2015 Road Trip: Utah Hikes

We went on two different hikes with the B family while we were staying in Midway. The first one that we visited was Cascade Springs. There were three different loops which went around the springs, and I think the total length of the trails is probably about a mile long. For the most part, the trail was quite level, with only some minor changes in elevation.

The water is really beautiful and clear. It really does cascade down the hill from the springs; I read that seven million gallons of water feed into the springs each day! 

 J and J noticed that they were wearing matching outfits.

The second hike that we took was to visit Timpanogos Cave. I hadn't visited this cave for probably about nine or ten years. It was fun to take Sam here. I was a little bit worried about how he'd do on the trail, because it is a pretty steady incline for about 1.5 miles until the entrance to the cave. For the most part, though, he did a really good job. I was proud of him! Probably the most helpful thing was that his cousins were around to provide distraction.

We forgot to pack Lucy's sweater, so we bundled her up in her warm pajamas. We didn't bring our hiking backpack on the trip (we just brought the Baby Bjorn), but N and SJ brought their backpack, which is the exact same one as ours! Lucy liked being in a familiar space. She slept in the hiking backpack on trail both to and from the cave. She was a little interested in the cave, but she didn't like when it was too dark to see clearly. And she got frustrated when I wouldn't let her touch stalactites.

Beautiful views as we hiked toward the cave in the early morning. Utah has such beautiful mountains and canyons.

A slightly blurry pic taken by the ranger, but still a fun documentation of the hike 

This is fairly close to the entrance of the cave. We cajoled the kids up the trail with the promise of "power pellets" (little crackers) when we got to a bench. The distraction worked!

2015 Road Trip: Utah

We recently got back from a road trip to Utah and Montana. On the drive home, J said that it was a "concentrated" vacation, and I think that is a good way to describe it. We didn't have time to visit with any friends while we were in the area (in truth, I wish that I could have spent more time with my extended family), but we did get to see a lot of family. Within just a few days, we had a wedding (the S side of the family), an extended-family reunion with the Pax family on J's side (including cousins), and also a family reunion with J's immediate family (and their families). Here are some pictures with highlights of the Utah portion of our trip:

Our kids immediately wanted to try out the new DVD players that we bought for the car. This picture was probably taken just about two hours into our trip. Lucy liked watching Sesame Street and Blues Clues. Sam could watch a separate show on his own screen - I think he's watching the cartoon Robin Hood in this shot.

We arrived in Utah just about an hour before my sister L played a cello recital in my Grandma's backyard. It was fun (and impressive!) to see her play. 

Lucy at the Manti Temple grounds with Aunt V. 

The bride and groom! 

After the wedding luncheon, we had a break for a few hours before the ring ceremony began. I was excited to visit the Stewart Sculpture Garden at the Springville Art Museum, since it was under construction when I worked there as a fellow.

Lucy with her Uncle C in the salon-style portrait hall of the Springfield Art Museum. 

Besties at the wedding! I didn't get to visit with any of these ladies as much as I would have liked (especially Zillah, since she was busy with behind-the-scenes help), but it was still fun to see them for even a little bit.

Riding on a tour bus throughout Provo. We visited historic sites and homes that are meaningful to the Pax family, and then also visited Aunt M's grave. Different people took turns narrating with the tour bus mic, but it was especially fun to listen to G Pax speak.

We visited Aunt M's grave, and also saw the nearby headstone for G & G Pax (which they have already purchased and put into place, in anticipation!!!). Lucy loved putting pinecones in the little flower vase.

J designed the t-shirts for the reunion. They say, "Oh, wonderful!" - which is an exclamation that G Pax typically makes. 

G & G Pax with the great-grandchildren who attended the reunion.

Lucy and Gram on the train! The Pax family members told jokes, family stories, and held trivia while we rode on the train. We had an entire car reserved for our family! 

 Sam on the Heber Creeper.

After riding the Heber Creeper to Vivian Park, Sam and I got a ride back to our car and met some of my extended family members at Seven Peaks. Sam had a blast playing with my sister L. He kept saying, "We need to come back to Seven Peaks the next time we come to Utah!" 

I love this picture of Sam with his aunt!

While Sam and I played at Seven Peaks, Lucy and J visited with cousins at the cabin. Lucy played with pinecones (putting them in and out of a basket) for an hour!

After Seven Peaks, we went back up to Wildwood for the talent show. J's brother N wrote a song about Wildwood, and the three B brothers performed together. 

Before we left our hotel the next morning, we went to visit my Grandma S. She fell earlier that week and broke her leg (on the day of my cousin's wedding!). We visited her in the hospital, but she only recognized me for a few seconds. A nurse was in the process of administering valium to Grandma, and she was pretty incoherent and loopy after that point. Even though I'm smiling in this picture, this visit left me pretty sad. I hope Grandma is able to recover. 

After the hospital trip, we headed back to Wildwood for one last visit. We left for Midway with the B family after we left the cabin. 

Cousins! 

Cousins at the resort pool! We definitely made use of all of the resort amenities. I think the kids went swimming almost every single day we were there.

The resort also had a little carousel, which was fun for the kids to ride.

Cousins at the park! 

Sam really wanted to ride the Gravitron. I had no idea how he would react to this ride, but he had a fun time. J went on the ride with Sam, little J, and D. And luckily, there was no drama, although I don't think that little J liked it too much.  

I love little J's pose in this picture! These are the prizes that the kids won at the fair.

We also did some fun hikes with the B family, but I'm going to put those in another post with more information about the trails. The fair was our last big activity with the family - we left around 6:00 am the next morning to head to Montana with some of my siblings.

"After the Bath" by Paul Peel

When I was growing up, I remember that we had a print of Paul Peel's After the Bath in our home for some time. I remember seeing it last when we were living in California; I'm not sure if my mom kept the print when we moved to Ohio. I remember looking at this print often when I was a girl, being intrigued and a little dismayed that the little girl in the picture was sitting on a fancy rug with her bare bottom!

I think that the coloring of the image below is probably a little more accurate than the print we owned, which contained more orange and brown tones (similar to this AllPosters.com image). Perhaps the enhanced contrasts and darker brown tones weren't a bad thing for me in the long run, since it might have subconsciously influenced by interest in Caravaggio and tenebrism!

Paul Peel, After the Bath, 1890

Art from Grandma's House

About two weeks ago, we spent one brief - and altogether too short - night at my Grandma J's house. I wish that we could have stayed in the area longer, but we had to keep traveling south for a wedding and a family reunion. It was nice to visit with Grandma J in the morning, though. I'm glad that she is doing so well and is able to be in her own home.

When I woke up that morning at my grandma's house, I went down into the basement to blow dry my hair (so as not to wake up other people who were sleeping upstairs). Everything was just about the same from when I lived in Grandma's house as a teenager, even down to the white owl ornaments in the bathroom. I saw a few familiar posters on the walls, and I realized that there are a few distinctive works of art that I associate with my grandparents and their basement:

Norman Rockwell, Girl at Mirror, 1954

A print of this painting is in the back hallway of my grandparents' basement. It hangs on the dark wooden paneling between what used to be Uncle B's room and the study. I associate the movie star Jane Russell with this painting, perhaps partially because my sister and I watched old movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in my grandparent's house while we lived there. Interestingly, I learned that Rockwell regretted included Russell's image in this painting, since he received a lot of criticism for doing so.

John Hafen, Girl with the Hollyhocks, 1902

A print of this painting used to be in my mom's old room in the basement, but it isn't there anymore. If I remember right, I think that this print might have been up at the same time as the original decor in her bedroom, including a pink beaded lamp (somewhat similar to this one) and her floral wallpaper (somewhat similar to this wallpaper, although the actual color scheme and design were a bit different).

Charles Courtney Curran, On the Heights, 1909

A print of this painting is currently in my mom's old room, in replacement for the Girl with the Hollyhocks print. I'm guessing that this print was put up around the time that the wallpaper was changed to its current blue-white-pink striped design.

As I was writing this post, it struck me that my grandma and/or grandpa must like pictures of women wearing white dresses! The upstairs bedroom has a reproduction of my uncle's painting Three White Dresses too. (My uncle combined my features and V's features for the bride, used his daughter M as the model for the girl, and my sister L as the model for the baby).

The last work of art that reminds me of my grandparent's house is a modern reproduction of Gainsborough's Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (original of 1787). Her dress looks white in the original painting, although I think it has a bluish-gray tint in my grandparents' reproduction. I think that they might have inherited this print from my Great-Grandma L. I remember Grandpa T used to ask me if their copy was valuable - I'm not sure if it is, but it is a nice copy. It hangs in a heavy gold frame in their dining room.

This Just Happened

I just got Sam down to bed, and then entered the bathroom to prepare for bed myself. I had only been in the room for a few minutes when I heard some whispering underneath the bathroom door (so as not to wake Lucy, who was asleep nearby). This conversation followed:

Sam [whispering under the door, apparently lying down on the floor]: Moooom, want to hear a joke?

Me [whispering back through the closed door]: No, Sam, it's time to go to bed. Go back to bed.

Sam [still whispering]: Pleeease Mom? [Pause] What do vampires call their girlfriends?

Me [relenting]: I don't know. What?

Sam [stage whispering under door]: Their fianc-fangs!

Me [still whispering]: That's a funny one. Good night, Bud.

I love that Sam is at an age where he loves to tell silly jokes that revolve around word puns. And I love that these jokes are important enough to him that he'll get out of bed and lie down on the floor so that he can whisper them to me underneath the bathroom door. I know that this joke phase probably won't last forever (it didn't last forever with my little brother C, although admittedly he still likes to try and be "punny" when he can). But regardless, I want to appreciate this joke phase with Sam now, as much as I can. I love his innocent sense of humor. He is a sweet, kind-hearted boy.

Recent Summer Adventures

We've gotten to do a lot of fun things lately! Summer is off to a great start. Last month we got to ride on multiple ferries to-and-from Bainbridge Island, once for a trip to Bloedel Reserve and the other when J's brother B was in town. Here are some pictures of our trip to Bloedel Reserve:

Lucy just woke up from a nap as we got on the ferry. She was a little bewildered as to what was going on.

We had a magical time walking through the trails at Bloedel Reserve. I love that there are so many different types of environments. Prentice Blodel was interested in exploring the different emotions that one experiences when out in nature, and I felt like each place at the reserve had a different "feel."

I felt like we were approaching a small English estate (like a miniature Lyme Park) when we came around the bend and saw this lake and house. 

J and Sam also attended a Mariner's game with the cub scouts.

Most recently, we went on an impromptu camping trip to Sequim over the 4th of July holiday weekend. It has been really hot up here, and we noticed that the weather was twenty degrees cooler on the Olympic Peninsula. J found a tent site at the John Wayne Waterfront Resort (he thinks it was the last site available on the whole peninsula). It wasn't the most secluded spot, but we didn't plan far enough in advance to get something spectacular. We did love having our tent be located across the street from Sequim Bay and the marina, though. We had a fun time overall, despite a few mishaps (including forgetting the key to our car-top storage bin, but luckily we found a locksmith who made a new key).

Lucy is clapping her hands in delight about her first time camping!

Even though the resort was mostly a camping place for RVs, we did get a little tent site that was next to some lovely trees, a stream, and a cute bridge.

Sequim Bay, just across from our camping resort

We also enjoyed getting to do some hiking while we were on the peninsula. We went to Marymere Falls on Friday afternoon (before we set up our campsite). The hike is short (a little less than 2 miles there-and-back) with only a very slight elevation gain. The waterfall is quite stunning, and both J and I agreed that the payoff was really rewarding, despite the minimal effort required by the hike itself.

Lucy fell asleep on the trail, but we almost got a good family picture in this shot!

The trail to Marymere Falls goes right by Lake Crescent. The water was really beautiful: it was a bright turquoise water in the deeper area of the lake. We played around in the water for about twenty or thirty minutes before heading back to our car.

After cleaning up our tent site the following morning, we hiked out on the Dungeness Spit. We didn't make it to the lighthouse at the end (which would have been a ten mile walk there-and-back!), but we did walk out for over a mile.

The sand spit in the distance

 Happy 4th of July! We joked that it was ironic that we spent the morning of the 4th of July staring at Canada across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.