Important! Something cute.

ATTENTION EVERYONE.

We went the mall yesterday, my little dude and I, to buy some warmer shoes for his feet.  Instead, the shoe place wasn't there anymore and we spent 3 hours walking around not really finding anything to buy.  Okay, we found lots of things to buy but actually bought very few of them.  And normally my mall trips don't last 3 hours but in my defense James fell asleep halfway through and it would have just been downright mean of me to wake him up to put him in the car, right?  Anyway, we were dog tired after all that.  But before we got tired, James got a new hat.

And now you know what I wanted to tell you.

An open letter to people with short-term memories

Dear residents of Utah,

It's that time of year again.  You know - the scary time.  The time when up is down and left and right and nothing makes sense anymore.

You know what I'm talking about.  The time when it starts to snow again.

As a resident of Utah myself, I want you to know that I understand you.  Your fears are valid, and I want you to know that I'm there for you.  I know how frightening it can be to deal with something you've dealt with before; even many, many times before.   Even every single year that you've lived in Utah.  I know how the blissful heat of summer can seem to stretch on forever and ever into Eternity, and make it seem like it never snows here, like snow is just a long-forgotten horror that exists only in our grandparents' nightmares. Even though Salt Lake City, where you probably live, is at an elevation of over 4000 feet and is the gateway to numerous renowned ski resorts and has earned the reputation "Greatest Snow on Earth."  I'm here to remind you today that despite all that, it does, in fact, snow here.  Please, remember to breathe.  It's going to be okay.

To help you manage this confusing time, here are a few reminders about how to handle the Evil snow:

1. Wear More Clothes

Snow is cold.  Winter is cold.  You may have heard the phrase "bundle up"; I implore you to do so, for your own protection.  Because if you complain about being cold in a t-shirt and jeans, someone is going to beat you up.

2. Drive Slower (and turn your galdurned lights on)

Don't you just love car accidents?  The smell of broken glass in your eyeballs; the big fat stacks of money waving you goodbye; recklessly endangering the lives of innocent people...  Wait, you don't love that?  Then why in the HOLY NAME OF HAN SOLO would you not think to slow down and drive more carefully?  Also, if it is currently overcast and snowing/raining, turn your headlights on.  Yes, even if it's 2:00 in the afternoon, because contrary to popular stupid opinion, the use of headlights is not time-restricted; it is condition-based.  Nothing bad will come of making yourself more visible to other people in inclement weather, unless you consider "being safe" bad.  In which case, go to jail, right now.

3. Drink Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate is extremely comforting and warms you from the inside, so it should be your best friend in times like these.

4. Have Fun!

One way to get rid of fears is to face them - so get out there in that snow!  Run around in it; it probably won't hurt you, and you might even have some fun.  Are you a scientist?  Then observe the snow; experiment with it.  Try moving through it in different ways, and observe how the physics of objects in snow differ from that of objects on dry ground.  You may learn something!  Believe it or not, but entire industries are made from people having fun in the snow.  And very large groups of people are never wrong.  So be brave.  Embrace your terror and turn that frown upside down.

I hope this mini-guide has been helpful.  I have only your best interests at heart.  And on that note, maybe you could print this out and keep it around for next year when Winter inevitably rolls around once more, and then maybe we won't have to go through all this again.

Have a super snow-filled day!

Fish Lake, Utah

We have a group of friends that come over on Sundays to play nerdy DnD-type games with us, and one of those friends has a family that has a cabin.  And this weekend all those things converged, and we like that.

So we drove down to central Utah to have an Epic Weekend of Nerdiness in a beautiful ol' rustic cabin in the woods.

 Rollin' my dice and feedin' my baby.  Like I do.

 The view from the front porch.

 Jessica helping me get James strapped in for our woodland walk.

(Jesse, Spencer, and Nate in the background, with Tony behind the camera, makes for the whole group.)

 At Penny Rock, with Spencer's excellent hiking attire.

 Pardon my crazy face, but James was cute and snuggly in his carrier that he's way too big for now.

 We love Spencer.  I wish I could remember what he was expounding on.  Probably the qualities of an excellent skipping stone.

 My handsome boys.

 

 Jesse teaching James about Lamb's Ear.  (It's delicious.)

 "That's right, rock.  You better skip, and skip some more."  Or something.

James learned he likes beards.

 Seriously, we love Spencer.

 I don't feel this picture needs an explanation.

 

 Jessica cooked for us the whole weekend, because she's awesome.  Cheesecake pancakes, people.

 View from the loft.

 Nerds.

 Maya, oozing uncomfortableness at having to stand this close to the camera.

Of course, more pictures of the little guy.  James got his first tooth this weekend - or at least that's when I first noticed it, but I've been feeling pretty regularly so it probably poked through while we were there.  I'm irrationally proud of him and that tooth.

And I know the camera settings for all of these pictures are out of whack.  I wasn't too worried about getting things just right, but it is frustrating to know in retrospect what I should have done differently.  But I guess that's what learning is about.

 

 

 My family.  Heart.

Halloween, for real this time

I forgot to post these before the weekend, so here they are now.  Pictures from trick-or-treating on the actual holiday.

Tony and I both laughed when we saw this picture.  It's hard to look happy sometimes, I guess.

Maya was uncontrollably excited to finally be going for a walk (what gives, we are terrible dog-walkers), but she's afraid of the camera so it's almost impossible to get a picture of her face.

The boy was more tired than he'd ever been in his life, I think.  And trick-or-treating was kinda fun, but it ended up being a difficult night.  We passed a yappy dog yard and it really scared James, and the whole rest of the night (and for several days after) he would get startled and cry at even the slightest of sounds.  Needless to say, he's been sleeping in our room a lot lately.

And yes, Tony and I were Hallo-grinches and did not dress up.  That was way too much work.  Although I am disappointed that I never took a picture in my pirate costume with James sitting on my shoulder.