July 2014 – Page 3 – Darais Days

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today, of course, we went to church. During Sacrament Lydia got a time out for misbehaving. Abe took this during her time out:

No wonder threatening time out isn't effective. — No wonder threatening time out isn’t effective.

Then we came home.

Lydia played on the couch before I headed straight back to church to wait for my temple recommend interview.

Abe and I took turns going back to church to wait an hour each for our recommend interviews. There was a long line today, but Abe and I both came away independently impressed by the cheerful attitude of one young, newlywed couple who were waiting in line with us. Everybody else (including me) was inclined to grumble a little about how long certain interviews were taking (the one that got me going took 45 minutes, and there were six other people in line in front of me), but this one couple was nothing but smiles and cheerfulness. When Abe came home he said, “Honey, I met the coolest couple today!”

“Let me guess,” I said. “Was the wife Columbian? Do they ballroom dance? Did they meet at BYU?”

“How did you know?” he exclaimed.

I explained that they were waiting in line while I was there, too. I spent the whole drive back contemplating how I could be more cheerful like them. I’m grateful for the influence of inspiring, good people.

Then we came home and got home taught. It’s also my mom’s birthday today, so after our home teachers left we called my mom to wish her happy birthday. Happy birthday, Mother Dear!

Abe took the girls on a walk to visit his home teachees, and I stayed home and cooked dinner.

At the Copinga's house. The girls played on their swing set. — At the Copinga’s house. The girls played on their swing set. They both kept saying, “Higher! Higher!!!”

We had Jessica Felix and her daughter, Harley, over for dinner tonight. Speaking of the influence of good people, her example inspired us to no end. She was so cheerful as she told us her story. She’s been through unimaginable hardships, and right now Abe and I gathered that she is the current victim of terrible racial profiling–but she didn’t complain at all. Instead, she just cheerfully talked about her determination to press forward and make life better for her and her kids. She was baptized last Saturday and has this incredible enthusiasm for the gospel. By the time she left, Abe and I were in awe.

After she left, we cleaned, put the girls down, and called my mom again to check up on how her birthday concluded. It was a full, great Sunday.

Love you, Mom! Happy birthday!!!

massage day

We love three day weekends. I am so happy to have Abe around, although you wouldn’t know it because I sneaked off for a three hour break to use a Groupon I got–myself–for my birthday. It was for a an hour massage, an hour facial, and a twenty-five minute back scrub. They cut the facial short and the back scrub lasted maybe seven minutes, but the massage was an hour and a half, and it was the best massage I have ever gotten in my life. After all the yoga this week, it felt amazing.

While I was at the massage, Abe and the girls were home eating, building forts, and putting flowers in Mary’s hair:

Then I came home and ate with the kids before we went swimming. After swimming we did some errands. During the course of our errands, Mary dumped two full cups of ice water on herself and Lydia dumped an entire water bottle on herself–all accidents. Lydia was trying to drown a fly that was pestering her, and Mary was just trying to drink water. When we got home, Mary made a beeline for some water on Lydia’s table and dumped that on herself too.

We had changed the girls into their pj’s after swimming so that we wouldn’t have to change them again before bedtime, but guess what? With all the water dumping, the girls got fresh pj’s once again when we got back.

4th of July recap

Happy belated 4th! We were so exhausted by the time we got home that I am just now blogging.

In the morning while I was at yoga, Abe and the girls had a flag hunt. The girls would hide flags and then go find them, over and over again. In fact, that’s what the three of them are doing now as I type:

Hide and seek with the flags. The flags are hiding and everyone else is counting. Also, the girls are still wearing their 4th of July dresses today because they slept in them last night. We may or may not change them before tomorrow--if they wear these for three straight days, they could wake up on Sunday all dressed for church! — Hide and seek with the flags. The flags are hiding and everyone else is counting. Also, the girls are still wearing their 4th of July dresses today because they slept in them last night. We may or may not change them before tomorrow–if they wear these for three straight days, they could wake up on Sunday all dressed for church!

Mary pretended to be on the phone a lot (I'm gathering, since Abe took a million photos of her in this pose). — Mary pretended to be on the phone a lot (I’m gathering, since Abe took a million photos of her in this pose).

Abe got the trunk of the car open for the first time since May (it was stuck) and retrieved my anniversary present! We forgot to take a picture of me wearing it yesterday. I'll wear it tomorrow and take a picture. — Abe got the trunk of the car open for the first time since May (it was stuck) and retrieved my anniversary present! We forgot to take a picture of me wearing it yesterday. I’ll wear it tomorrow and take a picture.

After I got home from yoga, I watched How to Train A Dragon with Lydia. Abe and I watched it Thursday night and loved it, and it was fun to watch with Lydia. Afterward, Abe gave me a massage and the girls helped. Mary loves to pound my back with her little fists. It’s really cute.

Then we went to the Darais picnic down in Provo. We picked up Balu on the way there.

At the Darais picnic, there was a lot of reposing going on.

There was also a fair amount of rolling down hills.

Lydia waiting to "catch" mary. — Lydia waiting to “catch” mary.

After the hill-rolling, the girls sat like this for a hile. — After the hill-rolling, the girls sat like this for a while.

After the picnic, we headed to Sugar House Park for fireworks. We got a great view, and it was a beautiful night. By the time we got home, Lydia and I were asleep, but Mary was still as excited as could be. She was the first person to wake up this morning. I think yesterday was a happy day for her–and everyone!

July 3

Kate showed up at 8:30 so I could make it to 9 am yoga this morning. I think I might have pushed it too hard in yoga because for the rest of the day I just dragged. For example, at one point I dumped all the laundry on the floor in the girls room with every intention of sorting and folding…and instead, I just sat there playing with and reading to the girls. I finally got around to the laundry at bedtime. Six hours later.

In the interim, Abe came home and we did errands. We had what felt like social hour at the grocery store. We ran into Abe’s old friend, Abe’s first grade teacher, my visiting teacher, and the mother of some of the kids in Primary who gave talks last Sunday.

The girls rode this ancient merry-go-round outside of Rite Aid for a quarter. Might as well have been Disneyland--they loved it. — The girls rode this ancient merry-go-round outside of Rite Aid for a quarter. Might as well have been Disneyland–they loved it.

Then we came home and had s’mores for dinner, much to Abe’s chagrin. But I pointed out the girls had eaten a ton of raw snap peas before our errands, and they’d had a ton of berries and crackers on our outing. I couldn’t picture them eating much more substantial food, plus I couldn’t wait for s’mores. We were supposed to go camping tonight, and when the reservations didn’t work out, the one thing I was sad about was the prospect of missing out on s’mores. The electric coils on our stove top were a fine–superior, even–substitute.

Lydia was our official s'more smusher. She smushed the graham crackers together after I slid the marshmallows in between. — Lydia was our official s’more smusher. She smushed the graham crackers together after I slid the marshmallows in between.

Mary wasn't interested in s'mores. She got really excited about her ice water, though. — Mary wasn’t interested in s’mores. She got really excited about her ice water, though.

Lydia has had nosebleeds in the middle of the night two nights in a row. Her bed is right over an air conditioning duct, and I wonder if that’s why. At any rate, Abe and I are exhausted and hoping she doesn’t have one tonight. It’s a little hard to drag ourselves out of bed, clean the blood and start a load of laundry at 3 am every night. I’d love it if we could break the habit tonight.

And a fireworks show just started in the valley. It’s so exciting to be able to watch from my desk–time to wrap this up!

the dentist and the perfect ending

This morning I hustled the girls through breakfast and out the door so we could pick up Rose, Tainah and Seve. We headed to the Aviary for a quick, early morning bird watch.

Feeding the ducks, a favorite activity of each child involved.

Then we raced to pick up Kate, a babysitter, so I could make it to yoga. We were late, though, so I missed yoga. I consoled myself by swimming at my favorite outdoor pool in Salt Lake. It was glorious. One of my favorite parts was this older gentleman who swam in my lane (it was a larger end lane) with his head out of water and his eyes closed. He swerved all over, and I almost bumped into him a couple of times. He was darling.

I took a fifteen minute break after my swim to lie in the sun and look at the mountains. The pool feels like it’s right under the mountains, and I felt so happy. I prayed a lot, although I kept losing focus because the sunshine and mountains were beautiful and distracting. I ended up with a sunburn.

Then I picked Isabella up and dropped Kate off. I ate a hurried lunch with Mary and left the girls with Isabella so I could go to my first dentist appointment in two years. Affordable babysitting has changed my life.

After the appointment, I raced home again to pick Lydia up. We have been losing so much stuff in the Darais household. So far we’re missing: two sets of house AND car keys, my phone, and Lydia’s ballet clothes. I couldn’t find the clothes anywhere, so with twenty minutes to go before her lesson, we dashed to Target, bought new clothes, arrived at the studio, changed Lydia into her new clothes, and ran to her class–two minutes late.

They make it hard to see the kids so the parents won't gawk and distract the kids. I gawk anyway (through the blinds). Lydia's the only one in a black leotard. — They make it hard to see the kids so the parents won’t gawk and distract the kids. I gawk anyway (through the blinds). Lydia’s the only one in a black leotard.

Lydia followed directions better this time, but she reminds me so much of myself. I feel like I spend a lot of life feeling like I have no idea what’s going on. That’s basically Lydia in ballet, most of the time. The teacher had to give her special instructions at several points because even though she tries to pay attention, she day dreams and gets distracted. As I watch her, I feel so much empathy. I remember when I was in marching band and the band leader called me out for marching my own routine in the middle of half-time. I guess spacing out runs in the family.

Then we came home, cooked and ate dinner, bought a fridge for our Chicago condo, and went to Gourmandise for treats (I had another Groupon). The total for our treats was $17.77, and the cashier pointed out that this was a very patriotic total! Then we went to the park to play and eat our treats.

Mary's chocolate meringue is bigger than her head. She dropped it in the street at the end of the outing and was quite distressed. — Mary’s chocolate meringue is bigger than her head. She dropped it in the street at the end of the outing and was quite distressed.

Mary took her cookie everywhere with her--even down the slide. — Mary took her cookie everywhere with her–even down the slide.

She was so dizzy afterward. Her eyes kept going back and forth, and she fell down no less than three times. Abe and I about died laughing.

The house next to the park. This is the childhood home of Richard L. Evans, apostle and founder of Music and the Spoken Word. I loooooooove this house. Every time we play in the park, I peer over the hedges into the side windows--and the side of this house is even more charming than the front, but I haven't figured out how to photography it with the hedge in the way. — The house next to the park. This is the childhood home of Richard L. Evans, apostle and founder of Music and the Spoken Word. I loooooooove this house. Every time we play in the park, I peer over the hedges into the side windows–and the side of this house is even more charming than the front, but I haven’t figured out how to photography it with the hedge in the way.

Tomorrow I leave for yoga at 8:30, which means that bedtime should be…now.

grimy

This morning Isabella came over so I could go swimming, and then we all went to Jump Around Utah to celebrate Sophia’s birthday.

They had more fun on this slide than anything. Oh, the irony.

Mary headed to rescue her friends from the "hurricane room." — Mary headed to rescue her friends from the “hurricane room.”

Isabella and Mary did this slide over and over again.

Whenever they slid to the bottom, Mary would cry, "GAIN!!!" (Again!). — Whenever they slid to the bottom, Mary would cry, “GAIN!!!” (Again!).

After that, I fed the girls and then Kate, another new babysitter, came over while I went to yoga. I have been an absent mom lately. But my unlimited yoga pass expires in a month! I still feel guilty, though. Anyway, after yoga, I came back, showered, and cooked dinner.

Afterward, the girls played a bit before I headed off to my Primary meeting. They look bedraggled because I haven’t done anything to their hair since yesterday morning.

Lydia exclaiming, "Guys, it's beautiful out here today!" This is after only one day of not doing her hair. — Lydia exclaiming, “Guys, it’s beautiful out here today!” This is after only one day of not doing her hair.

Here’s how clean and tidy they looked yesterday morning:

But tonight I was literally scrubbing grime off of Lydia’s face in her bath. It’s amazing how dirty kids can get is such a short period of time–and we went swimming yesterday, too! That grime basically accumulated all today.

While I was at my meeting, Abe took the girls on a walk to the park.

Lydia's natural expression. Mary's natural expression. — Lydia’s natural expression. Mary’s natural expression.

Ode to Isabella

Abe and I have a lot to give thanks for today. He had a fantastic day at work and I had a wonderful day at home. Well, actually, I spent a lot of the time at yoga because Abe’s cousin is now on the babysitting market, and she charges the same rate as my gym childcare. Lydia has begged me to let Isabella babysit her, and even though I was initially hesitant because Isabella is slightly on the young side, I finally relented.

When I got home from yoga, not only was Mary peacefully napping, but Lydia and Isabella were happily chatting away in Lydia’s clean room. That’s right. Isabella and Lydia cleaned while I was at yoga. Isabella found her way to my heart strings today. I should have snapped more photos of Lydia hugging Isabella, which she did spontaneously and with great affection multiple times, but I was just too busy trying to do laundry and deep clean the house. Isabella hung out with us for the rest of the day, and when Mary got up, we all went to the pool for a little bit.

Then we came back home and ate dinner. Abe took the girls to buy a present for Sophia’s birthday party tomorrow, and I stayed home and “cleaned.” (I actually spent most of the time eating banana bread.)

We held FHE when Abe and the girls returned. I gave a little lesson on the flag and then we drew pictures of the flag on Sophia’s wrapping paper.

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