I have been working on a large proposal for months, and it culminated in an executive presentation today that I led. Afterwards I treated myself to a two-hour massage. It took every minute of that massage to get me back to a good stress level.
I felt good when I got home and even had the energy to have a snow-ball fight with the kids. They already started playing in the snow before I got home, but I joined them when I arrived.
Also, we’ve been enjoying being cozy as a family in the beautiful Christmas atmosphere that Lily has created. Lily has also had so much fun making stacks of presents for the kids and others (I recently commented, and she agreed, that they excite her as much as they excite the kids). It’s fun to be able to display them now that all the kids know the truth about Santa.
I think Clarissa had a happy day because she was INSANELY energetic in the evening. She talked my ear off for an hour about imaginary boats she was building in Africa. There were different boats for different holiday experiences, and there was cotton candy, prizes for kids, rides etc. When I put her down to bed, I said she could talk to me, or listen to Amazon story time (she calls it “Ammon-zon story time). She chose to talk to me, but after 10 minutes of her energetically talking (and not seaming to lose steam), and me struggling not to fall asleep, I let her transition to Ammon-zon story time. She is such a cutie!
Lydia submitted the following videos to her harp teacher as part of preparation for her competition in the Spring. Lydia is getting so good and I post these her to capture where she is on her harp journey at the moment.
Today Lydia and Mary had a fun play-date with the Easton-Flakes.
In the evening, we had leftovers from our fondue night yesterday. It was delicious (again)!
Lily spent much of the day at Foothill creating buttons for battle of the books. And there were so many buttons to create (over 1,000 I think) that she brought home the button press and continued working at home. I did some buttons too, but nothing like what Lily put out. She was on a mission! She also needed to arrange the participants into different teams and try to make it so everyone would be happy with their team. It was complicated!
This evening I saw Mary quietly writing or drawing next to the Christmas tree. I thought it made a very sweet scene:
I slept in again today as an antidote to my recent exertion and stresses and it felt luxurious. Once I got going, I blogged, ate lunch, did dishes and helped Georgia with her printer. Lily spent the morning taking care of all the Christmas gifts for family and friends. Clarissa was very cute playing dress-up.
When I got back from Georgia’s Lily and I took Basil running together. We always have so much fun paling around. After that, I went to church, and heard a great sermon from Tyler about being each-others’ salvation, and Lily went to Harmon’s and started preparing for our fondue tonight. Also, Lily baked a bunch of cookies to give to her friends for Christmas. When I got home, I grilled sausage, and helped with the final preparations for our dinner party with the Marshall’s.
At the Marshalls, we had the most wonderful time. We LOVED their new house, which has huge windows, a giant pantry and garage, a beautiful kitchen and bathrooms, big open gorgeous spaces and the list goes on. We are so happy for them in their new awesome home. It was so fun to chat with them over dinner. The fondue was delicious, and I ate immense amounts of food.
After the cheese fondue, the adults and the older kids all helped to cut out paper circles which will become buttons for Battle of the Books at Foothill elementary. It’s so fun to chat with Derek, Chelsea, and their kids that time just flew while we were cutting.
After finishing cutting circles, we all had chocolate fondue which the Marshalls prepared. It was DELICIOUS, as were the oatmeal cookies that Olivia made.
Everyone had a great time, and we left feeling full with both food and friendship. We love the Marshalls!
At home, Lily cleaned the kitchen while I fixed our sink pipes in the upstairs bathroom from the Orbeez that Mary put down the drain. I showed her what they looked like in the drain and I think she knows not to do that again.
Speaking of Mary, I was admiring the art all around her bed when I tucked her in. I love our kids!
Today, I fulfilled my recent daydream of sleeping in. I do not think I got out of bed until 10:45. Lily, on the other had, was being productive from early on by helping the kids with their music practice. I eventually wandered into the music room and enjoyed listening to Mary and Lydia practice. They are getting so good! The low notes of Lydia’s “Watching the Wheat” just melt me, and “Linus and Lucy” which Mary is now playing is so fun to listen to. All three kids worked hard on their instruments (Ammon had his practice before I arrived) and it was awesome that Lily helped them to knock their music out early so we could enjoy the rest of the day as a family.
Basil is loving his new alligator stuffy!
After Lily and I worked out, we decided it was time to explain Santa Clause to Clarissa since she has been asking about magic and what is real and what is not lately. We captured everything on video.
After explaining everything to Clarissa, we asked how she felt, and she said, “alarmed”. We had her repeat it on camera since we thought that was so adorable.
We then all packed up and went to Ikea to get desks for Mary and Clarissa (their Christmas wishes) as well as a table and chairs for the basement so we can always have a puzzle going. Clarissa fell asleep on the way to Ikea. I assume her sweet brain was heavily processing all her new information about the world!
We LOVED our meal at Ikea as we always do, and all the kids really enjoyed interacting with all the displays. Lily and I compared it to going to Lagoon (and for roughly the same cost, only we end up with furniture) in terms of how much fun everyone had.
The desks were out of stock, but now we know which ones we want. Everyone had a really good time!
At home, Lily worked on Christmas shopping by the fire, while I assembled some new chairs for the basement. Today was a really happy and fun family day!
Before I get into Basil’s birthday festivities, I will first report on all of the medical activity we had today.
Mary, Georgia and I all had dermatology appointments today. Georgia had some moles check, and had some precancerous skin on her nose treated. Mary had a couple of moles looked at to make sure they were healthy, and I had a mole on my back removed. We all loved our Dr. very much. He was friendly and informative, and I think he removed my mole for free (since it didn’t qualify for insurance coverage).
After the dermatologist, I dropped off Georgia and some couch cushions for repair and Lily took Mary to an appointment to get her blood drawn to make sure she is OK since she weighs so little. Clarissa weighs 42 or 43 pounds, Ammon weighs 49 pounds, Mary weighs 53 pounds and Lydia weighs around 75 pounds. Mary was incredibly brave during he blood drawing, which was huge improvement over her last flu shot in Target which was a high-drama activity.
After my work day was over (and it was very stressful from a very demanding and complex brand and customer experience deal that I’m working on), we all got to enjoy Basil’s birthday!
First we sang to Basil, and let Clarissa blow out the candle on his slice of pizza. Basil LOOOVES pizza. In the past I’ve had to chase him around the yard to try to get back a piece of pizza he stole from a family meal.
Then we gave him apple and whipped cream for desert.
Then it was time for his gifts! A new alligator stuffed animal toy!
And a dog cookie (desert #2)!
Basil, we love you and you look great from your recent grooming! You fill us with laughter, comfort, and warm fuzzies. Happy 2nd birthday buddy! All I can say (in the spirit of the Sia Christmas album which we have continued to enjoy this season), puppies are forever!
In the evening, Lily and I had Daniel and Amanda Olsen over to play games. We played San Juan, and had a complete blast. It was a perfect blend of being a fast and simple game, yet still very strategic. They brought over cookies and chocolates and Lily ordered from Crumble, and the treats were delicious too!
Over the weekend Clarissa had a double-ear infection that was so painful for her that she was writhing in pain and did not sleep well (neither did Lily or I). Lily got her on an antibiotic quickly, and Clarissa was doing way better today, but we still kept her home from school just in case.
Clarissa was very well behaved today and spent a lot of time coloring. She’s so cute!
Work has been particularly stressful for me lately, so it is really nice to have a fluffball to pet when I am stressed. It really calms me down, and I get the feeling that Basil likes it too…..
With all I have going on at work, I stayed up until a little after 2:00 the previous night working (a little after midnight Utah time). Needless to say, Lily was up before me and did yoga while I was still stuck in bed. We were both ready for the day by 9:30 or so, and snapped this picture of ourselves twinning in our Cotopaxi jackets before heading out on our adventure.
We had a cab drop us off in Georgetown, and we walked all around together. Some fun memories are Lily’s coffee with way too much peppermint syrup, the cat cafe where you can get food and coffee and pet (even adopt!) cats and also visiting the Georgetown campus.
Then we created another really fun memory when we visited a park next to a historic park. It was so pretty! Even though it was small, the vegetation was so lush and pretty, that we felt like we were in the heart of nature even though we were really in the heart of DC.
Lily had the fun idea to make out on a prominently featured bench in the park. We had fun kissing, and then wanted to take pictures to commemorate. We kept getting the pictures wrong, so we kissed a really long time, lol. But here are a few of the better ones we took.
Also, throughout our walk, I was enjoying the beautiful groundscapes such as the gorgeous brick walkways speckled with golden leaves and red mushrooms poking up through lush forest dirt (that was in the park). I took some pictures.
We walked from Georgetown to Foggy Bottom (where George Washington University is) and we ate at a really fun restaurant called Beefsteak. I was delighted to see they had a beet burger, which used a pickled cooked beet for the patty of a hamburger. It was delicious and my favorite thing I ate all trip (of course, I do love beets!). Lily got a type of grain bowl/salad and loved hers too!
Lily marveled at the lush red foliage we saw while walking and took a picture.
We thought the Mexican Embassy was so interesting because of the houses it is built around.
We passed by the White-house on our way to the Willard hotel.
After our long walk we went to the Willard hotel for a reception where we had refreshments and got to know different people from the National Parks organization and other donors. One really fun person we met was Adam Yenser, the actual Kevin the Cashier from the Ellen show. See below:
He and his mother were so fun to talk to. All of the national parks people were so nice and interesting and it was really fun to geek out about the parks.
After the reception, we walked to the entrance of the White House campus where the tree lighting was going to be. At the gate we were told that we need identification, and neither Lily or I had considered that we needed ID. I fortunately had mine, but Lily’s was back at the place. I ran quickly back over half-mile to the hotel and then ran back. I arrived just as we were being told they were closing the entrance. Once we got through the gate, security never checked our ID even though the lady at the entrance insisted they would (forcing us to go retrieve it). Anyway, it all worked out. Here are some beautiful photos Lily got wile I was running my heart out.
Because of the ID situation, we arrived to our seats after everyone else. In fact Biden was taking the stage as we were pushing past many people to get to our seats in the middle of the row, and just before Biden lit the tree.
I had so much fun with my sweetheart, and we were warm enough thanks to our new Cotopaxi gear!
The first singer was Andy Grammer, and his rendition of the little drummer boy was one of my favorite numbers of the night.
Then a gospel singer named Yolanda sang a truly beautiful rendition of Silent Night.
Then Gloria Estefan and her daughter Emily, and her grandson Sasha sang a song about gratitude that the family wrote. Emily brought the house down.
Then Joss Stone, one of my new favorite vocalists, braved the cold in her outfit, and blew us away with her vocals.
Then Ariana Debose, who also has an incredible voice, sang.
And then Joe Biden spoke for a few minutes. I’ve never seen a president in my life (just George Bush’s hand when he passed by my high school and waved out the window of his car) and it was really neat to see a President speak in person.
After an incredible day, Lily and I weren’t finished. We ate light back at the hotel, and then went to Louie and Ginny’s house to chat with them and eat a bit more. Louie just got off a plane from Turkey and filled us up with the most outstanding Turkish Delight. We talked all about his job in international law as well as topics that touched Ginny’s job progressing social initiatives through giving financing with requirements to countries. They are both so knowledgeable and good natured that we felt we could talk politics with them for hours. Eventually it was time to go, but Lily and I had such a fun visit we felt it was a highlight, if not THE highlight of our entire trip. It was also so great to see their sweet daughters, and it put us to conspiring on how we can get all our kids together soon!
What a wonderful wonderful day Lily and I had. It was truly one for the annals. It would be impossible to capture the magic Lily and I experienced and felt on our adventure today, but hopefully this blog jogs some memories and takes us back a little. We are so grateful to the National Parks and my dad and Suzanne for making it possible.
Because of the donor relationship that Lily and I have with the National Parks, we were invited to attend the 100th Annual Christmas Tree Lighting event at the White House. We got the invitation last week, and scrambled to make arrangements. It never could have been possible without my dad and Suzanne who stepped in to watch the kids.
I wrapped up work by 10:00, and then Lily and I finalized preparations and left for the airport by 11:00, soon after my dad came over to watch Clarissa.
One the way to the airport, we bought Lily a winter coat at Cotopaxi as well as some winter accessories to keep her warm at the concert, and a purse to help carry the cookies she made for Louie & Ginny.
When we arrived at the airport, I was delighted that Lily got to try my favorite Salt Lake Airport restaurant, Garbanzo (Mediterranean). We loved it!
In Chicago we saw a sign for the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. That made us happy!
We got into our hotel around 1AM DC time. It was fun to arrive in DC!
