Winter Wonderland and Some Furry Friends

 It has been snowing off and on and then mostly on for the last few days and this morning we had about a foot of snow in our yard.  I think a lot more than that has fallen, but it has melted and settled a lot in between storms because it's really not that cold.  One of my friends was inviting all her kids and their families over today for Christmas dinner on their Christmas dishes. 

 For some reason the critters were out in force this afternoon. Besides our striped friend and the foxes, we saw pheasants, Canadian geese (who disappeared as soon as the foxes appeared) and some circling hawks.  We saw all of these in the 20 minutes or so that we were doing the dishes after our Sunday meal.  The water district pond in back of our pond is an attractive place for the Canadian geese in the spring, but I think it is obvious why we never saw any baby geese last year.  Too bad the geese didn't learn their lesson because at least two of them are back so far this year.  They are fun to watch, but I don't think it's a very safe place to nest.  The fox in the last picture is just staring at the pond.  Between the foxes and the skunks I'm sure any eggs don't stand a chance.  Ahh, nature.

Perspective

As long as you only look at parts...

and not the whole...

our yard looks fine, but stand back...

and it's another story! We've got some new landscaping projects in the works (like redoing the whole front yard) so while most yards around town are becoming more beautiful by the day this spring, ours is pretty much an eyesore. Sorry, neighbors!

I Looked out the Window and What Did I See?

I think I'll stay inside!

Beus Pond

Do you have a favorite place? One of mine is a little spot called Beus Pond not far from our house. It has a large grass field and a playground, but my favorite part is the pond circled by a walking path and surrounded by trees. It's a very restful place, but not a very quiet place because of all the ducks and geese honking and quacking. Matthew and I like to go there on summer evenings. He takes his bike (he learned to ride without training wheels there a couple of years ago) and we just go round and round. I'll be sad when he gets too big to want to go with me anymore. Spring is a fun time to go to Beus Pond because of the baby ducks and geese, but I think fall is my favorite. It's my kids' least favorite, because that's when I drag them all there to take millions of pictures. (The family picture at the top of our blog was taken there last October.) The colors are so beautiful, I tell them it would be irresponsible of us not to!

A couple of nights ago John, Matt, and I found ourselves alone for the evening while the older kids were off busy with other things. We decided to take a little picnic to Beus Pond together. Matt and John got in a little soccer practice, and we made sure the ducks and geese weren't starving.

This goose was a little too friendly!

I need to know these parents' secret for keeping their kids in line!

Mighty Matt!

Spring in Utah!

Monday we went on a beautiful hike with sunshine and blue skies. Yesterday I sat at Scott's soccer game in the rain and watched him turn a white uniform almost pure brown, and today I took this picture out my back door! I don't know whether to laugh or cry!