Letterboxing

It's nearly April and as I look outside this very moment I see snow on the ground. I had heard that the winters were long in northern Utah, but never really experienced it for myself. My four years at BYU must have been mild, because I can vividly recall warm days in February (I remember because I would belt, "It felt like springtime on this February morning" at the top of my lungs). And I clearly recall breaking out the knee length shorts and sunning myself (sleeves pushed up to my shoulders) by the Clyde building before the end of the semester in April. Compared to the four years we spent in Columbus, the winters here seemed puny in comparison. I'm beginning to think that either my memory is playing tricks on me, or it was all an evil ploy to get me back in northern Utah for good. Either way, I'm seriously ready for winter to be over already!

Allie is too. Last week, before it got cold enough to snow on us, she traded in her beloved swimwear for bermuda shorts and a shirt with a rainbow on it (purchased with the mistaken impression that it would be warm enough to sport them outside). The first day I didn't say anything, hoping that the chill outside would bring her to her senses. It didn't. On Friday, she was wearing them again. This time, knowing we would, in fact, be leaving the basement that day, I tried to talk her into wearing something warmer, knowing that my Florida girl claims to be freezing in 70 degree weather, with a mild breeze. She was having none of it, but did decide to throw on a pair of leggings under the shorts, and wear socks with her sandals. I'm seriously considering entering her into some fashion contest. I mean, the girl has got serious style.

So back to Friday. Jeff was out of town and David and Maren (the kids cousins) were staying with us for the afternoon and night. Because we don't get to see them very much (they live next door), we wanted to do something fun (I'm being facetious. Plus, I have always wanted to use the word facetious on my blog and haven't ever done so. I had a religion teacher at the Y who uttered the phrase, "I'm being facetious," nearly every day. Made it hard to understand what, exactly, was true in the Book of Mormon and what he was making up just so he could use the word). I had read that there was a letterbox near Springville High, and thought it would be a great opportunity to try to find it with the kids.

If you have never been letterboxing, basically it's like a treasure hunt. Someone hides a box with a stamp and a small notebook somewhere it won't be disturbed and posts clues as to its whereabouts on the letterboxing website. Those trying to find the box bring along their own stamp and follow the clues to where the box is hidden. When found, you stamp your stamp into their book and their stamp into your book. That's the treasure. Really, all the fun is in the seeking. And because my kids love it, I thought Maren and David would like to try it, too.

We drove to the high school and started with the first clue. Here is the gang getting ready to start hunting. Allie, who was wearing her shorts and leggings and a jacket, was too freezing to get into the picture, and Kyla was in the backpack on my back. Had I really thought things through, I would have carried Allie in the backpack and let Kyla run with the big kids.


After following all the clues, we ended up by the creek, and found the letterbox under some rocks. Damon and David made sure to find some really sweet sticks. Because that's what boys do. Allie's head makes a brief appearance in the bottom left corner.

This letterbox had a special surprise--the students at Hobble Creek Elementary could stamp a purple post-it and bring it to the office to be entered into a drawing. They were all pretty happy with their stamps.


"Especially Allie," she says facetiously. You can sort of see the legging/shorts/socks/sandal combo that I spoke of earlier.


Damon was thrilled, though.


We were all getting a little cold (it wasn't just Allie at this point), so we hurried home to our scrum-diddlu-umptious dessert at home (the Cinnamon Wheel from Papa Murphy's--it's way too good), and enjoyed a showing of Bolt (well, except for KyKy who had to go to bed). It was a lot of fun.

And of course, since I was getting movies from Redbox, I had to get a couple for myself. I watched The Secret Life of Bees later that night and enjoyed my second viewing of Twilight the night after that. Seriously, Redbox has to be one of the top 5 inventions of all time. I put it right up there with public libraries. It is the only way I get to see movies, and with Jeff going out of town on occasion, I get to watch whatever I want. Brilliant.

So, we managed to have fun, despite the cold weather. The snow didn't hit until yesterday, and it doesn't look like it will be warming up any time soon. Our next letterboxing adventure may have to wait. Or I get talked into going sooner, I may have to convince Allie to wear her snow clothes.