Lydia’s friend Lizzie came over and they had a lot of fun painting and also playing Chocolatier Azule with Mary and Lily. Everyone had some chocolate in the process! Lizzie was very sweet and a lot of fun to have around.
We continue to have so much fun with games as a family. We played a new game called Outfoxed, which Ammon and Clarissa LOVED and I also played some Bananagrams and Mah-Jongg with Lily, Lydia and Mary. What a fun Saturday!
The kids did not have school today and they had a lot of fun dressing up Clarissa for a fully-fledged fashion show.
While working, I met all of my new team members and I love them all. I feel very fortunate to be working on the Healthcare team!
At the end of my work day, I played Pickleball with Lily and then we played games again with the Olsens (both Chocolatier Azule, and Mah-Jongg, which they instructed us on). Those two activities are becoming routine for Fridays, and I look forward to them so much!
Today we were blessed to have my cousin Adam over for dinner. He is one of the most loving and interesting people I know. He just finished watching his brother and sister-in-law’s kids for a week, and he seems to always be doing things for people. Even as our guest, he brought fancy bracelet stones and his bracelet-making kit so that we all could make Daraicelets. They turned out beautiful, and each one featured a smashed dime with the person’s birth-year on it.
Over dinner, we got to get all caught up about Adam and his family. We got to hear the amazing story of Adam’s career. Grandpa Darais encouraged him to get into doing make-up for Hollywood stars (because when grandpa lived in LA as a youth he would see make-up artists always following the stars and he figured they were likely paid well and in demand) and that’s exactly what Adam did through hard work and a few strokes of luck. Because he works with so many Hollywood stars, Adam has a lot of super interesting stories and he shared some with us. Also, he is extraordinarily close with his family, and is often involved when and where his family has needs. It was also incredible to hear about his own journey of not being accepted for by family for so long (and in some cases still facing rejection), but continuing to love, reach out, and pave the way of acceptance for others in the process. His heart is full of love and grace despite what he has gone through. He had such a good and loving energy that we all felt uplifted when he left. We felt like we had been visited by an extraordinarily fun saint!
Lily made a wonderful holiday card and letter this year, and I want to save it here to be remembered:
Dear Friends,
We almost died on a mountain pass this year so we are especially stoked to report that the end of 2022 finds each of us happily alive. That’s the brunt of it so if this busiest of seasons means you have no time for further reading, you have our empathy and goodwill. Happy holidays!
XO, The Daraises
If specifics are your thing, then here’s our update:
Clarissa, 5, learned who Santa is. All things magical have since suffered in her estimation. Zebras have replaced unicorns as her favorite animal. She’s charming, cute, and addicted to sugar.
Ammon, 7, lost his two front teeth just in time for everyone to sing him the classic seasonal song. He anticipates goodwill everywhere and makes new friends on every outing. He loves dance, music, legos, sticker books, imagination games, and back scratches at bedtime.
Mary, 10, continues to be head over heels for pigs. Mary loves art and the color brown, excels at the piano, corresponds with penpals, reads all sorts of books, writes funny poems, bakes the best cookies and brownies, celebrates her birthday by volunteering, and dresses practically. Normally quiet and understated, she is our feistiest child when provoked. She became a vegetarian this year.
Lydia, 11, always alert to adult concerns, has recently become obsessed with bunkers that would withstand events of mass-extinction. (Lily’s fault.) When she’s not dreaming about the end of the world, Lydia can be found reading voraciously, felting, baking, creating fun for her siblings, thoroughly brushing her braces, volunteering, and closely observing 6th grade drama. She completed writing six chapters of her first novel this summer. She loves talking with her parents and would chat until midnight every night if allowed. She has spent hundreds of hours practicing for her first national harp competition this coming Spring.
Basil, our 2-year old bernedoodle, scared off would-be intruders in July. We love him.
Lily is starting to doubt therapy will ever help her morph into the calm, unflappable type but persists in the exercise. She read 50 books as penance for the staggering amount of celebrity news she consumed on her phone. She also volunteered as the manager of the TSOS internship program, overcame her preoccupation with the Great Salt Lake’s demise, and canvassed against a local proposition. Her house was egged in the process. She made 1,200 buttons for Battle of the Books and took up pickleball with Abe.
Abe continues to be a mashup of Mr. Rogers, Richard Rohr, and Bob Crachitt. He loves practicing new stress management techniques. He also biked, fished, ran, played pickleball, played basketball, played frisbee, skied, and worked a ton this year. He is transitioning from managing a corporate Northeast team at Qualtrics to an enterprise healthcare Northeast team at Qualtrics in 2023.
We are grateful to journey through life alongside the most wonderful people–especially you!
Love,
The Daraises
What we did with our free time and money (when we had it) this year:
2022 places we explored: Death Valley National Park, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Kanab (twice), Pipe Springs National Monument, Lake Tahoe, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Alcatraz, SFMOMA, Muir Woods National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, Golden Gate Park, Portland, Tacoma, Deception Pass State Park, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, backpacked in the Uintas, Golden Spike National Monument, Spiral Jetty, Mesa Verde National Park, Durango, Silverton, Colorado National Monument, New York City, France, Switzerland, day trip to Germany, Grand Teton National Park, Fish Lake, Colorado Springs, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Manitou Springs, Air Force Academy, Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, and Petrified Forest National Park. We also enjoyed eating at Pasta Jay’s in Moab several times and getting to know Park City better. Lily did a road trip with her friend Jen from Utah through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and ended in Baltimore. They visited their friend, Ashley, and spent a night with Lily’s lovely cousins, Louie, Ginny, and their daughters, Clara and Bea. Lily, Lydia, & Mary went to Chicago with their friends Amy, Emerson, and Isobel. They worked Springfield and Evanston into the trip. Abe spent two weeks in India and Singapore for work. Abe and Lily were invited as friends of the National Park Foundation to the lighting of the Washington D.C. Christmas Tree and had a wonderful weekend there together. Many thanks to Tom and Suzanne for caring for our children and making that possible!
Performances: We saw As You Like It at BYU with Amy, Emerson, and Isobel, watched our friend Olivia Marshall in Tuck Everlasting twice, cheered on Eli in The Christmas Story, enjoyed The Lion King at the Eccles on Ammon’s birthday, and saw The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Tom and Suzanne. We also enjoyed the Utah Symphony.
We discovered the tag-along bike attachment in New York’s Central Park and have since enjoyed biking the Provo River Trail, the Jordan River Trail, and the Park City White Barn trail as a family.
Thanks to our friend, Courtney, we discovered our favorite new local trail: Primrose Overlook in the Alpine Loop.
We completed several jigsaw puzzles this year and finally purchased a puzzling table.The table is Lily’s dream come true. The holographic puzzle currently on the table is a nightmare.
Our favorite new gadget was a gift from Lily’s brother, Clark: An Aarke that carbonates our water. Yum.
Our favorite movie of the year was Wakanda Forever. Thanks to the Marshalls for renting out a theater and letting us watch it for free!
Our favorite family songs this year are: Bully in the Alley by Nathan Evans and Puppies are Forever by Sia.
We enjoyed several overnights at church camp with our church, Community of Christ, and walked our first labyrinth with our friends, the Gruwells. It was an incredibly moving experience that deepened our awareness and gratitude.
We lost a lot of money (for us) when the tech bubble burst. In the event we actually send out a card next year, this page will undoubtedly be much shorter!
Also, I recently set up an old television set (that I won from Qualtrics 8 years or so ago) in the upstairs since our regular TV up there mysteriously stopped working (and also has a crack in it that may or may not be new).
Lily and I also enjoyed a puzzle tonight. It was a gorgeous piece painted on a wood block by Gustave Baumann. I looked up more of his art, and I absolutely love his work. The puzzle was only 300 pieces, but it was still a good challenge and Lily and I only got through half. I was thinking lately about things that really slow me down and help me be mindful, balanced and relaxed and I decided puzzling and reading are two of the things that really calm me down and help me relax, process and enjoy life. I’m so glad I got to puzzle tonight with my sweetheart. It truly is one of my favorite things!
Today Clarissa ate the rest of one of my apples and took all the seeds out of it and was very excited by them. In a flash of inspiration, she then drew a diagram about how seeds turn into trees. It was adorable! I caught her drawing and explanation in this video:
Also, Lily brought home some chocolate from Mrs. Cavanaugh’s and See’s Candies today. The kids had fun comparing them.
In the evening, we had a lot of fun as a family playing games. Lily played Chocolatier Azule with Ammon, Lydia and Mary, and I played Sculptapalooza with Clarissa. It was very fun!
Then Lily and I stayed up until 1AM playing very fun variations of Chocolatier Azule.
I took Lydia and Mary to ski school today. It rained through their entire two hour lesson. I skied while they were in their lesson and had fun, but got completely soaked. When they finished their lesson, they were drenched. They still made it through the lesson with good attitudes and I was very proud of them. At home, Lily made a delicious, soup, grilled cheese and hot chocolate dinner that we all enjoyed after taking warm showers and getting in dry clothes. It was maybe the craziest skiing I have ever done!
Today we went to church and then went to David and Olivia’s house where we had a great time chatting and eating Cafe Rio.
We then all went sledding together. Even though so much of the recent snowfall has melted, Churchill Junior High still had plenty of snow for sledding. It was so fun, and Ozzy also sledded for the first time. He’s so cute!
We had a really great time, and the only hard part was getting Clarissa to walk where we needed her to walk, especially at the end for the long walk back to the car.
Now we are home being cozy, catching up on music practice, drinking hot-coco, eating, playing games and I’m blogging.
One last thing to report. Clarissa and I prepared fondue for the family today:
Everyone loved it!
The kids have been so interested in dolls lately, that I decided to take advantage of that and prioritize playing dolls with them. They beat be to it, because while I was working out, they already started playing with their dolls and packing their suitcases for a girls trip. I showed up just in time to put the dolls in their dresses with the kids, and participate in their snack party. Lily joined too. It was a riot! Highlights were Lydia’s valley girl impersonation, Lily’s hilarious comments from CJ, and of course, Kendall’s antics.
Lily read another book today and I worked on the house and finished taking down the Christmas decorations that Lily already started taking down. Lily really worked hard on the house and laundry and her exercise this week and she hasn’t been sleeping a ton, so she was a little more tired today.
Then we all went to Matt and Courtney’s new house, and also met up with Heidi, who came too. We enjoyed taco salad, salmon (deliciously cooked on Matt’s Traeger), and very fun and fulfilling conversation. We caught up on each other’s lives, which included a crazy story of a property line dispute that Matt and Courtney had to deal with right after buying their house. We had a tremendously good time as we really enjoy them. I also loved sledding with the kids in their backyard!
When we got home, Lily and I put the kids down and played the new chocolatier version of Azul that she bought at Blickenstaff’s and that we learned the previous night with the Olsens. We had so much fun playing together and played until after midnight!
I felt tired today, but otherwise I had a good day at the office. Lily had a marathon day. She woke up early to do Yoga, met up with her good friends Julie, and had a playdate with Amy and her kids in the afternoon.
Lily also went to Blickenstaff’s to buy some games and Ammon and Clarissa hid and wanted Lily to take a picture of them.
When I got home, the family ate delicious pasta dinner that Lily made.
Then Lily and I played Pickelball, and then we played games with our friends the Olsen’s until after 11.
We played San Juan and also learned the new Chocolatier Azule game that Lily bought at Blickenstaff’s. It was so fun! Major thank-you to Lydia and Mary who helped get the younger kids down so Lily and I could be with our friends and play games. Thank you kiddos!
What a fun-filled day!
This morning Lily read an article about how the Great Salt Lake will likely be gone in 5 years if we don’t take drastic action. The article can be found here.
She has been truly mourning, and I came upstairs to find her listening to Bye Bye by Mariah Carey on repeat. It’s a sad topic and I certainly hope things turn around ecologically in this state we love so much.
Lily continues to listen to audiobooks while she words on getting the house in shape after the holiday chaos. I finished work around 5 and then took Lydia and Mary to Sundance to get their skis fitted. At home, I helped Mary with a school project which was to make a travel brochure about visiting Malala. It was fun!
Clarissa rested in Mary’s bed tonight while Mary worked on her project. When Clarissa went to her own bed, Basil slept with Mary and that made Mary very happy. Mary was feeling jealous that Basil seemed to only want to sleep on Lydia’s bed lately so it was very nice that she could get her wish. We all love our fluff buster.
