Author: lilydarais

Abe went on a retreat to Wyoming for top performers. They shot and fished and socialized. It sounds like a nightmare to me, but he enjoyed learning how to fly fish. He didn’t feel super great during the trip, but it was also a needed break from work stress. He doesn’t get much respite these days between work, faith stuff at home, and the demands of four crazy kids, so he definitely deserved the time away.

We went to Lydia’s new school open house on Monday. My phone won’t load the pictures but she had fun. I am paranoid and was upset that her classroom is right next to the front door. When we got home I immediately emailed the PTA and asked why they haven’t automated the front door so it will lock during school hours. They emailed back and said they’re working on it and hopefully soon that will be up and running. In the meantime, I am being VERY nice to Lydia because I die every time I think of that unlocked door. Maybe I will go give her another hug right now…

Happy birthday, Clarissa!!! Since I was in Midway the previous two days, Abe, my mom and the girls took care of making sure everything was ready to properly celebrate Clarissa today. The balloons and presents were ready, the cake was baked, and the house was clean. I arrived at the house a little after she woke up but after she was already dressed. Mary and Lydia picked her dress and we sang to her all morning. Clarissa joined in and kept singing “Happy day Sa!’ to herself. And she’d go around shrugging her shoulders with joy. It was adorable.

My pictures won’t load, but here are Abe’s:

Clarissa at the brink of two is the darling of the family. We are all enchanted with her, especially Mary. She is feisty, opinionated, and SO cute. It’s hard to say no to her for so many reasons. (For one, she is cute. For two, she will make our lives, um, exceptionally loud and psychologically pain-filled if we don’t do exactly what she wants all the time.) So, Clarissa, you have us all under your spell. We love you!!

On Saturday we all slept in and then went to yoga. Then we ate pastries and cake for breakfast. Chelsea and Kylie went hiking while I finished typing up a letter I wrote to my kids and read a little. Then we got 80 minute massages and hung out in the steam room and sauna until it was time to head back, change, and go out for dinner. We went back to the Blue Boar to stuff ourselves with fondue, soup and salads. Kylie just got back from traveling around the world and regaled us with tales from Bali, as well as gave us the run down on astrology. Then we came back, did face masks, and chatted some more until we were all sleepy and went to bed. It was a really glorious day.

In the meantime, Abe and Suzanne took the kids to Lagoon. Afterwards they went to Tom and Suzanne’s house for dinner. They had so much fun, although Abe told me Clarissa was, as usual, really crazy. Here are his pictures!

On Friday I headed up to Midway to meet my friend Chelsea for dinner at the Blue Boar Inn. The whole weekend long I kept making mental notes to have someone take our picture and then kept forgetting. Darn.

After dinner Kylie came up to meet us, and then we all stayed up super late just talking. We stayed at the Zermott in Midway. Abe and Derek got together and planned this as a birthday surprise for Chelsea and me, and it was seriously such a highlight. I enjoyed every minute of this weekend–even though I didn’t get any pictures!!!!

Abe took this photo today. I don’t know where or when, but he was smelling the roses! (Or the lily.)

In the evening I went to dinner in Lehi at Cubby’s with my friend, Lauren, and our YW leader, Camey. It was really wonderful to connect with them. I love them both so much.

On Wednesday in the evening I went to Lower Lights with Emily. It was nice chatting on the way up to SLC and back.

I LOVED Lower Lights. Thomas Wirthlin McKonkie leads everyone in chanting, meditation, and discussion. It’s at the Episcopal church in Salt Lake. Everyone was beautiful. Also, I got to sit next to Jana Spangler, who I tried to meet at Sunstone but ran out of time there. It felt serendipitous.

On Monday the girls dressed up Clarissa. These kids are the cutest.

Later that morning we went to the Vineyard splash pad for Ammon’s preschool party. I only got this one picture of Clarissa, caught red-handed trying to steal Ammon’s ice pop:

On Sunday Mary wrote me some darling love notes.

I back blogged that day but didn’t blog for the actual day, so I don’t remember anything else that happened…because I am back blogging again. Sigh.

On Saturday we went to Great Basin National Park. It was farther away than we realized, but it was SO fun to drive through a part of Utah we’d never been to before! We got to see the Sevier Desert and Sevier Lake, and we stopped en route to pick up lunch and snacks in Delta, UT. There is literally no place near Great Basin to get food or gas, and the desert road there was empty. There were no cars. It was just sage brush and sand running up against a wall of grey mountains in the distance.

Here are the pictures from our adventure:

Abe’s overnight trip canceled, so he took the day off on Friday. It was so wonderful to have an extra day with him! We drove to Salt Lake to drop my mom off so she could visit with one of her Stanford friends, and while she was visiting we went to Red Butte Gardens and just relaxed (um, as much as that is possible while also chasing Ammon AND Clarissa around) there. The weather was PERFECT and everything was gorgeous and peaceful.

After the gardens, we picked up lunch and then visited Tom, who is recovering from kidney cancer. We sat in the back yard visiting and eating not-yet-ripe grapes. You can see Clarissa’s reaction in this short photo series:

Abe took pictures of everyone in the family, too:

After we finished up in Salt Lake, we came back, grilled some veggie burgers and brats outside, put the kids down and binged on Game of Thrones. Oh, and I had ice cream too!! It’s the first sugar I’ve had in weeks. I don’t know how I feel about that, but the cravings were all consuming. I felt better after eating the ice cream, I can say that much.