Spring in Utah

It has been so fun to live in a completely different part of the country to see what each new season brings and how it is different from home. Spring in Salt Lake started the last week of March. The first glimmer we noticed were the beautiful tulips blooming in our back yard and the return of green grass.

Such a fun surprise to see rows of tulips we didn't know were there!

More tulips in the front

At Heritage Park, spring also means baby animals! Rivers and I had so much fun meeting (and holding) baby chicks, baby ducks, a baby pig and baby lambs.

Although we lived in Utah during one of the mildest winters on record (hallelujah!!) it was still a treat to go to the playground without worrying about jackets, mittens and hats. 

That's one happy boy! And one happy daddy!

Things really started blooming in April. This is the tree in our front yard. (A crabapple, I think)

We've also enjoyed trading the ski slopes for hikes again. This hike, in City Creek Canyon, starts in the middle of the city and is paved, so it's easy to get to and easy to take a stroller on.

Shay is back to playing six a side soccer, and Rivers loves to go watch. We need to work on his understanding of the game, huh? Put that ball on the ground!

These are the beautiful flowers downtown in Temple Square. This is just a tiny part - it's almost like a mini Biltmore gardens there.

Hands down, the best thing about spring here vs. spring back home is the lack of pollen! Some of our neighbors here told me that pollen was bad here, but, umm, they have NO IDEA what bad pollen is like! There is no yellow haze at all and I didn't have any kind of allergies this spring (I did in the fall). They do, however, have these little flat, round seeds that are everywhere right now. They fall out of the trees that line the roads and pile up like our South Carolina pollen tumbleweeds, but they don't have a powder like real pollen does, so you can just sweep them away and not sneeze.

I got my first mosquito bite yesterday and the bees are back in full force, so spring is definitely now in full swing. I feel like we are about six weeks behind South Carolina weather wise. This week is our first week in the 80s (record highs here, it's usually in the 70s this time of year I'm told) so it's nice to not start 90-degree weather in April like we do back home :) But the downside is that the farmers markets here don't even start until August (after we're gone) so I do miss the early homegrown produce.