'Tis the season...

JANUARY 2012 UPDATE: I've been trickling more photos into the slideshow/album, so take another peek if you haven't in awhile.

A Quiet Thanksliving

We traveled south for Thanksgiving this year. We left SLC Thursday morning and stopped at Nan's in Cedar City for a visit with the Coates family on our way to Pete's house in Apple Valley. Pete and Gloria were a gracious host and hostess and Gloria's friend Joe joined us for the delicious main meal. On Friday we climbed around on the rocks in Pete's back yard and trekked around on top of Gooseberry Mesa, thoroughly enjoying a sunny fall day. On our way home on Saturday we stopped in Parowan Canyon to cut a Christmas tree (thanks to Nan for securing us a permit!). Gavin saved Christmas by alerting us to the fact that the tree was falling off the roof as we were leaving the canyon. We had to stop a few more times on I-15 to make adjustments, and then one more time to clean up Vivian and all the vomit she'd spewed into her car seat (Julie (driving): "Why do I smell yogurt?" Brandon (peeking into the back seat): "Uuuuuughhhh."). We managed to make it home, and as the sun was going down we unloaded the truck, disassembled the car seat, and threw a load of pukey stuff into the wash, all the while repeatedly explaining to Gavin why we needed to wait until Sunday to bring the Christmas tree inside for decorating. Sunday morning was bliss: tree trimming, family camaraderie, and the return of Scout, our Elf on the Shelf. Flash forward to Sunday evening... Brandon cooked a nice dinner for the family, but by the time it was ready, I was bent over the toilet puking my guts out. A few hours later, Gavin started puking, and a few hours after that, Brandon joined in the fun. I was just thinking this morning how glad I was that Viv had already gotten through her bout with this flu (or whatever it is/was)... when she threw up all over our new living room rug. 'Tis the season to be jolly! Ha.

Silly Silver Maple

We have a huge silver maple tree in our front yard. This tree has me and Brandon both feeling conflicted. In general, we are huggers of trees of all kinds. But trees whose roots grow into our sewer line, causing emergency weekend calls to Roto-Rooter? Trees whose roots grow partially above ground and wreak havoc with our lawnmower blade? Trees that block our amazing view of Mt. Olympus? Not so much. We have resolved that the tree must come down. But until we get around to carrying out its death sentence, we may as well enjoy what few spoils it affords...

 

 

 

That grungy guy in the background is our neighbor, Bill. Or maybe his name is Jim. When we first moved in he introduced himself to Brandon as 'Bill Clinton,' fervent Obama supporter; but a recent conversation with the daughter of a neighbor revealed that his name is, in fact, Jim, and the reason he's a little 'off' is that he is a Vietnam vet. We gave him some cookies today, wrapped in cellophane and tied with red & blue ribbon and a 'Thank You'. He didn't say, "thanks" (not that he has to). He said, "I'll eat these right now. I'm hungry." and proceeded to do so. We were outside raking leaves into a pile for Gavin to jump into.  JimBill insisted on interrupting the jumping fun in order to instruct us in the absolute best way to bag raked leaves (he is an expert, having raked and bagged leaves for numerous neighbors... using our rake), regardless of the fact that we were trying to make the biggest pile possible.  In the interest of neighborliness, and because loose cannons make us nervous, we let him show us. Incidentally, the keys to efficient leaf bagging include lining a 30-gallon trash can with a bag that has been 'lanced' (had holes poked in it) so that air pockets are not trapped between the bag and the can wall.  Pure genius.

 

 

 

 

Cutest kids on the planet!

Yeah, OK. So maybe I'm a little biased. These pictures were taken on 11/7 at Sears. This was our second try. Our first try was on 10/10. I'd never taken my kids in for "portraits" before, so wasn't sure what to expect. The first round of pictures was taken by a photographer-in-training, who straight-up admitted to me that she's a lot better at taking pictures of trees because "they don't move." I’m not one to complain, generally, but I was really hoping for greatness. Then once I found out how much they were going to cost… Let’s just say I ended up with buyer’s remorse. I stewed about it for a few weeks, then finally called Sears to say that I didn't want the pictures. They said they wanted me to be happy, but couldn't refund my $, so they invited me back to have the pictures re-taken with Marcy (the manager, who has 18 years' experience) as the photographer. Although the thought of dragging my kids back there for another 2-hour ordeal made me cringe, I agreed. Marcy did a GREAT job! I’m super pleased.

And in case you were wondering what was so wrong with the first round of pictures...

RIGHT?!

Halloween

Nana & Papa Come to Town

Party Time!

We celebrated Viv's 1st and Gavin's 4th birthdays while my folks were in town.  Good times.

We adopted our kitty Tyler from Four Paws when he was 8 months old and Gavin was 2.  Brandon and I are flabbergasted by how tolerant he is of being mauled by Gavin, and now Vivian.  Notice how he gets up toward the end of the video, and instead of running away from being smothered, just repositions and sits back down.  Coolest cat ever.

Loa

Over the weekend we traveled south to Loa, Utah where we convened with friends at Pat & Michelle's house. Tony, Jackie and baby Abe (born 7/30/11) drove in from Colorado and our fellow SLC-ers Ben and Winston made the trip down as well.  Highlights of the trip included meeting Abe, winning Friday Night 31 (yay, me!), touring Pat & Michelle's property/barn, riding on the back of Cecil's Harley, and winning the 2011 Horseshoe Tourney (yay, me again!).  Brandon was the only one to beat me in horseshoes all weekend (yay, Honey!).  Click here for more photos.

REWIND: Chicago Trip

Back in August we flew to Chicago to spend time with my family.  Brandon had to go to Naperville for work, so we decided it would be a good time to get all four of us there at once.  We flew in on a Thursday and spent a couple of fun days at my brother David's house playing with my niece and nephew Evelyn and Isaac (and their toys!) before surprising my folks at E & I's birthday party on Saturday.  Mom and Pop had no idea we would be there and they were definitely surprised!  I wish we had better pictures of their faces when they came in and were greeted by an enthusiastic Gavin.  Brandon could only stay for a few days but the kids and I stayed on until Wednesday. It's not often we get all of us in one place at the same time, so we made sure to get a "Wood Family" picture with my folks and my two brothers and their families.

We packed in some good quality play time with the kids' cousins, including visits to playgrounds and a water park.  We also managed to get downtown Chicago where we watched the Air and Water show from my cousin Cam's Lake Shore Drive/North Avenue apartment.  To see more pictures, CLICK HERE.

A trip to Mount Pleasant

 

We had the pleasure on Saturday and Sunday of joining the extended Chard family at Brandon's Uncle Steve's property in the Wasatch Mountains.  Steve and Linda have 26 acres of mountainside to call their own, and were kind enough to invite Steve's brothers and sisters and their families for a Labor Day weekend get-together.  Their property isn't just beautiful - it's FUN!  Most of the property is wooded in oak, maple, aspen and evergreens, but a hike up the road from the cabin (under construction) takes you to a meadow that's great for playing tag, soccer, golf, or volleyball (my forearms are still sore), or for just relaxing in the sunshine.  Down below the cabin there are a couple of trailers set up and several tent spots have been tucked into the surrounding trees.  We gathered under the wooden canopy at the main trailer to eat, drink and socialize with so many aunts, uncles and cousins that it was hard to keep track of who belonged to who.  What a great setting for Vivian's first camping trip!  As if all that weren't enough to keep us occupied, in the hours before we left we got to experience a zip line AND a mountainside swing, both of which were absolutely thrilling!  Gavin is too small for the swing, but he did get to take a ride on the zip line with his dad:

To see more pictures, CLICK HERE.

The Fam

Many thanks to our friend and neighbor Hart Evans for snapping a few photos of us in our Hyrum yard the day before we moved away .

Check out a lot more of Hart's photos at Hartshots.com. 

City Livin'

Busy as we are unpacking, fixing and updating our living space, and trying to get a handle on yard work, we still manage to get out and enjoy SLC on occasion.  Brandon and I have been on TWO dates: one to see G. Love at Red Butte (thanks, Frantzes!) and one to see Saturday's Voyeur at the Salt Lake Acting Company with a group of friends from the north 'burbs.  We hope to find a few reliable neighborhood babysitters so we can make 'date night' a weekly occurrence.  A couple of weekends ago we ventured into the city to check out a free event for kids at the Salt Lake Art Center.  Both G and V fell asleep shortly after we got on the road, so we skipped the Art Center went on tour of the downtown area for a little while instead.   When the kids woke up we decided to check out the Children's Library at the Salt Lake City Library.

Approaching the impressive library building.

Playing in the water feature.

 

 

An exciting, frivolous (the Children's library is in the basement) ride up the elevator.

Entrance to "The Attic."

"The Attic" is one of two special reading rooms at the Children's Library.  The other is the "Crystal Cave."

A Light in the Attic (she shines so brightly).

 Yesterday we ventured to Liberty Park with our friend Scott and his 4-year-old son, Keegan.  There's a water feature at the park called "Seven Canyons Fountain".  It's a miniaturized version of the Wasatch Front with water flowing down each of (you guessed it) seven little 'canyons'.  The park also has an aviary, a playground with a sprinkler pad, a sled hill, and even a ferris wheel.