This morning we had a play date with Lalitha and Eden:
Then I fed the children, set Lydia up to paint in the basement, and put Mary down for a nap. Then Lydia took a nap.
Then I went to class. Tonight was carbs night, and in addition to all the carbs we cooked, the chocolates class next door was sending over their midterm projects. I feel so sick right now. Time for a shower and bed.
The girls watched “Let it Go” from Frozen for a little bit this morning.
Then we ate breakfast and read books until it was time for Institute. Today Institute featured some artist who has studied how Joseph Smith looked in life, and so the talk was slide-centric. Unfortunately, Mary was pretty tired and sad, so we ended up leaving early.
Then we came home for naps. I could have done so much during their nap marathon! Instead I wasted massive amounts of time online and just dozing off. But after their naps, Anique and Fleur came over for an impromptu play date. I should have taken a picture since Fleur and Mary are almost the same age, and they were so cute together. Next time.
Abe came home in time for us to head over to the Jewish Community Center for their preschool open house. We love the JCC more than ever, but it seems to be the most expensive preschool around. Gulp. Good thing we saved! The other good news is that we get a student discount since I am in school, so that’s great. And Lydia loved the preschool. She didn’t want to leave and talked the whole way home about how much she wanted to go there.
Then we came home, had FHE, and watched more of the Olympics. The ladies’ short program was tonight, and I am so glad we got to see it.
On a different note, we said many prayers for Ukraine today. One of my friends posted an excerpt from the Book of Common Prayer on Facebook, and I had never read anything from that before. It was beautiful and so relevant. A phrase she posted later has been ringing through my mind ever since: “Dona nobis pacem.” That’s what I hope to fall asleep praying tonight.
This morning I took the girls to the park for our ward play group.
The rest of the day was spent feeding kids, napping, reading my book, and folding approximately five huge loads of laundry (basically the girls’ entire wardrobe and more than half of our clothes, too).
Anique and I did our soup exchange yesterday, which was the greatest blessing because I had no time to cook tonight.
Then I went to my Relief Society meeting. I’m on the humanitarian division of the committee, and so we picked which organizations we’re going to help this year.
Then it was Smith’s for food, and now bed.
Happy President’s Day! One of the pictures I neglected to take yesterday was of the town right outside of Zion. The entire Main Street was lined with flags, and that helped put us in a patriotic, grateful spirit. On our run this morning, we decided that we would rather lead our very own happy lives than lead the country, and we are so grateful to those who are elected and willing to do the latter.
We went on a run to City Creek Canyon this morning, but since we were both exhausted, we did a lot of talking and walking on our “run.” By the end, Lydia was begging to go to the park, and so Abe took the girls to the park while I showered and did some homework. When they came back to the house, Lydia was a wreck because she did not want to sit in the middle of the messy jogger for even a minute longer. The jogger was full of spilled snacks, sippy cups, random toys, and rumpled blankets. Lydia was screaming and trying to wriggle out of her seat belt when they pulled up to the door. I felt a lot of sympathy because that’s exactly how I feel when the van gets trashed. Maybe she got it from me.
Anyhow, before Lydia’s jogger meltdown, she and Mary had a lot of fun at the park. Mary has started throwing herself off any height she can climb to because she expects Abe to catch her. Abe made me promise to never leave her unattended at the park for even a split second from this point forward. Duly noted.
Then we took a family nap (except for Lydia, who came into our room periodically to do puzzles, ask for food, and color). Then my Auntie Geri called and we got to talk for a long time. I have been meaning to call her for over a month, so it was really wonderful to chat.
And then we took advantage of all the sales at the outlet mall in Lehi. Abe got a whole bunch of new clothes, and I got a sweater and some jeans. I swore off jeans when I discovered leggings last year and made a commitment to myself that I wouldn’t wear anything that’s not at least as comfy as my pj’s. That commitment has been extremely comfortable, but I find myself doing crazy things…like not changing my outfit for days because it’s just too easy to wear what I wore during the day to bed…and when I wake up, guess what? I’m already dressed! So the sad, unhygienic continues until the absolute need for a shower intervenes. Also, I am excited to have jeans that fit.
Then I took my midterm for my concepts and theories class. It was really easy, and I suspect the teachers have a lot of pressure from the administration to spoon feed success to the students as much as possible. I’m not complaining, though.
Then we came home and discovered a package from Balu to the girls! Lydia was asleep, so Mary got to sleep with both new stuffed toys:
We just came back from our St. George and Zion camping trip. I took ninety-five pictures, so I will try to whittle them down (somewhat) and just post the highlights here:
After breaking camp and attending Sacrament meeting, we went to Zion National Park.
I spent this morning trying to get homework done. I can’t remember much more that happened today, honestly. I think I fed the kids a bunch, read some in my book, played with the kids, and went to school. That’s about it. I didn’t even get a chance to talk with Abe at all, so I have no idea if he had a good day or not. He sent me a super sweet Valentine’s email, but he didn’t mention how his day went in it, so I’m guessing it was good? I hope it was good.
Here are the pictures I took this morning:
At school today, we had the second part of our midterms. I made a bechamel sauce, minced parsley, did one tomato concasse, and spent about two and a half hours making mayonnaise by hand. Did you know you can break mayonnaise even after it’s come together? I sure didn’t. After an hour of beating, I got impatient and broke my mayonnaise with a couple big squirts of oil. Drat. I think I gave myself carpal tunnel, but another hour and a half later, I managed to rescue my mayonnaise.
This morning I sneaked in a trip to the library and grocery store before our fun play date with Paige, Ada, and Liv.
Here are some pictures from the play date:
Then the girls were so worn out from the fun that they took a three hour nap. Hallelujah. I read a chapter in my book and then proceeded to do the same.
By the time we woke up, I just had time to make some soup, feed the girls dinner, and eat the last piece of last week’s cake before Abe came home.
We finished up with a Family Home Evening lesson on what it means to be children of God. Of course, we ended by playing parachute…
Happy Valentine’s Day! Well, it was for Abe and me. We celebrated early since babysitters are booked on Friday. Pre-date, the day was so relaxing. Lydia was exhausted from all the highs of yesterday and took an almost three hour nap. Mary slept too. Abe got home by 5:15 and we left on our six hour date right away–which just might be the longest date we’ve ever been on.
Here are the pictures from early in the day:
And from our date:
Then we tried to go see Saving Mr. Banks, but it was only showing in Layton, and we were late. So we saw Catching Fire instead and have talked nothing but rebellion, revolution, and fantasy lit ever since.
Days like this make me wonder why every day can’t just be like today. Why can’t they? I can’t figure it out, but I’m really glad when days like this happen.
This morning Lydia crawled into bed with me and wanted the iPad. I trade the iPad for practice time reciting scriptures, and today I actually recorded her reciting her scripture.
Then we went to a Valentine’s day party at preschool:
Lydia spent the rest of the day going through the valentines from her friends over and over. She had so much fun.
Then I took the kids to Gateway for Dairy Queen Blizzards and some pizza:
Again, this part of the day made us all unreasonably happy.
Then I gathered my courage and took both girls to the movie, Frozen.
This was their first movie, and they loved it. Well, Mary spent most of the movie climbing up and down the stairs and running around the theater while I chased her. Thankfully, there was only one other family in the theater, and they had small kids too. At one point, Mary ran right under the huge screen just as a big boom from the movie rang out. She let out a delighted yelp and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her straight back to me. She’s my little thrill seeker.
Then we came home and took naps. They napped so long that I didn’t have the heart to wake them in time for me to get to class, so I just read all of the class slides and did a bunch of homework instead.
The only low point was when I lost my temper at Lydia after dinner because she was screaming for cake. But that really was the only low point for Lydia and me, and the rest of the day was just a delightful series of fun events. I guess if this happened every day, I wouldn’t appreciate these good times the same way…but really, it would be so nice.
On top of it all, Abe got moved up into a track that positions him for the next round of promotions today, so honestly, every one of us had a great day.
Now it’s time for baths and bed. I think I even have time to read my book tonight. Yay!
Here are some more pictures from the day (mainly for Mom and Grandma!):
Church this morning was incredibly inspiring and uplifting. In Relief Society, we had a lesson on adversity, and then in Sunday School, we talked about Noah’s Ark–and again, hit upon the theme of adversity. The whole time I was thinking about Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book, David and Goliath, wherein Gladwell argues that people who suffer great adversity or battle huge disadvantages in life sometimes find the key to their success in those very problems. Noah probably suffered a lot of loneliness and social isolation during the course of his long, long life–but he also walked with God; I wonder if that experience of isolation helped solidify his relationship with God, since God was his refuge.
Speaking of social isolation, we were hermits today. The Andersons invited us over for dinner, but we reluctantly said no because we thought we were going to Suzanne’s family party tonight. I realized too late that I didn’t have time to make the dish I promised to make if we attended, and so we just stayed home and watched the Olympics instead.
I love the Olympics. In the next life, I want to figure skate. I hope there’s a rink and some patient coaches waiting for me in heaven. In the meantime, Mary watched the screen and alternated between lifting her arms in triumph and trying to balance on one leg. Maybe I can be one of those scary moms who lives vicariously.
Here are the pictures from today:
And now back to the Olympics. I don’t want to miss the ice dancing pairs!