Guests

We had guests here this morning, so I didn't go on a ride, but I did make oatmeal. After everyone ate, I put in 20 min playing legos with Kat at the table, then Nicole's son Corey took a turn - I told Kat that he had a better prince voice than me. He did that with her while I did the dishes. I smiled listening to them. Hopefully God smiles when he hears me playing with Kat, even if I'm struggling as I try to silence my to-do list. 

With Corey and Lily gone this weekend, I got to take Natalie and Owen to school. They usually get a ride with Lily, so when she's gone I have to take them cause carpool doesn't have room for them anymore, the lady that drives now only has room for 3. So, I ran them to school, Sophi stayed home today (I let her sluff so I didn't have to make another trip after school to go pick her up) then I made oatmeal as I got Daniel and Peter out the door. I tried to be a good host to our guests. Wes was an amazing host last night - he let me go on a ride while he shopped for and made homemade pizzas for everyone. He said it could be an early date night. They has pizza and then watched "The Spectacular Spider-Man" per Wesley's recommendation. Owen was waiting for a neighbor outside, but then I told him we were taking. 

That's a mess of stuff that Wesley cleared out of the basement when he got it ready for Nicole's kids last night. He slept on the couch last night. Daniel went to a Leona's house after school and was there from 2 until 8. Cute friends. 

After Nicole's kids left, Wes and I went downstairs and worked one the basement. I should have taken a before with all the legos allllll over the floor. It never ends. This was after we already had made a lot of progress.

And after several hours - now we're ready for bed, very good progress made today. 

I've been checking Corey and Lily's location on life360, they made it to Sacramento and things are good. I also noticed Mel and Christian were here close by - they went camping up Big Cottonwood Canyon at the Spruces, fun!

They made campfire Greek kebabs and want to make them again sometime with us, yay let's do it!

Oh, one last thing - Hyrum attempted a 12 hour walk today. This young man was inspired to take on the 12 hour walk by simply reading the title on the cover of my book at Park City. That was all it took, and he was like "I want to do that." So he left around 7:30 this morning and walked to Temple Square from Wayne's house! He said the first 6 hours were awesome. He felt great, made good time, got in over 10 miles. His plan next was to walk to our house, then back to Wayne's. Around 5pm he called me from Wheeler Farm, and said he made the mistake of sitting down and he couldn't get up. He said he underestimated the task before him. He was making me laugh so hard, it was really funny. When I picked him up, I couldn't see him, but he said he could see me and said over the phone "I'll be there in a sec. ...or a few minutes" haha! Then I saw the shadow of a figure slowly get up and slowly shuffle my direction. I was recording a video as he walked to the car. He said "I don't want to see a blog post about this..." I laughed and said "How about just a paragraph?" He didn't say "no", hence this little summary of his adventure. I drove him from Wheeler Farm back to Wayne's house, and he had me laughing the whole time. "I didn't expect to feel so homeless." He did it in the city so that he would have access to bathrooms and food if needed. I think walking in the city would be no fun. I'm doing it in the mountains. He tried to take a break by sitting on a rock at a car dealership on state street, and stretched his legs for a minute, then a guy came up and said "Hey, if you're not here to buy a car, we can't have your sitting here..." "Sorry..." so he left. There were no places to sit! And the sun was hot! That's why I'm saying mountains. Plenty of rocks and logs to sit on. He also said when he was deciding to be done, he thought to himself "well, I'm not finishing this... so either Mom's coming to get me, or someone's gonna find me on the side of the road and call an ambulance... Mom is less embarrassing, so..." and with that I was on my way. He also hadn't shaved for a few days, so he admitted he did look like a kid who was lost/homeless and trying to figure out life. Really funny, and 10 hours ain't nothing to be ashamed of! He got 50,000 steps! Hyrum, you are the goat! (a reel he shared with me recently) 

:)

Happy Birthday Abi!

Happy Birthday to Hermana Wride!! Aww, I remember this little baby... Abi at 2 days old ~

Now that baby is starting her last year as a teenager, how did that happen?? I didn't send her a package or anything, sorry Abi! Living international makes it a little trickier for a mom like me that is not on top of it. I told her I'll put some $ in her account though, and she can buy herself something. I'm not sure there are a lot of places to shop there on the Missionary Training campus, so maybe she'll save it for Panama. She leaves for Panama next Wednesday, Sept 9. Exciting!

Katharine slept in Peter's bed with him last night. Here they were before I woke him up. His feet were at her stomach. I helped turn him out of the bed so he wouldn't kick her. 

I told Daniel and Peter to both whisper. Peter got dressed then said he had a tummy ache, so I told him to go back to bed. I was down getting Daniel's reading minutes logged and initalling his planner, and I could hear P&K talking. I guess when he went to lay back down, it woke her up. They came down for breakfast. I asked how he was feeling, he said it still didn't feel very good. I baked a loaf of bread and enjoyed my beans and banana peppers for breakfast, while Corey went to the rec center to bike and swim. I'm hoping to go on a ride later. I haven't been riding this week cause our bikes have been in the shop since Saturday. I have trumpet this afternoon, so I can't do my 3pm ride, but I'm hoping to go after that. I'm at Burt Bros right now getting Corey's oil changed before I drive to American Fork to get my bike. Corey's bike was making noises so he wanted to take it in. He asked if I needed mine to go in for anything. I didn't have any complains, other than that my dropper post doesn't stick. Corey said they couldn't fix it, so I maybe they didn't do anything with mine? I don't know if they did other stuff, but my bike is done so I'm going to go get that as soon as the oil change is done. 

Peter and I worked in a scholastic 2nd grade book today. I'd love to homeschool him. He said it was fun to homeschool today, and he's thinking about it if he wants to, cause he knows he'd miss a lot of fun things at school. Maybe I could sweeten the deal with a Thanksgiving Point membership. Although I usually don't have a car, so maybe that wouldn't work. He and Katharine working on coloring pages. 

This evening Owen has a trumpet lesson. Nicole's kids are crashing here tonight before they head up to Idaho for school. They've been driving across the country from Maine, a trip Nicole has done many times. Corey, Lily and Wes are going to Sacrament tonight. Well, to Elko tonight, Sacramento tomorrow. Lily's going out there for a ACT class that will be tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday. Corey said it felt like the right thing to do, to take her out there. It won't be too crazy of a weekend to be a single parent, cause there are no soccer games cause of the Labor Day Weekend. Though I had hoped Corey and Wes could help us help out my sister J this weekend, but maybe I can still do it with the littles somehow. 

K, I'm going to catch up on the blog while I wait for the car, since I haven't recorded much the past two weeks yet. I'll maybe check back in later. 

Later - Corey and Lily left around 4:30 for Elko, the same time I left for trumpet. Owen is doing awesome at trumpet. He is doing jazz band, concert band, and he practiced for like 40 minutes before his lesson, and I was so impressed at his lesson, she was asking him about different songs, and I write down what to do in his lesson book but I have not been following up with him at all, but he is doing it on his own and was very prepared. His teacher was impressed with how well he's doing and so was I cause it is all him!

Wesley was a good host to Nicole's kids. He got the basement ready for them to stay in and moved his stuff out. He made pizza for everyone too, doing "date night" tonight, and then they watched some Spiderman TV series episodes. I got back and since everyone was in such capable hands, I left for a ride at 6:30 and enjoyed my time in the mountains. Wesley got a major sun burn one week ago when he was up in Bear Lake with Ethan and Bella and friends. He decided to not put on sunblock, cause he saw a meme that it causes cancer, and then he spent a full day out boating. He is still in pain on his shoulders. His whole back is peeling, and I've been coating him with aloe for the past 4 days, today we did lotion. He's going to wear sunblock next time. 

A few pics from yesterday. I took a morning walk - 

And came back to find Katharine in my bed. 

Peter asleep on our floor. 

Lately he goes to bed in his room but will often come into my room during the night. Before he goes to bed each night, he asks me if I can leave my room unlocked, and I say yes.

Just for fun, this is my quote wall in my bathroom. 

I like having quotes up that touch me, but I don't like the visual cluttery look of it on the fridge or anywhere else in the house, but I'm ok with it in by bathroom behind the door, so we all get to stare at it while we take care of business on the toilet.

Scarlett came over to play with Katharine. Playing in Katharine and Natalie's messy bedroom. 

They are so cute together. And Peter got home soon after Scarlett left, and she and Peter were able to resume their games. 

Natalie went rapeling tonight with the young women. 

Natalie going down the wall. Not sure where this is. I wish I could have gone!

Outing

I shared this photo with the college kids today - "Katharine is exploring fashion norms"

Abi said that Katharine's clothes have been on backwards the past few times she's seen pictures of her. Haha yes, but today is was backwards and inside out! Katharine has her own sense of style just like 4 year old Abi, who was wearing several layers in this old photo. 

Today was P-day for Abi, so lucky us, we got to talk to our favorite missionary. Hermana Wride is doing great! She said this week was really good. She's excited to leave for Panama next Wednesday! 

I took Katharine with me to walk around the temple quarry this afternoon. She brought along Little People Princess Belle and pulled her behind her riding in a tricycle. 

I texted my dad a few days ago with a list of a few things we could do together (I'm not sure my mom likes me coming over to clean?) On my list of options were a few museums (BYU MOA, UVU Roots of Knowledge, and the new Utah History Museum) and simple hikes, like Temple Quarry or Silver Lake. This morning my dad said we'd start with this one, and he said they would meet us there. I pressed him on it saying I could totally get them, but he insisted. So 1:15 rolls around, I got Kat ready and into the car. I checked life 360 when I left and they were still at home. I took K on a walk around and texted my dad to let me know when they got here. Katharine recognized this bench! 

"This is the bench were I was crying!" Yep that's right! Such a smart girl. Then my dad called and said he forgot that they were meeting me here, they were waiting for me to come, lol. "Ok! I'll be right there!" "Well..." then he said we'd just move our outing to next week rather than take anymore of my time. Soooo, that was a bit of a bummer, but K and I got back in the car and went to Costco for our Tuesday errands. We'll try again next week! So help me, I'm going to spend time with my parents!

This morning started off as Tuesdays usually do, with the temple, then getting kids up and out the door.  I went to the temple at 5, and passed Corey somewhere along the way cause when I got home, he was there, arrived there at 6:15. I took a wee nap from 6:45-8 and then woke up the boys. Ate a GBOM (Greens Beans Onion Mushroom) salad, BS (Berry and Seeds) snack. I was struggling to play little people with her, but I have to play, cause she doesn't want to be the boys. Then she started weeping cause she doesn't have enough toys. (She and Peter have been looking at all the different kinds of little people and they want them alllll). She wants me to get her toys now, NOT just on birthdays and Christmas. So she was moaning, then Corey took her with him to go buy something off fb marketplace that he needs for his time machine (a big cooking pot that he can set to specific temperatures). He is melting ballistic gel for his experiments. With K gone with Corey, I was able to focus for a few and blogged a little bit before K and I went to the quarry and Costco. I went on a hike around Techy this evening. I found a good private spot when I layed down and looked at the sky. 

And I left some walnuts for the squirrels.  

Katharine enjoyed playing with her basement buddy after he got home from school. But they weren't in the basement today. 

They had a big game of Little People going in the front room. Sophi and Natalie reverently listening at scriptures tonight.

Wesley and Daniel also paying attention. 

Wesley put up his hand to cover up his cold sore that showed up this morning, another gift from his body as it copes with the sunburn he gave it last weekend. 

Basement Buddies

I took Katharine to a friend's house today, Briggs, where a few of the neighborhood kiddos were gathered for a playdate. She was there from 9-11, and I took the opportunity to go to the gym (I was able to borrow Wesley's car). I was able to swim in the outdoor pool while Corey was still there after taking carpool. He only takes it on Monday's now, which is better for him, and makes sense since none of our kids have been in carpool. Owen started jazz band last week so he's not in morning carpool anymore, and Natalie goes with Lily and Sophi cause she'd rather go earlier than be in the car with neighborhood boys, kinda funny. Anyway, I was able to exercise and then went back to pick up Kat and then we went to Macey's for the last punch card on Daniel's free ice cream cone card. Thanks Daniel for letting us use that so often. I probably owe him $50 bucks worth of ice cream for all the cones that I gave to Katharine. Sophi, Natalie, and Owen all owe him $ too. On our way home with K and Elephant safely buckled.

I went for a hike this afternoon. I had fun exploring the other side of the creek. It wasn't as scary this time. I had to run back to car cause of storm rolling in, which was kinda fun. The clouds looked ominous so I got back to the north side of the creek, and then thunder was warning me that it was coming as I hurried down the trail. When I got back to the car I was a little wet but not soaked. It was fun. 

We had leftovers for dinner tonight, and I let Natalie made pumpkin cookies for FHE, which was Flip 7, and cookies. It was funny as we were playing, Katharine excused herself and then tried to discretely get Peter to come with her by saying "Peter! Sneak! Sneak!!" Peter was smiling at the invitation, and I told him it was ok, he could go, then he scampered off to play with her. 

This pic above is from yesterday. When it was time to come up for dinner at 5:30, Daniel said "You guys were in the basement all day!" Peter replied "Yeah, it's our hobby." And then Katharine added "Yeah, we're basement buddies, duh!" We all smiled at that and thought it was so cute. Two other photos from yesterday - kids playing on the trampoline overlooking the ridge.

And more kids swinging in the hammocks. 

We went over to visit with the Morgans, who welcomed home Anna this past week, and also we went to visit with the Kofoeds after their son's farewell before his mission to Texas. Those visits went from after church until 2, then home for my ministering sisters to come visit me, and then Corey and I went with Natalie for her to receive her patriarchal blessing. Hearts feeling full for many blessings today. We are so grateful for our children and to be able to raise them in such a wonderful neighborhood. I'd say this place is as good as the 80s were! It's just a beautiful area to live in and our neighbors are the salt of the earth. So great to be able to raise our family with all our wonderful friends in this village! I've been thinking of the word "village" after reading some of the comments in this video that Mel shared with us yesterday, a documentary called "Birthgap". Corey watched some of it last night, and shared some tonight at scriptures. It's interesting to see prophesy fulfilled and see the warnings in the proclamation on the family coming to pass around us. Members of the church need to be careful that we don't follow the trends of the world (see this BYU devotional by Elder Cook from Feb 2017 "A Banquet of Consequences: The Cumulative Result of All Choices"). Corey also shared this clip that his dad sent to him - Tough love by Sister Holland, Sister Nelson, and Sister Clark. Then kids kept sharing reels and things they've seen (this is about how "scriptures" go every night!) we watched the Harry Potter HBO trailer, Hyrum shared this comedian talking about black Snape, then the kids shared Harry potter with guns and the fun just keeps going. But now it's 10:30 and we're going to bed. I'll head to the temple in the morning at 4:30 and will be back around 6:30 for girls to have the van. Buenas Noches.

Stayed Up Late

Another school week is over. Corey's still working (6:15pm) so I'm not sure what date night will look like tonight. The kids are cooking a Costco pizza, and I'm just going to blog until he's on his way. Earlier today I was thinking it would be fun for us both to go explore around the other side of the creek of Techy that I did on Wednesday, but it might rain. He also might be working late enough that it won't give us much time before sunset, so maybe we'll reschedule that picnic idea. I'd love to take the kids up there if there was a safe bridge to cross, but so far it's just been me trying to balance as I walk across fallen logs. 

I stayed up late last night, so I struggled getting going most of the day. I wasn't fully functional until it was past lunch time. That is a good reminder to myself to not do that to my body or brain again. I stayed up cause I was watching this video "The Story of Reckless Ben" with tidbits of his growing up and stuff. He's "the most Ohioan Ohioan to ever Ohio" (1:14) haha. I started watching that as I shaped some dough for breakfast. I had been thinking about him cause of a video Corey shared for scriptures last night, a new Reckless Ben one that was posted yesterday about a human trafficking ring. It had 3.8 million views last night when we saw it, and it's at 9.9 million now at 6pm! After watching it we were all kinda in awe with our jaws dropped and I might want to join his Patreon so we can see the  next part of the documentary. Wow, that man is fearless taking on people that are rich, wicked, and able to silence judges, law enforcement, and news outlets yikes! Or finding other ways to ruin their lives. So after that I stayed up too late watching the story about Ben's upbringing and stuff (I liked it, I'm impressed). When I was done with that video, I visited with Lily until 1. She was working on posters for Senior Sunrise and seemed like she still had more work to do. 

Aaaand she had to be at Skyline at 5:45 am for that! I went to bed, she worked on it until 2. She was supposed to wake up at 5, leave at 5:30, and she sent me a text at 2am before she went to sleep asking me to help be sure she was up at 5. Well I did not see that text cause I did not wake up myself until after 6, so she missed her alarm and woke up in a panic at 6:15 and then just grabbed the posters and sprinted out the door just wearing the clothes she slept in. No make up or changing her clothes, nothing. Then Corey and SNO and carpool left at 7:15. I got Daniel and Peter up at 8, they left around 8:30, and Katharine slept until 9:30. I got her breakfast, let her watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and some Bluey while I had my GBOM salad and Berry and Seed dessert. I was tired, read a little bit, but mostly rested on the couch next to her until Owen got home at 1. D&P got home at 2, they had a swim party with the neighborhood at 3, I paid Natalie $3 to take them there, and also bribed her with brownies. Yeah I've been struggling to get going all day. Trying to catch up a bit on the blog while I wait for Corey now. 

Yesterday was pretty good. Katharine played with a neighbor Becca from 10-2, I read and worked on a disciple binder for myself. 

Inspiration behind this is this quote: "Brothers and sisters, now is the time for you and for me to prepare for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Now is the time for us to make our discipleship our highest priority." So, if my discipleship to Jesus Christ is my highest priority, what does that look like? What am I doing? One thing I think that means is that I'm studying about Jesus every day and thinking of ways I can apply what I learn about him to my life, in ways that I act and things I do. So I read a few Liahona articles, I'm keeping track of what I read, I'm going to try and read an article or General Conference talk every day, and try to apply to my life what I learn. Yesterday I left for the rec center at 4 and did some kettlebell stuff with 20 Minute Marriage ~ for my 1st round I used a 26 lbs kettlebell, 2nd round 35 woo. Also a round of LeoMoves stuff. 

Plus kettlebell halos w/17lbs 10 each side, and bottoms up presses from this Trevor's instinct video. I was able to do the right arm easily enough, 3sets of 10 each time, but my left arm was really hard! Had to do 1or 2 at a time and rest until got to 10, then 10 more halos each side. Ended with 60 bear crawls. I still like Zuzka, and there are lots of other great fit people on youtube that are in my feed. After that workout, I hurried home so we could take Daniel to soccer practice. Lily took him while I got dinner ready, then they ate while I left at 6:45 for a ride. Went to the ruins and did techy on the descent, 11.48 in 1 hour 32 min. I was straight into the wind on the road for the first 3 miles, it was slow and hard. I left the ruins at sunset, 8:06, and was able to see ok on the trail ride down. Today I just did a little hike around the creek near the 1st bridge. It is my spot to go to when I don't have a lot of time. I love the creek. It's my happy place. 

I call this rock below "Chief" cause it's huge, and I think of Jesus being the Chief Cornerstone. Jesus is my rock.

Corey's almost here, 7:30 now. We're just going to go to Aubergine. It's late for dinner and I'm not too hungry (had a bit of fresh sourdough) so I think I'll just get some nice cream tonight. :)

New Washer and Dryer

Today Katharine went over to Scarlett's house to play. 

They are the cutest little duo! Katharine was over there playing from 9 until 2!! I didn't have a car so they came to pick her up and that was so nice of them. 

I've already decided that Katharine and Scarlett need to stay together, so even though Kat has not started kindergarten yet, I have decided that she will be going to junior high with Scarlett, trusting that neither of our families moves away in the next 10 years. 

Today was a great day for her to be gone to play, cause that helped me to not have any interruptions, and that was important cause I had to clean the laundry room up before the new washer and dryer arrived.  Hooray and hallelujah and good bye to the current washer and dryer issues, until new ones happen with these machines in a few years. Meghan said she got a lot done too, cause Katharine and Scarlett play so nicely together. It's a win-win for the girls and for the moms. So the delivery dispatch said they'd be here between 12:30-2:30 but they came at 3. That is ok. I had the room clean my then - and I did so good! It was VERY clean. 

I moved the books into my bedroom, doh, along with other boxes of clutter to sort through, but the laundry room is clean and here is the new washer and dryer! 

I am grateful for my daughters and daughters in law for being my sounding board - Bella said front loaders get mold, so that tip came just in time, cause I was looking at front loaders. These are LG, which the RC Willey guy said LG is the best for washers and dryers. So, the only thing I need to do is switch how the dryer door hinges on. I know how to switch it, and tried to switch it myself, but I could not for the life of me get the last screw to get loose, so I called RC Willey and they are going to send someone to do it on Saturday. So the laundry room looks great, next step in there will be to organize the cupboards and closets, but for the time being, it looks very clean and presentable. But yeah, do not look at my bedroom though. I plan on taking the boxes in here to the basement, cause I just cleaned my room a few days ago, and have kept it clean for 3 days, so I don't want it to be a "one step forward, two steps back" situation. I sorted while I visited with Nicole today, have a few more to do. The basement is already a mess, almost helpless, probably more than 10 steps back, so now it's 12 after I moving more boxes down there. Hopefully Wes and I can still get after it before he leaves for Idaho in two weeks. Not today though - Wesley and Hyrum left this morning for Provo, and they are going to Bear Lake with Ethan and lots of friends and will be back Sunday. Wes goes back to Rexburg on Sept 8th or 9th. So yeah, I'm sure last minute panic will kick in next week.

Tonight I did a 6:54pm hike at Lisa and spent an hour and 40 min exploring. I discovered a new land on the other side of techy near Hogum Fork, so fun!

Well, I guess someone else already discovered it (they started to build a cabin)

Tried to mark the trail where I can enter and cross the creek - at the top of ruins, end of the climb before the last stretch to the ruins. So that was fun. I get scared though being in new places by myself. Nervous a cougar or moose will sneak up on me, or I'll accidentally come across it's path. Wes and Hyrum took the kids out to see Spider-Man Brand New Day last night. Corey and I let them have a kids night out and we went for a ride. 7:09 pm ride to ruins from the trailhead, cause we were late getting out and the sun was setting around 8:10. 

I'm the local legend for all athletes on temple quarry to mushroomland with 20 efforts AND 3rd bridge to top for All Athletes with 21 efforts, woot woot! 6.67 miles, 1 hour 3 min.

For the kids, the show was at 8:20, so we had gone to bed before they got back home around 11. 

I'm glad they get to go have fun making memories together, and that I get to go to bed on time.

Looks like Kat gave up at some point during the show. Yesterday she and I ran some errands - emissions test for the van so I can get it registered. She drew all over her face yesterday, giving herself patterns, so we just went out like that. 

After Burt Bros we went to Costco. She saw dolls she would like for Christmas, but which one!?!?! Elsa, Belle, Rapunzel, Ariel, Jasmine, or Moana??? I can't buy any of them with her with me, so we'll see how we do this, or if she even remembers.

Today was Abi's p-day. She said it was a good week. We had a lot of us on the call!

And then she is so nice to call again after the little boys are home from school so they have a chance to talk to her too. 

We love and miss you Abi!!!