Crystal Hot Springs

So very sleepy!  I'd better keep this brief. 

Today we went to Crystal Hot Springs, about seventy miles to the north in Honeyville, Utah.  It was fun...and a little bit lonely...and a tiny bit creepy.  The creepy part is that apparently a woman died there a week ago.  We're not really sure if she had health problems that caused her to drown or vice versa, but either way it's a little eerie.  The big pool where she'd been swimming was closed.

The lonely part is that it was only Talia, Eli, and I.  We had the day off of school (hooray!), but Annika has a stomach bug.  We thought she was over it until she threw up again this morning.  Brooklyn volunteered to stay home with her, but it was still disappointing to leave them behind.  We made a special point of telling Annika how she might have been bored since the slides were closed and the water wasn't very deep, but the truth it that I think she still would have loved it.

The fun part was that the pools really were unique.  I loved how warm they were, especially with the contrast of the chilly winter air to cool you off if needed.  Apparently the mineral content is higher at Crystal Hot Springs than anywhere else in the world.  So salty, but without the sulfur stench. Whether due to the season or the recent tragedy, the pools weren't crowded at all.  We had plenty of room to stretch out, float, and relax.  While we didn't stay overly long, it really was enjoyable.

Next step: come back as an entire family.

Foggy Fun

If I'm completely honest, this weekend wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for.  The entire city was covered in fog on Saturday.  It's hard to explain how or why, but my brain and emotions fog up in cloudy weather as well.  On the positive side, this weekend at home made me feel more grateful for all the Saturdays we've spent skiing.  True, it means getting up early and we are exhausted by the end of the day.  Overall though, I prefer feeling tired to feeling lost.

Speaking of skiing, the weekend got off to a rocky start on Friday night when Jason, Talia, and Eli drove up to Brighton for their customer appreciation event.  With free s'mores, music, and fireworks, it seemed like an awesome event.  In the end, thousands of others must have thought it was a brilliant idea too because the place was packed.  It took hours to get up the canyon.  After finally finding a place to park, they got all their gear on and trekked to the lift, only to discover a ginormous, snaking line with hundreds of people in it.  In the end, they decided to just turn around and go home, never skiing at all.  Bummer.

Fortunately, Brooklyn, Annie, and I had more fun back in Salt Lake.  Brooklyn invited her friend Jasmina over, while Annika and Ruby enjoyed their very first sleepover.  Those cousins are so cute in their matching jammies!  I expected Annika and Ruby might have a hard time sleeping, but at 7:15 pm Ruby told me she was tired.  After tooth brushing and stories, these two cuties went straight to bed and slept all the way until 8:00 the next morning!  I can't remember the last time Annika slept for twelve hours straight.  Cousins are a great influence.  Brooklyn pointed out that they are young enough to believe that the best part of a sleepover is the sleeping.

For breakfast the next morning, we indulged in pink pancakes with heart shapes cut out of the middle.  All ready for Valentine's day!

I had a few personal wishes for Saturday, specifically getting to the gym and going to the temple.  While neither of those things worked out for me, I was able to help Brooklyn and Talia get to the Bountiful temple to do proxy baptisms.  (The two hour wait surprised us, but we survived.)  Nobody got to the gym, although Jason got to set up lots of chairs in the church gym in preparation for a funeral luncheon.  As bishop of our congregation, Jason conducted his third funeral this weekend.

Meanwhile, back on the homefront Annika made a turtle costume...

Eli made some magnatile dolphins...

...and Brooklyn made some fortune cookies.

All in all, not a bad weekend, especially when shared with such great kids.  But now fog, shoo.  I'm ready for my brain to clear.

Full STEAM ahead: STEM plus Art

"I cry the day that I take the tree down."  These lyrics from Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols ring so true.  Putting away Christmas is always sad.  I especially dislike taking all of the Christmas cards down from the refrigerator.  To fill the void, I've put up some of Annika's recent artwork.

The other day she and Ruby constructed an entire community, complete with a slide, road, houses, and a zoo.  She loves cutting and gluing so much that I'm planning on buying her a pack of construction paper for her birthday next week.

This morning before school, she drew a couple more pictures of the the things she loves: dolphins and horses.

Recently she and I were having a discussion about the song "Some things never change" from Frozen 2. Annika pointed out its truth with the argument, "It's like my love for animals.  That will never change."  Very likely.  I wonder if she will someday become a vegetarian as a result.  Today she pointed out an incongruity from Wild Kratts and asked why Jimmy eats pepperoni pizza if they all love animals so much.  Brooklyn likewise has thought a bit more about vegetarianism since dissecting a fetal pig in her biology class last week.  She must not have been that disturbed, however, since she still devoured my butternut squash and sausage soup.

As for Eli, he was busy tonight with his school science fair.  His project on refraction received an Honorable Mention.  I was particularly proud of how self-motivated he was in carrying out his project.  In fact, this evening was the very first time I saw his board.  Well-done, Cheezstick.

Emerson does a stellar job of combining their science fair with a STEM night that recruits organizations from all over the community to come share. 

Most beloved station of all?

Crafting a caterpillar.  And so the animal love circles back round, just as Christmas will surely come again too.

Room for Improvement

One awesome part about this new blogging style is that it should be much easier to share videos, like this one of Jason skiing with Annie and Ruby today. 

Despite the fact that she’s probably ridden a hundred chair lifts, Annika still has some room for improvement.

Best. Date. Ever.

Yesterday was amazing.  Instead of skiing as a family, Jason and I let the kids sleep in and headed up to Brighton for a few hours  After Friday's snowfall, the powder was fantastic.  

Just as wonderful was the chance to reconnect as a couple.  After being married for sixteen years, it's easy to take our relationship for granted, especially with our family's busy schedule.  Taking the time to be together just the two of us, especially in such a beautiful place, was priceless.  Even getting stuck on the ski lift doesn't seem too bad when you can snuggle with the one you love.

Physically fatigued but emotionally recharged, Jason and I feel ready to conquer the new week--together.

Snow!

Thought for the day: snow!  We've had plenty of accumulation and super slick roads, yet nary a late start, let alone a snow day.  I'm glad the buses got my kids to school this morning; now I just hope they can get them home.

Despite all the shoveling required, the snow is beautiful.  Light and fluffy, it whitewashes the winter grays.

Plus, sledding!

Ironically enough, yesterday reached a high of fifty degrees.  All of the snow melted from our sidewalks and street, leaving just enough to build a snowman.

Love it.

I don't really think kids can spend too much time outside playing in the snow.  Good thing too, since a week ago Eli spent an entire Saturday making hundreds, if not thousands of sculpted snow balls.

Three cheers for the snowball maker.  Given the right conditions, this gimmick is amazing.

Time for the ultimate snowball fight!

Should you need refuge, Annika set up a tent and campfire in the living room.

Winter camping, here we come.  :)

Couch Treasures

Happy 2020! It's practically a miracle, but I am essentially caught up on this blog.  Hallelujah!  For reals.  It's been a long time.

With this new decade, I'd like to experiment with a new method of blogging.  I'm hoping to post small updates far more frequently, uploading a picture or two every day(ish) rather than waiting until I get around to a giant photo dump.  I recognize this is ambitious, but I'm anxious to find a new system that is less tedious and more personally rewarding.

So...here we go!  The first photo uploaded directly from my phone.

Beautiful, right?  In case you are wondering, this is a picture the kids took last night by sending my phone into the depths of the couch interior encased in a plastic bag so they could fish it back out.  Meanwhile they photographed the couch's mysterious contents by using my Apple Watch.  You'd think we were exploring the Titanic.  They were trying to recover the Kindle Fire Stick that Eli lost down there.  Brooklyn had told him to hide it, but this was a little bit too well!  We ended up having to turn the couch upside down and remove upholstery staples to get to the interior.  We found bananagrams, marbles, pens, pencils, a house key, and two Kindle firesticks if you count the one we lost over a year ago.  The best discovery of all?  Indiana.  For years, our United States puzzle has had 49 states.  United at last.

If you look past the dust bunnies of our couch picture, you can see some plastic.  This is from all of the plarn (plastic yarn) that the kids have been making out of our plastic grocery bags.




It's a messy business, but the crocheted plastic mats turn out pretty well.  Eventually these will be donated to the Bags to Beds program for the homeless.

Well-done, Talia!

Now if we can just keep our belongings out of the couch.