Closeups

 I got a new lens for my camera (50 mm), and decided to experiment a little with it. First subjects: Desert Boy and Desert Girl, of course! The one above ended up being a little fuzzy.

 I decided to change subjects. Desert Girl can be so expressive.

 I sure wish I had all her energy.

 You can just see that she's an imp. She is still in her Emzilla stage (a.k.a rearrange continuously a.k.a. mass destruction). Our house is not pretty. At all. The last few days I've given up and we are living in total chaos. Well, a bunch of teenage boys would probably be worse. Like when my husband was a teenager. He seems to like chaos quite a bit, at least if that means he doesn't have to pick up.

 She has managed to perfect the "Who, me?" look.

 She has her sad moments. And when she says, "I so sad," you can't help but smile and give her a hug.

I also found out that a 50mm lens can get you close enough to see more than you probably want to see on a gritty little desert face. Like her eyebrow look?

Most of the time the kids get along well, which is a real blessing. We've been trying to spend more time outside.

Here are the signs of spring we've seen/heard/experienced so far:
-side-blotched lizards scurrying out of the way of our bikes
-mourning cloak butterflies sweeping down to the rocks
-American robins and western meadowlarks singing their mating songs
-Tiny bits of green grass pushing up in the lawn (but no flowers yet)
-Killdeer and spotted towhees making noise
-The need for an allergy pill due to something in the air
-plenty of mud to track into the house, van, and anywhere else we go

What signs are you seeing/hearing/experiencing?

Cows and the Moon

 Last night we happened to be outside as the nearly full moon was rising. The heifers were nearby, so we went out to visit and enjoy the peaceful high desert evening.

 The colors are muted in winter, with no leaves to cover the brown branches of the trees, no verdant grasses emerging from the ground, nary a wildflower peeking from a pile of manure. But it is still so beautiful.

The kids wanted to say hi to the cows. The cows were willing to entertain a distraction--from a certain distance.


Then it was time for a different distraction--some snow. I love how Desert Girl is checking out her big brother.

Tonight is the full moon. It seemed to take forever to rise, but by the time I came out of a meeting, it was obvious. While we were waiting for the full moon, we could see four bright objects in the sky: to the west were Venus (the brighter light) and Jupiter. They are getting closer together every night for the next few nights. To the east was Mars, with its reddish tinge. And to the south was Sirius, the dog star in the constellation Canis Major. Before long the stars making up Orion were twinkling at us. It was fun showing the kids a few objects in the sky.

One of the things I want to learn next is about the moon. So here are three things to look for in the photo above (and I must say it's a much better photo than some of my recent attempts!).
Where is?
1. Copernicus Crater
2. Mare Tranquillitas
3. Oceanus Procellarum

Answers coming soon!

Desert Boy's First Skiing Adventure

 Last weekend I found myself dangling in the air. Fortunately I was sitting on a seat, in a chair, on a ski lift. It's been about six years since I've been on a ski lift, and it was fun to get back.

 We went to Brian Head, Utah. Even though it was a Sunday, we had the slopes mostly to ourselves. My husband said when he used to go as a teenager, there were ten times as many people there. We spent a fair bit of time on the lift discussing why people might not ski anymore (and feel free to leave a comment so we can see if we were right!)

 The views were outstanding, much better than my husband's point-and-shoot reveal. The weather was great--it actually felt a little too warm in the afternoon.

 The main reason we went was to get Desert Boy skiing. I wanted to take him last year to the three-year old class, but we never made it. So this year I was determined that we would find a day to go. He was in the Tiny Tracks class for 4- and 5-year olds. There were four kids in the class and two very patient instructors (although Desert Boy later said he thought they were bossy-ha!).

 I tried to spy on the class a little without Desert Boy knowing I was there (he's on the far left). The little skis were adorable. The kids were learning how to make their skis into pizza wedges or french fries.

 We bought new sunglasses for both the kids, and Desert Girl was really styling with hers. She wouldn't let us touch them at all. She knew how to put them on. Obviously.

 After lunch we spied on the class again and saw Desert Boy falling down numerous times on a tiny little hill that we wouldn't really have even called a hill. Uh oh. Maybe this wasn't money well spent.

My husband and I left and skied awhile and then came back to the beginner hill. We were riding up the lift when I spotted some little tykes. I looked hard, and sure enough, that was Desert Boy and his class!

 That meant they had taken the ski lift and were going down the "big" hill. I was so excited to see this progress.

 The kids snowplowed down the whole way. It was really cute.

 We picked up Desert Girl from the day care and my husband and I took turns watching her.

 She was thinking she wanted to give skiing a try!

 Maybe next year, Desert Girl!

Desert Boy thought it was great fun taking turns going up the ski lift with his parents and skiing down. We were delighted with how much he had learned in his first day of skiing. When I asked him if he liked his ski lesson, he said, "I didn't like it; I loved it!"

Here are a couple videos:

Chasing Shadows

A few weeks ago I had the idea to go up in the mountains late in the afternoon and take photos of the mountain shadows extending over the valley. I really liked how the mountains reached out and stretched farther and farther.


The late afternoon shadows highlighted all the gullies and arroyos that break up the landscape, showing how rugged it is.


The kids were with me and wanted to hike, so I wasn't going to say no. Anything to burn off energy is a good plan in my book! We drove to the end of the road and the kids ducked through the gate.

Desert Girl thought this was great idea.

She started off enthusiastically, happily making little footprints in the skiff of snow.

 

It didn't take her long to figure out that this was an uphill hike, and suddenly she wasn't so thrilled.

The mountain shadows continued their invasion of the valley.

Some of the peaks looked exaggerated, almost like daggers piercing the air.

I made it up to the curve, where there was certainly a lack of snow at 8500 feet for early February. (It has since snowed, thank goodness, and the road is covered in white.)

 

Desert Girl started realizing that the walk downhill was more fun than uphill. She was fascinated by the yellow line, running down it.

The temperatures quickly plunged and we retreated to our van. We were glad we didn't have to spend the night out in the frigid clime.

At our next overlook, we saw that the progression of shadows had nearly terminated: the mountain shadows were now on the mountains across the valley.


The play of light was magical, with the twilight dancing over the mountains and valleys.

Good night, beautiful mountains.

Four-Year Old Attitudes

The other day we were fortunate to have Ava and Isaac come over for a play date. I get a kick out of watching the kids' interactions. At lunch time Desert Boy and Ava were delighted to have their own little table and they had quite the conversation.

First Ava got to say her piece.

It looks like Desert Boy had a different opinion.

I think he thought if he stared hard enough, he could get Ava to change her mind. Somehow, I don't think that would work. They're both stubborn kids!


It all ended well and they moved on to the next point of discussion.


Meanwhile the little kids were just peachy-happy eating their lunch. They don't have such long conversations--yet!

Then it was time to go play on the gravel pile in our driveway. Again there were some serious discussions and battles over who's in charge.

Ava finally decided she had more important things to do.

 We went over to Jenny's and the kids still had lots of energy, so we headed to the trampoline to wear them out. Jenny showed off some of her trampoline tricks. Cool!

Wow, those kids sure have a lot of energy! It was a fun day, and it's nice to try and have them wear each other out, because they do a much better job of it than I do!

Fun in the Snow

 Winter has finally come! We sure were excited to see some snow on the ground. Henry enjoyed munching on some big bones. What do you think they were from?

 From a dinosaur, of course!

 Desert Girl and Desert Boy got to try out the snow shoes. The footprint ones were a lot more fun than the regular ones.






Then it was time to go sledding down the pile of gravel in our driveway. Some day it may be spread around so we don't track so much dirt and mud into our house, but I'm guessing that day may still be months away. In the meantime, we might as well make the best of it!

Desert Boy really wanted to make a snowman, but the snow had gotten a little crusty and we had to settle for a miniature snow man.

It was small, but cute!

Henry kept chomping on the bones. Then the kids decided they had to chomp on something, too.

Fortunately they didn't need bones--snow did the trick.

Yum, what a treat.

Finally it was time to go inside and get some hot chocolate. But first we had to find a suitable spot for the snowman--on top of Henry's doghouse.

We're hoping we have some more time to play in the snow before the warm days melt it all away. We might have to head to higher ground. And keep our fingers crossed that we really do get another snow storm this weekend!