Abe has been stressed with work and craving doughnuts, so he went out and got some for everyone. He also spent a lot of time visiting with our friend, Nick, who has been going through a rough time. He got some doughnuts for Nick too.
Earlier in the day Abe got some time off of work to come with me to see Mary’s class museum about the ancient South American civilizations.
Also Clarissa had a harp lesson in the morning and it was the cutest thing ever.
Oh, and we also had a quick play date with Jessi, Henry, and Vika today. I love chatting with Jessi and finally made some popovers that actually popped (even though they stuck to the sides of the pan. Ugh.).
On Monday morning I had Camey and Amy over for brunch. They are in the same branch of teaching at BYU but had never met. It was fun to have a little brunch where they could meet–even if my popovers did burn. Abe sailed in with ingredients from Harmon’s so we could have avocado toast instead. Thank you, Abe!
Then in the afternoon had a play date with the Easton Flakes which we loved, as usual. Clarissa and Hawthorne had a cute little play prepared. It turned out to be Clarissa’s dance routine, which she has worked on since September. She expected Hawthorne to automatically know all of the choreography from ballroom and appeared distressed when things didn’t go according to plan. They were both too cute for words.
These pictures are all backward. They go from latest to earliest in the day but I am too tired to fix that right now.
Abe decorated our door!In the evening Abe took Basil and the kids to play with the Covingtons’ dogs. We think Zucko, this white french bulldog, is such a handsome dog. He has the greatest personality, too.
Abe helped Clarissa place the star.We spent the evening decorating the tree we picked out in the afternoon. We had so much fun picking this tree. It was a tree we all loved! In the past we have been letting the kids pick out bushy trees that they love. (They think the trees I like are ugly.) Abe made everyone laugh by telling the kids to pick out the “sickest, scraggiest tree” for Mom because I like skinny trees with lots of space for ornaments. But we chose this beautiful one as a good compromise.In the morning we all went on a hike in Big Springs. We ran into one of Abe’s college friends en route! She is now a French professor at BYU.So many dog friends on this trail.
In the morning Abe took the Subaru in to get the windshield fixed. He took the kids and had them all walk thirty minutes to a park while the car got fixed. (I was home Black Friday shopping.)
In the afternoon we drove to Karin and Jay’s house for dinner. Basil was so happy to be there again! And he had fun playing with Walter and Willow, whom David and Olivia had brought.
After dinner we drove home and Abe took Basil over to the Covingtons’ to play with their dogs while they are out of town.
Abe spent the morning cooking brunch for his mom, Jay, and my mom. I spent the rest of the day cooking for dinner with Tom, Suzanne, Ed and Isabella. I will say, both meals were absolutely delicious. It was the most tasty Thanksgiving I can personally recall. And we loved every minute of visiting with our parents. We quite possibly had the best Thanksgiving ever. My memory is rusty but I struggle to recall a better!
We bought ski passes and Abe needed a picture of Lydia for hers. It’s the only pic I can find for this day.
Since I’ve been so busy working on deals for the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate and its starting to get a little less busy, from about 9:30 to 11:30 today, I was with Lily, Ammon and Clarissa and we drove to Big Springs trail in South Fork and walked for about an hour. It was so nice and we loved looking at the ice crystals on the ground.
Afterwards, I went back to work and Lily worked getting the house looking really nice. Also, a tree consultant came over to give suggestions on what trees to plant where and that was really exciting.
In the afternoon, Lily and the kids had a playdate with Amy and her kids, I took my first ride on my mountain bike with my boss, Brandon, and also Clarissa started feeling sick. She’s been super sleepy.
Abe took the above photos while the older girls and I made a stop in the mall after church. We were originally going to pick up a new pot for Thanksgiving, but that turned into a much, much longer trip…and it seems like Abe and the little kids had fun goofing off while we took our sweet time. Honestly, I felt bad about how long we left the three of them in the car, but they seemed just fine when we got back. Abe, you are my hero! If it had been me, I would have been upset.
Abe also took a picture of one of the hymns we sang today in church. The words are quite beautiful. And wow, did they play this at a clip! It might have been the fastest hymn I’ve ever sung.
I spent the rest of the day planning all of our vacations and weekend trips for 2022. With Black Friday upon us, I felt like I needed to know where we are going so I can get deals if any come up this week. Now we are one hundred percent planned, and I feel tired for us when I look at the calendar.
I think I need to figure out a way to cut down some of the travel so we can have more weekends like the one we just had–full of friends and rhythmic life patterns that we love. At any rate, right now what I most need to do is catch up the blog on this week so I can get to finishing my current book–and take a long walk with Abe and Basil!
Oh–and we recently discovered a song I hunted for in the credits of the movie, Together. It randomly played on our Amazon Music playlist while we were driving home from Salt Lake–and Abe and I both yelped. Ammon has been listening to it on repeat and dancing to it all evening, to my greatest delight.
On Saturday morning Abe woke up early and played pickleball with our neighbor Todd at 5:50am. I slept in much longer but still enjoyed the most beautiful morning walk in the canyon around 9. I walked and jogged with Basil, and I tried to stop as often as possible and admire all of the subtle beauties everywhere. I am reading Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World, which is all about plumbing everyday experiences for greater spiritual depths. She uses the phrase “seeing the red X under our own feet,” which I find so helpful. The buds above were the red X under my feet.
After my fun walk and run, I ran errands and then came home. I helped the kids with their music practice and then cooked some shepherd’s pie, mushroom gravy, and yeasted pumpkin bread. We had the Vandagriffs over for dinner, and we had the best time chatting with them. They are such wonderful people and friends. Also they saved us with Jessi’s delicious sourdough bread when my pumpkin bread emerged from the bread machine–raw. I got too happy with the vital wheat gluten, and it was Jessi’s bread to the rescue.
After dinner we went out to make s’mores, which always scares me because Ammon and Clarissa are so reckless around the fire–and Abe does things like hand marshmallows to them while reaching over the fire. Everyone always emerges unscathed and unsinged, though, so that makes me suspect the problem is probably just my anxiety!
Vika came over wearing the cutest bow in her hair. That and the glasses remind me so much of Mary at a younger age, and she just melted us with that necklace and smile to boot!
