Bleak Week 2022

Lots of people are making the joke that this is the year "2020 too," because life just isn't back to normal yet. The pandemic rages on - in fact, with the fun new variant Omicron, more people than ever have covid. Hopefully it will start to subside soon, but in the meantime, we seriously needed to celebrate Bleak Week as much as we ever have! (Except maybe in 2020. And 2021.)

Some years we get Bleak Week on the calendar as soon as Christmas is over, but this time we were staying pretty busy in early January until suddenly we realized that the month was passing us by and we'd better just do it! It actually got started with perfect timing. Just as we decided to celebrate Bleak Week, we got word that our school district was going back online "for just a week" in an effort to stem the tide of new covid cases. Both of my girls, Romney especially, revealed that they both basically have PTSD when it comes to school getting cancelled. In 2020, it started with a 2-week shut down, then a month, then the rest of the school year, etc. etc. etc. They were sure that the same thing would happen. I'm happy to report that it remained a one-week closure. It was a long week though, for me as well, getting back to making sure the kids were getting into their zoom classes ok and fetching them snacks and water and chapstick all the dang day long. Bleak we called it, and bleak it was!

Our first event wasn't officially part of Bleak Week, but ended up being a great kick-off anyhow. The girls and I went to see HCT's production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I was pretty sure it was going to get cancelled but we made it! This show is not one of our very favorites, but it was good for our souls to see the bright lights and colors, hear the boisterous singing, feel the energy. And be together. 

Monday was the first official day. I slipped away that afternoon to our favorite bakery, Gourmandise, to pick out some decadent pastries. We ended up with tiramisu, hazelnut cheesecake, a passionfruit slice, chocolate mousse cake, creme brûlée, and a marzipan slice. Troy and I were pledging to eat just a couple of bites, but I guess we meant a couple bites every few seconds. All five of us practically belly-flopped into that box of deliciousness. It's so fun when everyone in the family is all-in on a holiday, and we get no resistance to the together time. Maybe if it always included pastries we would always get the same response.

Tuesday night we went with a family movie night. Troy and I discussed the movie choices over a few days - we really wanted everyone to be happy. It can be really hard to pick a movie fit for both Emma and Chase. They almost never watch the same things. We were considering The Emperor's New Groove, since that is one of our most-quoted movies of all time, but at the last moment inspiration stuck and I suggested the original 1977 Star Wars. It got a unanimous vote, and we plugged the TV into the big speakers and blasted it. Great movie.

Wednesday had a personal anti-bleak moment for Emma, who got a haircut after asking for one for many weeks. Maybe even months. She got such a cute a-line cut that made her curls go nuts. 

 

That evening was an ice-skating activity for our church youth, which is something that Romney and Emma really wanted to do during Bleak Week anyway. How perfect that they got to go and I didn't have to. 

Thursday was our night to go out to dinner. Well, that was the plan anyway. We were considering sushi, Korean BBQ, and ramen, finally deciding on the last option. I just so happened to have a coupon for our favorite ramen place, but only if we got take out. Everyone agreed that they would love takeout ramen, so we could stay in jammies and eat at home and watch something fun. I was so glad we did - the ramen shop was absolutely slammed, even at 5pm on a Thursday night! Jammies at home were very welcome. Yoko Ramen is the best around. 

Finally came Friday night, and we were planning on making our regular trek back to Crystal Hot Springs. However, the kids seemed less than enthused, since we normally go there with friends and family. We tried to invite a few people but no one could join us, and the weather was going to be just frigid. We decided to change plans. The Hot Springs could wait a few weeks for a cool spring night. And instead, we suggested an activity that was met with wild approbation. Axe throwing!!

We got reservations and headed downtown. I was actually kind of nervous, thinking that it was unlikely that any of us besides Troy and Chase would experience much success. And it's true, it took a while for some of us to get the hang of it. Except Chase. He instantly started hurling that axe with a fervor that was slightly alarming but seemed pretty therapeutic for him. He thwanged that thing into the target time and time again. Emma and I weren't the best at it, but we both got a lot more hits than we expected. There were all sorts of ways to count points and play games, but we were just enjoying throwing the axes as many times as we could.

That was definitely the highlight of our week. So much fun! I thank my friend Jane every year for introducing us to the idea of Bleak Week. It's truly awesome. 

I'll also confess here that I have my own little way of getting through January a little faster - I call it January with Jane (meaning Jane Austen). While puttering around the house every day cooking and cleaning and taking care of things I keep up a steady flow of Jane Austen movies, and other British romantic dramas. Today is the last day of January, and I'm not done yet. I think I'll keep them coming until Valentines day. 

A New Member of the Family

While my brother Peter was here over the holidays, he was listening to Romney play her cello and suggested that it was time to get new strings put on. The cello really was sounding weird - and not because of Romney's playing. There were some squeaks and squeals coming from the lower strings. I was glad to hear from Peter that new strings should do the trick, but wondered if the problem was deeper. Romney's cello has been a blessing to us - it was given to us for free several years ago when Chase still played and was ready for a full-size instrument. It got handed on to Romney and has been very serviceable despite being a cello made in China on a factory line. We had a luthier take a look at it when we first got it, and he said that for what it was, it wasn't too bad. Romney had named him Austin and was very fond of him. 

So, Austin and I went in to the cello shop and got ready for new strings. However, the luthier took one look at him and was very sorry but let me know that new strings couldn't help the cello at all. He showed me four places on the cello where the seams were split and gaping open. There were many other issues as well, and would cost way more than poor little Austin was even worth. My heart kind of sank. And just at that moment, the endpin of the cello shot right up inside the cello as the luthier was tipping it back. It was like an exclamation point on the statement that poor Austin was done for.  

I learned, however, that cellos were much more in our price range than I had feared. I brought one home for Romney to try out - and she had no idea that I had even gone into the shop at all that day. So when she got home, I sure had a big "I have bad news and I have good news" surprise for her. The moment she started playing, it absolutely took our breath away. The difference in tone and sound was incredible. It was like a river of warm chocolate was flowing through the house. Romney absolutely lit up and we decided to adopt the new cello for good. Romney named her Lady Liesel. 

Lady Liesel is a treat to have around. I'm grateful we had Austin as long as we did - he now has a new home at Romney's high school where he can help beginner cellists learn to play. (The luthier was able to fish the end pin back out.) Shortly after we adopted Leisel, Romney and I were able to play a duet in church which was so fun for us. I am just filled with gratitude that we have been blessed with music in our home.

And a Happy New Year

Welcome to 2022! It's been a very crazy couple of years, so we are heading into this one more by peeking around the corner than leaping through the doorway. So far, it's still weird. But there are many blessings to count and much good to go with the bizarre stuff!

We rang in the new year with Peter and his family. They joined us last year as well, and I'm happy to say that as far as we can tell, they didn't deliver the same covidy gift they did last year. (wink wink). The rest of my family has opted out of cousin/sibling gift exchanges but Peter and I have decided that we still like to trade presents. So, pretty much as soon as they got here we all wanted to open presents. Of course we gave things like Dune t-shirts, Darth Vader pen-holders, Over The Garden Wall art and night lights, Harry Potter books, Mario legos...we are fanboys to the end. The only non-pop culture item given was to Iva - I gave her a sea monkey kit. I wasn't sure how it would go over but reports from St. George seem to be that the family is enjoying the new teeny tiny pets. We in return got equal measures of Star Wars books, Dune comics and the like. I myself got a big set of cool pens - my heart was all a-flutter. I do love me some colorful pens.

We got quite a bit of snow the day after Christmas, and it continued coming for a few days. About halfway through December we had had a huge storm, dumping nine inches at our house that Troy and I shoveled for hours. Then nothing much, even mostly melting away, until the 26th. The new snow was very welcome, despite the shoveling it required. It also afforded us a really great day of sledding on New Years Eve. Not everyone joined us - Sheri and all four of her kids of course but only Emma and I went along. We had a little trouble finding a sledding hill that wasn't packed, until I had the idea to go to our "Matthew Park" up above the capitol and just as it does every May, it provided a great park with beautiful views and few visitors. The sledding was slightly precarious as many of the really steep hills led directly to the road or to the playground equipment. I decided to take up a position at the bottom of the hills to stop any major collisions from happening. Iva did hit a tree pretty hard (oooops) but she wasn't hurt, but I'm pretty sure I stopped a couple of bad crashes into the playground even if I was slightly over-cautious on other runs. 

 

 

 

 

We got home from sledding, grabbing a little pizza along the way, and after eating it decided we also needed a zoo trip that day. After all, getting outside and getting moving isn't that easy sometimes in the winter, especially with the crappy air we get around here in January. So why not? Plus this time we convinced the dads and Romney to join us. It wasn't a long visit, but walking around in the snow was grand. 

How do you know when cousins are at our house? Because this:

Also there are people everywhere.

That night I tried my hand at the currently-sheik charcuterie board. I did ok, but not super great. I don't actually have a very big board at my house. But since I already had a ton of the types of food needed, I decided to put one together. They really are very pretty, even if you're a novice. And people just hover around you as you put it together, waiting to pounce on it as soon as you take one picture and then say GO.

 

We all agreed that we could not bear staying up all the way until midnight. We were just so tired! So...we found a youtube video with a live broadcast from Times Square in NYC so we could celebrate at 10. I had bought some cheap stuff at Smiths like party poppers and kazoos (that was a mistake) and 2022 headbands and stuff like that. I had also bought these bigger cardboard tubes filled with confetti that were supposed to blast the confetti into the air. We were frankly a little overwhelmed already by the amount of clutter and noise and craziness at our house. Like I said, the kazoos were a mistake. So I decided to not pull out the canons and just go with the little party poppers. But....they turned out to be totally lame and barely popped at all, the strings of confetti basically just falling out on the floor instead of shooting into the air and fluttering down gracefully. So at the last second I grabbed the canons and...they did NOT disappoint. Oh  my gosh. They BLASTED absolute clouds of big confetti into the air, which we are still finding here and there. It was awesome!!! And also a huge mess. I'm so mad I didn't take a picture. They were totally worth it. Basically as soon as they were shot off, we cheered for the Happy New Year, shoved the cousins out the door to their hotel, and started cleaning up. I almost got it all straight by our actual midnight. 

The next morning was the first Saturday after Christmas, which is when we traditionally have our Preslar family holiday party. We all decided we did not want to meet at a church and exchange gifts. We decided instead to get together to DO something. The only problem was....we couldn't figure out what that would be. Carol isn't super mobile and the cold winter doesn't have a lot of choices for activities, especially on New Years Day. We decided to at least start with brunch at someplace that felt old-school and traditional, settling on the Little America Coffee Shop. I went down about an hour and a half early to get in line for a spot, and it's a good thing I did - it was mobbed! It still took another half hour to get enough tables for us, and we weren't even all together. At least we were close!

We put the kids at one table - a much smaller group than on my side of the family. I loved just ignoring them and letting them get whatever and talk and laugh together. We were with Sam & Kathleen, Rick's son Jake, and Carol too, leaving Rick and Tonja at a table with Tyrell and his wife Viri. I was sad we weren't with them, but there was no way we were going to get a bigger table sooner than another hour. 

I'm not sorry we went - it was super fun to have a good old fashioned diner breakfast and feel festive. After breakfast we were thinking of things to do and we just ended up all sitting in the lobby, which had cleared out quite a bit, and talking in groups for over an hour. That was really the best thing! And the hotel lobby had much more comfortable and cozy seating than any of our ward gyms ever do!

That afternoon was spent cheering on our beloved University of Utah Runnin' Utes, who had made it to their first Rose Bowl ever. What a season! We had a rough start to the season with a new quarterback who just didn't work out. We even lost to our hated rivals for the first time in 10 games with them. But then that quarterback left and we went back to Cam Rising and the season just took off. We ended up with a fantastic season, becoming the Pack 12 Conference Champions, and going to the Rose Bowl, where we were underdogs against Ohio State. I've never seen a game like that in my life. It was incredibly exciting, high scoring, and very tense. I even sustained a clapping injury on my pinkie finger, and my voice was totally hoarse. I'm so sorry to say that we lost the game, by only 3 points. Our Utes can hold their heads high. We weren't expected to win, and we stood our ground and fought powerfully! It's so fun to cheer for them. 

So that wrapped up our holiday season. Peter and Sheri took off the next day, whereupon I began cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I was a little tempted to put away Christmas because it had been a messy weekend, but I knew I'd be sorry. We left it all up for one more week, enjoying the sparkling tree lights in the early mornings and dim evenings. We truly were so blessed with friends and family, and loved celebrating together.