Trains and Lights and Fun, Oh My!

Continuing our tradition of riding the train to see the lights (2nd year for our little Blanchard fam!), we set out after Sam's nap on Tuesday the 19th, getting to the Front Runner station with just a few minutes to spare.  We quickly settled into our seat (with a table!) and promptly broke out the UNO cards for a quick game.  Sam won.  Then, because watching out the window was so much more fun than playing a card game (even though this is the kids' most favorite card game of all time currently), Gregg found a "road trip bingo" app that he downloaded and which brought 45 minutes of pure enjoyment as we all looked for things like flying birds, "earth movers", and do not litter signs (never saw one of those).  

We got off at the North Temple station and walked a couple of blocks to Crown Burgers for dinner.  Delish!  By then, it was just about time for the lights to turn on at Temple Square.  As we approached the Conference Center, we saw more and more trees light up.  We popped into the Church History Museum for a potty break and to see if the nativities were on display like they used to be when I was a little lass.  (They had some on display in the gift shop, but they were also for sale, and not quite the same as I remembered.)  

Back outside we wandered through the very un-crowded and not-too-cold square, admiring all the lights and big nativities.  We stopped in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to see the beautiful, giant tree and gawk at the long line of people waiting to buy something from the #lighttheworld vending machine.  (I don't think it was quite as long as days or times, but it was definitely not a short wait.)  We wandered back through Temple Square and out the west side in time to run to catch the Trax Green Line back to North Temple.  

There we had a few minutes wait (filled by riding/racing up and down the escalators and elevator) before the train came to take us back to Ogden.  We couldn't play bingo anymore because it was too dark, but Sam beat us again in two more games of UNO before the kids turned totally loopy climbing on the seats and playing peek-a-boo with Dad.

We were back home by (a little later than usual) bedtime.  I don't know which was the bigger highlight - so many lights or two long train rides.  But I do know we all had a delightful time.

My favorite red tree!

If a Tree is Sawed Down in Your Back Yard, Does it Make a Sound?

Short Answer: Yes.

Long Answer: In mid November we received an email from our property manager that said, "Hello. We will be removing the large willow on the front side of the home November 27th. The willow in the back yard will be trimmed up. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!"  Well, that was a bit of a mystery to us since neither of the trees in the "front" of the house are willows (I honestly wonder if any of our trees are "willows" but I'm not a botanist).  We had a few things in the yard that needed to be moved (swing set, lift chair) before any major tree removal happened, but since we weren't sure exactly which trees were being taken care of and our emails to our property manager were never returned, we just had to wait and see and be ready for anything.  We moved the chair into a little shed/shack in the back yard.  The swing set (the slide/play house part anyway) came inside.  (Yes, we have a slide in our house.  And it's awesome!  But that is another story.)

November 27th came and I heard voices outside and saw people wandering around inspecting the trees.  The main guy told me he was actually the backup tree guy - since the original tree guy's chipper was broken down in the canyon ("it's really bad") he was going to be taking over the job.  But not till Friday (the 1st).  At least we now knew exactly which trees he was working on: the big one in the back (I guess it's a willow?) that leans over the house (and had been the site of Gregg's chair) was going to be removed (hallelujah!) and the one on the side was being trimmed (also good news).

Friday came and went and we had our own tree cutting experience.  But nobody ever came to work on our big problem trees.  Finally on Monday, the 4th, the crew was back, this time with a chipper and a giant cherry picker lift.  Then the fun began.  For three days we had sawdust and branches and logs (!) raining down on our yard, and sounds of chainsaws and giant thumps serenading us all day long.  Finally, the last ginormous chunk of trunk was popped off the stump and sawed into smaller (but still huge) chunks and loaded up and carried away.  All we have left is a massive stump (when I stand in the middle and stretch out my arms it's about that wide) and a layer of sawdust covering every surface in our back yard.  And don't forget the craters in the frozen ground made by the log chunks pounding the ground continually.

It was definitely an entertaining (I didn't think Sam and Cal were paying attention, but I heard a big thump outside and then from Sam "that a big one!" and when I peeked in the living room, he and Cal were sitting at the window eating crackers and watching the show) and educational few days. While we'll definitely miss the shade from that big old tree, I'm definitely grateful it's gone (and that I didn't have to pay to have it removed!).  Phew!

Day one: we got back from the library and they'd already
gotten rid of a bunch of the branches.

On the ground crew helper guy guides a big branch
tied to a rope to the ground.

Watching from the living room - here's another
big branch tied to a rope to be lowered safely down.

Monday evening the tree looked like this.

Tuesday morning the logs started raining down.

bonus videos!

"thud!"

(the second video, the longest one, isn't that exciting, really, because

I had to turn to stir something on the stove and of course that's when

that big chunk fell.  I heard and felt it for sure, but didn't even get to see it,

let alone record it, darn it!)

By the end of Tuesday, the tree looked like
this.  I was worried they were going to leave
the stump like this, but they just moved on
to the back/side tree branch trimming so they
could return the cherry picker machine and not
have to rent it for one more day.

And at last, that last piece is off the base.
They made quick work of it, sawing it into
movable chunks.  And now we're left with sawdust
for days!

Grandma's Gingerbread

Gingerbread House Day was Saturday, December 9th at my Grandpa and Grandma Elwood's house.  Grandma used to make gingerbread for all the grandkids who would be at the decorating party, but in recent years, my mom has stepped up to help out (since the grands now have greats, it takes a lot more gingerbread than it used to!).  Heather and my aunt Nikie each made a batch, too, I think.  So many hands make light work.  Grandma still whipped up the frosting and provided the candy bin full of treasures to decorate with.  While some of my cousins/uncles opted for the hot glue route to set up their structures, we stuck with the traditional frosting way.  (It's not nearly as unstable as it used to be when we were little.  Plus, all the better to eat with hot cider when we're done displaying them after Christmas!)

Callie was so excited and had a vision of exactly what she wanted her house to look like, courtesy of a picture of a gingerbread house in her National Geographic Kids magazine she loves to read.  She brought the picture with her, for reference, but I think Cal's house ended up even better than her inspiration.  :)  

Sam didn't remember decorating a house before now, so he was in awe of all the candy surrounding him that he could touch, stick on, and sneak into his mouth when Mom wasn't watching.

We finished the afternoon off with a yummy soup dinner before heading our separate ways.  I love this tradition (going on fifty something years strong!).

Cal, Kim, Heatha, Grace, Ky, Michale, Megan, Bradley, Nate,
Evy, Sam, Chiara, Taylor, Macie, MaKinna, Emory - quite a
construction crew, if I ever saw one!

Cal's on the left, Sam's on the right.
(I'm glad I took a picture when I set them up because Callie has
been eating the candy off hers as an "after lunch treat" almost
every day since!)

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

We toyed with the idea of driving to Colorado to pick out a Christmas tree again this year, but we ultimately decided that while fun, that might not be the best use of our time/gas money.  So I started researching into tree permits a little closer to home.  I had heard of so many that are sold out so quickly from various locations in Utah.  But one place always seems to have plenty, no matter where I looked or who I talked to: Evanston.  My first thought when I think of Evanston as a spot to get a tree permit is, "what trees?"  But it turns out you actually go into the forest along the Mirror Lake Highway, which is full of beautiful trees.  And Evanston is a lot closer than Edwards.  Sold!

Gregg took Friday the 1st off work and we loaded up the car with all the essentials for tree hunting: ropes, sled, snow gear.  Notice something missing from that list?  Yeah, a saw.  Oops.  Luckily we realized it was missing just as we were buying our permit at the Last Chance Sinclair station on highway 150.  So we turned around and made a quick stop at Walmart, where we also purchased some new Christmas lights for the tree since last year's all our others went kaput.  Then we headed back down the Mirror Lake Highway, where we turned off onto a little forest road for a few miles.  We found the perfect spot where we could park the car and wander around a few hundred feet radius around the car, looking at all the perfect little green Christmas trees.  The pamphlet said that most of the trees in the area were lodgepole pines, but we were able to find some lovely firs that were just right.

We tied our pick to the top of the car and made our journey back home, where we brought it inside (to Sam's complete surprise - "Tree in house?!"), lit it with our new lights, and covered it in memories and decorations.  I'm sure I say it every year, but this one is my favorite tree of any that we've ever had.

It was a glorious bluebird day, with just enough snow on the ground
to make our boots and sled useful.

I spy Gregg in there with a saw.

She's a snow angel extraordinaire.

This is his first Christmas tree in memory, so
it was fun to watch him figure out what was going
on.

Cal was a pro decorator (and re-decorator, all
month long).

Checkin' out the holiday specs that make the lights
look like gingerbread men or candy canes.

Christmas tree magic achieved.