Today Abe and I both felt sapped of energy, but I still enjoyed the morning. I may not be quitting culinary school, but there’s no need to be a glutton for pain: I AM quitting the competition team, and I have zero qualms about it. I enjoyed my school-free morning treeee-mendously.
Abe took Lydia to ballet while I took Mary on my errands.
En route to ballet.
Abe took the girls to the park while I cooked meals for a couple families in the ward.
At the park in what Lydia calls “the clubhouse.”
After I delivered the meals, we went on a sloooow bike ride to and around the cemetery. Cemeteries are some of my favorite places, and the Salt Lake Cemetery is gorgeous. We live right by it, and I can’t believe I don’t go there more often.
Lydia fell asleep on the ride and basically never woke up. We were afraid to wake her without some sort of imminent treat because she is SO grumpy after late naps, so we woke her at 8 pm, force fed her some ice cream, and put her straight back to bed. I don’t even know if she realized she ate the ice cream…she was falling over into Abe’s lap between bites.Since Lydia was asleep, Mary got to be an only child for the evening. Abe and I lay down on the grass and played with her for an hour. We were all in heaven. I didn’t want it to end, but finally it got dark, and I realized I’d have to put my adorable baby to bed. She was so, so fun to play with. She does this cute thing where she wrinkles her face, tilts her head and makes her voice high and nasally for certain words like, “Meow!” “Oh no!” and “Miss Nana!” (I miss Nana!)
Abe and I are about to watch a movie. Shirley and Jon are in town and going to come over around 11 pm. We missed seeing them in New York, and their Salt Lake trips are always packed, so we take them whenever we we can get them. We’re so excited to see them soon!
No 911 calls this morning, and it was a peaceful follow-up to yesterday’s stress. I still feel silly about being so quick to call 911, but I keep telling myself better safe than sorry.
Isabella came over and watched the girls while I worked out and then swam. When I came home, we went to the library for new books. The girls collected prizes for the summer reading program, and then we came home for naps and quiet time. Lydia actually napped today!
She woke up when Sophia, Max and Misty came over for a play date. Waking up from naps is a delicate process for Lydia…but having Sophia over to play with made her transition much easier. They love playing together, and I love talking to Misty, so a play date with Misty and her kids is just optimal for everyone.
After the play date, Mary wanted a turn in the dress.
Here’s how Lydia felt about that.
Mary decided the dress was too cumbersome. The two reconciled.
Mary calling Nana and Grandma on the phone.
After our play date, I scrambled to make dinner. Abe insisted on taking a picture.
It seems that ever since starting cooking school, I’ve been too busy to cook at home. Abe was wowed by a salad. I felt remorseful that expectations have sunk so low that a salad elicited such effusive praise. Well, compared to mac ‘n cheese or spaghetti with bottled sauce (the usual, it would seem), I guess this was a step up. Sigh.
Then I went to my Primary meeting. I was just starting to warm up to the calling–I loved the cub scout car wash, and I really enjoyed attending Primary on Sunday…but the meetings. I struggle. I hope/pray that with time I can learn to enjoy them more AND contribute more. Tonight I contributed nothing. At one point, I looked at the clock and let out an exasperated sigh without even realizing what I was doing, and afterward I was soooooooo embarrassed. Yikes!
I came home to discover Abe and the girls Skyping with my mom and getting ready for FHE.
Skyping with Nana.Lydia did a fashion show at the beginning of FHE. Mary is crying because she wants to participate. I forget why she couldn’t.Abe taught a lesson about Moroni building walls to protect his people.Lydia was riveted by the story of Amalikiah. She named her post-FHE popsicle “Amalikiah” and wanted us to tell her over and over again why Amalikiah was so mean.We can build our own strong walls with prayer, reading scriptures, and going to the temple. Here’s Abe teaching Mary about prayer.
And finally, some pictures Abe took while I was at my meeting:
After church we laid low, although we did go outside for a bit to play in the srinklers.
Lydia running to pour the watering can on Abe and Mary.Lydia executes her plan.Picking tomatoes.Lying down for the “sleeping bunnies” song.The hopping part of the “sleeping bunnies” song.
This morning I set my alarm early so I could bake cookies for the cub scout car wash. Then Abe took Ada and Lydia to ballet while Mary and I headed over to dry some cars. I was scared to put Mary down near the cars, so I carried her while I dried and called it my work-out o’the day.
Then it was time for Liv’s birthday party at Liberty Park (by the Seven Canyons splash pad/rivers).
Abe had fun driving the girls around in Paige and Mike’s bike. Isn’t it amazing?
After we came home and napped, our friend Sharon Harris joined us for dinner. I didn’t take any pictures during dinner because every second with Sharon was precious. She’s from New York and has spent a couple weeks in Utah for the Neal A. Maxwell symposium. We were so glad to see her, even though the time flew by.
After dinner Tom and Suzanne took the girls to a Miner family party while Abe and I stayed home and did homework and lesson prep. We also took a beautiful walk to the grocery store. The sun was setting and the weather was gorgeous. We saw a neighbor slow dancing to Jazz music with his garden hose. That was truly delightful.
The Miners’ had a carnival of sorts going on because so many family members were in town.
Everyone had to wear shower caps covered in shaving cream. After the Cheeto fight, whoever was covered in the most cheetos won.The prizes.
Then it was home to bed. I have an early morning meeting tomorrow, so I should get to bed. Abe’s already asleep!
This morning we picked up Rose, Taina and Sev and headed over to Nordstrom to pick out some $12 sunglasses. I lose approximately two pairs per summer, and Rose offered to help me pick some. She did a great job, and I am so happy to not be squinting now!
Then we came home, ran through the sprinklers, and had a picnic.
Rose engineered our hose so that it could stay put like a sprinkler.
Mary was afraid of the sprinklers. Therefore, she hung on to me for dear life and didn’t appear in any of the sprinkler shots.
Rolling down the hill.
After naps, Isabella came so I could go swimming and grocery shopping. Then we all ate outside before heading to Baskin Robbins to celebrate the start of the weekend.
Isabella– Spiderman 2 flavored ice cream (chocolate and colored vanilla with exploding candy bits); Lydia–Very Berry Strawberry; Abe–Gold Medal; Mary–chocolate chip cookie dough; Lily–Mint Chocolate Chip. I should also not that this Baskin Robbins is where my visiting teachee, Marilyn, had her first date with her husband many decades ago. It’s stood the test of time!
Afterward, we went to Smith’s to pick out a toy for Liv’s birthday party tomorrow. Abe became passionately attached to a farm toy and went to elaborate lengths to convince me it was the perfect toy. I was convinced. We bought it.
Oh! I forgot to write down a funny thing that happened on Wednesday. We had gone down to Provo to hear Sharon’s talk, and we got lost. It took us forever to find the JFSB (one of the Joseph Smith buildings). Everyone kept saying, “It’s the one with the blue windows–you can’t miss it!” …and Abe and I kept missing it. All of the BYU campus buildings seem to have blue windows. Abe noted that they might have well said, “It’s the building with WALLS–you can’t miss it!”
Anyway, once we got to the building, we wandered all over until we finally found the symposium room. Afterward, as we attempted to navigate the maze out, Abe cried, “Oh, look! A street!!” in the same tone that one might use when saying, “Oh, look! We’re there!!”
This might be the place to note that while my sense of direction is far from stellar, Abe sometimes makes me feel like a professional navigator. That was one of those moments. I took his hand and gently led him back to the car (which was in the opposite direction of the street). We laughed the whole way there.
Also, I wish I could post a picture of Abe’s photo for his public transit pass. I haven’t seen him smile like that for a photo since our wedding day. He is definitely very happy to be free of his drive–he actually jumped out of bed at 5:40 am this morning to make his train. Abe is NOT a morning person, so again: More evidence that what he said tonight must be at least partly true. “Honey, without that drive, every second of my life feels enjoyable!!”
Today was a little crazy at church. Abe and I had a meeting with the stake president wherein Abe got a calling that will take a lot more time. I knew this meeting was coming, and secretly (or actually, not so secretly) I had been hoping Abe’s new calling would translate into a release from my new calling. I really miss going to Sunday School, and I’m slightly allergic to meetings that happen on any day other than Sunday. (Not activities, just meetings.) No such luck.
Anyway, the whole point of Sunday School is to make us better disciples, and disciples serve without complaint. So I guess Sunday School won’t avail me anything if I can’t learn to serve happily. That’s my current goal. Paragraph number one is a fantastic indicator of all the progress I’ve made on that goal.
I visit taught today for a couple hours, and when I came home, everyone was awake and playing on the lawn.
Lydia put on a puppet show behind the bush.
Abe and I contemplated calling friends to come over, but we were still exhausted from Friday’s lack of sleep, so instead we just played with the kids all evening. We played, “Sleeping bunnies” for the better part of forty-five minutes, and Mary still couldn’t get enough. She jumps up and down like a pogo stick every time the bunnies wake up, and then she shouts “Gain!!” (Again!!). We acquiesced approximately one million times.
Then we played hide and seek. Originally, I intended to lie on the couch while Abe played hide and seek with the girls, but Abe begged me to play and told me I could hide on the bed. I took him at his word; almost all of my hiding spots included lounging under a blanket. It was actually really funny because even though I was hiding in plain view (albeit under a blanket), Lydia and Mary would come up and check all the spots around me and still not know where I was. It was so funny and cute. They eventually found me each time because I couldn’t help laughing when they were so near and yet so bewildered.
We then spent the rest of the night reading to the kids and trying to work up energy to get the kids ready for bed. After we put them down, I read Abe a bunch of excerpts from, Carry on Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed by Glennon Doyle Melton. I loved the book, and we both got some great laughs from the excerpts.
Now we’re going to try to go to bed early to make-up for Friday.
Also, as a post script, this is absolutely the most beautiful summer I have ever experienced weather-wise. The weather here is gorgeous. I can’t get enough of the open windows. Yay, beautiful weather that makes life feel good even when my natural state is not quite there!!
Okay, so I got behind in New York. Thankfully, I haven’t taken any pictures for the past two days, so I only have to post from Monday and Tuesday!
Monday
Abe got in late on Sunday night (or early Monday morning…he walked in the apartment around 3 am). We slept in a little in the morning and then took the train down to Central Park to watch a puppet show at the Swedish Cottage. They do old fashioned marionette puppet shows at the cottage, and the show we saw was called Bessie’s Big Shot. It was a cute little plot about a cow named Bessie who wants to join the circus. The plot was mostly an excuse for the show to use a lot of fascinating circus puppets, but we didn’t mind!
Then we ate lunch at a Druze restaurant called Gazala’s. We loved our food.
Mary was tired from the puppet show.
Afterward, we went to the Natural History Museum. Our favorite room was the Hall of Large Mammals. That room is amazing. I could not believe the detail in those dioramas, the girls were fascinated. The room also made me grateful to live in the West because most of those gorgeous scenes took place in the west. All the road trips we need to make flitted through my mind as we walked through that hall.
Lydia’s favorite part of the museum was the skeleton in the evolution room. She demanded to sit in front of the skeleton for a full five minutes and then protested when we said it was time to move on. She has a skeleton app on her iPad, and it has made her very interested in skeletons.
By the time we were done at the museum, we were pooped. We took the train home and I got a pedicure and a lot of long-overdue waxing done while Abe and my Mom watched the girls at home. When my pedicure was done, it was almost time for my high school friend, Lauren Merkley, to come over for dinner. She and her boyfriend joined us for sushi at Clark and Swathi’s apartment, and it was wonderful catching up. My only regret is that we didn’t have more time. I love Lauren.
Tuesday
I got up early on Tuesday to go to Times Square and try to get rush tickets to the musical, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical. My friend from high school, Jessie Mueller, is the star of the show and recently won a Tony award for her work on the show. While in line, I bumped into another high school/elementary school friend. It’s amazing how Jessie’s success brings people together–I’ve felt more connected to my high school class than I ever did in high school because it’s been so fun to watch everyone cheer Jessie on in Facebook. Jessie is such a marvelous person; she was the type of person who was nice to everybody and made everyone feel special. She also was so obviously talented even then.
Abe and I ended up waiting in line for cancellation tickets because I couldn’t get two tickets together in the morning. After a two hour wait, my feet were swollen, but we got tickets!
Seeing Jessie perform was extraordinary. It probably ranks as a life highlight–certainly, it’s my favorite performance of any kind of show I’ve ever attended. I still feel elated in my heart from the experience. Afterward, I got to see Jessie outside. That was a kind of “my cup runneth over” experience.
And it ran over more, because after the show Abe and I got the best gyros I have ever had in my life (and I have had gyros in Greece on multiple occasions) in Times Square. That was a happy night.
Skipping back to Tuesday afternoon, the most memorable thing we did was eat in Dominique Ansel bakery, home of the cronut. They were sold out of cronuts, but our lunch and dessert were amazing.
We did some shopping in Soho and got rained on, so all of the rest of our plans got replaced with a subway home. I had already walked several miles from midtown to the West Village, not to mention all around Soho, so I was fine with going home by that point. The evening ended with the show, so no complaints.
We stepped into the Scholastica store right before the downpour.On the way home.Mary fell asleep on the way home.
Lydia also fell asleep on the way home. Abe set her up like this and she slept for three straight hours. No joke.
Wednesday
The girls watched Frozen for the umpteenth time in the morning.
We ordered one last meal from Seamless, the NYC online take-out service. My yellow curry carried me through our flight until we got home. Tom and Suzanne picked us up, and we ended up getting Subway for dinner and eating outside. The weather was gorgeous, and we were happy to be home. It was a perfect trip and a perfect homecoming.
Thank-you, Clark and Swathi, for a fabulous trip. We love you so much. Thank-you, Mom, for being wonderful. The girls love you and already miss you so much. Thank-you, Grandma, for lending us Mom for the trip. We love you and only wish you could have been there, too!
Thursday
The only thing of note today was that I gave Lydia an Elsa cape I had been saving until Christmas. I’ve decided to use it as a tool to help her share better. She can only wear it when she’s in the mood to share. I even have a motto: “You can wear it if you share it!” We’ll see if this helps. The whole day has been a series of tantrums and screaming fits. I think the girls are tired from the trip. I did go swimming this morning and then took the girls to story time at the library, but it’s been tantrums ever since.
Puerto Rico
Here are Abe’s photos from Puerto Rico!
The church where Liem and Phuong got married is the oldest in Puerto Rico.
Now Abe and I are folding laundry…only I’m blogging instead. Back to the laundry!
Today was my brother’s birthday! Happy birthday, Clark! We’re so excited to celebrate the last year of your twenties with you in New York!
It was also a very busy day here at the Darais household. This morning I took the girls on a walk/run to the park.
The view as I ran. (There was a lot of uphill going on, and I was more than happy to stop and take a picture.)Lydia picked a flower.Mary cooked me food.
After that, I took the girls home for lunch and naps.
Lydia said, “Mommy, take a picture of my tortilla!” …So I did. I think she’s used to me whipping out my camera for any little thing, and in this instance she simply beat me to it. Of course I wanted a picture of her microwaved tortilla–my culinary school skills at work!
Then we went to a fun pool in Bountiful with our friends Rose, Taina and Sev.
I locked my phone in the locker room so it wouldn’t get stolen, but I took one picture before I did that. There was a giant pirate ship in the pool, and here are the girls gearing up to be pirates.
We didn’t even have time to eat dinner by the time we got home. Abe and I simply packed the girls in the jogger, attached it to a bike and took off for the canyon. We got in five miles before the light gave out.
Their “dinner.” I am hoping Lydia doesn’t wake in the middle of the night begging for food because she’s hungry…
Happy belated 4th! We were so exhausted by the time we got home that I am just now blogging.
In the morning while I was at yoga, Abe and the girls had a flag hunt. The girls would hide flags and then go find them, over and over again. In fact, that’s what the three of them are doing now as I type:
Hide and seek with the flags. The flags are hiding and everyone else is counting. Also, the girls are still wearing their 4th of July dresses today because they slept in them last night. We may or may not change them before tomorrow–if they wear these for three straight days, they could wake up on Sunday all dressed for church!The flag hunt yesterday morning.Abe fed them breakfast.Mary pretended to be on the phone a lot (I’m gathering, since Abe took a million photos of her in this pose).Abe got the trunk of the car open for the first time since May (it was stuck) and retrieved my anniversary present! We forgot to take a picture of me wearing it yesterday. I’ll wear it tomorrow and take a picture.
After I got home from yoga, I watched How to Train A Dragon with Lydia. Abe and I watched it Thursday night and loved it, and it was fun to watch with Lydia. Afterward, Abe gave me a massage and the girls helped. Mary loves to pound my back with her little fists. It’s really cute.
Then we went to the Darais picnic down in Provo. We picked up Balu on the way there.
On the way to Provo for the picnic.
At the Darais picnic, there was a lot of reposing going on.
There was also a fair amount of rolling down hills.
Lydia waiting to “catch” mary.After the hill-rolling, the girls sat like this for a while.
After the picnic, we headed to Sugar House Park for fireworks. We got a great view, and it was a beautiful night. By the time we got home, Lydia and I were asleep, but Mary was still as excited as could be. She was the first person to wake up this morning. I think yesterday was a happy day for her–and everyone!
Kate showed up at 8:30 so I could make it to 9 am yoga this morning. I think I might have pushed it too hard in yoga because for the rest of the day I just dragged. For example, at one point I dumped all the laundry on the floor in the girls room with every intention of sorting and folding…and instead, I just sat there playing with and reading to the girls. I finally got around to the laundry at bedtime. Six hours later.
In the interim, Abe came home and we did errands. We had what felt like social hour at the grocery store. We ran into Abe’s old friend, Abe’s first grade teacher, my visiting teacher, and the mother of some of the kids in Primary who gave talks last Sunday.
Blueberries outside of Sprouts.The girls rode this ancient merry-go-round outside of Rite Aid for a quarter. Might as well have been Disneyland–they loved it.
Then we came home and had s’mores for dinner, much to Abe’s chagrin. But I pointed out the girls had eaten a ton of raw snap peas before our errands, and they’d had a ton of berries and crackers on our outing. I couldn’t picture them eating much more substantial food, plus I couldn’t wait for s’mores. We were supposed to go camping tonight, and when the reservations didn’t work out, the one thing I was sad about was the prospect of missing out on s’mores. The electric coils on our stove top were a fine–superior, even–substitute.
Lydia was our official s’more smusher. She smushed the graham crackers together after I slid the marshmallows in between.
Mary wasn’t interested in s’mores. She got really excited about her ice water, though.
Lydia has had nosebleeds in the middle of the night two nights in a row. Her bed is right over an air conditioning duct, and I wonder if that’s why. At any rate, Abe and I are exhausted and hoping she doesn’t have one tonight. It’s a little hard to drag ourselves out of bed, clean the blood and start a load of laundry at 3 am every night. I’d love it if we could break the habit tonight.
And a fireworks show just started in the valley. It’s so exciting to be able to watch from my desk–time to wrap this up!
