Oh. My. Gosh. What a winter Utah had. I would like to think I could have written sooner if I wasn’t so busy sending skiers out to ski and shoveling snow. Utah set an all time snowfall record this season with 30 inches of snow water equivalent. I imagine that doesn’t mean much to most people so here is a graph:
The black line is this season plotted against the averages and max since the current record keeping methods were adopted. It was pretty insane. Also of note, several ski resorts had their longest seasons EVER. Avalanche control was more than a bit serious, and spring flooding was a very strong possibility. Now being on the tail end of the snowmelt season, I’m happy to report our reservoirs are up and it seems most of the infrastructure held up to the spring run off. Many thanks to the continued diligence of everyone clearing debris and keeping tabs on things. Hats off to everyone who worked their butts off this winter to clear the roads, mitigate avalanche danger, and keep everything open and running.
This winter William learned to ski! SkiUtah has a program available for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders 
where a season pass is $55 and gives them access to 3 visits to each resort in Utah. If one could manage to make use of all the available resorts and days this would equate to 45 ski days for $55. Of course this program counts on getting them involved while they are young so they will some day be season pass buyers. The program also knows they will mostly likely be accompanied by a paying adult, although a few resorts do throw in a free adult pass as well. William managed to get in 11 ski days this season which is a pretty solid outing. He skied with Jason, Grandpa Lee, Aunt Autumn, and the California cousins. We made use of free days, discounts, and buddy passes as much as we could to lessen the cost a bit. After a record setting winter, SkiUtah has accomplished its goal and Jason has purchased season passes for all 4 of the next year (2 of which were cheap passes for 4th and 6th grade through SkiUtah). Let’s hope there is good snow again next year!
Mid January we FINALLY got the Koenig grandparents to Southern Utah. We’ve been saying they needed to see Southern Utah since my brother and I drove out in 2004, and finally 19 years later we got it partially accomplished. We got an AirBnb in Green River, UT (the saddest town in the
middle of no where) and spent an extended weekend showing them Arches National Park, Goblin Valley, and Little Wildhorse Canyon. Although it rained and snowed overnight and while driving, during the day the weather held out long enough for us to get out and explore. Compared to WI in January, they found the weather quite pleasant. We managed to hike the grandparents through a slot canyon and no one died. Mom was a poor listener and sure did try, but we all made it out in one piece. It was also the first outing for Jason’s Pilot with the roof top box and it worked out really well to get the 7 of us and all our stuff to and from Southern Utah. The next trip needs to be in the direction of Zion National Park and the red rocks of St. George. Hopefully our next outing is MUCH sooner than the 19 years it took to make this first one.
Partially due to the record setting winter, we decided it was a good year to get away for Spring Break. We settled on another trip to San Diego after really enjoying our time there 4 years ago. My travel anxiety enjoys familiarity and we ended up staying on the same block we did last time 
around. (I tried to get the same house but it was unavailable). What a difference 4 years makes when traveling with kids. Nobody needs a nap, nobody has an epic meltdown if dinner is 30 minutes late, and everybody for the most part can settle in and sleep well on vacation. This year we took the kids to the Fleet Science Center and the San Diego Zoo. The weather was in the 60’s and sunny which we thought was great since our house got an additional foot of snow while we were away. We visited tide pools, saw the seals at Children’s Beach, splashed in a VERY cold ocean and played in the sand. The boys were introduced to a special place called “Coldstone Creamery”. William asked if it was “just a California thing” and was darned excited to learn it exists in Utah as well. Grandma Laura was tipped off and got them Coldstone gift certificates for their birthdays.
This year’s annual Baxter birthday bash was hosted in April at the Dimple Dell Rec Center Party Room and pool. I outdid myself and made 3 Gravity Falls themed cakes as it is a show all 3 of the boys have really enjoyed. As Jason called it “The 2023 Cake World Cup”. I spend about 360 days a year not caring one bit about cake making and then become absolutely obsessed for those other 5 days. The boys seem to get a kick out of it. A kid-friend was at our house the first day I started cake making and he was brainstorming how I would be making each cake. Christopher piped up, “Don’t worry about it, my Mom always figures it out and they always look great.”. I really hope this is a fun memory they have of their birthdays in the future.
Once the unending winter finally ended, garden season was upon us. It was one of the prettier springs I can remember in our yard. Winter was a bit hard on the roses, but everything else really 
enjoyed the extra winter moisture. We had a nice stretch of cool weather so some of the spring perennials enjoyed an extended bloom. Some years it seems like the minute they bloom it gets so hot they only last 3 days or are pounded by wind/rain/hail at just the wrong time. This year the early spring perennial season in my yard seemed perfect. After moving all the raised beds last year, our big garden project for the year was setting up more semi-permanent drip irrigation by running PVC to each bed with a dedicated shut off and drip line manifold. It really got rid of the rats next of tangled drip line and so far I’ve been really happy with it. My main gardening focus this year is growing dahlias. We constructed a 4ft wide by 6ft tall tunnel along one side of the yard to provide some shading for the majority of this year’s dahlia crop during the peak summer heat. I did rush the tubers into the ground a bit, but all 40 of them seem to be growing pretty robustly at this point. Last year I had about a dozen plants and gave away 60+ bouquets, with 40 plants this year I should be able to hand out flowers to absolutely anyone who wants them. Already looking forward to flower season smiles!
The end of the school year is always intense and this year was no different. May-cember as I’ve heard some people call it. All the busy-ness of a holiday season culminating in the last day of school rather than Christmas morning. This May brought teacher appreciation week for PTA, an end of year performance in the park, the school carnival, and the majority of our rec soccer season. Rec soccer season seemed cool and rainy this year but was enjoyed by the boys enough to commit to another year. As the real icing on my May cake, I was gifted a cold by one of our boys for Mother’s Day and generally felt like poo the 2nd half of the month. BUT. WE. MADE. IT. Instead of celebrating a kindergarten graduate like we did last year, we celebrated a 5th grader who moves on to middle school next year. It was bittersweet knowing we were saying goodbye to matching backpacks and having all 3 boys at the same school. I have no doubt William will flourish in middle school but there’s a certain innocence of elementary school I will miss.
Another fun summer antidote is “Vermin Cam”. Vermin cam started as a spare security camera given to us by a cousin several years ago. It had not seen the light of day until this spring when I was trying to decide if something was eating birdseed in our yard at night–thus the name “Vermin Cam”. Since the boys spend some semi-unsupervised time in the basement on summer break while Jason and I work, vermin cam has been repurposed to watch the basement TV room. Jason figured since we were watching the boys, we wouldn’t even have to change the name. Vermin cam so far has helped explain why there’s so much popcorn to vacuum out of the cushions, if the screaming is happy or sad, and that often nobody is doing much at all.
That brings us up to this first weekend of June and the annual Baxter family reunion. This year again finds us at the Arcadia Resort in Santa Clara, UT courtesy of Garth and Maydene. The townhouses set up here are perfect for this kind of thing and the weather was hot but not the same oppressive heat we encountered last year. The boys were absolutely thrilled that the California cousins were able to attend this year. They have spent 2 1/2 days rotating between the pool, ice cream treats, board games, watching movies and generally running amuck. Everyone smells like sunscreen and popsicles. Nighttime has been a bit difficult as they are so overstimulated they’re having trouble sleeping and therefore we’re all having trouble sleeping. Adults have napped as needed and engaged in conversations and reminiscing. In between visiting sessions I have found a secluded patio to recharge and catch up on some blogging. I tried to tell my father-in-law it was our little secret introvert balcony but the secret seems to have slipped out. I can’t blame them as the view really is to die for.
Looking forward to the rest of our summer adventures. Happy June everyone!