This morning was pretty low-key: cleaning, reading, lounging, playing with kids, feeding kids, etc.
Isabella came over at 2 pm so I could go to yoga. By the time I came home, it was time to make dinner. I tried my new pressure cooker today and it worked! I read the manual yesterday and couldn’t find it today, so I kept hoping I wouldn’t accidentally blow the house up. When I turned the knob to “release pressure,” the sound was so startling that Mary screamed and we all ran out of the kitchen. That might take some getting used to.
Then we met up with our friends, the Skardas, and headed up to a campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon to make s’mores.
I literally ate so many that I still have a stomachache. Carrie had the great idea of sandwiching the marshmallows between chocolate coated cookies. It was delicious.
Once again, the girls were too tired for a proper bed routine. I will tell Lydia to brush her teeth for five straight minutes tomorrow morning…
Today was my brother’s birthday! Happy birthday, Clark! We’re so excited to celebrate the last year of your twenties with you in New York!
It was also a very busy day here at the Darais household. This morning I took the girls on a walk/run to the park.
The view as I ran. (There was a lot of uphill going on, and I was more than happy to stop and take a picture.)Lydia picked a flower.Mary cooked me food.
After that, I took the girls home for lunch and naps.
Lydia said, “Mommy, take a picture of my tortilla!” …So I did. I think she’s used to me whipping out my camera for any little thing, and in this instance she simply beat me to it. Of course I wanted a picture of her microwaved tortilla–my culinary school skills at work!
Then we went to a fun pool in Bountiful with our friends Rose, Taina and Sev.
I locked my phone in the locker room so it wouldn’t get stolen, but I took one picture before I did that. There was a giant pirate ship in the pool, and here are the girls gearing up to be pirates.
We didn’t even have time to eat dinner by the time we got home. Abe and I simply packed the girls in the jogger, attached it to a bike and took off for the canyon. We got in five miles before the light gave out.
Their “dinner.” I am hoping Lydia doesn’t wake in the middle of the night begging for food because she’s hungry…
Today, of course, we went to church. During Sacrament Lydia got a time out for misbehaving. Abe took this during her time out:
No wonder threatening time out isn’t effective.
Then we came home.
Lydia played on the couch before I headed straight back to church to wait for my temple recommend interview.
Abe and I took turns going back to church to wait an hour each for our recommend interviews. There was a long line today, but Abe and I both came away independently impressed by the cheerful attitude of one young, newlywed couple who were waiting in line with us. Everybody else (including me) was inclined to grumble a little about how long certain interviews were taking (the one that got me going took 45 minutes, and there were six other people in line in front of me), but this one couple was nothing but smiles and cheerfulness. When Abe came home he said, “Honey, I met the coolest couple today!”
“Let me guess,” I said. “Was the wife Columbian? Do they ballroom dance? Did they meet at BYU?”
“How did you know?” he exclaimed.
I explained that they were waiting in line while I was there, too. I spent the whole drive back contemplating how I could be more cheerful like them. I’m grateful for the influence of inspiring, good people.
Then we came home and got home taught. It’s also my mom’s birthday today, so after our home teachers left we called my mom to wish her happy birthday. Happy birthday, Mother Dear!
Abe took the girls on a walk to visit his home teachees, and I stayed home and cooked dinner.
At the Copinga’s house. The girls played on their swing set. They both kept saying, “Higher! Higher!!!”Lydia rested on their bench.
We had Jessica Felix and her daughter, Harley, over for dinner tonight. Speaking of the influence of good people, her example inspired us to no end. She was so cheerful as she told us her story. She’s been through unimaginable hardships, and right now Abe and I gathered that she is the current victim of terrible racial profiling–but she didn’t complain at all. Instead, she just cheerfully talked about her determination to press forward and make life better for her and her kids. She was baptized last Saturday and has this incredible enthusiasm for the gospel. By the time she left, Abe and I were in awe.
After she left, we cleaned, put the girls down, and called my mom again to check up on how her birthday concluded. It was a full, great Sunday.
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.
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.
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…
Sorry to have been out of commission for so long! Friday was my birthday, and it was so fun-packed that I didn’t have any energy to blog by the end. The girls were so sweet to me all day. Lydia kept wishing me happy birthday and let me sleep in as a birthday present. I asked her if she could entertain herself so I could sleep longer on my birthday–selfish, I know, but she was so sweet! She went potty, brushed her teeth, and played quietly while I slept an extra hour. Mary also kept saying, “Happy! Happy!” to me all day long. That’s how she says “happy birthday.”
Lydia wanted to help Mary get dressed in the morning. Mary appreciated the help.Lydia and I baked this on my birthday.Mary spotted the cake upon awaking from her nap, and she refused to eat anything else.
Abe and I used a groupon to go to Cucina Toscana for dinner, and it was wonderful. Suzanne was an angel and baby-sat for us all evening. We were so grateful!
beef carpaccio.house made gnocchi in a stupendous tomato sauce, and a mind-blowing spinach lemon ravioli and a mornay sauce.a truly terrific Cesear.Sea bass with calms and shrimp.duck with macerated figs and spinach
On Saturday, I got up at 5:30 so I could go to yoga. Then I came home and we all went to the pool for a swim.
We got to the pool and realized it wasn’t free swim time. The lifeguard was so kind and let us put the kids in a swim lesson that was going on –for free! Mary and Lydia both learned to float, jump in, and kick!
Then we met up with Karin and Jay for lunch at Gourmandise. I have been dreaming about their creme brulee oatmeal ever since I got it when I went to breakfast with Aria a while back. Daydreams were fulfilled.
Mary cuddled with Karin for such a long time. We finally had to take her and try to make her eat something, but she looked pretty content here.Jay relaxing at Gourmandise.Lydia picked out this cookie after lunch. That’s a mouse cookie. It’s a chocolate truffle coated with ganache on a lemony cookie base with a bit of raspberry flling.Mary eating her half of the mouse cookie.
Then we went grocery shopping, took a nap, and got ready for our dinner.
Mary “drove the car” with Abe while I grocery shopped.
I made a ton of food, but whenever we have guests I always think we’re going to run out of food. Whenever my parents threw parties growing up, we would eat leftovers for weeks; my dad never wanted to run out of food at a party. I think I inherited my fear of running out of food from him. Anyway, I made Jamaican jerk steak, kasha (threw it out because I did it wrong and replaced it with cous cous), carrot salad, roasted veggies, balsamic blackberry gingered strawberries, corn on the cob, and chimichurri sauce. Candace brought Harmon’s bread and Emily brought a marvelous fruit salad. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun with everyone that I forgot to take pictures. Abe did manage to take a picture of the cake with his phone (Gourmandise had a Groupon for cake!):
Gourmandise had a Groupon for a birthday cake. This was a chocolate truffle raspberry cake. It was to die for.The girls played outside before our party.
We had to set up an extra table for the party since we had seven grown-ups and five kids. While Abe was taking down the table, he sliced off a good portion of the padding on his finger. He cut off the flap with a scissors, and it’s still bleeding (a full twenty-four hours later). He spent most of last night in excruciating pain. I was up until midnight talking with Candace, and I didn’t realize how much pain Abe was in until he called me up because he was struggling so much. I felt so sorry for him! Today it’s not as painful, although we’re going to douse it in hydrogen peroxide soon, and I’m sure that will be torture for him. Say a prayer for Abe.
We got to church half an hour late today because I was prepping for our post-church picnic.
After church we had a picnic today with Ben, Candace, Cadence, Bentley, Aria, Stephen, and Balu.The girls loved playing while we ate.
After our picnic, Candace and Ben drove back to Idaha. I hated to see them go and felt really lonely and sad with the house empty. I wish Candace lived closer.
I treated my sorrow with a nap, and when we woke up, the house still felt empty. We called Mike and Paige at that point and asked if they could come over to help us finish off the million pounds of leftover food in our fridge. They were wonderful and came. We spent hours discussing the disciplinary council of Kate Kelly and John Dehlin. It was really cathartic, and I felt like I learned a lot from the discussion.
Liv ate some pink paint today.Mary somehow got covered in marker while we were getting food out for dinner with the Andersons. Her face matched her dress.
Mike pointed out that Utah twilight lasts hours, and we enjoyed it all evening. It was a perfect night. This June has been so glorious.
First of all, our friends, Ben and Candice, are staying with us for a few nights and we absolutely love seeing them whenever we can.
Secondly, Lily got to see her idol, Martha Stewart, speak at a blogging convention and have the best buffet of her life. Candice planned to see Martha Stewart and had bought a ticket, but when Lily tried to buy a ticket, it was sold out. Since what I do for a living is track down important people and get things from them, I thought I would try to intervene. I eventually tracked someone important down who was super sweet and said they still had a few tickets. Lily got to go and had an AMAZING TIME. The buffet at the Grand America was the best she has ever had, and Martha Stewart was outstanding as always. Martha gave tips about when she uses butter, lard and vinegar for different pie crusts.
Also, Lily got her present today from my parents which was a pressure cooker. I hear she was very excited about that. (She just got home and I haven’t had a chance to ask).
After work, I drove to meet my Lily, my dad and Suzanne, my cousins Isabella and Henry, and my girls. We were all going to go to the new aquarium while Lily was at school. Unfortunately the aquarium closed at six (oops!), but we all went to Wendy’s and then went to Thanksgiving point for the petting zoo. Everyone had a great time! Highlights were: The turkey that puffed itself bigger than I’ve ever seen a turkey go in order to impress a female. Lydia rode on a pony for one minute and then decided she was done and tried to jump off (I caught her fortunately). Baby goats (only two weeks old), butting heads with each other to play and playing king of the rock. It was all very fun and the weather was perfect.
I love June. It is my favorite month of the year. The weather right now makes me so, so happy. Sometimes I wonder if I have a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder because when I read my childhood journals, half the time I think I might as well be reading a daily blow-by-blow of the weather report. At any rate, the good weather has been lifting my spirits all month long, and today we celebrated by going to Red Butte Gardens.
After we got home, we headed straight to the home of Abe’s friend, Andrew Walker. He and Abe have been trying to get together for over a year, and we finally got around to it tonight. It was so nice to visit with Andrew and his family, and Andrew told us amazing stories about his dad, who is a church historian. Apparently, before President Hinckley died, he wanted the whole story of the Mountain Meadow Massacre researched and told in its entirety.
Andrew’s dad was the first professor in the history of BYU to get a two year leave to write the book, and he researched every single fact surrounding the massacre. He studied all of the original documents out there and unearthed secret journals in the process. Every single sentence that he wrote is meticulously documented in the footnotes of his book, which comprise two-thirds of the final work. I can’t wait to read the book, and hearing his account of what actually happened cleared up a lot of questions for me.
Here are the pictures I took today (mostly from the gardens):
Braving the snake fountain.“Hi Fishies!” Mary was especially enthused by her encounter with the fish. She kept begging to go back. I was afraid the girls would slip and fall in. Next time they’re not going to wear their jellies!
Lydia needed frequent breaks from all the work of pushing the stroller.
The Three Bears’ Cottage.We pretended to have tea inside the cottage of the three bears.
