lilydarais – Page 18

Descent into Kolob Canyon

On Saturday we hiked 4 miles in 6 hours on the La Verkin Trail in Zion National Park. We had never been to this part of the park before and it was stunning.

Before the hike we woke up Saturday morning in a Conestoga wagon at Zion Ponderosa Ranch. The last time we were at this ranch we only had two kids! We arrived at almost midnight the night before and so Ammon and Clarissa woke up not knowing where they were. When they discovered they were in a wagon, they could hardly contain their excitement.

I was worried about how I was going to backpack on a sprained ankle.

Breakfast at Mel’s. We ate here the last time we were in Zion too. We love their crepes.

Getting ready to descend into Kolob Canyon to backpack the La Verkin trail.

This boy carried almost his weight in his pack for three hours until we realized our mistake. He cried a lot and I feel so bad that he had to go through that! But as soon as we fixed his backpack and made it an appropriate weight, he cheered up and was a trooper the rest of the trip.

I really should have touched up these photos because the color is just drained out in the picture. In real life the canyon was stunning colors at all times. It was just incredible. The camera (or my lack of skills) just couldn’t do it justice.

Abe carried a super heavy pack…and Clarissa!

Pretending to sleep while standing. Lydia should have gotten a gold star for attitude on this hike. She cheered everyone on and pushed forward the whole time without asking anyone to lighten her load. She played games with Clarissa to keep her entertained and distracted from the pain of hiking. And she kept her sense of humor the entire time, even when the hiking was rough.

Ammon made a toy of his water bottle and a stick.

Just when the kids had given up hope of ever reaching our campsite, we discovered it! We all could not wait to just collapse in our tent, but in the meantime the kids played games, made up dances, and sang a ton. It was so beautiful to see them so happy after they had worked so hard all day. We also enjoyed an absolutely delicious tuna noodle casserole dinner.

Date cake

She also found my phone and took selfies innumerable. I discovered them just now and am amused.

During the day, Abe found Clarissa in Ammon’s room dancing all alone to let it go in a blue and pink tutu dress. He was delighted and took a video.

Salamander Flat Trail

On Labor Day we drove to the Salamander Flat Trail in the Alpine Loop. We had hiked part of this with Jean during her summer visit and wanted to see more of it. It was so beautiful!

We made veggie crumble tacos for dinner. On the way home we got some corn and fruit from a local stand so we had that too. Abe wanted a picture of his plate and so took this one.

Our family quarantine continues

One of my favorite things ever is to watch my kids play with Basil. It makes me so, so happy to see them all getting so much delight out of their dog. And Basil is such a good dog! I have been brushing him a lot lately and he feels like a shag rug or a stuffy. We love him so much.

With Lydia and Clarissa still recovering from Covid, we continued our family quarantine today.

I got up around 6 to take Basil out until 7:30 on a walk/jog. After that I made bread in my bread machine, tidied, did Clarissa and Mary’s hair, brushed Basil, did a load of laundry, fed the kids breakfast, cleaned breakfast, did Ammon’s piano for almost an hour, did Mary’s piano for an hour and a half, made grilled cheese sandwiches from my bread for lunch, cleaned up lunch, did Ammon’s reading practice, did another hour and a half with Mary at the piano, biked, showered (a cold shower because of the 75 hard!), folded two loads of laundry, and started catch up blogging. After blogging I hope to get the car rental situation all figured out for Greece, plan the North Carolina itinerary, figure out what everyone needs clothing-wise as the Labor Day sales start, and plan tomorrow. I also am almost done drinking my gallon of water for the day. I love, love love the 75 hard and honestly just want to make the daily goals continual.

Abe is working hard as it nears the last month of the quarter, and he’s also continuing to lean in at home. Right now he is playing basketball with Ammon and Clarissa while Lydia practices her harp and Mary does her math. He’s also doing all of dinner and the night routines with the kids while I blog and get my other to-do’s done. If we are both done in time I really hope we binge watch Madam Secretary some more after the kids go down tonight. Here’s hoping!

On another note, I have tried to night time potty train Ammon multiple times but something always happens to interrupt the training. I started nighttime training him two nights ago and he was dry again this morning. This time I hope we stick it out and he gets potty trained before Greece. The last thing I want is to have to haul around sixty pull-ups for him and Clarissa!

Family quarantine day 5

On Tuesday I spent a lot of time organizing bedding, doing laundry, tidying, brushing and braiding hair, brushing Basil, baking bread, and cleaning the kitchen again and again. I also practiced with all of the kids and did Ammon’s reading practice with him. I also made some cheese souffle for dinner.

The only image we have from Tuesday is a video of Clarissa talking to me in the evening. She was so, so cute and even though I really don’t know what she was talking about, I love it when she gets excited and just shares everything on her little four-year-old mind. It’s adorable. Abe will upload it because he does all of the videos for the blog. Thanks, Abe!

Note from Abe: Clarissa has been exceptionally talkative lately and it is so cute when she just launches into sharing something. It can go on for an easy 5-10 minutes +.

On Monday Abe and I were talking in the kitchen and he just started laughing really hard. He had caught sight of Basil napping like this under the table.

Mary and Clarissa spent an hour making this adorable robot for Ammon for his birthday (which is in a month and a half. I think they are excited.).

Lydia with Basil. These two love each other.

Clarissa gets Covid

Lydia took this selfie during her quarantine before Clarissa got Covid and we allowed her to come out of isolation.

Because Ammon, Clarissa, and Mary are advised to quarantine something like seven days beyond Lydia’s quarantine, we had Lydia quarantining alone so that all of the kids could go back to school together. But on Sunday Clarissa came down with a 102.8 degree fever and tested positive for Covid, so we released Lydia from the guest room. She was starting to go a little stir crazy in there and was very, very glad to be allowed to play with her siblings again.

Abe and I slept with Clarissa Sunday night because we were worried about how high her fever was. Thankfully she responded very well to medicine and her fever came down after she took that.

On Saturday Abe worked the entire day in the garage. It was a complete disaster because we have all of the stuff from the basement in there, and things had gotten really out of hand. He added a lot of fast track to the walls and hung a lot of tools and things, so now the garage looks so, so much better. We finally know where stuff is now. Thank you, Abe!!

He also spent some time playing hide and seek with the kids in the garage.

Our next door neighbors invited the kids to pick raspberries. Lydia couldn’t come because of her quarantine, but the other kids and Abe headed over to gather these beauties. We are grateful to have kind neighbors!

As if organizing the garage wasn’t enough, Abe also built a sand city with the kids!

The sandbox playing ended with a frantic effort to keep the hose-water from breaking through the canal and flooding the city. This was a game that Abe used to play with Anthony in Anthony’s sandbox when he was very young, and it made him so happy to relive that with the kids.