laugh

"The most wasted of all days is 

one without laughter."

e.e. cummings

welcome winter

Last weekend it snowed, and snowed, and snowed for almost two straight days.  We lost power for most of the day on Saturday, but no one minded much since they played outside the entire day, and even when it became dark and cold the girls thought it was awesome to play games by candlelight with headlamps (thank goodness we had power before bed :).  When the sun came out Sunday afternoon we had amassed over 30".  The kids couldn't have been more delighted!

Our yard on Saturday . . .

The same trees on Sunday (and patio table - crazy!). . .

The snow was so deep Lucy was literally swimming in the white stuff!

I couldn't resist taking a video.

I find great satisfaction in stepping in fresh snow - even if I'm still in my skirt and boots after church.

Caroline built an awesome igloo for all the neighbor kids and Chris and I made sledding tracks for them down our sidewalk. (Sophie wouldn't be in the picture and Liza wasn't that thrilled that I lost it after they had been arguing over hot chocolate for the past 15 minutes . . . )

Another video of the dog trying to find the squirrels on the mountainside across the street - too funny!

Monday morning - I couldn't let a morning like this pass by without a little snowshoeing in pristine Neff's Canyon . . . Ahhhh.

Caroline and friends enjoying their first day on the slopes together.  Opening day at Solitude was yesterday and Ryan celebrated his first day skiing today at Snowbird.  Yes, they both missed school and every year when the attendance secretary asks "reason for absence," I reply with "mental health day."  Always works :).

Gilead

 Last week I finished reading Marilynne Robinson's exquisite novel, Gilead yet again. This is a book to be savored. A beautiful story told by the Reverend John Ames through a series of letters to his young son as he contemplates his life, his history, and the future of his wife and son. Robinson's brilliant observations and lyrical prose set this novel apart from so many other contemporary writings. Her knowledge of the relationship between fathers and sons, as well as her deep understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ is remarkable. This is one of my favorite books and after finishing the final chapter, I felt as if saying good-bye to an old friend. However, I'm sure it won't be long I pick it up once again to be tutored by the ever wise, yet humble, John Ames.

Here are a few excerpts that I found particularly noteworthy during this reading:

". . . it's your existence I love you for, mainly.  Existence seems to me now the most remarkable thing that could ever be imagined.  I'm about to put on imperishability.  In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye . . .  The twinkling of an eye. That is the most wonderful expression.  I've thought from time to time it was the best thing in life, that little incandescence you see in people when the charm of a thing strikes them, or the humor of it. The light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart.  That's a fact."

 "Our dream of life will end as dreams do end, abruptly and completely, when the sun rises, when the light comes.  And we will think, All that fear and all that grief were about nothing.  But that cannot be true.  I can't believe we will forget our sorrows altogether.  That would mean forgetting that we had lived, humanly speaking.  Sorrow seems to me to be a great part of the substance of human life. . . ."

"This is an important thing, which I have told many people, and which my father told me, and which his father told him.  When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you.  So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation?  If you confront insult or antagonism, your first impulse will be to respond in kind.  But if you think, as it were, This is an emissary sent from the Lord, and some benefit is intended for me . . . You are free to act by your own lights.  You are freed at the same time of the impulse to hate or resent that person.  He would probably laugh at the thought that the Lord sent him to you for your benefit (and his), but that is the perfection of the disguise, his own ignorance of it."

"In every important way we are such secrets from each other, and I do believe that there is a separate language in each of us, also a separate aesthetics and a separate jurisprudence.  Every single one of us is a little civilization built on the ruins of any number of preceding civilizations, but with our own variant notions of what is beautiful and what is acceptable-- which, I hasten to add, we generally do not satisfy and by which we struggle to live.  We take fortuitous resemblances among us to be actual likeness, because those around us have also fallen heir to the same customs, trade in the same coin, acknowledge, more or less, the same notions of decency and sanity.  But all that really just allows us to coexist with the inviolable, untraversable, and utterly vast spaces between us."

so grateful

It's November and I would be amiss not to post at least one "gratitude" post.

So here it is . . .


Salt Lake City finally has it's very own TITLE NINE store and yes, I was so ecstatic that I visited this weekend before the sign was even up.

And, to make life even sweeter, ATHLETA will open in 9 days at City Creek (yep, just sent in my RSVP for the pre-opening event).

Alright, call me shallow, but I don't really "shop" and to have my TWO favorite stores arrive in Salt Lake within a few weeks of each other is nothing short of miraculous.

Truly grateful :).

heading back

It's been six years since the older kids have been back east (and since I was a blonde ;-), and in a few days we're taking the whole crew.  We were looking at some pics from the last trip and can't believe how much Ryan (then 10) and Caroline (then 8) have grown and changed over the past few years - they were so little, and the same size to boot!

What we are looking forward to the most:

• Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square (especially the "Hershey Store"), FAO Schwartz, Museum of Natural History, MOMA, Rockefeller Plaza, American Girl Place, "Top of the Rock"
• Indian dinner and Ukrainian dessert in the East Village, breakfast bagels downtown, pizza in Soho, hot dog vendors, Serendipity frozen hot chocolate
• Knock-off purse shopping in Chinatown, browsing Tiffany's, wooden escalators in Macy's, the Apple store on 5th, Lincoln Center fountains, the Dakota and Strawberry fields, playbills!
• New England fall foliage, biking the historic Minuteman trail, Walden Pond, Louisa May Alcott home, Plymouth, Cape Cod, THE NO NAME, regatta on the Charles, the Freedom Trail, Italian in the North End, Cambridge, the Co-op, the Back Bay, Fenway.

some favorite pics from 2005 . . .

Times Square (on our way to see "Hairspray")

Rockefeller Plaza

Quintessential NYC

Caroline in heaven at the American Girl Place

The Lion King!

Central Park

heading out to Ellis Island via Statue of Liberty

walking the Brooklyn Bridge

gotta play on the FAO giant piano!

The Mayflower

chatting with the Pilgrims at Plymouth Plantation

Lexington Green

 Louisa May Alcott home in Concord, MA

 The Old North Bridge

 celebrating Chris' 40th at the No Name in Boston

 gearing up for the Red Sox game . . .

 Fenway

 Ryan hoping to get his ball signed

  future Harvard students?

The Old State House - walking the Freedom Trail

Well, it's back to work to get the house in order and start packing . . . here's to our adventure and creating memories for the little girls who had to stay home last time :-).

Kid History

Need a laugh today?  Here is an official Cantera favorite . . .



We also think this video is hysterical - my kids love it (thanks Rob, I just had to steal it from your blog) . . .

The LION KING

I love, love, love this production.  The beauty, grace, and pure artistry that encompasses The Lion King is unparalleled.  Julie Taymor is simply a genius, and it was a delight watching the show again last night, this time with Liza and Sophie.  It was their first time experiencing the magic, and I made sure our tickets were in the orchestra on the aisle so the girls could view those amazing animals up close as they made their way to the stage, as well as truly feel the rhythm and pulse of the African Savannah through inspiring music and dance.  It was also a treat to have Chris' mom along for the evening.  The girls were so excited to surprise grandma Pat with this special outing and we all enjoyed our time together.

Before the show - so excited!

With Grandma Pat

Almost curtain time

Perfect evening with the girls

For old times sake, here are some pics from the first time we took Ryan and Caroline to NYC in 2005 to see the production . . .

They were so little (notice how they were the same height . . . I remember people asking if they were twins - haha) - seems like yesterday!

Tea Party

No, not that kind of a "tea party" . . . a Julie specific "tea" party, meaning drinking my absolute favorite peppermint herbal tea before bed.  Soothing and wonderful and just one of those things that makes me, me.

Just thought I'd share, because if you don't drink herbal tea, you're missing out on one of life's most relaxing little pleasures :-).

Manna from heaven

I praise the genius who first dipped a cinnamon bear in milk chocolate . . . these little creations have got to be my favorite holiday treat.  A few years ago you could only find them in specialty chocolate shops, now they are EVERYWHERE . . . heavenly.  So today when Caroline and I discovered the "Sweet Shoppe" chocolate display was set up at Dan's, we were giddy with excitement (I'm not joking - GIDDY) as we scooped over 2 lbs. of these delights into a white paper bag and rushed through the checkout so we could finally open our sack of treats and indulge - aaahhhh, love Christmas!

Even better the second time

Love, love, LOVE this movie!  Last night I grabbed Sophie, Liza, and Ryan (so sweet - when he heard I was going to take the little girls, he wanted to come too) for an outing at the dollar theater to see "Up" again.  It's now hands down my favorite Pixar . . . I believe it's the only computer animated film that can bring tears to my eyes!  Such a tender story, so sweet and touching, not to mention unbelievably clever.  Truly, it's pure genius when you find a movie that appeals to everyone - a story that can move an adult to tears, make a five-year-old giggle so hard she about falls out of her seat, and keep a teenager enthralled the entire time.

Thanks again Pixar for another classic to add to our collection, this one is timeless.

I know, I'm slow . . .

but some things I guess are worth the wait! OK, so yes, my latest find (last post - Regina Spektor) apparently has been around for a few years, and yes, I just discovered her. Well, you'll laugh that my other latest find has been around for YEARS (35 to be exact) and although I've heard of it and had a vague idea that the program existed and could recognize the name and face of its writer, I've never actually listened to it. Well, a trip to the bookstore a couple of weeks ago changed all that when I noticed a clearance shelf of audio tapes and grabbed Garrison Keillor's 25th Anniversary A Prairie Home Companion Collection for $3.99 . . . 12 hours worth!

I'm hooked, I love the show because the monologues make me smile, the ancedotes make me laugh, cry, and think; I love Keillor's dry wit, his extraordinary writing, and most of all the feeling that Lake Wobegon is now part of my daily life . . . seriously, I think I'm going to have a sign near our front door that says:

Welcome to 9865 Alta Ridge

where all the women are strong,

all the men are good-looking,

and all the children are above average . . .

ART

Refreshing, quirky, talented, true, beautiful, poetic . . . I can't describe how I feel about my latest find - Regina Spektor. In the age of studio artists and glorified karaoke contests such as American Idol, it's indeed a breath of fresh air to find an artist that stays true to music and lyrics as a form of art. I think she's simply adorable and brilliant, and I can't get enough of her!

Need a smile?

Chris sent this to me today and it's just one of those things that makes you grin ear to ear (he knows I'm a sucker for anything sweet and romantic) - enjoy!

The Christmas Spirit

Tonight we took the kids to Hale Centre Theatre's production of "A Christmas Carol." It was beautiful, touching, and inspiring. I LOVED it . . . the perfect family activity as we head into Christmas Eve tomorrow and try to keep the childrens' focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas.