Spring Break 2019

Whelp....I'm behind. So behind that it's starting to feel crushing. I mean seriously, I have months of things to catch up on. And the longer I put it off the more overwhelmed I feel. I kind of know why I've been struggling to blog - it's this post in particular. I have no idea how I'm going to blog this. We have about 500 pictures from this Spring Break trip, and each and every one of them makes me very happy. This was a fantastic trip and it will be a very happy memory all my life long.

Here's what we did. Troy's best best buddy ever since 2nd grade is this wonderful guy named Mike. Mike happened to marry a 2nd cousin of mine, Katrina. She and I visited the same property in the mountains outside of Oakley, Utah all our childhoods long, and stayed in next-door cabins and played on the same swing set, likely together sometimes. Our grandpas were brothers. Anyway, they are a wonderful couple and we love them dearly though we don't see them as often as we would like. This is now partly due to the fact that they have taken jobs at the schools in Monument Valley in the very VERY most south eastern corner of our state. They live on the Navajo Reservation in a spectacularly beautiful place. You know, I can't remember if I have ever been to Monument Valley in my life. I have seen so many images and in so many movies that I don't remember if I have ever been there in person. We decided to spend a few days of the break visiting them.

I was actually a little nervous about this trip, partly because I just really wanted a happy family trip together and I was afraid that we would announce the trip to our kids and they would moan and groan because this would be an outdoorsy, hiking and walking-type trip. Not lounging by a pool or riding rides or something. I was so pleased when all three of the kids seemed quite eager to go.

We left on Tuesday and drove to Moab. We decided to spend one night in a hotel there and get up early and hike to Delicate Arch. I know a big piece of Troy's heart is still in Moab - he spent so much time there, mountain biking and hiking with friends. It is a place that is deeply dear to him and I know he was so excited to show it to his kids. Moab has changed a lot - the tourist industry has really taken hold there and the increased number of hotels and motels was slightly staggering. Even I noticed the difference.

Before we hit Moab, however, we made our first magnificent stop of the trip - Dead Horse Point, just before sunset. This was the first place where I realized that we were in for a great trip. The kids did not take lightly the magnitude or the beauty of the place. They were all excited to be there, they all were amazed at what they were seeing, they were so happy. I will try to not repeat this sentiment a thousand times over this post because that was true for the whole trip and it really just filled my cup.

Our hotel was a slight fail but with a remedy - we specifically picked it out because of the pool. We wanted the kids to be able to swim at some point during the trip. It really would have been nice for us to be told that the pool was closed and under construction before we booked. But happily, the place had a sister-hotel down the road and were letting people swim there. We enjoyed getting out and swimming, mostly hanging out in the large hot tub actually. Lovely evening.

We were thrilled with our hike to delicate arch. We went pretty early in the morning - there were no lines to get into the park but even so the trail was pretty busy. It was so gratifying to see the kids' excitement and awe as we viewed the arch as well as some other sites in the park. Romney especially was loving it and is hoping for some additional trips to Moab to hike with her dad.

It was at Delicate Arch that we started a running joke - Chase spent a lot of his spring doing much exercise and stretching, becoming able to do the splits. He loves doing the splits, especially in random public places. We had him do the splits under the arch, and pretty much repeated that photo in every single place we went. We have  a lot of photos of Chase doing the splits.

After Delicate Arch, we visited a couple of other spots in the park like Balanced Rock and the visitors center.

After all the hiking, the kids were famished. The hotel's free breakfast did us right, but by the time we had spent all the hours in Arches we had some hungry kids. We headed over to the Moab Diner, a favorite spot of Troy's which seems to have stayed about the same, and fed the kids. They all ordered massive meals and we were a bit skeptical but as you can see, no one had any trouble cleaning their plates. Except the lettuce leaves.

By then it was time to head out of Moab. We hit the road and started to make our way south. Mike happened to have meetings that day in Blanding and we met with him there. We got to poke around a cool little museum displaying some art and history of the little town before Mike began his awesome three day tour guidance of this south-eastern corner of the state.  He and Troy rode together in his car while I tried to keep up in the Landcruiser, not always very successfully. I was so happy for Troy to have these hours to spend with such a wonderful friend.

Our first stop was at some ruins. Now I have to say that we saw many ruins over the weekend. I am not going to be able to remember the name of a single one of them. I'm so sorry. What an incredible feeling though, to be in the presence of such ancient history, right where it happened. Mike was such a wonderful guide - he has really taken advantage of the time he's spending there and getting to know it, visiting everything he can, and he knows a great deal and shared so much with us. Here was our Thursday afternoon visit:

I think at this point some of our destinations are going to start blurring together...this was like four months ago after all. (Blush.) I want to pause to make a little list of things that really made this trip stand out:

* Chase doing the splits every where
* Mike and Katrina being wonderful hosts - they cooked for us every night - Navajo Fry Bread, Cambodian food night (egg rolls and pho) were the most memorable
*Their pack of howling and very sweet beagles
*Going to the High School where Mike is vice principal and getting to meet many wonderful folks he works with and seeing the cool facilities there which include Hogans as well as all the regular buildings and things high schools have
*Having a heart-to-heart talk with the kids about deep spiritual things while standing inside a half-collapsed hogan
*Troy accidentally locking his keys in the cruiser and as he was trying to jimmy his way into the truck, having like four people jump to his aid to try to help. We ended up unlocking the door with a long broom handle shoved through one slightly open window
*Seeing the John Wayne cabin - a small cabin whose exterior was used in a John Wayne film. We also enjoyed the accompanying museum.
*Learning about "Hat Runs" - no alcohol is sold on the Navajo Reservation, so anyone wanting some drives to the tiny town of Mexican Hat to pick some up.
*Seeing Troy soak up time with his friend he's had the longest


One really fantastic adventure was taking the kids through a very scenic little slot canyon, I think called Corkscrew Canyon or something. It was so impressive how familiar Mike was with some very remote places. We had a magical time hiking through it.

 We spent one afternoon driving through Monument Valley itself. I didn't realize that this was a thing. There's a loop that you drive and it takes you past all these amazing sights. We divided up into two cars - if we had had the minivan we could have fit all of us, but there were several places we couldn't have visited without the cruiser so I was so glad Inigo was with us and not the van. What spectacular sights!!

Mike also took us to see many sights that were near his home - practically in his back yard. These sights were a collection of ruins, arches and awesome climbing rocks that the kids did not get sick of. We all had a great time clambering around the rocks and hills. We did notice that we should have brought warmer clothing - we all were thinking that we were headed to the desert so we'd be really hot. It was the desert, yes, but it's not like the south west corner of that state that drops in elevation so drastically. It's just as high as Salt Lake City, so it was plenty chilly. 

One ruin was accessed through a tiny little keyhole. That was fun to climb through. I was very graceful.

Of course we also had to stop at "Gump Hill" and race to catch photos of the splitting Chase during breaks in traffic:

We also spent an afternoon driving up to Muley Point - another spectacular vista. This spot is near and dear to us because Troy and I went camping there when I was about 7.5 months pregnant with Chase. He was born, early, very shortly thereafter and we have always felt grateful that he didn't arrive during that trip when we were so far away from medical care. We always tell Chase that he was very nearly born in the Mexican Hat instacare.

I'm on picture over-load, as I knew I would be. I can only say that we had a marvelous trip. We are so grateful to generous friends for hosting us, being cooks and tour guides and information booths. What a great opportunity. I think I probably could have told these stories better and picked better pictures - we have hundreds from Mike as well as these - but in the interest of getting the blog caught up, I'm making good enough better than perfect and just posting this monster. Monument Valley, we loved you. We hope to return.

In Other News

Other random happenings from the month of March, in no particular order....

Here is a very proud Emma. She is very proud because there she is, holding her violin, which she just finished practicing for the 50th day in a row. Way back at the end of January, she decided to surprise her violin teacher with a weekly practice chart filled up perfectly on all seven days. She got such a kick out of it that she decided to do it for a second week in a row, and then a third. Pretty soon she had set a goal of practicing for 100 days in a row. Here she is, half way, and still going strong. It's actually been totally amazing. This kid does not complain about practicing. It's so incredible. And her violin playing has really improved as she has worked on this. I'm super proud of her and am thinking up what to do to celebrate when she hits day 100. (And then figure out how to motivate her to keep up the 7-day-a-week practices.) 

I'm not sure when this happened - probably the first day or two of spring break. I told the kids I'd take them to Twin Suns, the Star Wars-themed cafe owned by a friend, the step-dad of a gal Romney went through all of elementary school with. I went there last year for my birthday. What a great place. The kids loved their food and were thoroughly entertained by the decor. Go check it out, it's awesome. By the way, we totally shocked the waitress with how much food we are capable of consuming.

On a very sad note, we lost a beloved pet, Aragog the spider. We are not sure what happened. I think we had him for 2 1/2 years! I can't believe that. It was hard to know if he was eating or not, healthy or not, since he hunted for his prey at night and he didn't eat (or move) very often. We think he lost a leg during his last molt, and perhaps that was what made him sick. Poor Chase. He's had his share of pet burials in the past year. And the animals he adores tend to be slightly more delicate and hard to care for than the pets most people choose. We will consider another spider, but will aim for a desert dweller and not a tropical variety. I'm actually quite sad. Even though I could never bring myself to touch it, I sure got a kick out of telling people that we had a pet spider, and Aragog was super fascinating to watch.

One afternoon, the first Friday of spring break I think, I took Emma and a friend to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers museum up on capitol hill. I had never been to this museum and really really wanted to go. I have many ancestors who were Mormon Pioneers, and I felt sure I'd feel a great connection to my heritage there, and see displays bearing the names of my ancestors. Well, it was a pretty dang amazing place, but it was also just kind of weird. Man is there a LOT OF STUFF in there. Though I did not see many names that I'm connected to, I did see a lot of strange things like art made out of hair and weird dolls and all sorts of stuff. It's actually quite an impressive place, but not what I thought it would be like at all. Still, I'm glad I went. Well, I was glad, that is, until I came across the creepiest mannequin ever!

Yes, we all screamed when we saw it.

Also of note is the fact that my sister has finally pulled up the last of her SLC roots. She sold her home this month and it was a lot of work for her, her daughters and some for me as well. It sold immediately which was awesome for her. Helping her go through it and get it ready was really hard and I know it especially was on her daughters. I think MG especially had a very long hard cry over the separation from that house. It was time, it was a good thing, but some times good things can sting quite a bit.

Also, in our on-going quest to see musical theater, the girls and I made a trek to Bountiful to once again see the majestic Paige sing the role of Fiona in her school's production of Shrek. It was really fun! I know jr. highs are not exactly Broadway, but really, this group did a great job and we so enjoyed seeing the show. Paige has a magnificent voice and I look forward to seeing her in many future productions.

Also, Romney survived her 8th grade spirit week. We had a lot of fun putting together costumes to go along with the daily themes such as Hawaiian day and Classy Day. Troy very generously drove her around for about 2 hours trying to find John Lennon style sunglasses for Retro Day and it turns out they were impossible to find, but we already had these aviators. Sorry about those two hours, but I know Romney had a great time with her dad and has proof of how much he loves her, because he drove her to every sunglasses-selling establishment in a ten mile radius. 

In another theater adventure, the girls and I went to see The Fantasticks. It was put on in a very small black box theater way out in South Jordan, right by my sister-in-law Kathleen. She and her daughter Lucy joined us. Lucy loves being in plays and I know they enjoy the theater. They had not heard of The Fantasticks. Emma hadn't seen it either, though Romney and I had, about 2 years ago I think. This was a wonderful production. It's such a small show, only 8 characters or so, and just a lady and a piano playing all the music. I have said before that I think this is my mom's official favorite musical. I love it so much too, and these young actors were just wonderful. We sad on the front row and the cast interacted with us a bit. It was absolutely delightful.

There you go! There's a whole bunch of fun great stuff that got us through March.

THE Beard and its Subsequent Birthday Demise

I know that once again I have not been a super-blogger. However, you may have noticed over the past few months of scanty posts that my husband has been working very diligently on growing a beard. He started it back in the fall, around November maybe. By December and January it had gotten quite full. By March...well, it was a creature unto itself. Troy is a master beard-grower. We were all very impressed and I had fun trying to locate his lips in there when trying to give him a kiss.

Finally on March 3rd, Troy's birthday, he decided it was time to let it go. Since it was his birthday, we were having a couple of friends over for dinner and cake. One of the friends coming, Bob, happens to be a master of facial hair himself and is always sporting some type of mustache or lamb chops or some such thing. Troy decided it would be awesome to remove his beard one little section at a time in order to provide additional entertainment for the night.

We were all very entertained.

Phase One:

This is Bob. He approved of Phase One.

Phase Two:

And...Phase Three: 

And look! It's my husband! He was under there after all!

Beard or no beard, I sure do love this man. I was so happy to celebrate the launch of his 50th year on this earth. Sunday birthdays are hard, but I think we did well. We spent the afternoon watching one of Troy's favorite movies, October Skies. This is a truly great film. He's always wanted the kids to see it and I knew they would love it if we could get them to commit to sitting down and actually watching it, free from other screens or distractions. The incentive that this was all dad wanted for his birthday was enough to get all three of them to cheerfully agree and before they knew it, they were totally into the movie. I haven't watched it for years. It holds up. What a great movie that is. 

Also let it be known that it was on this date that we discovered a truly delicious recipe for chocolate cake. Emma has been following a baker on YouTube for years - she has a channel called Nerdy Nummies and bakes a lot of pop-culture themed food. We enjoy watching her put together her creations, and even purchased a couple of her cookbooks, but to be honest, I've never followed any of her recipes. Well, we tried her chocolate cake. And guess what. It is absolutely delicious. Great birthday cake. I can't figure out why I don't have a photo of the cake! It wasn't anything special, just baked in a 9x13 pan with no special decorations but it sure was good. 

We love Bob and his wife Tawnee and their cute little wild 18 month old kiddo. I wish everyone could have neighbors as wonderful to them as this family is to us. 

So yes, we had a really fun and memorable celebration for Troy. Troy, we adore you. Thank you for being the daddy of this house and home. You bless our lives.

Surviving Winter/Take Me BACK to St. George

I had only been back from my lovely girls trip to St. George when I found myself headed right back there. And I wasn't sorry about it. It wasn't quite as warm and sunny as we were hoping, but it was a lovely weekend.

We chose to zip down south the weekend we did because A: it was NOT President's Day Weekend, a date we will probably avoid forever due to the hoards and hoards of people who go there the same time. And, B: our niece Siena was in a production of The King and I. This is another of the musicals that I grew up on, thanks to my dear theater-loving mother. I'm sure anyone who knows me has wondered just how many musicals my mother raised me on, just how many times will I say, "Oh this is one of my favorites!" Well, the number is too high to count. I think my mom was actually IN a production of The King and I in high school and so she has a special place for it in her heart. I remember listening to the music a lot, but you know what's funny? I really haven't seen it in years and years and watching this sweet little production of it made me realize just how much of the story went over my head as a kid. It was so much fun to watch it and understand all the messages and the tensions and stuff. Run, Eliza! That song used to freak me out and I had no idea what it meant. Now that I'm in my 40s, I get it.

That was Saturday night - but Saturday during the day we took a wonderful morning jaunt to Zion National Park. This was partly because Troy and I have just felt like when we go to St. George we need to spend more time in Zion. It's such an amazing place and we want our kids to experience and love it like we do, especially Troy. Also, my brother Peter was running a half marathon that morning that ended just outside the park entrance. Man was it chilly! As we were driving along, keeping an eye on the thermometer reading in the car, we couldn't help but feel really bad for all the runners. It was absolutely frigid!! I mean like in the teens or something. So cold.

Once the race was over and we collected a tired and sweaty Peter we caught a tram and headed up the canyon to just do a little walking. Truth be told we weren't too excited that it was snowy there. I mean, isn't snow what we are trying to escape in February? But the crisp white snow resting on all the red rock was quite an amazing sight. What a glorious place! I don't even remember the name of the trail that we walked but I do remember being surprised at how cheerful everyone was to spend time in the park despite the snow. We loved walking and gazing up at the rocky heights. We definitely need to get back there again soon.

After hiking came a lovely lovely lunch at a café. It was just warm enough for us to sit outside in the sunshine. Of course there were heaters near by so we cheated a little but the sun, oh the glorious sun.

Then we went home to rest and play before Siena's production. This theater that Peter works for and Siena sometimes performs is very small - it's an old opera hall or something - and the floor where the seats used to be has been transformed into the stage, set up in-the-round, and the old stage, the actual elevated stage at one end, has been transformed into the space for all the technical workings like the sound and lights and things. It's very personal - there are only about 5 rows of seats so no matter where you sit you are up close and personal. The King and Anna were both just wonderful actors and singers and we all enjoyed it a lot. That means that Chase tolerated it with little complaining which is a big deal when it comes to musicals. There were a few moments when this "up close and personal" staging meant that we were all plugging our ears a bit - those Thai gong things are LOUD especially when they are being hammered right next to you. But the production was so well done and such a treat. Yay Siena for getting involved. We are proud of you! I wonder what show she'll take part in next.

If Emma looks teary in the shot above, it's because she takes after her mother and is a social crier. We attended the show on its last night and many of the cast members were shedding tears. Social criers see those tear and immediately spout tears of our own. Can't help it.