Welcome Fall!

Today started out like summer and is ending like fall.  Shorts and t-shirts to school, sunshine for the walk.  Rain arrived right as the last child got home.  I baked cookies and we had tomato soup, pop corn, and grilled cheese for dinner.  Temp is at 58 and falling.  The windows are open and the smell of rain and chocolate chip cookies is everywhere.  We got the final layer of our new street yesterday.  Greg is on his way home from 100 degrees in Houston.  Perfect start to the weekend!

Sunset

We've had monsoons moving through this last week. They've brought a fair amount of rain, cooler temperatures, and beautiful sunsets. The following are the sunset from Wednesday evening as the sun made it out from behind the clouds for a bit and then fully set. We'd had a huge downpour with hail a few minutes before. A beautiful evening. I love rain!

Music Moment

Being up on a hill, we get to see a lot of cool weather. It's one of my favorite things about this house. This is what we saw tonight as the sun was setting after a cloudy, rainy day.


It looked like someone had cut a little slice through the cloud layer with a light saber. After the initial Star Wars thought, the lines from two very different songs took over and I can't get them out of my head. I thought I'd share so you can join me in trying to figure out a way to make them meld: "So, when life gets dark and dreary...the sun'll come out tomorrow".


A little "Annie" meets the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. A great thought, but a very irritating combination. However, some days it's good to remember that somewhere up there the sun is shining and someone hears and answers even the littlest, quietest prayers that we offer. So, ere you leave your room in the morning, I'll bet my bottom dollar that if you think to pray, tomorrow there'll be sun, to change your night to day.

Happy humming. (You're very welcome.)

Don't forget to pray.

White as Snow

I woke this morning to a not-so-typical looking Easter morning. The sun hadn't risen all the way, yet and I wasn't even sure it would poke it's head out because of all the clouds. It's not often that you see a "White Easter", especially when you didn't really have a "White Christmas" or even much of a "White Winter".


My first thought was of the scripture in Isaiah 1:18, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow". Everything was so clean, pretty, and white. Then I looked a little closer and saw the poor daffodils.

They were struggling with what looked like the weight of the world on their tiny little shoulders. That's what you get for being an early spring flower. Timing is everything. There are warm, beautiful days and then there are those days when they probably wonder why they bothered poking their heads out of the ground. In fact, we could get several inches of snow tomorrow, too. Good thing they are made of tougher stuff than they look.

Then I realized what a perfect morning this was to be an Easter morning. The whole point of Easter is to remind us that the Savior came to earth, lived a perfect life, died, and was resurrected so that not only could we someday go where He has gone, but to remind us that He has "been there and done that". He's lived on earth in much harsher circumstances than I and did so perfectly. Then He took on Himself all my imperfections, mistakes, wrongs, and sins so that He could 1) understand my pains and trials and 2) pay for them because there was no way I could do so on my own. He opened the door for me and everyone else on earth to return Home and have everything He has. All he asks in return is that we follow Him and do our best to live as He would.


This life wasn't meant to be easy. It was meant to be a test to help us learn and grow. Timing is everything and life in the Last Days is far from perfect. There will be beautiful, warm, Spring days. There will also be days when we not only wondered why we bothered to get up we will wonder if we can possibly bear everything that is placed on our shoulders. Sometimes the weight is there because that's just the nature of mortal life. Sometimes it is there because of the choices we made. Either way, the Savior is there to help us through. Even as I stood there taking pictures with the first light of day, I could here water dripping in rain gutters as the weight of the snow began melting away in the face of the rising sun. If we can remember to turn to our own sun- or I should write The Son- the weight of our burdens will melt away. They may not be gone, but they will be lighter. And, I think we'll find that we are made of tougher stuff than we look.


Since taking pictures this morning, the clouds have moved back in. Right now I can't even see the mountains across the street. I know they're there, though, and that somewhere above the clouds the sun is shining brightly. What a perfect Easter morning. The greatest miracle of all is that He lives and because He does, so can we! Happy Easter!

This One's For Greg

I'm supposed to be vacuuming, but I decided to catch up on my emails and blogs instead. I really am heading out to vacuum as soon as this is done.

Greg mentioned a while ago that he missed the light house background. He wasn't complaining, just stating a preference. I told him it made me feel cold in the winter. Well, the day has come when it's warm enough again to be dreaming of beaches and sunshine. I realize that upper 50's doesn't cut it for most, but the sun is out, the grass is turning green, we're planning a garden, and Joseph wore shorts and a t-shirt (no jacket) to school this morning. Besides, this weekend it will be Spring. So, here's to the seasons and the changes they bring.

Winter at Aspen Grove

This may be a bit long, and I apologize. Our family loves Aspen Grove, so when the Wellness program offered snowshoeing or cross country skiing there for the families on Presidents Day, we jumped at the chance. We'd never been there during the winter before, but we love it in the summer. I thought we'd post some pictures, for those that care, to see the difference. Here's a link to some pictures of Aspen Grove last August.


Looking at the dining hall from the parking lot.

This the other side of the dining hall, where the sign-ups for the tournaments usually are.

Amphitheater, notice you can only see part of a couple of rows of benches and that's only because they are somewhat protected by trees.

A front-on shot of the Amphitheater from the front door of the Lodge ("candy store part" as the kids call it!)

On the bridge looking towards the pool. The snow comes up to, and covers the bottoms of the slides.

The shuffle board courts.

Pioneer Village at the far end of the field.

Greg is wearing snow shoes and is still up to his knees. Yes, it snowed on us for a little bit.

Sand volleyball courts, taken from inside the pavilion. That snow depth is not created from shoveling. It's the real deal.

Playground next to the volleyball courts.

Entrance to the swimming pool.

Another of the entrance to the swimming pool.

Standing at the main-camp end of the bridge. This picture is taken facing the amphitheater. That's Joseph next to the pile of snow.

The snowshoers stayed on the pool side of the camp. THe Cross country skiers were on the cabin side of camp. This was the only cabin I could see from next to the dining hall. I think it's really one of bathrooms/showers, but the snow is half-way up the side of the building.

Hot Chocolate and donuts after we're done.

Steven on the patio between the dining hall and the parking lot.

The next two are just for comparison. They are taken in our front yard after we got home. Definintely more snow up in the mountains!

That's it, or at least all I'm going to post here. It's kind of hard to believe, looking at these pictures, that the last time we were there we were dying in 105 degrees. Joseph didn't recognize anything until we were done and were pointing out what each building was. He thought we'd gone to a different place. I saw the manager of Aspen Grove today and he said they have less snow this year than last so far. Glad I'm not shoveling!

Snow

We had beautiful snow today. You know- the really big fluffy flakes that make the whole world (out our windows, at least) look like a gigantic snow globe. It was a perfect stay-at-home-and-bake-for-Christmas kind of day. Erica decided to try her own snow-measuring device. She taped two rulers together, end to end, and stuck them out on the deck. There were a couple of inches already out there from the weekend, but the chair started out with no snow on it at all. The blue tape you can see is where the 2 (12 inch) rulers are joined together.



At one point today our neighbors' basketball net was filled up with snow. Guess that makes it a wet, sticky snowfall for today. The temps were right around freezing, so this afternoon the snow started melting a bit. It was an odd sensation to watch the snow fall from the sky and melt lower down the ruler at the same time. That didn't happen long. The snow fell faster and crept back up the ruler as well. And, tonight is supposed to be in the teens, so I doubt the snow goes anywhere before morning.

Dear Next Door Neighbor even showed up with his snow blower a couple of times and cleared the driveway and front walk for us. I really do need to make that man a loaf of bread or something.

Random

Ok. Still no luck with the pictures. Don't know what I did, but I did it well. I even tried removing the cutsie blog stuff, but no luck. I will figure this out, though (probably after Christmas) and post some pictures.

The pictures I was trying to post were of Spencer before and after braces. Yes, Tuesday was the big day. He was very excited all day Tuesday and not so much Wednesday, Thursday. His mouth has been pretty sore. The past couple of days have been better. He says they only hurt now when he bites down, so he hasn't been eating much. Maybe I should go get braces. Having never had braces, I found the whole "installation" process very interesting.That's one documentary or "how-they-did-it" special I've never seen before.

It looks like we are finally going to get our white Christmas. It's snowed about every other day, sometimes a bunch, sometimes not. Tomorrow we could get up to 10 inches. I love watching it fall. I don't even mind the shoveling. Our driveway here is about 1/2 the length of the one in NH, so haven't even had time to enjoy the alone time before it's done. (The kids generally won't come find me when I'm out shoveling.) We're running highs in the 20's, so I'm fairly confident the snow we have gotten isn't going any where before Christmas. Love it.

Our dear nextdoor neighbor is just a fanatical about our yard when it's covered with snow as when it's full of weeds. He checks to make sure the sidewalk is properly shoveled and that we have plenty of ice melt spread. I'm doing my best to be outside as soon as the snow is done so I can shovel myself. Gotta figure a way to channel all his extra energy, but it's nice to know it'll be shoveled if we're ever not around to take care of it.

Ok, again. I was just showing Greg that I can't upload any pictures and it uploaded pictures. I think that between ordering online and blogging I should just avoid my computer. We apparently do not have a very good working relationship. I'm not going back to redo this post though. I might push another button I won't know how to undo. So, here are the long-awaited before and after shots. Enjoy.




Since AZ is about the only place in the country not having snow and ice and lots of our family and friends are there, I'm sending out a bit of a White Christmas. These were taken the morning of the day Spencer got his braces and we've had a bunch since. So, Mom, Merry Christmas!