Month: October 2023

Happy Halloween!

Today was very fun. All of the kids enjoyed going to school in their costumes.

After school, Lily brought the kids to Qualtrics where I took them around for trick-or-treating around the office.

Then the kids got to show Nana their costumes.

Then we went to trick-or-treat in downtown Provo. I forgot to take pictures!

Then Lydia and Mary went to their friend’s houses where they trick-or-treated with their friends. I took Ammon and Clarissa around our neighborhood with Todd and his son Casey for a while, and then Lily joined us as we went to the scary garage-converted-into-haunted house, that Ammon and Clarissa love as well as Morgan and Jessie’s house, and our favorite skeleton house and surrounding area.

It was a very fun Halloween overall for everyone. Perhaps the most amusing part is how happy the younger kids are about their candy. I have memories as a kid just reveling in my candy haul and sorting it and trading it meticulously with siblings. And that is exactly what Clarissa, Ammon and Mary did. Clarissa has her candy sorted all over the dining room table (and plead that we let her keep it there), and Ammon’s room has now turned into a trading floor for he and Mary.

Clarissa’s Candy

Pumpkin Carving

I had a very intense day at work today so I came home and rested when I was finished. And then it was so fun to switch gears and carve pumpkins with the family while we listened to Taylor Swift (our new musical obsession).

Here are the results!

  • Clarissa
  • Clarissa Side View
  • Mary
  • Ammon
  • Abe
  • Clarissa #2
  • Lydia

Presbyterian Scottish Celebration, Lunch with the Gruwells and the Millennium Falcon

This morning we got up early to go to the 1st Presbyterian Scottish Celebration per the recommendation of our dear friends the Gruwells. It was so wonderful to see them, and the service blew our minds.

The service especially touched Lily who grew up going to a Presbyterian church. So many aspects of the service today (such as the building, the message in the sermon etc) reminded Lily of her childhood experience. She felt like she was home, and she was touched by the entire experience. We may attend much more based on how wonderful the experience was. I couldn’t help myself in grabbing these two videos. The music was so beautiful.

The sermon was about how we need God’s help to change us, and the pastor told the story of a very rude and bad child in the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series who turned into a dragon from his greed. He was not able to shed his own scales but needed Aslan to rip them off for him. The process hurt but made him a new creature, and we were invited to step into God’s grace and become new. It was beautiful

Then we went to lunch with the Gruwells and had such a great time talking with them. A highlight for me was learning about Ammon’s transition to veganism for environmental sustainability and how well it is working for him. Also, there were very few people at “O my Falafel” which worked out great given all the kids that we had with us (8 total!).

At home, I delivered on my promise to Ammon to help him build his birthday Millenium Falcon. It was one of my favorite father-son experiences that I have ever had. At first it was especially nice because we could methodically build each section together. Then, as we realized it was a five hour project or more, I spent the last hour and a half myself finishing it up. Ammon was so thrilled to build it with me (and I was having so much fun with him) and his mind was blown by the result. I have to admit that it is the most amazing and thoughtfully designed Lego set I’ve ever built. I was also very impressed with all the details. To top it all off, we watched Star Wars Episode IV (the first one ever made) so Ammon could get an appreciation for the Millenium Falcon. I was over the moon sharing that movie with the family and Ammon really got into it.

What a special day!

Haunted Half-Marathon, Spirit Halloween & Taylor Swift

Today I woke up before 6 to run a half marathon. Since it was a Halloween-themed half-marathon, I decided to run as a cactus!

Lily and the kids came to support me, which made me so happy!

  • I took Clarissa to get her face painted

I also bumped into my friends Lucas and Kim during and after the race:

Back at home, Clarissa, who has been very crafty lately, made a unicorn hat:

In the afternoon, I took all the kids to the Spirit Halloween store so Lydia could get some accessories for her Halloween costume, and just so we could all walk around and enjoy the store:

Then in the evening we went to the Taylor Swift Era Concert movie. We got the idea from Jamie Gruwell who had just gone the day before (which is why Lydia babysat for her). The movie was unbelievable, one of the most incredible pieces of entertainment we had ever seen. Not only was it physically impressive that she can even sing and dance for three straight hours, but the execution of notes, dancing, talking to the audience, lighting and frankly everything was flawless. She is an incredible person, and it was amazing to see her express the music in her heart in such a powerful way. She was also so gracious in how much love she shared for her audience. And her songs just simply rock. She loved it!

Ammon and Clarissa’s [exploding] food shop and Lydia babysits for the Gruwells.

Today Ammon and Clarissa had very involved fun making a food shop out of magnetiles. Lily and I each got some things from their shop. The specialties were exploding food items which you will see in the second video below:

Also, in the evening Lydia did her first babysitting outside of our family and babysat Ethan and Peter Gruwell. The Gruwell’s are one of our favorite families and Lydia had such a blast doing it. Those kids are the cutest!

Loving Fall

Today I got the wish of my heart from yesterday (when I walked alone in the beautiful fall colors), and Lily and I were able to meet up for a walk today. She and the colors are so beautiful!

Speaking of beautiful colors, at home, Clarissa painted some beautiful flowers. She was so proud of them and showed them to others, describing great details about them. I think her favorites are the ones on the left.

Lily topped off a beautiful fall day by making a wonderful fall dinner. She’s been cooking a lot lately (cauliflower mac and cheese & vegetarian chili have been two recent great dishes).

Viva Las Vegas!

Whenever Las Vegas comes up, Lily is quick to say what a gross, disgusting, morally vapid place that Las Vegas is. It is true we have had personal experiences to back that feeling (including me stepping in vomit in my socks in the Circus Circus). But after this trip, Lily’s feelings have changed about Las Vegas. Not only did we visit our friend Missy (already giving Las Vegas “awesome” status), but today we explored Las Vegas in the morning as a family and we had a lot of fun.

First, we went to the Bellagio and saw the fairy garden. Clarissa especially loved it!

Then we grabbed ice cream (see video below) and went on an incredible “Fly Over” ride about the American West. That ride was a highlight of the entire trip. The West is so beautiful!

We then drove home. On the drive Ammon was making different creations out of his socks:

Then we had a delicious dinner at a Cedar City Mexican restaurant called Lupita’s. It was delicious and fast! While waiting for the food, we got this video capturing everyone’s highlights and lowlights from the trip.

On the way home, I did one-word stories with each kid and then a story where each kid told a section of the story (which is the last recording below). They were extremely wacky, and after each one I recorded a retelling of the story just to capture the imaginative fun we had. Lydia did some great background sound effects! Here are the results!

My family is my “why” and spending this time with them was an elixir to my soul, especially in the midst of some deep work stresses. Thank you family for sharing this trip with me!

Ventura and Sequoia National Park

In the morning we all went to Ventura to walk around and eat breakfast. Basically everything was closed so downtown was not interesting, but we did find a nice breakfast place for acai bowels as well as this fun heart scultpure:

Then we took the long drive to Sequoia National Park. Unfortunately, when we got there, the fog was so bad that going up the mountain to where the Sequoia trees were would have been too dangerous. We asked a lady who just came down the mountain and she said she used to be a trucker, and that fog was one of the most precarious and dangerous drives she’d ever done. We opted to pass. It was disappointing not seeing any Sequoia trees, but we did get our stamp and go on a beautiful hike in the park that had this incredible gully.

  • This is the fog/cloud cover we avoided

We then drove to Vegas for the night and stayed at a Home2 Suites hotel. As we were leaving the park, we saw some wild turkeys!

An Amazing Plan B: The Huntington

We were disappointed for the second day in a row because the ocean was choppy so they weren’t running the ferries to the channel islands. Ever ready to dispense itinerary wisdom, Lily suggested we go to the Huntington. I had never heard about it, but was so glad I got to go. It was amazing!

The Huntington was founded by a wealthy business owner (Henry Huntington) who wanted to use his wealth for cultural sharing and advancement. Before he died, he turned his estate into a place of cultural learning. He also married his aunt (through marriage) which was interesting.

The first room we visited had amazing books. There was an original Audubon book, a Gutenberg bible, a letter from Abraham Lincoln, a letter from Mary Shelley (which complained about French bread) and more. It was all so fascinating.

Then we saw furniture, tapestries, and amazing paintings.

Lily’s favorite part was sitting in the room of Gainsborough portraits. She remembered sitting in that room with her family as a child, and reliving that experience with such profound art was powerful for her. I also loved this room and got a new entry point into art since I was previously unfamiliar with Gainsborough. We also appreciated the newly commissioned portrait (see below next to the blue boy painting) that was a modern response to the Gainsborough blue boy portrait.

Then went to the children’s garden and the kids had a blast.

Ammon’s favorite part was the magnetic sand and magnets he got to play with. See the video link below.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ddg_SehFONY

Then we had mochi ice cream in the Chinese garden (which was beautiful) and walked through the Chinese garden to get to the Japanese garden. Here are pictures of the Japanese Garden:

We then exited through a beautiful rose garden and drove home to a beautiful sunset. It wasn’t the Channel Islands, but in some ways it was even better.

Back at the resort, we all went swimming. It was chilly outside, but the pool was so warm and we had a blast playing Marco Polo, having the kids do tricks on my shoulders and just paling around. After swimming we ate at the resort restaurant. Dinner was so wonderful. We had such meaningful family conversation which turned into everyone sharing what they think their own strengths are and what the strengths of others in the family are. It was a beautiful conversation. What an awesome day!