Month: March 2019

On Sunday we did our best to get everyone ready and fed so that we could go to church. We didn’t realize it was daylight savings so to our befuddlement, it was 9am before these things happened. (The fact that Clarissa slowed everything down by pooping in the bath didn’t really help.)

So we drove straight to the Getty, my favorite museum on the planet. I couldn’t believe it had been over a decade since I last visited. (I used to spend a lot of time here when I lived in California with my dad.) My favorite thing about the Getty is the museum itself. To me, every part of the Getty feels like a deep breath of pure air. The travertine, the sunshine, the water, the gardens, the art…it’s one of my favorite places on earth. I don’t ever want to go a decade without visiting again. (Honestly, I’m trying to figure out how to relocate so I can be docent there or just move straight in, if they’ll let me!)

We attempted to do a tour with all four kids, but midway the earpieces for the entire group broke down, and with the stroller we couldn’t get close enough to hear our guide. So Abe took the kids outside to play while I browsed the gift shop for puzzles, prints for our dinner conversations, and some books. Then I took the kids to the play room (which is awesome) while Abe explored the museum. These were my happiest hours on this trip (and it was mostly a very happy trip!).

The following are pictures of paintings Mary asked me to photograph:

And back to experience photos:

Now these are photos Abe took of art he loved:

After the Getty, we went to the Santa Monica beach and spent a couple hours playing in the sand…and the waves. I had no intention of letting anyone get wet, but by the end, everyone except Clarissa and I was completely wet and sandy–including, of course, Abe.

After the beach we had frozen yogurt for dinner. The person working at the shop was the NICEST person ever. His name was Rudy and he was so sweet, asking us questions about Utah, our kids, and our church.

After this, we went to the L.A. temple and visited the visitor’s center there. Ammon pooped in the potty there!!!! We were soooo proud of him.

And then we drove to the Homewood Suites next to the Long Beach airport and went to bed ASAP because we had an early morning flight to catch. It was a wonderful, glorious day.

 

On Saturday we all got up insanely early because Clarissa crawled into bed with Lydia and me around 4:45am, and then the kids were up about an hour later. So we gave everyone baths and then walked around Hollywood. We stepped out of our Airbnb literally onto the Hollywood sidewalk stars, so we spent a lot of time searching the stars for names the kids know (Daniel Radcliff and Emma Watson, to be specific. We found Daniel but not Emma.).

Then we went to breakfast at Mel’s Diner. The food was overpriced and not great, but the atmosphere felt very appropriate. We were still so hungry after breakfast, so we went to a donut shop on the Hollywood strip (I really don’t know what you call it, but the part of Hollywood where they have stars on the sidewalk. It reminded me of Vegas so I am calling it the “strip.”).

After this we headed over to Universal Studios. We were so excited to visit Harry Potter world!!!

After we had toured the castle, done the rides (well, Abe and the kids did those), procured wands and practiced our spells, we ate lunch at The Three Broomsticks. We were starving and it was deeeelicious.

After this we went to the studio tour line.

Oh. My. Gosh. It was seriously the longest line I have ever stood in (almost two hours of passing Clarissa back and forth and snapping at Ammon, who kept trying to escape, all the while on the heaviest day of my period and suffering through the plantar fasciitis pain). I kept looking at how far we had to go and feeling waves of despair each time. The only way I survived this line was meditating hard on how transient time is, how God exists out of time, and how at some sure moment I too would exist out of this specific spot in time. And hooray, here I am blogging from my spot in time NOT IN THIS LINE.

The studio tour ended up being Lydia’s favorite part of the trip, which is saying something because Harry Potter world did not in any way disappoint. The studio tour had a 3D experience of King Kong fighting dinosaurs, flash floods, earthquakes, car chases, Jaws eating a diver, a thunderstorm, lots of set displays, and was just very exciting.

After this we were about to head home, but Abe noticed a special effects show and we got almost front row seats. It was an INCREDIBLE show, with a woman getting lit on fire, stunts galore, and sound effect demonstrations. We were so happy to end off Universal this way.

After this we headed back to our Airbnb in Hollywood, where we picked up some pizza and went to bed.

Lydia turned 8 on Friday!! She has turned out so beautifully. Abe and I are always talking about how well she has blossomed. Our favorite thing about Lydia is her heart. She has a kind and honest heart, and she lives from a space of remarkable integrity. In her whole life, I have never known her to lie to me. Ever. And she is so forgiving, so affectionate, and so sweet to her flawed and often irritable mom. I love her so much.

She is also such a hard worker, not to mention so smart! She has worked SO hard at reading, to the point where she went from being the worst reader in her class to the most proficient reader in her class. That accomplishment is one hundred percent her decision and her determination. She didn’t want to be the only one reading picture books while her friends read chapter books, so she came home after parent teacher conferences, announced she was going to become a good reader, and practiced, practiced, practiced.

And now she has read all of the Harry Potter books, all of the Percy Jackson series, and a lot of other books besides. We are so proud of her. For that reason, and because eight is a special birthday in our church culture–which views eight as the “age of accountability,” an age where children have the capacity to exercise full free will–we decided to celebrate Lydia’s birthday by taking her to California.

On her actual birthday, though, Abe had to work, so we let her stay home for the morning and early afternoon to enjoy her special day.

After the presents and celebrations, the kids played while I packed and got the house ready for our trip. Then Abe came home around 2pm, we all piled in the car, and drove to the airport for our 5pm flight.

When we got to Long Beach, we rented a car and then drove to Hollywood to check into our Airbnb, which happened to be Ronald Reagan’s old apartment!!! We also got some pizza from a place nearby that looked gross but tasted so delicious.

Happy birthday, darling, wonderful Lydia! You light up my life. I adore you.

On Thursday Abe didn’t come home until after 9pm, so Liberty, our neighbor, came over so I could sneak and buy Lydia’s birthday balloons. Then I set out her presents, made sure the house was clean, and went to bed. I am back blogging so I don’t really remember much else from this day. Oh! We got Panda Express for dinner. I told Lydia she could have whatever fast food she wanted (because, sadly, I was too overwhelmed at packing and birthday planning to cook), and she chose that. I hate Panda Express, but it was Lydia’s birthday, so we got it. All of the kids wasted theirs, so I’m never doing that again. But Lydia was happy, so that’s all that matters, right?

On Wednesday Mary announced she was sick, and even though she didn’t seem at all sick to me, I let her stay home. We went to the library to pick out “sick” books for her and to attend the story times. Clarissa is crazy during story time and spends it zipping around the library, sucking on the drinking fountain, climbing stairs, and pushing elevator buttons.

 

On Sunday I entered Relief Society and was shocked to discover I was supposed to teach that day. The lesson was an Elder Uchtdorf talk that I had considered reading during the week but had put off because I was enjoying Portrait of a Lady so much. I should have listened to that little voice, but since I didn’t, I just split the RS into groups, had people discuss, and then just lead an informal discussion about the talk after the small group. I think it went okay. The best part was when a new member to our RS shared her experience with depression. I was so glad she was willing to be vulnerable.

Then we came home and had dinner with the Crofts. We talked with them nonstop for three hours and loved every minute. They are so intelligent and engaging. It was wonderful. And, of course, the kids love Pippa.

 

This morning was actually really nice in Springdale, so I went for a run. By the time I had showered and changed, though, it had started to rain. We all enjoyed our hotel breakfast before the reality sunk in. It was raining HARD, and we had driven over four hours just to be outside today.

So we bought ponchos and some more umbrellas before heading into Zion National Park. We took the shuttle to the Temple of Sinewava hike, our favorite walk with kids. It probably took Abe twenty minutes to get ponchos on everyone. (I was chasing Clarissa, who was attempting to run into all the puddles and the street.) There was a really nice guy who told us that he was living a vagrant lifestyle at the shuttle stop. He helped Ammon knot his poncho and was just a really sweet soul. We liked him a lot.

Then we hiked part of the trail. Lydia was terrified there would be a flash flood and kept asking if we were done. Mary was freezing and kept asking the same question. In contrast, Ammon and Clarissa were THRILLED. They both kept running everywhere on the trail until Abe finally picked up Clarissa and walked with her. I personally found this walk very cold and I could feel my virus getting stronger the colder I got. But Abe had a marvelous time, and I was so thrilled he was finally getting a break from his stressful routines.

Here is a video of Clarissa splashing in a puddle.

A snowstorm made our return trip to Orem six hours instead of four, but Abe did an absolutely incredible job navigating it. On the way we loved listening to Vienna Teng’s “Soon, Love, Soon” and “Lullaby for a Stormy Night.”

On Friday I was a zombie from lack of sleep the night before, so everything seemed to take longer than usual. But I was really easy about pacing myself so that when Abe came home from work, I could drive most of the way to Springdale. Abe has been itching to get to the red rock, so he had scheduled Friday night at the Marriot in Springdale.

I drove almost the whole way and honestly wasn’t tired for the drive. That was amazing, considering I could hardly function in the face of laundry piles and toy messes. But I had so much fun talking, talking, talking with Abe the whole way down. About forty minutes from Springdale I petered out and Abe took over.

The room was so nice and the kids loved it. Ammon thought his trundle bed was so cool, and Clarissa, who had woken up half an hour before we reached Springdale, actually must have taken to the pack ‘n play because she went back to sleep so much easier than we expected.