The Bullseye of the Storm

 A couple weeks ago, the Rhode Islanders of our family experienced perhaps the biggest snowstorm I've ever even heard of...and I grew up in Minnesota, so that's saying something! 

 Quite a bit of snow fell all across the Northeast part of the USA, but Rhode Island got over 3 feet of snow that fell within 24-hours...the literal bullseye of the storm!    

Luckily it wasn't anywhere near as cold as it had been during the 20-incher snowstorm that fell while we were visiting in January, so they could actually get out an enjoy it.  

They spent A LOT of time shoveling and are thinking a snowblower might be a purchase they need to make before next winter.  

Happily they all got to stay home for a couple days (something that's not a given when you work in the medical field)...

While Rhode Island had 5 feet of snow fall between 2 storms, Utah, on the other hand, has had an extraordinarily warm and dry winter.  

*************************

A Mid-Winter Trek

Back in January, Glen and I took a little trek to Rhode Island to spend time with our peeps there.  It was just the mid-winter jolt I needed to help me get through the longest month of the year (January)... 

Glen had to work remotely, but otherwise we  had absolutely nothing on our agenda, so I just kept the kids out of daycare and played with them all day!  We read lots of books, went to the library, did some crafts, and just enjoyed being together!   Oliver was obsessed with cars and trucks, so we read books for hours on end (seriously) and he just practiced his talking.   It was amazing to notice what a difference that one-on-one time with him made for his vocabulary and   enunciation.  

Oliver and I definitely bonded while I was there and I was very happy that "Gigi" and "Papa" were among the vocabulary words he learned well while we were there.  

We went to the YSA branch with Emma on Sunday, which was an experience!  It meets in an office building and is a very small and diverse group.  She enjoys attending there and we enjoyed getting a little glimpse of YSA life away from Provo!     

In the middle of our week-long stay (shortly after church), they got about 20-inches of snow which was kind of exciting, since we are having the warmest /driest winter ever here in Utah.  Temps were bitterly cold though, so not fun to be outside in.  Oliver lasted about 2 minutes out there and Lucie about 10.   

We also got to accompany Lucie to her first ballet class, which was adorable.   It was fun looking at these old pics of her Mom at about the same age happily dancing away.  

It was good for my soul to be there with them and I loved every second I had doting on Lucie and Oliver.   They're both at fun ages and I  hope that someday they live a little closer than the 2000 miles away they currently live.  I also really enjoyed the time with Cam, Garrett, and Ems. 

Meanwhile I'm eagerly looking forward to March...

 

If You Give Lara a Blog

Hello, hello!  It's me, your friendly neighborhood blogger trying to get this little blog all caught up again.   

Should I blog about the amazing trip we took back in September?  Yes, yes, I should.   But my brain isn't quite there yet, so that will have to wait for another day.  

That also means that I'm not blogging about politics, my philosophy on shoes, nor an in depth look at the life cycle of bananas.  But, who am I kidding?   If I ever post anything remotely political on here, you'll know that this blog has been hacked.  It's not that I don't have strong opinions on many political issues, but I feel zero need to ever pontificate on them in public forums.  I like keeping my friends.   My philosophy on shoes may be mildly interesting to a few of you, so perhaps I'll put that in my idea list for another day far far in the future.  And don't ask me where I came up with blogging about the life cycle of a banana, but stay tuned...that might be fun.   

So what can my brain handle blogging about right now? 
 
A good go-to light topic is the weather, so perhaps we'll start there and see where it goes...

  The first part of October was quite rainy by Utah standards (something we quite enjoyed since it generally only ever drizzles here), then on Adam's birthday we woke up to snow!   Yes, I was about as happy about snow in mid-October as you can imagine, but you'll be happy to know that I didn't cry.  I may have been a little grumpy about it, but no tears were shed.  Yay me. 

Thankfully I survived and the weather has redeemed itself since then.  The last couple of weeks have been breathtakingly beautiful and I am spending as much time outside as humanly possible (which is less than I'd like).     This was a glimpse of our walk this afternoon along the Provo River Trail... 

The weather was perfection, the surroundings lovely, and the company excellent!  

We've been spending A LOT of time in Provo lately with our new calling, but the  reason why we were hiking in Provo today (instead of closer to home) was super exciting.  We had a convert baptism in our BYU ward this morning!  M. is a new freshman from the mid-west who had a lot of LDS friends in high school, which influenced her decision to attend BYU as a nonmember.  It's been an absolute delight to watch her testimony grow over the last couple months and we loved celebrating this special day with her.    I made the programs...of course!  

Last Saturday we also spent the day in Provo for another exciting, but much, much different event than a baptism....the BYU vs Utah football game.    Rather than getting season tickets for BYU football, Glen likes picking one game a season to attend and this was the one he picked.   We spent the afternoon tailgating with a bunch of Glen's work colleagues (and Adam)...

Then we headed in to watch the game, which ended exactly the way we hoped it would!   

Speaking of  excitement...I get to go play with these cutie pies soon and I'm so stinking excited I can barely stand it.   

Life has been so busy and, honestly pretty heavy lately, and I am very much looking forward to slowing down and enjoying some Lucie and Oliver time soon.   Oh, and I guess hanging out with Cam, Garrett, and Ems will be pretty awesome too.  

That's all I have for now, but before I sign off for the night, let me leave you with a glimpse at the glorious sunrise this morning.    

It made our entire room glow and it was a beautiful start to a beautiful day.   

Have a wonderful week!  💗

A Snowy Day in April

Once upon a time there was a girl who spent most of her growing up years in Minnesota.  She took great pride in having an extensive collection of cozy sweaters and an excellent tolerance to cold.  

Later, when the time came, she headed to BYU for college.   She was immediately underwhelmed with Utah winters and loved to tell her friends how wimpy they were compared to "real" winters in Minnesota.   She laughed when others became alarmed when experiencing the sensation of their nose hairs freezing  for the first time when they took a roommate trek to Idaho.   Pshaw!   That happened all the time in Minnesota.

Yeah, she was no doubt quite an annoying person to be around sometimes.      

Then she moved to the DC area, where she spent the next 25ish years experiencing a true four season climate.   Yes, it would get cold in the winter, but generally only in the winter and everything would get canceled if it snowed at all, so they could stay warm and cozy at home.  Yes, it was hot and sometimes miserably humid in the summer, but only in the summer.   And Virginia falls and the springs were glorious and long!   She got spoiled.

Then they moved to Utah and she quickly realized that Utah winters, though not as cold as Minnesota's, were not as wimpy as they had been in her memories.  The Utah springs and falls have moments of intense glory, but they get overshadowed by winter a whole heck of a lot more often than she remembered.    And somewhere during those ensuing years, her aging body seemed to have lost all tolerance to temperatures below about 75°.  I think that, perhaps,  she just used up that tolerance in the first 18 years of her life. 

So what happens when that completely cold-intolerant, done-with-winter girl wakes up on April 18th to a sight like this?     

After grumping around the house for a bit, she pulls back out her winter clothes, pastes a fake smile on her face...

and turns her morning walk into a photographing-snow-on-flowers walk.  

Because, it was either that or crying...

And that didn't sound fun.    Hope you all had a beautiful Easter! 

*********************************

 

Scenes from this Winter

Most of you probably know that I grew up in Minnesota, which you would think would make me a bit more tolerant to the cold than I am.  Instead I would say that my growing up years in Minnesota might have made me a little more jaded against the cold than I otherwise would be and I strongly prefer to be hot over cold (except when I'm sleeping, but that's a story for another day. haha)  It's not that I hate winter, because I don't.   It's just that I happen to like winters with a little more variety to them than just cold and snowy...like Utah's tend to be.  I am grateful that it does not get near as cold here in Utah, as it does in Minnesota, but it's not the ups and the downs in the temps like in Virginia, that gives you  plenty of mild days mixed in with the cold.   

Enough complaining from me!  I'm trying hard  to focus on the positive, so here is a glimpse of some of the lovely scenes from our winter this year:  

This photo was taken on the way home from the dentist a couple weeks ago.  It had nary snowed a drop when I walked in for my cleaning and looked like this when I walked out.   It was long, white-knuckled trip back home and I was grateful that there was little traffic. 

 

I found this cute scene from BYU campus in our camera roll after a recent snowstorm, which means it was taken by Emma or Adam. The beard made me laugh!  😂

Here's an icy sight that caught my eye recently when I was taking my Mom to visit with her sister...

Glen and I came across this sunrise on one of our morning walks recently!  😍

And here's another one from another morning hike...  I love Utah sunrises!

Even the Alabamans got a good snowfall this year and enjoyed getting out and  playing in it!

Adam recently got out into the canyon with his friends and had a snowy adventure of his own...

As I sit here typing up this blogpost (on Feb 13th) with this view out my window...

I am drawn to this postcard I recently received in the mail that reminds me that winter is a great time to slow down and prioritize self-care...

Which I'm pretty sure means staying in my sweats as often as possible, right?!  

Have a lovely week!  Stay warm, my friends!  💗

A Miserable Adventure!

 Once upon a time, Glen was out of town and Ellie decided to join me for my morning walk.  It was sprinkling very lightly with temperatures in the mid-40's when we left.  We had put on a couple of light underlayers with our rain jackets and winter hats and expected it to be like 99% of Utah rain"storms" and continue to sprinkle.   Alas,  that was not the case that fine morning...

When we were more than 2 miles from home, it suddenly started raining harder.  Then the wind started blowing.  Then the temperatures dropped.  Then it started snowing.  

It was kind of fun at first, but before we knew it, we were completely drenched to the bone and shivering. 

I don't say this lightly, but the last half of that walk was one of the more miserable walks I've been on in my life.   How miserable was it?     (This was the view as we rounded the last corner to home.  You can see by all the leaves in the road how much the wind had been blowing. )

So miserable that we were this close to hitting 5 miles by the end and didn't even consider for 2 seconds extending our walk to get in that last .08 to make it even!   That is an exceedingly unusual thing for me not to do when I'm that close.  Haha! 

It took a long, hot shower and a couple hours before I could fully feel my hands again!  

Note to self:  Next time it's sprinkling when leaving on a walk...check the weather app and make sure a storm isn't rolling in!