phone call with mom – Page 7

Take your family to work day (Egg hunt #3)

Mary locked herself in my mom’s room this morning for several hours. It was very scary, but I was grateful for the assurance of the Spirit. I kept getting the feeling that it would be okay, and it did turn out okay. Our landlord came over and explained that he used to get locked in rooms all the time as a child, and his mom would pop the lock with a crochet needle. I had been trying to pop the lock with all sorts of things, but we tried a key (imagine that!) and it worked great. Mary was contentedly playing with a doll when we got her, and I was SO happy to pick her up and hug her.

Right after that, I loaded the girls in the car and we drove to Abe’s work for their Bring Your Family to Work Day. They had amazing food, a quick presentation, and an Easter egg hunt for the girls. The girls are getting to be pros at finding Easter eggs by now, and even Mary has the drill down.

Abe and the girls in the parking lot. I wish I'd gotten a closer shot because they looked so cute. Lydia talked the whole way down about how she was going to give her daddy a big hug and kiss because she missed him. After we left, she talked about how happy she was to see her daddy during the day. It was sweet. — Abe and the girls in the parking lot. I wish I’d gotten a closer shot because they looked so cute. Lydia talked the whole way down about how she was going to give her daddy a big hug and kiss because she missed him. After we left, she talked about how happy she was to see her daddy during the day. It was sweet.

I practically fell asleep driving back home, and I guess the girls were as tired as I was. When we got home, all three of us slept for three hours. Okay, okay–I woke up after an hour and a half, but then I lay on the couch reading food blogs until the girls woke up. They woke up right when Abe got home.

After Abe got home, we went on a run in the canyon. It was a lovely Spring evening, and my favorite trees are in bloom. They smell soooooooo good. When we got back, Abe ate dinner outside while the girls and I (who had already eaten) ran around the yard hunting down flowers to smell, mint to pick, and robins to watch.

I even got some practice in when we went back inside, although today I decided that I am not doing my competition. Maybe I will do one next year, but I really want to prioritize the time I have with my grandma, and there’s no way to know if I’ll be done with my round in time to make it to the reunion dinner. Also, I don’t want to pay $175 just to withdraw after the first round, so I think it makes more sense to postpone competing. When I practiced tonight, I enjoyed it so much; I was bored with my competition pieces, and so now I’m giving myself a chance to play other stuff.

Yay for a great start to the weekend!

Good people

Abe is already in bed, so this will be quick.

The most notable things about today were 1) Ina came over and watched the girls so I could do whatever I wanted for three hours. Ina is a saint. She is a woman in our ward who loves my children, and she’s been telling me for years she will babysit for free. I never want to impose, but I have been rather desperate to get to the temple, so finally I asked for her help. When she got here, I realized I’d misplaced my recommend, so I went swimming and grocery shopping instead. Ina is such a huge blessing. Abe and I have been fretting about getting to the temple more, and she was so genuine in her offer to watch the girls whenever we want that I think we will avail ourselves of her sweet help in the future. I am so touched by how much she loves my children, and I am impressed by her giving heart. I could tell she honestly just enjoyed serving, and I hope to be more like her when I grow up!

2) We had dinner with Jill, Ty, their four kids, Katie, Pat, and their three kids. Jill texted me this morning about getting together, but I have school on the other free night she suggested, so we just did it tonight. It was so fun. We forgot to take pictures, but when Abe went upstairs to gather the children, I asked him to take a quick picture first.

Also, I watched a Youtube video and decided to try a new hairstyle on Lydia:

Easter egg hunt round two

It was a packed day. First, I took the girls to the store to buy some eggs to stuff for their second Easter egg hunt of the season. Misty arranged a wonderful hunt with her play group at Ensign Peak Park. The day was sunny and clear, and the bright eggs hidden green field nestled right underneath the mountain made for a picture perfect hunt. The only down side was that the sun was so bright, I couldn’t see my phone’s screen at all, so I had to take pictures completely blindly and hope that something would come out.

Then we came home and ate lunch. After lunch, I put Mary down for a nap and then dyed Easter eggs with Lydia.

Then Mary woke up and had a snack.

Then I went to school and cooked some salads. They looked a total mess because we were in such a rush to plate them.

Pear salad with so many steps it made my head spin. Roasted pears, fanned out. Sliced raw pears. Blue cheese tart. rehydrated cherries. Port wine reduction. Bacon bits. Pear vinaigrette. Aghhhh! And that is why I ended up just throwing it all haphazardly on the plate and saying: Done.

Salads should have a liner and a garnish. My liner made my salad look like a butterfly... — Salads should have a liner and a garnish. My liner made my salad look like a butterfly…

Abe had a great day at work and we feel God’s hand operating in that arena of life. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him at all so I’m going to end this post, shower, and go to bed. Maybe if he’s still awake I can actually talk to him for more than thirty seconds!

Sunshine, a somber note, and some snores

Today I cleaned the house for two hours, and then practiced a little bit. Paige and her kids came over for a play date, during which the girls colored outside, we got attacked by ants (accidentally sat on an ant hill on the lawn), ate some food and chatted a lot. It was wonderful to be outside in the sunshine. My soul felt so nourished after that. Oh! And we practiced a musical number for church, since Paige plays the violin. We’re not going to perform until mid-summer, but practicing was fun.

Then the girls had a short nap/quiet time while I lay on my bed and finished The Triple Package. As much as I enjoyed the book (and I enjoyed it a lot), the best part of that was having my window open and feeling the spring breeze. Having an open window makes my heart go pitter-patter with delight, and right now the sounds outside my (still) open window are making me so happy.

A more somber part of our day was the viewing for Grandma Darais. We headed to Provo for the evening viewing. I did love all the pictures and momentos from her life everywhere. I thought a lot on the drive back about what makes a meaningful life. Grandma Darais couldn’t have lived a better life, but since I just read The Triple Package, I had to consider that her life was very different from the type described in my book. Obviously, there are many ways to be a successful person, and the authors themselves admit up front that they take a crass, materialistic approach to defining success. “Success” for them means wealth, prestige and power derived from hyperactive achievement-oriented types.

As I drove home, I thought about both my grandma and Abe’s grandma and then concluded that the best way to measure the difference you made in the world is to count how many people love and feel loved by you. I guess there’s not a real way to know how many people your life has changed, but what I’m trying to say is that I prefer a definition of success that takes into account things that are hard to count–like love, compassion, and forgiveness. I also think that creating a home where people love to be makes a big difference in the world. As people remember Grandma Darais, almost everyone mentions her home and how wonderful it felt to be there. I loved being there, and I only visited a couple times. But I visited my grandma’s home many, many times, and that probably made more of an impression on me than any other home I’ve ever visited. The orderliness, the food, and the peaceful flow of activities inspires me daily.

Anyway, Grandma, since Lydia has been dominating the phone conversations of late, just know I’m in the background sending you my love. I love you so much. And, of course, you too Mom! Lydia talked a lot about how much she misses you after she hung up today. You two are the very best. We love you.

Oh, here’s a picture I took of Mary. I was trying to keep her awake so she would sleep through my shopping trip in the afternoon. A Methodist church in Sandy was having a huge consignment sale, and I wanted both girls to sleep in their strollers while I shopped. No such luck. She didn’t even make it through her second lunch. I tried to get a video of her snoring, but I got distracted, so all I have is this:

Latin Cuisine and more sunshine

As usual, after class ends at 11 pm, it is a race to finish the day. Real quickly, I loved my class tonight! This was my first class in my Latin Cuisine course, and it was awesome. (My other class, which meats Mon and Tues, 6-11pm, is Garde Manger. I was actively disgusted by that class, but more on that some other time….) My team tonight made two moles, a soup, a rice dish, a pound of corn tortillas, and flan. I did the last two dishes, and the flan was almost a flop. In desperation, I cranked up the heat to 500 degrees and prayed it would set in time. It did! That was after I forgot to add the milk (to, um, flan) and had to take the little ramekins of custard out of their warm ovens and water baths, pour out the custard, and remix the custard with the milk. It was kind of harrowing.

Rose called this morning and so we took our kids to the park and then story time at the main library. She suggested a picnic afterward, but I just couldn’t bear the thought of my car accruing $1.50 every half hour in its overpriced parking spot (under the library). Moving it was enough of a hassle to make us postpone our picnic–but it really was the most beautiful day, and I doubt we’ll ever have more lovely weather than we did today.

Tom stopped by in the afternoon and watched the girls so I could practice my accompaniment for the funeral. I have pictures here:

As usual, Abe had a great day at work. He is overwhelmed by all he has to learn, but he can’t think of a single thing he’d change. His boss pulled him aside and told him the commute was a real concern, but we still don’t feel good about moving, even though we check that feeling pretty regularly.

It was a great day, and we are excited for tomorrow to be Friday!

A perfect Spring day

Really, it was. This day felt perfect. Having sunshine made all the difference! Even though Abe and I anticipated being zombies because we got so little sleep last night, both of us had great days. We credit God and the sunshine for that. That the girls were really quite adorable all day long helped too.

I got in: a walk to the library, baby book club with Misty, a nap, reading more in The Triple Package, a lot of homework, some ironing, a long walk with Abe and the girls, Bikram yoga, cooking a veggie phyllo roll, picking up the house, doing laundry, folding some laundry, feeding the girls three meals, setting the girls up to craft and watercolor, reading to the girls, a couple phone calls with my mom and grandma and even forty minutes of piano practice. It was an abnormally productive day. As my dad used to say, “variety is the spice of life!” This day had spice.

On the Abe front, he had another tremendous day at work. He raved to me almost the whole walk about how blessed he feels and how there is literally not one part of his day that he dreads. He looks forward to every task at work, and great stuff is basically falling into his lap for no reason other than that God must be looking out for him. Obviously, he’s doing his part, but he can not remember a time in his life where he has felt so abundantly blessed by an outpouring of God’s love.

The girls are cute. Mary said “Nana” to my mom on the phone today, and Lydia is very concerned about my grandma’s health. She kept asking how Grandma was feeling and doing. Here are some pictures Abe took of the girls while I was at yoga:

Packed

I am at the climax of my book, The Family, by David Laskin, and I really want to get back to it. So here’s the run-down of today:

We started off by crafting all morning with Jen and her kids. I had a lot of fun chatting with Jen and making another Spring decoration, and Lydia loved wearing Natalie’s princess attire. Mary loved playing with Jen’s baby-proof iPad. We were going to go to Institute, but we missed it because paint takes a bit of time to dry.

Then we came home for lunch and naps. I spent the first hour and a half of quiet time devouring my book, and then I headed downstairs to clean and cook. Also, the piano tuner came today! I switched to a new tuner, and he did an amazing job. I loved chatting with our old piano tuner. He’d tell me stories and tear up quite regularly. He was a lovely, sweet older gentleman, but I wasn’t totally convinced that he was completely competent at tuning the piano. This new guy is amazing, and even though we didn’t sit around for hours chatting and crying (a la our old tuner, Doug,) he absolutely fixed the piano. I’m excited to practice tomorrow.

Then Jen came over for dinner with Natalie. One of her twins got really sick right before they were supposed to come over, so the boys stayed home with Eldon, but we had a ton of fun with Jen and Natalie. Jen regaled us with tales about the Samoan physique (Eldon is Samoan), and Abe and I came to the conclusion that she married a super hero. After one day of weight-lifting, her husband gets bruises on his back because the muscle has already grown that fast! She told us other stories that had our jaws dropping. I guess I never really thought much about the Samoan build before, but I am duly impressed by now.

Lydia told us that she spent the evening tumbling and climbing and giggling with Natalie, but she fell off a chair right at the end and had a little sad moment. We played a bit on the stairs, and I think she ended the evening feeling pretty good.

Abe had a great day at work, but he’s a little overwhelmed with his new job duties. This is his first week in his new position, and there is a ton of information to absorb. Qualtrics has a “clinic”; really just a red psychiatrist’s couch set up by the tech experts. Whenever the salesmen have technical questions with clients on the phone, they go sit on the red couch and get help. Abe visited the clinic several times today.

Right now he’s on a run past down town to retrieve our car from the auto shop. It’s been ready all week, but we never have time to go get it together. So tonight he just decided to run on foot and get it. Oh! There he is! I have to end if I want time to read my book.

Here are some pictures I took of Mary after she woke up. We played for a long time after she woke up from her nap because she was in a great mood. I tried to capture her fun on camera but failed miserably. She loved emptying her pack ‘n’ play of all contents and I kept putting her stuff back in to keep her going. We also played a lot with her binky. She’s only allowed to have it at nap time, and she thinks it is hilarious fun when I put her binky in my mouth. I put in two at a time and then blew them over her crib, and she about died laughing. I have a video somewhere of Abe playing that game with Lydia to the same effect.

Anyway, here are the pictures, such as they are. Mary was a lot cuter in person.

Some big tantrums and FHE at Temple Square

This morning was such a whirlwind that I did not get a single picture in. Sorry, Grandma! As soon as the girls woke up, it was a race to get them dressed and fed so that we could make it to our visiting teaching appointment with Marilyn. Thankfully, Jen was in the same boat so we arrived at about the same time (an hour late). Marilyn, as usual, was a joy to visit, although we are praying for her health. Mom, feel free to include her in your prayers.

Then we went to Jump Around Utah to meet up with our play group. I’m glad I know what it is, but I do not think I will ever go again. It was so packed with screaming kids who just mowed down all the littler kids in their paths. It was incredibly stressful for everyone, and by the end I was sweating and panicky and Lydia had the worst public tantrum she has ever had in her life. For the rest of the day she kept telling me that she was sad because her experience at Jump Around Utah was so frustrating. I was just glad we all left without injury; at one point, Mary got flipped on the big bouncing thing in the middle and landed in a really painful looking position.

I came home, fed the girls, put Mary down, and tried to cheer Lydia up with hot cocoa and a ton of snuggling and reading.

After Abe came home, we headed out to Temple Square with Balu for FHE. We took a tour of the Conference Center. I have a whole new appreciation for the Arnold Friberg Book of Mormon gallery after seeing the Arnold Friber exhibit a couple months ago. The choir was rehearsing while we were there, so we got to sneak in a little observation too. The tour was great preparation for General Conference, and we’re hoping the tour will contextualize conference for the girls. Then we went to the Lion House for dinner. Brother Richardson left us a gift card the last time he was here, and it came in handy tonight! We had a lot of fun, and we left the square with Lydia sitting on Abe’s shoulders making up songs about flowers and Spring. In spite of all the other tantrums and meltdowns today (and they seemed to follow each other in rapid succession without much interruption), FHE was a success.

Then I did some grocery shopping and by the time we came home, the girls were exhausted. One more giant tantrum issued forth from our eldest daughter, and then she fell asleep. It’s been peaceful ever since. Here’s to a more peaceful tomorrow!

Mary gets to be an only child for an evening.

Mary’s old enough to go to nursery in church now! Theoretically, this means Abe and I could drop her off and focus on our meetings. However, Mary is very, very, very sad whenever we leave her in nursery by herself, so we’re taking turns staying in nursery with Mary. Last week I stayed, and this week Abe did. He took photos of her on his phone while he was watching her:

While I never recall Lydia hitting any child other than Mary, Mary is different. She’s been hit and pushed and grabbed from all of her little life (thanks to Lydia), so she is a little more aggressive in nursery. When some other child took one of her toys today, she had no problem bonking him in the head several times. Lydia would have just run to me and cried. I guess they’re all different.

This evening Suzanne came over and took Lydia to the Miners’ party. We were feeling tired and under the weather, so Abe and I stayed home with Mary. She got more attention this evening than she ever has. In fact, she’s so excited about all the attention she got that she can’t currently get to sleep and is standing next to me watching me type. We have a ton of pictures of her from our evening together.

And then Suzanne brought Lydia and two balloons home! The girls had fun with those.

This is what happened when we took Mary's balloon away before bed. — This is what happened when we took Mary’s balloon away before bed.

The sky was a beautiful color, and we tried to capture it through the girls' window. — The sky was a beautiful color, and we tried to capture it through the girls’ window.

Mary is really trying hard to climb into my lap and type, so I think I’ll sign off and pay attention to my baby.

Ambition morphs into a long, long nap

I had big plans when Saturday morning dawned: hiking Ensign Peak! Biking up the canyon!! Using our improved insurance to buy new glasses for Abe!!!

…And one three and a half hour nap later, we did none of that. Well, almost none. We tried to buy Abe new glasses, but insurance only covers $100, and glasses are more expensive than that. So we headed to the grocery store, bought groceries instead, and headed home to hibernate.

Afterward, I went to Women’s Conference. Our stake had a dinner first. I have a lot of social anxiety in big groups, so stuff like that is hard for me. But I powered through, even though I had to fight an active urge to get up and leave about every five minutes. As soon as the closing prayer ended, I grabbed my coat and practically ran to the car.

Abe just said, “Oh my heck.” For the record, he never used to say that, but working in Provo with a bunch of other LDS young dads has changed his linguistic patterns. I asked him to please revert back to his old verbal habits.

On the other hand, one of his coworkers told him that the work he was doing was “BA.” Abe was really confused and asked him if he was talking about “Bachelor of Arts,” and his coworker thought that was hilarious. Now whenever Abe does anything of note, his coworker tells him he’s “Bachelor of Arts.”

What a hodge podge post. Here are the pictures we took today: