Category: Uncategorized

We fell in love with our Tiny Home! Here is a tour!

Today we had breakfast pastries from a nearby bakery. We loved eating in our tiny home!

Lily was feeling really sick, but she rallied so that we could go to Kodachrome Basin, a state park that we have been wanting to see for a long time.

The kids had fun in the swing seats and on the rock climbing wall at the visitors center.

• 

• 

When we embarked on our hike, all the kids were very excited about their water backpacks that Georgia gave them for Christmas. Our hike was the Panorama trail and it was about three miles. Below are some pictures and videos from our adventure.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Lily barely made it, as did Clarissa, so it’s really good we didn’t do the 6 mile Calf Creek trail I originally proposed. The trail was beautiful and it was really good to see Kodachrome Basil. We then drove to Boulder, UT (30 minutes North of Escalante), and visited Long Canyon. The name is really funny because it is the shortest canyon I’ve ever been in. You walk 100 yards and you are at the end. It is very beautiful though.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Below is Clarissa making cinnamon rolls (probably inspired by the cinnamon roll she had for breakfast).

Then the kids and I did some bouldering. We had such a good time and it was the kids’ favorite part of the day.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We then went to Hell’s Backbone Grill and ordered dinner to go. Lily was inspired by their cookbook and bought a copy. They have an incredible story building up this restaurant in such a rural place, but they did it and now they’ve gotten acclaim, and for good reason. The food was delicious!

• 

• 

Driving home, we saw one of the most incredible sunsets we’ve ever seen. The pictures don’t quite do it justice, but it does give an idea of the vastness and richness of the orange glow we presenced.

• 

At home Mary and Ammon played Chess, and then the adults played wingspan. We completely fell in love with our tiny home and we loved every second we spent in it.

• 

• 

Today Lydia went to Salt Lake City with Lily, Mary and Annamae and found a harp that was perfect for her.

Then they went to Gourmandise and Lily got this cute photo of Lydia and Mary hugging.

After lunch, they all went to Annamae’s and Lydia recorded more songs for her national music competition submission. Annamae was so nice to not only take time to let Lydia record at her house, but also to help Lily choose which videos to submit. Later in the day, Lily submitted everything for Lydia’s competition. Good luck Lydia! (Here are some of her recordings from today):

I’m so proud of both Lydia and Lily. Here is a text I sent to Lily while they were at the harp shop:

“Tell Lydia she earned her harp. I’m so proud of how she has taken ownership of her practice and become so amazing at it through her hard work, initiative and dedication. Lil, I’m also beyond grateful to all you put into her development. You should be very proud.”

On my end, today was totally insane. It’s 12:16 AM (Saturday morning) and I’m still up standing by to make sure our finance team invoices our deals correctly. I had one call with our finance team at 11PM and there may be another one since two deals still haven’t invoiced yet. But we got all the deals we were hoping for and I’m very grateful for that. I’m also very grateful to be on vacation next week.

Lastly, Georgia had a very hard day today and was not feeling well at all. Georgia, we love you so much and we are sorry today was so hard for you!

Lily was feeling very low that past couple of weeks, but all of that deep feeling has culminated into a burst of creative writing, and Lily is now well on her way to a hilarious, inspiring, profound and raw book based on her life’s experiences. The writing has been flowing and flowing, and she has found the process deeply therapeutic and inspirational. It’s been awesome to see her so inspired lately and I’ve loved reading what she has been producing.

Also, our pictures from our February family photo shoot are not ready, but here is a sneak peak of one of them that is:

Lydia recorded more songs for her submission for a national harp competition. Here is a sampling below:

This has been a very intense quarter for me with my two most important deals coming down to the wire. I worked until 9:15, and then fell asleep in my clothes, only to get up after 11:00, change into my PJs and go right back to bed. I’m assuming it has still been difficult for Lydia to record in peace because of the below note I found from Ammon the next day.

I love that note so much, it really tickles me. I’m so proud of Ammon for taking more responsibility lately. Earlier this week, he sat on the upstairs vanity drawer that holds all the toothbrushes and toothpaste, and it will be very difficult to fix. I was very upset he did that, and said, “why did you do that?” With misty eyes he said, “I don’t know, there was no good reason, I just did it.” I was so proud of him for taking responsibility and not making excuses or blaming other people, and I praised him greatly for that after I came down on him for breaking the drawer. I love my little guy!

Lydia spent a lot of time this evening recording pieces in preparation for her submission for the National Harp competition. It was a lot of effort (and frustration when home noises ruined her recording despite our efforts to be quiet), but in the end she turned out some great recordings. Here is a sample:

I am in the last week of my quarter, which is the most stressful time to be in sales. As expected, I had fire drills today regarding two key deals we are chasing down. I was able to keep my stress at bay by a nice walk with Lily and Basil in the evening, time with the kids, Wingspan with Lily and finishing this beautiful Gustave Baumann puzzle near the end of my work day:

Lily has been dealing with stresses of her own, as she has felt a lot of discouragement, frustration, fatigue and sadness. Today she took to writing and felt deeply inspired, like a book is calling to her. She built out the framework of an entire book, and wrote several pages. I read much of it and loved the honesty, and her ability to navigate deep and difficult topics with humor, honesty, wit, and wisdom. I can tell that she’s birthing something that will be special both for her and for her future readers.

Today Lily got up to take Lydia and help chaperone for her group’s District Battle of the Books Competition:

• 

• 

• 

• 

Afterwards, Lily to Lydia to a pop-up crepe restaurant and to her delight, not only was it run by Nick Blosil, but much of the Blosil family was there! We love that family so much, and Lily and Lydia had such a great time connecting with them. Also, the food was delicious, which I can attest to, because I ate a ton of leftovers.

At home, my cold was peaking, and I was incredibly sick. I slept until noon, and was in bed for much of the rest of the day. Lily also was feeling very exhausted and blue, and so we were both so grateful for Lydia who created an amazing scavenger hunt for her siblings to give them something connective and creative to do today. Here are some pictures and videos:

• 

• 

At the end of the day, Clarissa fell asleep next to Lily while Lily read Paradise Lost to her. We transferred her to her bed and then Lily and I played Wingspan and talked about life until very late.

Lydia and Mary were having so much fun reading Harry Potter next to each other that they actually opted out of Wingspan to keep reading together. This is how I found them around midnight.

Today Lydia made some more recordings at Annamae’s home in preparation for her national competition submission.

In the evening Jere came over and enjoyed Slab pizza with us. He also read Ammon his night-time book (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus), and then he played Wingspan with us. It was so fun!

Today I started feeling really sick. Some of the kids are still recovering, but Dr. Simmons said they aren’t contagious anymore. Somehow Lydia is the only one who didn’t get sick whatever went through our family.

Everyone in our household has been sick except for Lydia and me. And writing this from the future, I’ll note that in two days, I will be quite sick also. It’s not strep or Covid, just a nasty cold.

Also, Lydia worked on her harp competition submissions. She did an incredible job, so I will post them here, but she can’t submit them because the B string is out of tune: