Great artists imitate...

We were trying to copy this...

by doing this...

But instead, we got this...

which reminds us more of this...

Credits: Andy Goldsworthy, our snowy deck, Jovie with freeze-dried pjs, Garth Williams illustration in The Long Winter.

Draper Library

The children's section of the Draper library has a train theme, which was very popular with this crowd.

The old Park School near the library is just waiting to be restored and put to good use. 

Funny things Jovie said...

These are self-portraits showing off the cereal bag clips she stuck in her hair. She is genuinely this silly, this happy, this beautiful.

Driving past a church. 

Jovie: When did you go to church?

Me: When I was a girl and I lived with my parents I went to church.

Jovie: How long was it?

Me: Three hours. 

Jovie: AAAACK! That long? Was Jesus the mascot of your church?

The kids treat the nine minute gondola ride at Canyons as their comedy hour with a captive audience. They start out with their best jokes and then tell six minutes of bad jokes. It's usually pretty well-received and people laugh even when the jokes aren't funny, because they can tell the kids are. One day, another rider treated us to this gem: "What is the difference between boogers and broccoli? Kids don't eat broccoli."

So now that's a favorite. 

A couple of weeks later, we had a rough day of skiing because Jovie would stubbornly stop in the middle of a run and wouldn't move again while Ikey zoomed down. So I had to choose which child was my favorite. I won't tell you the answer. After she refused to do more than two runs, we had to take it down the mountain.

On the drive home, when we were able to converse calmly again (the gondola ride down wasn't very funny to anybody) I said, "Jovie, why did we have such a hard time doing something so fun? We need to stick together when we ski so we can all have a good time."

Without missing a beat, he said, "What's the difference between skiing and eating in the lodge? Kids don't do skiing."

"MOM! The Olympic Rings are hanging from a tree!"

Camping and Skiing

We camped out in the yard, and it was not too chilly. It was just the mom and the kids because the dad had a big day so he needed real sleep, plus he doesn't really fit in this little tent with us.

 Ikey woke up at 5 am, and I talked him into sleeping until 6 am. We went in and made hot chocolate and muffins and Jovie came marching in at 7 am in her little pink boots ready for a warm treat. 

We packed up our stuff and went skiing and the conditions were nice and warm.  

Then, as a special treat, Mitch invited us to see The Little Mermaid at a local junior high and we were so impressed to see Elle performing a bunch of dances in like SIX different costumes. We loved it!

Midvale Museum and Los Machetes 2

Ski movies

 Ikey is so much fun to ski with. He is talkative in line and on the lifts. He had the best time on Tunnel of Fun and Hurricane Alley which are natural half pipes. Here's a little movie of the kids on February 22nd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_7OJniwJ58

I skied with both kiddos on February 28th and it was the most fun we've had yet. It was Jovie's first time to try a blue run, Snow Dancer, and she loved it. Ikey was glad not to be stuck on the greens all day. Before we headed up the mountain, we visited with Brent and Colleen. Brent's been TB's friend since they were in 1st grade. Brent had a brain injury about ten years ago so he doesn't run, ski and bike around all extreme like he used to. We love Brent and Colleen and they are fun for us to visit. Their youngest son just got married. Colleen pointed to the little kids and told her friend, "Their dad is the same age as Brent. Isn't that funny?" It IS funny to me, but TB just said, "I'm a year younger then Brent." 

Here's a movie of Jovie on the natural halfpipes on March 2: http://youtu.be/Q8AoWLlJsOc We met up with John Ray and Caden and the kids loved the company. 

Herriman Library