The cats are in that stage of life where Atticus is a big kitten who has boundless energy and Arlo is a young adult who doesn’t want to put up with it. Atticus wakes me up in one of two ways: by pouncing on sleeping Arlo and making him yowl in annoyance, or by flopping down on my neck and purring with his loud motor vibrating through my bones. They are both very loving and can snuggle their humans for hours when in the mood.
Having a friend with a Jeep means we get to explore parts of Utah that are otherwise very difficult to reach. It’s often just me and the boys, now that I’ve befriended my husband’s friends. If we’re not hiking obscure trails, then we’re staying out late on a Saturday night hanging out, and that’s when the other girls tag along.
I've been out of the home for 7 years now, so I decided it was about time I start my own Easter traditions. I rounded up the Utah siblings and cousins and, after a week of me visiting the store way too many times for eggs, candy, gifts and baskets, we shared a fun morning. Mama was kind enough to ship games for everyone via Amazon, and I set up the baskets with everyone's favorite sweet treats. I tried to get the GOOD stuff for the Easter eggs: Ghirardelli dark chocolate salted caramel bunnies, Reese's mini eggs, dark chocolate kisses, cookies'n'creme kisses, Starbust jellybeans, Nerds gummy clusters, and berry-flavored sour gummy worms for Dallin. For breakfast, we made sourdough waffles and other Lundgreen family favorites. Then we opened our gifts and sat around the couch for a game. Some of the eggs had two slips of paper, a truth and a dare. You could choose if you preferred the truth or the dare, and then you gave the other slip of paper to trade with another person to get a good laugh.
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| Rachel's interpretive dance of human life, beginning with "emerging from the womb." |
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| Dallin drinking lemon juice without making a face. |
One of the many gems of Utah biosphere is Goblin Valley within the San Rafael Desert.
The rock formations in Goblin Valley, upon first glance, appear to defy logic. The massive rocks topping thousands of "hoodoos," "goblins," or "mushrooms," seem to teeter precariously on foundations of silty red-bronze stone.
Dallin and I left at 5 AM on Saturday with our friends Mug and Michael and drove 3 hours to beat the spring crowds and summer heat. Then we just started exploring! There are some trails, but mostly it was just climbing around. After a few hours we returned to the entrance and followed a separate path to a massive cave. The landscape completely changed over a couple hundred yards; instead of red sandstone hoodoos it was white sand finer than dust, desert flora and towering mounts of striped strata. The cave was a cool respite from the rising afternoon heat.
As we got back in the car, I asked, "Alright! Where are we headed next weekend?!"
About Me
Katie Urness
SLP, Wife, and Mama
Welcome to Kate of the Desert! I've shared my life stories here since 2008. Here you may find the dramatic musings of an 11-year-old, the romanticized tales of a high schooler, the adventures of a young adult living in Hawaii and Europe, the journeys of marriage and motherhood, and all the ups and downs in between. Read More
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