Rocky Mouth and White Pine

I'm 2 for 2 for fall outings this week (I was 6/6 last week). Yesterday I did a hike to Rocky Mouth with Katharine. I should have looked at the weather though cause we got caught in a downpour! Corey stayed home so I had his car and we drove along Wasatch while I tried to decide what to do. The rain began to sprinkle right after we started our hike (note to self: keep an umbrella in the car!) but it wasn't too bad... It started to pick up so I found a board from some bulk clean up on the curb in that neighborhood which I held above us, thinking it should be enough to keep us dry. But then it started pouring so we hid under a bush with the board over our heads too. The rain ran off the board and straight down my inner sleeve where my hand was holding the board! There was a stream of muddy water coming down the trail, and K was scared but I was laughing at the situation and soon enough it stopped. We left the board by a fence and finished the short hike. The Rocky Mouth was pretty.

Our shoes were wet and a little muddy, and my sleeve was soaked but I was glad we got outside again. 

I carried K for some of the hike down and let her walk a bit too. We held hands as we walked and we came to a circle puddle on the trail... I held her hand and stretched out my arm so she could walk on one side of the puddle while I was across on the other side. Katharine said "We're in love!" which made me laugh! She's so cute. I put the board back where we got it. Back home, that was an adventure that probably gave K a tiny bit of trauma. After Abi and Lily got home, Corey and I did a ride to the ruins. It was so pretty.

And with the lowering sun, the leaves on techy stopped me in my tracks! Wow!!!

I love where we live, sigh, and I love fall so much, it's my favorite. I went to the the temple this morning and did a quick bouldering session after that and then we went on a fall hike this evening with the kids. Today Sophi and Natalie both stayed home sick. Sophi threw up last night and Natalie sounds like she's lost her voice. It was nice having Natalie here because she is the best big sister ever and plays with Katharine so much. 

That worked out well, cause I was able to go to Books and Bagels with the ODP without having to wake up Katharine, cause Natalie and Sophi were here with her. I'd be ok with bagels for breakfast, but I don't love the kids having donuts and chocolate milk. Plus most people are NOT reading books there, seems like reading isn't the real purpose? Are you just tricking our kids to come here by offering them donuts? Well this time I was determined to read, so Peter and I read his library book. I also resent the school book fair cause the kids always try to make me feel bad for not buying them books. I don't want to buy books, cause we already have plenty, and we can go by the library if we really want to read something, but I hate that they have the book fair sync with PTCs and the books and bagels or dad's and donuts activities. I don't want to buy books, and this time I probably would have but we literally do not have any money for books. I felt bad for Peter, but said I'll buy him a book for his birthday, and I put it on my calendar for December to order him a book on Amazon before his Jan birthday. But ugh, I resent the book fair and his peer pressure to buy books and erasers and magic pens and stuff from scholastic there. But I made it out without spending any of the grocery budget there. Oh, and Sophi and Natalie told Daniel to bring them donuts, so he had already eaten two, but then got 4 plates with 4 donuts for Sophi Natalie Abi and Katharine and another mom was helping him bring the donuts to me, they found me and Peter in the book fair, and that was embarrassing, cause we can't put them back now, and I didn't want to be the one walking out with 4 donuts, so I squished them together, two together with the plates holding them as sandwiches, so then I had two paper plate sandwiches, one in each hand, which was a little more discreet, but I told Daniel that it was very thoughtful of him, but don't bring your sisters donuts next time, this activity is not for them, it's just for the elementary kids. I prob should have thrown them away after, but instead I walked home holding the 4 squished donuts as I tried to calm down. 

Ok, sorry for that tangent. So with Sophi and Natalie here, I was able to blog quite a bit cause Natalie kept Katharine entertained. Natalie thank you! You are such a good big sister. Sophi I think slept in and read books on her chromebook. S felt better after she threw up, and Natalie's felt pretty good she just sounds horrible. Yeah we prob have a bug going around. Peter went to school but when it was time for soccer practice he said his stomach didn't feel good and that his legs are too tired. I think he just didn't want to go, but I didn't want to go over there either so I let him sluff. Abi took Owen to his soccer practice, and while he was there, we went on a quick hike up the canyon, cause I still have a goal to get out everyday while the fall colors are here, and they are still here! I obliged most of the kids to go cause this was our FHE, which we didn't have last night, because we had parent teacher conferences. Oh, at PTCs, Daniel showed us his picture of his family. I was thinking "my poor kids when they are told to draw a picture of their family!! 15 people! Daniel showing me his drawing with everyone~

Tonight Lily and Sophi stayed to do something with Jane that they didn't get to last week and had scheduled today cause it wasn't supposed to be FHE on a Tuesday, so I let them off the hook since it was my bad that we didn't do this on Monday night. Owen was at soccer, so Corey, Natalie, Daniel, Peter, Katharine and I did the short hike that I did with K last week. 

It was too cold for Daniel and he didn't like it and let me know that he was experiencing discomfort.

After 10 min Corey Daniel and Katharine headed back to the car, while Natalie and Peter and I tried to hurry to the rock where K and I turned around last Wednesday. Made it. Lovely mountains!

Then we headed back. We tried to run and made it back to the parking lot in good time.

Now time to cash in. I told the kids that came that we'd have ice cream at Macey's after. Time to pay up.

Abi went to pick up Owen after his game, and then he saw our ice cream and was sad cause he would have come but he had soccer, so then I took him down and got him some ice cream too. But Natalie said Sophi and Lily couldn't have some, they didn't earn it. You gotta do the lame and boring family things or no treat!

Fancy Fall Dinner

I had in my calendar this weekend to prepare for a "fancy fall feast" on Sunday/today. I set that in my calendar in Feb around the time of our Anniversary Dinner, thinking it would be nice to have another feast together at some time of the year when there aren't other obligations, so not on a holiday. I thought doing it at the start of the fall season would be good since autumn is my favorite. I was hoping this could be like a family thanksgiving meal without outside demands. I asked Lily and Sophi last week to help me, and that didn't work, they didn't really do anything despite a few texts I sent over the weekend and the few times I asked today for help. I should have asked Abi or Natalie, but I wanted to give Lily and Sophi a chance to step up and contribute. I'll try again another time, but for this I ended up planning it by myself and mostly cooking and preparing it by myself. Daniel offered to help and he was sweet, he cut up carrots and set the table. Overall, it didn't really have the big deal feeling that I was going for, but still ok for our first time trying it. Instead of calling it a feast this year, we'll just call it a fancy dinner, cause we got out the fancy dishes and I brought up the box of fall decorations. Those few fake fall leaves and pumpkins helped make it feel different.

I spent 3+ hour prepping and cooking. Made Ethiopian cabbage dish and a sweet potato carrot ginger soup with lime pico de gallo as a garnish. Next year we'll try this again, but we'll have a pumpkin dessert or stuffing and turkey and some sparkling apple juice. Again, it was ok for our first attempt. I did the best I could by myself and I wasn't too sad that Lily and Sophi didn't get into cause we have limited funds at the moment anyway and I couldn't have bought all the ingredients they wanted anyway if they had fully participated. We invited Wayne to join us and he picked up some "local" produce at a little fruit stand on Wasatch blvd on his way here. It was pineapple. Hmm, you sure pineapple grows here locally? He picked up pineapple last time he joined us for dinner too. We joked then and this time again about it and we pretended that of course it is grown here as Abi said "Mmmm, Utah pineapple just hits different..."  

After eating I took a quick nap in the basement where it's dark and I can hide. Corey cleaned up (thank you sweetie) and then we did some charades. Last time we did that was for FHE last month. That time Katharine kept shouting out "Isabella!" which was her current favorite princess. Today it must be "Giselle!" from Enchanted cause that was what she shouted everytime today, so cute. It was funny to do it with Wayne. He got Disney princesses once and went and laid down on a cedar chest "Snow White!" We got it. A few said Sleeping Beauty, but it was Snow White. Peter did Elephant. Daniel did ice cream. When Katharine had a turn, Corey had her category be "princesses" to help us out, but then K got down on all 4s like Peter had been, then licked the air like Daniel did, then she laid down like Wayne, haha! We kept saying princess names. It was Elsa. She proudly cheered "You got it!" So she was just imitating all of us, cutie pants. 

Wayne left after that, and then we turned on The Sound of Music, which was fun to watch with Lily (she thinks Christopher Plummer was quite the "hot dad"). Mel and Christian came by, and Christian watched that with us while Mel got flowers together from a wedding bouquet she is pressing. She's got a little side hobby pressing flowers and framing them. Mel shared some pics of a hike they did yesterday - they hiked Timpanogos! 

Jealous!!! I wanted to go!!! Although they started their hike at like 2:30 am!

Yeah... probably would not have been realistic for me to go, hence why they didn't bother to invite me. sniff. But I want to go. Maybe I'll sneak away sometime. 14 miles though, yikes, yeah I prob can't do that. Not sure how I pulled that off in 2008. Maybe it's not too late to try it this year, but I'm cutting it close if I want to do it. The main one I said I wanted to do this summer was Hounds tooth, and I haven't done it yet, doh. Someday I want to go all the way up Bell Canyon to the upper Bell Canyon Reservoir. Maybe I'll see if Mel and Christian want to come do that before the snow comes! 

Since they are such the outdoor-sy couple!

Ok, a few more pics from this weekend - Sophi was gifted a sculpture for her birthday from Jane, she loves it, haha! 

A good joke between friends. Owen being a weirdo tonight - dressed up in Ethan's unicorn onesie, but he shoved a blanket in it to make him fat. 

Yesterday I took Peter to his soccer game. Corey was on a ride (I had a long ride on Fri, so it was ok) The Red Dragons lost a lot to 1, which was frustrating for Peter, but he handled it a little better. He's been practicing a lot with Owen in the backyard and you could tell, he did a good job going after the ball and kicking! 

Owen won his game like 10 to 0. He scored a goal too, which he was happy about. 

Team photo. 

And team cheer! Yay Black Diamonds!

Owen's games are fun to watch. I took Owen to his game cause Corey was gone looking for gear at a ski swap. After Owen's game we went by Walmart so I could get Daniel a watch. He really wanted a watch for his bday, and I thought my mom was getting him one. She came by this morning while I was at Peter's game and he got legos, so I went to get a watch to make his birthday dreams come true. Owen got one too with his bday money that he hadn't used yet. At home, Owen gave his watch to Peter, so now they all have watches and they are excited about that. Corey and I both worked hard yesterday and today, but I did take a time out to go on a hike in the afternoon to Bell Canyon. 

And we had our 3rd to last butterfly emerge today. We have had almost no monarch drama this year so that's been nice. 

Well, I did have two that got stuck as they tried to change to the chrysalis (like last pic here). But it's been a relatively calm monarch year.

Today a pipe broke in the property next to us. When I got back I saw the water flying up like a little Old Faithful. It was taken care of fine but made the kids nervous for about an hour when it was shooting out water. 

So that's about it for this weekend! One last thing - Wayne sent a text tonight after he got back home. "Thank you for dinner and the evening's entertainment. As I was driving home this thought came into my mind. The joy and blessings which come from living the gospel is reflected through the eyes of children sharing themselves with others."

I loved that, and say Amen! So grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and I thank and praise God for all the good that is in our life, especially our children. We're grateful to be able to share life with each of them.

Daniel is 9!

Happy Birthday to Daniel! 

9 years old today!! Let's light those candles.

Daniel's life has been captured here on the blog since day 1, so today on the Wride Nation chat, we shared a few favorite pics and posts. Joseph liked this one of Daniel as a little snowman on Halloween in 2017. Awww Daniel!! You're so cute!! I also remember this moment in 2020, when Ethan was sharing funny pics of Daniel with me and I cried from laughing. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to make a list of birthday links - let's see if I can keep up with this tradition... 9 posts for Daniel's 9 years with us:

1. 2016 Awake with my new baby at 1 am.
2. 2017 My two cute little boys with binky's and blankets
3. 2018 Daniel following Owen's lead with the pacifier
4. 2018 O&D are little twins
5. 2019 Mel captured Daniel doing an interpretive dance
6. 2021 Daniel doesn't want to stop skiing
7. 2021 10 stitches!
8. 2022 Daniel swallowed a penny
9. 2024 He likes free desserts

Aww, he's a good kid. Putting out the candle with his fingers. I gave him a cup of water to use to get them nice and wet.

So today the high school girls didn't have school, cause of a teacher work day (it was Parent teacher conferences this week). So since they were home, I took a long ride. Corey had his car, Abi needed the van, but I had my bike! I gave myself 2-3 hours to be away. I left at 12:30 and rode from home all the way out to Draper to the Peakview parking lot at the top of Rush. Most of the ride I was on the Bonneville Shoreline trail.

I wanted something fairly easy, low intensity. This was long but not a hard climb. 20.84 miles, 2 hours 43 minutes. And I saw the fall colors again, go me! I'm 5/5 for getting out this week!

Yesterday I did a ride up the canyon, only got to the 3rd bridge cause I had to get back home. I left early, but it was still dark. I miss the light morning hours, oh well. Fall is almost upon us. I guess that means sweater weather and warm comfort foods though, so I'm looking forward to that. Corey and I went out to India House on State street tonight for our date. Corey ordered the Lamb Tiki Masala and I got the Butter chicken, plus some peshwari naan. One butterfly came out today. I had Lily say hello to it before we let it go. 

The kids haven't been too interested in the butterflies, but that's ok. It's fun to have them care even if it's just for a moment. It's still magical. We have a lot of milkweed but today I cleared out a lot last night. It started cause I was cutting some milkweed for Daniel to use for his egg drop that was today (like Sophi's egg drop contraption in 2020, 5th pic) and as I was cutting stalks down for that, it came to my attention once again ALL the yucky gross aphids on the milkweed. We have sooo many oleander aphids, their population has totally exploded. Like huge clusters of tons of little yellow bugs all over the underside of the leaves, yuck yuck yuck, I don't like them, they look so gross. They don't wash off with the hose, and I don't want to use pesticides, cause that will hurt the monarchs, so when I see them I've just been cutting the milkweed and putting the whole thing in the garbage. But they really are all over the milkweed now, and since butterfly season is about over (I have three more chrysalides left) I decided to just clear all the plants out. Would have been good to do it before bulk clean up last week, oh well. Plus and I think some deer slept in the plants a month or so ago, and so one section of milkweed and the daisy's were squished and it just looks all trampled and messy in two spots, so I cut it all down. While I worked, Katharine played around me. Daniel was at a primary party and got his face decorated with purple patterns like a k-pop demon, and he came to work on the egg drop. As I cut him some milkweek stalks, he and K started acting out the Isabella and Mirabel scene from Encanto for some reason.

It was so cute. I was laughing, then I told them to start over so I could capture it on video. 

Yeah, she's watched Encanto a few times... I loved it when she, acting as Isabella, gasped at Daniel/Mirabel's accusation "SELFISH?!?!? I have been stuck being perfect my entire life!!" haha, that was perfect coming from Katharine! Poor princess baby of our family, she's stuck being perfect, ha! They played until it got dark, and I got the whole milkweed patch in the front cleared. The garbage is full, hopefully the aphids won't escape before the trash goes out next Wednesday. It felt good to get some yardwork done. Then we came in and I helped D with the egg drop contraption, time for bed now. Another week done, man, we're almost though September! Sometimes I want time to freeze, but I am also ok with time passing quickly, cause we're looking forward to these next few months getting over with so we can get to January when Wes comes home!

These Days are Precious

Corey stayed home to work today, so that meant I had a car! (Abi had the van at school today and most every Wednesday cause she has Lyceum after). With a car at my disposal, I was able to run an errand to the post office to send Wesley a package. I bought a puzzle at Costco for him, cause they had one for Roswell, which was one of the areas where he served. I also sent him some Lara bars (choc chip) and a few Dubai Chocolates (individually wrapped ones, also from Costco). I also thought a puzzle would be good cause he got into doing puzzles while he was serving in Odessa. I'm not sure if he still is doing them, but if not, he can bring it home in January and we'll all do it together while he tells us stories about Roswell. So after K and I went there, I told her we were going to go see the leaves. I headed up the canyon so it would be close. I thought about at the 1st bridge but kept driving... Grit Mill? No, kept driving... Lisa Falls, no.... We finally turned into White Pine. This is were we had family pictures taken in Feb 2014. The leaves weren't a glorious gold yet, but I knew it would still be pretty. This time, instead of taking the usual trail right/west, I followed Katharine's lead and we explored some forrest stairs. I took a dozen cute pictures of Katharine today, but this one takes the cake. 

Oh my gosh I love this little girl. I took that pic right as we started on the trail and after looking at it I threw my head back in laughter. She is too cute. She started off doing her usual knee pop - 

and I told her to drop her dress and just smile normal, but she can't seem to help but to be a modeling princess. So so so cute, the shoulders, the slightly turned head, I'm dying SHE IS SO ADORABLE. She is my favorite. So she and I went to the White Pine trail but instead of going toward Gloria Falls we went east along a trail that follows the creek toward Snowbird. The trees were lovely, and the mountains that came into view were amazing. 

It was fun to be in a magical forest again. 

We sang and hummed Frozen 2 songs as we walked and talked. 

I especially loved these lyrics from Some Things Never Change:

The winds are restless, could that be why I'm hearing this call?
Is something coming? I'm not sure I want things to change at all
These days are precious, can't let them slip away
I can't freeze this moment, but I can still go out and seize this day! 

Katharine did great and walked the whole time. I asked a few times if she was done or wanted to go back to the car. "No, not yet" and "In a minute" as she kept walking. We went until we reached one of the ski runs for Baby Thunder that had such a view of the mountains, wow! 

Sigh, yeah I don't want things to change at all. Katharine, can you just stay little?? I have two more years with her before she starts kindergarten. These days are precious. I won't let them slip away. I can't freeze time, but I can seize this day. I love you Katharine!!!

Once we reached the big rock, then she was done. I carried her for a little bit on the way back to the car, cause it was steep in a few places and the sand would slide under our feet. We looked for "stairs" and talked about how the roots were our stairs, and then I said "Roots from the trees help us not slip." 

As I said that, I felt there was some symbolism in it. When we're on the path of life, and esp when things are steep, the roots are there usually exposed and they can help us. The roots, the traditions, teachings and faith of our fathers, they've been there in the past, they are deep and strong, they are the  stable roots that can help us not slip. Rocks too! Christ is my rock - his words, each is a rock that I can step on to be firm. When we were almost back at the car, Katharine said "I forgot the little rocks!" and she started to pick up the dirt. 

She likes to shake out the sand so all that is left is a small handful of little rocks, then she does it again. She's cute.

So I was just soaking up happy time with K today. We went by Smith's after to get ice cream for Daniel's birthday on Friday, and treats for him to take to his class (Ding Dongs). Then came home, gave K some mint choc chip ice cream and then secured the rest of it until Friday with a note to not eat it. Then K and I made a tent on the grass outside using the hockey goal and some rakes for our tent frame.

I thought maybe we could take a nap but it was much to fun for K and she couldn't hold still.

She liked hiding in the tent though. So that was my day. I love being a stay at home mom (Thank you Corey!!) Pretty pic of the canyon wall as we waited at a light - there's some single lanes and construction going on. 

Lily got asked to Homecoming on Monday. Tonight she answered by making a cake and decorating it like the cover of the album that the guy referenced (The Secret of Us by Gracie Abrams). 

Lily was laughing at how hard it was to do, but also laughing cause she felt that she did a good job considering! haha. She gathered some of her siblings and a few friends from the neighborhood to help her deliver it. They went through the costume bins trying to find masks... Abi drove them out and took this pic. 

I think here we have Sophi, Jane, Jules, Lily, Daniel, Esti, and Natalie, aka Mandalorian, Iron man, Green Lego Ninja, Hulk, Kylo Ren, Hippi Esti, and Wesley from Princess Bride. Quite a group of characters there!

See The Leaves!

I wanted to escape for a ride yesterday, but wasn't able to, so I announced to Corey during the hike my intention to go on a ride today as soon as Abi was back with the car. After she was back from her flute lesson, I was dressed, I put my bike in the back of the van, and having previously announced my plans to Corey, I left with no guilt. I turned and drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon over Guardsman pass. It was lovely. The leaves aren't changing much in the valley or up LCC on the trail, so I wanted to get away and higher. I knew if I got up a bit higher in elevation, it would be magical. I parked at Park City, and headed up Armstrong to HAM.

Breathing it in and pausing to grab leaves that screamed at me with their vibrant color. I was surprised that even with stopping for several photos and picking up leaves, I still got a PR for the Armstrong HAM Seldom seen loop, go me!

I listened to my "autumn biking" playlist as I took in the scenery. My favorite song that was on repeat today was a new one that I added last week after Corey shared it with us - Cody Fry's Pictures of Mountains. 

I thought that I knew what a mountain was like
'Til I stood in the valley and looked up at the sky
And I felt my heart beating faster
That feeling I'd been chasing after
Is something that no one can capture 
In pictures of mountains

I'm grateful that today I wasn't looking at pictures of mountains, but I was able to be there. 

Cause pictures are nice, but they don't do them justice.

A few other songs on that playlist that I loved listening to today:

1. Sleepwalker (abridged) - The Killers
2. When I Die - Kyle Hume
3. Vuelvo Para Vivir - Illapu
4. Beethoven's 5 Secrets - The Piano Guys
5. Gethsemane - Paul Cardall feat. Nathan Pacheco
6. Baptism Hymn - Jon Schmidt
7. Someone You Loved - The Piano Guys
8. Great You Are - Jordan Smith

I have a few rides I want to do before the leaves changing is over. One is to redo Maple Hollow and see if I can capture the beauty that was there last year. I looked up that photo and the time it was taken, it was at 5:20 pm on Sept 30, so I'm going to shoot to do that on Saturday Sept 27 so Corey can come with me, aiming to be on the trail at 4:30. :) It was great to be out today. I'm going to go out every day this week! I'll pretend I'm on vacation and I've only got two weeks, which is what we have for fall color. This is the time to go "out and see the leaves!" - Sleepwalker