Author: lilydarais

I had planned to check out a new church Sunday, but my neighbor Stephanie texted me and asked if I wanted to go for a walk during church, and so we did. And we ended up talking for over four hours about church issues we both have and then so many other things. I love meaningful conversations with a friend, especially someone so thoughtful and wise as Stephanie. I was so impressed with her intelligence. It really gave me hope for the world and, frankly, Orem. I can live in Orem when there are people like Stephanie around the corner.

I also let the kids make scary gingerbread houses from Trader Joe’s in the afternoon with Eli.

Abe mostly worked all day either at church or on Qualtrics and personal stuff. He was up until 2am journaling. I don’t know how he does it.

During FHE he found a black widow on our stairs. We were really scared it had bitten Clarissa because minutes earlier Clarissa had screamed on that exact stair and fallen off of it. So we monitored her but she seemed perfectly fine. The girls were scared, though. Lydia woke up through the night terrified she was going to get bitten. Thankfully we all made it through the night alive!

On Saturday we drove to Idaho for Paul and Kiva’s wedding. It was on her farm, and it was a perfectly beautiful evening for a wedding. Paul and Kiva are absolutely darling and it was so sweet to watch them get married.

Afterward the kids loved swinging on these macrame swings in her yard. We also got pictures of Abe with his team. His team loves each other, and almost everyone drove up for the wedding.

Most of Abe’s team! Abe, Paul, Jake, Max, Trace, and David.

I started out strong on the treadmill and did errands with Clarissa while the kids were in school, but during her nap I just climbed into bed and hardly moved until it was time to pick the kids up from school. To be fair, it is that time of month and I just feel so tired.

Also, Clarissa is really hard right now. There is no break unless I am in a physically different building from her. When I’m home she’s either awake and very strong-willed, or in her room for nap time wailing because she doesn’t want to nap. Right now she’s crying at the door because she doesn’t want to sleep. It feels like the only break happens once she falls asleep, and even then it’s no guarantee she will sleep through the night.

But…she is adorable. And when I got her from her nap, I discovered this:

Also, Abe had a terrific day at work today! I was in shock because he came home raving about how much he loves his job, how he could do it forever, and what a high he’s on right now. This was music to my ears!!

On Saturday night we bundled all of the kids up in lots of layers and snuggled them together in their sleeping bags. It got down to the 30’s, but we were all so bundled and Abe and I snuggled a lot, so we stayed warm.

When we woke up on Sunday we packed up the tent and headed home. On the way out of the park we stopped and walked through West Thumb Geyser Basin for an hour.

On Saturday we drove up through the Tetons, set up camp and fished until dinner. It was late in the season and the fish were all at the bottom of the lakes, so we didn’t catch any. But we sure had fun trying!

We ate dinner at Canyon village and after admired Yellowstone Falls. This is our fifth Yellowstone trip in four years, so sightseeing felt like a bonus. Hopefully this is a yearly tradition so we can just have Yellowstone trips from now on that are just relaxed and where everything feels lucky and happy. Like this trip. I was SO happy and thankful all day long, and I think everyone else was too.

On Friday we packed the car, stopped by Trader Joe’s and didn’t hit the road for Yellowstone until 8pm. Needless to say, we didn’t make it there. We got halfway to a random inn called Bull Moose Inn and were so thankful to find lodging that wasn’t $1000. All the stuff in Jackson is so expensive and booked. So this motel was awesome. And waking up the next morning in the beautiful misty forests was amazing.

What was not amazing was that Clarissa was awake almost all night long bouncing around the motel room. Abe finally put her in time out and after that, she stayed in bed, sucked her bottle and finally fell asleep. It was about 3am. Nights like these make us so happy that this darling child is our very last. Hallelujah.

 

 

On Tuesday after dropping the girls off at school, I took Ammon and Clarissa to the zoo. I had the best time with these two little ones. They are so cute and fun! In this picture they look a little confused, but so adorable:

On Sunday Abe took care of the kids all day while I finished up the last of the Thrive conference, which went from 8am-6pm. We covered so much territory, and by the end everyone was in love with everyone. We were all willing to be vulnerable and share so much of ourselves with each other during the conference and after it was over I felt so sad to leave my new friends.

I can’t wait until it’s online so I can post it here.

Saturday the kids had babysitters from 8am until 6pm, during which time Abe and I were at the Thrive conference together. It was such a magical experience for both of us. At the beginning I could feel Abe shaking because he thought he was in enemy territory, but soon it became obvious that everyone there loved and supported Abe in his decision to stay active in the church.

By the end of the day, I left him there to enjoy everyone while I drove home, put the kids down, and then drove back to pick him up.

During that time he was singing his heart out in karaoke with everyone and dancing up a storm. I tried downloading some of the videos from the Thrive site but can’t. But here’s part of the conference:

On Friday I left around 4 pm to go to the ThriveBeyondMormonism retreat. At some point all of the footage from this day will be online, so I’ll retro-post it then. Friday was mostly introductions where each member of the group told about their faith journey in about three minutes.

I absolutely adored this group of people. When the video comes out, it will be so apparent why!