Elementary Fun Run

I went over to the fun run to support Daniel and Peter. I think this is my first time ever going to the fun run. I've been set photos in the past by other moms who have gone over and sent me the pic of my kid with their kids, but I can't find any on the blog, so maybe not... Yay for me for going over and supporting my kids and the school this year (though I didn't donate any $).

Katharine is sad cause they don't have enough cupcakes for her to have one. Only the students and teachers. She'll survive. Go Peter Go!

Katharine and I stood by the sideline to give Peter a high 5 each time he passed. Here he comes!

They did two grades at a time. 2nd and 3rd grade were at 10:15. 3rd grade ran first while 2nd grade had cupcakes, then 2nd grade ran. K and I went to play on the slide after they were done.

Then we went back over for the 11:00 fun run time slot for the 4th and 5th graders. Same thing - older grade ran first, so Daniel went to have a cupcake. His teacher was so nice, and said she wasn't going to eat one, but went and asked for her cupcake so she could give it to Katharine. So nice! Lucky girl.

Giving Daniel high fives on his run by laps. 

After it was done, Daniel let me know that it wasn't actually "fun"... it was more like the worst. 

Haha I agree, "I don't care how hard life gets, I'm not getting into running." (We love David De Pierro! Very funny, and he should have been cast at Flynn Ryder in the Rapunzel life action)

So after that 2 hours of my life, Kat and I loaded up for the bike ride back home. 

The trailer is handy, I'm glad we have it for when I need it, since I don't have a car during the days. After we got home, Katharine ran in to change her clothes, she is now dressed as "America Girl"  

Very cute Kat. Granite was opened in 1976, so they had a Bicentennial theme going on along the America 250 lines. I didn't know Granite as as old as I am! So she was America Girl for the rest of the day. Actually maybe it was also because of 9/11? The kids didn't mention that they talked about that at all at school, so maybe not. Peter recently read a book about 9/11 and another on about the Titanic. In his bedroom I saw that he had made some legos about it to help him process what he had read.

I thought it was cute, but also left me a bit uncomfortable. The Titanic was a tragedy, but it was an accident really, hence a movie about it and other stuff, and we can learn lessons from it without feeling guilty. But 9/11 was terror and murder brought about on purpose, an act of hatred and war, so it's a different kind of tragedy. We didn't talk with our kids about it, but maybe we will soon. I watched this video giving a summary of the events that day. This video was also good as it showed how it happened live, capturing how we all felt that day - confusion as we tried to understand what was happening. So yeah, sobering stuff. 

A few things from yesterday - Wes headed off to Idaho. I sent him with gifts of Kodiak Cakes, and 10 lbs of rice and beans. That will save him a little bit of $ and should give him some good fiber. I'll miss you Wes! We didn't finish the basement, but we got started and I'll try to pick up where we left off and get things done next week. Daniel stayed home sick yesterday with swollen lymph nodes. I called the doctor and was able to take him in at 11. His left jaw is swollen and he said the left side of his stomach also hurts. Swollen lymph nodes seems to happen to him quite a bit. Last I have recorded here is Aug 2022. Also I have Jan 2022 and May 2021. Not sure if it has only been three times? It seems like more than that, but maybe those were just the times I took him in or blogged about. I do remember once or twice I just had him take Children's Tylenol to help with the pain and I let his body fight it. Playing while we waited.

There was a little baby there that was the spittin' image of baby Owen, really really cute little toe head with big blue eyes. I showed his mom some photos of Owen and said they could have been twins. So the doctors called us in, checked Daniel out, gave us a prescription, and then we headed out. After trying to capture a sucker photo for a future matching game. 

Picked up his medicine at 3, cause it wasn't ready when we went by after the doctor. I dropped off a book "Glucose Revolution" at the library yesterday. It was renewed 3 times and I still didn't read it. Though I did read one chapter yesterday. Take away: eat your veggies first. I didn't get into the mountains yesterday, I made it for a ride today though. Corey was in Provo all day. I was watching him on Life360 and debating what to do. Usually when I'm pacing the floor over if I have time for a ride, that is a good time to blog, cause I'm in hustle mode. So I blogged for a bit while I debated if I should go. I did 3 August posts yesterday and finished off with one more today to officially finish August, yay. I'm in September! After that I got dressed and hurried out at 4:45, as it looked very likely that date night was going to be delayed. Lily dropped me off part way up the road. I was able to take some time sitting at the ruins by the creek. These shortened mornings and evenings are killing me, I'm trying to brace myself for winter. 7:44pm sunset today. Corey and I went to Bandits for date night around 8, I got the Farmers harvest salad with dressings on the side, skipped the shrimp this time. Corey got the cedar plank salmon. Bread pudding for dessert. 

Abi in Panama

Abi has made it to Panama! 

She left at 5am this morning, so I'm sure it's been a long day. They don't use fb messenger in her mission, so she called us with Google Meet, and she can also use Whatsapp if she wants. She called us and it was good to see her face. She's still smiling! She shared her location with us on Google Maps. 

Hmm, let's zoom out on that to see where you actually are.... Ok, I see, south side...

Let's keep going and zoom out some more...

Ok! Very good, that is exciting! And she's a mere 2,945 miles away. Now we can watch her every move. First time being able to do that with a missionary. This will be a fun new feature. 

Katharine went over to play with Scarlett today. Corey took her on his way out, so she was over there from noon until 2:30 when Meghan brought her back. So nice of her, and I'm so glad Katharine has her little friends to play with. I've ordered a few toys for her for Christmas, of for an emergency if one comes up. I was dressed and ready for a ride around 3 but wasn't able to get out until 4:15. I left, the girls were her to watch the kids. S&N left at 5:45 for a YW thrift fashion show activity. Lily watched the kids until she went on a date at 6. 

I wasn't as fast on my ride as I needed to be to get home before girls left, cause I kept pausing to write notes down on my phone. I was listening to the Follow Him podcast for this week with guest Andrew Miller and there were so many nuggets of wisdom that were shared, it was great (other than I had to keep stopping!) Right off the bat, like at minute 3, Hank Smith shared a quote by a friend Natalie Norton "Happiness in life is how your manage loss, how you deal with loss." Elizabeth Bishop "Life is the art of losing. Children grown The world's a moving target. One thing is guaranteed, everything that arises passes away." Our religion requires us to lose our life in order to save it. I loved that thought - we need to learn to expect loss and be happy with trust in Christ in spite of those losses. I was thinking of my mom, trying to cope with loss of memory, of my sister Jersh and my friend Nicole, both coping with the loss of marriage and the fallout that comes because of that (moving, new home, new schools for kids). Corey often says that frustration is just a failure to meet expectations, SO if we can just keep our expectations as "I am going to lose this one day" then maybe that will help us? Just enjoy the day that we have now, take time to behold and smell the roses, and know that it will pass.

BUT, even though joys may slip away from us day by day, CHRIST has overcome all things, he holds all things in his hand, and he will restore to us our desires. So do good, love, serve, and those things eventually will be ours for ever and won't be lost to us again. 

Hand in Hand

I was able to go on an outing today with my dad, yay! I picked him up at 1:30 and the plan was to drive up the canyon to Brighton for a walk around Silver Lake. Katharine came with us. Katharine was scared on the drive up the canyon, nervous about the steep mountain sides before us I think? Or maybe I was driving to fast on the curves. She whimpered a few times, but soon we were there and were still alive, so we're good! And my dad has an America The Beautiful pass, so I didn't have to pay for parking! Sweet. (I want to get one of those so I can park at trails up the canyon, but I've got a little loathing going on in my heart with the current president, so I'm not getting one until his face is not on it.) We walked along the board walk, stopped to admire the ducks and dragonflies . 

As we continued our walk, I remembered an image that I saw a year or so ago. I told Katharine to go hold grandpa’s hand and I thought we’d try to re-create it. But then I didn’t like the shadows from the handrail on the path

Oh well. I looked ahead at the trail and thought we'd try again when we were in the shade of the mountain. We stopped for a snack. Katharine used a little stone for her chair.

Walked a bit more, then time to stop for water. 

My dad kept going, cause he was a little slower than Kat and I. Kat climbed up on a rock wall - 

And then she'd skip along and quickly catch up to Grandpa. My favorite photo of the day was when were near the end of our walk around the lake. Katharine went and took his hand without my prodding, and we actually captured it perfectly.

I found the image and like even their footsteps are similar to the photo I got.

The only way it could be better was if my dad’s cane was more up and down/straighter. Here we got the cane like that, but now their feet are off and they aren't so shadowy. 

So I was really pleased with the shadow photo of them holding hands and I shared it with my siblings. Go me, we went on an outing with my dad and got a keeper of a photo to remember it by. "We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone." - KatieThurmes. 

Katharine brought Belle Bear with us, though Belle spent most of the walk in Kat's backpack. So this 1.5 mile walk was my exercise today. It was so nice to be in the mountains and to be with my dad. At the end of our walk, I asked Katharine "Did you and Belle Bear like being up here?" Kat replied "hmm, she hated the drive." haha. As we got back to the car and I buckled her in, Kat was nervous about the drive, but I told her I would go slow, and I did (I gotta be gentle on Corey's brakes cause Burt Bros said he needs them replaced asap). In between dad and my visiting, I would call back and check in with Kat about her stress levels, if she was doing ok. She was. Went in to visit as we dropped off my dad but mom was at the store. Then my older sis in Indiana called dad, and then Abi called us for her p-day, so since dad and I were both talking to other people on the phone, Kat and I said goodbye and see you next week! Cause this is gonna be a weekly outing with my parents.

Abi leaves for Panama tomorrow morning at 5am! Exciting! I got home right as the older kids returned from school, and soon Daniel and Peter were home too. As the return from school dump ended, I was sighing over the kids shoes and backpacks all scattered over the floor, and then laughed cause Belle Bear's shoes were tossed on the floor too right in the mix. Our toys aren't just part of the mess, they are making it too! But it was funny to imagine the stuffed bear get back from our nature walk, sigh, kick off it's shoes, and run off upstairs to play with Katharine. 

We're ready for bed now. I was stretching in my closet (and scrolling youtube) when Lily came in and wanted to check Instagram. Oookkkay. And look - the first post was this one of Ethan and Alvie!

Cute little guy holding hands with his dad. I imagine a little hour glass could be on Alvie that's very top heavy. Ethan's isn't half way emptied, he's just starting life too. 

Take time to hold hands and spend time with those you love!

Labor Day

I did some manual labor today for Labor Day! And I got two of my strapping young sons to come and help as well.

How appropriate of us. I went up to Bountiful to help out at Jerusha's home that she's going to rent and is trying to get ready. There is a lot of work that needs to be done, but we did make a good dent in it today! I spent most of my time with Hyrum and Neil clearing off a lot of dirt and overgrowth that was covering this entire cement patio. 

Neil was a machine with his weed whacker. 

Beka and Jersh worked on raking, Wes and cousin Mikey worked on the strip in the front yard. Hyrum and Wes had plans to come up and hang out with Mikey today before Mikey leaves for his mission this week, and I'm really grateful that the three of them spent some of that time working with us at Jersh's.  They were a huge help! We shared some of the photos with our siblings, to let them know of the great progress we made, and Grant used AI to make some fun photos - 

Haha! It needs a lot of work done, but thankfully not that much work! It's good to remember that it could be worse! Jersh showed us around inside, and there's some serious damage done to the ceiling in the master bedroom. Almost a hole... it needs a new roof. Grant turned that into a fun photo too, haha

Jersh was nice and ordered us all some pizza, which we enjoyed as we shared some Janet Jackson videos with the next generation. Hyrum made a comment to Wesley that made me laugh - "It's like God told Adam: by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat they Domino's pizza..." So we worked up there for a few hours, and I headed home around 1:30 (cause Corey's still gone in California) but was grateful that Hyrum and Wes stayed a little longer to help. 

Some cute pics of Peter and Katharine this morning, sleeping in my room on the floor. 

I wasn't too sure how well Peter was able to breathe with his head tucked in behind Kat's head like that.

Taking several poses throughout the morning. Each time I'd come in they'd be in a different pose. 

Glad to see he finally turned his head to breathe. 

Cute kids. I did an evening ride from trailhead to ruins tonight. Corey and Lily are on their way back. They both say their trip out there has been a success. They're driving to Elko and spending the night there tonight and will be back tomorrow. 

Sunrise

It is labor day weekend so there are no soccer games. I'm also a single mom this weekend with Corey gone, so last night I told my babysitter, Wes, that I'd be back sneaking away in the morning before kids were up. I took an early 7am ride up to the ruins and spent an hour by the creek enjoying some quiet time. 

I loved watching the sun rise. Heaven on earth. Sigh, I want to stay up here all day. Maybe 40 days. I need to follow Jesus' example, right?? Yeah, let's do 40 days. I carry a toddler bed flat sheet in my fanny pack and use that to lay down on the ground. It's nice. I like looking up at the sky. Can you see the little moon there?

I got some good energy and wind in my sails that fueled my soul for the day. Ahh, I'm ready to take on life. Back at home, Wes and I worked a little more on the basement, until... 

The kids got found the cleared floor in the basement. Natalie discovered the freshly vacuumed carpet, which was like an empty canvas just begging for some color and creativity. She quickly covered it with her artful skills. She got Peter and Katharine all set up with an amazing environment for the Little People to live in. There was an ocean, an ice mountain, a green forest, a desert, they got different blankets and sheets to be their colored ground covering. It was cute, I'm glad they are playing. I'll clean it up later. My energy was still happy from my mountain time, and I like my kids happy with play time, and I'll do organizing and de cluttering in between. 

Wesley's first goal for today was to clear out our DI donation pile. He loaded up Corey's car with lots of stuff, I was impressed with how well he tetris'd everything in there. yaaayy. Then I had more space to move out more desks that I didn't want anymore and we put in this table instead, that's been waiting for me outside for several weeks. We donated the matching chairs cause they were falling apart.

Wes put it the legs on, we were about to flip it over when I looked at it and said "Wait! All of these are wrong..." haha, he put the legs on wrong, see the bottom one of the pic above. Then he said "I did think it was really weird that they would cut the wood so they'd attach like that..." haha. This will help him when he puts together his first table as a husband. He got the rookie mistake out of the way with his mom looking on instead of his wife, so that's good.

Hyrum came over this morning to visit. He didn't help with clearing out stuff, but that's ok, he's still recovering from his walk yesterday. His hamstrings are sore.

My mom came by to give Sophi a gift before her birthday tomorrow, part of which was a book of "Zits" cartoons. My mom really related to those back in the day when she only had Grant at home. Sitting down to visit and sharing a few of the strips with Sophi and Natalie. 

They have a few of those original cut out comic strips framed and on the wall at their house. They're fun and pretty relatable. I think my favorite comics are still the Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes. I think of Calvin and Hobbes exploring the woods often when I'm up exploring in the canyon. 

Guests

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:)