Moonset

Yesterday morning, I started the day watching the full moon set. I watched it until it disappeared behind the mountain. This is what the moonset yesterday would have looked like if I could have zoomed in far enough with a good camera. 

This is what my iphone was able to capture:

It was beautiful. I'm trying to put some of Jeffrey Rosen's advice into practice by doing some reading for pleasure before I do anything on my phone or the computer. I shared some of his talk with my siblings near the end of my drive Tuesday, via Marco Polo. After sharing that, Grant replied and shared this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

I started writing my gratitude for the day first thing in the morning! I liked doing that, esp since this past month I'm usually snoozing my "gratitude" alarm over and over again in the evening... now I'm starting to be more aware and I'm looking for things all day that I can put on my list, and sometimes I'm writing them down in the morning! So I liked watching out the window yesterday morning and this morning as I drank some warm lemon and ginger water (and cinnamon, honey, and trace minerals... I'm getting creative with my own version of Brazilian Mounjaro.) I have been enjoying a few quiet moments with my new fancy tea cups and saucers that I got on Tuesday. 

Another fun thing, I opened the scriptures randomly this morning and it opened up to D&C 88:8 - "As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made..." So after some time sitting and reading, I got the kids up and ready and off to school. K woke me up a lot last night. She felt pretty warm and was crying about her nose being stuffy. She finally slept without waking after 3am. Hopefully it didn't derail my day too much. I read "Eat Move Sleep" for my pleasure reading this morning, and of course couldn't SIT while I read that, (cause according to Tom Rath sitting is the new smoking) so I stretched on the floor. I also tried just walking around upstairs while I read. (He wrote it while he was walking at a walking desk!) Ahh what else. Today I did go climbing after taking Abi to my moms for work. My parents are for sure coming on Sunday to our anniversary dinner, so that will be fun. I went to Savers after dropping off Abi and before I went climbing. I found another Simple Abundance book, 2 DVDs and 3 other valentine dresses. I'm on an optimistic look out for a duplicate of the dress I wore on my first date with Corey (4th pic). I'm hoping I can find that someday. Then went to momentum for bouldering. Most of yesterday was spent taking pics of pictures and finding pics in scrapbooks and uploading them to Walgreens. I printed them yesterday and today was spent putting photos in frames. It's like I'm doing a wedding reception, haha. I printed up some old pics like these ~ hiking Granger Peak - 

That way the kids will know that being all out-door-sy isn't a new fad for Corey and I. We were always getting up in the mountains! Hiking Mt. Olympus ~

And yes I printed up some new pics of us biking. Yesterday I worked on that while I was waiting for an appliance technician to come by to fix the dryer. It's been doing the "3C" code again and now it won't stop doing it. I thought the cost to fix it would be covered since it's been less than a year since we got it fixed on Nov 26, but he said that last time he fixed the motor, and that this time it's the control board, not the motor, so only the motor is covered. He didn't fix it, but will put the service visit toward the repair if we decide to do that, once they get the parts in. So that was $100 I wasn't planning on spending today, oh well. He was supposed to come between 11-1, then they called that he'd be there between 1-3. So while I waited, I kept snoozing my "print pics" alarm, until I started to finally print it yesterday. Picked those up, and have been putting them in frames last night and today. I worked on that for a few hours. I took out the pics of Joseph and Eliza and put in ours. I'll mail those to J&E soon, too bad I didn't see it before I sent off her birthday package on Monday! I sent her a b-day package with some letters from everyone plus a book (Simple Abundance of course!) Happy Birthday Eliza! 

Tonight Natalie finished Danielle valentine box. I was supposed to spray paint it yesterday but forgot to set an alarm for it. I snoozed it a few times today then finally painted it while talking to Nicole. Natalie did a good job making it for him! It's a taco, cute. So nice of her. 

Corey worked late. Tomorrow's valentine's day. I'm glad we took care of making Valentines on Monday for FHE! Good thinking on my part, go team. 

Wallace Heritage

So we're having a fancy dinner in less than a week. I've been doing some mental prep for it, and today started doing the actual prep, which included seeing how many place settings we had. We had 9 large plates and 5 small plates. That was not going to be enough for the number of guests we were planning on hosting (Wayne, Kim & Linda, C&T M&Chrsitian E&Bella HALSNODPK = 18 people). I had a hunch we didn't have enough plates, and since I've been happy with my good luck on facebook marketplace, I've been looking for china on there for the past two week. I've just been looking for some gold and yellow flowery looking china to match the place settings we have.

I hadn't gotten totally serious about it yet, but did have a few items saved that were for sale. Today I  finally took the 10 seconds to go open our cupboard and look at our china, to see if it had a name and I could find the same kind. This was a set of china that Corey's grandma Helen Wride gave us when we got married. I recall she said she got it as a gift from a bank or something! On the bottom of our plates it said "Wallace Heritage, Daphne". I typed it in and gave it a search, and lo and behold...

Only $100 bucks for a whole set! But, it was in Logan... ugh, that would be a 3 hour drive round trip. I texted her to see if she comes to SL or could meet somewhere like that. She said she's not headed our way, but that she'd take another $20 off if I wanted to drive to Nibley. That was enough to make me agree. So after Abi got home from school, instead of going climbing, I took her to work at my parents house and I was going to take K with me for a drive. But when Katharine saw my parent's house, she started to cry when I was backing up to leave. "I wanna go to Grandma's house!" Okay okay okay! Sorry! We can go in! I took Katharine inside, she wanted to stay. K has been playing nicely by herself every time I've gone over, so I thought it would be ok and that K wouldn't be a distraction from her work. My mom thought it would be ok too. I checked with K one more time "I'm going to go, you stay here with Abi and Grandma?" "Ok, bye mom!" Ok, seems like she's ok with it! So I left, and was able to make the drive there and back with plenty of daylight, and there was no snow storms to give me anxiety. It was a beautiful drive. I love the mountains. Cache Valley is beautiful, and there was a full moon rising on the drive home as I turned east on I-80. I listened to the BYU speech "The Pursuit of Happiness" two more times again on the drive home and found more parts that I think I missed the first time. It is such a great talk! I am waiting for the PDF so I can print it and highlight it all. Off the top of my head, I love that he followed the Jefferson schedule during covid. I love how Adams and Jefferson were excited about the possibility that eastern and western though were routed in the same tradition of how to find happiness: "Renounce and Enjoy!" I felt happiness today, very grateful for this beautiful world, and I'm grateful I was able to find this china! I felt Helen smiling that we appreciate and are still enjoying this gift she gave to us and that it's become part of our family tradition. 

Endurance

I went on a ride this evening. The temperature was good, and as I looked at the forecast I knew it was not going to be good again until Saturday. I didn't go on a ride or hike at all last week, so I'm not positive on the state of the trail when the warmer temps were here last week, but I think a lot of the snow melted, then with the snow that fell over the weekend it wasn't packed down enough, so it was pretty slippery. Took me a while, and I hiked for over half of it. I finally made it to the ruins though. 11.26 miles, 2 hours 13 minutes. There was one other biker on the trail, on a Fezzari/Ari ebike fat bike. I might want to upgrade to an ebike soon!

It was really pretty. There was blue sky, sunshine, and 37 degrees is a good winter biking temp, but... I didn't want to go. I wasn't feeling it. I was trying to force myself for about an hour, cause today was probably my only chance this week. But since I was lagging, I didn't start right away, and since I was hiking my bike for a good chunk of it, it took forever and thus I barely made it back before it was completely dark. Nicole called me right after I started, so that helped keep my mind off my lack of desire. I told her about a documentary we watched yesterday, "Endurance" by National Geographic (we watched it on Disney+). That story is CRAZY. It is insane... like I'm speechless at the thought of what those men endured for two years! For example, I'm all for cold showers, but HOW did they not all freeze to death!?!? WHAT did they EAT?? How did they cope with 4 MONTHS of the sun not rising?!?!? NONE of them died is insane. They must have been on death's door for a whole year. I told Nicole she had to watch it. Corey watched it last week and he brought it to our attention last week, and we watched a little bit here and there at scriptures last week, but we finished it yesterday. There are lessons there for all of us in all of our "hardships". I thought of them and told myself "I can endure a cold bike ride". It makes me wonder thought, is it possible for my small trials to refine me to the same level that they got to? I hope to be able to endure all things. I want to have a good attitude. The documentary did say that that was one of the rules for all the crew, to be optimistic. I asked Corey "What about being 'realistic'..." I wonder if being realistic considered pessimism? Cause, it seems to me, they really were in an impossible situation, it's just crazy. 

So go watch that. I already want to watch it again to get more stats, like I know it was 800 ocean miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia island, but I didn't catch how many days it took them to sail that (Shackleton and the 4 men that volunteered to go with him. That is a whole 'nother story in itself). After Corey watched it by himself, before he pointed all of us to it, he mentioned that he thought to himself: "I could probably endure a little more..." haha. Yeah, when we think of anything we are going through, compared to them?!?! We all definitely have it pretty easy. We're probably too comfortable, hence all the health problems that our society faces. That's another topic for another day. So I really enjoyed that. We also watched Ethan's original "House" video, the Covid episode, plus all the other episodes that he made last year. Natalie did Katharine's hair and make up ~

Cute little bug. Oh, in addition to my ride, I also went bouldering this morning. Did 30 climbs, (17 sends, 13 attempts). Today I got that stupid purple V1 on the west wall. It is a weird one and has been eluding me, so I'm glad I finally got it. So even though I already had my workout today by climbing, I knew I was in a funk, so I took a ride mostly for a mental reset, and to get out of the kitchen, cause I was turning to food for an escape from my mood. I'm glad I did. It did give me the reset I was hoping for and I feel a lot better in my head now. For FHE tonight, I had a stroke of genius and got ahead of the game and we did Valentines! I ran an errand to Costco for a few dinner things for our family party next Sunday, and bought some candy at Costco for valentines while I was there. K being cute at Costco ~

So we got that all taken care of! I'm glad that we were able to do it as an activity that we were going to need to do anyway. 

I'm glad I thought of it early and that we did it tonight instead of scrambling to do it Wednesday or Thursday night, yay.  

The Decision

Corey and I had fun climbing this morning. We were there for 2 hours and did 9 climbs, woo! I tried this black 5.10c as my last climb, and I was barely able to do it - had to take a few breaks, but I didn't cheat with another color. We're getting stronger!

After climbing, we got ready for a funeral for a dear neighbor. Karen was the best of the best. Click that link and look at her photo. That is how she ALWAYS looked - like she was always about to burst with laughter. You could just see the light of happiness and of gospel living in her eyes. Beautiful flowers on her casket.

Corey, Abi, Daniel, Katharine and I went to her funeral. We loved this photo of a young Dave and Karen that they had on display - They are both so cute and  young! Karen is so pretty! 

This poem was shared during the services, I think her husband read it? It was written on the cover of one of her journals. I like it.

"One day she finally grasped that unexpected things were always going to happen in life. And with that she realized the only control she had was how she chose to handle them. So, she made the decision to survive using courage, humor, and grace. She was the queen of her own life and the choice was hers."

Karen was definitely an example of that. She made that decision and faced her trial of breast cancer with courage and optimism. She chose to trust God, and he walked with her in her trials. She chose to have courage, humor, and grace. I'm grateful we were able to know her and have her life influence ours and the lives of our children. I was able to go help serve a lunch for the family after, and enjoyed visiting with the other sisters in our ward that helped with that - Jess, Jill, Maralee, Kathy, Lisa, Leslie, Kathy... I'm surrounded by wonderful friends here in this neighborhood, I'm very grateful. 

Birthday Package

We have been trying to get together a birthday package for Eliza. Her b-day is next Thursday. I wanted to mail it today, and have been having the kids write letters to her, but I don't have notes from Lily and Corey yet, drat. They are at Lily's Blue Note Band and won't be back before the post office closes, so, hopefully I'll get it off tomorrow so it arrives in time! Ahh, sorry Eliza, this is my first time sending a birthday package! I know it should be my 2nd time, cause I should have sent a package to Joseph last month, but I was planning something else for him (that didn't end up working...) so I probably owe him a package still, ahh, I gotta get on it. Katharine did a good job scribbling on the paper and then I traced her hand. 

When we sent a Christmas package to Wes, we traced K's hand for her note, and he sent a package back with letters for all the kids, and he traced his hand on his note to her. Haha, I thought that was funny. 

Chores are going good. Owen is our best worker. After he was done, he wanted to go play with friends, but none of them were able to play, so he was pacing the floor looking for something to do. I organized the game closet tonight, so I had games on my mind and I suggested he play Othello with me. He wanted to shake my hand before the game and he said "no crying" for whoever loses, cause BYU fans don't cry. I beat him and he seemed fine. Peter wanted to play next, and I suggested he and Owen play. 

I hadn't told Owen any of my strategies when I was playing him, but tried to tell him some things I do when he played against Peter, like avoid putting a play piece in the three squares around the corner at all costs, unless you're SURE you won't lose it, cause you do not want to lose a corner. I really was trying to help both of them, but I probably helped Peter a little more, and as Owen saw the loss coming, I could see tears coming down his cheeks. After he lost to Peter, he was totally broken. He went and curled up in a blanket on the couch, with it covering his face, and he mourned for 30 minutes. He asked to play retro bowl on the computer, but I said he had to play Abi in Othello first, and I had secretly instructed her to let him win. He refused for another 30 minutes. He finally played her, but he totally lost on purpose, cause he hates Othello. I'll give him a few days to heal, and then I'll play him again next week and I'll try to let him win to build up his confidence a bit. We were all telling him, though, if he really does want to be a football player, he's gotta learn how to lose, cause all teams lose some games. Playing Othello helped me kill time mentally while I waited for Corey and Lily to get back. Since Lily started Blue Note Band in American Fork, it makes our date nights always go after 7pm. We were both fasting today cause we made a plan to go out to eat at Braza Grill. It was worth the wait, and I didn't overeat too much. Aaand we laughed at how Corey's car is still at Tanner's Transmission. 10 weeks today! They said it's almost done! They were just taking it out for a test drive. Yeah, right. We're not holding our breath. I teased "So they'll call us Monday?" Corey shrugged. I said "If they don't call us on Monday (as if I was making a threat...) ...then we'll just call them on Friday!" We call them every Friday to see what the status is. They have not called us ONCE. It's been a really disappointing experience. But... I guess it's better than having a ship stuck in the ice of Antarctica. I guess we'll try to be patient and "endure" this little trial/misfortune. 

Catching Up with Mel

Mel was going to come up on Sunday but then didn't, so we were happy for surprise visit last night. We stayed up late visiting with her and catching up on her life. She and Christian are still happily dating, aww ~

Good looking couple I think! I have a picture of Corey in front of this LOVE sign from years ago - (1996)

Mel being silly ~

His turn ~

He's in California with his family this week, so we were glad she came up to say hi since she had an open evening. The kids were all excited to see her. She stayed the night and was up with me this morning to say bye to the kids. She walked Daniel and Peter to the bus stop (Owen rode his bike with the neighborhood bike gang). She headed out right after that so she could stop by the store and still be back in time for her 11:00 class. 

Today's been a nice day around the house. My fingers hurt when I type, cause some of my fingers have cracks in the corners, I think from all the climbing? Probably more from the cleaning and washing I do in this dry Utah winter weather. (I should prob get rubber gloves to protect them). I made a good dent in cleaning the laundry room desk and master bedroom roll top desk today, they're both coming along! After I get those all done, I'll either start on inside of closets and cupboards, or I'll move into the basement. Now ALSN are at Young women's, Daniel is at Hobby Lobby with a friend, Owen is playing Retro bowl on the computer cause he did all of his chores today, he's one of my most dependable workers. He had trumpet today and did a great job focusing. Waiting for Corey to come home from work. I think I'll work on my Simple Abundance book or go work on the desks some more until everyone is home again in another hour. Or The Core Play. I bought that exercise program in 2023 and haven't really done much. I want to improve my handstands. Corey and I went climbign last night, Mel showed up right before I left. Corey had taken the van out, then Abi took it to her lesson and Corey told her to just come home after so that he didn't have to stop working early to get her home so she could do her chores. Thus he was left without a car. I said I could pick him up and we could go climbing. He said we could do this morning, but then I remember I have carpool. (I just switched my Tues shift for Wed because a neighbor's work schedule changed. So since we couldn't do toprope this morning, and cause Corey prefers that over bouldering, we went last night from like 9 -10:30. I listened to BYU speeches as I climbed, which was a first (I usually listen to "boy" by the killers). Mel and Ethan both watched the BYU Devotional yesterday by Kevin R. Duncan, "Jesus Christ Is the Answer". Mel said that the devotional from yesterday was really good, then Ethan it added that "it was also kinda super depressing". Bro Duncan told a story of how when he was just 2 years married, his first wife passed away after being hit by a car that ran a stop sign. Overall a positive and good message, but yeah, he shared some hard life experiences that he's been through. After that that podcast continued automatically and played the previous episode which was "The Pursuit of Happiness" by Jeffrey Rosen. That one was really fun and funny. I thought it was so great, like him following the "Jefferson schedule" during covid, haha wow! 

We visited with Mel after we got back and thus didn't get to bed until past midnight. Both of us struggled getting up and going this morning. I took carpool and Corey went to the temple. I went to the temple yesterday, and then had a busy day and didn't even take a nap, so it was a looong day for me, but it was good. Yesterday I sent a polo to my siblings asking about their political opinions regarding all the craziness that is going on thanks to Trump. The conversation has continued into today. It was good to vent there and gain a little bit of calm. My sister shared this podcast "Don't Believe Him" by Ezra Klein that I shared with other people that I know (from their facebook posts) are freaking out about all the things. My little brother Grant was better informed than I was before he voted, and he's feeling ok about things. So, it was good to take a breath and calm down. 

Yesterday I gave Dennis a phone call, then went to visit my parents for a little bit. Came home and went on a walk at Dimple Dell while I listened to the Naturally Thin for Life Podcast. She's closing the doors to her program, and ending it so she can be with her kids full time and homeschool them. I'm proud of her for doing that. I LOVE being a stay at home mom and full time homemaker. It's the best. Nicole told me this morning about a book "Magnetic Femininity" which I think talks a lot about women embracing their feminine roles. "Your feminine majesty has the power to heal almost everything in your entire life––and this book will teach you how. When you heal your feminine energy, everything else in your life falls into place." Wow! So I put that on hold at the library and Nicole and I are going to go through it together. Fun.

Making Sliders

For FHE tonight, our kitchen was a hive of activity. Corey was in charge of FHE tonight, and yesterday he asked for suggestions. The kids said "Leatherby's!" Corey was 25 hours into his fast, and so the idea of food sound good to him. But he thought "let's make our own hamburgers!" I protested that hamburgers and potato wedges AND milkshakes would be too much food. We don't want to be gluttonous. "We'll just do tiny hamburgers... sliders!" Corey looked up and printed recipes and they each chose a part of the meal to help with - Abi: patties, Lily: fries, Sophi: toppings and condiments, Natalie: milkshake, etc etc. He told them to look at the recipe and gather things we had at home and make a list of things they'd need from the store. After he got back from work today, they all headed down to Smiths. While they went to the store for their ingredients, I finished loading the last dish in the dishwasher and wiping out the sink (I typed "packing" the dishwasher first... I've been watching too much Bluey!). Then they all came back and began their "dining out at home" prep. Abi was mixing beef and soon was grilling her tiny slider patties. Lily was cooking bacon, splattering grease everywhere. Natalie was mixing whipped cream with mixers in a big bowl and putting other ingredients into the blender. She poured the shakes into cups, then repoured all of them into other cups that were smaller. I felt my stress climbing as they made messes and all I could think about was that this was going to be a lot to clean up. Too many cooks = too many dirty dishes.

I did excuse myself at one point to go upstairs and take a breather. I admit I was focusing on the wrong thing. They were happy with the meal they prepared, and so was Corey.

Time to enjoy all their hard work.

And that was the message Corey was hoping to get across: when we each do our part, in our different roles, it blesses everyone. So we can encourage one another and cheer each other on in our different strengths and successes. I didn't eat any of it. Ground beef is not appealing to me at all, plus I feel better when I skip dinner, so I said no to the fries and milkshake as well. And as for my concerns about the big mess, they did clean up (kinda). They loaded the dishwasher and wiped things down a little bit, but then they were off to do chores and practice and I worked doing a more thorough job wiping off the stove and coutners, plus cleaning and washing the large bowls and pans they used up. 

It took me about an hour. And I was remembering how last time they used the skillet on a Sunday to cook up sausage, it was so messy and gross, and I told myself then I never wanted to clean up a pan from cooking meat ever again. I felt even more irritated as I washed cause the handle to our faucet is loose and thus won't rotate all the way down, so we can't get hot enough water at the sink, which means the grease from the burgers and bacon wasn't going anywhere. In frustration I ended up taking the cast iron skillet up stairs to our bathtub. As I vented to Corey, skillet in hand, on my way up the stairs, he asked "Are you trying to make a statement about the meat we cooked?" (I do find it messy and unnecessary) "A little bit, but mostly just wanted to let you know why our bath tub feels greasy when you take a bath in the morning..." Meat, grease, mess. It's super easy to clean out a salad bowl, veggie tray,  or a plate from cut up fruit. That's the kind of mess I prefer. 

Ok, that's enough about my bad attitude. We enjoyed talking to Wes tonight. He's doing good. We had a good turn out. We filled Wes in on some of the craziness going on right now as Trump winds up his second week in office. (yikes). If you want to know some of my concerns, go read Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter (Friday after the plane/helicopter collision, Feb 1 (too much crazy in that one to give a summary), and Feb 2 (Elon Musk stuff). I've been forwarding a lot of them to Corey this week. 

I also really liked this one sharing a bit of the history of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I sent that link to the kids and shared how I was in the MTC before the 4th of July and I was in the MTC Choir, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic was one of the songs we performed. We also sang that hymn a lot in our district classroom. I’ve loved it ever since. It was cool to read Cox's article and learn that it was basically given to her as revelation!

Only other thing from today - Sophi is feeling sick. She had a headache and was dizzy on Saturday, and almost didn't go to a girls ballroom party at a friend's house, but felt well enough to go after taking some pain reliever. She felt a little woosy yesterday but was able to sleep it off. This morning he head hurt again, so she went to school a little late (Corey dropped her off) and then she called me to come pick her up cause her head was really hurting. So K and I went to get her. We saw Natalie walking past on our way out, and K was excited to see her. Natalie wanted to take K to her next class, so I gave Sophi the keys so she could go to the car, and I was there soon, after I walked with Natalie to her class so K could say hi to her classmates. "AWWW! Is this your baby sister!?!?!" 

Hmm, Natalie is looking especially grown up in that pic. What happened to my little baby? or my two year old? Darn, when she was 2 I had baby Owen come in to fill in the ranks, but not right now, sniff. (I can dream, can't I?) As I was trying to find a pic of baby Natalie, I came across this post of our messy house. Wow! I've really come a long way in handling the chaos! Of course at that time I had 9 kids at home, and right now I only have 8, haha. Katharine cleaning tonight ~

She likes walking around the house with a spray bottle and polishing cloth and spraying and wiping down any surface within her reach. Cute girl. So, house was clean, then messy, now it's clean again, and my hands are raw. I need to go get some lotion. 

Slide Inside

Yesterday after I came back from running a few errands, Corey took Peter & Katharine to McDonald's to play at the playplace. Oh, Natalie tagged along too. 

Today K wanted to go to the slide again. I guess we could have gone to a park, but instead I brought a part of the kids slide inside. K was happy with this option. 

Peter thought it was fun too, because it made a place to hide! Lol. It's been a nice simple day. I like fasting. I've been productive and I like not having to cook. Corey is in charge of FHE tomorrow, and the kids said we should all go to Leatherby's. No thanks. When I'm fasting, I feel so good that eating that kinda stuff does not sound desirable at all. But it sounded good to Corey! We've been fasting since 1pm yesterday and he was feeling hungry. But Leatherby's would be too expensive, so he's planned a FHE where we could be the chefs and make the hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes. The kids are all excited, me not so much, but that's ok. 

Yesterday Corey and I went climbing in the morning at Millcreek. We did 9 climbs, and my favorite one from that session was our last one, an orange 5.10c.  I thought we had tried it before, but now I can't find record of it. I thought that last time I went up a little bit, it was too hard, so then I moved left and did the blue 5.8 right next to it. This was our last route today so we were both pretty tired. Corey took a few breaks so I was watching him thinking it would be hard and that I prob won't be able to do it. But as I started, I just figured I'd do my best and it was ok to move over at any time. Surprisingly, I was able to keep going and totally impressed myself cause I totally sent it! I had to yell and breathe heavy but I was able to do all of it, even get over the buttress! Corey gave me bones, he was impressed too! Then we were done, but he went up to the gym for a second and since I was feeling confident from the dopamine from that last send, I tried the red V3 boulder again and I got it! Corey's BeReal ~

So that was fun. Today Corey taught Sunday school and did an amazing job, as always. We're pretty spoiled cause we get awesome lessons and insights like that from him every night at family scriptures. I shared my testimony about repentance. The Follow Him Podcast this week (for sections 3-5) with Robert Eaton was really great. They talked about how Joseph Smith was schooled by the Lord in the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. For example, the faith he had as he prayed and received his first vision, and how his faith developed over the next 4 years as he kept going forth without more manifestations. Also, how he really learned about repentance and the miracle of forgiveness with the experience he had when the Book of Mormon manuscript was stolen. Then I also shared how this past month I've been working on a little repentance each day as I scrub the floor grout with one magic eraser a day. We can become clean as we let Christ work on us a little bit each day. I also imagined last week that it's like I'm preparing my home to receive a thorough cleaning inspection by Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for this time to prepare and work to present to him a house of Faith, Fasting, Prayer, Learning, Glory, Order, a house of God! (Yeah, I typed those up without looking at the scriptures (D&C 88:119)! I have them memorized!) 

Mixed Emotions

Today was a good day of contrasts, emotional highs and lows, and mixed emotions. This morning, I was feeling all happy and grateful and content (that was from 6am - 1pm). I was and am proud of how awesome I'm doing at homemaking and when Corey left to work, he sent me a voice message saying "I’m feeling some enthusiasm and optimism and gratitude that I haven’t felt for a while, I’ve been kinda trudging along for a long time." That made me feel really happy too cause I think the clean house has contributed to that. 

And THEN around 1, I was waiting for Sophi to get home so I could go on a ride, and I saw other kids in carpool walk by the window, but Sophi never came in. My phone was upstairs charging so I went up to call or text her. I saw that she had called me and I had missed it. I also saw that I had missed 4 calls from the elementary school, doh! I called the school right away. Daniel was sick in the office with a fever and she told me to come pick him up. It was 1pm. School got out in 40 minutes, but ok. I said I'd be on my way, and I said that knowing that I did not have a car. I tried to hurry and get ready and I had to get Katharine ready too cause Sophi wasn't home (it's early day) I saw her texts and voice message. She was at her friends house to do her nails. She went without permission, but atleast she tried to let me know... but if she doesn't get permission she shouldn't go! So I was irritated at that, and irritated that I had to take K to school with me now, pulling her in a wagon, cause Sophi wasn't home to watch her, so now I'm slow, and I'm mad cause I don't have my car... feeling irritated at Abi for always wanting to take my car to school for no good reason. I let her do it today cause she took carpool, so I do allow Fridays, but I still decided to be mad at her too. AND I thought while I'm choosing to be in a bad mood now, let's also be mad at Freaking Tanner's Transmissions that STILL has Corey's car and has had it for NINE WEEKS NOW!!! I was just walking fast and huffing and puffing and feeling mad. I called the school to let them know I was coming but I was walking and I'd be there as soon as I could. I then called Sophi to see if she could meet me at the corner and take Katharine so I could run/jog to the school. She said ok, but then I checked with Katharine, just to be safe (I didn't want her to blow her top (think Muffin in the Bluey episode "Charades") cause I could see that happening if I let Sophi take the wagon and I started running away from her) and Katharine said she didn't want to go with Sophi. "I want my mom." Ok, I called Sophi back and said never mind. They had started walking toward me and I could see them coming down the street and I waved to them as I said thanks over the phone. Ok, so got to the school. Buses were there and school was almost out, but I signed out Daniel and he got in the wagon and we walked home. I still wasn't able to go biking... what shall I do for exercise if I can't escape. Owen and Peter get home, I still need an older girl if I'm going to go on a ride. Abi was still in school, and Natalie had walked to Macey's and wouldn't be back until Abi brought her. I figured I'd still be ok to go at 3. THEN when Abi comes home, she is doing her chores and stuff so she can go spend the rest of the evening with her friend Tara, but she didn't bring Natalie. I was irritated at that. I specifically told her this morning that she had to bring Natalie home. "I didn't hear that. I thought Natalie had permission to go to her friends house." Yes, IF you were going to Tara's right after school and then coming home at 6. But I said if you were coming home first cause you wanted to be over there later, then you were to pick up Natalie and bring her with you! Cause Natalie can't be out there until 11 pm, ugh, I was super irritated at them both now too - at Natalie for always asking to go to Macey's, at Abi for not picking her up so now we have to take an extra trip out there. Abi said she could go get Natalie. No, you practice flute and do your chores. Maybe I'll drive out there and go boulder and then pick up Natalie. Abi didn't like that idea cause she wanted to be on her way to Tara's at 4. "How long does it take you to boulder?" About 45 minutes, plus the 15 min each way to drive. So Abi was nagging me to not do that. I left anyway, and decided if I did just come straight home with Natalie, then I'd have my babysitter and it would be 3:30/4 and that is still enough time to go bike. Ok, so I just did that, which made Abi happy. I decided it was too warm to bike though - it was 47 degrees. I thought it would be too slippery. So then I decided I'd have Abi drop me off up the canyon on her way to Tara's and I'd be able to get my mountain time and I'd just walk home. So that's what we did. I sled down to the trail, then hiked up and walked along Techy, then did some sledding on the way down. It wasn't a very good sled though. Really hard to control. But the 5 mile walk/slide did help me calm down. 

On the Power plant down section, I decided to sled head first on my tummy and I pulled and pushed myself with the snow on either side. I was smiling and hopped up off my sled anytime I saw another biker or hiker (6 bikers and 1 hiker) and then I just had a long walk home after that. A lady named Liz saw me in the neighborhood and offered me a ride, after she said she also saw me on the road 20 min earlier. I was grateful for the ride home. I got pretty wet but wasn't too cold. Then got ready for date night. We went to Beaumont Cafe. I ordered a usual (Veggie sandwich) and then instead of ordering the beet citrus salad, I tried something new - Lemon Mediterranean salad. The salad was a fail. I was feeling like this North Valley Group reel cause it left me unsatisfied. Culinary deception!

So, so highs and lows today mood wise, but I know our life is good. On our date we talked about Trump and the airplane helicopter crash in DC and how Trump is handling it (very poorly, using it to divide people!) He is just really really bad, but what can we do? We will rant about it to each other (Trump is a wicked man) and then I will get to work in my life, repenting of my sins, scrubbing my floors, cleaning my house, controlling things that I can control. I can pray and trust in God. God's aware of all these things and he's got it. My job is to take care of my family and my husband. I was grateful for the voice message Coreoy sent this morning. I'd been feeling happy and content too. The clean house helps with that. I also got this message from my little sis this morning, of a reel of a dad (Captain America) returning home from a day of work (war) only to facing another mess of a battle at home, saying she felt for Corey cause he was prob in this situation. I'd say that is what it has been like for a good chunk of his life, but I'm glad that I've been able to ease up on some of that stress by stepping up my game here at home. He has still be practicing music with Owen and Daniel, and follows up with kids on homework, but I'm glad that he's able to do it in a peaceful environment instead of a warzone. I've been showing up for my family, and that feels good. Today as I cleaned I listened to the Follow Him Podcast with Dr. Robert Eaton and I liked this part in part 1 at minute 42:07

"The Lord is truly there to chastise those whom he loves, including the spiritually preeminent." - Elder Maxwell. Then Professor Eaton: "So when we sense some divine chastisement, we shouldn't think, 'I'm on God's list of spiritual losers.' But instead, "The coach cares enough about me to help me improve my game. Apparently the team needs me.'"

I was chastised a few weeks ago, cause I'd been thinking we really need more money so we can hire some cleaners to come, cause it's just not possible for me to do it all. Then I had the thought and feeling that I CAN DO SOMETHING. I don't need to wait, I can start now. So then I started, just with one magic eraser a day (cleaning grout until the eraser was dead/disappeared). I feel like I'm a team captain and I'm finally leading out. The chore board is WORKING (one day at a time with a few dry erase markers, not dozens of small magnets (SIMPLIFY!!!)). The kids are practicing and we are not cutting corners. 

Thrifting

I went thrift shopping with Katharine today cause she wanted to "go to school". She put her backpack on and told me again "I want to go to school." I figured we could go to the library. I got my Simple Abundance book in my backpack and we got ready to go. But after we got in the car, she asked for a movie. I didn't have a movie in the car... maybe let's go by the DI real quick and see if they have some DVDs for $1 buck I can get (I found Frozen and Cinderella a few weeks ago!) and then thought I'd browse for a few fancy clothing items for our anniversary dinner coming up on Feb 16th, but then I got a little side tracked looking at fun flowery shirts and skirts. K was very patient with me. I have this one pair of pumps that is flowery and K always tells me to wear them. I thought it would be fun to try and play a Traditional Wife role and put on a blouse, skirt, and apron with my pumps. Nicole said something yesterday as we were talking about painting our fingernails, I can't remember if it was her thought or something she read, but that maybe it will help our husbands be more masculine if we are more feminine. My nails are hammered from climbing, but I could try to just put on a shiny top coat of polish? And I'm definitely motivated to do that if it helps Corey with his masculine roles in our family. Anyway, so I grabbed a ton of stuff and K was really good as I tried on like 20+ shirts and skirts. She crawled out under the dressing room door a few times, but she was good and came back. I did not obey the "no more than 6 items" rule. When it was finally time to go, K wanted to button her own jacket. She's so cute. 

My mom and I went to the temple yesterday morning and she mentioned needing new white temple shoes. I saw a pair at the thrift store for $4 that fit me and thought it might fit her, so I got them and we went over to my mom and dad's after I was done splurging on clothes. The shoes were too small. Oh well, I'll see if Mel or Bella might want them, or maybe I can save them for Abi or Lily. I swept their kitchen and then worked in my Simple Abundance book while K played with the Russian stacking dolls. 

I got all caught up on my reading in my book and then I went and shoveled their driveway. I think the "Simple Abundance" has also played a part in helping me keep a clean house. There have been lots of lessons that have let me know I don't need to wait for anything to come into our life or happen for me to be able to be the best I can be. There is enough to do now that I can start and can make my dreams come true. I can work with what I've got!

Really great lessons in this book. So after we got home I thought I'd paint my nails. Hmm, but I don't want the glittery pink polish that I use for my toes. So I painted K's toes instead. She brushed against her big toes and was sad, so I got some of Corey's ear plugs to keep the big toes separated. She fell asleep as she waited for them to dry. 

Good for her to sleep, we had a busy morning. When Sophi got home from school, I had promised to take her to look for shoes. I said we'd go to one place: Uptown Cheapskate or DSW. She voted for Uptown Cheapskate. After 5 minutes in there, she couldn't find anything she liked. I told her she might be a bit high maintenance. She agreed. Then since I was feeling like a pushover, we went to the mall across the street and found the shoes she wanted at Journey's. I want a pair of shoes like that too (adidas sambas), so I bought them for ME . Both the size 8 and 7.5 fit me, she said 7.5 was a little better, so I got the 7.5 and also got myself some socks. I told her she can borrow the shoes and socks now and then until she's able to buy them off of me. Got home and I changed into one of my new trad wife shirts.

Haha it's fun to play house! I put on an apron too. When my kids saw me, they said "Wow..." I explained myself: "I'm playing house. I'm the mom." 

Yesterday I was able to take a bike ride after kids got home. As I left I said "I finished all my housework so I'm going for a ride." I was glad O didn't have trumpet. I drove to the ski parking lot and made it up to the ruins from there. My toes were freezing! I didn't wear the toe warmers cause I wasn't sure they even worked. My toes never feel "warm" but I guess they have been fighting so much cold that I didn't notice. I've been taking them for granted. I'm sorry toe heaters. You do actually work. I will now give you the proper appreciation you deserve. Here's a pic of the creek at the 1st bridge. So pretty.

Corey worked until past 7:30, had dinner at his dad's, but had some fruit and yogurt after he got home. Katharine always likes to have him share with her. As K sat on the counter, Corey cautioned her "Be careful, don’t fall off." Katharine protested "I’m not Olaf!" Corey: "I know you’re not Olaf, but you’re close to the edge…" Katharine "I’m not close to the edge! I’m Katharine!" 

She's so fun, she's our favorite. She also took my phone recently and took a lot of photos. 

Abi said it was aesthetic! She didn't just take a lot of photos of one thing, she was very particular taking one photo each of different items. 

We loved it. She's so fun

Don't Cut Corners

Sick kids always makes life slow down a little bit. Over the weekend, it felt a little bit like Katharine was draining the life out of me, but she's feeling better and things didn't get derailed around here. The house is still amazing clean and the kids are even doing their part thanks to the chore board where we are taking it one day at a time. There are about 4 or 5 chores listed for each kid, depending on what I see needs to be done. And for most of the kids, one of the chores is cleaning corners or baseboards. It's been amazing, and I'm not sure if it's cause they like doing those little quick jobs, or if it's cause there's such an immediate reward from making a dirty corner clean. It's obvious now which corners have been done and which one still need to be cleaned. I have two little buckets that have magic erasers, sponges, and a tooth brush, and the kids grab that to clean the corner or to work on the grout. The kids have been doing it and are proud to show off how nice the baseboards, grout, or corners look when they are done. After corners are done, we'll move it up to doors and corners of the cabinet and cupboard doors. I have thought to myself that "no cutting corners" could have meant no cleaning the house and having it look pretty clean but not do the corners cause you think no one will notice. Just like the clean grout, I'm noticing which corners are done, and I like seeing them clean and dirt and dust free. One of the origins of the phrase “cutting corners” comes from carriage driving in the 1800s, when horse-drawn vehicles came to a sharp turn in town, instead of going all the way past the curb, some would turn early, and the rear wheel would potentially clip the sidewalk. But I like the idea of a mother teaching her kids to clean, and making sure they do the walls, the floors, and don't forget or "cut" the corners! I guess we've been cutting corners for years, and I'm glad we're not going to let the corners get cut from the to-do list anymore. I'm also glad we've been able to get the house clean with this being a sick month. Honestly I've had a lingering cough this whole month since we got back from Florida, and the kids have taken turns with coughs and now K's fever. I'm glad it didn't derail us. So far the only thing that has changed is that Katharine has not been sleeping with Abi. K has moved into our bedroom for the past few days. We'll see if this is just a temporary move or more permanent. She was in our bed last night cause she's sick.  

Corey doesn't love them in our bed, so if this is a permanent move by K, we'll have to make her a little place on the floor. Over the years, most of our 2 and 3 year olds have slept on our floor (Two examples of Natalie and Owen). So as I was scrubbing the grout in the kids bathroom upstairs recently, I had the thought that I was getting my physical home ready for a visit from Jesus. It was an exciting thought and made me want to make sure that we get every nook and cranny of our house clean. We have been doing so good! and not by doing it all, but just being diligent every day at doing something to take another step toward that final state. A verse of scripture that I have on the wall by our bedroom door came to mind: 

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.

- Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 

I'm trying to commit those 7 things to memory: Prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, order, God. I like that fasting is on there, not feasting, haha. (I haven't been taking steps in the "nicely set dinner" department at the moment. One thing at a time...)  Also I like the idea of "house" meaning "family" - Joshua 24:15, and also thinking of what is on every LDS Temple: Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord! 

I went to the Jordan River Temple at 4:20 this morning for a 5 am initiatories with my mom. She is the only one "crazy" enough to get up that early with me! Then I met Corey at the Ft Union Momentum for a quick bouldering session. I left at 6:50 to get home to take carpool and he stayed and did some cardio. I did 24 total (15 sends and 9 attempts) and then this afternoon I took a winter hike from 3:40- 5:15. I parked on the side of the road at Lisa Falls, where I had parked for my hike with the kids. I didn't listen to anything on my headphones. No music or podcasts, just nature's soundtrack. I walked up to the ruins, then along the river, up techgnar and then up techy, back down to Lisa parking lot. I love  Utah, I love Granite, I the mountains! I enjoyed exploring by the river. 

There was one spot where it looked like the snow and ice had formed a bridge across the river. It looked like people had walked across it. I attempted, but when I felt and heard it crack when I took a step, I immediately stopped and turned around! I don't want to risk falling in. There hasn't been fresh snow for a few days, so the snow had ice crystals on it and it looked really pretty. Looking into a water hole on the river.

STEAM Night

Tonight was STEAM Night over at the school (Science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). I knew the elementary kids would like to go when I saw the flyer last week. Natalie was in charge of FHE tonight, so I asked her over the weekend what she thought of us doing that. She was ok with it, so that's what we did tonight. They had lost of fun stations and they gave us a paper to get "stamped" at each station, that we could then turn in for a cookie at the end. There was one table with a circuit board, where you had to put the plus and negative pieces together correctly to make a fan go and then fly. Owen really liked it. Daniel came over to try it and I watched him. He was looking at the "solution" on the back of the page. I said "I think you're supposed to figure it out..." Daniel replied "Nah, I like copying instead." 

Haha. Most of the kids liked the playdoh station the best. It wasn't regular playdoh though - it was kinda foamy, not sticky though and very light. It smelled like vinegar. Daniel rolled three colors into a very good sphere and after it dried, he was able to bounce it like a bouncy ball! We were all amazed at that. Anyway, it was a fun night, the kids each got a cookie from the principle after. Lily didn't come to FHE, she said she had homework, but Corey thinks she was just mad at her sisters. He stayed with Lil for a little bit. Katharine seemed to have been feeling better today, but once we got to the school, her eyes looked terrible, like she was dying of hay fever or something. She also got really mad at me, cause she insisted on being held, and as I held her, I slightly crumpled her paper that they gave us at the beginning. Looking at the paper that I set on my leg after she refused to take it cause it was not perfectly unwrinkled.

"Mom! You messed up my paper! Waaaah!" She's utterly disgusted by my lack of care.

I think she was really just tired, so I let her verbally abuse me, and I held her and took her out into the hall, where she fell asleep. Abi stayed and talked with me, and took this pic. 

Then Corey came over a little bit late and stayed for a bit, but then he took Katharine back home. I'm hoping she's over this bug soon. I went and watched Owen play a game called "Face off" with one of the teachers. It's where you roll a pair of dice and then do some math to be able to cross off one of the numbers 1-12, first one to get all of them cleared wins. After Owen won she said she's give him a stamp, he said he already got one for that station, he was just playing for fun, She and I smiled at each other and thought it was so cute. He's a good kid. Peter was at a birthday party tonight so no pics of him playing games. His friend's mom gave him a ride there and back (Airborne in Draper) so that was very helpful and they brought him back at 7:30.