Category: Uncategorized

This morning I asked Lydia what she wanted to do today, and she suggested we go to a dinosaur museum. I just so happened to know that BYU has a museum of paleontology, and so after breakfast we headed over.

Then we went to Pier 1 because our shoe situation in the entry hall was desperate. I found this basket, and it has made the house feel so much more organized!

I also found the perfect piece for our fireplace, but we hung it at 10:30 pm and were rushing to get to bed, so I didn’t get a picture. My phone is out of memory, but if I can figure out how to fix that, I will take a picture tomorrow.

For FHE we headed over to our neighbors’ house down the street. The Bishops are an awe-inspiring family. You never know what people have suffered until you learn their story. Before our dinner with them, I just judged on appearance and figured they were leading and had always led a story-book LDS life. While they are absolute saints and could easily pass for story-book heroes…boy, was I wrong about my assessment! They have passed and are passing through things I could literally not imagine going through. Abe and I left in awe and wonder at their resilience.

We also had a great time. The kids and Abe played for hours in their pool. They keep it at ninety degrees, so no one got cold!

We finished off with Dairy Queen. The kids were so distracted by the Bishops’ pool and magical yard full of kid attractions that they barely ate any dinner. Then it was home to de-lousify everyone before bed, hang my new picture, and (for Abe) finish up his work day.

Today I after sacrament meting I took the girls home because of the lice–and Lydia is sick. We did sit in the chapel today for the first time in over a month, and I couldn’t believe how smoothly it went. Maybe we’ll be so bold as to try again next week.

The Miners were so nice and celebrated my birthday tonight since we were gone during their June celebration. We took pictures (of the girls) but they didn’t come through to my email. I will amend this post tomorrow if they ever come through.

The lice battle continues. Yesterday I was up until 1 am cleaning the house, and today we have been busy with treatments and blow-drying. I am giving the girls a small break before I go at Mary’s hair again before church.

Yesterday we checked out the Springville Reservoir. It has a sandy beach where the kids can play, and we enjoyed it a lot. I felt anxious about all of the kids swimming in regular diapers without plastic pants–especially since there is no water flow in a reservoir. For that reason we might not make a habit of going there regularly. Also, I should have taken a picture in the other direction. The reservoir is at the base of the mountains, so if you look the other way all you see are mountains. It was actually quite scenic, although in the picture the beach appears to be slightly underwhelming.

We also organized the last bastion of blatant untidiness in our house yesterday. I should have taken a before picture, but here’s the after:

Note that we have a “skin and scalp” bin. I thought I was hyper-vigilant before this outbreak, but now I feel committed to being doubly so. The irony is that Mary contracted lice this time on our trip, and that is the ONLY break I have taken in the past year from her regular anti-lice shampoo and conditioner. Normally, she gets a bath every other day and I scrub her scalp with Paul Mitchell’s tea tree oil shampoo. Afterward I use a special rosemary-extract infused anti-lice leave-in conditioner on her. This past trip I didn’t bring those products along and boom! we have lice again. We’ve learned our lesson this time.

Here’s a picture from last night:

This morning I took the three hour diabetes test…and passed! Also, I brought my kids to the doctor’s office for the test and could not have been happier with them. They were so good and patient. We went out for a picnic with Abe afterward and then I proceeded to retire to bed until dinner. The girls just entertained themselves the whole time, and I am so grateful for them.

At one of the new gardens of the new Qualtrics building (where we ate our picnic):

I got a Groupon for dinner since I spent the whole afternoon in bed. We went to a pizzeria:

Then I had book club. Abe took the girls to the park while I was at book club.

This morning was the girls’ first gymnastics class at Little Gym. It is so fun that they get to have class together!
Then Kim delighted me by proposing a lunch date. After I dropped Lydia off at preschool, I came home and had the best visit with Kim. That made my whole day. I kind of felt like God knew I needed to talk to a friend because of everything that is going on, and it was so lovely to talk with Kim.

Then we did errands. Mom, I finally went to the doctor’s office! We have been playing phone tag for two weeks, so I finally just went in person. I am taking the three hour diabetes test tomorrow between 8:55am and 11:55am.

After dinner, Chelsea called and invited us to the Rec Center with her. We countered with an invite to Bridal Veil Falls because I need to walk to get ready for my test. We had so much fun walking with her and her kids to the falls. Chelsea and her kids reminded me of mountain goats. They scrambled halfway up the waterfall!

…And I forgot book club is tomorrow, so this evening while Abe was eating dinner I started our book. I need to make progress now, although I have high hopes that (if the girls are good) I can make great progress tomorrow during my test.

At breakfast this morning Mary announced her head itched. I immediately checked her head. She had lice. Again. For the second time in three years. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I sent Abe a text, and he emailed me a list of eighteen things that have gone horribly wrong in our lives in the past two weeks. Sometimes it feels like our world is actually crumbling around us.

Thankfully, we caught this horribly-wrong saga before it was a full blown infestation like last time. The nits were only on one section of Mary’s head. Lydia, like last time, had none. I took courage and spent the subsequent twelve hours vacuuming, laundering, and treating heads. The girls spent the day outside because I didn’t want them to get re-infested before I cleaned all of the carpets and furniture. I opened the windows and eavesdropped on their conversations. They melted my heart by lying in the grass and daydreaming out loud about being on a rocket ship. Then they came in and retrieved their new books from yesterday and “read” them to each other.

Nothing pulled my heart more than when I blew dry Mary’s hair at the end of the day. I felt soooooo sorry for my little girl! She sobbed and cried, “Ouchy! Fire!” over and over again because the heat from the blow dryer burned her tender scalp. I apologized all over the place…but I kept going because I don’t want those nasty lice to live off my baby any longer.

It made me think of the Book of Mormon story about the people of Ammonihah who burned the righteous women and children alive. Just hearing my baby cry “fire!” was enough to bring tears to my eyes, even though I knew the pain was temporary and for her good. I can’t imagine being Alma or Amulek and watching little toddlers actually die from a malicious fire set by unbelievers. I just can’t fathom that. It is, by far, my least favorite story in the Book of Mormon.

This day was not without its bright side though. Abe actually had a great day at work, and my visiting teacher came over to check my hair for nits in the middle of the day. She has secured my love for the eternities! Also, Chelsea and I went to the parent orientation for the Let’s Play Music! we enrolled our girls in. That was exciting.

Today was Lydia’s first day of preschool! We celebrated after by taking the girls to Barnes & Noble and letting them each pick out a book. I was a little nervous letting them choose their own books because sometimes they pick random books that don’t end up resonating–but this time they each picked out a book that they LOVE! That made me so happy.

We came home and read the books over and over until Chelsea called to invite us over for dinner and a play date. I am so thankful for that friendship! We just love their company and food.

We had a great play date this morning with our friends from Chicago, Betsy and Pippa Croft. The girls disappeared for an hour while Betsy and I chatted away in her beautiful new house. It was a really lovely break from the drama unfolding at home.

The drama involves a friend in need. Abe worked himself into an emotional and mental frenzy over the situation, and I am the heartless one who, as Betsy so aptly put it, sees the situation as an oil-in-the-lamp issue and not a call for good samaritan action. We are still dealing with the problem, but I think things are starting to look hopeful. If we can get to bed before midnight tonight, I think morale will improve around here.

We spent the evening outside eating dinner and chatting on the phone with Mom, Grandma, Clark and Swathi. It was great, but the evening has devolved a little with some stressful side issues Abe and I have going on tonight and tomorrow. I am hoping it all blows over by tomorrow night. Wouldn’t it be nice if problems just disappeared on an appointed time schedule?

Abe and I spent most of the day cleaning and doing errands. In the evening we drove to Salt Lake and met up with the Maudsleys in Liberty Park for a picnic. Afterward the kids played in the splash pad while we chatted.

I love Katie, especially because she is probably the only person on earth who can understand my mouse phobia. She has it to the exact same degree–she even ruined her phone by rubbing alcohol all over it because she thought a mouse had touched it! That is something I would do. No matter how many other things we talk about, we always end up commiserating over our phobia. It is so nice.