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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:

Early in the day, the kids had ice-skating. Lily told me that Clarissa really took to it and learned quickly:

In the evening, I was referee for Clarissa’s soccer game. It deteriorated to chaos quite quickly. But Clarissa did a great job focusing and even scored some goals!

We also watched Ammon and Mary play. We didn’t catch any footage of Ammon, but here are a bunch of videos of Mary. It was amazing to see her running with kids, some of whom may have been twice her size. She was shy about kicking the ball at first, but around halftime, her coach gave her some instruction, “Mary, I want you to kick it. I don’t care what direction, just go kick the ball.” After that, Mary jumped in and got a bunch of kicks on the ball. Great work Mary!!

The kids had a full slate of activities today. First, Lily took the kids to Dance class. Ammon did such a good job in his class and was brave even when one or more of the classmates commented about him being the only boy.

After work, Lydia had a volleyball game and the rest of the other kids played soccer. I was a referee for the game for Clarissa’s team along with the other team’s coach. Clarissa didn’t focus much (mostly stood next to me or sat in the grass), but she had some great kicks when she was focusing.

Clarissa’s game went very fast (we ended early because the three-year-olds were losing attention very very…very quickly) so I had time to watch the others. First I watched Ammon, and I was so so so impressed with how he played. He was a particularly good (and fast!) defender. He stopped many many drives from the other team. He also had some great offensive kicks and was a great goalie. Here is a video of him making a save:

Lily saw Lydia’s volleyball game (not me) and Lydia won her game.

I didn’t see much of Mary’s game because when I sat down to watch her, Clarissa announced she needed to use the bathroom which was a 15 minute round-trip. From what I saw, I was very happy to see Mary right in there playing with some kids twice her size.

I’m so happy all the kids are in such great activities. Thank you for coordinating Lily! Also, a thank-you to Lexi, our new nanny who helps us a couple hours each day Monday-Friday. There were a lot of crazy logistics with all the games today and she helped it all work out!

In other news, Lydia inherited the fanny pack Lily bought in Las Vegas which does not fit her wallet. Lydia loves it!

Lily and I are doing the 75 hard challenge. It is 75 days. In a nutshell it is doing the following for 75 straight days:

• Maintain a diet
• 2 daily workouts (45 min each, one is outside)
• Drink 4 liters of water
• 10 pages of non-fiction reading
• 5 min cold shower
• Daily progress photos

Lily added some other things like no swearing, while I was busy creating rules like I get 5 freebie days. Maybe I’m more intimidated by the challenge haha. But in all seriousness, Lily and I both agreed that we loved doing it together. We did a great job on our goals. We felt it focused us in a positive direction and it was fun to do it together.

In other news, Lily took Lydia to volleyball and felt so proud of her. Lydia has been practicing on her own and really trying to apply herself and get good at this new sport. Lily loved watching her for some of her practice!

Back at home, we had an amazing shiskabob, salad and couscous dinner (thank you Lily!) and Clarissa had dressed up like a flapper. She was so cute, and was very distraught when anyone tried to tamper with her outfit (like remove her shoes when they kept falling off or when it was time to take off her dress at bedtime.) She loved her dress up and I can’t blamer. Doesn’t she look cute!

Today was very very busy. In the morning, I took care of more house chores, and then we had Lydia’s volleyball practice at 9, Ammon’s soccer practice at 10, and I coached Clarissa’s soccer practice at 11:15. After Ammon’s practice, a lady backed into me in the parking lot, so I will need to get the dent fixed now.

Clarissa’s practice was a bit more difficult this time, in part because halfway through, the majority of the team was memorized by a patch of mud they found by the field. When I asked the kid who seemed to be the leader of the group to leave the mud and come focus on practice, he plaintively said, “no”. Ha ha. Eventually parents came to help, but it was a more distracted session for sure. Still, I enjoyed it. Lydia, Mary and Ammon waited patiently while I coached.

It was super hot, and the kids were all very good for all of it. To reward (and hydrate) them, we got slurpees after all of it.

I took a nap back at home because I was feeling exhausted. Also, my allergies have been going haywire and my eyes itch a lot. I have a full battery of attack for my allergies (nose spray, eye drops, zyrtec, and a netti pot) which is helping me survive, but this seems to be peak season for me because it has been rough.

After my nap, I blogged a lot to catch up, while the kids watched TV and were around the house. Mary and Lydia also did some music practice.

Then we all went to celebrate my uncle Norm and Aunt Judy’s 50th weeding Anniversary. What a milestone! I had an incredible time. The kids were perfectly behaved and played a lot in Danny and Jennette’s yard (where the party was hosted). I got to catch up with my dad, Chris, Dallin, Andrea, Stacey, Norm, Judy, Ed and others. It was a great reminder how much I love my extended family and how special they are to me. The music, weather, ambiance, and company were all so wonderful and I felt very very happy there.

Also, I just have to say that having Lily gone has given me so much respect for her every day. Managing the kids all by myself (which she does every day M-F) is totally insane! I’ve just learned that I have to pick a few things from all the things I want because it is literally impossible to do everything I want. What I mean that is I can either a) be pleasant b) accomplish a task c) give attention to Clarissa d) give attention to Ammon e) give attention to Mary f) give attention to Lydia g) give attention to Basil or h) do something for my sanity. If I’m really feeling great, I can do two things at a time on this list. Meanwhile the house is falling apart, I’m not cooking any meals (yay door dash!), I didn’t do real music practices with the kids (like Lily does), or do a reading lesson with Ammon, dishes and messes are piling up, laundry is growing exponentially, the girl’s hair is growing tangles (Clarissa’s hair hasn’t been brushed since Lily did it before she left), I’m getting grumpier by the minute (Clarissa cries for Lily just about every time I’m stern with her), and losing hope on any sense of getting ahead. Additionally, late in the day today I had the horrifying realization that I fed the kids garbage all day. Clarissa didn’t eat breakfast, and I missed that fact since I wasn’t paying attention. Then They all shared giant slurpees after activities. Lunch was chick fillet (chicken and fries), and dinner was the treats at Norm and Judy’s Party which was grapes, cake and cookies. Panged by guilt, I was shoveling carrots and cucumbers at all of them just before bed, and they didn’t go down until 9:30 because of how late we got home. Wow, I was so tired that I decided to go straight to bed even though I had every intention of folding the 4 baskets of kids clothes that still need folding. I realize that Lily runs this rat-race every day, and that I’m almost entirely unavailable during my work hours (which have expanded lately). Anyway, all of this is to say SO MUCH RESPECT for Lily and all full-time parents. It also give me greater empathy and desire to be a better partner having had this experience. Apparently one of my kids told Suzanne at the park that Lily does most of the parenting in our house. The kids must also have been empathetically aware that I was in a little over my head these past few days! Lily is such a good parent and it is very hard to fill her shoes when she is gone!

Here are some more scenes from Lily’s Vegas trip:

Also, here are the before and after pictures of the house we are selling in a couple of weeks. We think Moroni did a great job!