Category: Uncategorized

Today was a very exciting day for everyone.

For Lily, Lydia and Mary, it was exciting because they went to Disneyland Hong Kong! They loved it!. They said that Frozen land was amazing. Here are some pictures!

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We also had a super eventful day back at home. The day started with a yummy and fun breakfast with Todd, Casey and Kora joining us at Maggelby’s. I love Maggelby’s!

Then we went home and I took Ammon to and from math class. For the rest of the day until 3PM, I was racing around the house getting it ready for potential renters to look at, and loading some boxes into our packrat container while I was at it. The house was in great shape a week ago when we got the photos taken, but it took a solid five hours to get things sparkling and tidy for the walkthroughs (while also getting some packing done for moving).

The walkthroughs went so well. Both Lily and Charity (our property manager) have been amazing. They drove everything to get our house posted online to drive applications. And we were so fortunate because for the first people who looked at our home, it was a perfect fit. Their family needs were a perfect fit for our home. By the next day I had spun up contracts (with the help of Derrek, our friend/lawyer/ and Charity her husband TJ) and we had signatures. I couldn’t believe how fortunate we were!

After all the showings, we took Georgia to the Olive Garden. It was so nice to see her. We had a great connection over dinner and I really enjoyed seeing her. What a great day it was!

Once again, Ammon and Clarissa were such champs. After their big breakfast at Maggelby’s they had almost no food the rest of the day. I was paranoid about even a crumb getting out of place with the rental showings coming up, so I mandated no food until dinner. They only whined a little (and understandably so), and then they were rewarded with a great dinner at Olive Garden and Menchies once again. What great kids they have been! This has been an unusually busy and intense time for me, and Ammon and Clarissa have been understanding, self-sufficient, creative, and kind. They have been so helpful.

Also, we got to catch up with Lily, Lydia and Mary, while we were driving around. Lily commented on how beautiful Clarissa was and took a picture of the Facetime screen from their conversation together.

Lily, Lydia and Mary did more site seeing today. I think Lily said a lot of museum placards were not in English so that could have been better at one of the museums they went to (maybe the one featured below? maybe all the museums?)

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Cute turtles!

I don’t know where these pictures were taken, but I’m loving these duo shots of Lydia and Mary! Two peas on a pod!

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This appears to be a second museum they saw today.

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I don’t know what the building below is.

In other news, Ammon and Clarissa built a fort that they were incredibly proud of today. They really wanted to keep it up an extra day, so I let them. They have been playing remarkably well together. I have been disappearing for hours on end for work, and all the other stuff going on in our lives, and they just play endlessly together. Sure they find their way to some screens and treats, but overall, they are mostly just playing endlessly together and behaving perfectly. I even found Ammon making Clarissa a meal. He put two pieces of toast in the same slot and was so excited at his secret. The bread toasts on one side, but the side pointing in, and next to the other piece of toast stays soft and warm. He was so excited by his creation, and he’s been so helpful in feeding Clarissa when I’m not there. They have truly been the best crew to parent!

I had no photos on my end today, but Lily, Lydia and Mary sure had a lot of adventures. Here are a lot of photos along with some narration which is me piecing things together the best I can based on what I learn when I catch up with Lily.

On Views: Lily, Lydia and Mary went to a viewpoint called the Peak. I think that might be the first three photos, but I’m not sure. They were blown away by the views of jungle meeting, and intermingling with sky-scrapers. It looks amazing!

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On Textures: Lily knows I love textures and she told me that she took pictures of a lot of amazing textures that she knew I would love. Boy was she right!

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On Greenery: Hong Kong is so green! Just look at all this lush vegitation!

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Boat tour:

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Today we had a Healthcare leadership offsite. Nick, our amazing leader, borrowed a Sprinter van, took everyone up to Sundance for the day to have activities and lunch and then we had a White Elephant gift exchange back at headquarters and heard from Brian Stucki. Then we all went to the Qualtrics suite for the Jazz. It was an incredible time. Here are some pictures:

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While I was having my leadership offsite, my dad and Suzanne were taking care of Ammon and Clarissa. My dad found my old legos and a lot of the creations made decades ago were still intact. Ammon and Clarissa were so excited to show me my old creations and they had so much fun playing and building with the Legos.

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Meanwhile, Lily, Lydia and Mary had their first day in Hong Kong. They were enthralled by the amazing views, and the contrast of jungle around and in a massive city with sky scrapers. They also had some difficult on their first couple of days. For example, Lily and the girls were incredibly jet lagged. The stopped at a park bench in a park, and Lydia and Mary played cards on the bench while Lily reclined a bit and fell asleep. A park guard then came over and kicked them out of the park! Lily asked why they were getting kicked out, and the man, who spoke with kindness, explained that no one is allowed to lie down on the benches. Lily was confused because she certainly was not lying down, and it felt very unfriendly, especially given how tired she was. She also had a hard experience at one of their Hong Kong Dinners (with language barrier and feeling no attempt to help her through the situation, I think the waiter even got in an argument with another staff member and then stopped waiting on Lily’s table), and an even harder experience at an Egg Waffle Place. The place sold egg waffles sandwiches which Lily did not want. She just wanted a plain [famous] egg waffle, so she said, “yes” when the worker asked if she wanted a waffle with nothing on it. When Lily got to the register and was given a plain American waffle (not an egg waffle), she tried to explain that she wanted an egg waffle. The worker got upset, gave her an egg waffle and then charged her two more times, again, with language being a barrier. Then the manager came out and got upset at Lily, but also refunded her some money since the other person over charged her. They made it very clear that they were upset, and Lily again felt like it was just difficult to be in Hong Kong. She was exhausted, struggling with the language barrier and just feeling generally like people weren’t out to help here. She also felt like transportation was super confusing, and she walked excessively with the girls because where they were staying was not close to the areas they wanted to be in (she thought it would be) and the transportation was confusion. I’m skipping ahead even into events that happened days later, but in summary, Lily really struggled with Hong Kong in the first few days. By the end though, Lily had Hong Kong figured out and she told me that she fell in love with it. I didn’t get as many details on why she ended it up loving it so much, but by the time she left, she reported how much she turned out to love it. All along the way the things they saw were amazing. Here are some pictures:

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This morning, Lily, Lydia and Mary left to Asia. They traveled for hours on end and took no photos.

Back at the house, we had a packed itinerary. After Ammon and Clarissa had school, I took Ammon to and from math tutoring (and got moving supplies with Clarissa in-between) and then I took them to the arcade with Todd, Casey and Kora, and then we went to a Christmas concert, and then we went to Menchies. It was a packed and fun-filled day!

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Casey, Kora, Ammon and Clarissa had a blast playing Ninja Turtles and beat the entire game.

Our sweet neighbors invited us to this concert and it was very fun to attend. There was a song that really made me happy. It was called, “Grandma’s Killer Fruit Cake.” Here is a rendition of it:

Then we enjoyed Menchie’s afterwards:

Lily and worked a lot yesterday and this morning to get the house ready for photos. We were so happy to have our artist friend Betsy Croft offer to take pictures of our house for us to help us rent the house. Betsy is always so fun, and not only were her pictures amazing, but we were laughing and enjoying ourselves the whole time she was over. What a ray of sunshine! It was also sweet how she worked in a picture of Clarissa as she was taking photos. I want us all to remember how much we loved this home, so for nostalgia and old times’ sake, here are many of the beautiful photos Betsy took.

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After Betsy took pictures, I talked to Georgia’s bishop over the phone while she was in the office with him to help work through a question about her tithing because she currently can’t afford any of the care homes in North Carolina. The Bishop was a very good man and assured Georgia that tithing should be considered only after her needs are fully met, and he gave her comfort that she could prioritize her care, even if it meant not paying as much tithing as she used to, emphasizing that people are supposed to tithe on their increase. It was a wonderful meeting.

Then I went on a run and Amy and her kids came over to hang out. I really enjoyed talking with Amy, and Lily was over the moon to see her friend again. All the kids immediately melded like glue and started playing. Amy and her family have been traveling internationally for months, and just got home yesterday. Amy cried when she learned that we were moving, and the sentiment is so mutual. We have loved having them in our lives so much. And even though Lily is much closer to Amy then I am, I am going to miss her and her kids so much too, not just because I personally like them, but also because I observe how much light they bring to the entire family. I really hope we find ways to keep being in each others’ lives!

We ordered Via 313 pizza for dinner and I had forgotten how good that pizza is. We also celebrated Basil’s birthday (which was yesterday) by lighting a candle, singing, and giving him some pizza. I hope the video loads soon (and that I remember to post it), but until then, here is a picture:

In the evening, Lily creamed me in Wingspan 3 times, even when I had a Raven!

This morning Ammon built a castle that he was very proud of and he took a video to show it:

Today I woke up early to play basketball, and then stumbled through my work day (I didn’t sleep very much). After work, I took all the kids to the Arches Gala while Lily got her nails done for the trip. Here are some fun scenes from the part of the Gala where we walked through the school learning about what the kids have been up to and the things they had created. Ammon was very excited as he walked around telling us about everything.

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Then we had dinner at the Gala and Lily joined us. We were hoping the singing would be earlier so Ammon and Clarissa could participate, but they were running late, so we left before the kids sang because I had tickets to a Jazz game (extra tickets from Nick Apeland, my boss’s boss), and Lily had nail appointments for Mary, Lydia and Clarissa. Lydia and Mary never get their nails done because fancy nails don’t work with their instruments, but since they will be gone for a month with no music practice, this is their chance!

I had an awesome time at the Jazz game with Ammon. He has never been to one before and he was so cute how excited he was. He said, “Thank you, thank you dad!” as we were walking up to the stadium. He was also very excited about the vision of junk food that I painted for him. Right after we sat down, he turned to me and said, “OK, can we get junk food now?”. I made him wait until after the 1st quarter, but he definitely had his fill of ice cream and popcorn:

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The Jazz got their clocks cleaned by the Clippers (who had Paul George, Russel Westbrook, Kuai Leonard and James Hardin), but I had so much fun paling around with my son and chatting with Steve who also got tickets and sat with me. Ammon got really tired at the end. It was very late, and I guess it was a lot of excitement for him! On the way out though he was still very happy.

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Also here is a castle he built in the morning:

I love you Ammon!

Also, while Ammon and I were having fun, the daughters were all getting their nails done. I think they had fun!

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What a fun day!

Ammon and Clarissa played imagination beautifully together today. The play involved a boat Ammon made for Clarissa.

Also, Clarissa blew us away with the the best piece of art she has ever done.

Lily and I have known for 6 months that there is a chance we move to Raleigh, for two months that there is a sizable chance that we will move to Raleigh, for a week that we are almost certainly moving to Raleigh and for a few days that we are definitely moving to Raleigh. Now that everything is official and I’m permitted to share with my work collegues, the cat is out of the bag, we are moving!

One of my favorite things about Lily is how fast she moves. I get overwhelmed easily, and upon learning that we were moving, I thought Spring might be a nice time, mostly because I was scared of the headache and wanted to take our time. Lily decided we should move right away, scheduled tickets to fly out (even before everything was official), flew out with me to view homes, orchestrated all the house viewings with an agent, organized a property manager to rent our home, found a photographer (who took photos), called multiple care facilities for her mother, and multiple other things all in one week (all while her Europe trip was only a week away!

I’m writing this entry on December 10. I signed my offer letter on November 30, 10 days ago. Now we are already under contract for a home, and about to list our home for a rental. We are only in this position because of Lily!

But this entry is about our visit to Raleigh. It felt like a date with a mission. Lily and I got to be with each other every day and look at homes together. We saw big homes, small homes, old homes, new homes, homes with a pool, homes near my work etc etc. Lily was so thoughtful about the decision, and we drove routes to homes to see what my commute would be like. We ended up choosing 3604 Lubbuck Street, right in Raleigh, only 10 minutes from the office. We fell in love with the charm of the house. It’s smaller than our current home, however, it has the space we need, is very well built and designed, and is incredibly charming. We fell in love with it, and being close to the office will really help me be successful. We also loved how warm, and friendly the people we met were (especially our realtors), and we also loved hearing all the people with their North Carolina drawl.

One evening as we were driving around, we bumped into a private property that put on a huge display of Christmas lights and allowed people to drive through for a fee. Lily and I drove through and enjoyed it. It was nostalgic because one of the first things we did together when we first started spending more time together was drive through a neighborhood in Itasca looking at Christmas lights together. Here is a video we took:

None of this would have been possible without my dad and Suzanne staying with us to take care of the kids the whole time we were gone, and on short notice. The kids had so much fun with them, and we are profoundly grateful for the way in which they enabled this important weekend for us!