Desert Girl Turns 5

 Desert Girl turned five recently. We were out of town, so we had to postpone her party.

Fortunately the weather cooperated, and when we took treats to her preschool, we were also able to do a piñata outdoors. The kids were so excited.

They had a lot of fun swinging at Tinkerbell.

After two rounds, the piñata still hadn't broken, so I just scattered the contents on the ground. I didn't want the kids to get too sugared up, so they grabbed for organic fruit snacks, mini bubbles, stampers, and some random toys around the house. (Sorry, other parents, I just couldn't take stray army men and animals any more. Hopefully they have found a happy place in your house!)

We also had a little family party. Desert Girl loved the attention. The guys loved playing an airplane game. Ha, ha.

Desert Girl is in a big doll phase right now, so she was very excited to open a doll with accessories. She ran and got a little tiara to make the doll even more a princess.

When it came time to cupcakes (which she wanted to help make because now that she's five she has the privilege of cracking eggs), she was still clutching the doll.

Fortunately she's not too girly. She was offered a ride by her uncle in one of the ranch's small planes, and although hesitant at first, she eventually worked up her nerve and got in. She peered out the window the whole time and took in a different view.

I'm sure she will have lots of fun times as a 5 year old!

Try-A-New-Recipe-Every-Week Challenge: January

Hi there,

One of my new goals for 2015 is to try a new recipe every week. If I can keep up with that, I'll have 52 new recipes under my belt in the year. What fun!

Now that the kids are getting older, they are more interested in helping in the kitchen, and that makes me like cooking so much more. If I'm not alone, I'm more willing to take the time to experiment and savor the process of cooking. Otherwise it can feel kind of like a chore.

Another inspiration are two new cookbooks I received in November and December last year (affiliate links):

I've been following the 100 Days of Real Food blog for over a year and love it! The recipes are simple and family friendly (usually meaning quick cleanup).

Smitten Kitchen is new to me, and it feel so classy and fancy to be learning some more artsy cooking skills (let's just say that my presentation skills are limited to using toothpicks to connect fruits together in kid-enticing ways).

So how have January's recipes turned out?

1. Southwest chicken breasts, recipe from Parade magazine (basically pan fry chicken breasts and add a jar of salsa, a can of black beans, frozen corn, and some spices and mix up).
VERDICT: **** (4 asterisks out of a possible 5). We'll be making these again: simple, quick and delicious!

2. Basic guacamole in the blender
VERDICT: **** Easy to make (a little harder to clean), nice taste.

3. Molasses cookies (a local variation to what is on the back of the molasses jar)
VERDICT: **** We were out of butter but wanted cookies, so I found a recipe in an area cookbook that didn't need any. We all loved these cookies, even the kids to my surprise (who I thought would demand chocolate!).

4. Oops, I got sick and didn't manage a fourth recipe in January. Hopefully I'll catch up in February.

p.s. I have a friend who's also embarking on a New Recipe Every week challenge, and she's blogging about it at Something New (to Cook). I can't wait to steal try some of her recipes!

I'd love to hear about recipes you love. Please share your favorites in the comments or the Desert Survivor Facebook page.

St. George Bird Festival 2015

 In 2013 we went to the St. George Bird Festival and enjoyed it so much that we went back this year. I had signed up for a photography birding trip on Friday, but when I woke up it was raining and I wasn't feeling well and decided I better not go or I would be sick even longer. Fortunately, the next day I was feeling better so the kids and I went on a short birding trip to Springs Park. We were greeted by birds running towards us, hoping to get fed.

We had a big group of all abilities, and we took our time walking around the pond.

The kids were enthralled with the swans. I have to admit I was too, even though they are Mute Swans and not native. They still are really beautiful.

We also saw pied-billed grebes, mallards, spotted towhees, Abert's towhee, white-crowned sparrows, a snow goose, a road runner, and much more. For me the highlight was this Crissal Thrasher, a new species for my life list.

It was nice going with a trip leader who knew not only about the birds of the area, but also the efforts to conserve them.

The kids weren't too excited about the talking, so they ran ahead and found this nice swing with a great view of the pond and birds.

We watched an American coot come up close and really got to observe its interesting feet.

A little later we went back to the Tonaquint Nature Center for the junior birding program. I think Desert Boy was surprised how much he already knew about birds.


Right outside the nature center the sun came out and lit up this mallard.

We also saw hooded mergansers, bufflehead, a belted kingerfisher, two mute swans, and this ring-necked duck on the pond.

The kids really enjoyed seeing a peacock on the grounds. Then we went over to a pavilion where Home Depot was sponsoring a project to make bird feeders. The kids were delighted to use hammers.

The finished project! We look forward to using them.

Later we went to a program about owls and got to see an owl close up. It was really neat (even though I didn't get a good photo!)

I think one of the reasons I enjoy the St. George Bird Festival so much is that it's in the middle of winter, but St. George is quite warm, so it doesn't seem like winter. I also like seeing birds that I don't usually get to see. We plan to return!

Biking and Playing in St. George

We had the opportunity to go to St. George, Utah for a few days, so we made sure to pack the bikes, as they have such a terrific urban bike trail system. A different year we had biked to different playgrounds, so the kids were definitely on board with the idea that the biking was fun.

We started at Tonaquint Nature Park and headed upstream, following close to the Santa Clara River.

In about a mile we reached Mathis Park, which has to be among the top five playgrounds I have ever been to. Really, it's that good.

Why?

Well, they have a natural looking climbing wall, for starters.

The playground equipment is unique. And high. And you really don't want your kids falling off it. I didn't mind that Desert Girl kept her bike helmet on.

Did I mention that the playground equipment was unique? Check out this skateboarder-inspired piece. I had to try it out. So did a number of other adults.

One section had some equipment for younger kids, and Desert Girl was eager to climb to the top of this by herself. Twice.

They also had these spinner cups. I got in one and almost couldn't get out, I just kept spinning around. I forced myself out before I threw up. I couldn't walk straight. These are instruments of torture. But some kids (not Desert Girl) really liked them.

Here's a view of some of the equipment from above. The rope bridge led to a little tunnel. The slide was really steep. I know from firsthand experience.

Something else I had to try was this spinning disk. As you walked on it, it moved. It was definitely good for balance practice!

Desert Girl's favorite thing, though, was the megaphone, where she belted out Let It Go.

We had to leave, but the kids made me promise that we would return. I can't wait myself to go back and try out some of the things we didn't have time for.

Later in the day my dear mother-in-law watched the kids and I escaped for an hour-long bike ride. I decided to follow the Virgin River.

The trail wasn't especially busy, and it was such a nice change from being in a vehicle.

I love the bridges!

I checked out a section of trail I hadn't ever been on, and it was lovely.

A part that made me laugh was next to a putting range, where the netting protects the bikers and pedestrians.

If you head to St. George, they certainly have an impressive trail and parks system. They have the map on their website, or you can find paper versions around town.

Playing with Ice

It seems so crazy for it to be the middle of January and we've had weeks of good weather, sometimes in the 50s during the day. Nevertheless, we do have some small patches of ice left, like in the swimming hole. 

Desert Girl and I went and checked out the ice the other day, noting how the darker leaves had melted deep into the ice--and if they had holes in them, little ice protrusions stuck out of the leaf.

So I proposed an experiment. How about we made our own designs on the ice and come back in a couple days and see what happened? Desert Girl agreed and worked on spelling her name.

Well, the wind blew a little, so we didn't get perfect results, but we did find some letters and semi-letters in the ice.

The mud we put on the ice turned out even better, melting about an inch down.

I let Desert Girl take some photos. She likes to do that a lot.

Another favorite activity is breaking ice.  

Or throwing huge chunks of ice onto other ice or into water so you can get splashed with ice cold water. Who says we don't know how to have fun out in the country? Ha, ha

While the kids kicked and threw and splashed, I took photos. Ice is fascinating.

Enjoy each season to its fullest!