Recently, Lily and I have gone to a couple of taco places, and they have been amazing. But, Lily and I have had multiple conversations that we think there is no match for what we can make at home. Tonight we put the hypothesis to the test. And I’d have to agree. I’ve never had restaurant tacos as good as what we had tonight. Our typical go to is rockfish, vegan fake chorizo, and sometimes beef steak. We use delicious veggies for filling and we use both corn and jamaica tacos. It was so so yummy! Lily even bought some of the simple, but fancy taco holders that you usually see in restaurants.
Lily also made delicious potatoes and an unbelievable fruit salad!
This evening Lily and I lined up a sitter and went biking together. Lily wasn’t feeling super great, but the beautiful weather, scenery and time together kept her wanting to keep biking. I had such an amazing time with her. It made my whole day and was a huge bright spot in the middle of unusually high work intensity.
Today was another incredible Sunday. This morning I walked Basil, rested some more, and then had a wonderful deep values prayer/meditation. I’ve had a lot on my mind around my work-life balance, and if I have the right perspective about what really matters. One of my favorite sayings from Thomas S. Monson is that the most important lessons in life are those lessons around what is most important and what is not. Lily and I also had such a good time meeting up with Matt and Diana last night and Matt and I talked about work a lot, and that triggered even more pondering about my job, and if I’m giving too much, or if I’m having the right perspective about work. My prayer/meditation yielded a lot of clarifying thoughts that I spent a lot of time putting in a journal, and that was a wonderful way to start the day. In short, I reconnected with the awareness that my family, and doing good for the world are the most important things to me, and that my job, as much as I enjoy it and love throwing myself into it, is primarily a means to serve my family, and I should never let it become or feel more important than my family.
After meditating, the kids and adults listened to church, and I made waffles for everyone for a yummy brunch. Also, Lydia made caramel and custard, and even though I was too hard on her about the mess, I really am impressed at her initiative to keep learning so many skills, like baking.
Mid-day, the kids watched TV, and I watched an episode or Mr. Rogers with them, which I love to encourage because it is some of the most positive behavior and thinking modeling I have ever seen. Mr. Rogers was brilliant! We watched the last episode of season 1, which had surprisingly amazing special effects, being that it was a kids show from the 1960s.
Then we all went to the park near our rental property to fly kites, let Basil run around, bike, scooter and see friends. Liberty came with her dog peaches. And Eli, Meghan, Emily and Matt came with their dog Daisey. We also saw Michelle Jaramillo and her son. It was so much fun. I love that park. I get to see friends, as do the kids, and people get to do a variety of activities while Basil runs around with other dogs. Since many friends from the old neighborhood live minutes from the park, its super easy to meet up with people whenever we go there.
We did have some kite drama. Eli let go of the bird kite and I had to get on top of someone’s garage and use a rake to reach it (in a tree) to get it back. That gave me enough kite drama for one day, but our kite troubles weren’t over. Clarissa then let go of the bird kite, and it floated away until I couldn’t see it anymore. I gave up on it, because I had my hands full with 4 kids and Basil (Lily was catching a break at home). But Matt and Eli didn’t give up. They got in their car and hunted it down. Eli spotted it in the sky several blocks from the park, and drove until they found it wrapped around a powerline in somebody’s street. Matt told me where to meet him, and when I got there, neighbors had already erected a ladder to help with the cause. We eventually got it down. It was so heroic of Matt and Eli to chase it down for us, and I was very suprised to get the kite back. It’s been a great kite, so that was very happy. Thank you Matt and Eli!
We had subway for dinner, and then went to menchies, took some to Georgia, and at a bunch of it at home (ice-cream cake). Then we watched the Disney Hunchback of Notre-Dame, which was beautiful and all started settling in for the night. It was really good to chit-chat with Lily before retiring as well. What a great Sunday!
Today was one of the most crazy work days I have had in a while. I was working by about 7:30 and I had 13 or so straight meetings (with no breaks except the occasional bathroom or food run that made me late for my next meeting). I barely pulled away in time for Alexander’s Birthday party (leaving around 5PM), but even then I took a meeting or two in the car on my drive down. Lily stayed home because she was feeling strained and needed to recover for a bit.
Once I arrived, the party was so much fun. It was so fun to see Andrea, my dad, Suzanne, Christian and his daughter, Isabella and Ali, Ed, and especially Alexander, the birthday boy. It had been a while since I had connected with him and we had a great time catching up. I learned that he is pretty plugged into the rap community and even had a renowned rap writer (Kocaine) write a song about him. But the most fun part for me was playing basketball with Alexander, my dad and Christian. We played horse and pig. For the most part, my dad and I got whipped by Alexander and Christian who are by far the best shots of the bunch. But one game, I was shooting really well and had a chance to win everything. I made it to the point of being just me against Alexander, and I was ahead! I did a trick shot where I was sitting on a cement wall, from three-point range or close to it, and I shot the ball while remaining sitting. The ball went in and I was sure I won the game. But I couldn’t believe it when Alexander matched my shot and then proceeded to hit an even harder trick shot over power-lines from very far away and I couldn’t match it, so I lost. It was very, very fun.
I also at 6 or so slices of pizza. The kids had an amazing time too. Isabella chased Ammon around and showed Lydia and Mary her guinea pigs. Clarissa liked playing in all the plants in the garden area. It was very fun to connect with everyone. I wish I would have got a picture of the birthday boy, but I did manage to take this picture before leaving:
Ed was in very high spirits today and said he has just been feeling grateful
Andrea drove home with us and it was very fun talking with her.
At home, I collapsed on the couch and woke up around 11PM, a couple of hours later, and then transferred myself to the bed. I was very, very, very tired.
Today, Lydia recommended that we go to Orem’s dog park at Mt. Timpanogos Park at the base of Provo Canyon. It was such a discovery! Not only did Basil play with some other dogs, but we got to ride our bikes on the Provo River trail that connects with the park. Lydia, Mary and Ammon all road with me and did an awesome job!
After the park, we had dinner and then went to Menchies to celebrate Mary getting into the A.L.L. program at Foothill elementary. As part of the celebration, we allowed her to buy the kiwi head stuffed animal you see up high in the background.
Today was an incredible Saturday. Lily walked Basil in the morning so I could get some extra rest and then I took care of the kids and cleaned, and made lunch before leaving for a bike-ride at noon. I had an amazing ride up South Fork canyon with Daniel Olsen.
When I got home, Lily and I left to Salt Lake and had an amazing time doing an escape room at get-out-games with our friends Matt, Courtney, Chris and Jen. We went to Barrios for dinner and Normal for ice-cream afterwards.
My dad and Suzanne babysat which made the whole thing possible. We had such a good time, as did our children with Baps and Bapa.
Also, here is a picture I took of a poster Mary recently made.
Today Lily mailed Meera’s toys that were left at our house when Clark, Swathi and family visited. They were really special toys to Meera that she missed. Lily took some fun pictures of the toys having adventures in our yard to send to Meera before she mailed them.
Also, just yesterday, we got a package from Clark and Swathi that had a Stephen Hawking book for me, a cook book for Lily and the whole series of Wayside School fir Lydia and Mary. It was such a kind thing for them to do. I was especially happy because I was literally researching Stephen Hawking books to buy yesterday, the same day the book from Clark and Swathi came!! It was such a kind thing for them to do, and we are all so happy with our books. The girls and I read our books over dinner tonight. Here is a picture:
Also, today I dropped Basil off to get groomed. I thought it was cute how he sat in the booster seat so I snapped a photo.
For school, Lydia completed a report about Esther Peterson, a remarkable consumer and women’s advocate from Utah. Here is a video that Lydia submitted to her teacher as part of the report. Great job Lydia!
