NY, Hair, and Soccer

Abi is having a fun time in New York. 

Visiting Time Square - I thought this second pic was very vogue or some word like that - very Instagram worthy.

Abi, you look so sophisticated and chic! She gets back a little after midnight tomorrow night. Abi is all grown up. She used to be a little toddler with a rat's nest on the back of her head like Katharine this morning, ha

Let's see it, Katharine - 

Let's get you presentable... There we go! Much better. 

It will look like a big mess, but usually only takes a little bit of water in a comb to get it all fixed. I went climbing with Lily yesterday after I picked her up from carpool. She did a few boulders, then she just belayed me for a few routes. I did 7 boulders and 4 routes, and then for date night Corey and I went on a bike ride! We explored Parley's a little bit on the BST Granger Peak (Parley's Bench) side first (went until the trail was too muddy), then back down hill onto the paved bike path, over the freeway bridges to Parley's Pointe BST by the freeway, I think we barely made it up 1.6th of the trail. 5.82 miles total, 1 hour 2 minutes, 978 elevation. Good to start getting out on the mountains. Tonight I went climbing at 9pm - just got back, did 24 boulders. I also did 150 walking lunges during O&D's soccer games. Daniel is on a green team, Owen on blue. They are both good players, but Owen seems to especially have a passion for the game, and he's even good and goalie!

One funny thing about that - when Daniel got ready for bed last night, I had reason to be suspicious that he was not only wearing his pajamas...

Suspicion confirmed. He was fully dressed in his soccer attire, shinguards included. His uniform was clean, but I don't know how that could be comfortable to sleep in, and thus insisted he take them off. Silly kid. He got a little cold at the game today and I let him wear my sweatshirt on top of his.

I'm ready to head out for Texas next week to see the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse. Should be fun! Corey's brother Mark is going down too, and he is actually already there and took Wes and his companion out to eat! 

With cousin Isaac. Fun to see his face with family. 

Abi to NY, Owen Earned a Party

Abi left this morning for New York.

She is performing with Lyceum in a Concert on Saturday at 7pm. "Celebrate Easter by experiencing this profoundly spiritual and stirring show centered around the life and redemptive mission of The Redeemer Jesus Christ at one of the premier concert halls in the world — David Geffen Hall (home of the New York Philharmonic). Grammy-Nominated violinist Jenny Oaks Baker and special guests including Dallyn Vail Bayles join The Lyceum Philharmonic and The Intermountain Choral Artists to present this inspiring multi-media concert event. The glorious music composed and arranged by Kurt Bestor features familiar hymns, soul-filling original compositions and magnificent portions of Handel’s Messiah." Pretty cool huh! She was up late packing last night. She reluctantly took my red luggage bag, cause the suitcase she wanted to use wasn't here. Ethan had it - he took it for his honeymoon. She had to be at the airport at 6:45, so I figured leaving home around 6? I asked her what time she wanted to be woken up, if she needed my help (she does, everyday). She said 5:30. Perfect, cause that's the time I'm awake already. I have really loved studying the Book of Mormon this year. I have been feasting most consistently at the kitchen table between 5-7 am.

I like that I'm able to put my scriptures, pens, journal and other books in the bench (although most days I just leave it out all day.) I have been waking up pretty consistently at 5:15, so I'll read as I make oatmeal, and will read from 6-7 if I'm taking carpool at 7, or after I get home at 7:15 if I go climbing at 6. Natalie went climbing with me yesterday! Here she is trying V4. I was impressed that she was determined enough to wake up at 5:30 to go with me!

I'm enjoying my mornings, even though it's dark. I've recovered from daylight saving time, and know that I will be loving it even more in the summer. I have been behind in the Come Follow Me the past few weeks but finally caught up and am in Jacob now, ahead of schedule, woot! 

Some of my margin notes this morning, writing out other verses pointed out to me from the book "True Versus Truth". I want to chase darkness from my life!

Katharine has been sleeping pretty consistently with Natalie up on Natalie's bed, and I'm impressed (and grateful) that she usually sleeps through the older kids getting off to school. When she does finally wake up, I'll hear some cute sounds from the top bunk and go in to see a little head smiling at me. 

Waiting by the ladder.

We had some breakfast (BeReal, I still love pink lady apples) and K is so cute!!! 

And then we went and took some treats to some sisters in our neighborhood. I had a nice visit with Donna. She's in her 80s and isn't able to come to church much lately because her husband is suffering from dementia. I think it always helps the elderly to see cute little kids like I have with Peter and Katharine. They were being silly eating lunch today - top ramen is a typical lunch around here. 

The socks on the hands isn't a typical, but not surprising. Made me laugh. Made Peter smile too. We think Katharine is so silly!

Owen earned a friend party again. Last one was not well documented by me - no pics or anything, since it was held on a busy day and I put Hyrum in charge of it. Last time Owen invited Zander, Isaac J and Nolan. This time he invited three friends from the neighborhood, Joseph, Harry, and Oscar. They played some games while we waited for Harry~ 

...then had pizza and ice cream cones while they watched the Mario movie. They are good kids. 

Good job Owen, being a hard worker. I've appreciated his diligence. I didn't sign off on all the things this time, which might be why he seemed to be done with the whole 30 items quicker that last time. Corey's also been awarding him Minecraft time in equal portions to his trumpet practice time. I think we'll just do that for now on, I don't want to sponsor another party for what I think is just so-so work. But again, I do appreciate that he's put forth an effort to play along. Picked up Owen at school for his trumpet lesson - it was raining. 

And a few last photos of Katharine upping her game of getting into things that I'm trying to keep out of her reach! 

"Yeah, good luck with that mom!" 

Visiting with The Dahls

Peter didn't want to sleep on his bed last night, and Corey didn't want him in our room... Daniel was nice enough to share his bed with his little brother. Thanks Daniel <3

I thought they looked sweet. Of course, I tend to always think sleeping kids are sweet and cute. 

This was when I went in to wake up Daniel for school. I had gone in there at 5:20 to do my tooth fairy duty this morning - go me! Daniel had been walking around with a string yesterday asking people to yank out his tooth. When I got home from violin, I did the job, but you need Glide floss, not that skinny weak string. I was able to tie it around and pop it out. And then, success... I didn't forget to be the tooth fairy. Alarm set for 5:15 AM and I got 'er done the first night! I'm getting better yay. 

So... I took my car in for a tune up before my eclipse road trip next Tuesday. One week away! got an oil change, tires rotated and air pressure and everything. Abi drove it to her lesson after and now it sounds a bit more loud when I'm accelerating for some reason? But they said it looks good to go, so I'll take Burt's word for it. I dropped it off and when Corey left for work, he took Abi to Burt Bros to wait for the car, then she took it to her lesson. They didn't have school today cause the juniors are taking the ACT. I was nice having them home - since Abi was there, I was able to take the car in and then walked home, and felt free to take a longer route through Quail Hollow. It was nice to be outside. I was thirsty so I ate some of the fresh snow. This week is colder than last week, and since it snowed it's not getting warm enough to dry out any trails, so no bike riding this week. I'm sure it will be ready to go once we're back from Texas. 

Tonight some of our good friends, the Dahls, came by for a visit. We had dinner and a talent show and it was great, similar to visits from years past (2014 & 2017). They were down from Oregon for a ballroom competition and to see their college kids during spring break. Let's see if I can get the names - L to R: Camille holding baby Hava, next to husband Dallin, Micah, Lucy, Lydia, SANDOPCK and then Jeff with his back to us. 

Lydia, Lucy, Lily, Ester and Peter on the stairs, Jeff and Amber, Abi, Sophi, Corey - Corey and Daniel performing "Play that Funky Music"

Then Lucy played some amazing piano! 

And Micah was really good too doing lots of improve and playing a song he wrote called "Little C" that he wrote to capture feelings he had after a spiritual experience, which I think is such an amazing thing to do, wow! He said he kinda taught himself piano during covid. Impressive. Made me want to get a baby grand piano and start playing around or taking lessons. Micah and Abi playing Heart and Soul

So it was great to see them. They shared their ballroom competition videos, and for the last video I put on our Dance party 5 video to show we got some moves too, ha. J/K - We weren't trying to one up each other or anything, just sharing the joy of raising kids and our rejoicing in all the great things they are doing. We read scriptures together and then they headed back to Orem and we got an early start on the bedtime routine - getting to bed at 10pm tonight, yay! I credit Jesus Christ and his gospel 100% for all the wonderful fruits of life that we are enjoying. I can see it in the Dahls' lives too. I'm so grateful we have Christ and his gospel pointing us on the path of greatest happiness! 

Climbing and Crying

I went climbing this morning at 7:20 after Skyline carpool. I was going to leave at 6, but then right before it saw a text that they needed a ride, cause their usual ride wasn't going in until later. So it worked out good. The elementary kids were home today (end of term in the district?) so I didn't need to hurry home to get them out the door, so Natalie was in charge and I took my sweet time doing lots of climbs. I did 31 total, one of which was my first V4 ever! It is a white one on the short end slab of the south boulder, but even though it was kinda on an easy section, I'll take it. I also did 6 V3s - most in the OG - I got the White, Red twice, Blue, and I got a new pink on the north boulder. Plus the freaking Pink in the OG that I hate. Purple is gone, should be a new one there for me to try on Wed. Took my time warming up today doing 6 V2 sends, 13 V1 sends, and 5 V0 sends. Later today I did stretching for 30 minutes on yoga blocks while K played with the train at violin. So NOD didn't have school, not sure why - maybe it's the end of term in the district maybe? So I told them to clean their rooms to earn ice cream (that I bought for dessert last night that we didn't end up using cause Corey made tapioca and Abi made cookies, so we had enough desserts) and so the kids got that for lunch and then I made them go climbing with me. They didn't really want to go, but I made them. I tried to belay Katharine first.

She didn't know what was going on and didn't like it. 

So I let her be a quitter.

Thank you Natalie for documenting. After we let her loose, she ran around crazy, which I didn't like... 

I hope it didn't annoy other climbers too much. I don't anticipate going with all these kids by myself again. She did stay put for a little bit when Natalie had my phone to lure her in, while I belayed Owen.

K was running wild more when O and D were "watching" her than when Natalie watched her. 

K knows about phones, cameras, and selfies. 

When I was belaying Owen, he was acting like it was so hard and that he couldn't do it, it looked a little ridiculous. He didn't make it up past half way this orange 5.5, neither did Daniel, and they both have done harder climbs than this before...

So I guess that's what I get for forcing them to climb. Although when it was time to leave they were like "Hey! I only got to go once!" and I was like "Yeah! And you were complaining about it and wouldn't do it! So I figured you were done, sorry... we'll do more next time." So yes, it was a little more stress than fun. Natalie gets points for having the best attitude and climbing the best. She did it three times, she did liked it. When I belayed her down, she flipped herself back and was hanging upside down like Spider-man. Then she did a few swings before I made her untie so her brothers could have a turn. 

Natalie did the white 5.9 on the right above, which impressed me, then she did the orange 5.5 twice. And I gave in and turned on Bluey for K when Natalie wanted her last climb. That kept K in the kid area until we were done. I had told the kids they could all do 3 climbs, and Natalie was the only one who did. 

What else - picked up A and L after school, went home to get Sophi and violins, then dropped A off at my moms on our way to violin, and talked to Wes for his p-day. He's doing good. Katharine is cute.

So it was a busy day. After we got back from violin, I saw Corey had sent a text asking if we could cancel Momentum. That made me sad.... I was hoping that if I take the kids, that Corey will be ok with us keeping our membership for a bit longer? Yes, the budget needs to be trimmed but I guess I was hoping we could cut out something else. But it's almost getting warmer... and we cancelled in April last year. But I that suggestion made me feel sad about our financial circumstances and I think that contributed to me have a good cry in the closet for the next 2 hours (could just be pms)...

Cry in the closet, a little around the house even though I tried to not be seen by the kids. Felt like I had calmed down enough that I could go make an appearance at my friend's bday party, so I headed on the short walk to her house, and then the sky looked like it does on Flying video, and that made me cry again. Corey has said before that maybe when he feels the peace that he cannot explain, it's because he's hit the ground and is dead. Feels like this fall will be the death of me..." and while I walked to a friend's house. I had said I'd come to a b-day party, so even though my eyes showed I'd been crying, I wanted to go to gift her a book. Luckily, after we got there, before I talked to too many people, I accidentally had a bit of wasabi on some sushi, so I was able to blame my red watery eyes on that! So she's a mom but was throwing herself a b-day party, which was such a cute idea. She invited people to come see the work they'd done so far on the house they are renovating, and said "bring your favorite thing (food, drink, self care hack, beauty tool, new small business, fav hike, song, book, vacation spot, podcast, etc etc etc)" not as a gift but just as a recommendation, but I did want to give her the Pres Hunter book that I love "That We Might Have Joy" that I usually pick up spares of when I'm at the thrift store, I can always find one there. I especially love chapter 16 from that book, which is his talk "An Anchor To The Souls of Men" (transcript or video here). I probably need to review it myself today as I'm feeling in free fall and could use an anchor. I'm feeling a weight of worry over Corey's work project, our insufficient income from it for the past year plus... like I was worried about this in Dec 2022 when I went to the temple with Ethan, and things have not improved... I have no idea how we are surviving. Our 2022 tax bill coming up that's been extended twice, not to mention the 2023 one that probably needs to be figured out. I don't think Corey likes me blogging that stuff here (sorry sweetie if you're reading this) so even though, for once, I AM actually writing this on time, I'll maybe post in in a month or two so he doesn't see it. 

I shared some of my worries with my college kids so they could mourn with me. Hyrum shared this quote, which we have on our bathroom wall. “In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret... that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Despite how difficult circumstances may look at the moment, those who have faith and move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.” -Gordon B. Hinckley

Family Time and Tokens

Happy Palm Sunday. We had a great lesson at church. I want to incorporate more Easter celebrations into our family. I haven't prepared anything though - not sure if we'll be doing anything this year as I don't have anything planned yet... I need to think - I'd like to find something doable and appropriate. 

We went over to Wayne's house for dinner. Spaghetti and salad ~ Katharine doing the best she can under the circumstances.

Joseph and his girlfriend Eliza, and Mel, and Ethan & Bella all came up for the meal. 

It is fun having all the kids together.

As is one of his talents and gifts, Ethan had everyone laughing with some filters, especially photos of Katharine.

This one above is prob our favorite, because of the freaky contribution Natalie gives in the background. 

What do you think Katharine? You look concerned... Everyone's laughing at the baby until the filter's on them!

Ethan took videos, he'll have to upload them. Funny stuff. 

She did not know what was going on. 

This is not the face I remember...

So after visiting, goofing off, playing piano, playing with magnet toys and puzzles, we cleaned up and before we headed home, Corey shared a few thoughts. He asked Wayne if he could get JeNeal's leg braces out. They are physical reminders and tokens of the life she lived. She didn't want to be remembered for her polio, but how that shaped her life and Wayne's and Corey's and all of ours. Her hardships, the way she faced them with grit and resilience, and the way it taught Corey to serve as he saw his father serve JeNeal, it's just been such a blessing. I'm grateful for what JeNeal endured so all of us could learn and grow from seeing her example.

Much like Christ - tokens of Easter remind us of his life and hopefully inspire us to be resolved to follow in his footsteps.