On Friday Lydia had Kaitlin, a friend from school, over for a playdate. The after school schedule was a little insane because I also had to get Ammon to and from a voice lesson, pick up some supplies from Petco, return Kaitlin to her house, drop off Lydia at ballroom, pick up Lydia from ballroom (when we realized there was actually no ballroom that night!) and get ready for hosting a dinner with our neighbors and friends, the Covingtons. I decided to cheat there and ordered a ton of Cafe Rio because I could not do it all in two hours.
We enjoy the Covingtons so much, and I love that Ammon and Clarissa get playdates with their kids. I arrange so many for Lydia that the rest of my kids get badly neglected in the play date arena. I need to make some just for Mary, but at least we checked three out of four on Friday!
The girls were inspired by the sunset and grabbed some watercolors to paint it. I was floored by how good their paintings were!Just look at Lydia’s!!! She told me it’s because she’s been paying attention when her teacher turns on Bob Ross at school to calm the class down.
On Thursday morning I went on a long walk with Basil while the little kids were in ballet. I chatted during a lot of it with Jan and George. George is Greek and they honeymooned in Greece, so we had fun talking all about the places there that we both enjoy. I just think they are the best.
After I was off the phone I tried to pay attention to how beautiful the canyon was. It’s so easy to just be immersed in the beauty and not actually see any of it!
After my walk I dropped off Ammon at school and then brought Clarissa home for a playdate with Wyatt while I visited with my friend (and Wyatt’s mom), Courtney. I hadn’t seen her in a while and it was so nice to just catch up. She has such a calm, grounded energy and I love that about her.
Mary is learning her first Haydn concerto, and Ammon felt inspired to direct her.
On Wednesday my friend, Hilary, and I were texting a lot so she finally just called me. We had a nice, long conversation, and she and Jean were headed either that evening or this weekend to a concert by Rhiannon Giddens. Hilary assured me I would love her, and she texted me some links to her songs.
I played the songs for the kids, and they all–especially Ammon–became obsessed. Ammon wanted to play At the Purchaser’s Option on repeat for hours on end. I’ll post the link to the music here because it is so, so, SO heartbreakingly incredible.
At Lydia’s harp lesson in the morning.Clarissa is so funny brushing her hair. She’s seen Mary flip over like this and insists on doing it this way herself.Abe and I attended Ammon’s Thanksgiving program. Abe has a lot of vidoes, but Ammon did a great job. The kids recited poems and songs for thirty minutes straight, and it was so impressive.
After the program I took Clarissa to the park. I met the most delightful mother there with her one year old. Her name is McKenna Myler, and she is a professional runner who has made the Olympic trials. We had the most fun conversation and I am recording this so I remember her name when she makes the Olympic team. I’ll know who to root for!
After school we met up for our Monday play date with the Easton-Flake kids–and we ran into Jessi and her kids there too! Bonus. The kids love this spinning thing, but Clarissa got thrown and almost broke her arm. She appeared to recover quite thoroughly. She and Hawthorne are the cutest pair of friends ever.
I felt very tired this morning but did my bike workout anyway. It felt good to burn some calories after all of that butterbeer and pumpkin juice! After biking I washed my hair and raced to the car so we would only be 10 minutes late to church in Salt Lake.
I actually did not hear very much of church because I spent the first fifteen minutes walking Basil in the gorgeous fall weather. Then after a brief stint in the pew Ammon and Clarissa went feral and needed room to roam. I took them outside for the rest of church.
Making “soup” with the berries they found on bushes and trees outside of church.
After church we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon trying to find a trail to hike with Basil, but all of that area is a protected watershed. We settled for a neighborhood nearby with lots of snobby, hostile signage.
Then we went and ate lunch with Karin, Jay, and David at La Caille. The kids loved the fanciful architecture and decor. I wished we had more time afterward to explore. Since we were pressed for time all we did after brunch was walk up to the Rapunzel tower and poke around there for a minute before hitting the bathrooms and driving home.
Lydia in the Rapunzel tower at La CailleI loved the flaming water lily in front of the restaurant.
Upon arriving home Abe and I raced to get the house ready in 35 minutes for our second round of church. The Community of Christ has a Utah Valley contingent that now meets in people’s homes, and Abe had volunteered ours for today.
Aside from our local pastor, Tyler, we had one lovely attendee. Abe and I were so impressed with her. During the height of her spiritual journey she was studying scriptures and conference talks for three hours a day. On top of that, she would walk the fields of Nebraska seeking to hear God’s voice. All this while working as a janitor! She was obviously so smart, so articulate, and so deeply kind. Abe and I were so impressed with her and her story.
Although she and her now wife were married in the LDS temple when her wife still presented as a man, she and her wife have been navigating their relationship with Mormonism for some time now. She told us that today when she attended the Salt Lake CoC service, she felt safe in church for the first time in years. I teared up when I heard that. I gave private thanks for the pride flags on the altar, on the lawn, on the pulpit, and on every fifth person’s mask. I am so thankful to attend a church that is as radically inclusive as Jesus was.
We all went out and watched the sunset together, and that felt very peaceful.
After church Abe and I chatted about how grateful we are to learn from such wonderful, kind people, and now I am back-blogging in the hopes that I can get us caught up tonight!
When we had our first Harry Potter party two years ago, I silently vowed that the next one would be better. That one I was cooking for two hours after the Marshalls arrived, and besides the food our only ode to Harry Potter in the house was the movie playing upstairs.
This time was a little different! Abe disassembled Ammon’s room and transformed it into a dining room for the kids. He floated candles from the ceiling, hung a big picture of Hogwarts on one wall, and used some of the decorations our friend Amy lent us to complete the look. We also set the tables with rustic plates, bowls, and fanciful goblets.
I had not fully learned my lesson though because I procrastinated cooking and ended up cooking for 8 straight hours on Saturday. I did not make all of the food I wanted to, but we still had Leaky Cauldron split pea soup (the smitten kitchen recipe), gilly weed salad, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pasties. I am bookmarking the recipe for the pumpkin pasties here mostly for the crust recipe. It calls for Greek yogurt and is such a good pastry! I substituted spelt flour in half of the pasties and they still came out. It’s really good.
Mary and I made pumpkin juice and funneled it into bottles, and Abe and Mary made butterbeer and gilly weed water. For dessert we had Hagrid’s rock cakes, treacle tart (a delight to bake!), and golden snitches that Amy and her kids crafted.
I had so much fun talking with our adult friends Micah, Jessi, Morgan and Amy while the kids appeared to be having fun in their dining room.
After dinner Jessi and Morgan had to go, but the rest of us went outside to make s’mores on our–now working, hallelujah!–fire pit. Sitting around the fire was another highlight for me.
I neglected to take good pictures, but I did at least get these. I think Abe has a video that he will upload when he gets around to it.
On Saturday Betsy and Micah came by with Pippa so that our kids could play together while Liberty babysat them all. We then headed to Salt Lake in the Crofts’ new yellow Jeep, which was so fun. We ate at Laziz Kitchen (I think that was the name), and the food was sooooo yummy.
After we headed over to Abravanel Hall for the Pink Martini concert. I have loved Pink Martini for over a decade and was so excited to see them in person. They are such a fun band! One of the great surprises was that they sang a couple songs with Miss America 2002–and she was actually talented and extremely likeable!
We loved, loved, loved the whole concert and our wonderful company. On the way home Betsy even beat boxed while Abe free-styled. Such a good time! I just wish I had remembered to snap one single, solitary photo. This one will just have to live on in memory!
Abe got Thursday off for Veteran’s Day, which was such a wonderful surprise for all of us. While Ammon and Clarissa were at dance in the morning, we took an almost two hour walk together in the canyon with Basil. I love walking and talking with Abe. It’s one of my favorite things.
Afterward we came home and Abe helped me clean the house in preparation for our Harry Potter party. We took a picture of Ammon’s room before taking down all of his pictures. Ammon stickered and colored all of these pictures, and he even taped them up on his walls himself. I loved that he just took the initiative to decorate his own walls.
After school Abe and the kids picked up my mom and brought her home, but she was not feeling well. She ended up staying in the car while I dropped Lydia off at ballroom and then drove my mom home.
When we got to her home, she still was not feeling well. I walked her in and helped her get settled in before driving back to pick up Lydia. I feel so sad that my mom is struggling so much. Mom, if I don’t say it enough, please know I love you so much. You are and have always been the Best Mom Ever.
Ammon’s class had a Covid outbreak, so he stayed home for a Mommy-Ammon day. We were in the middle of reading a pile of books when Chelsea called and said she was about to go on a walk with Dakota, her dog. Ammon and I quickly finished our stack and then headed over to pick up Chelsea and Dakota. We drove to Canyon Grove park where we parked and took the dogs and Ammon on a looooong walk and bike ride. We walked for almost two hours!
Of course they flew by because I love Chelsea like a sister. She was so supportive when I vented about Ammon’s kindergarten situation, too. At one point the kindergarten teacher wanted me to log on so Ammon could attend P.E. online. I sent her the picture below in response.
After we walked Ammon played on the playground until one of Chelsea’s twins called and needed to come home from school. We headed over to Foothill, picked him up, dropped him and Chelsea off at their house, and then headed home again. I helped Ammon with his piano practice before heading back out to pick up the girls.
In the evening we all attended the Orem Hale’s production of Hunchback. Olivia, Chelsea’s daughter, is in the play and she did an absolutely amazing job. It was so fun to see her, and we were absolutely floored by the talent of the actors in the play. We are so lucky to live in a place brimming with community theater talent. Honestly, there were several actors in the play who seemed like they should be on Broadway, and we are confused that we got to see them in Orem. Confused but grateful, though!
