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:
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!!”
It’s late because we had a long night out with family and fireworks, so just pictures today. Abe has to get up at 5:45 am to take the train! Oh, I guess I should mention that he took the train today and realized the Provo bus was cancelled because today is Pioneer Day (a Utah state holiday, potentially bigger than July 4 here). He walked six miles to work. And then at the end he forded a river because he couldn’t find a bridge. Balu pointed out Abe had his own little Pioneer Day trek!
This morning the girls woke up early, so we raced down to the church for the Pioneer Day breakfast.
Pioneer Day breakfast at church.
Then we went to the parade:
Missionaries holding up the world. =)
Waving to the parade.
President Monson!
Isabella babysat the girls this afternoon so I could go swimming. Then I came home, made a salad, and headed over (with Abe and Balu) to the Miners’ family gathering for dinner and fireworks.
Making ice creamPre-fireworks. Once those started, she was pretty scared and not quite this happy.
On the way home, we parked by a hill and watched the Liberty Park fireworks and were blown away. They were definitely better than the 4th of July fireworks, and we thought those were pretty good! Well, it is Pioneer Day. In Utah. Light the sky on fire! (I can see and hear sooooooo many fireworks as I type…)
Hi, it’s me, Abe. Lily’s new cooking school semester started so she is there tonight. I do miss her when she is gone, but on the bright side, it is only twice per week this semester (if you count Saturday’s competition team), and also I get tons of joy envisioning Lily doing something she loves so much. I also have become a little more of a foodie since she started and I find myself genuinely interested in what she is cooking at what things she is learning. What fun! I didn’t talk to Lily much today, but I know that she went to the gym, had a play date with Misty and did homework…..I wish I knew more!
As far as my day, I was blessed to have one of the best work days I think I have ever had in my entire life. Everything today seemed to turn my way. Today I learned that I will get credit and commission for a deal that another salesman closed, because he quit and left, and the business got passed to me. I also had an amazing meeting that could very well turn into a deal that was passed to me by a friend who was in a different region. I also had another fantastic meeting that seems very promising. I’m now feeling like I’m poised to have a very good quarter. I know God led me to Qualtrics, and today felt like evidence as to why He led me to start my career over at an entry level position at Qualtrics. It was amazing and fun.
But that isn’t all. During work, one of my friends informed me that for all residents living in Salt Lake proper (not Sandy, West Valley, North Salt Lake etc) there is a HUGE discount for the Frontrunner train to Orem and Provo. I’ve thought about taking the train many times, but I just haven’t had quite the incentive to switch. Well, with this new discount, I will save about $2000 per year in gas money. Also, we wont need to save up to buy a new car soon since the commute was wearing our cars down so fast. Also, the train has wireless internet, so I can be productive. I was so excited. After meeting Lily at school and picking up the girls, I went straight to the Sorenson Unity Center and bought my pass. Hooray!
Which reminds me….the train does take longer, meaning my new wake time is 5:30 AM. It’s 10:30 now. I better sleep!
We had a rough start to the day because we were up almost all night last night. Mary woke up because of all the commotion in her unairconditioned room (Harley was scared of the air conditioner) and proceeded to spend the rest of the night wide awake in bed with me. She can’t sleep when she’s hot.
This morning I didn’t realize Lydia’s ballet class started at 9:30 and she missed it. That was also sad.
Dancing before we realized my timing error.
We ended up just taking the kids to the park since my house was getting completely destroyed with four kids here. I wish I weren’t so up tight! But it’s honestly so hard for me to watch everything I JUST cleaned get dirty, not to mention furniture get outright abused. I also thought the incessant whining going on would drive me out of my mind, and my only shot at sanity was getting some air. Maybe I was a little edgy because of the sleepless night, too.
Yes, I wore that yesterday and slept in it. I would still be wearing it and might wake up dressed for church tomorrow if I hadn’t gotten chocolate all over it at dinner. Darn. Usually my same-outfit-three/four-days-in-a-row streaks happen in the winter, but I guess they’re starting to occur in other seasons now.
I fervently wish I were a better person. I’ve spent the whole day feeling sure that I’m exactly like Laman and Lemuel. When Abe tried to protest, I pointed out that Laman and Lemuel actually made the journey to the Promised Land, but they murmured and complained the whole way there. I might be executing deeds that seem good, but sometimes my heart and my mouth are sooooo not there. At this point, I wish I were a murmurer–that would be so much better than a LOUD complainer. See? I’m still complaining, and the ordeal ended ten hours ago.
After we dropped the kids off at noon, I came home and called my mom. Mom, you’re the best listener. Thank-you for listening to me vent.
We then proceeded to take a looooooooooong nap. Mary slept four hours, Abe slept three, and I slept almost two.
Lydia did not sleep. She spent the whole time playing pretend by herself. Here she is in her Elsa cape. Ever since I gave her that cape and she realized Elsa’s clothing items are on the market, she has been asking God in her prayers for everything else Elsa wears. For good measure, she’s also repeatedly requested I write Santa a letter with the same request.
I then did a project that’s due today for my online nutrition class. When that was in, we piled into the car to go swimming.
After swimming. Lydia is wearing a skirt of Mary’s because her 3T shorts actually fell off at the playground. Abe turned around and there was Lydia, standing bewildered in her neon green undies. Maybe she’ll fill out and be able to wear them by next summer…but if she can still fit in Mary’s clothes (and Mary is teensy weensy), I’m not holding out much hope.
After swimming, we used a Groupon I had to go get Thai food.
On the way to Thai.
Then we came back home to our destroyed house. After putting the girls down, Abe and I just lay in the rubble for a while contemplating all the work we need to do to clean up. I’m blogging instead of cleaning. Maybe my time has come…
Just one more picture, though. Mary has a cat named Twinkie, but she calls it “Pinky Winky.” Here she is with Twinkie-Pinky-Winky.
Mom and Grandma, I’m sorry that this is so short and doesn’t include the pictures we talked about on the phone today. We are babysitting some children who haven’t seen their mom since Wednesday, and it has been a little crazy. The poor little girl basically moaned “I want my mommy” over and over again until she finally fell asleep at midnight. Abe and I tried to comfort her, but to no avail. Lydia is currently awake because they’re all sleeping in the same room. I’m contemplating how I can sneak their window open since the air conditioner scared Harley (the little girl), so I had to turn it off.
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!
This morning I hustled the girls through breakfast and out the door so we could pick up Rose, Tainah and Seve. We headed to the Aviary for a quick, early morning bird watch.
Feeding the ducks, a favorite activity of each child involved.
Then we raced to pick up Kate, a babysitter, so I could make it to yoga. We were late, though, so I missed yoga. I consoled myself by swimming at my favorite outdoor pool in Salt Lake. It was glorious. One of my favorite parts was this older gentleman who swam in my lane (it was a larger end lane) with his head out of water and his eyes closed. He swerved all over, and I almost bumped into him a couple of times. He was darling.
I took a fifteen minute break after my swim to lie in the sun and look at the mountains. The pool feels like it’s right under the mountains, and I felt so happy. I prayed a lot, although I kept losing focus because the sunshine and mountains were beautiful and distracting. I ended up with a sunburn.
Then I picked Isabella up and dropped Kate off. I ate a hurried lunch with Mary and left the girls with Isabella so I could go to my first dentist appointment in two years. Affordable babysitting has changed my life.
After the appointment, I raced home again to pick Lydia up. We have been losing so much stuff in the Darais household. So far we’re missing: two sets of house AND car keys, my phone, and Lydia’s ballet clothes. I couldn’t find the clothes anywhere, so with twenty minutes to go before her lesson, we dashed to Target, bought new clothes, arrived at the studio, changed Lydia into her new clothes, and ran to her class–two minutes late.
They make it hard to see the kids so the parents won’t gawk and distract the kids. I gawk anyway (through the blinds). Lydia’s the only one in a black leotard.
Lydia followed directions better this time, but she reminds me so much of myself. I feel like I spend a lot of life feeling like I have no idea what’s going on. That’s basically Lydia in ballet, most of the time. The teacher had to give her special instructions at several points because even though she tries to pay attention, she day dreams and gets distracted. As I watch her, I feel so much empathy. I remember when I was in marching band and the band leader called me out for marching my own routine in the middle of half-time. I guess spacing out runs in the family.
Then we came home, cooked and ate dinner, bought a fridge for our Chicago condo, and went to Gourmandise for treats (I had another Groupon). The total for our treats was $17.77, and the cashier pointed out that this was a very patriotic total! Then we went to the park to play and eat our treats.
Treats.
Mary’s chocolate meringue is bigger than her head. She dropped it in the street at the end of the outing and was quite distressed.
Mary took her cookie everywhere with her–even down the slide.
She was so dizzy afterward. Her eyes kept going back and forth, and she fell down no less than three times. Abe and I about died laughing.
Throwing seed pods.
The house next to the park. This is the childhood home of Richard L. Evans, apostle and founder of Music and the Spoken Word. I loooooooove this house. Every time we play in the park, I peer over the hedges into the side windows–and the side of this house is even more charming than the front, but I haven’t figured out how to photography it with the hedge in the way.
Tomorrow I leave for yoga at 8:30, which means that bedtime should be…now.
This morning Isabella came over so I could go swimming, and then we all went to Jump Around Utah to celebrate Sophia’s birthday.
They had more fun on this slide than anything. Oh, the irony.Mary headed to rescue her friends from the “hurricane room.”Bounce.Isabella and Mary did this slide over and over again.Whenever they slid to the bottom, Mary would cry, “GAIN!!!” (Again!).My favorite male one year old.
After that, I fed the girls and then Kate, another new babysitter, came over while I went to yoga. I have been an absent mom lately. But my unlimited yoga pass expires in a month! I still feel guilty, though. Anyway, after yoga, I came back, showered, and cooked dinner.
Eating dinner.
Afterward, the girls played a bit before I headed off to my Primary meeting. They look bedraggled because I haven’t done anything to their hair since yesterday morning.
Lydia exclaiming, “Guys, it’s beautiful out here today!” This is after only one day of not doing her hair.
Here’s how clean and tidy they looked yesterday morning:
But tonight I was literally scrubbing grime off of Lydia’s face in her bath. It’s amazing how dirty kids can get is such a short period of time–and we went swimming yesterday, too! That grime basically accumulated all today.
While I was at my meeting, Abe took the girls on a walk to the park.
Lydia’s natural expression. Mary’s natural expression.Natural expressions part 2.Natural expressions part 3.
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.
