Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2020 August

Yesterday we drove from the cabin to Heber where we rented a side-by-side and enjoyed the trails in Wasatch State Park. It was a lot of fun. We say some deer, some wild turkeys, and elk, and drove through some pools of water. We all had a good time, though I’m glad I wasn’t driving.

After the off road adventure, we went to the Homestead Crater for a soak in the hot spring. It was lovely. Then we grabbed some groceries and left civilization again. Wally spent nearly 8 hours hanging out in the bathroom and he was glad to see us, but no worse for wear.

Loving another cabin stay, John and I doing hikes most mornings. We’re becoming very familiar with all the trails within four miles of the cabin.

We went to Snowbird again on our second Utah trip this summer. We brought our nephew Franco with us. This time the tunnel was open so we took the lift up and walked through the tunnel and hiked around among the wildflowers a bit. We handed out chocolate-frosted peanut butter rice krispie treats and while hiking around and having our snack, I heard Sienna say to her cousin, "Aren't my parents awesome??"

Arthur loves math and is so dang good at it. He was doing first grade Prodigy with Sienna during distance learning in the spring. Just now I told Maggie and Dalton to be in bed at 8 and he asked me “what o clock is it?” When I told him it was 7:30 he said “Maggie and Dalton have thirty more minutes.”

I am not feeling It today. Life, the universe, and everything. Bleh.

Last night John and I went with some friends to the Taste of Knott’s food festival at Knott’s berry farm. It was a lot of fun, the food was mostly really good, and it was nice to hang out with our friends. But mostly it was nice to DO something. California is still almost completely shut down and for people who like to go places and do things, it’s been pretty boring. The festival was limited attendance, required a health screening, monitored social distancing in food lines, was out doors, and we had to wear masks unless we were sitting down eating. So it all felt safe. I hope we can find more things to do.

My friend recommended a book called The Power of Moments. I devoured it and John is also reading it. The book explains how to create more memorable moments in your life. Chiefly relevant to us, and the children were raising, are moments of elevation, which can be made by adding sensory elements, or surprise, that sort of thing. We’re trying to plan more fun things for our kids since life is kind of boring right now. I tend to be the soul-sucking voice of reason, but luckily I’m married to a fun, creative, out of the box thinker.