On gravy

It was a rather interesting weekend. I got braces on my bottom teeth on Thursday and since then have been able to eat hardly anything but soup and Andrew's chocolate peanut butter protein shakes. Braces suck. That's all there is to it.

Yes, everyone reminds me that it could be worse (i.e. I could have headgear), but sometimes, when you have sores all over the inside of your mouth and can't even drink orange juice without wincing, you can't really think about how things could get worse. It has to get better over the next few days, though, and then I can eat normal, solid food. If you're looking for a ridiculously expensive weight loss plan, get braces. You'll lose your appetite and when you do want to eat again, it's almost not worth it to pick all the pieces out of the brackets. GAH.

But we did try to squeeze some fun in, too. Andrew and I went to Ruth's Diner Friday morning (we took the day off to celebrate my birthday/take a much-needed break) for breakfast. We've been there once before and didn't have a great experience, but now I can tell you that their breakfast is AMAZING. Seriously. Even though I could only choke down half of my breakfast, which was the famous mile-high biscuits and gravy, it was delicious. The thing I liked about it was that the biscuits were flaky and soft and perfect, but the gravy wasn't thick and gloppy and overpowering. Sometimes country gravy is so oily and heavy; the gravy at Ruth's Diner was divine.

We actually found out about Ruth's Diner because it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and we like to try out restaurants around here that were featured on the Food Network. Below is a picture of my breakfast (Andrew got the French toast, which was also delicious). Doesn't it look incredible? IT WAS. Darn you, braces, for not allowing me to savor it fully -- or to even eat the adorable little fruit cup!

When it was started in 1930 by a feisty woman named Ruth (of course), it was housed in a tiny boxcar, and you can still eat in that original part today. This makes it very small and cramped, and there are ridiculous wait times when it's really busy (as in every other time we've tried to go there) -- and it's in the heart of Emigration Canyon, so there's no cell phone service (which means you can't just wait in the warm car and have someone call/text you when there's a free table). So my advice is to take a day off if you work weekdays and go in the morning like we did. There was absolutely no wait, it was quiet and the waiters weren't stressed and were super nice. And the food was so yummy. It was a great start to our Friday.

We also went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point and took tons of pictures of the beautiful flowers. Someday I'd like to take family pictures there. It's always lovely, and the weather was perfect, too. It has finally stopped raining!

Andrew and I also took a photography class Saturday morning that was pretty helpful, so hopefully my photos continue to improve soon! :)

I hope you all had a great weekend. I'm planning on eating a bunch of crusty bread and other hard things to chew once the pain goes away -- and right now I am LOVING Frozen Planet and wanting to snuggle some polar bear cubs. Anyone else watching that show? It's fantastic.