I got up early and took Basil in to get neutered.
I was feeling the hike and took a three hour bath afterward. I did not emerge until after 12pm. In the time I was soaking Lydia taught Clarissa how to sew and embroider, and she made this pillow! Lydia, you are an absolutely amazing teacher.
In the evening we went out with Nick to Via313. They kids adore Nick and had so much fun playing and talking with him.
Courtney, Heidi and I hiked almost eight miles around Deer Creek Reservoir on Tuesday morning/early afternoon. It was maybe the highlight of my entire December. The weather was glorious and I loved chatting with them. the views were stunning.
Here are some cute dances Lydia made up with Mary and Ammon:
This day we baked a lot of cookies. Then Abe and Mary packed them, and we all delivered them. It was so fun connecting with neighbors and friends all night while we delivered cookies!
In the morning Abe and I slept in and then rushed to church in Salt Lake.
After dinner Abe and the kids did karaoke while I went over to my mom’s and had a really nice, very long visit.
Somehow we do not have a picture of Mary or Ammon playing in their piano recital, but I think we might have a video that Abe can embed at some future date. They both did well and we were so impressed with Daniel Olson’s students. He is such a gifted teacher.
After all of the recitals we went on a hike in Big Springs with the Easton-Flakes. I told Ammon at the beginning of the hike to stay away from the creek. At the end when I was occupied with Basil and Abe was occupied with Clarissa he headed straight for the creek and was sliding the down the bank calling for help (which neither Abe nor I heard). Amy heard him, thankfully, and rescued him. I was so grateful–and enraged. I hate when he endangers himself because his executive function is apparently completely shut off. But I am so grateful Amy saved him and very thankful he is alive.
Friday was the older girls’ last day of school. Mary went straight from school to a birthday high tea with her friend, Eloise.
I spent a lot of the day stressed about dance hair and the rehearsal schedule. We were a little late to rehearsal and spent most of the afternoon in the theater. We came home for a quick bite and to pick up Mary and Abe, but then we just turned right around and went back for the 5pm performance. Tom and Suzanne came too. We did not get any pictures of the performances but Abe has videos which he will post here eventually.
…but I have two pictures! See below.
On Wednesday Clarissa and Ammon had their last day of school–surprise! I really should read that darn school calendar beforehand.
I actually did not feel great on Wednesday and so spent much of the day in bed reading my books, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church by Greg Prince, Essential France by Fodor’s Travel, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, and The Anatomy of Peace by the Arbinger Institute. I am reading them all simultaneously because I can’t figure out which one I like the best. I love them all.
And then I finished making some sub-standard zimmsterne, and I let Mary bake Choon’s ginger snaps all by herself. Well, Clarissa helped. 🙂
On Tuesday both Lydia and Clarissa had harp lessons, and in the evening all the kids had ballroom. It started snowing and raining during ballroom, which was sad because Abe and I had planned to use that time to go take Basil on a nighttime walk. We ended up just watching Ted Lasso instead, and that was fun. After the kids went down we kept watching. It is such a great show!
Abe had his promotion interview Monday. He has been extremely stressed about it because he did not realize he would have to do this interview until two weeks ago. But it went really well, and afterward Abe was shaking from nerves and adrenaline. We had a hike planned for immediately after the interview because we knew that would help Abe decompress.
I picked up Abe from Qualtrics and we drove to Big Springs where we hiked with Basil. It is a lot different hiking together without kids! We made it a lot farther than we ever have, and Basil was basically out of his mind with joy.
During the hike Abe and I talked about the interview and everything else on our minds, which is always so fun. It was over way too soon.
After I dropped off Abe I came home, tidied, showered, baked cookies, and did some laundry. I wanted to read but was so sloooooow in the kitchen that I didn’t have time.
Then it was time to pick up the kids and visit with the Easton-Flake crowd for our weekly play date. I had the greatest time talking with Amy about Cloud Cuckoo Land, which she read and loved. It was so, so wonderful to be able to talk about a book that I loved with a local friend in person! It was a highlight of my day.
After Abe came home we all celebrated Basil’s birthday. His birthday is December 9th, but we had put it off until Monday because of Abe’s interview. We knew that we were going to give Basil pizza on his birthday. Since it gives him diarrhea, we did not want to do that on the days leading up to the interview when Abe’s sleep was so important.
Basil loved his pizza with whipped cream.
Then Abe and I scooted out on our date to Communal. We loved our meal and visiting with each other. I don’t even know what we had left to discuss after our hike that morning, but somehow we had plenty to talk about and the time flew.
After dinner we went to Barnes and Noble and browsed, which is another one of my favorite things. I really don’t deserve my life, which is full of so many happy activities and beautiful people. And I really do not deserve Abe, who is the sun to my earth. Abe, I am so proud of you for how hard you work and how deeply good you are. Thank you for giving me such a beautiful day–on a day that was so stressful for you! You are the best. I love you.
