Courtney, Heidi and I hiked almost eight miles around Deer Creek Reservoir on Tuesday morning/early afternoon. It was maybe the highlight of my entire December. The weather was glorious and I loved chatting with them. the views were stunning.
Here are some cute dances Lydia made up with Mary and Ammon:
This day we baked a lot of cookies. Then Abe and Mary packed them, and we all delivered them. It was so fun connecting with neighbors and friends all night while we delivered cookies!
In the morning Abe and I slept in and then rushed to church in Salt Lake.
After dinner Abe and the kids did karaoke while I went over to my mom’s and had a really nice, very long visit.
Somehow we do not have a picture of Mary or Ammon playing in their piano recital, but I think we might have a video that Abe can embed at some future date. They both did well and we were so impressed with Daniel Olson’s students. He is such a gifted teacher.
After all of the recitals we went on a hike in Big Springs with the Easton-Flakes. I told Ammon at the beginning of the hike to stay away from the creek. At the end when I was occupied with Basil and Abe was occupied with Clarissa he headed straight for the creek and was sliding the down the bank calling for help (which neither Abe nor I heard). Amy heard him, thankfully, and rescued him. I was so grateful–and enraged. I hate when he endangers himself because his executive function is apparently completely shut off. But I am so grateful Amy saved him and very thankful he is alive.
Friday was the older girls’ last day of school. Mary went straight from school to a birthday high tea with her friend, Eloise.
I spent a lot of the day stressed about dance hair and the rehearsal schedule. We were a little late to rehearsal and spent most of the afternoon in the theater. We came home for a quick bite and to pick up Mary and Abe, but then we just turned right around and went back for the 5pm performance. Tom and Suzanne came too. We did not get any pictures of the performances but Abe has videos which he will post here eventually.
…but I have two pictures! See below.
On Wednesday Clarissa and Ammon had their last day of school–surprise! I really should read that darn school calendar beforehand.
I actually did not feel great on Wednesday and so spent much of the day in bed reading my books, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church by Greg Prince, Essential France by Fodor’s Travel, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, and The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute. I am reading them all simultaneously because I can’t figure out which one I like the best. I love them all.
And then I finished making some sub-standard zimmsterne, and I let Mary bake Choon’s ginger snaps all by herself. Well, Clarissa helped. 🙂
On Tuesday both Lydia and Clarissa had harp lessons, and in the evening all the kids had ballroom. It started snowing and raining during ballroom, which was sad because Abe and I had planned to use that time to go take Basil on a nighttime walk. We ended up just watching Ted Lasso instead, and that was fun. After the kids went down we kept watching. It is such a great show!
Abe had his promotion interview Monday. He has been extremely stressed about it because he did not realize he would have to do this interview until two weeks ago. But it went really well, and afterward Abe was shaking from nerves and adrenaline. We had a hike planned for immediately after the interview because we knew that would help Abe decompress.
I picked up Abe from Qualtrics and we drove to Big Springs where we hiked with Basil. It is a lot different hiking together without kids! We made it a lot farther than we ever have, and Basil was basically out of his mind with joy.
During the hike Abe and I talked about the interview and everything else on our minds, which is always so fun. It was over way too soon.
After I dropped off Abe I came home, tidied, showered, baked cookies, and did some laundry. I wanted to read but was so sloooooow in the kitchen that I didn’t have time.
Then it was time to pick up the kids and visit with the Easton-Flake crowd for our weekly play date. I had the greatest time talking with Amy about Cloud Cuckoo Land, which she read and loved. It was so, so wonderful to be able to talk about a book that I loved with a local friend in person! It was a highlight of my day.
After Abe came home we all celebrated Basil’s birthday. His birthday is December 9th, but we had put it off until Monday because of Abe’s interview. We knew that we were going to give Basil pizza on his birthday. Since it gives him diarrhea, we did not want to do that on the days leading up to the interview when Abe’s sleep was so important.
Basil loved his pizza with whipped cream.
Then Abe and I scooted out on our date to Communal. We loved our meal and visiting with each other. I don’t even know what we had left to discuss after our hike that morning, but somehow we had plenty to talk about and the time flew.
After dinner we went to Barnes and Noble and browsed, which is another one of my favorite things. I really don’t deserve my life, which is full of so many happy activities and beautiful people. And I really do not deserve Abe, who is the sun to my earth. Abe, I am so proud of you for how hard you work and how deeply good you are. Thank you for giving me such a beautiful day–on a day that was so stressful for you! You are the best. I love you.
On Sunday I snuck out of the house a little before 8am to go see my friend, Courtney, sing in church. It was my first time in an LDS chapel since leaving, and I was so thankful that I did not feel one iota triggered. It felt nice, communal, and familiar. And it turns out one of Lydia’s friends is in that ward. She came over and said hi, and I gave her a hug.
Courtney sang SO beautifully. I wish I could have taken a video. It was so moving to hear her sing. And it was fun to visit with her a little bit before people started filing in for church.
After her song was over I went to Harmons, picked up bread, and stopped by my mom’s for a visit. She was not feeling well but took some bread and a hug. Mom, I am so sorry for all you are going through. You really do not deserve to be suffering. You are such a wonderful woman and mother, and I love you!
After I saw my mom I came home. Abe and I tidied, vacuumed, mopped, and got ready for a brunch with my friend, Stephanie. Stephanie also works at Qualtrics and is Abe’s friend too, so he joined us. We had avocado toast, ricotta toast with homemade applesauce, and some yogurt and muesli.
Stephanie has what I would call a prophetic voice. She is bubbly, bright, and full of life and light. And her mind is, quite frankly, amazing. I loved discussing issues with her and hearing her frank and incisive (and somehow lively and hopeful) analysis of current issues. I hope she starts a podcast or something because I think her ideas need some sort of public platform.
Stephanie is also a professional graphic designer and an artist, so after we were done eating she helped figure out some design issues in my basement.
And as Stephanie was stepping out of the door, Tyler from Community of Christ was stepping in for home church. No one but Tyler came, but we ended up having the greatest evening with him. He had time to kill before his meeting at a church in Provo, so we had him over for dinner. We made more of the same toasts from brunch, roasted some sweet potatoes for a spinach, sweet potato, pecan and gorgonzola salad, and made a lentil soup. Tyler is a foodie and we had fun talking about our favorite cookbook authors and recipes together.
After Tyler left, we cleaned up. Well, actually, Abe cleaned everything. I collapsed after such a long, full day and Abe cleaned while I lay on the couch. I think I might have read a book or two to Ammon and or Clarissa but it is a blur. After he was done cleaning Abe read Harry Potter to everyone and tucked people in for bed. We finished off by watching Ted Lasso together and loved every second of that. Such a fantastic show!