Author: Abe Darais

Lily and I have been overcome with how cute Meera is on this trip. We are tickled to no end by the anecdote that Lily and Clark shared with us. Soren is a very active boy, and apparently when he leaves the house for school, Meera will mutter to herself multiple times, “now I can have my peace”. She is introverted and quiet, and unbelievably adorable. I saw her today jumping on the trampoline, happily without a coat in 37 degree weather, in her own little world for 20 minutes. It was adorable. Below is a video and some pictures of Meera being cute:

Clark, Swathi, Soren and Meera left today around 1:30. We will miss them dearly. We have had so much fun with them as well as Louie, Ginny, Bea and Clara, and it has been a very magical week for everyone. Grown-ups and kids alike felt immense bonding and enjoyment all being together. We are excited to all be together again at the end of the year in the Philippines!

After Clark, Swathi, Soren and Meera left (Lily drove them to the airport), I worked extremely late to catch up on work and Lily worked on the house. We are supposed to get 5 inches of snow tonight, so that should make tomorrow pretty and interesting.

I worked a very long day today, so I was not as plugged into what happened at home, but I know that Clark spent a lot of time with Georgia being with her and helping her with her technology, Swathi got some work done and rested, the kids played wonderfully (and so happily) and Lily read 80 pages of books to the kids. Lily also has been training Soren on his technique at the piano during this trip, and I think she did another session with him today. Lily later shared with Swathi that Soren has talent at the piano and they had a discussion about ideas for how to shape his musical future. Lydia also did some reading to the kids!

All the kids have LOVED Basil on this trip. He has a particularly great hair style from the groomers right now and everyone is very enamored by him. We are especially thrilled that while Bea started out very scared of Basil, he grew on her very quickly and by the second day, she was completely comfortable with him.

At the end of the day, we all met up to go to Cinderella at the Scera. It was cute and well-done. The kids seemed to be very entertained, and the grown-ups enjoyed it to.

At night, the grown-ups played Azul. Swathi played an amazing game and beat everyone. It was so fun to all chat and play together. Lily and I enjoy their company so much!

Today was another super fun day with everyone in town. In the morning I took Ammon, Bea, Lydia, Mary, Clarissa and Soren all on a bike ride (Ammon was on a scooter). We had an amazing time riding around together, and we rode in the parking lot of Mountain View High School and the Rec Center. It finally clicked in my head today why Mountain View is called Mountain View. See below 🙂

Then we all chatted and planned our big trip we are all going to do together in the Philippines in the winter. We are all very excited for it!

Then we all went to Red Iguana 2. The kids, of course, were having lots of fun together as they have been all trip. They were playing Cover Your Assets this morning before we left, and it has been been non-stop fun, play and bonding together for them. They have all gotten together so well and it’s so fun for all the grown-ups to observe how much they all love being together.

The food at Red Iguana 2 was soooooo good. I ate so much that I actually didn’t eat for the rest of the day. There was lively chatting throughout and everyone had a really good time. My dad, Suzanne, David, Olivia, and Ozzy all came to make the family gathering even more complete. It was so fun to be with so much of our wonderful family!

Then Lout, Ginny, Clara and Bea went to the airport. We will miss having them as we had such a good time being with them and showing them around Utah. They are so gracious, interesting, knowledge, kind, fun and deeply good. We are so grateful we could get to know them better!

Then Lily, napped and I worked for a bit. In the evening, Lily, Swathi, Clark and I played Pickle Ball. It was incredibly fun and it took my joy to the maximum, We really have been having so much fun with Clark and Swathi, and Pickle Ball has been a favorite activity for all of us.

Today was a very happy day for all of us. In the morning, the grown-up sans Lily played Pickleball. It was Louie, Ginny, Clark and Swathi’s first time and they fell in love with it. I played to and as usual, had a complete blast.

After pickleball, we all got our snow gear on and went to Soldier Hollow for snow tubing. It was such a blast. Some of the highlights were:

• The gorgeous weather
• Soren and Ammon (who have been such good buds the whole trip) paling around, and going down together, and even putting their arms around each other while walking.
• Going very fast and enjoying the thrill of tubing
• Socializing while waiting in line (lines were not a highlight) and listening to the fun music

Everyone had a really great time. Pictures and videos below!

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We then all went to Park City to walk around for an hour before dinner. People mostly spent time in the Park City museum. Clarissa had fallen asleep in the car, and stayed asleep while I carried her around Park City. She continued to sleep in the Park City museum where I found a comfy seat. She was very very sleepy.

We all had a delicious dinner at Ghidotti’s. The kids had their own table and even though they got a little (or a lot) loud at moments, the grown-ups did our best to control their joyful noise. We were so happy at how happy they all have been together this whole trip. They really get along so magnificently and love spending time together. It’s abundant joy and laughter for hours on end when they are together.

Today was a very eventful day! First, Soren turned 8 today and we celebrated over Krispy Kreme Donuts for breakfast. They were delicious!

Then we all had family photos. Lily booked a room at Shade just five minutes from our house and we used our favorite photographer, Sarah Severson.

At home, the kids, Lily and I got our valentines from Georgia. They arrived on time, but I just today got them from the mail. Thank you Georgia!

Then everyone except Clark (who had a work meeting), Clarissa, Ammon and Meera went snowshoeing. The weather was incredible and the snow was so gorgeous. Swathi, Soren, Louie and I even saw a moose when we split off for a longer hike to see the frozen Stewart Falls. Everyone had fun! The kids who took the shorter route spent time playing in the snow and “renovating” dwelling places in the trees.

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After snowshoeing we ate sushi. Lily and Swathi were at Georgia’s during that time because she has been feeling unwell due to a medication change. We love you Georgia and are sorry you weren’t feeling well today!

Then Louie and Ginny did the nicest thing ever and went to Blickenstaff’s to not only buy Soren a birthday present, but also to buy chocolate for all of the children. That was so kind, thank you!

I believe this is Ammon enjoying Soren’s new toy

Then we had more singing and cake for Soren’s birthday.

The highlight of my day was learning an amazing new game with Louie, Ginny, Clark and Lily. Clark, Louie and Ginny had played it before and they helped Lily and I learn. It is called Wingspan. It was so fun and we stayed up until 1AM playing and Louie won!

Today was the first full day with everyone in town, and we seized the moment by all going to Sundance. Meera, Clara and Bea all had ski lessons. Clark, Swathi, Lydia, Mary, Soren and I all skied while they were in lessons. Actually, I snowboarded, as I really wanted to keep learning how to do it after trying it the last week with Chris.

Meera is the cutest skier ever!

After the kids’ lessons, we had lunch, and then they all wanted to keep skiing so we all skied more.

Clark and Swathi helped with Bea and Clara, and I was able to get some time with Meera. She was doing so great, she even went on and off the left and skied to the bottom.

When skiing was over, the fun didn’t end. There was a little snow slide that was way more fun than taking the stairs as we were exiting.

Back at home, the kids played while the grown-ups helped Lily finalize the preparations for the Harry Potter feast (Lily had been working on it all day while we were skiing):

Lily served spoon beef, mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, cucumber water, pumpkin juice, hot chocolate, French onion soup with cheesy bread and chocolate cake, much of which was from her Harry Potter cook book. The food was divine and I think everyone got a kick out of the ambience. Thank you Lily for such a magical evening!

In the evening, the kids had fun together and played Junior Monopoly.

Everyone had a ton of fun today!

Today Lily and I got the kids off to school and then finished preparations on the house.

Around noon, Louie arrived with Bea and Clara. There was instant connection. The kids immediately disappeared and played for hours while Lily, Louie and I had riveting and deep conversation for hours. We covered topics of word history, family history, religion, spirituality, geopolitics, the NBA and more. A highlight for me and Lily was to learn about the beautiful way in which he practices his Catholicism. We also had a delicious salmon, rice, salad, and cauliflower.

After Louie and his kids went to sleep, Lily went to pick up Clark, Swathi, Meera and Soren from the airport. When they arrived, Lily and I enjoyed great conversation with Clark and Swathi after their kids went to sleep talking about skiing, plans, how their travels went and more. It has been so fun to see everyone, and we are excited for the days ahead!

Today I had a very heavy work day, and Lily worked on the house to prepare for our guests. We both worked together to prepare the house in the evening.

All the kids had Valentines Day parties at school, even Clarissa, who usually doesn’t go to school on Tuesdays. After her party, Lily brought Clarissa home and Clarissa made a big valentine for Lily.

While picking up Clarissa, someone at Arches commented on how much Lily and Clarissa looked alike. That made Lily very happy, and at home, we spent time admiring all the ways they resemble each other.

Today was a very long day at work for me, but it was heart-warming to come home and be a part of the kids making their valentines boxes and valentines for school tomorrow with Lily. I think the prize for most creative must go to Lydia for her chicken valentines box 🙂

Today I worked out again, walked Basil, listened to church and then helped around the house, including setting the mattress for our newly built trundle bed. We are are thrilled with the result, including Clarissa! She thought the mattress looked like an ocean so she used two of her toys (one was a dolphin) to play an imaginary game in the “ocean.” It was really sweet.

Also, below is a project Clarissa did in class showing her veins and heart etc. So cute!

Lily also did a ton of work around the house today (cleaning and tons and tons of laundry folding) and she is still loving her audiobook My Brilliant Friend.

In the afternoon, Lily and I went to Target in preparation for our guests coming. Target trips are always more eventful when the littles come, lol…

We played more games in the evening, and had an overall great day inspire of some of the wear and tear the grown-ups were feeling.