On Saturday Lynn Eyestone stopped by to chat with me while we got the kids ready for the day. It was really delightful talking with her.
Then Abe went on a long run with the three younger kids to the park several miles away.
I took Lydia to her harp competition at BYU. She did great and got a silver star. Ok, the tiger mom in me was a little disappointed because I knew if I had been more focused on practice recently, she could have done better and earned a gold star. But the new Nothing-Matters-Besides-God-Is-Love mom in me knows that honestly, what we are going for here is a focused way to nurture my child, and achievement is basically beside the point. So we celebrated by getting Lydia a little harp pin which she proudly wore for the rest of the day, picked up smoothies, and joined everyone else in the park.
We had the most beautiful time at the park. Abe had already been there for an hour with the kids. We have been to this park before, but we never really explored it fully until Saturday. We found a whole other area with this amazing four person swing that was just delightful, not to mention picnic tables under wisteria-laden gazebos. I told Abe that we need to start packing up dinner and eating it in this park. It was so gorgeous.
Clarissa did not want to get off of this swing. It is a four person swing, and if one person swings everyone moves. So Abe would swing and the other three kids would automatically start swinging too. Abe said that after an hour Clarissa was getting really sleepy. Every time he tried to take her off she would scream, but then she would sit there in a daze, start snoozing and fall off. It was close to the ground so not a dangerous fall at all, and Abe, who enjoys slapstick, thought this was hilarious.
Then we came home for naps, after which we all went to pick up Mary from a birthday party and did a bunch of errands. In the evening Abe and my mom went to stake conference while I stayed home and read my book on yoga spirituality. I felt electrified by my book, my open window, and the peace of the evening. Abe and my mom also really enjoyed the conference. Abe recorded my neighbor Emily’s talk so I could listen to it. It was AMAZING. She shared her thoughts on how the sacrament starts off as a whole loaf of bread which is broken in pieces for each of us. So we all have a piece of the body of Christ, and in order to be Zion we need to be unified with each other and make the loaf whole again through our unity. She said the atonement has a vertical effect (connecting us to God) and a horizontal effect (connecting us to each other). Emily is such a deep soul and I loved this insight about connection a lot.
Then Abe and I spent the rest of the evening reading until midnight, at which point we could not keep our eyes open any longer.