12/23/20

 Between unsteady driving in our old, non-4-wheel drive cars, and so much less sunlight, winter has not been my favorite season in Utah, but I decided to celebrate Winter Solstice, since it marks the beginning of days getting longer again.  Brian ended up having to work late, but I drove the kids to see the Jupiter/Saturn star, then we had white (LIGHT) chili by candlelight, read a lot of quotes and scriptures about light with pictures of the Bethlehem star and light of the First Vision on the table, and then watched "It's a Wonderful Life" together.  It made me feel better about winter to celebrate, and to remember that the darkest point is where more light starts to enter in, and light is so accentuated by darkness (visibility of stars at night; relief of joy after sorrow).  

And a few more St George pictures, which is probably the real reason I could celebrate winter!, plus our first sledding trip from the week before

12/20/20

 This week the SNOW came.  I tried to be a good sport by going sledding with the girls Monday after school, but sliding that van around our icy neighborhood is not my favorite! Spencer had a tennis tournament in St George this weekend, and I was SO excited to have an excuse to find more sun! 

I was a little worried when our RS secretary tested positive for Covid (after we had all just been together Monday morning), and then a blizzard moved in Thursday morning right before we left, but I isolated & stayed symptom free(!), and we pushed through the awful roads as the weather slowly improved.  I picked up the kids from school and Brian from work around noon, hoping to make it to St George by dinner.  We got to visit with Maddie & Thomas while picking up Emily in Provo, AND got to see cute Kristy & Jon Anderson in their new Cedar City home, so with those stops and the weather, it ended up being 9 that we arrived, and such a long trip!

We started Friday morning with Spencer's first match, then hiked around Red Cliffs at Pioneer Park for lunch before his next one.  We were close enough to find Brian's Uncle David & Aunt Doris who had just moved to St George, and had a great visit with them before a trip to Thunder Junction park with dinosaurs and train rides. The boys played pickleball while the girls sat in the hot tub and braved the outdoor pool. Brian took me out for Indian Food while the kids watched a movie at the house. Spencer's first Sat match got canceled due to sickness, so we spent the morning hiking around Snow Canyon State park, which is just STUNNING, then came back to the house to swim and relax before lunch.  We cleaned up the the condo (that the dear Argyle's let us stay in), and headed over to Spencer's last match, only to find it had also been canceled due to sickness.  So sad for him, but he was SUCH a good sport--through losing he would just be so grateful to be able to play great competition and improve, and when canceled, he quickly said, "As disappointed as I am, it's got to be worse for the guy who's sick!"  Anne was even impressed with his good attitude! We did get an early start, thanks to no match, and with good weather and a straight shot, we were able to make it home in almost half the time it took to get down there! It was one of the first trips we've had where no one got sick and everyone had fun! Other than those snowy roads heading down, it was such a great chance to be together and nice preparation for Christmas just enjoying each other and slowing down a bit.