Month: November 2018

We had a laid back Saturday because it is the first one we’ve stayed in town for a long time. The kids played a lot, watched tv, and made gingerbread turkeys. After my early morning yoga, I made a stew, an apple pie, and a huge batch of applesauce. I also cleaned the kitchen and dining area a million times because the gingerbread turkey craft is insanely messy.

Abe had to work almost a full day from home. His work has gotten so busy, and I feel so sorry for him. I also struggle with feeling upset at one of the people at Qualtrics who has made his situation so difficult. But Abe has a great attitude and has said that he is trying to route out fear and entitlement from his heart, because when he doesn’t have those emotions, he doesn’t resent all of the extra work so much. Qualtrics sure got a steal when they hired Abe.

Here are the pictures from the day:

TURKEYS! Take a look at these delicious monstrosities the kids created. (I, er, helped Mary a lot with hers.):

 

On Friday I Face Timed with my friend, Juliana Perry. We have been friends since elementary school, but I haven’t talked with her in years. She has had a lot of health challenges lately, so we set up a time on Friday to chat and catch up. I just love Julia. I should have taken a screen shot of her during the call so I could post to the blog, which has no pictures from Friday. Darn.

After the phone call Abe and I sat through a life insurance presentation from our friend, Carolyn Blosil. This is the third life insurance presentation we’ve sat through in the past three years. We never buy it, but it is always motivating to see the graphs and charts that show how much it pays off to start investing early. Maybe I will skip all of the trips I want to take this summer and just invest money instead (assuming we have money to travel or invest…)

I am watching a documentary on the Roman Empire while I blog, so I am not going to type much about what we did on Thursday. I let the girls skip school and took everyone to the Aviary, the Chase Home Museum of Folk Art, and Liberty Park to play. On the way home I ordered Thai take out, gave everyone a long bath, and got the kids ready for bed. By the end I was so tired that I crawled into bed at 7:30 pm and slept on and off for an hour and a half while Abe and I watched art documentaries, and then I fell asleep for good before 9pm.

Here are the pictures:

The picnic above was quite fun. Ammon left the table shortly after this to introduce himself to people and make friends. Lydia shyly followed him around to make sure he didn’t run away while I cleaned up.

The highlight of the Aviary was the bird show. I didn’t get any pictures because I was firmly holding Clarissa and Ammon, who were not allowed to walk around because the birds flew RIGHT over our heads. Our favorite birds were the bright pink spoonbills.

Then we walked over to the Chase Home Museum of Folk Arts. I spent most of our time here chasing Clarissa around and making sure Ammon didn’t break anything, but I LOVED the museum. It is so small, intimate, kid-friendly, and all around well done. I can’t believe we’ve never visited before.

Lydia worked on origami while Mary worked on the felt rugs.

After the museum, the kids played in the park for an hour. Mary was sad because she felt left out, but I think she was just tired after such a big day.

Abe and I went to a training on Singapore math tonight. My mom was amazing and put the older three kids to bed so we could do that. We learned all about how Singapore math is taught so we can better help Lydia at home.

It was so delightful to go to this training with Abe. I thought about how I wish I could have gone to school with Abe, who is such a great partner. Abe was calling out the answers lightning fast, and when he got bored he built towers of dice at impossible angles and balanced the dice on my knees. He’s just fun.

I told Abe I adore my life right now. The only hard part is music practice with the kids, but normally even if I am yelling, it’s usually just to be heard over the chaos all around. I don’t feel that angry even if I sound mad. (Sadly, the kids don’t realize that…)

I almost feel guilty chronicling my day because each activity is so pleasant. Life is supposed to be a struggle, right? Of course I guess there is inherent effort in parenting four kids, but right now, for whatever reason, it is for the most part so enjoyable. I am so grateful.

During Lydia’s group harp lesson today I took the kids to the nearby playground.

Also, Abe voted today! I voted by absentee a couple days ago. We voted for different people. I wonder who will win…

On Monday I vacuumed out the car, did a bunch of laundry, watched parts of documentaries about India and Manet, sat with the girls during their practice, played with the kids, and talked with Abe a lot about Manet, the artist. In the evening my mom and Abe took the girls to the church to clean while I put Clarissa down, practiced the Poulenc trio,  and day dreamed about a road trip I hope to take this summer.

In the meantime, Abe was attending an all day management training at work, and he learned that relationships are spherical. Whenever there is a conflict, we can only see our half of the sphere, so it is important to listen to the other person and try to understand what they see. And then, when we offer advice, we should offer it in a spirit of humility, knowing and articulating that our understanding of the situation is inherently limited.

Here are some pictures from the day.

These are from playing with Clarissa and Ammon in the morning. Clarissa was wearing a sweater with a sheep on it, and I put a pioneer bonnet on her to go with it. I about died from how cute she was and tried to get a Lil’ Bo Peep picture:

In the evening, Lydia and Mary colored in my mom’s room while Abe and I talked about Manet. Lydia came down and excitedly showed us this picture she had drawn of our family. She covered each face with a card that had a question mark on one side and a compliment on the other. The sweet compliments said that my mom was wise, Mary was energetic, Ammon was friendly, Clarissa was cute, I was helpful, and Abe was fun.

Also, Lydia’s dream came true today and she was nominated as Leader of the Week at school! Apparently there is a video but I can’t seem to access it. Here’s the letter we got about it:

Dear Parent:

Your daughter Lydia was nominated as the 2/3rd Grade class Leader of the Week during the week of November 5th! Due to technical difficulties, we could not send you the attached videos highlighting all of our school Leaders of the Week. Please take a moment to check it out!

Here are some of the reasons Lydia was chosen:  She is helpful, good at making sure everyone feels included and happy, and does her classwork enthusiastically and on time. What a great example to her class!

She showed extra leadership skills that week by incorporating the Leader in Me Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind, at school and in her classroom.

We love having Lydia in our school. She is a great example to the other students!

On Sunday morning, Clarissa woke up at the crack of dawn. She struggled falling asleep in the tent, and Abe and I spent a lot of the night shushing her and trying to figure out how to cuddle with each other without waking up Clarissa, who was between us. In the morning I ended up taking all of the kids to the car to get them dressed and ready for the day while Abe took the tent down and Tom made everyone breakfast.

Here is everyone at breakfast. Lydia was sleep deprived, and as you can see in the picture, was not in a very cooperative mood. But I loved how colorful everyone was, and you can see the AMAZING campsite Tom snagged for us in Zion National Park.

After breakfast, we got our National Park passport stamps, a junior ranger packet for Lydia, and boarded the shuttle for the Temple of Sinewava hike. I wish I had more chances to practice my photography skills, but I had my hands full the whole time. Most of our pictures are of our kids, but hopefully the glorious beauty will live on in our hearts, if not in our blog. 🙂

Then we drove home. Lydia said that I say that every national park is my favorite, but honestly, this time, I have to say that if I ever say anything has topped Zion, it’s just because I forgot how amazing Zion is. Zion is a wonder. We are so blessed to live so close to this magnificent beauty.

On Saturday my mom was a huge help getting us out of the door before noon so I could drive the kids down to meet up with Abe, Tom, and Jere in Zion National Park. On the way down, we took a detour to Cove Fort. I had read about Cove Fort in President Hinckley’s biography because President Hinckley’s grandfather was told to build it by Brigham Young. It was interesting and all of the kids enjoyed the stop quite a bit:

We had an exceptionally beautiful drive from Cove Fort to Zion because my GPS added two hours to our route unnecessarily. Unfortunately, I didn’t pull over to take pictures. But we had a wonderful time listening to Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Beyonce’s “I am Sasha Fierce” album, Bela Fleck, the Poulenc trio I am learning, and Vivaldi’s violin concerto as we drove.

We entered through the back end of Zion, which is the best part of the whole park. I did stop once and take some pictures, but I should have stopped at every single pull off. Honestly, every vista on the road is stunning. But Clarissa was crying on and off because she was trying to poop and couldn’t quite do it, and so I only pulled over once and took pictures lightning fast before getting back in the car.

In the meantime, Abe, Jere and Tom were biking in Zion and its surroundings.

Then I pulled into our meeting place just as Abe and his dad and brother were biking into it. Perfect timing! It was great to have Abe’s help because Clarissa was a mess. She adores Abe, so seeing him gave her the impetus she needed to perk back up and keep going.

Then we ate dinner at a pasta and pizza place with awesome pizza, and then the kids got ice cream. Afterward we drove to our campsite in the Watchmen campground in Zion National Park. We got the kids all bundled up in preparation for the cold night and morning. They were so excited to camp and sleep in their sleeping bags.

On Friday Abe left to go biking in southern Utah with his dad and brother. Tom and Jere came by to pick up Abe in the early afternoon. Ammon and Clarissa took that as their cue to go outside, where I got these pictures:

After school I let the girls play outside instead of doing their usual routines. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and I don’t know how many of those we have left!

Then I basically ran around inside getting everything ready so I could take the kids down to Zion and join Abe the next day. I did a bunch of laundry, vacuumed and tidied, and got everyone fed and in pj’s. After that was all done and the kids were in bed, I met up with Emily, my sweet neighbor, and we went to Pizzeria 712 for dinner.

I should have gotten a picture of both of us, but we were so deep in conversation that I completely forgot. We talked for almost two hours, and then Emily was super nice and came to Target with me so I could grab snowsuits for the kids. I am SO blessed to have the best neighbors in the world. Emily is such a gem. I feel so grateful for her friendship and had an awesome time grabbing dinner with her.

On Thursday I met up with Jessi to check out one of her favorite nature trails. We had fun talking, and Ammon and Henry were such great pals together. Clarissa was a weeping, wailing mess by the end, but it was beautiful and worth it.

It was a lovely walk. I hope we get to do it again soon!