Spring Break

Well, maybe it isn't Cancun or Hawaii, but at least I'm kicking back and putting my feet up.  It's spring break at last (or already!) and I don't really know how to enjoy it best.  It's tempting to just sit down in a comfy chair and do nothing.  On the other hand, there are projects beckoning, dirty corners crying for attention, and interesting places to go tugging at my mind and don't forget taxes.  We've let ours go until the last because we'll owe some and who wants to pay that too far in advance of the deadline?  So far I've had three days of relative quiet - took Norma and Kimmi to a play, spent Sunday reading with a few minutes of yard work thrown in to prove I wasn't completely lazy.  I spent this morning going over all the stacked up paperwork that needs attention.  Tomorrow is tax day and Wednesday I'm going in to work (yeah, it bites, but there are things that must be done when there are no kids there).  Thursday so far is free.  Mike is home on Friday and we're contemplating an overnight run out to Park City or even just downtown SLC.  I love quiet times at home, though, so I'm thinking I'll recharge right here in my nice comfy chair after all.  That is until Sean shows up to work on the coffee table/display case for the Millennium Falcon.  Happy spring, everybody.  I wish you a couple of days off with nothing much to do.

Now We Find Out

I have managed to lose the entire set of photos from our summer vacation.  I know I made a disk for someone, so they're out there somewhere.  I just don't have them anywhere here.  Not on my miraculous tiny jump drive, not on my computer, not on my camera and not on Mike's computer upstairs.  Likewise I haven't burned myself a copy of them and I didn't transfer them to the portable hard drive where all our other memories reside.  I'm really chapped by this and I've decided it's not so much the memories I've managed to lose.  It's the idea that I CAN'T FIND THEM.  So now we find out just how important that is to me.  Will I a) let it go gracefully knowing that they may turn up if the universe deems it appropriate, b) ask around to see if anyone might have them and then just wait it out, or c) keep digging like a crazed dog for a bone.  Yup.  It'll be C, I'm thinkin'.

Introducing Athena

 

Welcome Athena.  For those of you who can't immediately recognize it - Athena is about one year old, domestic shorthair kitty who is absolutely adorable.  Welfycat is head over heels in love with her.

New House for Sean

We've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks.  Sean and Andrew finally signed on their first house.  There were some last minute issues with the financing but it resolved itself and they officially spent their first night in their new home on Tuesday, January 12.  They still don't have a stove, microwave, or refrigerator.  Lots of take out pizza and Subway sandwiches.  Mike and I have been helping them move things as well as installing blinds, sewing curtains, and installing everything from curtain rods to smoke detectors.  We're even helping build a wine rack and tray storage for their kitchen.  It's a nice little house and I hope they'll be happy there.  A big party is being planned for sometime late in January - if we all survive the move-in.  Here are the photos, though I realize I don't have a photo of the outside yet.

Looking out of the living room

Main floor bathroom

 Kitchen (what there is of it)

Living room and dining area

There are two bedrooms and a bath on the main floor and another two bedrooms and bath downstairs along with a nice sized family room and an open area for the washer and dryer.  The person they bought from "flipped" the house so he cut a few corners.  But all in all it's nice and they're over the moon.  I hope that feeling lasts through the first round of payments!

Congratulations, Sean and Andrew.

Ta Da!!!!!

Holiday Stuff

I could have titled this post "Strange things on people's heads."



Or maybe "Where did all the other people go?"


Nope, I think I'll call it "We finally got everyone in a photo and no one is scowling."

Happy Holidays, Everyone!
From the Welfys

Winter Outing Worth the Drive

Ever since Anna has been in Logan we've talked about going out to Hardware Ranch to see the elk. Mike and I have never been out there. So last weekend we went up to see Anna and Tay and talked them into going out there with us. It's a half hour drive from their house up the canyon through Hyrum to the place they feed the elk. The drive was lovely, snow on the sides of the road, but none on the road itself. The air was cold but not windy. We found the visitors' center and bought tickets to go on the sleigh ride out to the pasture where they feed. You can see plenty from the side of the road if you didn't want to take the ride, though.

That day there were about 300 elk on the meadow - mostly cows and older calves with two or three bulls. The wagons were wearing their "dry" tires rather than their sleigh treads so it was a little bumpy. The ride is about 20 minutes long and the driver and guide both know lots about the elk, the ranch, and the horses that pull the sleigh. If you haven't gone out there it's a great little getaway. I bet all my friends and family with little kids would love it. I was surprised it only cost us $5 per adult and children are less or free if they're very young. They have a small dining area in the visitors' center where you can eat a picnic lunch (we stopped at Burger King before coming up the canyon) and real bathrooms - the kind with heat and air dryers. It was all in all a great experience.