One Proud Momma

The other day I grabbed screenshots of all three of our kids at their respective universities.  I'm so proud of them.  They are all working their tails off to achieve the degrees they are aiming for.  Chelsea is at the London School of Economics and Political Science earning a masters in International Development.  Josh is at Utah State University finishing up his last year there getting a bachelors in Aviation Science.  He has earned his pilot's, instrument, and commercial licenses for flying helicopters.  Emma is a freshman at Brigham Young University with plans to major in engineering or physics.

Snowshoeing Willow Heights Trail

Last Friday, there was a little bit of rain in the valley, but there was light, beautiful snow falling up Big Cottonwood Canyon.  With the recommendation from a friend, we headed up to find Willow Heights Trail that leads up to a small mountain lake.  UP is the key word here.  The first mile is definitely UP.  We had been told about this, so it wasn't a surprise.  We took it slow and steady going up, up, and more up.  The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, so it was good that a few times we needed to take a quick break to bring our heart rates back down!  We could stop, look around, and take it all in.  The snow falling added to its beauty.  The packed down trail was easy to follow, and we loved that nobody else seemed to have the idea to snowshoe in the same area that morning.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  We made our way up to the snow covered lake in about 45 minutes.  We sent a Marco Polo video message to our kids showing them the beauty we were enjoying and let them know how much we want to go on a family snowshoe hike someday when everybody is around in the winter.  The hike back down was quick and easy.  Just had to go a bit slower down the steepest parts so not to fall.  But I did, and it was funny!  Then I said to Matt that it was too bad he didn't catch that on camera.  Then he surprised me by pushing me down, and I bonked my cheek with the end of my pole.  It hurt, but it was, once again, funny! And he caught part of it on camera.  Haha!  It was a good adventure with my best friend.  

 At the lake...

Falling hard on the steep downhill hike... 

January Happy Things

Let's start off the new year with a look at this super cute girl!  Here's Miss Piper enjoying the refreshing cool air of Copenhagen, Denmark.  Her daddy served his mission there six or seven years ago.  So while his parents were visiting them in London, they all decided to fly to that beautiful Scandinavian country for a few days.  Maybe Miss Piper was feeling a connection to some of her ancestors who lived there long ago.

Here's another picture of some things that make me happy.  Not even as close to how much Piper makes me happy, but nonetheless,  I'm feeling super good when I use these items almost daily.  My Kamut flour, French grey salt and fleur de sel finishing salt, The Food Nanny cookbooks, and my new pepper grinder that I bought using the money my parents gave me for Christmas.  Oh, and I should include the wooden X trivets that Chelsea and Emma gifted me about five years ago.  Simple things.

I captured this scene during an early morning pre-dawn power walk with my friend Rebecca on January 7th.  I absolutely love being outside when the sun rises over the mountains.  The lake was shimmering with a touch of light that was coming from the south east.  I loved the silhouetted bridge, houses and mountains and seeing the temple shining brightly.

Emma, Josh, Megan, and Matt went skiing on a Saturday up at Solitude.  They had lots of fun together which makes my momma-heart happy.  I stayed home and made Italian drip beef on Kamut baguettes for dinner and also prepared my lesson for my first ever ward conference as a stake relief society president.

My big sister, Kristen turned 50 today!  I took her out for Mexican food a couple of days ago.  Here's a pic of that night plus a few of when we were children.  Weren't we so cute in the 1970s?  Happy times.

I'll end my post with a video that was taken last Saturday.  Invasion of the Birds.  It makes me laugh to hear the astonishment in my voice.  They kept coming even after I stopped the video.