Soldier Hollow

We took advantage of a groupon (group coupon) that was going on to try out Soldier Hollow.  We donned all our snow clothes piled in the car and drove through the scenic canyon toward our destination.  I don't recall driving up this canyon in the winter time before, where I had a chance to actually look around.  It was breathtaking.  The trees seemed more green against the stark white of the snow, and we saw quite a few waterfalls dripping with long daggers of ice while the cold water poured down the mountain.  I never realized this canyon had so many waterfalls.  Its amazing how one notices such differences in the same places at different seasons.  The whole drive up we listened to the musical score from the movie Frozen, so appropriate.  One funny part, just before we reached the mouth of the canyon; we had the music blasting and the GPS telling us which way to go.  In the song we were listening to, one person says, "Can I say something crazy?"  then Siri (the GPS) pipes up, "In 1 mile turn left". It quickly turns back to the song and the other character says, "Can I say something even crazier,"  To which Siri pipes in again, "Here is your left, turn left".  At the time it was so funny we were laughing so hard we started to cry.  

We arrived at our destination ready for a new experience.  The weather was cooperating and the kids were all in a good mood so that helps out more than you know.  Soldier Hollow is a great place to go when you have little kids for 1 main reason,  they have a tow rope.  I can't tell you how many times I have lugged a kid up the hill over and over again during 1 sledding trip that I was wiped out by the end of the day.  This made the whole sledding thing more enjoyable, and I had energy left over after the event to take care of everything that mothers must do.  They had 4 runs each a little different but all equally enjoyable.  My first trip down each one I was a little nervous,  you get a kind of snow blindness because everything is white, white, white. You really can't see what is coming next, and with a Peter in tow I was a little worried we would too much air and he would fly right out.  Thankfully that didn't happen and we just had an enjoyable time. We started calling Peter prince Peter because he didn't get out of his tube once.  The tow rope hauled him up and we pulled him over to the run than back to the tow rope.  Brennen was a mad man.  He would fly down the hill then run to the tow rope, just so he cold fly down again and again. We had a hard time keeping up with him.  Needless to say he loved it.  William had a great time too, on one of our many tows up the hill he exclaimed, "This place is epic awesomeness!!"  I take it that meant he liked it.  The tow rope attendant got a huge grin after William's comment.  On one run a tuber lost his hat.  The attendant at the top of the hill asked each person in line to try to grab it on our way down.  After 3 failed attempts by other people I am happy to announce I got it.  I mentioned to them that they should have a lane where you have to grab as many articles as you can, it would be a fun game.  The owner of the hat was very grateful for my success.

So in short we had a great time here.  Our session lasted 2 hours and that was the perfect amount of time.  Any longer and we would have gotten too cold. But we did get a fair amount of runs in, and no one cried!  It was a perfect winter family outing.  My kids keep asking when we can do it again?  Maybe next year.

That night as we were heading to bed William came to me all concerned.  He said in a very worried urgent tone, "Mom, my eyes are doing strange things.  I keep seeing these green splotches everywhere I look.  When I close my eyes it doesn't go away."  I chuckle a little and told him not to worry he just got a little snow blindness.  For William my hypochondriac this was the wrong words to use.  He started to panic, "Blindness?  You mean I am going blind?!?!?"  Now I am less than amused, so I tell him, "No buddy you are not going blind.  It is just something that happens when you stare at snow for too long,  you eyes just got a little sunburned."  again wrong words to use.  After another moment of panic on his part I told him to just go to sleep and if he still had it in the morning THEN we would talk about it.  Gratefully he was healed when the sun came up.  Oh my, I must always be careful what I say to this kid.

Festival of tree's

This year my sister-in-law Stacy suggested we do a Festival of Tree's tree.  She mentioned she did one the year her sister died and it was a good healing process.  A way to remember and honor them.  I thought this was a good idea but I must admit I did go into this thing with a less than enthusiastic attitude.  My heart wasn't really into it probably because I was stressed out about the house we were supposed to buy. (That's another story).  After I compartmentalized my stress I focused my energies on enjoying the tree.

  Our tree was Titled Grandpa's hands.  We had each grandchild trace their hand and then cut it out on burlap to wrap around the tree.  We also took a couple of them and tied them onto the branches.  We had the little digger with the bowl full of pennies because when it was our birthday my dad would let us grab from the money jar.  Every day he came home he would take his loose change and put it in a jar in his dresser.  When it was your birthday he poured the coins into a bowl and you got to use 1 hand to dig straight down into the coins and grab what you could. Not scoop mind you but grab, kind kind of like those toy cranes.  It was the perfect system.  The older kids with larger hands loved to compete with how much they could get and the little ones got enough to make them happy.  He would often go the the bank to get the gold Sacajawea dollar coins and add those to the money jar.  

A funny story about this digger with the coin bowl that we learned later was that people kept throwing money into it.  One lady was commenting that she had to empty it every night because it kept over flowing.  This was not our intention but it was super funny to find out what people thought it was meant for.  Lets call it and added bonus.

 I was in charge of writing the blurb that was to go with the tree.  Here is what I came up with

This tree in entitled Grandpa’s Hands decorated in honor of Joseph “Lucky” Wright. 

Grandpa had a motto during his life; his motto was the greatest cure for worry is work.  Grandpa loved to serve others and work with his hands.  He was a master carpenter and taught us how to build and work; patiently guiding our small hands in his large calloused ones.

Grandpa’s hands were always there, guiding ours to perfect our skills. Teaching us to be the best version of ourselves. Protecting us from harm, and working to provide and learn the joy of work. And giving, ever giving all of himself until his were empty. If ever you needed something he would find a way to get it to you or give you his own.

These hands have done marvelous thing in this life.  From holding little ones to show them they are loved, to wiping faces with tears, to building beautiful things, and in the end where we had to say goodbye to these strong hands, all that was left for his hands to do was to hold ours one more time. Giving that final squeeze to let us know everything was going to be okay.  

Hutchingson Museum

While we had cousins over for the Thanksgiving holiday I was desperate to find things for them to do.  Luckily for me it was family week in the city of Lehi.  The local museum here, Hutchingson Museum had a special day with live animals that we could learn about and pet.  They also had lots of little crafts for the kids to do. I was pleasantly surprised that the teenagers enjoyed this just as much as the smaller ones.  It is getting harder and harder to find things to do that all age groups are willing to participate in.  I am coming to the realization that teenagers are so boring.  They really don't want to do much.  Thankfully they loved the animals.  With one exception to the reptiles.  My niece unbeknownst to her family was terrified of the lizards, snakes, spiders, and cockroaches. I mean terrified!  She refused to even walk into the room.  After much pleaded, prodding, and pushing she finally ran straight through the room to the next one.  It was her loss.  The rest of us spent most of our time in this room.  Brennen couldn't get enough of the turtles and I thought the corn snake was absolutely beautiful.  Who could not  love the lizards with their vibrant greens and curious eyes.  I think I spent a half and hour with the snakes and turtles alone.  The one down side, now my boys want a snake, turtle, or lizard for a pet.  I am not really against it, we just can't have pets until we buy a house.  

After we had our fill with the birds and reptiles we settled ourselves down for a demonstration followed by a Q&A about bald eagles and Golden eagles.
While listening to the bird handler there was a place where you could dress up in the same room.  Brennen kept trying on the different outfits and coming up to me with the silliest little comments directed by his clothing.  It was a little distracting but he was having fun so I was having fun. It was a great way to kill a couple of hours.  It got the moody teenagers out of the house and interacting with something other than their ipods, and the little ones had a fun discovering the wonders that life has to offer.  I think I will keep this little activity tucked away for next year.

lights

For black Friday we decided to take the whole crew up to Salt Lake to see the lights.  I was a little worried about the crowds but the temperature was so nice we didn't care how crowded it was.  When we got there it really wasn't that bad and do I dare say it was downright balmy at 50 degrees.  Who would have thought that I deemed 50 degrees balmy? However for winter here, that might as well be tropical.  

The lights themselves were expectantly spectacular.  Always so beautiful and now with City Creek right next door it was even more sparkly.  We took the Zadrozny's even after I vowed never to take them again after our last experience with them but I thought with the warmer weather it wouldn't be too bad. They handled themselves okay, but a certain someone was extra annoying. I could have done without that persons antics. What is it they say? . .  It's not about being with people you like its about being with family.

My little boys were the most excited.  They oohed and ahahahd at all the lights.  We even came across Santa who handed out 1,000,000.00 dollar bills.  Peter was ecstatic.  I told him they were only valid in the North Pole and he had to find his own way to get there.  Surprisingly he was okay with that.  

One of my favorite things is the candy windows in Macy's.  They used to be the candy windows in ZCMI and thankfully Macy's was willing to continue on with the tradition.  I think it would be so fun to help decorate one of those.  One special surprise for me was the discovery of poppies still blooming their vibrant colors to create a little sunshine just for me.  I was so thankful for those poppies.

 After all the exciting lights we went to visit the nativity.  Oh how I love the nativity on the water.  I love that it reminds me of what Christmas is really about.  I love the reverence that surround this holy scene.  What peace it brings my soul.      

one million dollars