January 2023

Small boys playing:

Talent show (so brave to go first):

(Sorry, mostly got photos of my kids...:)

Ice skating with the Carters at New Year's before dinner at Boba World:

His first experience on skates:

He did pretty good:

Probably enjoys skating the most:

Resurrecting old Harry Potter lego sets and combining them with new ones:

Wearing the matching bow ties we got for Christmas:

Callum enjoying the Daniel Tiger exhibit at Thanksgiving Point:

The snowman made by Ailie and Claire:

Amanda taking surreptitious photos of me "doing homework":

Callum and a tower he built for Raindrop:

Over Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, we went down to St. George. On the way down, we stopped at the Beaver Creamery, which is always tasty. I had the prime rib grilled cheese sandwich with au jus, which was awesome:

The trip was a much-appreciated reprieve from winter. Temperatures were never really warm, but they were perfect for being out-and-doing (low- to mid-fifties). We spent the first morning at the St. George children's museum (super fun) and then headed outdoors once things warmed up. We decided to skip Zion this year because of the longer drive and holiday congestion and opted for Snow Canyon State Park, which was AWESOME. This is our first hike, up Johnson Canyon:

Sturdy-looking arch:

On the way back out:

Next was the tiny, but easily accessible Jenny's Canyon (this was our least favorite outing—we found it very underwhelming):

These were all Callum's first hikes without being able to ride in the backpack. He did pretty good, but got shoulder rides back to the car a couple of times:

Heading out to the Petrified Sand Dunes. This one was everyone's favorite. Just a lot of interesting rock to scramble all over with great views all around:

Claire was feeling under the weather at this point in the day, so she waited in the van with a book:

Sad she couldn't bring her pebble collection with her (it was cool how they were all so spherical from their constant rolling through the sand with the wind):

At the last stop for the day, the Whiterocks Amphitheater. This one was also universally enjoyed. I thought it was really cool because of the proximity these white sandstone formations had to the red ones (you can see the stripes of white in the red sandstone earlier):

Red cliffs glimpsed between the white. Max enjoyed sporting his hiking backpack he got for Christmas:

View from the top of the amphitheater as the sun sets with the creamsicle striping:

We got dinner at In-N-Out, swam and got to bed. The next morning, Ailie and Claire were both not feeling their best, so they stayed at the hotel reading while the rest of us took the ten minute drive back to Snow Canyon to find some lava tubes (also extremely cool). We started on the Butterfly trail and then hit the three lava tubes nearby at the end:

Almost looks like this formation was made with 8-bit graphics:

What kind of bird is this?

Exasperated that he was asked to slow down:

Another beautiful morning:

Cactus tree thing:

The first lava tube opening we came to:

We called out to a man down inside if it would be hard to climb down in with a three year-old only to find out it was one of the guys on my faculty! Dave, (in the hat on the right) with his wife, dad, and two sons:

Inside the opening of the lava tube:

Back in the cave (we didn't find the back wall—the black rock would just swallow the light from my little phone flashlight):

More interesting layers on a boulder we passed:

Max on top of an overlook we scrambled up to:

"His name is rocky.":

This is the last of the three lava tubes we checked out. The hole from the top:

Max down inside doing his version of a "strong man" pose. The way we climbed down is obscured by the rocks on the left:

A shot up from the very bottom (you can see another kid making the climb down in the lower left of the picture):

The little opening we climbed out of, super cool!:

At Thunder Junction park in St. George that afternoon:

This might have been this guys favorite place:

Looking innocent, but probably up to no good:

We did more swimming that night after some dinner at Chik-fil-A. At the St. George temple visitor center the next morning before heading back home. The renovations are nearly done:

Enjoying the heater vent in the kitchen:

Wearing one of their twinner outfits after swimming lessons:

This was just yesterday. One of my students commented about her llamas and I mentioned how much my son loved llamas and so she invited us to come over and see them:

This is their 8 month-old baby llama, Legolas. He was VERY fluffy and VERY curious and assertive. Sniffing, poking, bumping, and examining everything around him with his snuffly nose (really like a giant puppy):

Callum being pestered by Legolas:

Callum holding their chicken, Butterball. They gave Max one of her eggs which he made into French toast this morning: