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:
Mary dancing (before her outfit change post-messy meal).Playing.Playing “fish, fish, fish, fish, FREEZE!” We learned this game yesterday, and Mary especially loves putting her hands together and pretending to swim like a fish.
And from our date:
We went to a restaurant called Cedars of Lebanon. The food was amazing. I would love to work here (part time) and learn how to make that yummy food sometime down the road!Our food.
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!):
Talking with Nana and Grandma Cullen.Lydia wanted them to see her cat’s pink smile.She spent a lot of time trying to get them to see her cat.Here’s her cat’s “pink” smile. He needs a bath…I did Mary’s hair while we were on the phone. Clearly, I need to focus more when I’m attempting pigtails.After naps. Trying to figure out the iPadBecause I don’t understand the “less is more” principle when it comes to pictures of my kids.
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:
I heart matching (ha! there are hearts in their dress…and Abe’s punning has rubbed off on me).After we ate lunch, Mary napped and the three of us headed to the basement to make Valentines for preschool tomorrow.Abe rearranged the treadmill yesterday. I was complaining (again) about how difficult it is to find time to work out, and so now I can! This way I can see the girls, and there’s even a TV monitor set up on the wall so I can see what they’re doing in the part of the basement that’s out of eyesight.
And now back to the Olympics. I don’t want to miss the ice dancing pairs!
I am totally exhausted but Abe, who has been working like crazy all day, is downstairs feeding Mary (again) so I can blog and go to bed. I love him.
I almost missed yoga this morning but thankfully woke up at 5:40 and made it into class by 6. Cynthia met me there, and I was relieved that I didn’t sleep through it, since I forgot to set my alarm last night.
After yoga, I showered at the studio and headed straight to school. I started the day practicing knife cuts, but I had to make up the eggs class I missed Thursday…so for the next three hours I did nothing but attempt to make French omelets and flip eggs. For the record, I make eggs all the time at home, but they are in a nonstick pan, and I flip them with a spatula. Also, I make Western omelets (that are brown and folded vs. yellow and rolled).
In the two hours I practiced, I never once flipped an egg successfully. I had eggs land on the floor, on the range, on the counter, and the ones that landed in the pan either turned funny or got their yolks broken by the fall. It was nothing short of disastrous. I am pretty sure the chef thought I was mentally challenged. The fact that I battle terrific shyness, self-consciousness, and a constant terror that I am incapable of performing the task at hand is no help. I just try to smile and say as little as possible, because when I try to talk, I either stutter or say something monumentally stupid. What’s worse is everyone there is incredibly friendly, and I would love to be friends with all of them if I could work up the courage and wit to talk coherently.
At any rate, here is something I plated (under explicit instruction) at the end of the day:
I came home and laughed and cried a little about the experience with Abe, who was so reassuring. It’s nice to have someone to come home to who is familiar with your weaknesses and can still say positive, loving things. Again, I love my husband.
Then I lay in bed until it was time to go to the Alvarez party for Leah. Carolina, Nefi, and Leah live in Bountiful, so we drove there and spent the evening with them. One of the best parts was that my favorite young women’s leader of all time, Camey Hadlock (Elder Anderson’s daughter), showed up! We chatted the whole party. She is one of my life-long inspirations. She has four kids and is about to start a doctorate program in education and technology, and in anticipation of starting the program, she has published an article in the main journal of her new field. She’s also written much of the new church instructional material for Come Follow Me. She’s just an amazing person who has stayed in touch with the young women she’s taught all over the country, and I admire her so much. Here’s a picture of her posing with Carolina and me. She looks the youngest of all of us (even though she has a teenage daughter while Carolina and I have babies).
Here are some more from the party:
Lydia was waking up from her car ride, and Leah was so cute and wanted to play.
Mary, Lydia AND Abe all wanted pictures taken with the Bubble Guppies:
I have to get up really early tomorrow, so just a quick post. I had the first part of my midterm today. I think I made my small dice carrots too small, and I had SERIOUS problems with my hollandaise. Grandma, you taught me to make hollandaise, and I’ve loved it ever since, but the thing is, when I make it at home, I make it in your double boiler. Making it in a mixing bowl over a big saucepan is much more awkward. I scrambled my eggs twice before I finally coaxed them into a sauce.
Abe blew it out of the ball park today at work and doubled his quota at the call center. He is super excited and feeling a little relieved. Today is the second day in a row that he’s surpassed his quota, and he’s feeling blessed and even happier (if that’s possible) to be at his new job. When I told the girls that Daddy had a great day at work, Mary raised both hands high in the air just like she does at the triumphant ending ofthe book, Potty (where the baby succeeds at going potty and gets to wear undies).
Here are today’s pictures:
Exhausted from feeding my children every two hours from morn until night, I announced today that there would be no meals between breakfast and lunch today. This is what ensued.A little later, they are happy as clams.Mary is demonstrating her mount/dismount move she’s been practicing non stop for the past two days (this set-up is next to my bed, which I have occupied almost non-stop for that same time). This is the first step of her mount.step 2.step 3.pivot to dismount.Off. We are ready for the Olympics.Lydia spent a solid hour coloring her new scripture. Memorizing it was a whole ‘nother story…Happily coloring Psalm 23 away.
Today was another sick day, sort of. I don’t really feel super duper sick, but sick enough that leaving the house was a non-option. I ended up skipping class, too.
I finished The Two Towers, which left me hungry for the last book in the trilogy. Since I don’t have it on hand, I finally, finally picked up Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, a book I have moved with me and placed near my bed since 2003. I don’t know why I haven’t reached over and actually read it in these past eleven years, but today I finally started, and I love, love, love it.
The girls napped at different times today (Mary woke up as I was tucking Lydia in), so right now I am ready to go straight to bed. From 2pm until 7:45, I did nothing but cook, clean, and feed and clean up the children over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
Here are some pictures from the day:
We had a conversation with Nana today.Mary is focused on Nana.She tried to show Nana how the printer has this funny piece of plastic that moves when you touch it.Back to Nana. She loves talking to Nana, and I promised my mom I would post some of the many (I took more, believe it or not) pictures I took during our conversation.I baked a cake today. The cake itself fell apart, but I sort of glopped it all together and let Lydia go to town with the sprinkles.Abe gave the girls potty seat rides after their baths. My favorite is how he has Lydia’s pre-bath underwear in his back pocket. Also, I never got around to making my bed…maybe because I spent every spare moment in it?Mary backs onto the potty seat and sits very carefully down. Her favorite books right now are all about the potty–maybe because of these rides.See how much she loves it?
This morning I took the girls to the dinosaur play area at City Creek. I told the girls I would bring them yesterday because Misty’s play group was meeting there, but then I started feeling tired and slightly sick that I had to renege on my promise. They had fun today, though.
Then I took them to church and dropped Lydia off at nursery while Mary and I attended a lecture from a BYU professor/Dead Sea Scroll scholar on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I was a little late, but what I heard was fantastic. This wasn’t his most important or emphasized point, but he did point out that a lot of Book of Mormon names which were completely unfamiliar to Joseph Smith and everyone else at the time of the translation of the Book of Mormon (some of which had been used by anti-Mormons to prove the Church was not true) show up in the Dead Sea Scrolls. For example, critics used to say that Alma, the Book of Mormon prophet, had the name of a South American woman; when the Dead Sea Scrolls were interpreted, Alma comes up as the name of a Hebrew prince.
The professor said he was going to give a lecture at 4pm today on the historicity of Job. Every part of me was DYING to drive to Provo and sit in on his lecture–to which he invited all of us–but, alas, that was not practical. So instead, we headed home, ate lunch, took long naps, and cooked food. Specifically, I spent two hours doing simple standard breading and baking to three eggplants. I streamlined the process as much as I could, and yet two full hours later, there I was, still dealing with the eggplant. Perhaps the fact that I was also feeding children had something to do with that, but still. It was ridiculous. I didn’t even make the rest of the dish; instead I told Abe to fend for himself for dinner and plan on having eggplant Parmesan tomorrow.
After dinner, I got my first real burst of energy of the whole day (it happened none too early at 8 pm) and cleaned the downstairs for the arrival of my home teacher from Chicago, Brother Richardson. He is flying in for Roots Tech, which starts tomorrow. While I was cleaning away, Abe was upstairs bathing and playing with the girls. Here is a picture he took:
Mary loves, loves, loves to brush her teeth…and tongue.
I was so awake last night that I crawled in bed and talked Abe’s ear off, even though he was already unconscious and couldn’t actually form verbal responses. Then this morning rolled around…and I wished I hadn’t been so talkative last night. Nevertheless, I rolled out of bed and headed to school.
While there, I tried to conquer my fear of frying by making tempura. My fears were realized when I: sliced a knife through one of my finger nails, permanently scarred my arm from bumping a burning hot metal spider, set some towels on fire, and got splattered with hot oil. I swapped in sweet soy sauce for regular and my dipping sauce came out bland (sweet soy sauce doesn’t have the same salt content, fyi), and my tempura was pale and soggy. I was scared of taking the oil temperature, so my oil went from being so hot that the chef lectured me on fireballs that happen when oil that temperature erupts into flames…and so low (because I was appropriately scared out of my mind by that lecture) that my tempura didn’t brown or crisp. Argh. But at least now I’ve tried frying foods, and I know with certainty that I hate it.
Then Abe, Balu, and the girls met me at school so we could go straight to Sundance, where Abe and Balu skied away. Well, actually first we went to Qualtrics so Abe could pick up the ski passes (free at his new job!). I loved seeing his office and how open, friendly, and fun everything felt. It made me happy to think of Abe spending happy, productive time in that positive environment.
THEN we went to Sundance, where we dropped off Abe and Balu.
Abe doesn’t have sunglasses, so he borrowed my sparkly ones.
The girls and I then headed to the BYU museum to see the Sacred Gifts exhibit I learned about on Wednesday. We had to go through the exhibit twice at a fast clip because Mary was antsy and didn’t like it when I stopped in front of a painting. Lydia was quiet, although tired and miserable because she had wet her pants right before and we didn’t have any extra pairs on hand. After viewing the exhibit, I made a quick tour of the rest of the museum before getting back into the car and going to Abe’s grandma’s house five minutes away.
We had a terrific visit full of family history stories. Here are some pictures I took to remind me of the stories:
This is Christina, Abe’s great grandmother, who immigrated from Greece. In Greece, her father was kidnapped by the Turks for ransom. Her family was well off and paid the ransom, but the kidnappers took the money and killed her father anyway. Her mother died of a broken heart.This is the husband of Dorothea, Grandma Darais’ Swedish grandmother. His brother saved up money for a ticket to America, and he loved his brother so much that he gave the ticket to him and stayed behind to earn another ticket for himself.
This is a picture of Abe’s grandfather, Alex Darais, with a piece of art he entitled, “The Song has Ended.”The original piece, which won an award, is still in the living room. Alex fashioned a paper canary to sing in “The Song has Ended.”
Norma’s father made this for her before her third birthday. He died when she was three, and so this is a treasure to her.A photograph of Alex Darais.Alex did not like this family photo, so he had the picture redone.This was his preferred version. Abe’s dad, Tom, is the second to youngest son in the picture.A portrait of Alex by Andrea, his daughter (Abe’s aunt). Her self portrait is on the left.Lydia recited her scriptures (1 Nephi 3:7 and 2 Nephi 2:25) and the first article of faith for Norma. That made both of them happy. (Lydia’s not wearing pants because of her accident in the car. Norma lent her socks for the ride home. They came up to Lydia’s thighs!)Mary got a kiss.The girls hugged each other a lot today.They loved the real cat outside.Playing in Grandma Darais’s toys.A happy shot.
After we picked up Abe and Balu, we all went to the museum again and took turns going in so that all the adults could absorb the exhibit. Abe and I just love how enthusiastic and joyful Balu is–he appreciates everything, from nature to art to food to awesome Qualtrics prize wheels. We were so happy to spend Saturday with him!
Then we ate pizza in our already trashed car and felt sticky, greasy and gross for the car ride home.
Our water heater turned off in our absence, so I have to wait until tomorrow to shower. Since I didn’t have time this morning or yesterday, it’s starting to feel like I’ve been camping…
Today started off with a wonderful reunion with some old friends, Jan, Chelsea, and Chelsea’s kids: Olivia (3), Carter (1) and Camden (1). Her boys are fraternal twins, and I think this is the first time I’ve met them in person. It was so fun to see them again, and I started to wonder again why we aren’t moving to Provo (Chelsea lives in Orem–right next door to Provo).
After meeting up at the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum, we headed home for lunch. Olivia was a doll and listened to Lydia blab on and on about her cat while they pretended to have tea. The twins were so cute and need to be in the same room to sleep. We stuck them in Mary’s closet together and they slept beautifully. It was fun to see their different personalities, too!
I just love Jan and Chelsea, and it honestly felt like a family reunion of sorts. Here are some pictures that Jan took:
And from lunch:
Today was also sort of a soup heavy day. I made chili for lunch, and then I remembered I signed up to bring dinner to a woman in our ward, so I made lentil soup after that. During class tonight we made split pea soup and chicken waterzooi. To be perfectly frank, I am less than enthusiastic my other group member tonight, but I got to exercise…patience. I was sorely, sorely tempted to be less than kind (am giving into temptation now by writing about it on the blog), but I just kept thinking: appearance vs. reality, appearance vs. reality. Who knows what kind of hardships this person has endured? My experience of her is so minute compared to the scope of her life and intentions. That said, I am dreading next week because we have to work together for one more week. I just hope some other group members show up so the experience will be somewhat diluted.
So it was a kind of social high/low day. I loved my reunion with Jan, Chelsea, and the kids, and I kind of hated my life a little bit during class. And I just saw some big fireworks from the window as I typed. I have no idea what they were for, but I guess I’ll take that as a sign to sign off.
Oh, and here’s a photo from two days ago that was on my iPad and I never posted. Lydia pre-quiet time.
This morning I fed the girls, practiced, and took them to Institute and the library. At Institute, both girls went to nursery. They did fine until Lydia had a little run-in with a friend, and Lydia burst into tears. At the sight of Lydia in tears, Mary became inconsolable, and I could hear her soundtrack an entire floor down. But I got to attend most of Institute before that, and it was awesome. The curator of the BYU museum of art talked to us about the Carl Bloch exhibit, and I am now dying to go.
Our institute is packed, and so parking is hard. I thought I’d found a great spot today, but when I came out, I discovered a ticket! Did you know you can’t park within 20 inches of a crosswalk? I sure didn’t. I wasn’t blocking the crosswalk, but I guess that wasn’t good enough. I guess I know now.
By the time we came home, the girls had gotten a second wind, so I played with them for another hour before putting them down. Then I did my usual climb-into-bed deal for a nap and some reading. I started Good Lord Bird, and even though it is rather humorous, I already know I’m not going to finish it. Besides, it’s due tomorrow.
When the girls woke up, we ate, cooked, colored, played, read, and I sneaked in more practice (while they ate). Then Abe came home and we had a lightning fast FHE.
Since yesterday was the State of the Union, I decided to do a lesson on our president. I remember when I was a little girl, one of my greatest friends and teachers was my next door neighbor, Ruth. She was in her 90’s, and she was a wonderful listener. She also had a way of gently correcting that never felt like a reprimand but still had great sticking power. On one occasion, I remember going over and saying some negative things about Clinton to her. Ruth responded by telling me that she was from a part of Indiana where the people are called “yellow dog Democrats,” meaning if a yellow dog was on the Democratic ticket, they would vote for it. She said that once she remembered saying something bad about the Republican president, and her mother immediately replied that the presidential office is worthy of our respect and support, no matter who holds it.
I haven’t always acted on the principle Ruth taught me that day, but it’s always in the back of my mind during political conversations. Abe and I read the twelfth Article of Faith to the girls (“We believe in being asubject to bkings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in cobeying, honoring, and sustaining the dlaw“) in the hopes that they learn to respect our leaders and honoring all efforts to uphold our democratic system. In order to drive the message home, we played parachute. By now, Abe and I joke that we can relate parachute to any gospel principle; this time it was, “We should uphold our leaders just like we will uphold these objects…in the air over the blanket!”
Then I ran off to Bikram with Anique. Thank goodness she drove, because I felt so sick afterward, I don’t know how I would have made it home. The room was packed, and so maybe the extra bodies drove the temperature up. Whatever it was, I did not feel good afterward and am only now starting to feel somewhat normal.
Here are the pictures from the day:
Ever since Santa brought Lydia her cat back, Puss has played and ever more central role in Lydia’s life. She has full-blown conversations with him all day long, and he is her favorite thing to discuss with other people. Mary has picked up on this, and when Lydia is feeling sad, Mary has started bringing her her cat. This was after a sad event with a tower Lydia was building, and Mary was cheering her up.Everyone is cheered.I snapped this picture and then joined in. That left corner of the blanket needed some help!
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.
