Big Mountain

The forecast says it's going to rain Monday and Tuesday next week, so I really wanted to get up in the mountains today. Corey needed to get in a ride too, since he spent his morning at soccer games. I spent mine helping my sister move. There were some logistics we had to work out first - Natalie had a b-day party at 6. Hyrum agreed to take her there (out by Churchill) and then he'd go to Wayne's and stay there for the next few days. Ok great. Sophi agreed to stay home while we did our ride. She had a b-day party at 8. That works, we'll be back by then. Katharine wanted to go to Uptown Jungle, but I told her that Sloane was coming over to play, and so she was ok with that. Then Corey and I left. I was game for the ruins, Park City, or Corner Canyon. Corey veto's PC cause he didn't want to drive that far. He was game for Snowbird. So we went there, and unfortunately it is Oktoberfest, which means we had to park far away. Not that big of a deal, cause we were able to just ride our bikes down, BUT I think it did cause enough of a delay that we didn't get to the top like I was hoping. But it was beautiful. 

Maybe us not getting to the top was because I kept stopping to take pictures. 

IT WAS SO PRETTY! Not the most amazing pretty (kinda muted colors again this year) but still pretty, and with the sun shining through the trees it was lovely.

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous

Thanks for the ride sweetie! 13.61 miles in 2 hours 47 min, 2 hour climb, 47 min ride back down.

Not bad for two 50 year olds. 

It got dark quickly.

Pretty pretty. Maybe there will still be a chance to go to the top, but that was a lot of work... I wonder if I have it in me to go again this year even if we do get a chance. We were so close! We got the same distance as last time, 13.60 miles, actually we got 13.61 today, but that's cause we rode from up on the road down to the parking lot cause parking was all full with Oktoberfest, boo. Oh well. I bet we'll have another chance, though Saturday soccer games makes it tricky. First and last time that we got to the top was 2024. I love the view from up there on top of the world. 

SO, it was a busy day and I am glad we were able to fit that in eventhough we didn't have as long as I would have liked. Corey took the boys to their games this morning, and he took Katharine with him as well, she was happy to play with Scarlett. I took HLSNP to help my sister move at 10am. There were a lot of men from the neighborhood there, so that was good. They did most of the heavy lifting but we tried to contribute where we could. Peter sweeping, he's a sweetheart. 

He likes to sweep too. 

Sophi learned that she has a natural talent for playing the accordion and she wants an accordion now. I shall keep my eyes out! Anything to help this girl practice something music wise, she and Natalie haven't done much the past year. The girls and Peter got a few gifts after cleaning - some lego flowers that were not going to make the move. 

Natalie got a new car! I mean desk!

Congratulations.

Jersh was also not taking two carpets, and I thought we could use them in the basement, so my brother Neil helped bring those to our house with the desk. Even though people in my family have allergies (Corey, Sophi, Daniel, Peter...) and these carpets have been living in an area with three dogs and two cats, I decided I'm not scared of that. Natalie helped me and we vacuumed them a lot, and mopped the side room, and Natalie vacuumed under the couch cushions and stuff too, and they are nice big area rugs, which I've been wishing for for a while. The side room has been heavy with the black shag carpet in there, which wasn't large enough with the big couches and ottoman, I haven't liked it for a while... We moved the ottoman downstairs, the carpet is larger and lighter colored, and it looks really nice now! 

So that was a blessing, thanks Jersh. Hyrum went up with Neil and helped unload at her new house in Bountiful. Natalie and I stayed and cleaned, took time to smell the roses...

Here is my three headed rose from the front yard peace rose bush - I love them! We worked hard today, so I was glad to reward myself with the ride tonight. Tomorrow is fast Sunday, started my fast around 3. We left at 4 with a few logistics that the kids helped us out with - Hyrum stayed to watch kids and then he took Natalie out to a b-day party at 6, then went to stay at Wayne's again. It's been nice having him here! Lily had work, Sophi stayed and watched kids, Katharine had been asking to go to Uptown Jungle, but I told her that Sloane was coming over, and we babysat her, she's Peter's age, so Kat was ok with that. They played sliding a toddler mattress down the stairs. 

Mel and Christian were here when we got back. They are going to Florida on Monday, fun! Corey visited with them and I went to pick up Natalie at 10. It's late, tiredness has just hit me. Goodnight. 

No School

Katharine has been sleeping with Peter lately. They are a cute little pair. 

Daniel and Peter didn't have school today because of parent teacher conferences, so Katharine was glad to have her basement buddy here to play with her. They played legos downstairs and little people in the front room. I let them take it over a few days ago and they are still happy reigning over their little kingdom. Hyrum was home, and I was thinking I'd try to sneak away for a hike... I asked Hyrum if I could take his car, he said yes, but then I ended up not being in a spot to get away until after the girls got home, so then I just took the van. With Hyrum home to keep a professional eye on things, I felt ok about being gone longer than usual and I was gone exploring in the canyon for 3+ hours. I brought along my clippers with plans to cut my way through some trees and make a more clear trail on the south side. I made good progress and I felt a little bit like a weirdo but it was fun. Once I was was finished clearing things, I headed to my final destination below the ruins waterfall. I got our my little toddler blanket from my back pack, sprayed myself with a little bit of bug spray, and then layed down by the creek and listened to the water. Kind of a nap, just long enough for me to zone out and then come to again. I also made myself a chair, which was fun. I sat there and read the scriptures. I guess it's more of a stool, I guess. When I decided I'd fooled around long enough, I started to walk down the main trail, but then remembered I hadn't gotten water, so I went back to the creek and then I got distracted for 15+ more minutes throwing rocks to make another pile for me to possibly cross on. I didn't finish, but made progress. 

I did 3 miles in 3 hours, so not a lot of distance, but a lot of fun. If I do a 12 hour walk, I'd totally do it up here and just have fun for 12 hours. O'Brady did say it doesn't matter if you do 1 mile or 20, the thing is to be alone and with your thoughts, and I can do that, esp up in our canyon. I love the canyon, it's bliss and color and I love it. 

Enjoying my autumn walk back to the car. 

I got home the same time as Corey. Then we got dressed and went out for date night. Hyrum got a movie on for the kids and went out for some Little Ceasar's pizzas. Corey and I went to eat at the new Aubergine in Sugarhouse. Corey said there was a bit too much greenery there. It was nice, just definitely a girl place. His testosterone took a hit, kinda as if he'd gone shopping at the mall (Mars & Venus) haha.

Belated HBD & Stuff

Today we finally celebrated Daniel's birthday with some cake here at home. Happy Birthday Daniel!

He and Hyrum got home early (1am) yesterday morning. That morning I woke him up when I got Peter up, and asked him if he'd gotten enough sleep (aka if he was able to sleep on the drive home) he said he didn't sleep that much. Ok, so I let him rest two more hours. I sent Peter off and then got Daniel up  around 10 to go to school. At that time a pest control guy was here and he was parked behind Corey's car, so while we waited for him to finish, we did some of D's missing homework. Daniel has 3 weeks of missing work that I learned about at Parent Teacher Conferences, plus this week, so he had a bit of work to do. We took a small chunk out of that, then it was time to drive him over. We are glad you are back Daniel! Have fun at school! Your teacher and friends will be happy to see you again!

(Yes he's wearing the same clothes from country dancing last night). Kat giving him a hug. She likes to give hugs. 

When Natalie got home from school yesterday, I asked her to make the cake, which she did. I picked up ice cream when I dropped Lily off for work, but then we didn't get around to celebrating cause people were gone with friends and then for YW and then it was too late and I didn't want them to all go to bed with a blood sugar spike, so then I said we'd do it today after they got home from school, and that's what we did. Make a wish -

Kids ate all that, plus a Bundt Cake a neighbor dropped off yesterday just because (so nice! Thanks you Farah!) The Bundt cake was chocolate and Daniel likes vanilla, so Natalie still made him a cake. After eating that, I went to the gym, kids went to play, and I was back in time to take Daniel to soccer, then  I did my daily escape to my canyon.

The moon is close to full and it was just rising over the mountains as I picked up Daniel from soccer  - it looked so AMAZING...

Cleaned today, my bedroom and had the kids do some chores. Tomorrow D&P don't have school. Corey and I talked about going on a ride and leaving kids with Hyrum, but he was in the basement all day yesterday with a man cold and I have hardly seen him today, so I'm not sure he'd feel up to being in charge. So probably no morning ride. It might snow in the mountains on Monday and Tuesday, so I was hoping to get to Big Mountain before then. Maybe we'll be able to on Saturday, fingers crossed. 

What else about today - The girls don't eat breakfast cause they use all their morning time doing their hair, makeup, and fit. So this morning I got up and got them some veggie cups to go.

This was in part on Corey's request from last night that the kids eat a healthy breakfast. I was able to use veggie leftovers from dinner to make curried cauliflower and carrots on top (cause you eat veggies first) with an egg below (I don't eat eggs but for them I'll allow it, I still need to get Corey on board with that) and then mashed potatoes on bottom (end with carbs). I also made them a little grab of veggies to eat as they walked on their way to lunch, to get the veggies in first. 

Corey asked if we could make this a thing. Sure. But then what did I find in their bedroom tonight? My little bag of green veggies in the trash! Tsk tsk. Corey and I won't give up though. I was thinking that it's great having Corey on board now, cause yeah, we can teach them how to do live healthily, we just can't give up. Sophi sent me a pic of her all eaten cup and let me know she was the only one that did. I guess I'll do smaller portions. But also if the kids aren't hungry at 7am, I don't blame them for not wanting to eat yet. Owen sat and ate though. He's showing us what the ideal child looks like. 

He's SO easy to get up for jazz band. He doesn't leave until 6:40 (he likes to leave at 6:37 though to walk next door) but he wants me to wake him up at 6, and he's ready in 10 minutes so I'm not sure why he doesn't sleep in longer, but that's what he likes to do! He's go this schedule. 

Katharine just after she woke up this morning. Cute little face. She came into my room and told me about her dream where we went to a different house. 

I was glad I got up this morning, cause I stayed up took late trying to fix a stupid thing. I noticed I had a bowl of pinto beans that had been soaking for too long - but I couldn't pour them out cause the sink was stuck/clogged. It was all slippery from the butter from the frosting Natalie made for the cake. Gross gross gross... Usually it's the Ikea cups that get stuck in the disposal (kids STILL NOT remembering to NOT put cups or silverware on the left side of the sink!) so I though it was an ikea cup but it felt like glass and I could NOT get it, and I couldn't find my pliers that I love that have rescued me before (found them today though) I figured I'd just have to break the glass cup and hope it doesn't shatter or that I'm able to get all the glass fragments out. I couldn't find the pliers but I could find clippers and a hammer and screw driver. With the screw driver and hammer I thought I was smashing the cup. but then it didn't make a glass sound. The water drained, and I saw that oh, it was an Ikea cup after all!

So I put that in the trash and have the pic here so I can give the kids a lecture tomorrow. 

A note about bread. One might have noticed that I haven't posted pics of my pretty bread much lately. I've still been baking and we've still been eating it, but something went weird with my starter. It was super thin and acidic, even after feeding it. It was just not working like I was used to and I didn't know what was going on. Thus I haven't liked how they've been turning out - my bread has NOT been pretty. It's been super ugly and flat and more sour than I wanted. Still nice and crunchy fresh out of the oven, but ugly. So last week I put the starter in the fridge to try and pause my frustration while I figured out what was going on. This facebook "beginner Sourdough" group gave me something that I've been experimenting with the past two weeks, and today I followed through with my experimentations and it paid off and I feel like I'm back in business. 

The 1:3:2 ratio was a bit too thick for my liking, so I tried 1:2:2 and that seemed to work great for the loaves I baked tonight. They turned out amazing and nice and poofy!

So for now, until something else weird starts happening, I'm keeping a full jar of starter (I got a lot with my past week of experimenting) and I'm measuring out enough for each loaf I want to bake, so like if I want 100 grams of active starter for one loaf (just started some for a loaf tomorrow), I put 20 grams of starter in a jar and added 40 grams of flour and 40 of water, and it worked! Another thing Danica recommends is stirring the starter 30-45 min after the initial feeding mix, so I'm trying that too! 

Corey worked late tonight (just got home at 10:53) so I did scriptures with the kids. We did just one verse, 2 Nephi 33:6 "I glory in plainness, I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." I told the kids that for Relief Society this Sunday, we are discussing "I Glory In My Jesus" from April conference. I asked the kids what things do their feel like are their. Lily said her books. "Why are they yours?" "Cause I bought them..." ok, good! So you paid a price. What else? I pointed out that she reads them, spends time with them, and she loves them, loves the stories. So some things are: sacrifice, time, love/gratitude... I told them that Little Cottonwood Canyon is MY canyon. I know lots of people go up there, but it's mine. I LOVE it. I spend a lot of time up there exploring, I see it, I'm grateful for it, I just love it! It is my canyon. So, how do we make Jesus become OURS? Time, sacrifice, gratitude, it's a relationship, and a priority, we want Him in our lives, He IS in our lives, our greatest influence. So yeah, that was our scripture and thought for tonight. I love the Lord, and I want to do better and making Him mine.

Book Fair

As per our Tuesday morning schedule, I went to the temple at 5am and was back home at 6:10 to get Owen up for jazz band. After waking him, I came to the kitchen and made myself a carrot cilantro salad again, yum. I was really hungry so it was very good again. Then woke up P&K at 8 and went to the school for Books and Bagels. Peter had two donuts for breakfast cause I took one and gave it to him, Kat had one, and they shared some chocolate milk. I did not partake. Not sure why I went along with doing this damage to my kids. Then we went into the book fair. I told Peter I'd buy him a poster. There was a big sign by them that said "$5" but they were $5.99, so I think that's false advertising. Especially in todays "no more pennies" world currency. As for Katharine, I had to talk her down from a blank $17 fuzzy Frozen notebook to a $10 princess book. Daniel's not here so that saved me $10 bucks. 

Kathrine was a mess eating her donuts. And her hair dried a bit crazy cause I gave her a bath right before bed. 

It was raining when we were leaving. Katharine wanted me to carry her, but I told her to wait and I'd run get the car. She looked so small and vulnerable. 

lol, she's so cute.

I haven't done good cleaning today, but I am here typing on the blog, so yay that's one win. I'm on track to still be current after day 1. I've just let Kat watch movies today - Encanto, Snow White, then Ariel. I watched a few Sept 11th things and talked to Mel. She's thinking of taking a last minute trip to Florida, and was asking my advice, since she's in her last trimester. I did it before Katharine was born, I say go for it. Her doctor wouldn't give her a note though. I told her I had a note from my doctor in preparation for international travel (flying back from Brazil, Owen's pregnancy), but no one asked for it and thus I didn't need it.  I also didn't need it for that trip to Florida when I was pregnant with Katharine. No going on amusement park rides though! Not even the tea cups (that was stupid). As for the airport, just wear a big hoodie and carry your bag in front, you'll be fine. I need to look through and see if I have any good insights here to pass on to my daughters and daughters in law for their pregnancies and newborn infants. Maybe I'll make a master list of pregnancy advice and baby advice. As for traveling in the last trimester, I ALSO did it when we went to Pepperdine, but that was before my blogging days back when Corey was applying to Business Schools, so probably 2003 with Hyrum?

The rain is gone now, I think I'll go up to the ruins before Owen has soccer practice at 6. Lily won't be able to help me out cause she's at work! Today is her first day at the Chocolate Covered Wagon. 

Ok nevermind, I started to leave and some hail hit right as I crossed Wasatch boulevard and I was scared it was going to crack the windshield more!! The van has a big crack that almost goes across the whole windshield, but stops 6 inches short, so technically not "illegal" yet (from what the cop told me in January) so we still haven't fixed it yet. Corey's windshield has a big crack across too. We're just hanging on waiting for something. So I went on a hike after I dropped off Owen, but then unfortunately/fortunately I had to keep it quick so I could pick him up at 7:30. I was on the hike at 6 and made it back to the are at 7:15. I hiked across the creek and made it to the ruins via the south side again. It was so fun! There are two VERY nice spots right by the creek to sit and be alone on that side, I plan to go again. 

Beautiful fall!!

Two funny things - lately Owen is leaving to play with friends without letting me or anyone know where he is, which makes me frustrated when we have to leave for soccer or his trumpet lesson. Last Thursday he came back just in time for trumpet, but I had already been texting mom's trying to track him down cause I didn't know if he remembered and would be back in time. So I told him, if you can't find me, atleast write it on a piece of paper or something. Today, when he came back for soccer, I asked him if he had told anyone where he was. "I put it on a paper on the fridge." Oh! Good! I hadn't noticed it, but I'm glad he did that. I did notice it later, and saw that he wrote on a paper that was already on the fridge. He literally obeyed me, but now I need to try and erase that off my paper quote or print up a new paper. 

I didn't mean that paper that was already on the fridge. Get your own paper next time. That was kinda funny. He's a very literal child. 

Lily called at 8:30 when she was done with work. She rode my silver bike down, but without a bike lock. She texted "There is no place to put it, so I left it here (sent a pic of it next to a wall) hopefully it doesn't get stolen?" Well, it was. So now she has something else that her work wages can go towards. It will take a few weeks/months to break even from that loss. So that is too bad, less than $1000 loss, so good news is that it's cheaper than a kid breaking a car ($6900). 

Hyrum texted earlier that he was thinking of bringing Daniel home tonight after they go country dancing, so they are on their way and will arrive at like 1 am. He sent a few pictures of their fun tonight. 

The dance was in a parking lot, a little blurry when you're dancing and having fun. - 

Daniel said dancing was one of the best parts of his trip, along with the dino dinner and his birthday.

It's been a good time, but there isn't a lot for him to do. He went along with them to a class once, and other times he'd read while if they had to study. But this morning Daniel was in full Park City Mode where he was just being lazy and entitled. Sent us this pic and said "Bro just woke up and is complaining about going to devotional..."

"I think we’re at or almost passing the point where he’s just wanting to be a bum and not doing anything. He’s rotten right now. Thoughts on us coming home tonight? Wouldn’t be able to leave till like 9pm when dancing ends. We’ve been staying up late and I don’t think I’d struggle staying up. Get to Sandy at like 1 AM. If we didn’t do tonight I don’t think I’d be able to go till after work tomorrow and I don’t think he should be here for much longer. I just feel like it’s not good for him? He doesn’t have anything to do most of the day. We’ve taken him to a class and to the library for him to read. Or he’ll work in his Lego set. But if I ask him to come to almost anything out of the apartment he doesn’t want to go and makes it hard. It’s like park city." He eventually did get up this morning, then went to play with his new rocket-ish toy.

So yeah, that fun trip is done now and they're on their way. They'll be back tonight. Daniel will probably be sad he missed Books and Bagels, but it will be ok. I'm hoping he's able to sleep on the drive home, so I plan to wake him up in the morning for school. I know his teacher and friends will be happy to see him! We are all excited too, we've missed him! The kids to parents ratio has seemed especially off having him and Abi both gone. 

I'm Caught Up

It's that time again that comes up every +/- four years or so... I'm caught up on the blog! (June 2021, Nov 2017). I've been giving the blog priority the past few weeks over anything cleaning wise, and it is showing. Katharine is over at Scarlett's house right now and I just finished last week, so now I'm caught up!! Go me. Now the question is: Can I stay on top of it from here on out??? We shall see.

It was my turn to host the kiddie playdate this morning. I woke up Katharine at 8:55 and her friends starting showing up at 9. She had a granola bar for breakfast, they ate sugar snap peas for a snack, and they all had a good time playing with the Little People that have been all over the house for the past week. 

They played while I cleaned up the kitchen, which was a mess. Yesterday Ethan and Bella came over for a visit before they went to dinner at Bella's sisters house. It was fun to see them, though I went to read for a minute and fell asleep so I missed most of the visiting, doh! Alvie is such a cutie. It was funny to see him hold his ground as Corey growled at him. After they left, we hurried and got dinner ready. Dinner was scheduled for 5:10 and Wayne joined us. We had salmon, ravioli, mashed potatoes, and Natalie also made crepes, chocolate pudding, and whipped cream. All of that left a lot of big bowls that we didn't clean up last night, so today there was quite a bit for me to wash. There was also the usual daily usage of cups and plates... it was a lot. 

Unload, load, wipe of stove, wipe back of stove, counter, sweep, wipe out microwave, dishes, table, benches, wipe wipe clean clean. Yeah, I haven't done much at all to clean the house for the past month. Yesterday I knew I had to get to it this week, and I picked up my bedroom, and prepared myself mentally for a kitchen cleaning morning today. I did a good job. Took me three hours to finish the kitchen, but I did it. This was my "almost done" pic at the 2 hour mark.

Dishes drying on the island.

I recovered from all that good work with a ride to my beloved canyon after the kids get home from school. Abi called from Panama, her emails are really fun to read! She's funny.

I love the colors in the mountains! First day of fall is tomorrow!

Got home, cleaned myself up, Lily made curry for dinner (we all like it when she cooks dinner!) I took Peter and Katharine over to parent teacher conferences - Daniel at 7, Peter's at 7:15. I went and talked to his teacher even though he's not here. Still up in Idaho - 

Daniel's teacher was behind though, so at 7:15 I told the person waiting for the 7:15 slot to tell the teacher to skip us from the 7 time and I'd come back at 7:30. Over to Peter's class, then came back to Daniel's class room. Peter made a temple.

Sunset tonight was at 7:25, so it was dark by the time we're done at 8. I'm glad I got in my mountain time in before the conferences. 

Here are some more of the photos that Hyrum sent us today of their fun up in Rexburg.

On Sunday night they took Daniel to a party, and they celebrated his birthday again there. They had a cake with candles for him to blow, and a group of like 50 adults all sang to him! Corey said "Why do I think you'd have less people willing to give that kid such a memory at most other schools...." I love BYU Students. Too bad for us, we're never going to be able to compete with that!! Hyrum took him to a Lauren Daigle concert Friday night (I think). 

He wasn't that impressed, haha.

He's been having so much fun that Hyrum commented "I do feel like he’s already becoming a little bit of a monster. Sorry about it and good luck with that" We'll put him back to work when he gets home! I'm glad he's having this experience though.