Hit the Ground Running

The kids had school on Monday, but we kept Eliza home. Landon struggled to get up and moving. Of course, this time last year in Michigan, he had an extended vacation due to the Arctic Vortex.

Mike and his mom spent the day prior to their flight touring along the I-15 corridor between Provo and Salt Lake. After visiting Mike's old Alma Mater, BYU, 

There's a block letter Y there in the snow. Can you see it? 

we went to Dowdle Folk Art in Lindon,

This was our rental car, by the way. A Fiat 500L. Miserable little car ill-suited to winter driving. Made tight little turns though. 

Mike bought us a puzzle based on this painting of Comerica Park by Eric Dowdle. 

and then to Thanksgiving Point,  

An oasis of green in wintery realms.

before going to Temple Square and the City Creek Center. 

They got to the airport in plenty of time for a relaxed departure. Upon arriving in LA, however, delays multiplied. LAX is a madhouse. It took them longer just to get out of the airport than the entire length of their flight.

We broke out the puzzle and started to work on it for Family night.

We also enjoyed sun, clear skies, and temperatures in the low 80s on Tuesday and Wednesday. For people who grew up with this then moved away, such weather at the beginning of January was almost disturbing. Almost. We’re sending warm wishes out to our friends and family back east. Send some precipitation, will you? The kids spent lots of time outdoors this week both playing by themselves and with the neighbors.

While the warm weather continued through the rest of the week, it did cool some as we moved into the weekend (why are we writing about the weather, anyway? It’s only news in places that get actual weather).

On Thursday, Dr. Tracy Bennett gave a class at our church on keeping kids safe on the Internet. Her website has more information. 

On Friday, the girls took a trip over to the mall while Landon was in school.

It took us a while, but we finally got the Christmas decorations put away and the food storage distributed.  The car can go back into the garage. Woo hoo!

On Saturday, we got rain. Hopefully our friends back east will get the warmer weather we promised in exchange. After we cleaned the house in the morning, cousins Cru and Sawyer and their folks came over to play.

Rain continued into Sunday, making the air feel humid and adding a bit of dampness to our quiet reverie at home. We revived our sundaes on Sunday tradition, and Landon was thrilled.