Alison and Alex, Ruby and More

Socorro!  Hilfe!  Au secours!  Help!

I feel bogged down by this blog--too far behind to catch up, yet unwilling to leave it behind completely.  I'm too tired to spit out a coherent sentence, let alone write one.  At the same time, I know that I need to push through if I'm ever going to get on top of this.  Golly-gee-willikers, the perfectionist in me hates to publish shoddy stuff, even if only on a family blog.

Perfectionism be damned.  I'm forging ahead anyway.  Besides, it could be worse.  Jason's tired and wishes he could go to bed too, but he's busy fixing our stair that decided it was too worn out to hold weight anymore.

Stepping back in time to the beginning of February, my Aunt Alison came to visit all the way from Long Island, New York.  February is often hard for me with its dark, cold days, but their friendly visit helped the month fly by.

Here is Alison exploring the exhibit "Where Children Sleep" at the Leonardo with Annie.

Don't you think these headphones are snazzy?  My aunt's the cutest.

Naturally, we took Alison to Cafe Rio for the some of the best cuisine Salt Lake has to offer.  (Next to Sawadee and Hatch Family Chocolates, of course.  Always anxious for an excuse to avoid making dinner, we dined both of those places as well.)

Hey, look who joined us from Silicon Valley in Cali!  It's my cousin Alex, one of Nest's newest programmers.

Naturally Alison and Alex were eager to hit the slopes, skiing/snowboarding at Solitude and Brighton.  Snow this year has been fantastic!

Still the cutest.

Alex liked Solitude so much that the sticker made the laptop.

On Saturday they took a break from the slopes so that we could all visit Temple Square.  As you can see, it was the perfect day to walk the grounds.

Photo Op 1...

...and a close-up of our crazy clan.

We walked across the street for a tour of the Conference Center.

Amazing as ever.  It's fun to hear Jason talk about the colossal structural engineering that went into the conference center as well.  His structures professor, Leon Williams, took the class for a tour while it was under construction.

Looking up.

While the rooftop gardens were not open, the kids sure had fun playing around with photo panoramas on the top floor.

Following Temple Square, we headed over to the Main Library where they were hosting a Chinese calligraphy event in honor of the lunar New Year.

Quite the little narcissist, Annie enjoyed seeing herself in this trash can.

After Alex returned to California, Alison spent one more day hanging out with our crew.  We headed up to Park City where Annika practiced a bit more skiing on the bunny hill.

Thanks so much for coming to see us Alison and Alex!  The Utah snow is certainly best when shared.

***

Turns out Salt Lake is a pretty popular destination to visit!  Alison and Alex were not the only visitors we hosted in February.  Jason's friend Ben Turner from Omaha dropped by for lunch one day.  Their friendship has survived both the long distance and Jason's beard envy.

Ruby also came for a brief visit while her Daddy was having a second interview with Primary Children's in Salt Lake.  We are so excited to spend more time with this cutie!

Grandma Susie joined us for a bit.  While I forgot to take a picture, the purple backpack in the background is sure evidence of her close proximity.  In the meantime, here's Annie playing Moana on her guitar/cello.  Monkey see, monkey do!

Even with a full-house, preschool must go on!  I think at one point, the house hosted Justin, Brianna, Ruby, Brianna's sister Ashley, Ashley's son, Susie, and preschool all at the same time.  Since it was U-week, we made unicorn horns.

Ruby wasn't terribly enthused about her unicorn transformation.

As for myself, I am understandably smitten with this gal.  Two might be a challenging age for a parent, but it is the absolute best age for an aunt.

Many thanks to Ruby and all the rest for your visits--making our new house a home.