Everyday Stuff, Part I

We were kind of in vacation mode for the first few weeks we were in Utah, so I feel like all I've posted about are special family outings and things.  There have been a lot of fun everyday things happening too that are worth some attention.  So here's a random smattering of photos for your CJE viewing pleasure.

Taking full advantage of a lazy summer morning.

This is the little playground that was across the parking lot from our apartment.
Eliza climbed up here all by herself and loved hanging out.

No explanation needed.

Hiding under a towel after her bath, or under a blanket any time of day, is still one of Cat's favorite things to do.  It's not uncommon for me to walk by an awkwardly shaped bundle of blanket on the couch and hear it call out to me, "Sit on the comfy cushion!"  She loves it.

Black beans!

While we were in our apartment, Eliza was just sleeping in a portacrib.  That is, until a couple of days before we moved and she started crawling out.  By that point her room was completely empty except for her bed, so I just put her mattress on the bed and closed the door at nap time.  Guess what?  She worked it out.

Apparently we really wore her out on moving day.

Moving day reward: eating at Cafe Rio for the first time.

E's car seat faces.

I started actually doing E's hair last month.  Cat decided she liked doing E's hair too.
Guess which one is Cat's work.

To be continued...

1st Days of School

While we were living at the apartment we marked the beginning of two school years: Ben's and Cat's.

Here are a couple of pictures from Ben's first day at the BYU MBA Program.  It was just orientation, but it really felt like the beginning of the semester.  Doesn't he look so.... business-like?

After he got acclimated to MBA student life, he took us on a little tour of the MBA student world, aka the western wing of the Tanner Building.  Here Jack and Ben are playing foosball in the MBA student lounge.  They also had a big TV in the lounge with several gaming systems hooked up.  Not bad, huh?

And here are Jack and Eliza exploring the lecture hall where all of Ben's classes are held.

Maybe they'll be students there one too one day?

The following week, Cat had her first day of 1st Grade.  I managed to get a few decent pictures of her before we left the apartment...

but by the time we were in the car she didn't want me to take any more pictures.

She was nice enough to fake a smile one more time just for Mommy.

Walking up to the school...

and here she is walking to my car after school.

Doesn't she look confident?  Cool as a cucumber?

I could tell the day had gone well.

I wanted to do a little decorating to help Cat celebrate her first day of school, so I just printed out some signs and taped them up along the stairwell to our apartment.

And then we had strawberry ice cream for dessert that night.

 Sorry so many pictures, but I had to share this last one too.

The week after Cat started school, we moved out of our apartment and into the house we'll be living in for the rest of the school year.  That means we were within biking distance, and Cat LOVED getting to ride her bike to school.  How cute is that?

 

Day 88: Neighborhood Park

On Cat's last day of summer break I wanted to do something fun, but didn't feel up to taking the kids on a big excursion by myself while Ben was at orientation.  So we went to play at a new park, which happens to be adjacent to Cat's school and just 1/2 mile from the house we were moving into.  

And just like that... our 88 days of summer were over.

Day 86: Bridal Veil Falls

The last Saturday before Cat started school and before we moved into the house we would be renting for the next 8 months, we did a fun family hike.  Bridal Veil Falls is a beautiful pair of waterfalls in Provo Canyon just about 15 minutes from our apartment.  Ben and I were both excited about it, but Cat did not want to go hiking.  (I think she just had bad memories of "long" hikes in the heat while we were at Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon during the family reunion in July.)  She was complaining before we even left, so I decided we needed an attitude-adjuster.  No, I'm not talking about a rolling pin or a belt.  I'm talking about an incentive.  So as we were loading up the car, I ran back up to our apartment and grabbed a few sweets.  I didn't show anyone, but announced that everyone who had a good attitude for the entire hike up to the falls would get a surprise at the top.

Boy did they have a good attitude!  Nobody whined or complained the whole time, which of course helped everyone have a great time.  The hike consisted of an easy walk on a paved walkway up to the trailhead, then a pretty steep climb, which involved a fair amount of scrambling, up to the lower waterfall.  It was really fun for all of us, but challenging enough for me that I couldn't carry a little kid and hike at the same time.  So Ben ended up carrying Eliza while he had Jack in the backpack.  Maybe it's time to get another backpack!

Walking up the paved path to the trail.

Cat loved getting to push Eliza in the stroller.

As we were walking we saw this lady riding her bike with a small dog behind her.

Notice the dog's pink helmet.

Our first view of the falls.  So pretty!

Ben had Jack in the backpack pretty much the whole time.

Testing out the water.... brrrrr!  SO COLD!

Almost at the base of the lower waterfall, 

after ditching the stroller and scrambling up the mountain.

The view from the base.

We did it!

A few people who had no desire to maintain a normal body temperature waded into the splash zone where the waterfall was coming down.  As for us, we were not tempted to get wet.  At all.

Cat looking at the waterfall as she enjoyed her good attitude reward (a mini fruit roll-up).

Why is it so difficult to take a family picture and have everyone look toward the front?  I'm not even talking about smiling, here.  Just looking at the camera would be nice.  We usually have one hold-out and we never know which child it's going to be.

On the way back to the car, Cat and Jack both wanted to push Eliza in the stroller.

Hiking up to the fall and back didn't take as long as we thought it would so we decided to tack a little geocaching onto the excursion.  There was a cache across the street from the parking lot, so we went straight there and had fun hunting.  We'd been looking in a small forested area for a little while when Cat said, "Mom, look in that tree behind you!" and sure enough, the cache was right there.  Such a smart girl.

Jack looking for "treasure."

The trinket Cat chose to keep from this cache?

A handcuff key.

Eliza was only in it for the apricots.

Final verdict?

A morning well spent.

Days 76 & 77: Camping Trip

We talked about taking the kids on a camping trip during the time we had in Utah before Ben's orientation started, but we almost chickened out.  I went jogging one morning near our apartment and it was cold out.  Okay, not "I'm going to catch hypothermia" cold, but cold enough that I wore a long sleeve t-shirt for my jog.  I told Ben that I was pretty sure that the kids would be too cold and wouldn't sleep at all and we would all be miserable, but I was willing to try it out anyway.  He wasn't as worried as I was and we decided to brave the cold August weather and camp anyway.

We had a hard time deciding which campground to use and since we weren't sure we were even going until the day we left, we didn't have a reservation or anything.  We just packed up the car, drove to the Mt. Timpanogos campground, and asked if they had a campsite that wasn't too far from a bathroom.  We lucked out!  We got an awesome site (#4 - just for personal reference in case we go back next year) that was a short walk to the bathroom and backed up to a stream.  The stream provided great background noise while we were going to sleep at night, and it was the perfect distraction for the kids while we were doing things to get set up.

Jack loved throwing rocks into the stream.  It took a lot of convincing to get him to throw things besides rocks (let's face it, he has the aim of a 3-year-old, and we were all in danger) but by the time we left, he was doing a pretty good job of looking for other items to throw.  I felt much better about the little sticks and pine cones than the rocks.  :-)

The kids got to help set up the tent and it was so nice to just go at a slow pace and not be on any kind of schedule.  You see, we cheated just a little.  Our ward had a BBQ that night, so we ate dinner before going to the campground.  We still had plenty of daylight to get things set up and nobody was hungry.  Perfect!

We were cold enough around dusk that Ben decided it would be prudent to build a fire.  Eagle Scout that he is, he managed to make a great fire even though we hadn't planned on making a fire at all.  He used one match that he found in the car and started the fire with some (clean) toilet paper.  Then he burned branches and twigs that he found around the campground.  I only wish I'd known we'd have a fire because we didn't bring any marshmallows to roast.  Oh well.  Next time.

I really thought that none of us would get any sleep that night.  It got down to the low 50s and we didn't have a lot of cold-weather gear.  We piled on the blankets and C & J each had a little sleeping bag.  And guess what?  They slept great!  In fact, Jack slept later in the morning than he normally does.  Cat actually woke up and hung out with Ben, Eliza, and me, then went back to sleep with Jack for a little while.  Crazy!  (Eliza, Ben, and I didn't sleep quite as well, but we still did better than I predicted.)

I really didn't have high expectations for this camping trip, since it was a little last-minute and we haven't done a lot of camping as a family.  I was nervous about trying to cook any meals, so for breakfast I brought some blueberry muffins and fruit.  Oh, and of course we had Little Debbies.  Because Ben loves Little Debbies and I never buy them for him.  I figured a family camping trip was an appropriate occasion.

We had fun exploring the campground, which was largely vacant, and taking pictures in the morning.

Then we packed up the car and drove on the Alpine Loop for a little while.  It was really beautiful.
The top left picture (below) is the Sundance Ski Resort.  Cool, huh?  And those wild Black-Eyed Susans are everywhere.  Up in the mountains, in the canyon, and around town.  I just love seeing them all over the place.



We stopped at a park on our way home and let the kids play.

Then we found a geocache.

And guess what?  We were all worn out by the time we got home for lunch.

Looking forward to the next camping trip!