Photos from Phones - January 2023 Round Up

Once again, this round up is chock-full of mostly bookish things with a few other random things thrown in for good measure. Don't forget I also have posts about our Red Canyon vacation and all the outside things we've done in the month.

1.2.23
(we did a little seed experiment to see which
one would germinate first - the winner was the wheat!
it sprouted roots and they just kept growing!)

1.2.23
(we had a fun hygge challenge at the library
last month and I am a fan!)

1.2.23
(just in case you were wondering what
hygge is . . . )

1.2.23
(that’s exactly 60 books getting checked out. I had told Gregg when
I was headed to the library that I felt all out of sorts only having
36 books out on my card. Well, this has me feeling much more comfortable.)

1.4.23
(We all really enjoyed this magical adventure set in Denmark on Christmas and the days following. It was fun to read a story set there after learning about the country during our Jan Brett Christmas school month. And we learned about a new magical creature called a nisse, which is similar to a gnome or a brownie, from what we can tell.)

1.6.23
(I don't know why I snapped a pic of toady's
puzzle, but here it is.)

1.10.23
(I had a lot of fun flipping through this new cookbook
from the library and dreaming of trying all kinds of
new meals . . . that have yet to happen ;)

1.10.23
(again, haven't really screenshotted pics of my
wordles lately, but here's another)

1.11.23
(Lots of interesting info in these books, including the phrase
“subnivean zone” which is below the snow and above the
ground where lots of critters live during the winter.)

1.11.23
(my first prize from the January adult winter reading
challenge! So nerdy.)

1.12.23
(this is Cal's puzzle)

1.12.23
(this is my puzzle)

1.13.23
(We had to get this one in ebook form since the library didn’t have a physical copy. It goes right along with the subnivean zone books I shared before (plus one I didn’t take a pic of but we have long loved called Over and Under the Snow). This one was interesting because it is a poem, but then has a little nonfiction tidbit one each page, plus lengthy backmatter describing hibernation, migration, and toleration. Loved it.)

1.13.23
(Just finished this very wintery read (I’m sensing a theme here, and it’s working for me right now!). It’s based on a Russian fairy tale of an older childless couple who build a snow girl one winter night and then she comes alive. But this book is more than a fairy tale... it’s about the hard life of homesteading in the 20s in Alaska. Plenty of pain (physical and emotional) for them to work through, but also hope and joy and beauty. It was lovely.)

1.14.23
(M'Liza the Minecraft-loving librarian had been
asking for a while to set up a special time when Cal and Sam
could come in and be "beta testers" for her on the switch to play
multiplayer Minecraft. The day finally came and the kids had a blast,
even if the multiplayer feature wasn't working quite yet.)

1.16.23
(I felt like baking, and it was MLK Jr. day so we had time. Turned out Cal
tested positive for Covid that day, too, so all kinds of free time opened up
for us!)

1.16.23
(since our plans to go bowling with friends got
canceled due to Cal's sickness (she wasn't even that sick!)
we decided to try take out from the new scallywag grill where
Pat's used to be + watch Star Wars.)

1.17.23
(I checked out almost every MLK Jr book that was available in my library and these were the standouts that we read this morning for history. Those two big picture books (Martin’s Big Words and Martin and Mahalia) are the cream of the crop for sure!)

1.17.23
(a new favorite January tradition (I'm so happy I got this table
for Christmas!): we've had a puzzle in progress non-stop all month
and we spend about 15-30 minutes every morning listening to an audiobook
and working on the puzzle (and it's school!). We'll putter on a puzzle at other
times of the day, too, but I love the book + puzzle school time and I will be
keeping it around! (we need some new puzzles, though!))

1.18.23
((I hate when my app does this... looks so dumb!) But the book is great! This was our first puzzle + listen book. We’ve been having quite the winter ourselves, but nothing compared to The Long Winter. Holy Moley!)

1.18.23
(we've been learning Home on the Range during our morning time
this year and whenever I sing that song I think of this movie: You're a Good
Man, Charlie Brown. It was a staple at our house growing up. I finally checked
it out from the library so the kids could understand my comments and jokes during
our Home on the Range singing, and they loved it, too. (And I can still sing almost
every word of every song in this movie!))

1.19.23
(We checked out a few books to go along with our
reading of The Long Winter, and one of them had
the recipe for Almanzo's Buckwheat Pancakes that were
described in the book. We even tried them for dinner
one night!)

1.19.23
(verdict: they were okay. I don't know that I'll make them very
often, but it was fun to try something new relating to a book
we loved.)

1.21.23
(we got to celebrate Cooper's birthday in Logan sledding
with the Elwoods. Then we came back to Gma and Gpa's and had
a chinese new year feast. This is the only pic I took that day - of Zoe
feeding Maggie her dinner. Ha!) 

1.22.23
(I remember my mom liking this one (or maybe it was one of her “books that stayed with her” from that list that we all wrote on Facebook way back when a decade or more ago ... which maybe is the same thing and maybe isn’t? 🤷🏻‍♀️). So when I spotted it during one of my DI raids, I snatched it up and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. I decided to pick it up this month for our library’s newbery challenge this month, since it’s one I haven’t ever read before. And wow! For such a slim book (less than 200 pages) it really packs a punch! There are so many emotional moments, happy and sorrowful, exciting and guilt-inducing - so many feelings written so beautifully! I really loved it and the characters and even though it is predictable and ties up with a pretty bow, it was such a delightful read!)

1.23.23
(just a fun poem from one of the poetry books we read this morning,
called Peaceful Pieces and the art is all in quilts!)

1.23.23
(another poem from a picture book from school; this one
is White Snow Bright Snow)

1.23.23
(Callie and I just finished reading this one together (my third time at least and her first and we both loved it!). It’s funny and sciencey and a little bit coming of age. And it was just a coincidence that it scores some points in our newbery reading challenge this month, too!)

1.24.23
(for Sam's math lesson, he got to make up his own
dream schedule for the day (we were doing a time unit)
and I just had to save this because it cracks me up)

1.30.23
(we've been doing a microbiology study for science.
The kids are totally grossed out!)

1.30.23
(but I'm loving it! ha!)

1.30.23
(I follow a couple of librarian bloggers, and leading up to this month’s ALA youth media awards (aka Caldecott and Newbery and all kinds of other medals) they were sharing their picks for awards. I decided to check out as many as I could just in case they happened to win. Well, the big reveal was today, and, drumroll... three that we already had checked out were Caldecott winners! Hot Dog got the medal and Knight Owl and Choosing Brave were honors. And they are all wonderful and totally worthy of their awards!)

1.30.23
(Here are some others that my librarian bloggers thought had a chance of winning.
They didn’t, but they’re still awesome.)

1.30.23
(And these are the nonfiction picture books that were suggested as possible medal winners, but didn’t come away with any prizes this time. Oh well. Still worth checking out!)

1.31.23
(Brrrrr!!!)

1.31.23
(I first heard about this book when the author was on Alan Alda’s Clear+Vivid podcast. It was an entertaining and thought provoking/mind bending conversation and this book was more of the same. Much more. It’s definitely an accessible way to be introduced to philosophy, but it made my brain hurt more than once! Haha. It took me a couple months to get through, but I’m glad I stuck with it, chipping away a chapter or so at a time.)

1.28.23
(out of order, date wise, but I'm just going to keep them all together
here at the end - this is my friend Jessie's mom holding her brand new
grandson, Jonah, Jessie's baby. Such a fun thing for me to see her as a
grandma at last!)

1.30.23
(here's baby Jonah Austin Wussow)

1.29.23
(and here's mama Jessie with her sweet little guy -
so happy for her!)

 Every other round up here (whew!):

2022: Dec | Nov | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan (I got really behind last year, but I'm working on catching up!)

2021: Dec | Nov | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2020: Dec | Nov | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar Quar + Mar | Feb | Jan
2019: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2018: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2017: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2016: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2015: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2014: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan

2013: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June

Out There {January 2023}

For such a month that was so cold and snowy (my CoCoRaHS monthly report was 25.4 inches of snowfall at our house = 5.9 inches of water!!), I'm quite surprised and pleased that most of my photos are from outdoor things. (Maybe I have as many bookish photos on the round up post . . . but that just screams January, doesn't it? Skiing and reading?! Perfection!) We did a lot of skiing, skating, walking around the neighborhood. We even broke out the snowshoes for the first time in . . . a decade? . . . at our Red Canyon weekend and for a hike later in the month with my friend. All pictured here.

2 January 2023: First Nordic Ski Day of the New Year!

And it was a zoo! The crowds have definitely increased since we started skiing there regularly, and we typically avoid weekends and holidays, but our blackout week between Christmas and New Years had passed and we were itching to get back on the hill while we were still not working/schooling. Well, everyone else in the county had the same idea and we were parked in the third lot across the street and we were there 15 minutes before the resort opened! Just another reason I love having a season pass . . . we skied a couple of runs and called it a day once the lines got super long. We'll be back later this week, when everyone else is back at school/work!

Cal and I riding up Apollo - don't know why
I've never taken a pic like this before.

Gregg and Sam ahead of us.

bonus video!

"lift line"

(this was a video of the lift line at Nordic Express, taken by our friend Evan;

we didn't even go over to that lift and I'm glad!)

This just to show what our backyard path is looking like
these days. So much snow!

4 January 2023: Back at Nordic

Just the way we like it . . . no lines, plenty of parking, the mountain to ourselves!

And some more backyard views . . . love seeing all
the snow on the seven sisters.

I was trying to get the lovely evening light on the mountains,
but it didn't show up so well in the photo.

10 January 2023: Shoveling Rain

Ick. I hate when it rains in winter. On snow. I tried to shovel the standing water on our driveway. It was insane.

bonus videos!

"shoveling rain"

11 January 2023: Backyard Shenanigans

I went out back to examine a giant limb that had broken out of our poderosa and found that the snow was deeper than my boots in some spots! We had already had a limb fall from this same tree and flatten our lilac bush, but that one looks puny compared to the most recent broken branch!

11 January 2023: Old Highway Solo Walk

It's been a while since I've been down here. It was a lovely day with some blue sky peeking out for a walk to the lake.

13 January 2023: Solo Walk on Stringtown

While the kids played in the snow at our friends' house, I walked to the end of the road (and beyond, down to the lake) and back and it was lovely.

14 January 2023: Huntsville Ice Rink

Oh brother. Here is a story of a grumpy boy. He did not want to come skating with me and Cal, but I made him come anyway "for some fresh air". He moped in a snowbank for a good long while. Then complained he was cold. Huh. Imagine that. Slowly but surely he made his way to the ice, first with just his boots, then with his skates. He needed the help of a chair for balance, but by the time Cal was tired out and ready to head home, he was going full steam and didn't want to quit. We just had to shake our heads. Silly boy.

17 January 2023: Backyard Snow

Do these count if I took them from inside? Probably not! Just wanted to document the snow levels for posterity. Gettin' deep out there!

17 January 2023: Neighborhood Walkies

But I did get out later, so I'm going to count those pics above! ;) So much snow all around the neighborhood!

It's hard to see around the piles at the intersections.

18 January 2023: Icicle Situation + Old Highway Nature Walk

That shovel was completely coated in ice! Later that afternoon, we took a nature walk at the Old Highway, and even attempted to go out on the ice on the lake, but it was super slushy at the edges and I sunk in to my calves so we turned around back on solid ground.

The snow is so deep is covering the bottom strand of
barbed wire on the fence next to the trail.

The snow is so deep that this little tunnel is barely
passable for 4 ft tall humans.

That buoy is not in water/ice, but it still looks cool to stand
next to it.

19 January 2023: Art Nord-Icebox Canyon Loop

My friend Janice from YW has been trying to get out weekly for hikes with friends and I was finally able to make one fit in my schedule. We did my fave Icebox Canyon loop, starting at Art Nord and going down toward Wheeler first, then up through Icebox, then down the old Snowbasin road back to the car. Why have I never done this in the winter?! It was magnificent! And so fun to chat all the homeschool chat with my friend. We were making great time when we decided to complete the loop at the halfway point rather than turning around and going back the way we came. This turned out to be unfortunate, because when we got out of Icebox we started noticing moose prints and droppings and soon enough, we came upon the moose himself. I'm lucky Janice was paying better attention than me because she had to yell at me to stop a couple times before I registered what was happening. For the record: she saved my life! Haha. The moose was munching trees right in the middle of the trail, so we backtracked a bit and then attempted to cross a snowy field (with a couple of ravines in the middle) to get up to the road (that somewhat parallels the trail) to make our way around the moose. Well, as we were tromping through the deep snow (thank goodness we were wearing our snowshoes after all! - the trail was very well packed down, but not the hillside!), we noticed a biker coming up the trail, heading for the moose. The next thing we knew, we had made it to the road just as the biker was going up past us, the opposite direction we wanted to go. He told us he had scared the moose off the trail . . . and onto the road! Right where we wanted to go! So we had to make another detour around him, through the snow and keeping some trees between us as best as we could. Luckily we made it back without any close encounters, but it added an hour or so onto our hike that we weren't expecting! But it was a fun story, too! And a marvelous time in the mountains!

This is when we were passing the moose
the second time. We kept these trees between
us and him, but you can barely see him there
in the middle across the road, munching trees.

Here's Janice's pic - she walked up to the edge of the trees
to snap a pic and the moose turned, looked right at her,
and took a step - freaked us right out! - and then turned
back to his trees to munch away.

This was the view as we looked back to make sure he wasn't
following us.

20 January 2023: Eden Park

We haven't been to the park forEVER, but I convinced the kids to come enjoy the sunshine for their outside time. Holy smokes! The snow is SO deep!!

Buried benches.

Short swings.

Table cave.

Chin up bar at chin level.

Dino in the deep.

Those little humps in the middle of the pic? They're
boulders marking the edge of the parking area and they
look like little puffs of snow!

It was so sparkly in the sunny day (we've had so few
of these bluebird days this month!). Didn't show up super
great in the pic, but you can pretend.

We climbed on the piles at the north end of the park,
from one end to the other.

I love these marshmallow puffs on the stumps by the
horse arena.

20 January 2023: Nordic at Night

First night skiing for me of the season. Nate brought his kids down to learn to ski and we met up with him to lend a hand and get a few turns in ourselves. It was a fun, chilly evening with the cousins!

Ski cousins! Next time, to the top of Crockett!

24 January 2023: Huntsville Ice Rink - at Night!

The Young Women were having a combined activity at the ice rink in Huntsville, and I decided to bring Cal and Sam along since they have their own skates and have been wanting to try skating there at night. They LOVED skating under the lights and didn't want to go home when it was bedtime!

no photos, just a (dark)

bonus video!

"nighttime skaters"

27 January 2023: Ski Day at the Beav!

Gregg was meeting up with some college buddies, Steve Nance and Josh Sulser, at Beaver Mountain, so we tagged along and made a fieldtrip out of it. It was dumping snow all day, which made for great powder skiing (if you like that sort of thing ;). I personally don't love powder, but even more, I don't love snowflakes flying in my eyes and making it hard to see very far in front of me. BUT, even still, I had a great time. It was so fun to be back on the mountain where I learned to ski, and to share that with my kids. Good day!

Heading up the Face Lift - my first time on this lift!

While Gregg went off with his friends, the kids and I lapped
Little Beaver, which was also a new lift since the last time I
skied here.

And when I needed a break, the kids just rode up
by themselves. (Cal is just past the tower on her way up.)

Even Sam started riding the lift by himself today!
Milestone! I tell you what - it's a gamechanger for this
old, tired, out of shape mom to let them keep skiing while
I sit out a run or two.

Melted my heart when they wanted to go up together
- just them! (I could have ridden with them since it's a triple
chair, but I got to watch from behind which was sweet.)

29 January 2023: Snowpile Status

Just needed to snap a pic of the snowpile situation in our backyard and driveway. I had a memory pop up of this week in 2018 and Cal was out in Minnie slippers with barely any snow on the ground where we had shoveled it off the driveway (scroll down to Jan 25th)! Not this year! This is the most snow I can remember in our time living here!

I mean, just look at the pile on top of the fireplace
back there! And the fence is getting so short that the kids
just hop over with hardly any climbing to play in the pasture.

31 January: Neighborhood Walk + Backyard Shenanigans

Look at that sky! That's what my mom has been calling "Severe Clear". I think it had warmed up to about 6 degrees for my walk this afternoon. Up from -17! (And it was even colder in Cache Valley this week!) But that hasn't stopped the kids from getting out multiple times each day. They've been asking to go out, and I'm definitely not going to say no to that request, even if it's 10 minutes before dinnertime. What are they doing out there? They're snowboarding on the stick pile in the backyard on Gregg's old snowboards (without bindings, just balancing). They're loving it!

bonus video!

"snowboarders"

That's our "barrel" disc golf basket and the barrel is
totally buried. Gregg measured our snowpack back here
at 32"!!