Snapshots and Stuff

If you’re familiar with the Salt Lake valley, you know that during the winter we suffer stints of “Inversion” – capitalized so it sounds sinister and threatening. Because, believe me… it’s nasty.

An inversion is a deviation from the normal change of atmospheric pressure with altitude. Cold air and pollution get trapped close to the ground, acting like a “cap” over the valley. Want to see what it looked like last month?

This photo was taken from the southernmost point of the valley above the gunk. Look closely and you can see the Draper Temple – one of the newer LDS temples built at the bottom of the canyon. Can you believe we went almost a month breathing that air??

It is awful to run in, makes your throat sting.

The pulmonary specialist that works with Eliza moved out of the valley because she sees the health hazards of living in this stuff. (Now don’t let that deter you from a visit. The rest of the year, Salt Lake is one of the most beautiful corners of the earth.)

This pressing dome of smog began to affect me emotionally. Not seeing the sun, not breathing good air, made me feel suffocated, closed in. So last Saturday I decided we had to get out.

Doug was working, but I didn’t care how hard it was going to be to pull off an adventure alone. I zipped the kids into their snow pants, loaded five sleds into the car, and we drove into the mountains, determined to break through the gray.

We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon just below the ski resorts and trekked a quarter of a mile down a snowy road to a great sledding hill. The kids were troopers, carried their own sleds, and although we didn’t find blue sky (it was snowing), we did find clean, warmer air, and we had a ball!

We took off our coats, barreled down the hill together, and even survived a crazy trek into the trees so Eliza could go to the bathroom (all natural). You should have seen us, trying to forge a discreet path to the woods in waist-deep snow. Eventually, I put everyone in sleds and told them not to move (I kept losing the boys into tree holes) and sent Eliza off by herself. I don’t think it was very pleasant, but ya do whatcha gotta do, right?

There have been sledding days with Dad too. Here’s Doug doing the “double pull” for Ali and Sami. What a man.

And funny enough, we discovered a sledding hill in our own backyard. Eliza ran into the tree a couple times, after which Doug created a bank of snow that turned it into a bobsled run.

We’ve had all kinds of raucous play inside our four walls. Silly stuff, where the giggling is almost debilitating. Let’s face it, being inside most days isn’t easy. It makes for crazy indians who conjure up wacky games like galloping around the house roped together by tights and leggings. They call themselves the Bug Horse Team (?).

One day I found the boys meditating like this. Yoga headstands maybe? When I asked them what they were doing they said. “We just playing. We wanted to see da wood under der.”

The boys are so busy right now, stir-crazy I think. Every day I have to find a way for them to expend some energy. So I’ve encouraged outside play as much as possible. Here they are during our last big storm. A 24-incher.

I love kissing those frosty, red cheeks when they come inside.

Today we went into the mountains again. I’ve decided, with the boys being older, we need some kind of outing every Saturday to get us through tax season. Something to look forward to, provide memories, make for happier months. So we hiked up our small, local canyon, tromped through the trees, and rolled down the sides of the mountain. Pretty low-key, but fun.

Here are a few more snapshots of our compact, inside life right now. Nothing fancy, mostly raw, iPhone pics.

One day I was talking with Kara on the phone – one of these necessary conversations – and by the time we finished I realized the kids had eaten two packages of oreos. I had left the pantry unlocked (yes, we now have a lock on our pantry door) and this was all that remained. Most leftover cookies had the frosting licked out of them.

These two make me laugh out loud every day. Here they are in their home-made tent. I wish I knew what they were whispering. Top secret conversations maybe… no girls allowed.

They’re not napping anymore, but occasionally they find just the right spot at just the right time, and fall asleep.

We have a brand new library in the neighborhood, and last week I took the girls to get their own library cards. They were sooooooo excited! I am happy they’re loving books as much as I do.

We recently discovered the Boxcar Children Mysteries. I’ve been reading them aloud to the girls and we’re hooked. Eliza is burning through those endless Fairy books by Daisy Meadows, and we’ve been checking out your recommendations from this post.

This is how homework gets done lately. One-on-one is nearly impossible, but we make it work. “Here we are together, together, together.. Here we are together in our family.” 

When Kara comes to visit, she’s an instant celebrity. Actually, it’s Caleb who wins the popularity contest. I wish you could hear the chatter and see my children’s faces. They’re so enamored with Caleb. Seems like all my children were babies at the same time – so close in age that babies are a total novelty for them.