We had to use the new kid carrier we got for Christmas so we went snowshoeing. Yesterday we went up Maple canyon in Mapleton. It was quite an excellent place to snowshoe, and there were several other groups we came across while we were out. There were lots of places to go exploring, and with fresh snowfall it was beautiful. We didn’t go long, not with Peter in tow. I carried him for about 200 ft, and than luckily buff husband carried him the rest of the time. He is heavy, even with a nice backpack for him to ride in. I really wouldn’t mind if he wasn’t so big: small babies have lots of advantages.
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It’s been nice not having school for Joe. Although he picked up extra shifts at work and is still gone quite a bit. Today we tried to go sledding. We went up to the disk golf course in Spanish Fork. We already knew it had pretty good hills…but it’s also windy. Windy and cold meant a short trip. It was also nap time for Peter, so he was tired and hated the wind. We’ll try again sometime, hopefully when it is warmer. I just don’t know about any good sledding places around where I live now. I miss the gravel pits in Lehi and Old Main Hill in Logan. I’m sure there are good places to go, any ideas?
I’ve recently started taking pictures of the sunrise every morning. On Christmas Eve, I took a sequence of pictures of the sun rising over a period of a couple hours.
It was quite lovely. As I was watching I read these scriptures:
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
3 Nephi 18:24 Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.
Christmas came. We visited the husband’s relatives on Christmas Eve, which included a rip-roaring game of hide and go seek outside with my niece and nephew I don’t see that much. I did not win. I think Ella did, who cleverly laid down beneath the old satellite dish. But Jame maintains that he did and it is true that it took a while to find him. It was a fun visit, and then we went down to Liz and Dave’s for dinner. Delicious. And I remember why I don’t like scrabble or about any derivative of it. Maybe if I played more…but I’m just not into word games. Even though I did not win the game, I still enjoyed the visit. And the food was delicious which makes any visit that much better.
On our drive back home, we did the Christmas program I made up which involved lots of singing and reading the different scriptural accounts of Christ’s birth. I tried to focus more on Christ this Christmas, and as I did I grew extremely grateful for everything that He has done. He has given me all the hope and joy that I have in my life. This Christmas I gained a great desire to serve Him and follow Him no matter what.
We stayed at home with just our little family for the first time this Christmas. Santa still came to our house, with stocking and a brand new (okay, not-quite-new e-bay deal) hiking backpack to put Peter in. With the backpack came a desire to go backpacking next summer with Peter. But for now, probably snowshoeing this week as long as its not that cold. Santa even remembered to wrap the living room doorway, just like he did growing up. Peter was the first through. It was fun for me, since that’s been Christmas morning as long as I can remember.
We opened more presents, ate a delicious breakfast that was more a dessert, and went to my parents for lunch and even more presents. Some of my presents included much loved/desired yoga blocks from Joe that I never even really asked for, pruning equipment (if you have fruit trees/shrubs, I’ve got all the equipment minus a ladder), new sheets (that were needed and firmly asked for: our old ones just developed holes) and cups from my mom, and cute aprons and recipe box from my sister-in-law. Joe got a computer bag from me. And little Peter now has even more toys: a basketball that goes with his new hoop, a tractor that he adores, and electronic barn toy that he also adores because he can make it play music, some board books, small balls, and new pj’s. It was a great Christmas.
Christmas also always seems to involve lots of time playing games with family. We even went and played disk golf, and I was keeping up with my brothers. They eventually beat me but I was a good solid fourth, only a point behind. Joe was much better than everyone. He also plays the most and has the best muscles (at least look wise. My brothers are college ball players so I hope they are in better shape then him.)
Yesterday was a big day. We went to go buy shoes for Peter because he currently has one pair and they were wet. So at the store, he got his feet measured and we were looking at size eight shoes and I suddenly realized I had about four pairs of hand me down size eight shoes. Glad the trip to the store resulted in more shoes for absolutely nothing.
We went to the library and than the Springville Art Museum and saw their current display of religious art. It was a great display. Then it was a trip up to Salt Lake, to see the lights at temple square. And more museums. Too many museums for one day. But…it was all pretty awesome as well. Peter enjoyed the lights and did pretty well at the museums. His favorite part were the bunks at the church history museum he could climb into. He would have probably stayed there for a good hour.
Today was much lazier. We went to the store. That’s about it. But it is Christmas Eve tomorrow! Tonight, after Peter took his nap from 6-7 (that boy’s nap schedule is all sorts of weird) we were sitting on the couch. I was eating crackers and dipping them in a batch of hummus. So Peter handed me the package of crackers. I gave two to him, one for each hand, and then he dipped them in the container with the hummus (even though he didn’t get any dip) and than ate the cracker. He is adorable.
Here is one Christmas tradition I remember enjoying every year:
Countdown chains. Just take kiss-ish candy, hot glue onto ribbon, put bow on top. Hanging them has often been a challenge: this year I used strong magnets on my refrigerator. Which meant no nail holes in the wall, and no duct tape to prevent them pulling through the nail holes. And they are very short right now, because Christmas is coming up quick!
We had tons of snow today. Appropriate with the first day of winter tomorrow. It was pretty wet snow. Peter and I went outside exploring in it. He liked the sled a lot, but I’m disappointed in the lack of hills around my current house: I had to pull the sled around. There was also this time where he turned around to go down a hill, and continued to crawl backwards when he realized he could slide on the snow. He went for a good ten feet before stopping. Kids are funny. I hope the snow lasts, it is pretty warm. It would be nice to have snow around when Joe’s on break (he’s taking finals this week) so we can go somewhere with small hills and sled.
And I’ve already had my Christmas Eve party with my family. My sister took off to Florida so we had it early. My family got a toddler basketball hoop and poinsettia (I love having a poinsettia and almost didn’t get one). Peter already knows how to dunk it. It helps that everyone would cheer quite loudly when he did it. It was so much fun to spend time with all my family. That’s one of the best things about Christmas.
I did not send out formal Christmas card, but always enjoy reading recaps of peoples’ lives over the year. So here is what happened to my little family this year:
Joe graduated a year ago, worked at Icon for a month, got laid off, then found a job at APX Alarm doing tech support. So we moved from Logan to a new apartment in Springville in March. He started physical therapy school in May, which he very much enjoys. It is fun working towards a career. He has done very well, and maintained a good balance between work, school, and his family.
Peter is growing, and growing. He is large for his age and also adorable. His favorite things right now are reading stories, eating fig newtons, bouncing, and most of all going exploring outside. This year he has learned to sit, crawl, gained almost 16 teeth, walk, and started learning to talk. And he turned a year old.
Liz started out the year teaching the free gardening class for the extension office again. Most of her time has been spent taking care of Peter. She also spends lots of time cooking, cleaning, sewing, and even had a small patio garden out back. Liz is also attempting to start her own horticulture business. Only a few clients so far, but high hopes for next season.
Fun things our family did this year included:
Hiking, trails include: Stewart Falls, Wadsworth Canyon, Diamond Fork Hot Springs, Day’s Canyon, the Y, and several other unnamed trails. We discovered a wonderful new canyon, Hobble Creek, after leaving Logan Canyon behind.
Played disk golf on courses in Utah County. One time included ending up up to my chest in mud.
We went on vacation to the Grand Tetons, and camped there a couple nights. We also had an overnight family reunion in July up in Heber. And Peter got to go to Disneyland for his first birthday with his mommy and grandparents.
Moved, and started to make lots of new friends. We all love where we live.
I am happy to be able to post today. This blog/site has undergone some big changes. Okay, so there’s nothing different you can see, but I recently changed web hosts. I thought I had it, but my computer lied to me and then I spent a couple hours finding and fixing what was wrong. Quite exciting. I actually loving solving computer problems, provided I have nothing else to do, and it doesn’t take me forever.
It is winter and snowy. Actually today we had rain on top of snow, so everything is slush. Not horrible for Christmas–maybe some of the snow/slush will stick around until then. I also was given a poinsettia for a Christmas present that is now brightening up my house. It got a little tattered in the several car rides it took to get it here, but I just need it to last for a week. I’m actually more worried about the over-watering (a perpetual problem of retail store plants) for long term survival.
The question is, do I want to keep it after Christmas? Many people have it as a year-round houseplant. But poinsettias need long day length to form the lovely red leaves (they are not flowers, so you know). That means around 12 hrs or so of uninterrupted darkness. A single bulb on can ruin the flowering process. I used to know a bunch of sciency details about this all. I don’t want to look it all up, the results are all that is important anyway.
I might keep it, if its doing well and not giving me too many problems. But I’m planning on throwing it out. After all, a trip to nursery in the winter is something to look forward too.
We didn’t go on a hike this week. Instead we went Christmas shopping and watched Harry Potter. I was happy to find some very good deals shopping, along with using e-bay. Plus I found 4 new shirts for $10 and Joe found a pair of shoe for $6. That was at DI, that is kind of a hit and miss store, but is often very useful to stay under budget. So most of the presents are wrapped under the tree.
Last week I also celebrated Hanukkah for the first time, with my neighbor who has Jewish heritage. Besides eating wonderful traditional food like latkes, we made and lighted menorahs with clay and birthday candles. It was quite fun. And for the first time in my life I saw a birthday candle melt all the way down. It doesn’t take very long. When we were first invited, I wondered why we would celebrate Hanukkah because we are not Jewish. But it’s a fun tradition that I think wouldn’t mind doing every year. So thanks to my neighbor for introducing me!
Another fun happening was watching my little brother play jr. high basketball. It’s entertaining. And not stressful. Sometimes with sporting events its easy to care a lot who wins, but Junior High its not as big a deal. Plus my brothers team did blow out the other team. Peter really enjoyed it as well. I’m disappointed my brother isn’t playing college ball this year (he just had back surgery)–last year we did go to a few of his games and had lots of fun. But the little brother’s games are fun too.
My gardening books might differ from an average gardener because most were bought as textbooks. When looking through them I realized that many of my favorite were the ones that I used the most during my long internship at the extension office. These were the one I frantically looked for when someone wanted an immediate answer on the other end of the phone, or pulled out and refereed to when someone came in. None are good reads. But they are wonderful gardening reference books.
Want to know what weed it is? Look it up in this book. If its a weed, you will find it in this book with only a few exceptions. If you garden, get this book. Because we all deal with weeds, and its easier to deal with them if you know what they are.
This is the bible for woody plant information. No book compares. I also use the more reader friendly Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs. Colored pictures there make it easier for identification.
There are plenty of herbaceous plant books out there. This is my favorite for basic plant info reference. Its getting old (17 years!) and needs updating, but I still like the format.
Now I’m excited: these books are online! Didn’t know that. And I know: there are actually four books that I am counting as one. But they extremely similar and worth mentioning. They update them yearly, and they include everything you’d want to know to take care of pests. It’s a lot of chemical recommendations, but also most other control methods as well.
There are more interesting books out there. But as a reference book this is the best. All the technique on how to do anything propagation wise, along with a large section on how to propagate most plants. It’s expensive: I would buy the old edition.
My family was sick. They are mostly better now. Peter had icky stomach flu for too long, and he still doesn’t have the appetite he used to. Plus he is teething. No fever though. Poor kid. I got to experience the lovely joy of cleaning up bodily fluids, sometimes as they were smeared all over myself. He is a asleep now. No afternoon nap = bed time at 6:30. Not too fond of that, and hopefully he doesn’t decide to wake up at 4:00 in the morning. *Update: He did. 3:00 actually, went back to sleep after much crying, fusing, and mommy grumbling at 4:30.
Joe had icky stomach flu for a day. I never got it, at least not bad. I have slept a lot, and had a few headaches that I am attributing to it. I don’t know how to stay home sick either. I like to go do things to much, so we actually did go hiking. But the air quality was horrible. At least we picked a non-interesting hike and it was warm. We went up to the bottom of the Y. Well made trail, but I’m thinking it would be quite hot and boring in the summer.
Liz Braithwaite 