Month: June 2021

Lily and I have both been so insanely busy and we didn’t plan much for each other’s special days today. We did schedule a fancy dinner in Park City together, and we also decided to make the day special by going on a family hike. All in all, the kids had a great attitude (thanks to Lily they have been hiking a lot lately, and thanks to them, they’ve really taken to being good hikers!). Silver Lake is about 2.5 miles each way. We stopped at the lake at the top and had snacks and played a bit in the lake and then turned around and went back. I carried Clarissa a lot on the way up on my shoulders. But on the way back, she was super motivated about being the leader, and for much of the trail was even running so I struggled to keep up with her. Everyone had a great time on the trail and I was very pleased with everyone’s attitudes. Also, Clarissa and Ammon got very very dirty, haha.

Here are some videos and a picture of when we got back to the car:

Our nanny fell through for tonight so Lily and I didn’t get to have a celebratory dinner together, so we went to one of our favorite family restaurants, Spitz, and it was good to eat all as a family. While I was inside getting the food, Lily made funny faces with Clarissa:

Then we took Basil to the dog wash, and went home for extensive showering. Even after I helped Clarissa shower, there was still a layer of dirt on her that got the inside of her pajamas dirty. I like to think that the dirt on them is representative of how much fun they had!

As a final note, I just want to say this to you, Lily, on your birthday. I know birthdays matter a lot to you, and I know I dropped the ball on this one. I also know that you know what is on my plate right now, and I’m so grateful for your understanding. I had a marvelous day with you, and so grateful for every day that I get to spend with you. I have so much fun being your husband. Just look at the blog entries and remember you are the instigator for the lion-share on the fun, amazing, and adventurous things we do as a family! You make our lives so full, and so happy, and you love me so well, and that love makes me so incredibly fulfilled and happy. I admire all the amazing work you are doing with the children (reading practice, music practice, learning to be clean and pick up after themselves, learning to hike, and all of the lessons you put them in etc etc) and with yourself (you are doing so much better than me at the 75 hard!). You truly are giving the children an unforgettable summer with so many new experiences and entry points. On top of that, you are teaching them boundaries and acceptable behavior and you even turned them all into hikers! On top of that, you have organized trips for the whole family to bond on while we experience something new. On top of that you are taking care of your mom, staying on top of the house and laundry, being an incredible friend, reading and just living with love, positivity and verve. I know there is so much I’m leaving out. It’s impossible to fully capture all the goodness you are putting out, but thank you for being such an amazing force in all of our lives!! It is so fun to be your husband. You are so so so beautiful, and I love you to the moon and back! Happy birthday babe!!!!

This morning was another hike up Y mountain, and this time I joined because it was Saturday. It was so fun!

After hiking we all went to my cousin Christina’s house for an epic Darais pool party. I was in the pool most of the time and did not take any pictures. They had a 20 foot (roughly) high platform that people were jumping off of into the pool. Clarissa she decided she wanted to go off. She jumped, and spread out horizontally for a perfect belly flop. I was under her, watching the whole thing in what felt like slow motion. I thought, “oh no” as I saw her coming down and then SPLAT against the water. She came up and cried a lot. Yikes! She later wanted to go again with me holding her so I did, and we both went in feet first together without a problem. Then she used the little kid diving board, and after she went off, she shouted with excitement, “Dad was that not a belly flop?!” I said something to the effect of, “that was not a belly flop, good job Clarissa!” Her whole belly flop incident really made an impression on her and she talked about ti a lot during the day.

My dad left the pool party early so he could run our open house. It has been great to work with him, and so fun that one of my main partners in crime in selling the house is my own dad. We really have had a great team between Lily, my dad, Moroni (house updates), Crispin (yard), and the great stager my dad referred from his research and the great photographer the stager referred. Lily has been great with knowing the market, having great input on pricing, and having so much knowledge about what home updates are in style right now. My dad has been great to work with and made a great realty sign, handled the paperwork, met with me regularly, found us a stager, ran the open house, has managed all the showings and agent/buyer conversations, and has had input throughout the process. Moroni made the house updates and Crispin helped with the yard.

The open house went fantastically. We think about twenty families saw the house.

This morning Lily took the kids hiking and true to her word, she is developing them into great hikers. I’m so proud of the kids, who, as Lily reported, had incredibly good attitudes on the hike.

Here is a picture of Ammon 🙂

In the evening, I went to a Jazz game with Mary. The Jazz were up by over twenty points at the half, and then lost the game and got eliminated from the playoffs. But it was so fun to be with Mary, and she even won a jersey! She participated in trivia, and when the host asked what her dad does at Qualtrics, she said, “he sells stuff.” Haha, she is so cute!

Today the kids had ice skating. Below are pictures and videos.

And in the evening was soccer for Mary, Ammon and Clarissa and volleyball for Lydia. As usual, I was the referee for Clarissa’s game:

Lily took the kids up Y Mountain again today and she included Ammon. My understanding is that they did great on the trail!

I have a workout I do with Basil that I call the Dogout. The name “Dogout” makes me unreasonably happy because of the multiple meanings. It rhymes with workout, I’m getting the dog out, and since it is around 4 softball diamonds, I’m also working out right next to dugouts.

Today I brought Mary with me after a conversation with Lily in which she encouraged me to transfer my ability of running to the children. It was so fun to run with Mary. We jogged to the softball diamonds, and I did some sprinting, including two races with her. In the races, I would run the outer circle along the fence, and she would run the inner circle around the dirt, and she beat me by a hair! It was so fun to race her! She played on the monkey bars while I did my pull-ups.

Also, I’m so happy Lily put Ammon in dance as he has such a gift for it. Here is a picture of him in practice today.

Also, we all went to the dentist today. We learned that Lydia’s tooth had nerve damage when she fell hard during a school fun-run/race. She was all bloody, and came home from school early. As I understand it her friend made a sharp turn, and Lydia either tried to also turn, but tripped, or bumped into her or something like that, I’m not totally sure of the details. Anyway, the dentist said the tooth will operate just fine, but it will not feel hot and cold, and it will have some discoloration which we can try to address later if we want to. Lydia had such a great attitude about it all.

Here is a video of the kids looking at the fish tank:

Lily was so distraught at how much the children whined while hiking yesterday that yesterday she announced she was going to take them on ten hikes up Y mountain, and it would only count towards the goal of ten if they did not complain. She declared to me, “I will deliver you children who are good hikers” which will be important for the backpacking trip we have coming up in August.

And so, Lily woke up early and took Mary and Lydia to hike Y mountain. Lily reported to me that they did not complain at all and they had a wonderful time.

In the evening, I went to a Jazz game in the Qualtrics gardens with Lydia. We had an amazing time, although the Jazz unfortunately lost. Ryan Smith, Qualtrics founder, now owns the Jazz, so we are very fortunate to be able to attend events like these.

Today was around 100 degrees again. We went to church at 11:00, and then picked up food and met up in dad and Suzanne’s backyard for a picnic. We ordered and brought food from a great restaurant on 8th avenue in the avenues in Salt Lake (I think it’s called Avenues Proper) and it was delicious! While picking up the food someone made fun of me for wearing a mask (I was in the habit because I just came from church where everyone still wears masks) and I felt grateful that I didn’t care. I feel like a grew a bit during Covid on not caring what others think about me. I used to be very self-conscious wearing a mask when others weren’t. So that is hopefully some progress. At my parent’s place, we found a little shady nook and had such a good time chatting with them.

Then we all went on a hike up dry canyon. It was sooooo hot, and that is probably why everyone was a bit grumpy on the hike. The kids especially complained a lot, and Lily, being being a proactive problem solver decided she’s going to hike the “Y” with the older kids to help them toughen up and be better (more cheerful) hikers. Thank you Lily!

We all cooled off and had fun Kess’s pool afterwards (we rent it, thanks Lily for coordinating!). We also made serious progress! I coached Lydia on her freestyle stroke to keep her fingertips near the water, and not out like a windmill, and also Lily (unbelievably), got Clarissa to float for a very long time (I think 60 seconds?). After watching Clarissa cry at swim lessons, and after failing myself to help her learn, I was thrilled to see Lily make that kind of progress. Here are a lot of pics because I think the kids are so cute in goggles! Lydia may have been in the restroom while I was taking pictures.

Wow, today was HOT, but it was packed with summer fun (I think it was high 90s or maybe even 100 degrees)

This morning I woke up early to go on a bike ride with Daniel Olson. We rode up to Tibble Fork, and I loved every second of it. The weather was perfect, the scenery was gorgeous and I loved spending time with Daniel. I’m also so grateful to Lily who always supports my bike-riding.

Back at home, I took the kids to their swimming lessons while Lily took Lydia to the pet store and the butterfly museum in Lehi and did yoga while Lydia read.

At the swimming lessons, Clarissa had a very hard time learning how to float:

Lydia took some awesome pictures of butterflies at the butterfly museum!

Then we went to Orem Summer Days with Eli and Chloe. It was hot, but we had such a good time.

We even bumped into Chelsae Camden and Carter!

After our fun and hot time, all the kids came to our place to play in the pool. Daniel Olson’s wife Amanda picked one up for us at Costco. Thank you!!

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are 3,000 words: