Park Discovery

When we went to Cedar City last week, Jenny and I decided to take the kids to a park I had read about but had never visited, up on the hill above Walmart and across the street from the Aquatic Center.

It turned out to be a really cool looking park, and we hurried to enter.

No one else was there on that January day at lunchtime.

I can imagine that it gets quite busy during the warmer months of the year!

All the kids liked the series of steps and buildings to run through.

Ava balanced well on a mushroom--at least that's what I think it was!

Although Desert Girl was first to go over the suspension bridge, the bigger kids couldn't wait.

And away they go!

I kept trying to get photos of the kids, but they were moving fast! Desert Boy and Ava paused for just a moment.

Then Desert Girl had to take a turn!

They even had a bouldering wall. It's extra challenging in cowboy boots!

The park opened in 2001, so we were surprised we hadn't ever heard of it before. Now that we know it exists, we will certainly be back! For directions on how to get there, click here.

A January Hike

 It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and I had spent too much time sitting all week, so I took the afternoon off to go hiking with the kids. Desert Boy was glad to go out, but had a couple tears because he wanted to have friends go hiking with us, and they were all busy with other activities.

 I'm not sure what Desert Girl was thinking. She was keeping warm in her coat. Not that it was all that cold--it was upwards of 50 degrees.

I wasn't entirely sure where to go, but ultimately decided to go towards a canyon not too far from our house. I couldn't get too wild, as I was driving the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van.

 On the way I spotted a large bird and noticed it had a white head. Brakes!! We stopped to admire the beautiful bald eagle. We usually have a couple that spend the winter near us, and it's always so cool to see them.

Then we continued on our way, and instead of going up into the canyon, decided to climb a "mountain" that juts up from the bench on the way up to the canyon. The "mountain" doesn't have a name, but when I deigned to call it a hill, Desert Boy was quick to disagree.
"That's a big mountain," he said.
Okay, I wasn't going to disagree.
"Do you think we can climb it?"
"Yes."
Good. Because I knew he could. But it would be better if we wanted to.
Before we started the hiking challenge, we had the fording the creek challenge. In the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van.

Momentum was our friend, and we made it across. Good thing, too. It would have been really embarassing to have to go for help and tell someone we had gotten the van stuck in the middle of the creek.

 Before I had gotten out of the van and Desert Girl strapped on me and the camera ready, Desert Boy and Henry had charged up the mountain. This mountain is known for lots of rattlesnakes in the summer, so it was nice to be climbing it in winter and not have to worry about them at all.

 When I finally caught up to Desert Boy, he was trying to scale the sharp limestone on a "huge" cliff. He made a good start of it, but eventually slid right down the face of it. He skinned part of his hand, getting a "blood owie." Then it was time for more tears because I didn't have a bandaid with me. I know, what an unprepared mom I was!

I convinced him we could continue, and despite great protestations, we ascended.

 We could measure our progress by how much smaller the sheep camp below looked.

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 Yep, it's tough to climb a mountain with a blood owie. Really tough.

 I was amazed that there wasn't any snow. And looking up the canyon, we could hardly see snow at the higher elevations.

 We hadn't gotten too far when the kids decided it was snack time or else. So we plopped down and they happily sipped and munched away. Afterwards they were slightly more willing to continue.

 They got much more excited when we found some fossils.

 Here I am holding one for scale.

 Then the whole mindset for the hike changed. Now we were on a mission to find cool fossils.

 And cool caves. This one was big enough for the kids to climb into it.

 It turned out it had a sunroof so I could look down at them. We found several other little holes to investigate, and Desert Girl got really good at spotting them. Unfortunately my camera battery died and the spare was back in the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van, so the photo taking part of the trip was over.

We made it to the peak and enjoyed the view. Then Desert Boy was really concerned about how we were going to get back down. I told him there was a special way. And lucky for me, there was. We went down a little gully, and on the way, we saw some bones. Desert Boy entered his dinosaur paleontologist mode and immediately declared we had discovered some dinosaur bones. He asked if he could take them home. I told him that if he carried them, he could. Then we found more bones. And more. It turned out that the gully was full of sheep bones, including some recent deaths with lots of wool all around them. Desert Boy had to pick and choose what he wanted and filled up his backpack. He decided he was going to make an Emmasaurus with that day's finds, and then we might have to go back to gather more to make a Henryosaurus and a Daddyosaurus and a Mommyosaurus.

 Here are some bones he had at the end, while he's looking at a large sheep dog with a blood-covered face that came up to check us out. Fortunately she was very friendly. I tried not to dwell too much on why her fur was blood red. It wasn't too appealing.

 I tried out my new camera lens.

Hurray, we survived the mountain! Then we went home and promptly all took a nap.

2012: Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Play in Mud

Thanks for checking out my blog in 2011, I appreciate those who have taken the time to read what I have written and checking out the photos. Writing this blog helps keep me organized. Even if I have just discovered a photo from back in September.

As for the photo, the kids just couldn't resist getting wet and muddy while Dad was out irrigating. I figure that's apropos for enjoying life: playing in mud takes us back to our roots, grounds us, and is one heck of an exfoliator.

So here's to a happy and healthy and muddy 2012 for each of you!

Children's Nativity Play-2011

 Friday afternoon was the dress rehearsal for the Children's Nativity Play to be held Christmas Eve. The kids were so excited to put on costumes, although Desert Girl wanted to keep her sparkling red shoes on with her sheep costume.

 As the children waited to put on their costumes, they watched a video from two years ago. Desert Boy had been a lamb that year, and all the other kids had had other parts. They thought two years ago was ages ago, and it was true that they all looked quite a bit different.

 Once everyone had their costumes on, it was time to take their places: King Herod on his throne, the angels on their cloud, the shepherds and sheep on Shepherd's Hill, Joseph and Mary in the stable.

 Desert Girl liked the pillows under Shepherd's Hill. The sheepherders weren't too concerned about keeping their sheep behaving well.

 Doug skillfully accompanied all the songs. I sure wish I could play the piano better--I used to take lessons from Doug but eventually gave them up because I didn't have time to practice. But I'm getting more tempted to make that time...

 The girls--and Neto--lined up to sing a song. Desert Girl was happy to stand up there even though she didn't know any of the words. I guess she's not so shy.

 The angels are always so fun to watch. One of the advantages of photographing during the dress rehearsal is seeing the orange socks! Oh, the lighting is a little simpler, too.

 Little Ella had fun wandering all over the stage and back and forth from the audience during the dress rehearsal.

 She found the other angels for this song.

 Desert Boy had several lines and was really good about memorizing them.

 The Three Wise Men made their grand entrance.

 Joseph and Mary (aka Megan and Kayli) had to check out what was happening over at the palace.

 Desert Girl was a little tired and ready to be held.

 The grand finale, Joy to the World.

 On the night of the performance, Isaac joined Emma as a sheep.

 This little lamb had fun playing with Grandpa before the performance.

My husband then videotaped the performance, but I haven't had much luck uploading the large files yet.

The kids did an excellent job, despite a wandering sheep and angel that caused a little havoc.

For the last song, all the kids were up on stage singing except for Desert Girl, who sat on Shepherd Hill making funny faces. I guess I could say she was basking in the limelight!

Christmas Lights

 With Desert Girl getting extremely excited over Christmas lights, we decided we would visit downtown Salt Lake City at night. She said, "Whoa!" every time we saw cool lights. Soon she sounded like a train, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" It made us laugh.

 I liked this fountain, it made me think of aliens--or amoebas--emerging and doing a little water dance.

 We were surprised how many people were wandering around Temple Square on a Sunday evening. The light displays were terrific. When I looked at this photo, I noticed that there were even more lights (from building tops and high windows) illuminating the scene.

 But then we had to take a detour. Desert Boy's biggest wish wasn't to see Christmas lights, but to ride the Trax train. So we walked down a block to the station and waited for the train.

 He can't wait to get on!

 Here it comes, the big moment!

 We rode down a couple stops, got off, then got on a returning train. That counted as a train adventure, and Desert Boy was happy. I think I've only been on the Trax trains once or twice before, and again I was impressed with their cleanliness.

 

Then it was back to Temple Square to look at some more lights. Uncle Ed's friend Nick told us about the Nativity scenes, so we went over to take a look.

 The Nativity scenes were so interesting, representing different cultures. I didn't see signs saying what cultures, so we just guessed. I really liked seeing Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the angels, and Wise Men shown in different ways. It was also fascinating to see what animals they chose to accompany each scene.

 These Wise Men seemed so serene.

 These angels are ready to trumpet!

 I really liked the bird in this scene!

Merry Christmas!