CABIN SEASON BEGINS!

     There was never a happier couple in the whole world than we were to arrive at the cabin, find that our loyal snow nymph had blown a path to our door (Snow Nymph masquerades as Glen Barker, our wonderful neighbor)...and even more...that when we unlocked the front door we were NOT greeted by standing water!!
     The Mammoth Creek Home Owner's Association newsletter reported that at least 22 cabins had experienced water damage from burst pipes after the week the power was out in November and blizzards downed power lines and sent the temperature plunging to way below freezing.  Even though we winterize, we also leave the thermostats set so that there is some heat in the cabin.  That, of course did no good when power was out over the whole mountain!  We have window height snow in the back yard (about 4 feet).  And up on the meadow over Cedar mountain I am sure there will still be snow well into late June.   We are the only humanoids up here in our subdivision at least. 

This was the view out the kitchen window when we arrived.  One small peep hole toward the Aspens beyond... a combination of blown snow against the house and roof snow melt.

If you angle yourself just right at the kitchen sink you can see the neighbor's backyard.  By the afternoon of our third day here the icycle was gone and the chunks angled differently as temperatures hurried the melting process.

     We are not without our pioneer experiences!  Usually we have to boil water for our needs (by melting snow) because the line from the well usually freezes.  This time we had well water and were happily rejoicing when we realized water was showing around the base of the toilet.  Glen diagnosed that as a freeze somewhere in the septic line, so even though we have running water we can't use the drains!    So...no toilets, no dishes in the sink, no showers and no baths.
     We sopped and mopped and have been running fans on the two affected bathroom rugs...but we have decided to stick it out until after General Conference which is why we come at this time of year.
     The days have been glorious and our surroundings beautiful.  We took a drive and snapped interesting winter pictures.  Today it reached over 60 degrees and the snow melt is very noticeable. 

     Here are some pictures we took on our drive up to Panguitch Lake (which is still frozen solid &  snowmobile tracks on the surface are still visible).

I title this one "Heavenly Father's Croquet Field"

Several places along the roadway the younger Aspen have been bent to full arcs by the weight of the snow and their heads are still buried so you will see dozens of hoop-like configurations.  It will be interesting to see if they can pop back from the extended period of curving.

The snow weight has pretty well finished off this old cabin on the banks of Panguitch Lake.  There is something so charming about a run-down old building.  This was a Kodak moment for sure.

I was fascinated by the color contrast of the willows against the white snow.

We were surprised to see that the little Branch Meeting House has received a facelift!  The bricks are new.  Used to be a pale green siding sort of material.

One section of the road was lined with odd mounds of snow of all sorts of shapes.  It reminded me of the Salt Flats we saw when we were in Chile

All in all just a gorgeous winter wonderland.  I am always happy in such a situation when the sun is shining brightly and when my roads are dry!!   Good to be up here again.

ARG!! MY BABY IS 26 !!

     Peter got a lot of attention on his birthday, March 22nd.  Can't believe that giant of a man was ever a wee lad inside me.   My kids have been adults so long now that one almost doesn't think of them as our children - just our best friends.  I have been going thru a lot of family albums lately for another project and when I see the kids as they were I can recall those memories, but in some ways it still doesn't compute that this was part of my life too!  Pete is still cute, charming and has all kinds of weird interests that give him appeal:  like Shakespeare & blacksmithing, all things Scottish (including a right fine accent), jewelry making, fantasy novels, dumb TV shows (like Lost and the Bachelor....really, really DUMBBBBBBB!!).  But he is also my child whose temperament  & sensitivity are most like mine....so we are good friends and it is nice to have him in the household to pamper once in a while.
     Jill leaves for work by 5 a.m. each day so she wasn't home for the fancy birthday breakfast:

But she was home in time for us all to go down to Cici's pizza (Peter has never tried it.  Who can turn down at least ONE experience with a pizza buffet?)

Later in the week Becky and family came over for our favorite Cholesteral dogs dinner (guaranteed to clog those arteries in an instant:  half a hot dog sliced lengthwise, a slice of cheddar laid on top, then both wrapped in a corn tortilla and deep fried!).  We made another birthday cake since Peter had already pretty well consumed the first "cake" - (his favorite Triple Layer Dessert.  This time I tripled the recipe as well so that he could have as much as he wanted.  That may have been his favorite gift since he was underwhelmed by our strange choices of gifts for him).

This was a chocolate carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  The recipe sounded good.  The finished product...um...not so good!  (His T-shirt, by the way reads:  "Hard work never killed anyone, but why risk it?"   - One of his favorite DI finds.

His father did the birthday shopping for gifts this year:

"What the????  Pipe Cleaners & body dolls?......Oh, I get it, Dad.  These are things I am supposed to use to interact with my daughter, right?"

This may LOOK like a guy gift, but it is really cool tools for leather working and jewelry making.  Thanks.

So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETE.   May you enjoy another couple of quarter centuries still to come!!

OF SNOW, RAINBOWS, & MIRACLE GIRLS

     Catch up time.  I'm genealogied out!  Attended TWO confereces in February.  The Roots Tech Conference in S.L.  (Who in their right mind schedules a conference in S.L. in the WINTER???  It was freezing the whole time and I was sick as a dog!).   This conference was where the techy geeks reuned with the genealogists to make programs work and let us know that life as we have known it will only get smaller, more handheld, and more portable.   Amazing stuff in the works technologically!

     The last weekend of February found Victor and me in St. George at the Family History Expo.  Rainy there, but a conference I could follow a little better.   There is nothing quite like going to a conference to show you how little you REALLY know about your favorite hobby!  The bonus was visiting with great friends and family at the end of each day's sessions.   Spent a couple of delightful hours over taco salad with Colleen's mom and stepdad, Sandra and Larry Wright, met with Victor's cousin Shawna Poulton and her husband Mark for some genealogy and catch up chat, stayed with my former missionary companion Bindy Boylin and marveled again at how frugally she lives and how actively she stays close to the hobbies that she loves.   Also got to visit with Chilean mission friends Arnold and Diane Wagner down from Salt Lake along with Richard and Carolyn Wilson who live in St. George.   Victor and Richard got to compare "Bishop of Hispanic Wards" stories since Richard has also been given that calling there in St. George.

     Left early Sunday morning to head up to Twin Falls to spend the week with Nathan and Colleen and their miracle girls whom we haven't seen since Thanksgiving.   What we didn't expect was the huge-o, thick-o snow storm we would get to drive thru in Southern Utah.  Any thoughts of making a side trip up to the cabin to check things out were quickly abandoned when we couldn't even SEE the mountain from the streets of Cedar City.  Fortunately the roads were in pretty good shape, but it was an amazing winter experience for this time of year.  The snow also reached into St. George, thru the Gorge and into Nevada!


You can't tell it very well, but that is a freeing statue in the lower right corner with 8 inches of snow on her head!

     Weather was not much improved in Twin Falls.  VERY cold and snowy, rainy most of the time.  We had a great visit.  Our purpose was to come early so that 1 yr. old Tara would get used to us so that later in the week her mommy and daddy could take off for Sun Valley for a Continuing Legal Education Conference while we stayed with the girls.   It was a successful couple of days.  Tara has finally accepted us into her life and loves do her puzzles and read books.  Loved being with the girls.  They have grown up so much since last year.  N & C had a great couple of days away and we loved being with them as always  (and shopping at my two favorite stores that LV doesn't have:  Grocery Outlet and WinCo!!!)



Tara doing her favorite thing - climbing onto the table.

Amaya showing Tara how to eat a snowman

Noelle doing the "cute face" all the girls have learned for posing!

In an effort to do fun Grandma things with the girls and to surprise Mom and Dad for St. Patrick's day we made awesome rainbow cupcakes.  You should try it!  Am not sure what all the colored dye does to one's digestive system but it is pretty fun.  (White cake mix made to box specifications, divided into 6 bowls and mixed with food coloring.   The neon colors seem to work the best).  The trick is helping little hands blop in the colors and not have streeks all over their clothes, faces and the muffin tins!   I repeated the project back home in Vegas with Audrey whom we hadn't seen in several weeks.   She was interested, but happiest when she could lick the dishes!

Every cupcake comes out with a unique pattern. 

Most of them got eaten without frosting, but I'm sure you could be pretty creative there too!

From Twin we went on to Boise to spend a few days with my step-mom.  At 92 she is in remarkable health even though she has a few issues that get to her from time to time.  Did some genealogy together and got to participate in another sealing session (did one in Twin Falls too) which resulted in my completing the work for about 60 individuals that have been sitting at my house for almost a year!   Felt very good to have that work finished.

I like family time.  Had hoped to take Mildred on a trip later in April up to see the Tulip displays in Oregon or Washington, but since the price of gas jumped 40 cents per gallon (!!!) in the time we were gone we decided we just couldn't afford it this year in the wake of two other trips already taken.   We'll see what the rest of the summer brings.