First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the elementary boys. 

I took the traditional pic on the stairs, but didn't walk them to the bus. I would have if they asked, but they didn't, so I just stayed with Katharine. We didn't do any back to school shopping, but hope to do that soon. They're good on backpacks and clothes, but they could use some new shoes. It's cute that Peter still wants to wear the cowboy boots from Wesley everywhere. Tonight I made dinner around 4 (potato salad) and put it in the fridge, then I went on a ride to the ruins. I was back at 6 and then I set the table (!!!) and we had a sit down dinner. It's been a while since we did that. I was pleased to see the kids eating a healthy dinner - some spring greens with the potato salad on top and a drizzle of a vegetarian dressing. 

The plan we made yesterday was: dinner at 6, FHE at 7, leaving for FHE at 6:45 - we went to Waterford and played soccer. We invited Ethan and Bella to join us. They are staying with Wayne for a few days. They joined us and invited some of Ethan's friends from the DR to come. I thought soccer would be an easy activity that everyone would like, but they weren't into soccer. So we had a game of kids vs. parents, and then when they showed up we visited and had some ice cream sandwiches. Katharine guarding the sandwiches until I gave the OK - 

When I gave the green light, they all ate them, and I bought too much and so they each had three and most of them felt sick afterwards. 

So better to have too many than too little? Maybe not, next time I'll just have two boxes, not three. 

So they weren't interested in soccer, but Corey talked to them about climbing and they thought that that sounded fun, so we took them to the Temple Quarry first to walk around there and learn some of the history of the area, and then we went to Momentum. I'm glad that they wanted to do that, cause that got us another month of membership. Corey was wanting to cancel, but then we renewed for another month after they expressed interest in it. 

A butterfly update - I found lots of eggs last week. I gave half of them away, but of the ones I kept, I was worried they were duds - but then when I checked this morning I had 13 that had hatched, fun!

I have some big ones and at various caterpillar stages and should have a few of them change to chrysalides this week. I didn't keep any of the eggs I found in July, cause we were busy at reunions, but I've kept some since we got back from Park City. It's fun, I'm not going crazy, but have been keeping track of the eggs I found. The first ones I found were on July 10 (16 eggs). Here's how many I found on each day: 

• July 10 - 16
• July 11 - 1
• July 13 - 3
• July 14 - 8
• July 15 - 3
• July 16 - 4 before we left for Bear Lake (cause Owen saw a monarch flying around the plants by the AC - Terry came over while we were gone and found 31!)
• July 23 - 1 egg
• July 25 - 1
• July 26 - 7 
• Then park City
• Aug 2 - back from PC, found 21 eggs and 2 babies
• Aug 4 - 4
• Aug 8 - 1
• Aug 10 - 18 eggs
• Aug 14 - 30 eggs 
• Aug 16 - 3 eggs, gave 16 eggs 4 babies 3 big to Alisha
• Aug 18 - one baby
• Aug 19 - 1 baby

I'll put those numbers here for now to compile stats later, if I feel like it. 

One other note about current events, today I was listening to a podcast about Epstein called "The Palm Beach Predator". I came across it on Saturday when I was doing some googling about his ranch. I didn't know he had a ranch. There are 5 parts on ABC on YouTube that are the same clips and people interviewed. Horrible things that people do to other people. I pray for healing for all of the survivors. I did use to think it was weird that one person accused him and then lots of people jump in and do the same, but now I understand why that happened. It's really horrible that Epstein and Maxwell could do that to people and feel invincible because of their money, and that the victims would feel so powerless also because of Epstein's money. And that so many powerful friends and businesses would be on Epstein's side because of his money. I think money and seeking safety from money is the mark of the beast - the only other time the 666 number is mentioned in the Bible is in 1 Kings 10:14 where it notes Solomon received 666 talents of gold. I think that's what John the Revelator was pointing to when he used that number in the Book of Revelation 13:8. So yeah, that's going on in the world today, and I think it's horrible Trump is not being transparent about the files. My 2 cents.

Leftovers

Last Monday, I got a late evening call from a neighbor. She was wondering if we'd be interested in some veggies and other Mediterranean sides. She said it was leftovers from a "swim and dive" banquet, and was too much for them. Well with that, we've been eating Mediterranean for over a week. It's helped me give Corey nice healthy lunches.

We have a LOT of peppers, hummus, pepperoncini and kalamata olives. It makes such a simple and healthy meal! Lettuce, bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese, olives and hummus. I really like the tangy kick the yellow pepperoncini peppers give, it goes well with the creamy hummus. Another neighbor brought us over some huge Costco Pizzas leftover from a Lyceum concert. Another neighbor was going out of town and had just had their family over for dinner, and had leftovers that would go bad while they were gone, and asked if we wanted them. There have been a few others, that I'll try to remember, but yeah, it's been small and simple things that have been helping us get by lately. We pray constantly for help and for God to provide for us, and yesterday I realized that all of our kind neighbors was one small way he was helping us make it day by day. Sure we'd like just a big quick fix to it, but instead it's been small and simple things. We have not signed up the girls for their violin lessons, cause the budget is too tight, but I told their teacher we'd let her know in September if we can do lessons. If we don't do violin, they WILL be doing piano, so help me (you got it Natalie???)

Natalie goofing off with Peter tonight. I like that they are fun and creative, but I wish the balanced that out with a little more disciple and work. Owen is probably our most disciplined kid. Through the whole summer break, this kid still woke up and got up and was doing stuff. Legos, he's good at practicing trumpet when I tell him to, he's busy playing with friends, and will occasionally ask to watch a football highlight or some sports thing. He's exceptional.

Well, it's back to reality for everyone tomorrow. They'll all have to channel some discipline in the morning. Maybe Owen can share some of his. 

First Soccer Games

Hello, coming to you live at 10pm on Saturday night. Corey is over at his parent's house waiting for Sophi to be done at a birthday party, Abi is with friends, Lily is here doing BYU math homework, Natalie is upstairs prob not doing much, maybe playing with Katharine? The boys have showered and are having a little bit of food before bed. They had a good day. Owen had his first soccer game at 9am. We were cleaning the church again today at 8am, so Owen got to leave cleaning a little early. He's on a big field this year! Katharine saw me leaving the church with him and cried cause she wanted to come with me, I told her we weren't going home, we were going to Owen's game, but she wanted to come, so she did and then she cried for a bit there cause she wanted to go home. We will after his game. Sniff "Okay..."  Go #4!

She sat and laid down on my lap and I put my feet on the grass for grounding. Then I found a package of Goldfish crackers in my purse. She was pleased with that, since we woke up and went to the church to clean without anyone having breakfast, so she was hungry.

Owen had fun, lost 3-1. We went home and then Corey took Peter to his game at 11:30. Daniel and Natalie went with him, probably hoping for Wendy's on the way home, which didn't happen. 

After they got back I went and ran errands - Walmart for rice milk and onions, then Costco for food. I kept it pretty tight. We're in crunch time. We're postponing music lessons for a few weeks, hoping to know more about Corey's project by then. We're even going to cancel momentum, sniff. Everything is on freeze.

When I got home from Costco, Alive was here. Ethan and Bella went to the temple so I got to play with him for an hour. I need some baby toys. I had some rings which he liked, but I need a rattle. 

Then he took a nap in my arms. He fell asleep as soon as I wrapped him up and held him right. 

I texted them when he woke up, they came back (were close by eating at Costa Vida) and then I went on a ride (Clarks) before the sun set. 

Yesterday went on a walk in the morning, Corey did a ride, Abi took carpool. I didn't let Sophi and Natalie go to Maceys' with friends after school cause they didn't practice. We are serious. They gotta practice. Date night discussion about kids' responsiblities. Ethan Bella and Alvie came over for last night for date night too. They picked up some pizza (Corey paid, they delivered) and as he looked at the legos all over our bedroom floor, he said we need to set boundaries and bring back the toy monster. That might be a good idea. Corey and I went out to eat at Bandits. We made a pretty good plan of attack for Saturday and the upcoming week as we waited for our food. I made a list of things to discuss, like going to Disneyland after Wesley gets home from his mission, cause Peter's never been and needs to go while he's still little. I think I'll make a list of things to discuss again next week. Back at home we talked with Ethan and Bella until 10:30. I think I'll bring back the Summer binders, which said system never really started, but we'll try again but they will be School Year binders. 

Going to make a calendar for each of them right now. Used this site, looks pretty good! K I just printed those. Ok, yay for me I blogged today! I'm trying to stay on top of it and blog every night. Oh, here's a pic of Abi's thing she went to tonight - it was a "pink party" for all the new Senior ladies. 

AC Repair

Yesterday was the first day of school for Abi Lily Sophi and Natalie, but I didn't take any pictures, cause I was up the mountain on a bike ride. Abi took Lily, who had to be at school early to give the incoming freshmen a tour, cause she is a "RISE ambassador", then Abi came back and got ready. School started for her at 9:30. Corey took jr high carpool, they started at 9:45 as well. 

Owen went swimming with a friend around noon, and today he went to the lake with another friend. He's got a good social life. DPK have been playing legos and watching movies in my crazy hot bedroom ~ watching Prince of Egypt and Curious George. I don't know why or how they are able to tolerate being in there cause it's so hot - the AC hasn't been working for over a week. I thought it was bad Tuesday at 89°F but I knew it would be worse on Wed cause the temp got up to 98°F! So seeing the forecast, I texted our landlord to let her know and she gave me the ok to contact the AC guy Elden. The girls have been sleeping on the main floor on the couches, and did last night too cause it was just took hot. Elden was able to send someone to look at it yesterday. The tiny old AC unit on the right here is the one that cools the upstairs. 

He said the motor wasn't working. And after he talked to the landlord, she gave the ok to install a new AC, so they are here installing that right now (10am) and I trust that tonight everyone will be able to sleep in their bedrooms. Hooray hooray.

So that's was the main thing that went on here today. When Abi got home, I went to the temple, then stopped by Walmart for rice milk and also brought home some hardship ice cream for the kids. They also played trains in the basement. The basement is a good place to be right now. The main floor is comfortable temperature too, and you can feel the heat when you go up the stairs, and feel the cool temperature when you come downstairs. I'm going to post this now but will update later if anything else interesting happens today. 

4PM - the AC guys are still here, I feel bad it's taken them so long! I guess changing an AC unit was a matter of unattaching the outside thing and putting a new one in out there, but they've mostly been working inside close to where the furnace is at the top of the stairs. They started around 8:30 but I think they are almost done. I hope they had lunch. I've just been here making myself available if they needed to tell me anything. I've been able to get some blogging done so that's good. Daniel has Karate at 5:15, and then I plan to go climbing after that.  

Hyrum is 22!

Hyrum is 22 years old today. Sadly, he is away from us, far far away in California. Instead of taking him to lunch virtually (via video chat and venmo) we are going to go out to eat after he gets back around Sept 5, so stay tuned for that. 

This morning, Lily said she had to be at school at 8. Abi went to take her, cause she was going to go work for my mom afterwards. I decided to hurry out and have them drop me off somewhere on Wasatch and I'd walk home. As we went, Lily found out she actually didn't need to be at school, so instead Abi took her to Momentum on Ft Union, which is close to my mom. Corey was at the temple with the other car. I told Lily I'd get her after Corey got back. I enjoyed a 4.75 mile walk and explored the river rocks just a little bit.

Long enough for me to think I wanted to bring the kids here. Corey was longer at the temple than I thought, so I ended up walking all the way back home (thought I might have him swing by for me) and instead I had him go get Lily on his way home. Then I took his car and the kids, minus Lily who already exercised at Momentum, and we went back to the dry river. They didnt' like exporing much at first, but they got into it after a bit.

We were only able to stay for a little bit though, cause Natalie had to babysit at noon. 

It worked out just right though ~ kids that didn't want to be there at all had their patience tested for 30 mintues, and kids who had a good attitude enjoyed it for 30 minutes. Next time I'll have K wear shoes instead of flip flops, cause I carried her most of the time. 

Back on the paved trail, Katharine kept her little Ariel doll safe from spiders (aka any insect on the trail).

Owen and Peter got on top of a bit boulder! 

Daniel, who was one of the reluctant participants in this outing, came over and got on top too. 

Cute picture! I think I'll get this one printed for their wall. We got back home and then it was legos and playing for the boys. It is the last day of summer break for the girls, and so I took advantage of that by having them mow the lawn. I actually would have done all of it, but Corey requested a teenager girl do it, so I had them each do a part. Abi in the front northwest corner ~

Lily doing the back. 

Sophi did the back east side, and I did Natalie's part cause she was babysitting. I was going to go bouldering around 1 before the evening got away from me from 4 o'clock on, but Corey said he'd like to go with me, so I waited and we said we'd try to go around 8pm. Next on the calendar was Peter's first soccer practice at 4. He's the one running in this pic below.

Peter was a bit nervous so I said I'd stay and watch. Katharine saw me leaving and wanted to come, but the slide was too hot so we just sat in the shade of the tree. She colored on my phone until she met a new friend. After that, PK came with me to return library books (didn't read most of them) and then it was time for a neighbor's birthday party. Daniel & Peter were invited, I gave a very small lego set, it was all I had on hand. Natalie told Katharine about the party at Becca's house, then K wanted to go so then I was stuck cause ASN all took off to go shopping. They dropped Owen off at soccer practice which was from 6:30-8. I put Katharine off for an hour and then we went over at 6. She got in the pool for one minute and then was done. She had some pizza and soda pop and enjoyed being there even if swimming and the bouncy house are beyond her level of comfort at the moment.

Such an amazing view from their backyard on the ridge!! A view of the mountains and of the valley. Daniel going down the slide, Peter just getting out at the bottom.

The party was from 5-7, and my kids lingered a little bit, but I got home in time to go get Owen from soccer. They were voting on a team name, so it went past 8 and I was worried it would mess up climbing, but Corey came home and so we were able to go as soon as I was back, from 8:30 - 10. That was good therapy and I feel better now (less frazzled after such a full day.) Back to school tomorrow!

FHE - DIY Coldstone

Corey worked late tonight, but he does a good job making sure we still do FHE, even when we don't plan it out in advance or when we end up not having a lot of time. Ice cream usually does the trick for nights when we don't have our act together (which is most Monday nights!).  

We had talked about how it would be fun to do a little back-to-school shopping, but it was too late for that, plus none of them (or us) have money anyway.... The "summer binders" I made (end of this post) were a total fail, so kids didn't earn anything from us for back to school anyway. Natalie earned some from babysitting, and Abi from working for my mom. The rest of the kids don't have $, which led to a conversation about who would be buying back to school stuff anyway (they have a long list of wants... times that by 7 kids gets a bit pricey...) and that led to a conversation about money, then we talked briefly about a new book on Prince Andrew called "Entitled" and how $ messes up kids and families. That led to a documentary on Ghislaine Maxwell (part 1, 2, & 3) as part of our discussion on how it's good for kids to NOT get everything they want. Just a light conversation ha before we went to Macey's for ice cream. Corey thought it would be fun to do our own Coldstone treats, so first we got Red Button vanilla ice cream ~

then they each picked out their topping of choice from the candy isle. So many choices...

It's hard to just pick one...

FHE treats are our treat. Katharine got Mamba's to mix with her ice cream... I'm not sure how that turned out for her, but she looked happy. They're always up for eating ice cream. Oh, also on Saturday, Daniel went to Macey's with Owen and a neighbor Liam, and there was an ice cream eating contest going on or something and Daniel won for his age category so he got a punch card for a free ice cream cone every week for a year at Macey's! So tonight we first went there to see if that was valid for his family too (he said it was, I didn't think it would be). It wasn't.

 

K, so that was FHE. Today was spent as most summer days are ~ playing legos and games. Peter made a "Prince of Egypt" set with Moses talking to Pharoah.

Flip the set around to see the Hebrew slaves with heavy burdens on their backs.

Katharine played legos too, then took a break to play "circles", first Otrio, then Othello.

We also had a little bit of time to be with Baby Mary! 

Eliza and Mary came down from Idaho last night and they flew back to Ohio today at 5:45. We enjoyed having some time to snuggle with Mary! 

Corey took them to the airport around 3 - they went by a place to drop off Eliza's wedding ring first, to get it resized - it's always falling off her finger! So they are getting it tightened. I'm sure Joseph will be glad to have his girls back at home. He survived the first week of school last week. Eliza said that he said he's 5 days in, and he's only 3 days behind! Only they were gone this week, so he can't blame getting behind on being a new husband and father, lol. 

Mel's Denver Report

Mel and Christian came to visit today and I just finally got some details about their weekend trip to Colorado back in April. I could go put it there, but I'm just gonna put it here. So this was on April 26th, the day after she graduated, so it was a graduation trip/gift to Mel. The main reason Christian wanted to go out was to see a piano concert. Mel said Christian was so excited for the concert. He had been looking forward to it for months. Tchaikovsky's piano concerto in D. It had been in his head for months, cause he always listened to it because he's been to Russia and loves Russia. Right before it started he teared up a little bit. Mel said it was cute to watch how excited he was, he was in awe during the whole thing, cause listening to it live is so different.

Other things they did for their 24 hour weekend trip - Flew out in the morning, rented a car and went to Walmart to get food to snack on. Breakfast and lunch. They stopped by a yard sale just for fun, cause they thought it would be fun to see a yardsale in another state, haha. They went on a hike ~

Took a nap in a car, walked around Red rock stadium to look for an outlet where they could charge their phones. They went to a baseball game and got a funnel cake. As a child Mel said she would have seen someone eating that and thought "wow!" but it was too expensive. Now she can afford it, so they got it, and it was only alright. 

I guess she prob should have done it as a kid, though I don't think we ever went to a baseball game. Maybe she saw it at an amusement park. So it was Mel's first baseball game. 

She said the Rockies aren't a very good team. There was a lot of weed and swear words. Mel said Christian stood out like gold or a diamond in that environment. 

She said one funny moment was when they were looking for a vegan restaurant for dinner, and there was some place that had "green" in the name and it sounded like food, but as they were close to the door they realized it was a weed store. So then the concert was in the evening ~

Then instead of getting a hotel where they'd only be staying 3 hours, they just went to the airport and slept there. She laughed when Christian pulled out bedsheets and eye masks from his backpack. With the travel pillows they set up a pretty good little bed. Mel was laughing "What are we doing?" Christian said "We're not that tacky to not bring bedsheets..." 

They just spent all day together for an entire day, and it was good! I think they like each other. Tonight when they were here, I asked Mel if Christian had ever seen Mel's multitasking video (playing City of Stars - Mel doing both the flute AND piano at the same time!) She didn't know which one I was talking about, so I just started it on the big screen, and he hadn't seen it, and he was impressed! It is impressive, so that was fun to let him see another way she's even more amazing than he knew. We also played Wesley playing an Elvis song on his ukulele wearing some Indian punjabi clothes. Corey laughed that a video like that might need some explanation... 

Eliza is also here. She came down from Idaho today - she stayed a week longer than Joseph so she could go to a family reunion. She is going to fly out tomorrow evening. We love having baby Mary around! Her aunts and uncles were all very attentive.

Sophi got some candy from somewhere, and everyone was all to willing to help her eat it. 

I woke up this morning and did a little bit of reading while the house was quiet. I need to do that more often. I picked up "Let God Love You" by Wendy Ulrich. From my notes on the pages, I think I last picked up this book in April 2017, and so today I started where I left off on page 50. A part I really liked today was from page 58 - she pointed out how in the JST of Mark 14:21-24 Christ tells the apostles that whenever they partake of the bread and wine, they should 'remember this hour that I was with you...and as oft as ye do this ordinance, ye will remember me in this hour that I was with you." The apostles were going to go through hard times after Christ's death. When those hard times of persecution and trial come, remember the times that God WAS with us, our last Supper experiences, so that we don't give up when the clouds roll in (page 64). I liked that, that the sacrament isn't just symbolic of his flesh and blood, but of his presence with us, his companionship, his love. We can depend on that love as we remember him when life gets hard. 

The messages at church were really good too. For sacrament meeting, the young men shared things about their High Adventure trip in the Uintah mountains this week - a 50 mile hiking trip! They camped at various lakes, let's see... I wrote down Moon Lake, Kidney Lake, and Thompson Lake. I liked a statement by Jack, where he said sometimes we go to nature to "get away from the world" but really nature is getting back TO the world. Nature and God's creations ARE the real world. All this other stuff is man made, nature and the earth is God made. Sam shared that he learned there needs to be a balance between looking around at where you are at now, AND looking ahead to where you are going. I liked that. We need to do both! I guess I don't need to feel to guilty about looking down at the rocks when I'm biking on the trail. It is good to know where I am at, AND it's good to look up and look ahead at where I'm going (but don't let a big hill ahead of me make me want to give up before I even start climbing it). And I enjoyed Bro Chandler's comments. He said he really became grateful for trails, which he usually took for granted. There was a trail sometimes, but on other places it was just grass, scree, or boulders. Tribulation worketh patience, and patience > experiecne, and Experience > HOPE. Romans 5:3-5. The closing hymn was Israel Israel, God is Calling, calling us from lands of woe. Leave our lands and our world behind and get back to the real world as often as we can - nature and the temple. I'll keep that as a goal for the rest of my life, to get up into the mountains, into the real world, and to the mountain of the Lord's house (Isaiah 2).

Last Weekend of Summer

Summer break is about over, and we've all just been taking it easy/lazy while we still can. I haven't made the kids do much, chores-wise (although Abi and Natalie did a fab job cleaning up the main floor yesterday evening). Abi went and picked up Lily and Sophi in Provo this morning. Those of us at home went to clean the chapel at 8am. ALS joined us around 8:30. Owen and Daniel have been playing with friends most days, after a token practice session, cleaning of their room and folding clothes. Practicing hasn't been much cause Owen has had a cold sore, and so if he can't play trumpet, and then Daniel protests he shouldn't need to practice sax if Owen doesn't have to do trumpet. Sophi and Lily have been at FSY this week. Abi has gone with Corey most days to do ACT stuff while he works at his dad's. Natalie, Peter and Katharine are my buddies here at home. There are still legos everywhere - have been this whole week. Peter and Katharine playing at the top of the stairs...

I'm wishing we had a playroom so the legos weren't at the top of the stairs or in our bedroom. Maybe we need to nix the music room and have that be a playroom? Or maybe it doesn't matter now that kids will be in school again soon. Do you like Katharine's hair? Natalie did that Thursday night, K slept in it and was still proud of her Anna hairdo yesterday morning (and this morning... yes she's on day two of this outfit and 'do). 

I called Peter and Katharine to come downstairs yesterday to come and see the butterflies. Terry brought over 6 for us to help release. Peter said "cool" and then went back upstairs. K came with me outside.

They were all rearing to go. As soon as Katharine had one on her finger... 

...away it would fly!

4 flew away right away up high into the trees, one flew down onto the street. Daniel came home while we were outside and he ran and got that one. 

Terry kept it in her mesh cage for a few more hours and then released it later. Fun stuff. She's had 10 emerge so far, has 20+ more to go. I have a few baby caterpillars that I might give away. 

I gave the kids my 4 Lego Story books that I'm saving for my grandbabies. (I've tried to save sets before... it didn't work) Natalie promised they won't lose the pieces, so we'll see... that promise has been made many times before by many different children and yet to have been kept, although I've never made them pinky promise... but I gave the books to Natalie for Peter and Katharine to play with, with the full knowledge of what I was doing. I guess I can love my children as much as my grandchildren, but my children already have SO MANY LEGOS. My goal, after K starts kindergarten in 2027, is to get all the legos organized, and then maybe I'll remake a few of my favorite sets for Katharine to play with when she gets home from school. (Cinderella's castle - see "Thursday"). 

Well, what else... yesterday Corey was fasting, so then I started a fast, so we didn't go out to eat for date night, we went climbing instead. I did the red 5.11b with only one rest, that one is intense. My goal is to be able to do it without a break before Wesley gets home, or before they take it down, or before we cancel our membership, whichever comes first. We might be cancelling momentum, but if we do that I think we should cancel music lessons too. We've either really got to hunker down and get through this and cut off all/any non-vital expenses, or I guess if we're gonna keep playing like we can keep paying for all of this, we'll keep pretending. The kids were invited to two birthday parties today, but we didn't go to either. I'm about at my breaking point and I just can't do birthday parties. I called and talked to Nicole yesterday morning, and she gave her permission to say no to the birthday parties. She said they would not miss me, and I believe her. So I just blew them both off. Probably not very nice, but it was necessary for my survival. The upstairs AC is broken, I woke up at 3am Friday morning and moved to the basement. Woke up, went out for a walk w/o headphones, then called Nicole for the home stretch. I've been thinking of the phrase "You must be the rock that the river cannot wash away." - from a talk by Elder Richard Maynes "The Strength to Endure". That talk helped me in 2016, and here we still are. I'm working on trust. Trust in the Lord. 

I've been reading "Shackleton: The Biography" by Ranulph Fiennes that I got from the library. The top of Page 65 has a significant date to me, Feb 19. Maybe this is the journey Corey and I are on as well. At the top of the page: "On February 19, 1902 the trio set off into the weird white world, without dogs or skis, all the while hauling an 11-foot sledge, which contained provisions for three weeks, as well as a collapsible dinghy, which would be needed if the ice broke up. On the back of the sledge, fluttering in the increasingly bitter wind, each man flew their personal banner, Shackleton's emblazoned with his family motto, Fortitudine vincimus ('By endurance, we conquer')."

Natalie just came up and showed me that she's learned the tik-tok version of the Soda Pop dance, so then I just wasted the past 30 min learning that via this tutorial, then practice at tempo. Back to blogging, I just finished May, yay. Gonna chip away at April June July next. Corey and boys and K are watching Journey to Mysterious Island, and I am blogging until we go to bed. LSN are at a neighbor's house for a party, Abi is sleeping over with friends. We didn't allow sleepovers, but Abi has broken our resolve. She'll be 18 years old next month, so yeah, we wave the white flag.