Yesterday my Fitbit died in the middle of the day, right before I was about to hit 10,000 steps! I worked so hard at that, and I kept working all day (unaware that my Fitbit had died), so I was very disappointed to learn that none of my effort was recorded.
This morning I decided to try for 10,000 steps again, so I packed the girls in the jogger and walked (with the occasional jog) to Misty’s house. Her house is on the other side of the canyon and at an entirely different elevation, so the walk helped me meet my goal. Hooray!
Before we left, Mary discovered all the flowers Ron and Shirl left in the back. She was delighted.It was overcast in the canyon.
Once we got to Misty’s house, the girls had a fun play date. I always love visiting with Misty, so everyone leaves happy.
Misty has a trampoline. The girls had so much fun.
Mary and Max, my favorite couple.
Lydia and Sophia took turns pushing the car, and Mary stayed on permanently as the driver.Mary was sound asleep by the time we got back.
After I got home, I put Mary down for a nap and read books with Lydia until Ina came over to babysit the girls. She is our family’s angel; not only does she babysit for free, but she honestly loves our girls to pieces, and we know they’re in great hands. I went to yoga and did grocery shopping, and by the time I got back, it was time to make dinner. Ina took the girls to her house to play with her animals while I cooked, and then she returned right before Abe came home.
Ina gave the girls “capes” and they ran around saying, “supergirl!” the whole time. Well, Mary said, “Super gah!”Eating dinner.
Because we got to bed at such a wonderfully reasonable time last night, I didn’t mind waking up at 5:15 to go running. I ran around the track behind Ensign Elementary School, and from the track there’s a gorgeous view of the entire Salt Lake Valley. While I was running, the sun rose over the mountains, and, well, it was thrilling.
Then I came home and got ready for the day. The girls have been sleeping in lately, which generally is wonderful, except when we have places to go. Today we rushed breakfast so we could make it to story time at the library.
Another reason we are late everywhere. The girls get distracted en route to the car (a thirty second walk).Lydia was really excited that Mary has teeth. Mary has had teeth for a while, but I guess Lydia didn’t notice until today.On the way to the library, Lydia loves to push Mary in the stroller.Story time at the library. Today the kids all got bee hats (today we had an insect theme) and mini kazoos!
On the way to the library, we met an artist headed to the Salt Lake Arts Festival. She makes purses, and her purses were so beautiful that I decided to drive to my school to pick up some free tickets. (I volunteered at a catering event a while back, and all the volunteers got tickets as a thank-you.) Since we were already in Draper, we headed to Ikea for lunch.
Ikea smile.Ikea frozen yogurt. We made a mess on the window…
After Ikea we went to the post office to pick up Abe’s birthday present to me–a replacement iPod for the one we lost over a year ago. Then I did a couple more errands before heading home.While Mary napped, I called all the babysitters we know until Abe’s cousin turned out to be free. I have an unlimited yoga pass this month, so I woke Mary from her nap, dropped the girls off at Abe’s cousin’s house and headed to yoga.
Then we came home and got ready to go to the Arts Festival.
These are the purses that convinced me to add a three hour errand to the day in order to get my free tickets to the arts festival. I just read a talk this morning on materialism, and the phrase “We need to recognize when we have enough” ran through my mind while I was looking at these. I don’t need more than one purse, but if I had unlimited resources AND hadn’t read that talk this morning, I might have gotten one. They were so pretty.The arts festival.
We got to hear Rhapsody in Blue at the festival. Mary squirmed a lot.At the end of the festival. We left just as it was starting to rain again.
All in all, it was another busybusybusy day. I’m hoping for a slower pace tomorrow!
I took a million pictures today because it felt like we did a million things. The girls took a bubble bath first thing because I knew Lydia was going to ballet today, and I wanted her hair tight and out of her face. Also, the girls smelled. I didn’t get pictures of the bath because I didn’t want them to drown while I ran for my camera.
Instead, I took pictures of them on our way to the gym:
Before we left the house, we said a prayer and then practiced our prayer poses. The girls have been completely irreverent lately and just run around playing during prayers, so I decided we needed practice. Posing for the camera always incentivizes them.I spent almost two hours at the gym today, and the girls were great! They made these hats in the child care with Bailey. She’s so sweet–she bought them snacks with her own money today. I didn’t realize we could bring snacks (what about the other kids??), so I tried to feed them before dropping them off. Unfortunately, my kids eat frequently, so that wasn’t enough.Lydia was shy and only wanted to go in if she could hold Ada’s hand. She spent most of the class following Ada around. The rest of the time she was sitting on the floor in her own little world while everyone else danced.Lydia in ballet with AdaOn our way to the library, the girls found some great seed pods on the ground.
Mary wanted to be part of Abe’s puppet show for FHE. We did a lesson on how God’s house is a house of order, had a puppet show wherein the puppets learned to clean up, and then we spent the rest of the evening cleaning.She really, really wanted to be in the puppet show.Lydia was content to watch.This is a motion shot. I thought Abe had brushed it out when I saw the picture, but he said this happened naturally when she was coming down the stairs.
But it’s dramatic without Abe’s help.
This morning I resolved to photograph every activity of the day, but alas, I failed in my resolve. Lydia and I baked banana bread before ballet, and it was so messy there was no way a camera could have gotten safely involved.
Also, Abe is in the shower enthusiastically singing “Accidents happen” from Elmo’s World. Parenting does things to you.
This morning, after I visit taught Marilyn, we went to play group at Red Butte Gardens.
racing to the three bears’ houseLydia and Brooke pushed their sisters, Mary and Annie, all around on their strollers. Annie and Mary are just weeks apart. It was pretty cute.
feeding the ducksTinah posing. Doesn’t she look like Fancy Nancy?
After naps, we spent the afternoon doing errands. I promised my friend, Rose, I would find her a sushi mat–but they were nowhere to be found! I ended up being late to my Primary meeting (I just got called Sunday as first counselor in the Primary) with no sushi mat for Rose. (There was a sushi class in the gym at the same time as my meeting.) It all worked out, though, because the teachers brought sushi mats for everyone. Where they got them, I have no idea. Maybe the bought out all the Salt Lake stores and that’s why I couldn’t find any mats. At any rate, I ended up with a free sushi mat, and the Primary presidency is very laid back. No one cared that I was late–phew!
Also, mom, aren’t you the first counselor in your Primary? I can’t believe I haven’t talked to you since Sunday. We’ll have to chat tomorrow.
Another also: Mary learned how to climb out of her crib today. It’s actually kind of nice, because instead of crying until I come get her, she just climbs out and entertains herself. On the other hand, trying to get her to bed was a nightmare…Lydia came out at one point crying, “Mom, I have an idea! I have an idea! Let’s put a door on top of Mary’s crib! And if she still climbs out, we can put lots of doors!!”
A third “also”: I have pictures from the weekend that I am just posting now:
Cadence and Lydia going to church together.I am holding the door (and holding Mary like a sack of potatoes).
Here are the pictures Abe took while I was in my meeting:
I got up at 5:10 so I could pick up the babysitter and get to yoga in time. After that, I got the kids ready and took them to the Aviary to meet up with Jen, El, Spencer, Laddie, and Natalie. The children were so cute and excited to see the birds–and more ducks, of course!
I came home exhausted and lay in bed for a while surfing the internet. One of the blogs I read annoyed me, and I made a rather nasty comment to the author (who I do not know). After I did that, I felt so terrible, and actually I’ve felt bad all day. I did send the author a heartfelt apology, and she was very nice about it. I felt grateful for human forgiveness today, although I’ve also felt terrible all day long that I did something that hurtful to such a nice person.
On the bright side, Abe and I are in love with our Hyde Park tenants. They are the nicest people, and Abe has been raving all day about his conversation with them. They are an older couple who are living there for the summer to be close to a new grandchild, and they are so sweet. They actually thanked us for the opportunity to fix up our condo. Abe couldn’t believe his ears. In fact, he’s talking about how much he loves them as I type.
After I had somewhat recovered from my bad behavior and its aftermath, I loaded the kids up and headed to Provo. Abe’s work team had a dinner at his boss’s house, and I really enjoyed meeting his coworkers.
I practically fell asleep driving home, and I cancelled the babysitter for tomorrow morning. I think I might sleep in…
Aside from taking my girls to story time at the library and then going to the gym for a swim, I literally cleaned all day long. Well, I took a forty-five minute break to play the piano, and I fed the kids a couple times, but other than that, all I did today was clean (and bake cookies). I don’t think the house has ever been this clean, and I feel so happy! The only thing I wish I’d done is mop all the floors, but at least they’re all swept or vacuumed.
I have another final project to do tomorrow, and there’s nothing I hate more than doing school work in the middle of a mess. I anticipate highly enjoying my project tomorrow thanks to today’s efforts.
And, best of all, my friend Candace is coming in tonight and will stay the weekend with us! She got a mini-pass to the Alt Summit to hear Martha Stewart present. I was supposed to buy a pass and go too, but I never had my wallet with me when I was at the computer, and by the time I finally got around to it, the event was sold out. I was bummed. But at least the good news is that, as I mentioned before, I have a final project (and a final exam) tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I would fail both if I were going to see Martha too.
Here are today’s pictures:
The girls woke up and wanted to build a nest for themselves in their princess tent. They had a blast.I told Mary to say “Hi Mommy!” She opens her mouth pretty wide when she says “hi”.The girls were really affectionate with each other this morning.
Oops! (A tumble.)We have gotten our money’s worth out of this dress. Lydia wears it at every opportunity.
Mary makes life pretty easy for everyone by putting herself in voluntary time-outs so she can have her binkies. She’s only allowed to have them in her pack-n-play, so she spends a lot of time like this.
Also, I’m linking to my favorite Christian song of late. It’s called “Build Your Kingdom Here,” and this is what got me on the Christian rock kick.
I went to the gym today, and Mary stayed in the child care the whole time! I can’t say how liberating that is–I can actually work out now! It’s an option!
Other than that, it was a rainy day so we stayed inside a lot. I had a lot of work to do for school because tonight was the last night for Garde Manger. All we did was clean the kitchen, but I had a bunch of stuff due.
Abe had fun with the girls tonight. Lydia has been an angel these past couple days, and we can’t get over how easy and delightful she’s been. This morning she got dressed, brushed her teeth, used the potty and washed her hands all by herself–without me asking! I couldn’t believe it. She’d actually gotten half way through that routine before I woke up, so she woke me by saying, “Mommy! I got dressed all by myself and now I’m going to go brush my teeth and use the potty!” I was both dumbfounded and delighted.
Lydia and Mary got in a hug fest while Abe was watching them, so he ran to get the camera. By the time he got back, Mary wanted out, but Lydia wanted to keep posing for the camera. The following pictures document Mary’s attempt to escape Lydia’s death-grip pose:
In other news, it was really cold today–and it snowed in the mountains! The sky was unbelievably beautiful; I almost drove off the road on my way home because it was so distracting. I didn’t take a picture, but I thought it was notable enough to mention. There was even a full rainbow at one point. I missed Lake Michigan when I first moved here, but the Utah sky feels like it performs a similar function in my life as the lake did in Illinois.
Today was pretty uneventful. Abe and I were even more exhausted than usual, and neither of us has any idea why. At least, I don’t know why I am so exhausted–I get plenty of down time these days, and I definitely sleep more than Abe.
This morning I gave the girls a bath, and aside from doing their hair, feeding them, playing with them, and reading to them, I really didn’t do much else. I had big plans to go work out, but a big nap edged those out…
Lydia loved making Mary’s hair white with bubbles.
Then at school tonight my class made a fruit platter:
We got out hours early, which was especially nice since I had made myself practically sick from gorging on fruit and dip. I came home and had a long chat with Abe. Usually we just have five minutes of interaction on my school days, so it was nice to talk so much–it felt like a luxury.
I honestly don’t know too much about Lily’s day because I only saw her for a couple of minutes. My day went really well at work and I may even close some deals this quarter that I did not expect to.
At home, I enjoyed the beautiful June weather with the girls over dinner and then we painted and colored. Lily had one of her last classes tonight for Latin cooking. She absolutely loved her group tonight and her cake turned out fantastic. The other food pictures are from her team.
Lydia begged me to have a play date with Sophia today, and since Misty’s play group was having a picnic at noon, it worked out. Mary loves Sophia too, and after the play date on the way to the library she kept saying, “Mama, Fia!!” (“Mama, I saw Sophia today!”) They had fun.
Then I had my final for Garde Manger tonight. It was stressful because I was running late, but I managed to turn everything out, and the chef really liked it!
I made the tuna tartare canapes on the silver tray in front.One of my beet salads.This was my sample plate for the chef. It looks sloppy, but I was running late because I was the only person who had to make forcemeat yesterday (I was gone when everyone else did that), so I got behind in my prep work. That’s what my final chicken galantine looked like when sliced. There are also the two tuna tatare toasts, and some breakfast sausage. The sauce is a balsamic vinaigrette that I dipped my beets in.Six of us made this food in an hour and a half. Well, we prepped yesterday, but still–it felt like a ton of work!
Finally, I thought I would include pictures I forgot to post Saturday. While I made my practice galantine Saturday, I thought I’d take pictures to show how gross the process is:
This is what sausage looks like before it’s cooked. Feel free to swear it off forever. We spread this nastiness on a chicken skin, throw internal garnishes in, roll it up, poach it, and then try to fry the sliminess away.Chicken Galantine–who knew disgusting could reach such heights?
