Closing out Christmas
When our minivan bailed and eliminated grocery shopping for a week, we defrosted an extra turkey and pulled out all the trimmings we could find in our cupboards. It was so much fun to close out the Christmas season by enjoying one last decadent dinner as a family.
The girls enjoyed having a table all to themselves, and felt pretty special when I served them on the fancy dishes. Hey, somebody's gotta use 'em!
As tasty as the dinner was, the leftovers were even better. We made a Thai turkey coconut soup seasoned with coriander, cloves, cumin, corn, and coconut milk. (Cinnamon, ginger, and chilis too, but they don't alliterate as well.) In the words of Talia, Yummmm!
Klondike Camping
Once our minivan and heater started behaving again, Jason left the warm comfort of our warm home to accompany our 11 year-old neighbor on the Scout Klondike.
The campsite in Cedar Breaks was only an hour from St. George, yet certainly chillier! The ground was so icy that they couldn't dig snow caves for everyone, so some spent the frosty night in tents.
Fortunately, the first aid practice was limited to imaginary broken legs instead of any real instances of hypothermia.
Brrr!Crème Brulée with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles
The next weekend, Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles came to visit and we had FUN. So much fun that I forgot to take pictures, darnit. Oh, how I wish I'd brought our camera on our expedition through the petrified sand dunes of Snow Canyon. Just imagine something really nice, and I promise it was prettier. To give you an idea, this is a photo taken at sunset the last time we were there.
Fortunately, we did pull out our camera during our attempt to make dessert. Uncle Lance gave us an adorable crème brulée set with a small kitchen torch for Christmas. When we went to use it, however, we realized we needed butane. Always resourceful, Jason pulled out his own torch that's a bit, well, larger.
Boys will be boys!
Here's the end result:
Not the prettiest ever, but it still tasted good!
Galette des Rois
The very next evening, we invited some friends over to share a Galette des Rois (King's Cake) with us.
While it looked nice, the pastry itself, was, um, shall we say, mediocre? Lessons learned: if you can't find puff pastry at the store, don't purchase filo dough and expect the same results.
Fortunately, we had lots of beverages on hand and fun company anyway. Our Elder's Quorum President found the fève (a mancala piece) and enjoyed being King for the evening.
And of course, no celebration of Three King's Day would be complete without reading the nativity--yet again (at the insistence of the girls). I guess the season just goes on and on!
Martin Luther King Day of Daisy Scout Service
The following afternoon, we hosted the Daisy Girl Scouts at our place for a service project to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Once again, I was too busy to take many pictures, but we made crafts for an Alzheimer's respite group and collected food and hygiene items for the local food bank. Here's Brooklyn with some of the donations we gathered:
And here are the Martin Luther King hair clips the girls brought home.
Camping in Zion
Last but not least, our family took a spur of the moment camping trip this past weekend to Zion National Park. While we had a lot of fun, the thirty degree night cured me of any desire to attempt snow caving! In truth, the cold wasn't as intolerable as the extremely cramped quarters with most of the kids shoved in our sleeping bags to keep warm. Little Talia is quite a wiggler, not to mention the fact that she ate chili for dinner and tooted all night long! (Too much information, I know...)
Our little ones' saving grace is their cuteness:
Of course, I think the big one's pretty cute too...
All nestled in for the night.
And, a toasty fire in the morning. A born pyro, Talia threatened to torch everyone with her flaming stick. Somehow immune to the cold, she always managed to wriggle out of her coat, no matter how many times we put it on. While not thrilled with his garb, Eli at least kept his snowpants on.
The day warmed up, and we enjoyed a marvelous hike with the entire Eastern rim to ourselves. (No pictures once more--the cold toasted our batteries.)
So would I camp in January again? As much as my head says "no"--it's cold, exhausting, and creates an awful lot of laundry--, my heart still says "you bet."
Some memories just warm the soul.
7 comments:
Winter camping is not for whimps! I'm impressed with your good attitudes and ambition.
Hmmm. If your heart say's "you bet" (or "ya-betcha")to more camping, perhaps your family should try winter tent camping in Minnesota? I bet your tent would not be sitting on snow free ground in January there. Keep smiling!
So much fun. Glad you share your fun family.
I have been camping in a tent in Feburary in Logan canyon. I had a mummy bag at night, and I kept a killer fire going during the day. It's one of those things that you have to try, just to say you've done it.
I miss the spontaniety of your family - wish we could have camped with you. I feel like I cam camping in this apartment in Pennsylvania - it's cold, but probably a bit warmer than being outside.
You guys are so much fun! We have a tent and sleeping bags, and yet we recently realized we've never once gone camping in our marriage. On my other friend's blog her husband was finishing their meat with his blow torch, I guess it runs in their genes! (I still want one of those mini sets though, a little safer in a sardine can kitchen like ours!) Your kids are adorable, I the same wagon as Brooklyn when I was a kid!
Winter camping is the only True And Living Camping ;)
Fun pics.
Those pictures warmed my soul.
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