Night skiing on leap day

Tonight Melinda, Miles and I went night skiing at Brighton. They went without me twice in February because my back was bothering me. I was jealous, but tonight was a great ski night so I don't feel so bad. It wasn't very cold and the snow was still quite nice. The sky was clear and we could see the constellation Orion in the sky as we went up on the lift.

It was especially fun tonight because we were all skiing right together. Miles are getting to be quite the speedy little skier. He kept right up with us, and even passed me a few times. Melinda was pretty fearless tonight, too. She seems to have really enjoyed skiing this year.


I forgot my poles, but I didn't miss them. Last year I didn't ski without them most of the year, out of solidarity with Miles, since poles mostly just get in the way for kids. I forgot how fun it is to just turn by shifting your weight around.

We never seem to bring the camera when we go skiing, but here's a picture of Melinda and Miles during a snowy night in February 2006.

Chinese food - cub scout style

On Saturday Lisette had her piano recital. She memorized a piece called Malaguena and gave a great performance. Her friends Joy and Camille also performed, so after they were done they ran around and had some fun. I think the boys had more patience listening to all of the students play knowing their would be cookies afterwards.

Afterwards we went to the cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet. It was themed to the Chinese new year. The had really great decorations, but the "chinese food" was the best part, it was really funny! It was if they took the old standard "potato bar" and switched rice for potatoes.

So after you dished out your rice, this is the choice of toppings:

• Cream of chicken soup
• Cheese
• Celery
• Green onions (those were hardly touched)
• Green peas
• Corn
• Chow mein noodles

It kind of reminds me when an army buddy took his mother-in-law who was visiting from Mexico to Taco Bell. She said, "Wow, this is really interesting, what kind of food is this."

"Mexican," he replied.

Rebloom

Last winter we bought an amaryllis bulb as part of Ian's life science curriculum. It grew tall and bloomed right away. We've kept it on the kitchen window sill since then and watered it now and then.

I wasn't completely sure how to correctly care for amaryllis bulbs so we were very happily surprised when a little green shoot started popping out of the dry bulb a month ago, and quite pleased to see such a lovely bloom this month.

Having flowers in winter seems so hopeful. We have a little bit of iris reticulata and crocus foliage poking out of the ground right now, too. It feels like spring is around the corner and we've just about made it through winter.

Hmm... I better get my seeds started and a few more ski runs in before it's too late!

Harlem Gospel Choir and Jelly Bellies

Friday morning the kids and I went to Kingsbury Hall and saw the world famous Harlem Gospel Choir. This was a daytime performance for schools, some senior citizen groups, and home schoolers. We've been to these concert series before, but this one was definitely unique. They demanded participation! It was really fun; they had us on our feet, clapping, waving our arms, and singing!

I think this exercise was a little more extroverted than we are generally used to (especially Ian.) They started out by having everyone standing and clapping, and then they invited the audience to get up on the stage and dance. I think the kids weren't expecting to have to actually participate.

I thought the music was great, and it was refreshing to hear religious expression in a public / secular setting. I made me think about if as a nation we could all share our different faiths with our neighbors in a spirit of understanding, how healing that would be. Not to get too ecumenical, but I think that learning to appreciate the richness of other people's faith helps us to better live our own faith.

It's enlightening to see a portrait of how other people worship. I think that gospel music is a very moving way of praising the Lord. It's very foreign from my religious (Mormon) background, but I find it very inspiring.

It was fun to see all the school kids dance around, wave their arms, clap their hands, and get all into it. Their was one group of high school kids who were singing and dancing, and they even synchronized all their moves! It was refreshing, since usually when I see that age group of high school kids, they seem so non-committal about everything.

Afterwards it was raining and we ducked into the University Pharmacy and got some Jelly Bellies. We made up a game where we had to grab 2 without looking and eat them together whatever they were. We had some interesting combinations: bubblegum-licorice, lemon-caramel apple, root beer-dr. pepper, tangerine-cinnamon, and popcorn-pear.

Patience

Tonight was our ward temple night. The Salt Lake Temple has sessions on the hour, and we were going to go to the 7:00 session. I was there with ten minutes to spare, but it turns out that another ward and two other stakes decided the third Thursday of the month was a good time, too. So there were about 20-30 of us who had to wait until 8:00.

I think maybe the Lord wanted me to learn more patience this week, so I patiently waited for an hour reading the book of Luke. Besides learning patience, these are some things I enjoy about temple worship:

1. A time for meditation
2. A time to open my heart in prayer
   
3. A reminder to see the forest for the trees
   
4. A respite from a hectic, chaotic, materialistic world
5. It helps turn my heart to my fathers
   
6. It helps me to be more humble and teachable
   
7. It gives me strength and courage
   
8. It helps me feel closer to God

Molecular marshmallows

Today was another hectic day at work for me. It's kind of depressing when you have to return 10 phone messages as soon as you walk in the door. But I've got some server projects that are interesting, so it's good to have something to keep me engaged and busy.

Melinda and the kids did a very tasty science project today. Melinda has been excited about the new chemistry curriculum she just got. The kids have been enjoying doing lots of fun science projects and experiments.


Saffron helped by enhancing the visual aids.

Many marevelous marshmallow molecules

I've always wondered what ethanol looks like.

Vacation at home (day three)

For the last day of our vacation we headed down to BYU for some free museum fun. We started at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum, affectionately (or not so affectionately) known as the "dead animal" museum.

It was actually a pretty good museum. They had a reptile animal show that started when we first got there. I missed most of it because Saffron was dragging me around to see the lions, zebras, and bears. She really likes anything that roars, seeing that she has quite the roar herself.

We went to the creamery afterwards to get some of their famous ice cream. The ice cream was really good, but they converted it into a mini grocery store, so with only a few tables, the atmosphere wasn't as good as I remembered it.

We then went to the MOA (Museum of Art). They had some really nice art there, plus they had a Minerva Teichert exhibit that was very beautiful (in spite of Miles and Ian muttering "boring" every few minutes.) We saw Melinda's aunt Coleen, her cousin Haley and Miguel and their kids, and had fun catching up with them.

On our way back to Salt Lake we stopped at the Draper IKEA store. They have some really cool stuff there, and it is definitely a unique shopping experience (as long as you can suppress the feeling of being a rat in a maze.) We had dinner there and ate their famous Swedish meatballs and some of their delicious "Chocolate Overload" cake.

We were getting kind of tired, and Saffron was getting out of hand so we were very happy to get home. After all, there's no place like home.

Vacation at home (day two, part 2)

We got home from the aquarium later in the afternoon. Melinda and I had reservations for the Armstrong Mansion, so Connie came over to stay with the kids overnight. We got some Papa Murphy's pizza for them and they watched movies and played Lego Star Wars.

Melinda and I went out to eat at Christopher's Seafood and Steakhouse downtown at the Peery Hotel. Since it was the Friday night after Valentine's day, every restaurant was packed. But after a 35 minute wait, they seated us. The wait was definitely worth it; the food was absolutely fabulous! I had a pork chop stuffed with crab, spinach, parmesan, and wrapped in bacon; it was divine. Melinda had a tuna steak with wasabi cucumber sauce, it was quite tasty. It was kind of expensive, but we used Brian's Happenings card, so it wasn't too outrageous. Plus, it feels more like an occasion when it's at a really nice place.

Melinda was worried about leaving Saffron overnight, but she was just fine. Connie said when she woke up in the morning she growled at her (probably because she expected her mom) but then she went back to sleep anyway.

So it was nice to have a night out without the kids, though I suspect they thought it was even better to have a night without the parents.

Vacation at home (day two)

On Friday we started off our day by bowling at Fat Cats. Is the best bowling place around.

It's great because they have the bumpers that automatically pop when it's the kids' turn. But the left one got stuck so that helped Melinda's and my score just a little bit, especially because Saffron ended up bowling half the time for Melinda. Saffy loved the bowling shoes and was adamant about not turning them back in.

We then drove to Sandy and had lunch at the Joy Luck Chinese restaurant. Miles really liked the cream cheese wontons and the sweet and sour shrimp.

Then we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. It's actually just the "preview center" since they're hoping to get enough funding to build a gigantic one done at the Gateway.

I had heard it was housed in a former grocery store, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But we got there and had a great time. It's not to big, but they had lots of great stuff.

They had a cool section with Utah native fish and amphibians. We especially liked the jellyfish, the octopus, and the sharks.

Saffron loved playing in the little caves and loved the clownfish, "Nemo!"
Lisette and Miles had fun petting the sting rays. Next time we'll remember to wear short sleeve shirts.

Vacation at home (day one)

Last year we took a trip to sunny California to beat the winter blahs and to escape from the cold and tyranny of work. This year we didn't have the money and I couldn't take off much time from work. Melinda had a great idea of having an "at home" vacation.

So I took Thursday and Friday off and we have been out vacationing! Thursday we went to the Discovery Gateway (the museum formerly known as the Utah Children's Museum). They had a really great exhibit; Sesame Street's 'The Body'. The kids all enjoyed it, especially Saffy.



We got a snack at the food court and then headed over to the Clark Planetarium. We checked out their exhibits and then watched a star show. The dome where they show the star shows is quite impressive. The visuals and sound were outstanding and you get that trippy sensation of movement during the film.



After the show we were getting kind of tired, so we headed toward home. We stopped at Banbury Cross (Utah's best doughnuts!) and got a snack.

At home I got a nice nap. Melinda made inari-sushi for dinner, which the kids really love. They're very tasty with soy sauce, pickled ginger, and wasabi.

In the evening we went out to Nickelcade. It's a big arcade where you get in for 2.50 and then all the games are just a nickel. Keep in mind most of these games are old rejecto games. Some of them were fine, but some had blurry screens and some were just old. I played Ms. Pacman and I even saw a Space Invaders game.

They did have a Dance Dance Revolution game there. Miles made a friend who showed him how to play. After a while we were ready to go, but Saffron didn't want to leave. Actually, after every place we went she said, "I don't want to go home!"

We ended the day with a lemon meringue pie from Marie Callendars. It was soooo nice not to hear my cell phone ring once! So I assumed nothing melted down at work (or at least not too bad).

Random notes

• Lisette is enjoying having friends over for their writing club. She's having a writing club party on Tuesday.
  
• Saffron got Willis (our last surviving mouse) out of his cage after spraying him and his whole cage with a water sprayer. Luckily Ian caught her before Willis escaped.
  
• The kids had fun with Grandpa last Friday watching the Peking Acrobats at Kingsbury Hall.
• I'm happy to get a new work laptop, since someone with a newer one than mine quit.
  
• Melinda, Miles and Wendy had a good skiing night at Brighton on Saturday.
• We went to hear Brian and Dejah speak at their singles ward today. We got to meet her mom and her brother, Brad, and sister, Brittany.
• Kevin introduced us to Frets on Fire so maybe we won't have to get a Wii with Guitar Hero.
  

Shuffling at the mall

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I am now a mall-walker. I'm trying to eat better, get more exercise, and be more healthy in general. I like taking walks during my lunch break, but right now it's so snowy and wet out that I don't want to walk outdoors.

So for 3 days now I have been doing laps at the Fashion Place mall. I've got my trusty Zune so I can block out most of the elevator music. I like putting it on shuffle and then listening to whatever comes up. I do admit, however, that it feels kind of odd to listen to Modest Mouse, then a sermon by King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, then a Clash song, then the Sermon on the Mount, then a Disneyland song, a poem in Spanish by Pablo Neruda, and then something by Morrissey.

I usually hate the mall, but this has been a very interesting exercise. Retail stores always makes me contemplate the futile and unsatisfying quest of trying to find happiness in "stuff." It also makes me wonder, "why aren't these people at work?, and "don't these people have anything better to do?"

Also, I noticed that people who dress the same hang out together, (or is it vice-versa?) I saw the following groups of people walking together; two yuppies in shirt and tie, three hoodlums in hoodies and baseball hats, two short girls wearing skirts and trendy glasses, two older bald guys with matching facial hair. Maybe thats why I don't have any friends; there aren't many tall bearded pre-midde-aged men around.

It also occurs to me that the people that work there are going to start recognizing me. They'll be thinking, "there's that mountain man guy again", it must be 12:30.

I bet the pioneers never had to think about stuff like this.