Loving where you live

You'd think that with my transient past, I wouldn't get too sentimental about each new place we live. But it is amazing to me how the strange and different soon becomes the familiar and comfortable. And once that happens, then traveling back to the last place we lived is no longer "going home" I was certainly attached to Ohio - never imagined we would live anywhere else - loved driving down the Powell Road hill, past the sheep farm and across the Olentangy, loved driving through what Cole called the "tree tunnel" on Liberty Road. I remember our first summer here, I thought how much wilder the woods looked here - so unfamiliar and rugged. Now, they are like comfort food - just little jaunts around town on errands bring me so much pleasure - familiar landmarks feel like old friends - I love seeing how views and vistas change with the seasons, I love wondering what it was like to live here way back when... It's a wonderful thing to love where you live - any drive on any given day gives me something to smile about :)

Where have the last 6 weeks gone?!?!

Six weeks? Seriously?!?! Wow - I am either a really, really bad blogger or my life has entered a time warp - you choose! haha! Lots of happenings since my sister's visit in MARCH. First off - Haley is home. After nearly a year away at BYU-Idaho, she is home for the summer and seeking gainful employment. Its been an interesting adjustment having an adult child in the house, but its been great - she's a huge help with running the taxi service around here. Our Mother's Day phone call with Josh was awesome - only one call left - crazy to think he'll be home in only 8 months - the way this time warp is working, that will be in no time at all. Robyn is being home schooled now - well - its pretty much hands off for me, she's doing the high school transcript program online through BYU Independent Study. It's been good, and this will give her the opportunity to finish early - most of her friends are already college freshman and she's one of those kids who will turn 18 at the beginning of her senior year, so she's hoping to be in college by then - if not next fall, then by January 2011 at the latest. The beautiful spring weather already has lots of tourists flocking to our tiny town - kind of makes you forget the terrors of winter - well - makes me forget, anyway - Rick is still shopping for a tropical locale in which to spend the arctic months - haha! I let him keep dreaming - no need to remind him we have a 7 year old that will hamper his winter get away plans for several years to come. :)

Lord Help the Mister...

Spent some quality time with my seestar this weekend. So, okay - the original plan was to get in one last day on the slopes and the 65+ degree weather called for a last minute change of plans, but it's all good. We had so much fun just chilling together - something we don't get to do very often. After the whole family breakfasted at Country Corner, she and I did the obligatory tour of the springs - tasting them all, of course! Then we joined all the other hundreds of folks drawn downtown by the georgeous sunshine. I've never stood in such a long line for Ben & Jerry's before in my life! Audrey even picked up a bargain in the loose caboose - I'll make her a shoe junky yet - haha! Rick pretty much took over the house and kids for the weekend so Audrey & I could play all day and watch girlie movies all night. Of course, with her help in the kitchen his payoff was two fabulous dinners in row - woot woot! :) The fun we have while we're together seems to make the distance between our houses get shorter & shorter - hope we can keep up these regular visits - I LOVE my leetle sis!

Could it really be spring?!

The weather has been so beautiful today - makes me want to plant a garden, or at least rake all the dead grass off the lawn so the new little shoots can start poking through. I think this is the first time spring has sprung this early since we moved to the arctic north. Cole is out on the trampoline with a couple of friends - one of the boys even has shorts on! Yay!!! I'm in spring cleaning mode - that's always a good thing - and much needed around here - I got addicted to a little website called facebook this winter - maybe you've heard of it? haha!! Anyway - productivity levels went from "dig your clean socks out of the laundry basket and be grateful that they are clean" to "Hey - the kids are alive, I've done my job!" Yah - I know what you're thinking - Rick is such a lucky man! Funny thing is - now that my sister has discovered the joys of skiing, I'm wishing it wasn't getting quite so warm - she & I want to squeeze in at least one more day on the slopes together. Whooda thunk I'd be hoping for a spring snowstorm?! I guess I've truly acclimated. :)

Snow Caterpillar

Yep - an ordinary snowman wouldn't do for our little man. He has been wanting to build a snow caterpillar since we got this season's first snow. We had a beauty of a snowfall last night - big, fluffy flakes - so Rick, Cole, & I got to work! Here's the happy little man with our creation.

One down, one to go......

Josh entered the MTC one year ago today!!

Happy 7th Birthday little Cole!

More Gore

Yesterday was Cole's second full day of ski lessons at Gore Mountain. We coerced Rick into coming this time - a miracle considering the temperature gauge in the car read -10 at one point on the way up. Let's just say Rick is a fair weather skier, at best. He still hasn't decided if the thrill of the run is worth all the layers, stiff boots, and cold extremities! But, he was a trooper and we had a fun day. The extreme cold temperatures dried out the snow - it was as close to good powder as we get out here - we're normally skiing on ice granules. Best of all, though, was the end of the day - we picked Cole up from his lesson a little early and rewarded his hard work with a ride to the top on the gondola - something he's wanted to do since he saw the cool ride in the sky. It reminded me of a story told in a talk at church recently - the sister speaking said that when she was a young girl, 5 or 6, her dad decided that she was ready for the chair lift, and even though she was scared to the point of tears, which she hid from her dad, she agreed to go up on the lift with him because she loved him and trusted him. Come to find out she had no idea how to get off the lift and in her child's mind, she thought you had to jump off from way up high, but she bravely trusted in her dad and went up anyway. Well, keep in mind Cole has only been on the bunny hill up to this point, and his little eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger as the gondola ride goes on forever and he's seeing the boulder covered terrain below - with no idea that there is a green trail off to the side that will take us down safely. We just kept assuring him that he would be fine, and despite what his eyes were telling him, he trusted us. And he did great - what a perfect ending to a fun day! Nothing beats the feeling of watching your kids bravely face a challenge and find out they've got what it takes to succeed.