Month: September 2018

Today Abe and I both got up at 5:15 am to work out. I drove to Lehi for yoga and Abe played basketball with his work friends.

Then in the morning I played a lot with the kids and got pictures of them being cute. I put Clarissa on the rocking lion for the first time and she LOVED it.

These pictures of Clarissa with a book are deceptive. She has no patience for books. She usually doesn’t last even a page long, although today for the first time we made it through The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I read as fast as I could and kept her hand busy in the food hole punches.

On Wednesday I practiced the piano a lot. It feels so nice to play again that I skipped nagging the kids to practice their instruments and instead just played mine. I kind of wish I could do that every day. Of course, no one except me practiced anything.

But Lydia has been very stressed out lately, and so I figured one day off would probably help more than hurt.

While the girls were at dance, I took Clarissa and Ammon to Qualtrics to play.

Abe had to park himself on the slide because of course Clarissa’s favorite thing to do is climb the slide. The last time we were there I was looking in my purse for my keys and the next thing I knew Clarissa was giggling because she had crawled almost to the top!!! I ran as fast as I could and grabbed her before she could fall onto the cement below. It was terrifying.

On Tuesday evening we picked up Abe early from work and drove to Temple Square for a tour of the mission. We got to see old friends and explore the mission. Everything was pretty much the same except the missionaries are waaaaay more technologically advanced (no more pagers…sniff!) and there is a giant new tech room in the North Visitor’s Center.

Here I am with Lindsay Carlson Evans being wowed by the new room:

I actually had a lot of fun reconnecting with Lindsay. We ended up visiting with her and her family a LOT because she had a boy Ammon’s age, although not quite as crazy as Ammon. At one point one of Lindsay’s sons came up to Abe and said, “Excuse me, sir, is that your son? [pointing to Ammon] He keeps chasing me and I don’t want him to.”

At that point, Abe firmly sat Ammon down on a chair, at which point Ammon started howling. Abe took him out of the mission theater and onto the square, where two lovely sister missionaries calmed him down. The one from Nigeria said Ammon reminded her of her little brother who she helped raise and who she missed a lot. As they amused Ammon, Ammon looked up at them and said, “Are you a pwincess?” They laughed and said no. At the end when they said goodbye, Ammon called after them, “I KNOW you a pwincess!!!”

Then we visited with Lindsay’s family by the shell fountains. They took pictures of us and we took pictures of them.

Then I returned some stuff in City Creek and took all of the girls while Abe waited with Ammon. Somehow Ammon still managed to fall into the fountain (the one that is choreographed to music and has fire shooting out of the middle).

After that excitement, we drove through Crown Burger and headed home.

On Monday I had one of the happiest days of my whole life. My mom, Mary (who was home “sick”), Ammon, Clarissa and I headed up to Red Butte Gardens and enjoyed hours there. We have been many times before so I felt no pressure to do anything but enjoy the gardens at a nice, slow pace. The kids played the entire time, and my mom and I enjoyed the clean air, the beautiful weather, the sunshine, and, of course, the glorious gardens.

I took a TON of pictures but will have to amend this post later when my phone is working. I can only send three at a time before having to reset my phone. In the meantime, I have the pictures my mom sent me and some that I have managed to send myself.

I can’t say enough about this amazing day. I feel so grateful to God for giving me such a gift. It was beautiful.

Today we were so lazy. I got up for crying kids several times in the night, so after I got the kids ready for the day, I went back to bed and Abe took over. I stayed in bed a really long time. My mom made french toast and Abe brought it to me. I felt very spoiled.

Clarissa napped through two hours of church, but the third hour, which I caught, was great.

Then we had a steak dinner with roasted cauliflower, sauteed spinach, fresh melon, caramelized onions, grilled tomatoes, and peach cobbler. I ate way too much.

Then we had FHE. My mom made a game where the kids learn about Abe and me. It was so cute and fun. Lydia also had fun sharing her pictures of unicorns and fairies for sharing time.

After dinner was cleaned up my mom and I went out to look at the amazing sky and chat with the neighbors.

Then Abe and I got interviewed about our ministering, and now I am blogging and soon we will be asleep.

Abe has been extremely stressed out from work, and since he worked until almost 3am Friday night we used most of Saturday to just recover and relax. Well, I got up at 5:15 to make it on time to my 6am yoga class in Lehi, but then when the kids had quiet time I napped for…hours. Abe and I both just really took it easy most of the day.

Abe did spend a lot of time just enjoying the kids. He took the girls out for ice cream because they resolved their school playground issues this week. Mary has been hugging Lydia and following her around much to Lydia’s embarrassment. Abe promised Mary if she stayed away from Lydia he would take her to frozen yogurt, and Mary kindly extended her reward to Lydia too. So they both got a daddy-daughters date.

Afterward Abe went to get milk for Clarissa since we had run out. Mary said that she wanted to go with him to be a special helper to make him happy “…because, Daddy, you always make my whole life happy!” That, of course, melted Abe’s heart.

He spent a lot more time with the kids. Here are some pictures and a video:

Then we enjoyed some time outside with my mom before getting everyone ready for bed. Eliza came to babysit the kids, much to Ammon’s great delight. He was so excited to see her that he did nonstop somersaults and happy jumps until he hurt himself, at which point he settled in for puzzles and games with Eliza.

Abe and I went to a restaurant in Provo where you eat dinner and play board games. This was Steve and Blair’s idea, and it was so fun! We all played Harry Potter Clue together and another game called Coup. We also love Steve and Blair, and so their great company enhanced the whole experience.

Then Abe and I came home and stayed up too late watching The Good Wife. If it weren’t for Abe’s self-control we would watch all night long. It is so addictive.

 

On Friday Abe called me to tell me that success had started to happen at work. It has been a tough quarter, but on Friday he felt really happy because he was finally starting to see results from all of the hard work he’s been doing with his team. It was a breakthrough day. Even though he had to work super late, his emotional state completely changed. He felt happy, hopeful, and very positive. Since he had to work late, so I took the kids over to meet him for dinner. We drove through Kneaders and talked and ate while most of the kids napped in the car.

Then we came home and enjoyed Clarissa’s exploits. She attempted to clean the house with a diaper she found in my purse.

I had spent the whole morning cleaning and felt very lazy in the evening. I let the kids watch TV while I played with Clarissa and then put her down. Lydia responsibly came upstairs at her bedtime and told me she wanted cuddles, so I cuddled with her until she fell asleep. Then I let Ammon and Mary play until almost 9pm.

I let Mary tuck Ammon in. She was so pleased with that responsibility and did a great job giving him scratchies, helping him say his prayers, and blowing him a goodnight kiss.

On Thursday evening we had the Orem drill where we prepare for the earthquake. Everyone honks their horns at 6pm and gathers at the neighborhood meeting place. My mom is in charge of emergency preparedness, so she was very involved in our neighborhood drill.

I failed to go outside because I was inside baking cookies and prepping a peach cobbler. I didn’t get the cobbler made in time for the work party Abe and I went to, but I did get the cookies made.

We could not find any available sitters so we just put the kids to bed and left after that. Well, Clarissa was stubbornly staying awake so my mom played with her until she got sleepy. My mom reported that Clarissa is perfecting her blood curdling screams. When my mom took her bottle away to refill it, Clarissa issued her blood-curdling screams until my mom returned, at which point she immediately quieted down and went to sleep.

The party was at Abe’s boss’s house in American Fork. I told Abe on the way there that he needs to change professions so that our work parties can involve people that are not so scary for me to get along with–for example, maybe he could become a librarian!

In the meantime, I survived the party and even enjoyed the people there. Afterward I decided I need to start watching The Bachelor so I have some way to relate to this new group of Qualtrics wives. But even though I was totally clueless when it came to certain pop culture topics and I found them all to be, as usual, intimidatingly pretty and bafflingly hip, these women were, at the end of the day, very nice people. I liked them. I will make sure to watch some trashy TV before the next party, though.

Then Abe and I came home and pretended we didn’t have to get up early for the girls’ music lessons. We watched two episodes of The Good Wife. If only Qualtrics wives were watching that…

 

Today Abe and I went running in the morning, and then after the girls were off to school I played a lot with Ammon and Clarissa.

Then I tried to put Clarissa down for a nap, but she didn’t really take one. So I packed up the kids and headed to the mountains. We walked for almost two hours on the bridal veil falls trail, and I think I pulled another muscle. I hate being so injury prone. On the upside, it was a gorgeous walk with these gorgeous children.

 

Then we picked up Lydia and Mary from school, fed everyone dinner, did homework and the shortest practices ever before heading over to dance.

In the evening Abe and I ministered to the Morrells. They were lovely. Abe immediately exclaimed when we left that he loved them. I already loved Rose Marie, and her husband was very nice too.

Then I ran into Jill and chatted. It was a gorgeous night so it seemed like all of the neighborhood was outside. I love this weather. Have I mentioned that yet? I LOVE it.

Today Ammon fell out of our neighbor’s tree house. It was a big fall and he landed on his head. The girls said he looked like he was on a roller coaster without a seatbelt–apparently he flipped midair. I was sitting on the front porch enjoying the idea that he could be somewhat independent…but I guess that time has not yet come. Poor Ammon–thank goodness he seems totally fine and is currently playing pretend in his room.

The weather was perfect and we had a lovely day. I got a ton of laundry folded and played for hours with Ammon and Clarissa in the morning. I love our mornings so much. I give the kids long baths, feed them a leisurely breakfast, and today we had a dance party right after. We went outside for a little bit and then I did puzzles and read books to Ammon while Clarissa played around us. Before I knew it, it was nap time. Instead of playing in his room quietly, Ammon actually tucked himself in and napped today.

Oh! And Ammon is now saying the word “yes” instead of “uh HUUUUH.” He takes time to really annunciate that “s” at the end. It is very cute.

In the meantime, Lydia brought home a note saying she needs to meet with the speech pathologist. Sigh. I have noticed she has trouble with “r’s” and sometimes other letters, but since she is my oldest and I don’t really know what’s normal, I figured she might just grow out of it. Now that I think of it, none of her friends have trouble with “r’s,” so it does make sense.

I am finally, after years and years, getting faster in the kitchen too. So I was able to throw together some roasted veggies and make smashed potatoes in really no time at all, and after school we ate that with rotisserie chicken and sparkling pink lemonade (which exploded upon being opened, but oh well. There was still enough left to make the kids happy.). Abe is out to dinner with his friends tonight, so on nights like these I feed the kids right after school and get that done and out of the way. If they say they are hungry later (as Mary did), I tell them too bad and they can eat an extra big breakfast in the morning. If they feel permanently damaged by this then they can always go to therapy when they grow up.

Then we did homework, practiced music, and I let the kids play outside. That’s when Ammon fell out of the neighbor’s play house. I guess we won’t be letting him go there anymore.

Here are the pictures Abe took for today: