Author: Abe Darais

Today we woke up at the Best Friends Roadhouse and drove to the Glen Canyon Dam. We recently heard a podcast about it because the water levels are so low that soon it might not be able to produce power and there is some controversy around if it should have ever been built and if it should be drained. It was fascinating to learn about how it stores water for the West and produces so much electricity (which funds a lot of environmental research).

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Then we zipped back to Kanab where we were just in time for a quick vegan lunch at the sanctuary (one of our favorite lunches in the world!) before Lily dropped off Mary, Lydia and me for our volunteer stint with the bunnies.

We got to work with a really nice coordinator named Darrin. How showed us how to clean out the bunny cages (usually two bunnies to a cage) because they were completely filled with poop. There was so much poop in them that I figured they must go a week or two between cleanings. Darrin told us they cleaned every other day! It turns out bunnies can poop up to 300 pellets a day. It seems they have a bit of a reputation because I saw this sign on their bathroom wall.

And here are all the pellets we cleaned out of their cages.

Aside from pooping, bunnies also like to chew. Many of their blankets and towels looked like Swiss cheese.

Here are some videos of the girls cleaning the bunny cages.

After cleaning bunny cages, Lydia and Mary were able to feed parsley and lettuce to the rabbits. 90% of their diet is hay, but they also get fresh vegetables to make sure they get vitamins, like vitamin C.

After feeding the bunnies, Mary got to pick the bunny she wanted for a bunny sleepover. She became very endeared to their largest and chunkiest bunny named Kiuke, which they thought meant “cute” in Hawaiian.

One very cute thing about bunnies is that they generally bond with other bunnies. This isn’t just about mating, it’s about how they live their happiest lives. Bonded pairs can be male to male, female to female, male to female, sibling to sibling etc. Basically, bunnies just aren’t as happy alone, so they generally bond to another bunny and then live as companions for the rest of their lives. Bonds can go up 6 in number or even higher I imagine, but usually you will find bunnies bonded in twos. When a bunny first comes to the shelter, if it is alone, the workers will do some speed dating to see if the solo bunny will bond with any of the other bunnies. If the speed dating is unsuccessful, the bunny will live alone unless a bunny bonds with it later. Lone bunnies don’t live as long and aren’t as happy. It so cute! Shadow is Kiuke’s bonded pair, and Mary got to bring him home as well.

We took the bunnies back to the roadhouse, I set up their pen, and all the kids got a chance to be in the pen with them and pet them before we went to dinner. The kids were very very happy.

For dinner we went to the Rocking V cafe and it was delicious. The kids loved the stars that were hanging in the restaurant (as did the grown-ups).

As soon as we were done, Ammon threw up on the side of the side-walk. He also threw up yesterday. He has still been sick, which made us a bit concerned. Overall, he was functioning ok, but he still had a cough, was more tired than usual and and still has the occasional throwing-up (it’s been going on for almost two weeks now, and Lily already called the doctor’s office about him). Lily resolved to take him to the doctor first thing when we got home. I confirmed with the bunny workers that Ammon can’t transfer any sickness to the bunnies so he still got to spend time in their playpen like the other kids.

After dinner, everyone played with the bunnies, and it was so so fun for the kids.

After spending time with the bunnies, we all looked at pictures of the adoptable animals on the Best Friends tablet in our room.

Lily and I then put the little kids down while Lydia and Mary stayed up and played more with the bunnies. I did a mini-spa experience with Ammon and Clarissa when they were in their beds. Clarissa was way too ticklish to get a massage and it was hilarious. Here is the video. I love this video so much!

Later in the night my dad and Suzanne arrived. They say Lydia and Mary and the bunnies before they turned in for the night. It was a big day for them because they had an open house this morning for the home they are selling and my dad ran it since he is their agent. We were touched and grateful they still made it even though they are so busy right now.

After they left, Lydia and Mary stayed up until 11:00 spending time with the bunnies. I fell asleep waiting for them to be done, and when I woke back up, we all went to bed. I was so glad they were enjoying the experience so deeply. That’s what we came for!

Last night we left to Kanab and after about 90 minutes we heard a chirping/whistling sound from our car that happened even while we were idling. When we researched it, we thought it was our serpentine belt wearing out and we felt uncomfortable starting a long road trip with that risk. We turned around and went to bed.

Today I woke up and quickly got an appointment at the Toyota dealership. They weren’t finished with the car until 5:00 and so we all had a nice cozy relaxing day together while we were waiting for the car to be fixed.

The funny thing is when we picked up the car, they said they couldn’t replicate the noise and they checked everything under the hood and the car was in great shape for a road trip. They put in new spark plugs while they were in there since we were over 100,000 miles, but there were no issues with the car.

So we set off again. The car made the noise again on the way down, and then I turned off the fan for the heat and the sound stopped. It somehow coming from our heating system, but that didn’t seem like anything to worry about and the sound eventually vanished altogether.

We arrived in Kanab late at night. Here are Lydia and Mary, ready for for their Best Friends Sanctuary Weekend!

Clarissa and Ammon have still been sick and one of their chief symptoms has been extreme lethargy. It’s very different for these two kids who are normally bouncing off the walls to be so…….immobile.

In other news, Lydia had a check-in today with her speech teacher and she graduated! The teacher said she has made massive improvement, passed the tests, and no longer can be classified as having a speech impairment (essentially kicking her out of speech therapy). Recently, Lydia really started focusing on correcting her “R”s which was her main challenge, and like what always when Lydia commits to something, she conquered.

In the evening, Ammon and Clarissa fell asleep early, and then Lydia and Mary kept an eye on things while Lily and I went to Communal. It was so yummy and I loved talking with her! We got their chicken & dumplings, funeral potatoes and beets. Afterwards, we brought Menchie’s frozen yogurt to Jessie Vandagriff’s house and ate it together while we caught up on life, including the midterm election results (including the great news that Orem is not becoming its own school district). Jessie is so fun and full of life, and we had some good laughs with her. Morgan was at a meeting almost the whole time, but I was able to say hello and give him a hug before we left.

What a great day!

I had a good day at work, but Ammon, Clarissa and Mary continue to be sick. Mary did have fun today planning the items she would like to help prepare for Thanksgiving (all vegetarian of course!) Lily was agreeable to the request, to Mary’s delight.

In the evening, I enjoyed puzzling with Lydia, Lily and Mary and sharing songs on Alexa while we puzzled. Lily was feeling a lot of anxiety, and it was nice to process it with her over a puzzle. I love this family! Also, thank you to Suzanne for giving us the puzzle which is one of my favorites I have ever done!

Today is the birthday of my friend, Nick Barnes. I called him to check in and learned that things are going incredibly roughly for him right now, even more-so than I was previously aware. My heart is with Nick today as he wades through deep waters.

On the home-front, Lily loved her swim today. I was at home with Ammon and Clarissa while she swam. They were home today because they were sick. She also made a healthy dinner for everyone and a lovely English gingerbread desert.

Lily got this great shot of the sunset.

In the evening, we puzzled and had a nice conversation with Clark, Swathi, Soren and Meera.

All the kids except Lydia have been sick (Ammon and Mary have vomited). I’ve somehow dodged any sickness and Lily recently got over her cold. All of that gave us the perfect excuse to bundle up and have a cozy, relaxing Sunday together.

I slept in, which was divine, and then Lily and I did a few more chores in the morning. I was feeling very tired, so I enjoyed watching some Curious George with Clarissa on the couch.

Clarissa was extremely lethargic. She took two naps today and still went to be on-time.

In the evening, we cooked up some of Lily’s homemade lasagna that we saved in the freezer. It was SOOOO GOOD. We also puzzled as a family, and played Operation and Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza together. It was such a happy and hearthy evening of family fun. It was just what my soul needed and I was so so happy all day today.

Today I woke up before 6 to meet my friend Randy Blosil at Denny’s. He’s one of my good friends that I keep up with from my old Orem neighborhood. He’s just about to launch a new luxury dark chocolate milk called DrinkShogi and I’m so excited for him.

Back at home I went back to bed. This week really flattened me at work and I just needed more time to rest. I finally got up around 10:00 and then started working on the house. I didn’t go to bed until after midnight and Lily was cranking on the house until late as well. We got sooooo much done. It was especially nice to clean up all the garage chaos that aggregated across all our family trips. Part of the cleaning up was sorting through papers. Here are some key finds:

Mary wrote the following two cards to my dad and Suzanne, as well as Andrea. She wrote them I think around Spring of 2022, shortly after she decided to be a vegetarian.

My aunt Andrea made the below banner for me for the day I came home from my mission. It’s a funny story because it was hanging in the front of the K street house in the avenues, but the wind flipped it up onto the roof. When I pulled into the driveway from my mission, I commented, “maybe we should make a sign for Jere [who arrives from his mission next week]” since I figured sign-making for us wasn’t a thing at the moment. LOL! Isn’t Andrea a great artist!

Tonight Lily and I had dinner with Emily and Matt Kahler. It was so nice to catch up with them because it has been a while since all four of us got together. It was nice to get updates on each other’s lives and also learn about all the progress of their new home that is being built. We even drove past it on the way home! They are such good people!

Lily and I have been very charmed by Clarissa lately. It is not hard to see why!

In the evening, Derek, Chelsea and their friend, Annie came over for Indian food. We had a great time chatting over dinner and then we all went to go see the Utah Symphony at the Noorda. Andrei Korobeinikov performed Tchaikovsky’s 1st Piano Concerto and he was magnificent! I confess it was especially riveting because he had a cold and there was a moment went his nose was dripping quite noticeably. I was taken by his poise and focus to play through so majestically and with so much feeling. No wonder he has won so many awards. He received a standing ovation at the end.

We loved Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, and we also liked the Patriotic Sounding Symphony from Ives. It was so fun to share the experience with the Marshalls and Annie.

After school today, Lily took the kids, including Lydia’s friend Mia, to Color Me Mine. They had fun!

After work, I got to eat at Communal. I was treated by Keith and Chris, who own Fabric, a new partner that I have never worked with, but whom I was was grateful to learn about. They were also very fun to talk to.