Random Joy

Opening the photo roll on my phone is always amusing.  You never know what you will find.  Take this picture for example.  No idea who took it, but not only are there a gazillion stuffed animals on the stairs, there's a guinea pig perched on top.  Even more shocking is that if you look closely, you can see a few human fingers peeking out, meaning that there's actually a person underneath all of those stuffed animals.

I suspect this gal is somehow involved.

She is certainly the culprit behind these selfies.

Not nearly as exciting, but here's another random assortment from early August.  We headed to the Main Library and discovered this fun sculpture of a ram created out of recycling.

We also really enjoyed this artwork by Jorrien and Tiera Peterson.  Their clean lines capture so many of the places we love, ranging from Temple Square and Utah's national parks...

to Salt Lake City, laid out Avenues style...

to Washington state...

...to New York.

Right across the street, we went for a tour of the Salt Lake City and County Building.  A neighbor tipped us off to the fact that they offer free tours at noon during the month of August.

Better yet, they let you climb the stairs all the way up the bell tower.

Our generous tour guide even let us take a stroll on the roof's catwalk.

Checking out the clockwork from the inside.

Plus, a sneak peak of the retrofitting that happened to make the place more earthquake resistant.  They lifted the entire building off its foundations and placed it on giant springs to better absorb the shock waves.  I think the plans for the Salt Lake temple's renovation are similar.

Thinking of Utah and faults and earthquakes and our old brick house totally overwhelms me.  Heck, I'm overwhelmed by the fact that we are going to have to tear apart our bathroom because our tub is leaking.  The good news is that living right by the Salt Lake cemetery helps me keep it all in perspective.  Not to be morbid or anything, but someday we aren't going to care much about all these problems.  It just helps to keep things in perspective.  Here we are at the graveside of Sarah Howard Bawden, my father's great-grandma.

Sarah walked across the plains and was buried right up the hill from our 4th & P chapel.

Other randomness...slime!  Ruby came over and we had a grand old time with the Elmer's glue and liquid starch.

Slime bubbles: the very best part, especially when you can keep the mess outside.

And there you have it--random joy.  May your photo roll be equally unusual.