Ogden Arts

Somehow the Ogden Arts Festival (in its 5th year) has evaded my radar in the past. This year, Photoguy was asked to judge the high school art competition, so I had all the details.

Friday night, Photoguy and I took a sneak peek at the art in Union Station. We attended a delicious dinner (spicy pasta, seasoned chicken breasts and Greek desserts from a sampling of fabulous 25th Street eateries). And, enjoyed some short films from the Foursite Film Festival (a new and, at present, inferior version of Sundance aimed at college students who want to produce films). Our tickets were comped since Photoguy judged, but, can you believe they would have only cost $10 each? For dinner and a movie!

Saturday, we loaded up the kids and headed back to 25th Street. I have to say, I was very impressed with the spread of interesting art on display, the live music playing on multiple stages, the food (we snagged some delicious caramel and kettle corn), and the creative activities for the kids.

First, they got to use all kinds of mediums (paint, colored pencils, watercolor crayons, glitter glue, buttons and ric-rac to name a few) to decorate paper horses. Next, they made adorable frogs from recycled materials. At another booth, they used spray bottles of watercolors to design very cool Chinese fans. They created their own pin on buttons and at another station they carved pictures into Styrofoam blocks, brushed them with paint, and stamped the images onto paper. It was quite the day of creative fun for my little budding artists and a great time for all. Photoguy enjoyed perusing the photography exhibits and playing with the munchkins and I enjoyed the atmosphere and watching the kids having so much fun.

Later that evening, we headed down to the Bountiful Rec Center to meet extended family for a swim. It is an amazing facility (formerly the Bountiful Bubble, now, new, improved and minus "the bubble"). Photoguy had to leave us to work a late shift at the Des News. Before leaving Ogden, we dropped the van off at the Ogden Frontrunner station, then, after swimming and pizza, Photoguy's brother dropped the kids and me off at the Woods Cross station. The kids were amazed (and I was surprised too) when we boarded the train and saw a picture of me on a Lagoon advertisement. It's been a real hoot when the kids have seen these around town. We had a fun adventure riding the train home.

I don't know why I feel such a sense of pride and excitement about the Frontrunner coming to Ogden. I noticed a blurb in the Arts Festival Guide that talked about Ogden being the connection site for five major railroads between Sacramento, Omaha and all major settlements in the west for about 100 years. I've heard stories about the bustling metropolis we once were. On one of the first days the trains ran, Soph had a piano recital. We went to dinner at Union Station afterwards, and then went outside to get an up-close look. As we stood in the breeze and shadow of that double-decker red-white-and-blue train, I felt a bit misty eyed and thought, "The train has come back to Ogden."

Birdsong Trail

Last weekend, Photoguy left early Friday morning to take part in the Wasatch Back Relay (his 4th year in a row running this race). He and 11 other participants got together with two vans and made their way 180-miles along the Wasatch Front back roads from somewhere near Logan over to Park City. There were about 480 teams teams of 12 doing it this year. Wacky!

So, basically, each team member ran three legs of the relay (36 legs total). Each leg is 3-8 miles long (Photoguy logged 19-miles). It usually takes an average of 24-hours to finish. There is very little sleep involved. Everyone seems to have a good time, coming up with goofy team names (they were "Dude, Where's My Van?"), wearing silly costumes (i.e. an afro), decorating their vans (i.e. psychedelic colors 'painted' on the vans with spray chalk) and otherwise just acting insane for 24-hours straight.

All that running is not really my bag right now. Plus, it's kind of pricey to participate, and I just feel like, if I'm going to farm out the kids for two days and put out that kind of cash, I'd like to be lying by a pool or something a little more fun than running my guts out straight up or straight down a mountain and sitting in a van full of other sweaty and exhausted runners.

So, while Photoguy had his fun, I stayed home with the kiddies. Saturday morning, right after breakfast, we (the kids and I) decided to go on a hike. We headed over to Birdsong trail which runs from Rainbow Gardens on 12th street by the mouth of the canyon up to 20th and Fillmore.

It was such an amazing, gorgeous little piece of heaven! I was so sad when I pulled out the camera and discovered the battery was dead, because it was quite picturesque. First, we wound up a trail surrounded on both sides with tall grasses. There was quite a strong (though, pleasant and warm) canyon wind blowing the grasses around in a magical sway. We had some good views of Ogden. Then, we came to the part of the trail where the trees line both sides and form an enchanted shady archway for quite some time. This led us to "the resting place," as my kids called it, a little clearing with a teeny waterfall pouring into a very shallow pond.

If you happen to take this hike, and your 7-year-old thinks it is fun to shimmy across a fallen tree trunk lying across the pond -- and, your 2-year-old thinks that looks like fun and wants to try it -- and, your instincts tell you it's a bad idea -- you might want to listen to that feeling. Because, even if the 7-year-old helps the 2-year-old cross -- and, you think it's really cute and safe after all -- on the second or third crossing, your 2-year-old might decide it is a good idea to leap into the pond, drenching himself from head to toe and pulling his sister in to soak her feet too. That's not so good on a dusty trail where the 2-year-old might fall down repeatedly forming a layer of mud all over himself just before he starts to ask you to carry him down the trail. Not that that happened to us or anything . . .

Anyways, it was a very rewarding hike, and easy enough for any age or ability. Soph and E-Man were a little faster than AiAi, who had to hit every leaf with a stick as he passed it, and poke the stick into every ant hole in the trail too. They made up a great game where they would run ahead until they were just out of my sight, then wait, and as soon as the slow-poke and I would catch up they would say, "Oh, no! There she is! Quick, run!" And, take off a little further down the trail. It was a great distraction from the first game where they constantly wailed, "Hurry up mom! What is taking you so long?"

Pizzaria

We took the kids to the Ogden Pizzaria. They love the "orange whip" drinks, the fish tank in the middle of the dining area, and the old fashioned juke box. The pizza is pretty good, but my favorite is the deluxe salad piled high with pizza toppings and homemade ranch dressing.

It's as Easy as Learning to Ride a Bike

We took the kids to the church parking lot to teach them to ride their 2-wheelers last month. I held onto E-Man's bike for about 30 -seconds and then he was off!Soph was upset with us for taking her training wheels off.

But, soon everyone was riding and having a great time.

Even AiAi kept up on his trike. E-Man and his bike have been inseparable since this day.

Photos

I finally stole these photos off Photoguy's blog. If we ever get two-minutes of free time together, I will post more.S'mores around a raging campfire at Bear Lake.
Photoguy and AiAi swinging together.
Rosie riding the rope swing with the lake in the background. The rope swing incidentally was Soph's favorite activity.

Random picture -- in between vacations Photoguy took this picture of AiAi when the kids were bowling.
Next stop -- family reunion in Nampa, Idaho. We only see this part of my family (my mom's brothers and sisters) every 5-10 years. It was the first time I had seen one of my aunts (from Indiana) in just months under a decade. This photo was taken at a very quaint little western town we visited.
The kids playing in Lowell Lake near where we stayed in Nampa.
The boys in the house of mirrors at a "Cherry Days" festival in Emmett, Idaho.

Bear Lake Was

Bear Lake was Soph's dandelion bouquets, building waterfalls and kids buried in the sand. Rope swings, soothing water, gorgeous skies, solitude and living with friends. There were brief moments of sunshine spent by the lake and long hours huddled together in the cabin, our children immersed in creativity. Bear Lake was new one-of-a-kind t-shirts, sand art, rock necklaces, strings of beads, painted magnetic lips, puzzles, cootie catchers and wardrobes of little paper clothes. Stripy beach towels, fleece pajamas, beach bags and all kinds of gift surprises. Home-cooked meals and BBQ's. Sugar cereal and treats galore. Photoguy's homemade chocolate chip cookies. Laughing until midnight, appreciating friends, time with Mammas, cuddles in the morning, s'mores around a campfire. Lots of magic. Billions of stars in the night skies, sleeping in, generosity. It was crazy dancing at sunset and dressing up in new silk clothing. Just when we thought the swimsuits had been packed in vain, it was a warm heated pool, a jacuzzi, and a two-foot-deep baby pool with AiAi strutting around like a proud peacock through the water. E-Man riding a two-wheeler at lightning speeds down the hill (he just learned how to ride it a few weeks ago). Hot chocolate mustaches. Best Friends Forever.

Yes, to answer the question a lot of people have asked -- it was cold. But, the silver lining to the cold weather was no watering the mammoth-size yard, no bugs, and no sunburns!

Pics to come . . . must pry them off photoguy's computer.

I Don't Want This Feeling to go Away

Could a setting be more gorgeous than this aquamarine lake high in the mountains? We just got back from our Bear Lake trip. I have many thoughts and pics to post. But, for now, just a quick story before I cook dinner.

The moms and kids headed up at the beginning of the week and had a smashing time.

The dads joined us on Thursday. All of the kids (and, moms too) were so happy to see our guys!

On Friday morning, the song Upside Down by Jack Johnson was playing in the cabin and I looked through the window and saw: The gorgeous lake, Randy swinging Rosie around in the yard, my own handsome hubby laughing while chasing Soph and E-Man, and my little AiAi gazing out at the water. As lyrics echoed, "I don't want this feeling to go away . . ." I had one of those moments where I felt like my life could not possibly be more blessed. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for my husband, our kids, and the friends surrounding us.

I had a glimpse at how lucky we ladies are to have such wonderful husbands that our kids acted like it was Christmas when they arrived. It was such a special week of being together. I found some of the lyrics to the song today:

Who's to say
What's impossible
Well they forgot
This world keeps spinning
And with each new day
I can feel a change in everything
And as the surface breaks reflections fade
But in some ways they remain the same
And as my mind begins to spread its wings
There's no stoppin' curiosity

I wanna turn the whole thing upside down
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's song
I don't want this feeling to go away

Who's to say
I can't do everything
Well I can try
And as I roll along I begin to find
Things aren't always just what they seem

Upside down
Who's to say whats impossible and can't be found
I don't want this feeling to go away