Spring Catch-Up

Continuing on with our spring catch-up, at the beginning of April Brooklyn and Talia headed back to in-person school at West High.  At long last, a first day photo!

We wrapped up our ski season with a few lovely spring ski dates.  I talked Brooklyn and Talia into spending one of their asynchronous school days at Brighton with me.

While we would have enjoyed it under and circumstances, some fresh pizza from Milly's made it particularly delightful.

Here's Annika savoring a ski lift snack on a different day.  Spring skiing may be a little slushy, but I love the warmth.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.  Here are Jason and I on our way up to Snowbird for our very last ski date of the season at the end of April.  Hardly looks like ski weather!

Fortunately there had been a good storm a couple days earlier and the snow was great.

Riding the tram to the top.

Thank you to Utah's canyons for sharing your beauty all year round.

Other random sights: after many months of staying away while they cleaned up fallen trees, I meandered back into the SLC Cemetery.  I love seeing our church from this angle.  Church service can be demanding at times, but looking at this beautiful old building from the context of a pioneer cemetery puts everything in perspective.

Most of the trees have been cleaned up, but there are still a few startling remnants from the storm.  

This grave for Bernardo Palacios Carbajal is closely tied to the Black Lives Matter movement. He was killed by police violence.

Speaking of Black Lives Matter, Jason took these pictures from his office this spring.

On a less serious note, I came into Annika's room one morning and found this confusing sight.

Here she is again, telling Jason all about how she's being eaten by a Killer Toilet.  (All credit to Grandpa Charles for the original epic tale.)

And...her stuffies.

Spring was an intense season for recitals.  Here's Brooklyn  performing her Suzuki Book 5 recital, accompanied by Dr. Posey.  We are really proud of all the dedicated practice both Brooklyn and Talia commit to their string instruments.  They are making so much progress!

The girls' passion for music is rivaled by their passion for frisbee.  Both Talia and Brooklyn LOVE playing Ultimate and did really well this season.  I'm afraid that I'm at terrible sports photographer, so I don't really have many amazing photos.  Here are a couple from a game against Timpview.  They were playing directly beneath the "Y" so we made sure to celebrate with some Creamery ice cream following the game.

Other major milestones: Brooklyn's first car!  A 2004 Toyota Corolla courtesy of Uncle Justin finally upgrading to something a bit snazzier.  We've managed to squeak by as a one-car family for the past four years in Salt Lake, but I will say the convenience of having a second vehicle and an extra driver has been amazing.  Thank you, Justin, Brianna, and Ruby!  We hope you're loving your new wheels as much as we love your old ones.

As you can see, Justin made off like a bandit from the transaction.  The grimaces may come mostly from having a teen driver on the road.  (We love you, Brooklyn!  Thanks for being so responsible and safe.)

A few more odds and ends:  Annika made this pottery planter in Brownie Scouts and is delighted by the spiky hair.  

As for me, I was pretty delighted by this caramel spike when Jason and I went out to eat at Cucina.  (Next time remind me to dress up a bit more for fine dining.)

Evening strolls through the Avenues, plus a glimpse of my favorite tree.

Come morning, you'll find our neighborhood trails covered in spring.  I adore these bright daisies.  These ones were found along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

A week later, I hiked Ensign peak and found the mountainside covered.

A sure fire recipe to bring out the brightest smiles.