Snow Bird in Summer

This past weekend BJ had a dental conference at the Snowbird Ski Resort in Salt Lake City. Since he already had a hotel room we all decided to tag along and play while he worked. 

Though we've been to Salt Lake plenty of times, neither of us had ever been up Little Cottonwood Canyon before. My jaw was literally hanging open as we drove up this spectacular canyon! The mountains are enormous--and this coming from a girl whose used to serious mountains. And, scattered among the beautiful trees are giant slabs of granite! And, because of the season the snow on the tops of the mountains was melting which caused giant waterfalls to pour off the mountain and into a rushing crystal-blue river beneath. It was truly spectacular!

Anyway, we arrived at the lodge and I took the kids swimming while BJ had his evening meeting. The following day the kids and I went on a little walk then down into SLC to go to the zoo (pictured above). 

The zoo was a big hit! The kids seemed to be at the perfect age to really love seeing live animals. Even Lily who I wasn't sure would realize what was going on absolutely lit up every time she spotted an animal. She would point and clap and squeal in delight. She would imitate their sounds and it was just SO cute! 

The kids got to see grizzly bears and polar bears swimming, a gorilla eating, monkey's playing, and elephants drinking, and giraffes...giraffing. It was a great time and we were so glad we went!

Here are the boys, waiting to ride the zoo's train

Hangin' out with the lions

The polar bear was incredible! We got a tip to go straight to the polar bear exhibit and boy was it worthwhile! When we arrived the bear was performing for the crowd. He would swim right up to the glass and look right into our faces! I caught a pic of him right as he passed Lily. She LOVED it and would clap and giggle and wave every time he passed.

Benson Boy in front some of the beautiful scenery of the resort.

Benson and McKay on our morning walk in the canyon

Little Lily chillin' in her carseat. She was a good little traveler on our big trip!

Swimming lessons

Here are the kids playing in the backyard of Miss Mary Jane's house during swimming lessons. She has an awesome backyard with a trampoline, water table and slide so the kids were well-entertained while waiting for their turn in the pool.

McKay's class on their last day. McKay is in the black goggles.

Benson-Boy posing in his swimming suit.

McKay learned to swim under Miss Mary Jane's instruction and is now a regular fish. He can jump off the diving board and swim the length of the pool. Way to go!

On the very last day of swimming lessons Benson figured it out too! His teacher helped him swim back and forth from the stairs to herself and he really got it! So proud of these little swimmers. :)

A Narrow Miss

I think this phrase is widely over-used in the LDS culture but today there was just no other phrase to quite describe it. We had a "tender mercy" in our family today.

Benson and McKay are in swimming lessons and both doing quite well. McKay is basically swimming independently and Benson is getting better all the time. He is learning to breath correctly, back-float, and is working on his strokes. However, he definitely cannot swim alone yet. 

Both boys love their teachers, as do I. The head teacher is a friend of mine and she has an assistant that is great with the kids. Today though, Benson gave us all a scare.

At the end of Benson's class, just before free swim time, the head teacher was standing on one side of the pool with all the kids. The assistant was standing 3/4 of the way across the pool to assist the kids as they swam across. They would swim to the first teacher, then to the second teacher, then to the steps. Though they were working in the shallow end, the water was above the children's heads unless the children were on the steps.

I attend the swim lessons which are in my friend's backyard but spend most of the time chasing Lily who seems bound and determined to either crash swim class or break her neck on the trampoline. She pretty much consumes all my attention, so I'm lucky if I actually see the boys doing much of anything.

However, in what I know was Divine Intervention, that "tender mercy" I was describing, I happened to be walking next to the pool just as Benson did his last crossing. I paused to watch him. He did well swimming to Teacher 1 and Teacher 2. 

Teacher 2 did just what she had done with the other kids, giving Benson a push toward the stairs and then turned her back to catch the next child. This had been working well but somehow Benson didn't get enough momentum as he pushed off from her. Instead of reaching the stairs where he was safe, he made it halfway to them and then sank like a rock. He tried to swim, tried to bounce up for air as he'd been taught, but he just wasn't making it. He was beginning to drown. 

Both teachers were occupied with the on-coming students and couldn't see that behind them my little boy was drowning. It was only a few seconds but in deep water with a panicked child, that's all it takes. 

My heart jumped up into my throat and once I overcame the shock of realizing what was happening, I began pointing and shouting to Teacher 2 who was closest to him. I was about to jump in myself when I caught teacher 2's attention and she rescued a terrified, water-choked Benson.

He coughed up a lot of water but was okay and even participated in the free swim time, once he'd recovered. 

He was an incredibly brave boy today, but more than that, he was a blessed boy today. I am so grateful to have been there at that moment. Sometimes moments don't really matter and sometimes they are everything. Thanks to Heavenly Father for letting me be there in one of those most significant moments. 

Park City Fun!

This weekend we headed up to Park City to have some fun with Grandma Cox and the cousins! It was absolutely beautiful! We played at the park every day and the kids loved being outside without roasting!

Here we are at the base of the Alpine Slide! Benson rode with me and McKay rode with BJ. They were both a little nervous at the bottom but LOVED it on the way down! 

They were pretty excited! On the way down the mountain Benson said, "Mom, dis isn't scawy, dis is fun!" Then, as I was looking out across the beautiful vista below us, taking in the breath-taking scenery Benson shouted, "I know Mom, I'm Batman and we're in the Batmobile! You can be Batgiwl and we're chasing the bad guys!" We spent the rest of the way down the mountain chasing and yelling at those bad guys. I think we even caught them at the bottom! 

Lily was a little small for the mountain thrills so she stayed safely at the bottom with Grandma and Taly and enjoyed an ice cream instead.

Hopping on the ski lift to ride to the top of the mountain

Daddy and McKay just before take-off!

Park City in the summer is one of my favorite places. It's cool, quaint, yet still has great shopping, restaurants, and fun things to do. During our visit we shopped, ate out, went to a movie, swam, and played at the park. It was so much fun to relax and enjoy our kids and their cousins!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's day breakfast for a beautiful lady who doesn't care much for breakfast.