There is so much to report on today. First, I slept in until 9:30 (thank you Lily!) because I was up until 1:30 the night before working. Lily also walked Basil (again thank-you!!). Lily LOVED her walk and was especially taken by all the lilac and blossoms she saw:
All morning Lydia was choreographing dance numbers to a Taylor Swift songs with her siblings. Here is a recording of their performance:
Then I went on a two hour bike ride (And again, thank you Lily!). It was a major highlight of the day for me. I’m obsessed with road biking and all my intense work stress just melted away while I was peddling in the beautiful Utah landscape.
While biking, I stopped in my tracks and hopped off of my bike to take pictures of this dog who looks soooo similar to our dog Basil. Her name is Dotty. She’s an Aussie-doodle (mostly poodle).
While I was gone, Ammon performed to, “I’m Proud to be an American”
As soon as I got home, I took Lydia to her festival competition. Lily was particularly proud of how hard Lydia prepared and said it didn’t even matter to her how the competition went because she was just so proud of all the preparation Lydia put in. I have to say that Lydia has really come into her own with the harp. She’s mature, does her practice, has been focusing hard on improvement, and she is blossoming as a harpist. We are proud of you Lydia! And I’m also so grateful for all Lily has put in to get her here.
I almost felt like crying at the competition because Lydia’s Minuet was so beautiful. Her technique was so good and the song was so emotive. I felt the Spirit, and I felt my heart touched. It was a wonderful moment to experience my daughter playing something so beautiful. After Lydia’s competition, I bought her a harp necklace which I felt she more than earned with all her hard work.
While I was at Lydia’s recital Lily was doing the hard part and took the other three kids to the library to check out books for Mary for her Canada report. I’m guessing Ammon and Clarissa were a handful in the library as they are still at a very chaotic age.
Ate home, we ate an early dinner and I worked on the house for about an hour. I set up crafting tables, cleaned the poop in the yard, purged the kids sock bins (it was so satisfying, I’ve been dying to do it), and took out trashes etc. Lily worked on music with the kids. Here she is practicing with Ammon:
Then Lily and I went swimming with Ammon and Clarissa. Since I already had such a nourishing bike-ride, I happily played with Ammon and Clarissa while Lily swam laps. She said it was so wonderful for her. I had a great time with Ammon and Clarissa. We rotated between the lazy river, the slide (Clarissa can go down herself now, I just help her to the side when she comes out at the end. Also when I lost my glasses coming out of the slide, Ammon found them for me and even dived and got them), and the shallow play area. A good time was had by all.
Then we did some shopping for meals tomorrow, went to the bank, and got burgers.