy Eating with Roderic

This week Roderic went with his kindergarten class on a field trip to Albertson's (the grocery store in our neighborhood). They learned about eating healthy and shopping. He got some bread - instead of a cookie - from the bakery. He ate a tortilla, celery and apples and they gave him a bottle of water. With the money he took, he bought a can of peas, a can of tomato soup and a can of mixed fruit that was donated to the Idaho Food Bank. He came home with a coupon for basically a free pasta meal for our family (we'll have to pay a little bit for a bag of salad) and a small reusable grocery bag.

He told me that he wants to use this bag when he goes Trick or Treating, because it will hold more candy than the small fire hydrant bag I made him 2 years ago.

I think perhaps this message was lost on him.

Poop

What do you do when your 3-year old won't poop?

Flight Benefits

My mom is a huge fan of travelling. HUGE! In fact, she suggested I apply for a job with Delta Air Lines when they opened up a call center on the campus of Weber State University in January 1996 (where I was attending school). Of course, it was good for me to have a job on campus, so my commute time would be minimal, but what she was really looking forward to was the flight benefits that she would receive. For their first trip, my parents went to Europe -to Romania (with a stop in Vienna) in April to pick up my sister, Shanda, who was serving a mission there. My mom graduated from Weber State that June and in August, moved to Alabama (Bama-bama as 3 year old Carson called it) to attend Auburn University to work on her Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She (and my dad) used those flight benefits to be able to fly back and forth to see each other. Those flight benefits came in rather handy when we moved to Boise in May 1999 Ryan and my dad (and brother Colle) drove the Penske truck from BYU to our house in Boise, unloaded it, then returned the truck to the Thrifty Rental Car/Penske Truck Rental location at the Boise airport and hopped on a flight back to Salt Lake. And my mom flew up a week later to help us unpack and pick out new furniture and pamper me. Needless to say, she was sad to see me quit in June 1999 when my 6 weeks of maternity leave was up.

Fast forward almost a decade and my sister, Shanda, was encouraged by my mom to use her phone number to apply (for the 2nd time) for a job with JetBlue Airlines. Once again with flight benefits on the brain. And then about a year later, my sister, Keturah, got a job with Skywest Airlines in Denver. My parents are now able to fly free on JetBlue, Skywest and United flights.

So, yesterday morning I got a call from my mom, who was in San Diego for a MFT conference, saying that all the flights into Salt Lake were full, so she was going to fly into Boise and have my dad drive up and pick her up and take her home. A half an hour later, my dad called to let me know that Mom was flying into Boise and he would be driving up - both arriving about 10:30 pm and they most likely wouldn't stay the night. I was excited for the chance to see them both, but saddened that my kids would miss out on the visit. Then, about 1 pm, I got a phone call from Carson, asking if he could hang out at my house and eat dinner with me - he got to be the lucky one to come pick up Mom. My kids were so excited when the doorbell rang at 6:00 pm and Uncle Carson was there to play with them! He even taught Sabrina how to play "Heart and Soul" on the piano.

Kids were vying to sit next to him at dinner, he got to pick our Family Home Evening activity (hand-eye coordination games), no one wanted to go to bed, everyone wanted Carson to tell them a bedtime story, and eventually they did sleep.


Flights were delayed due to weather and airplane issues, so my mom finally arrived at 12:30 am. She got to fly through Denver, so she was able to visit with Keturah for a couple of hours (who was working at the gate for the flight to Boise).

I'll take these unexpected visits any day! Roderic has a request, though. Carson, the next time you come to Boise will you please stay for 3 days and bring a Wii remote control with you so you and Roderic can play?

Things that make me smile

1. My favorite Christmas present from Ryan:

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The tag says:
"Not dishwashersafe
For external use only
Caution: contents may be hot"
(He got it from ThinkGeek.)

2. Not hearing from my midwife's office the day after I took the glucose tolerance test! They told me if I didn't get a call from them the results were normal. Yippee! I will get to finish eating the yummy homemade peanut brittle my parents sent for Christmas! For the record, I find the glucose drink disgusting. This time wasn't as bad as my memory told me the others were. I think it was because the drink was refrigerated, not at room temperature.

3. Hearing Hyrum singing at the top of his voice the Weird Al song "Yoda." (Or any song for that matter.) It just so happened that when Yoda came on my mp3 player on the way home from Sabrina's violin lesson, Hyrum started singing along. "Yoda, yo-yo-yo-yo-yo-da"