Author: lilydarais

I am back blogging and we are about to go to Disney, so I am just going to throw these pictures up and blog later. This was a monster day.

While I walked Basil in the morning Abe went on a long bike ride to decompress. Our trip last weekend helped a lot, but work just sucks him and the bike ride helped him at least grasp at the notion of well-being!

Thursday was also Lydia’s last day of school! It was a short day and she collected a lot of phone numbers in her year book for future play dates with her friends. I am so, so sad that her year with Mrs. Lammichhane is coming to an end. But I am proud of all the ways Lydia has grown in that class and will always be grateful to Mrs. Lammichhane for helping facilitate that growth.

I spent a lot of the day practicing instruments with the kids, tidying the house, assembling meals and cleaning after, and also adjusting to having more freedom in the day because of Lexy’s daily help. Lexy came over in the evening while Abe was at the old house, so I used the time to finally get my google calendar to match my physical calendar and double check that I have the summer scheduled correctly. Then I went and did hot yoga for the first time in over a year! It felt amazing (and really hard).

In June the kids have regular swimming lessons with Aubrey and then twenty-one lessons scheduled with Utah Swim Academy. I am determined that this is the year they will all become proficient in this life saving skill! The three younger kids also all have soccer and Lydia has volleyball, and all of the kids have an hour of dance (or, in Clarissa’s case, Mommy and me!) weekly. The three oldest have their regular music lessons and at the end of the summer they have acting camp. And my friend Jean is coming that last week for a visit too. I am taking a girls trip to Vegas with my Thrive friends the first weekend in June, and I am trying to see if we can work in a trip to the Shakespeare festival while Jean is here.

I found out Wednesday morning that Lydia had her school dance performance at the same time as my therapy appointment. I almost had Lexy take the kids and attend while I went to therapy, but then I realized that I am going to therapy because I feel like I fail so often at good motherhood. The irony in the situation of having a nanny go to Lydia’s performance so I could talk to a therapist about how to be a better mom was too absurd, and I also genuinely wanted to see Lydia dance! So I cancelled therapy, ate the fee, and attended the performance. It was so fun, and Lydia did a fantastic job!

In the evening Abe broke off of work at 6:30 so we could all go swim until bedtime. The kids are all improving every time we go, and it is very encouraging to see their progress!

On Tuesday I went out to dinner with my friends Jen, Courtney, and Heidi. Courtney was nice enough to pick me up and we met at the Aubergine in Lehi. It was one of my favorite friend meet-ups of all time. I loved how candid, honest and wise each person was, and I learned a lot. I am so grateful for these women.

I think Abe worked the whole time I was gone because Lexy came over to nanny starting at 5pm. She is absolutely amazing and gave the kids a spa evening. And the house looked immaculate when I came home, which I appreciate from the depths.

On Sunday we decided to spend the whole day at the resort. We started by walking on the nature path to breakfast, which was one of our favorite breakfasts anywhere. I had an egg white omelet for the second day in a row with sun dried tomatoes, spinach, onion, and feta with a little arugula on top. It doesn’t sound original or mind blowing, but it was so perfectly cooked. Abe had waffles I think. I should have paid attention, but I was very into my omelet!

Then we walked back to our room to change for our tennis lesson, which we then walked back to. We absolutely adored our tennis instructor, Jane. She was Filipino! I loved her style of instruction: playful above all, but still firm, exact, and invested. I wish she lived in Utah because I would sign up to have her teach me weekly. We both noticeably improved after one lesson.

Then we walked back again to our room and changed into swimsuits before walking to the spa pool where we luckily found chairs by the jacuzzi. I listened to Braiding Sweetgrass and my language learning podcasts and people watched. Abe and I both ordered yummy lunches and smoothies by the pool and then did some quiet laps in the pool while chatting.

I loved the pool so much it was hard to tear away, but we finally did so we could be on time for our tee time at the golf course. I had never golfed in my life and was not particularly excited about it, but I figured it’s a good skill to learn well-before retirement age, right? And it ended up being the absolute highlight of the whole trip!

The golf course at the Boulders resort is stunningly beautiful. Everywhere I looked there was something beautiful. And it had cooled down so it felt like a perfect temperature, and everything was so peaceful that there were bunnies grazing everywhere. And it turns out golf is very fun. I loved it so much, and Abe and I kept exclaiming over how lucky we felt to be there with each other.

After golf we went to the restaurant for one final meal. I was still full from lunch but the food was so good that it was hard to even consider passing up a meal. We had salmon, crab cakes, and a delicious kale and corn salad.

We were so tired after that after that we went to bed at 8:30pm and slept soundly until our flight the next morning!

Today I: 1. worked out on the bike for 38 minutes 2. showered 3. dropped Lydia off at school 4. picked up glasses from my mom 5. dropped off my mom’s glasses at the eyeglass store 6. shopped at Trader Joe’s 7. helped Mary practice her piano for an hour 8. helped Ammon practice his piano for 45 minutes 9. fed the three kids at home fish and salad for lunch 10. brushed and braided Mary and Clarissa’s hair 11. did 40 minutes of reading practice with Ammon 12. cleaned up lunch 13. picked up Lydia 14. went to Starbucks twice 15. made pizza with all of the kids (caramelized onions, cut a pineapple, rolled dough, and cleaned up after them) 16. helped Lydia with her harp for 70 minutes 17. read books with Mary 18. read books with Clarissa 19. read books with Ammon 20. washed two loads of laundry 21. changed Mary’s sheets 22. folded a load of laundry 23. walked Basil 24. texted with my friend Jean about her summer trip to visit me 25. cajoled Lydia approximately 20 million times to do her homework before bed time 26. gave in and ordered Chip cookies to eat after the kids went down

On Saturday Abe was still not feeling well. That second Covid shot is a beast.

He did watch Kung Fu Panda with the kids while I went for a swim. Then I came home, showered, and did three hours of music practice with the girls. Oh, and I took Mary and Clarissa for haircuts!

They are both so beautiful and sweet.

On Friday Jen was going to come give me some oils I had ordered and so I figured why not invite the Tiemanns and Heidi too? And then Lydia had a surprise play date with her friend Katelyn (who was darling beyond belief)–making a total of twelve kids and 7 grown ups.

Abe was literally flat on hi back from the Covid shot all day, and I told him he did not need to come up. He managed to come up a little after six and was a total trooper.

We had a huge taco bar with rockfish, smoked brisket, grilled steak and chicken, vegan chorizo, crumbled cotija, cilantro, radishes, pickled onions, tomatoes, spiralized cucumber, and all different tortillas–including our favorite jicama wraps. It was a feast.

The kids ran around in a pack and we didn’t even need to feed Basil dinner because the little kids gave him so many treats! He was a star.

On Thursday I literally could not do anything almost the entire day. I got my second shot on Wednesday and by Thursday I was completely incapacitated. My whole body hurt and I realized after dropping Lydia off at school that I would not be able to do more during the day.

Abe has been very slammed at work and was unable to take the day off, so our kids watched tv all day while I lay in bed and he did his best to manage the rest of the day’s pick ups and drop offs.

By dinner I started to feel a little better and moved to the couch, where I witnessed a fun dance party with Abe, the kids, and Basil.

Early in the day, Ammon reported his dream from the night before.

On Wednesday I tried three times to get my second shot, and I kept forgetting various things and having to go back home for my ID and wallet. Finally I made it, and I was one of two people in the clinic getting a shot. When Abe went a day later, he was the only one. Utah Valley folk appear not to be really interested in this vaccine. Regardless, I was very happy to get mine, and on the first day felt very few side effects.

The kids had fun while I was running back and forth to the clinic. They did a lot of puzzles today.

We also loved watching Ammon and Clarissa dance.

We had my mom over for dinner too, and everyone loves it when she comes over!