Today was a busy day for me since it was the end of the sales quarter. I spent a lot of time one one deal that we were hoping to get in. It ended up slipping to next Quarter, but we still landed pretty close to our original forecast with other deals that came in so both my boss, Anna, and I were quite happy.
I’m not quite sure what to report about what the family was up to while I was working (I was pretty absorbed), but here are some cute pictures from the day. And here is a cute video of Ammon!
I’m guessing this is Lydia pretending to be asleep since she’s awake in the next photo 🙂So cute and handsome!
When I was done with work for the day, I took the kids to In-And-Out while Lily made some preparations for Clark, Swathi, Soren, and Meera to come tomorrow. When I came back from In-And-Out, I helped put the kids down, and then helped her to ready the house. We are so excited for our visitors!
Here is a photo from 1989 my mom recently resurfaced. I was 5, Jere was 3 and a half, and David was 1.
It is end of quarter for me, and today I felt effects from my late night Saturday night. I didn’t have much wind in my sail, but I did run in the morning and make through my work day.
After work, Lily told me all about the book she just finished on Mormonism and White supremacy. I think it is super important as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that we stop denying painful parts of our history, to own up to them, and to seek to heal and mend wounds we have caused. Lily read me many amazing passages from the book. JoAnna Brooks is profound and articulate and writes from the vantage point of a church member trying to help make the church better. Lily also loved the book and is planning to write a review for it.
Here is the last paragraph of the book, which I think is powerful, and read likes scripture to my soul:
“Infallibility has served Mormon communities to foster continuity, but to do so in a way that sacrifices those deemed expendable and suffocates those held in place. Most importantly, the possessive investment in whiteness and the possessive investment in rightness have corroded the theological integrity of Mormonism as a Christian-identified faith. The same can be said of any white American Christianity that has not undertaken its own historical soul-searching and committed collectively to reconciliation and reparation for the massive moral wrongs of anti-Black systematic racism in the United States. Because I love my faith community and believe we can do better, I offer our experience to others as a witness and a warning.”
Lily and I want on a wonderful walk together and Lily told me all about all the things she has going on right now. It’s a lot! I talked about work and other things and then we called it a night.
So, I stayed up until 3 AM last night catching up on blogging. It was probably almost two hours just to post yesterday’s blog, but hey, I think it was worth it.
Today was the perfect pace for me. Lily took care of things in the morning while I slept-in, until 9:30 and then took my time getting showered and ready for the day (including a meditation) and I didn’t emerge upstairs until almost 11:00. Then I helped Lily clean the upstairs, and assembled some shelves while listening to a General Conference talk.
Then I prepared the lesson for home church and we all had home church. The lesson was on baptismal covenants.
After home church, I gave Lily foot massage, and then went to my room to write in my Jesus journal, and write in my “Prison to Playground” book, which is more a book where I collect personal wisdom and truth. Really I was working off of my list of things I try to do on Sundays to connect with God, and myself to help the day feel sacred, healing and rejuvenating:
Then I emerged just as our neighbors, Neil and Shannon Giles came over. They are so sweet, and super peppy. We love them and their joy. They brought chocolates for Lily’s birthday, had wonderful conversation with us, and listened to Mary and Lydia play their instruments. It was a very bright part of our day.
Then I played toys with Ammon, which I had been wanting to do. I like connecting with him, and playing with his toys has been a fun way for us to bond. We built a zoo out of blocks and magnetiles and had story lines involving animals getting stolen from the zoo, or needing to get trained better etc. Often the Avengers would come help.
We had yummy leftover Aubergine for dinner and then to our great delight, Eliza and Katie stopped over to play with the children. There were so sweet, delightful, and considerate (for wearing their masks). Our kids played with them outside for over an hour it seems. From everything could tell, they were having an incredible time. We are surrounded by such wonderful people!
I got out of bed just before 9:30 today which was delicious after a week of getting up early to exercise and a late night of work last night. Lily was writing and working out while I was stuck in bed. Then we both got ready for the day and readied the harp, house and food for Lydia’s harp recital. I knew she had a recital today, but it was only this morning I connected the dots that this was the recital to pass off her Book 1 for Suzuki. That made me realize what a big deal this was. Lydia was passing a major milestone in her harp! My dad and Suzanne also made it over, as did Lydia’s harp teacher, Annamae. Here are the videos of her performance. She played every Book 1 song by memory, and she did outstanding!
After the recital, my dad and Suzanne left to Andrea’s 60th birthday party, and we all chatted with Annamae. She is such an outstanding teacher and a truly delightful and sweet person. We talked a lot about the next harp we will be needing to buy for Lydia. We may have to buy a mid-sized harp for $10,000 and then upgrade to the full-size $20,000 later, or if her arms are long enough now, we can just buy the $20,000 one now and skip the $10,000 one. Lydia is going to go to Annamae’s house to sit at the different harps and see how her size works with them. I told her to envision herself having long arms when she does that :). We had an incredibly wonderful time chatting with Annamae. She is so fun!
Annamae also gave Lydia a sweet card.
Then I spent two hours trying to fix my gopro which I just used for the first time today with Lydia’s piano recital. I won it at a raffle at Bora Bora. I spent two frustrating hours trying to get it to sync to my phone. In the end, it turns out that I had enabled a setting that prevented me from doing the operation I wanted. The whole experience kindof threw me off, but it was ok. I then played with Ammon for 45 minutes or so and helped get the house ready for the family olympics. Yes, you heard right, THE FAMILY OLYMPICS!!!!!
Lydia organized these Olympics completely herself. She did self-enrichment activities (running a mile, memorizing or writing poems, studying and discussing a scripture etc) to earn $25 grab bags from the summer carnival to buy the equipment. She made a list of events. She planned and visioned everything, and was thrilled to learn Baps and Bapa could come (they came back from Andrea’s party to participate). So here are the first annual Darais Summer Olympics!!
Event 1: Hurdles
We started with the hurldes. I was especially tickled because I was a hurdler in high school. We all took it super seriously (and dad took a harmless tumble) and Mary came away with the gold.
At the end of each event we played Olympic and patriotic music, and had a medal ceremony handing out medals and taking pictures.
Event #2 Sack Races:
In the picture below, you will see Georgia spectating. She felt good today and watched the whole Olympics. We were soooo happy to have her join all of the fun!!
Mary was an amazing sack-racer and ended up getting silver!
Lydia had an amazing performance and got Gold. Ammon also did great, getting bronze. Dad and I really put our hearts into it. Dad had a tumble on his first round, but got his technique down with huge hops.
In this event, contestants had to blow their boats to the end of the pond, and then back again. It was a timed race.
Suzanne clocked a solid time with her boat, and amazingly the open-ended cup-boat didn’t sink!
Mary’s milk-jug boat was super speedy and she won first place. Lydia’s capsized in the water because of the adorable sail in it, so she removed that, and scored silver with a solid race. Ammon did a great job with my boat and won bronze!
Event 6: Crockett
Lydia originally had a big-boat race slated, meaning contestants would race inside of a boat they created, but she decided that was maybe not going to work. She replaced it with Crockett.
If I look happy in this picture, maybe it’s because Crockett was my favorite game to compete in because of how competitive it was.
I started off really hot by making it halfway down the field on my first turn. But then it all went downhill for me from there.
First dad and Lydia started gaining on me.
You can see both of their balls ahead of mine in this picture.
Lydia was super sneaky! She started out behind, and then made a charge at the end and won first place!!
Lily was also sneaky! She started out behind, but rushed into second place at the end!
Event#7: Long Jump
The long jump was loads of fun. Everyone put in solid jumps, but the big showdown was between Lydia and Mary. They each did six jumps landing at almost exactly the same distance every time (about 5 and 2/3 feet). They finally had a sudden-death face-off and Mary pulled out a jump over 6 feet to take the gold. It was quite a match!!
Event # 8: Trampoline:
The grand finale was everyone’s trampoline routine. We went in order of age.
Mary got gold. Lydia got silver and Ammon got Bronze.
After the Olympics we had a delicious Abergene dinner and had a wonderful time all talking. I particularly remember reciting with Lydia our favorite I Love Lucy episodes to everyone. After dinner we did Cold Stone Icecream cake, and then Lily, Georgia and Lydia opened presents from Dad, and Suzanne and others form the Miner family. They are so amazing and sweet to always celebrate our birthdays so well. Lydia got string art for the yard and a great book. Lily got a sephora gift card, a beautiful jewelry dish, money and socks, and Georgia got a beautiful keychain and books. They are so loving and generous! After cake, Lily did some touring of some updates in the house and then we called it a night, put the kids to bed and tidied up.
Some things really stick out to me about this day. First, thank you Lydia so much. You had the vision for this day and did the work to make it happened. It has been one of my favorite days ever as a family, so THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTING THIS TOGETHER!
Also, all of the children are just so much fun to be around and play with. Thank you for being my treasures!
Additionally, when everything was over, Lily and I talked about how loved we felt by my parents. This day would not have been the same at all with out them. Having them come to the harp recital made it extra special, and the olympics had so much extra fun because of their presence. They were so fun and sweet the whole time and really engaged with both the kids and the activities. Thank you!
Also, I’m thrilled that Georgia felt so good today. Her presence also made everything so special and her sweet spirit uplifts everyone.
Lastly, Lydia’s harp recital was a reminder to me of all of the work both Lily and Lydia have put in for four years. It was not easy, but you did it, and I’m so grateful you both stuck with it to build such an amazing gift with Lydia.
Honestly, I was not very checked in with the family today. It is end of quarter at work and I am super busy. I did Crossfit in the morning with Lucas (again a little concerned about Covid), but I loved it and tried to be responsible with hand sanitizer and wiping off my weights with cleaner etc as is suggested.
Then I basically spent 15 or so hours in my room working. I popped upstairs briefly from time to time to eat or see people, and I did take some time for scriptures and some personal to-dos, but otherwise I was at the computer grinding away at helping my reps close out the quarter, helping them address other issues, and hacking away at my email inbox which started around 75 and ended at zero. Yes, I spent a lot of time in this room.
Lily was so supportive to handle everything on the home front so I could get into a good position with my work pile so I could completely close up shop before my weekend. I love her!
My team at work has been eager to get together, and for the team activity budget, people voted to do an in-person activity. I was a bit nervous about Covid so I wore my mask to the activity at that go-Kart track. The go-cart place (the cube) has special fancy holding containers for the helmets that sanitize them. Racing was soooo much fun. We were all laughing and talking when it was over and then we all went for pizza. I didn’t wear my mask at dinner (thinking back I maybe should have). It wasn’t conducive to social distancing, but I was mindful to keep distance when I found opportunities for it. At the end of the day, we were all so happy and refreshed to see each other, and I hope we did OK as far as not picking up or spreading Covid.
This week, Lily has been teaching the kids about Cambodia. In addition to teaching them out of books, we also watched a movie together called “Two Brothers” that is about two tigers that were separated in their youth, but they reunited as adults. It is a beautiful story and has amazing video shots of the tigers. We also had Thai food this week to eat something that would remind us of the type of food they eat in Cambodia. Their history has so much tragedy and there is so much beauty in their nature, culture and people. Thank you Lily for taking us on this world tour, and thank you Preethi for supplying the blueprint for this great adventure at localpassportfamily.com!
This post isn’t necessarily specific to today (and I don’t have any pictures), but I just wanted to capture how much Lily loves our home. She reports to me repeatedly how much she loves this home, and how grateful she is for it. She just told me tonight (6/28/20), that after her family, this home is her great love. She has her happy shelf where her jewelry is, and different objects are that make her happy. She has the bathroom, pantry, and closet perfectly organized. She has books everywhere organized by color or alphabet. There are wonderful and purposeful play stations for the kids all over. There are plants, light, and pieces of art. The space is adequate. It is just a wonderful place to be. She thanks me all the time for it, which is sweet, but I try to remind her that everything we do is together, and we are both putting in to the whole operation, so there literally is no need to thank me for and I mean that. But she is so full of gratitude, happiness, and love for the home. I’ve never seen her so happy and her new environment and living situation is a huge part of that.
I feel very grateful to God. I make very intentional values statements and personal goals. I knew Lily would need a better home to feel like her best happiest self because she is so affected by her environments, and she thrives in light, beauty and order. Thinking we didn’t have the money a year or so ago, I made a goal to save some money so Lily could get bigger windows, and lighter flooring and maybe some other updates on the 121 West 720 South house. But God had different ideas. Lily actually received a spiritual impression to not spend money on updates in that home because “this is not your long-term home”. Then she found this house, we stretched to buy it, family pitched in to make it possible, I got a promotion, we sold the condo, and now everything is in a great spot. I’ve been highlighting how much Lily loves this home and I should also mention how wonderful it is for everyone in the family. It is a perfect home for our family.
God, thank you thank you, thank you for this gift that has given her so much joy. The last house was hard on her, and she’s been through a lot bearing, nursing, and raising 4 kids. It is so so wonderful to see the joy this home brings her. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I had an AWESOME Father’s day. As I mentioned before, Lily and I planned our special days in advance together, so we each got exactly what I wanted. I love her!
I started the day by fishing at 8AM. Today was the first time I tied all my own knots (except the nail knot was tied for me at the fly shop). I had soooooo much fun. I pulled up 1.5 miles NorthEast of the tunnel up Provo Canyon, and hiked down to the railroad track, then walked another 3/4 miles or so until I found a spot that I absolutely loved.
I didn’t catch any fish. This is maybe the 8th time that the Provo river has skunked me. I called Jay afterwords and he gave me some empathy and tips. I hope to go with him at some point! I was so happy to be out in nature, practicing my fishing casts, and knots. I feel so happy when I am in nature, when it is just me, God, and the beautiful world. It was peaceful and happy even though I didn’t catch anything and I spent a fair amount of time untangling knots. On the way walking back on the train-tracks, I was confronting my fear that God is a fiction and that there is no inherent meaning or purpose to live. Of course I still choose to believe, and feel I have good reason to, but that fear is still there. While walking on the track, I concluded that whether God is there or not (and I certainly hope in Her/Him), humans have the power to imbue life with meaning and to create purpose, story and beauty. We don’t need to be subject to the situations we are in. Either God is there divinely creating purpose and meaning for us, or we as humans have a special form of consciousness that allows us to be the meaning makers, and in that way to act divine. If in fact this is all random chaos, we don’t need to be subject to that situation. We can stand up and create meaning and beauty, and I choose to do that, in addition to choosing to believe in God. Those thoughts gave me peace and hope and direction. All in all, it was peaceful, spiritual, wonderful. Thank you Lily!
While I was fishing, Lily was taking pictures and videos of Clarissa being unbelievably cute. My favorite picture and video (#6) is of Clarissa putting a piece of paper to her face and saying, “ouch!” She is so cute!!!
Fortunately for me, I did not miss out on all the Clarissa cuteness. This below is what I came home to after fishing. Lydia dressed her up in the most adorable outfit (and even put lipstick on her at one point) and Clarissa posed more for the camera.
I had yummy leftovers with the family (we had so much great food leftover from yesterday) and I opened my sweet notes from the family. Lydia and I were horsing around taking pictures, and we got this one.
One of my sweet notes was from my dear Nephew Soren. Isn’t he adorable!
I also saw this adorable picture posted on the wall from my sweet Mary.
After lunch with the family, we did homechurch. Today’s church went particularly well I thought. Georgia put such good thought and preparation into it. She prepared the songs, made a program, prepared answers to some of Mary’s questions about baptism and even gave me study material to give a lesson on baptism. In the lesson on baptism, I shared that baptism is one way that people can show God that they are committing to be good people, and people can find peace and feel grace when they make these commitments.
After home church, I drove to my dad’s house to be with him on Father’s day. All growing up, my dad was my best friend, and we have always been close. I feel very nourished and loved when I am with him, and my heart just longed to be with him on Father’s day.
When I arrived, we immediately got on the topic of spirituality. It wasn’t really intentional, but it was the area where my dad and I needed to catch up the most. I never fully revealed where I am spiritually until this moment. My dad raised me in the LDS faith, and I cherish that aspect of my upbringing as my experiences in the LDS as a youth were profound and overwhelmingly positive. Most importantly, I developed a thirst for God and doing what is right, and I continue to cherish both that thirst, and the quenching of that thirst that God continues to give me day after day.
I now find myself in a much more nuanced position, where I feel uncertainty at every turn. I do not think the Book of Mormon is literal. I think the church and its leaders are deeply fallible. I think there has been institutional misbehavior, and I think our origin story and early leaders have a lot of issues. And yet, the faith still feels like home, I feel God as I continue to practice it, and I want my children to have a faith tradition that gives them access to spirituality and religious underpinnings, they way that I had. I am definitely not orthodox or a literal believer. I think a lot of this came as difficult news for my dad. We went back and forth about about our views (he is orthodox), and at the end of the day ended with respect and acceptance of the other’s way of thinking. Spirituality and God has always been one of the topics my dad have bonded most over. I hope with all my heart that does not change. I do not feel I am any less spiritual or interested in God than I have been my entire life. I just feel my faith journey has taken me out of the church box, and so here I am. I sent my dad a text afterwords thanking my dad for how supporting, loving and accepting he is. He really is that way. Suzanne also sat and listened kindly the whole time. She too is such a gem, and I’m deeply grateful for both of them in my life. Again, being with them really fills me with hearth.
After our big religious discussion, dad, Suzanne and I did a video conference with the two other brothers for father’s day. It was such an amazing time. David and Olivia got a new puppy and we spent a fair amount of the call watching their two dogs play together and it was adorable. I haven’t mentioned this before, but David took a new job and he and Olivia are moving to Utah! I can’t wait to have them closer!
After a wonderful visit, I drove home, scarfed some food and then watched Rio 2 with the family. It was every bit as good as the first movie. Such good entertainment!!
All in all, such an amazing day. Thank you thank you thank you family for being in my life, for giving me this day, and for giving me so much joy!!
