Today Lily mailed Meera’s toys that were left at our house when Clark, Swathi and family visited. They were really special toys to Meera that she missed. Lily took some fun pictures of the toys having adventures in our yard to send to Meera before she mailed them.
Also, just yesterday, we got a package from Clark and Swathi that had a Stephen Hawking book for me, a cook book for Lily and the whole series of Wayside School fir Lydia and Mary. It was such a kind thing for them to do. I was especially happy because I was literally researching Stephen Hawking books to buy yesterday, the same day the book from Clark and Swathi came!! It was such a kind thing for them to do, and we are all so happy with our books. The girls and I read our books over dinner tonight. Here is a picture:
Also, today I dropped Basil off to get groomed. I thought it was cute how he sat in the booster seat so I snapped a photo.
For school, Lydia completed a report about Esther Peterson, a remarkable consumer and women’s advocate from Utah. Here is a video that Lydia submitted to her teacher as part of the report. Great job Lydia!
Today was really nice because Lily and I both relaxed and spent a lot of time with the kids today. Here are some highlights:
We all played with kinetic sand together
Lydia shared with us this hilarious commercial about zip top reusable containers with Matt Meese from BYUtv’s Studio C. We all thought it was so hilarious and Lydia loves it so much she now wants to be an advertiser. And yes, we did buy the containers!
In the afternoon, I took the kids to the park/church parking lot near our old house. We flew kites, saw the Kahlers, bumped into Jay and Liberty and their new dog peaches, and the kids biked.
I later played action figures with Ammon before bed and had so much fun with him.
In the morning Abe and Liem biked all of Slickrock together. It was a huge accomplishment, and I am so thrilled that they didn’t die in the process.
In the meantime I took the kids to a viewpoint on the way to Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands. There was no one around, which I thought was ideal. The kids walked out to some giant boulders and played until Clarissa threw a tantrum and I had to drag her back to the car. Basil was pulling one arm, Clarissa was pulling another, and draped across both arms I had everyone’s coats. That was the highlight of our adventure.
When we got back we picked up Abe from Subway (he and Liem biked to Moab after Slickrock), ate, and then drove up to Hidden Lake in the La Sal Mountains. It was slightly hair raising because the roads were not marked and half of them were unpaved, but we were thrilled to finally made it to the lake! And just as we turned into the pull-off for the lake, our car sank cabin deep into the craziest mud we had ever seen.
Abe and Liem built a ramp for the van, and then Liem, Phuong, Phuong’s dad, and Abe all pushed the van while I drove in reverse. I honestly thought we would be stuck on top of that mountain forever, but after twenty minutes–the van was free!
After that everyone but Clarissa, who was taking the longest, deepest nap of her life, and I headed to the lake to fish. The lake was iced over, so Abe heroically jumped in and cleared a spot for fishing! All of the non icy part of the lake below was cleared by hand by Abe, who was chest deep in ice water.
People spent two hours fishing and caught five fish. Ammon was traumatized when Abe had to kill one because the hook was buried in it. He saw the fish’s head and burst out into tears.
Soon after a stray dog found everyone. Phuong, Lydia, and Mary brought the dog to the van and while they were there the owner happened to pull up and collected his dog. I cannot stress how remote this location was, so this was kind of a shock. But it turns out his ranch was on the mountain around the corner, so not so shocking when we realized that.
The dog, whose name was Betsy, was so sweet. She wandered back to us thirty minutes later again, and I let her play with Basil. The kids absolutely loved her because she was so sweet.
Betsy
Then we drove home along Route 128 past Castle Rock and along the river. It was so stunningly beautiful. I took pictures resigned to the fact that they could not remotely do this place justice.
We stopped at a grocery store, picked up stuff to grill for dinner, and then let the kids eat in the RV in front of the tv while we joined Liem, Phuong, and Phuong’s parents outside of their RV for a candlelit dinner that was so delicious.
This was definitely the most adventure filled day of the year! We are so grateful to have such fun friends to share the day wit.
Today we left the house by 9AM to go to Goblin Valley. While I exercised, the others got the kids fed and ready and made a picnic. I felt very grateful for getting a workout as it helped me to release steam after my quarter-end. I was also very grateful for the lunch everyone made. We had egg-salad sandwiches, peanut-butter and jelly and tons of sides. The temperature was perfect under the sunshade in Goblin Valley.
Basil seemed to have a wonderful time. I think Lydia had a lot of fun leading him around the hudus.
The kids all had fun climbing!
Clarissa and I made it to the top of the green mountain and then we all went back. People started to struggle because of the strong winds that were blowing sand in people’s eyes. It was really fun, but the wind did put a little bit of a damper on things. All in all, it was sunny, gorgeous, and as always a really fun and interesting time walking around the hudus.
After Goblin valley, Swathi had the idea to do another hike and the group liked that idea. We all drove an hour an a half to Capitol Reef and did their Hickman Natural Bridge trail. It’s the first time we’ve actually hiked in Capitol Reef! Lily stayed back with Basil and took him on a dog-friendly trail, because the Hickman trail did not allow dogs. Clarissa and Mary stayed with Lily. The rest of us enjoyed the trail. The weather was perfect, and the trail was so beautiful.
Swathi packed snacks to share with everyone as we rested near the arch
After all the events of the day, we drove home (stopping for subway). What a fun adventure today was!
Easter morning, the kids woke up way before the grown-ups were ready to get going. Lydia was up by 6:50 and corralled others and everyone was up and going by around 7:30. First kids found their Easter baskets and then Lily gave everyone the egg hunt instructions and then everyone was off hunting eggs.
After egg-hunting, everyone sat around the table and enjoyed the spoils of their egg-hunting and their baskets. They ate lots of candy and played with their kinetic sand.
We thought it was cute that Basil rested on top of Clarissa.
Clarissa had the cutest playtime with Meera playing with dolls.
Then all the kids played in the sad box. The weather was absolutely gorgeous.
Clark enjoyed reading Bill Gate’s book about the environment.
After the kids got sandy in the sandbox, I had a super fun water fight with them. Everyone was safe as long as they were on the stairs. All of the kids, except Clarissa, mostly hung out on the stairs and periodically left to try to get me and then ran back to safety. Clarissa never went on the stairs, she just stayed out playing with me the whole time and she got super wet. I also got very very wet. It was so so so fun. Everyone had their share of getting me wet and getting wet.
For dinner, Georgia and my parents came over. We had incredible latkes that Lily and Swathi made with Lily’s amazing home-made applesauce, and a variety of delicious sides.
We had such an amazing time all day today. And we are so grateful for all the people we got to share it with!
Last night Clark and Swathi and their kids arrived by airplane. We are so lucky to have them in town!
Today, I had work, so I don’t know all the detail of what happened today, so I will report the best that I can.
Ammon and Soren got haircuts together.
Then everyone went to Cascade Springs, but it was closed for the winter still, so they went to another area that had an amphitheater.
Near the amphitheater, there was a sizable steep drop-off with big rocks on the bottom of it. Lily saw Ammon giving himself a pep-talk (as if he was trying to convince himself that he could do something difficult) and she sensed he was considering jumping off the drop-off. Lily said, “Ammon, please don’t do anything silly.” Ammon didn’t hear her and proceeded to jump down the drop off. He tumbled and hit a rock at the bottom, and scratched up his side. This nearly broke Lily’s nerves, and she called me quite distressed, but right now both of them are doing fine.
Back at home we got babysitters so that Swathi, Clark, Lily and I could go to Block restaurant. It was so fun to go out with them and we loved the food!!
In the background are the two babysitters that came over to take care of the kids so the grown-ups could go out. They are Charity Moore’s daughter and niece
