Month: February 2022

Today was a great Sunday. Lily and I slept in and that felt luxurious. We listened to church between 10 and noon and loved the emphasis on focusing on practical application in a religious journey.

After church, I packed the car with fishing things, bought some wax worms and meal worms at Petco and headed to the lake. The idea was that I’d have some time alone to figure out how to use my fishfinder, get set up, and focus on catching fish before everyone showed up and it got more chaotic. I did figure out how to use my fish-finder which was super exciting. I was able to find a spot that had fish around it. I had a bunch of bites really quickly, and within 40 minutes, I caught a beautiful bass.

Then everyone showed up which was really fun. Betsy, Micah and Pipa stopped by, and we also made friends with Joe and his son Zeek, who were fishing next to us. Lily reheated Borscht (which she had just cooked) on the Coleman stove and passed it out to everyone, including our new friends. As is usual for my birthday, we used Betsy’s recipe which was so fun. It was delicious as always and so fun to socialize. I’m not sure if the noise of the group scared away the fish because we didn’t catch any more, but it was a really good time and I was happy for the one I caught earlier. I’m starting to feel more confident fishing (I’ve been asking for tips relatively incessantly whenever I talk with a fisher). I should also note Lily loves making and passing out food out-doors, and she was really happy handing out borscht on the dock.

At home I watched some TV with Lily. We’ve been watching Chef’s Table which is one of the best TV series either of us have ever seen because the cinematography and storytelling is so powerful and moving.

After that I stayed up until 12:30 putting all the things away from our fishing adventure and also cleaning the garage. I was dying to clean the garage this weekend and thought my opportunity had passed, so I was so grateful to God that it worked out for me to get that done. I felt really happy about it.

Today I woke up and did more work. By 10, I was ready to hike with the family. We all went up to Deer Creek and listened to fun artists like Sia, the Killers, Michael Jackson and Imagine Dragons on the way up.

We went to a trail at Deer Creek Reservoir. We were sad to see the no dogs sign when we got there. We went ahead anyway since we had a tight window, but we were sad that we wont be back with Basil.

The hike was really fun. There was a dumb moment when I wanted to throw a rock down a ledge to see if it would break through the ice, and I threw three different rocks before finally getting one to the ice. Sometimes I don’t properly regulate my inner neanderthal. We later realized that people ice fish in that area, and even though no one was there at the time I threw rocks, the thought of the possibility that I could have hurt someone gave Lily a lot of anxiety (because truly in the moment I threw the rocks we didn’t have full visibility to know what or who was down there), and I felt bad for doing something that had the potential to hurt someone, causing Lily stress and setting a bad example of rock throwing for the kids. Anyway, we rolled through it and had a great rest of our hike.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. 30 minutes in, I encouraged Lily to go ahead of us another 15-20 min while we headed back so she could get her exercise in since I was about to cross-country ski afterwards. So I helped coax the kids (Only Ammon and Clarissa needed coaxing) back to the car, and Lily was able to get some good hiking in with Basil (who is so chunky after his stay in the boarding place, so the walking is good for him!)

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After the family hike, Lily dropped me off at the Sundance Nordic Center so I could cross-country ski with my good friend Daniel Olsen. We went over 7 miles, and I was barely walking when we finished. It was a wake up call about the conditioning I have lost during winter, and it got me excited to exercise more. I wasn’t even close to keeping up with Daniel, but we had such a good time being together as we always do. It was so pretty up there!

I was so grateful for all my time outdoors today. At home, I had a huge dinner, cleaned the kitchen and then helped Lily with Mary’s piano practice.

Lily was incredible. She did a full practice with Ammon and taught him a song hands together. Then she did a huge practice with Mary teaching her to do her Concerto hands together. Then she sat and did a full practice with Lydia and afterwards read Shakespear to the kids!

Anyway, during Mary’s practice, Mary was getting very emotional and angry about how hard it was to learn the piece, and the fact that Lily wanted her to keep going. I went in the room and helped reinforce what Lily was doing, and it was a really special moment for me to feel like Lily and I were working as a team helping support our daughter’s development. Mary eventually learned over a page of her new piece and it sounds amazing. I love my family.

I then did over an hour of homework with Ammon and then went to Al’s sporting goods for wax worms (which they didn’t have nor did Walmart), but I did get some new jig heads that might work well tomorrow on the lake.

I then watched some tv and worked at my computer before getting some sleep.

Every year for my birthday, we have a dinner party and Lily make me one of my all-time favorite foods, Borscht. This week she was a little under the weather, so we are reserving Borscht for our Sunday ice-fishing food, but Lily still did some serious cooking. She made a cheesecake, a chocolate beet cake and a beet puree to go on the beet cake.

I had a crazy day at work (and went back to do more work after the dinner party due to all of our account planning, and sync meetings and deliverables happening right now), but the party was a huge highlight in such an arduous week. The guests were Morgan and Jessie Vandagriff (and their kids Henry and Vika), Tyler, MichaelAnne, and Daniel Olsen. It was incredible how naturally the conversation flowed, and it was so enjoyable, and such a bright spot in the stress and exertion I’ve felt immersed in lately. I love my friends, and my incredible wife for always helping make my birthday special!

Lily was quite sick when she got home Sunday, and she got her Covid booster Wednesday. Also, I’ve been working insanely hard this week, so we both have been strained. Thank goodness today eased up a little bit. I was took the kids to school and Clarissa to ballet. While I was driving the kids, they kept talking about lava, and they were really excited. Clarissa and others were looking in her hood and saying it looked like lava. Once I got to Clarissa’s ballet and I could safely check out what they were talking about, I looked in Clarissa’s hood. And sure enough, it looked just like lava.

I worked in the office until around 5:20, when Lily brought Mary to me so that Mary and I could go to our eye doctor and got her new glasses adjusted (which she got yesterday). She is wearing them in the picture below. I also had them adjust my new glasses, but I accidentally had them bend the arms of the glasses too tight, so I need to go back.

Lily had bought fondue stuff, so when I got home, Lily and I put dinner on and it was delicious!

Today Lily and Mary had a challenging piano practice. Afterwards they bonded by going on a mommy-daughter date to JoAnne’s and other stores for crafting supplies. Lily said Mary was very talkative and really opened up about things such as her classmates.

Today I took a cute picture of Clarissa wearing her star sunglasses, and I also had a really good time going to the float spa with my friend Morgan. I’ve been running so fast and so stressed that even the float didn’t get me to relax all the way (it definitely helped), but I had a really great time, especially because I got to see Morgan. Also, my cousin Alexander texted me, which I was very happy about because he has been going through a hard time, and I’ve had a hard time reaching him.