This Blog’s for the Moms

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmas, aunts, and motherly figures in the Swatson universe! We love you and miss you and hope you are celebrating yourselves today!

Since we couldn’t be with our own moms this weekend, we decided to celebrate me not being a mom by going camping. We’re slowly working our way through the state parks in Pootah. This weekend was Jordanelle State Park, about an hour southeast of where we live, closer to Park City.

Many of Pootah’s state parks are summertime destinations because their focal points are reservoirs. Jordanelle is one of many parks that fall into this category. It was pretty, but cold, and you could tell the water levels were very low compared to what they once were. We got to camp Saturday evening and went exploring on foot before setting up camp.

We’re pretty sure this whole section of beach should be underwater. Even Google Maps had our location pin in the middle of water here.

After our little stroll, we set up camp. We’re getting pretty good at setting up shop efficiently in high winds. This campground had an RV section and a tent only section. We were in the tent only section and only had two neighbors. Naturally, all three couples staying at the entire campground had sites right next to each other.

The couple next to us were belting out some duets along with the playlist they were listening to, which would have been really obnoxious except for the fact that their playlist was halfway decent. I was a bit upset when some classic Shania Twain came on and they skipped the songs! I know she’s a Scientologist now (I think I read that somewhere, anyway), but you can’t skip the classics.

We had burgers for dinner and built an epic fire, not without our fair share of struggles to get it started. I was on fire-tending duty tonight, which was pretty fun. We stayed up until the fire went out and called it a night.

Pre-fire views

Several matches and fire starters later…

This photo doesn’t do the glow from the coals justice.

Good morning

We went for another walk in the morning, made some breakfast, and headed home so that I could write this blog post for you.

Last weekend, we cashed in Ian’s birthday present and went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. Salt Lake City only has two major league sports teams - the Utah Jazz in the NBA and Real Salt Lake (RSL) in Major League Soccer. I bought Ian and I nosebleed tickets for his birthday. Soccer fans are a bit over-the-top, but it was surprisingly entertaining to watch.

Certain sections of the stands are reserved for more intense fans, including an entire band with drums and brass instruments who quite literally paraded around the stadium and played music during the game. In the last few minutes of the game, the away team scored a goal to tie things up 1-1, which was rather disheartening even if we really didn’t care about who won or lost. Then, things got real interesting when the goal was overturned and RSL won the game. It was all very exciting in the moment.

We took the Trax for the first time to get to the game, which was super easy. The Trax is an above ground train, almost like a trolley. I’m used to the DC Metro, which is oftentimes a nightmare, so riding the Trax was a breeze. There’s a stop 3/4 of a mile away from our house, which we frequently walk near. We hopped on at that stop, rode the train for all of five minutes, then walked 10 minutes to the stadium. It was so easy. This stadium isn’t even downtown either; it’s in Sandy, which is the next suburb north of us. We could have driven there in 15, maybe 20 minutes, but getting there and back without having to drive or deal with traffic was kind of nice.

We sat in the top row of the upper deck.

So much fanfare at the beginning of the game

Cheap seats = birds-eye view

It was Star Wars day at the game. And they say never meet your heroes…

Let’s see, what else has happened.

We accidentally bought more plants at Home Depot, so now we have a grand total of 14 plant babies.

I had my 90-day review at work, which went went. It’s hard to believe I’ve already worked there for basically the same amount of time I worked at the horse place. Now, I can use PTO and open a 401(k), so that’s fun.

I hit a personal record in the gym - I can deadlift more than my body weight, which is cool.

Ian and I went a little overboard at the library the other day and got way more books than we can probably ever read before they’re due. We kind of fell off the reading train in April, but are diving back in pretty aggressively.

Sam turned 15 on the 4th, and I don’t want to talk about how weird that is.

I got stuck late at work at one of the facilities on Friday, so instead of sitting in traffic for over an hour, I went for a walk at the park nearby first.

We were the only two people at the pickleball courts yesterday morning. My commute used to take me over those mountains to get to the horse place.

You ever see a margarita pizza with one giant cheese blob like that? It was delicious.

Ian in his chair with his plant babies (there are more on that windowsill now). His hair is getting longer and he’s been super into those headbands.

I think that’s it. We’ve got more camping plans coming up in May and June, and are excited to do more hiking as the weather gets warmer and the snow melts in the mountains.

Until next time, Happy Mother’s Day!