Books & Bagels

This week at school is parent teacher conferences. That also means that it's Book Fair time, and time for Books and Bagels. But who cares about bagels. My kids go for the donuts. They prefer to call this "Dad's and Donuts" (but Corey hasn't been to one of these for a while, but donuts don't go with Mom.)

Boxes and boxes of doughnuts!!

Mmm. Daniel going sugar crazy - 

Natalie looks normal and like she's still in control of herself. Although I think she had the most donuts. She's got quite the sweet tooth. 

Few things make an elementary kid so excited to wake up early and get ready for school, as Books and Bagels day. Owen actually doesn't need any help with that. This kid is all about logistics, like Joseph. Owen wakes up on his own, gets dressed, sometimes eats, sometimes not... but he'll watch the clock until it says 8:20, and then he'll announce "Eight twenty! Bye!" He'll even sit there and say "Eight nineteen..." and still wait. The oven clock tells you when to go, and you don't go until it says it's 8:20.

It's cute how literal Owen is. It's like when he was a baby - he liked his blanket and binky. He liked and still likes knowing what to expect, and then you do that. Blanket and binky on hand? yes? Then things are as they should be. You follow the rules and that's how you play baby, and now he's "how you play 2nd grader" and he does a great job at it. (Well, except for the whole return your reading log thing... not sure why that part isn't registering.)

After the bagels and donuts, I took the kids on my obligatory trip to the bookfair at the school library. I didn't buy them anything today, but I did take photos of their many requests, and if they actually remember any book that they said they wanted, I can look it up on Amazon and buy it there. I'm pretty sure no one will remember though. 

So, on Tuesdays, I pick up carpool. Before taking them home, I pick up Lily and take her to the bus for her ride downtown to her clarinet lesson. Good job, Corey, on teaching the kids how to do that, and for funding their punch cards. Today was a lucky carpool day, in that no one needed a ride, so after dropping off Lily at the bus, I went climbing with Wes. There were a lot of new climbs on the south boulder today, and I did a lot of those new V1s and V2s, but I was sad to see that my nemesis (the hot pink V1) had not been removed and replaced. It was still there, mocking me and challenging me. Well, with Wesley's coaching, I decided to give it yet another go. Wes was behind me, telling me I could do it, and what do you know... on my first attempt today, I FINALLY DID IT!!! 

Wes took that photo at 3:34 pm. I couldn't believe it! I didn't feel the need to try it twice. One and DONE is good for me. I finally did it! This one was super hard, so way to go me!!!

Mucho Snow

We got totally dumped on by snow again last night - so much snow! This winter has been crazy. Good news about that is that the little boys have a pretty sweet sledding hill here in our front yard!

Last night Ethan was parked in the driveway - can you see how deep it is? It's like a foot and a half from this storm!

Ethan got a little more snow on top of his car from the snowblower as we cleared the snow before church. Joseph was parked in the street, and he really got a lot from us, since Corey does this round a bout thing into the road, so that our cars can have some traction and speed to get up the hill. So Corey clears the street a little plus our whole huge driveway - it is sooo big, it's stupid. Someday we'll redo the house, and we're gonna expand the house and increase the square footage of the home and decrease the footage of the driveway. I have driveway envy. Sometimes I'll drive by a house and see their simple two or 4 cement block driveway, and then I'll mourn our 10 square driveway, plus sidewalks. No fun in winter, esp on a north facing house. Anyway, after church, I knew the plow was coming soon, and I didn't want J's car to become even more buried by the plow, so we hurried out and dug it out - 

Luckily we just had to clear the front, the sides weren't snowed in yet, yay. with that, he was able to pull forward and park in the driveway and then we cleared him off and added that to the pile on the side of the driveway. 

A lot of snow. Kids have been playing outside and for those of us that are hiding and hibernating, we've been good inside too. K and Peter playing with baby toys. 

And for some reason tonight, Lily and Natalie got K dressed up in Peter's Iron Man costume. The mask is ridiculous. The cape is the finishing touch that makes her look like a lucha libre fighter. Funny. 

Baby Problems

I got up early today to take Sophi and Natalie to Suzuki Federation. They had to be at SLCC at 8, so off we went. There was a paper up on the board that said no photos could be taken during the performance, so too bad there, but I've taken pics of them playing violin before, so it looked like that, but in a college music room. Sophi played Minuet in Book 3 and Lully Gavotte in Book 2. And that is really impressive cause Minuet was her new piece! And usually Amy doesn't have her students play their new piece for Federation, but it was required, and she had faith in Sophi, and Sophi did great. I need to practice more to catch up with her! Natalie played Gavotte from Book 1 and Happy Farmer. I'm glad I made it up and out the door, cause I had a rough night last night. I was seriously woken up every hour last night, some hours woken several times. Peter, who sleeps on our floor, was coughing a ton and kept asking for water, and Katharine couldn't breathe either cause her nose is all stuffed up, so I took her into the bathroom several times to put saline solution up her nose, which she didn't like, and then try to wipe it off and/or suck it out with the nose bulb. It was a no fun horrible night and I've felt like a zombie today, kinda just walking around with a blank stare. But I did get them to Federation, so yay, good for me for doing that. Sophi also had her last bball game today. I was grateful that her friend's parents took her. Wes had a sleep over at Brighton last night with the Young Men in snow caves, so that was fun for him, go Wes. And other than that, yeah, just been a zombie today and taking it one hour at a time. I am bummed that our tub isn't working - the handle broke off a few weeks ago, we're in the process of figuring out when to get that fixed. First we had to get a new dishwasher. It's a good thing I take Cold showers now, cause I used to only take baths, like for the past 10 years. But now it's showers, but I still liked baths for the kids, esp when they're sick, so that's a bummer. We do have a tub in the kids bathroom... I guess I should make myself go clean it (it's nasty). No, I should make the KIDS go clean it! Ugh, I need to get better and managing them and getting them to help. But not today. Time to go feed K. She just got stuck beneath a barstool that is in our room, cute baby. Not everyone can stand up under a stool!

Oh, I love baby problems. 

You got this K! You can get out of there! 

Don't worry, I saved her. I love baby problems, they are so easy to fix. I bet God thinks the same thing about my problems. And he eventually rescues me from my trials too. 

Instructions

Hello, it's been a good two days. Yesterday I got to spend lots of time with my baby K - SHE IS SO CUTE!

Just enjoying being present with her, not getting anything done. I love her little face.

Owen had trumpet yesterday. I left K home with Abi and Lily while I went to that. While I was gone, Peter threw up on Abi's sandals, and they all just left it there on the floor and tried to walk around it, which I shook my head at after I got home. It wasn't a ton of throw up, he just coughed a lot until he gagged himself. He and Katharine have been a little sick. So yeah, we've just been chilling at home. 

Katharine is a happy baby when she wakes up.

So, she's been feeling unwell and thus is wanting me to stay near. I don't get a lot done when I'm carrying her around. And when I carry her my arms get tired, so then we sit on the floor, which is the other place that I do not accomplish any tasks. 

BUT I have been getting a good refresher and practice in on solving the Rubik's Cubes we have. 

And I can solve them, but I don't know how I do it. Years ago when Joseph got a Rubik's cube for his birthday or Christmas, I read the instructions on how to solve it and memorized the patterns, so I don't get it, but I know the patterns, thanks to the instructions. And I have to follow the patters or I can't do it. Maybe I should look up other videos of other ways/patterns on how to solve it, and that might help my brain wrap around how to do it. Cause again, I don't know how to solve it like Ethan does (he is GOOD) but still, the kids are impressed when I solve it, so that's nice that they don't care - they think I'm smart. 

And I can guarantee that everytime I leave a solved Rubiks Cube on the floor, that the next time I see it, it will be all messed up. But I can do it again, cause I know the instructions. I think there's a spiritual metaphor there for life and keeping the commandments. Like as I follow the commandments, problems in my life eventually get solved, even if I don't get it "how". Things fall into place eventually, even though they look messed up along the way. Yeah, there are is definitely some analogy there in solving Rubik's cube. 

I love my beautiful Katharine. She is a sweet little piece of heaven. Corey and I have lost our lives in having children and taking care of our large family, but we were just following instructions. And I can testify that it is working and it gives us much happiness, fulfillment, and purpose. I'm really grateful for the Teaching of the Living Prophets class we took when we were engaged and married that directed our lives in this direction, especially the paper we did on birth control. A personal story that I don't think I've shared here before, but I did almost 10 years ago on my spiritual blog. But I'll put it here too - cause this has been like the Rubik's cube for us, I think. Corey and I got married over President's weekend in 1999.  No time for a long honeymoon cause we were both in school at BYU.  We did have President's day and that was good. So the week after our wedding, we both had research papers to turn in on a class we took together called "Teachings of the Living Prophets".  The assigned subject of our research papers: "The Position of the Church on Birth Control".  That paper was clear instruction from prophets and the fruit of that paper has proved to be the biggest blessing in our life together, as Joseph was born 11 months later and we now have 13 children. I am positive that we would not have all these precious souls in our life today if it weren't for that homework assignment.  I'm so grateful for that class, for our teacher Dale LeBaron for that inspired assignment and what it taught us.  The prophets truly do point the way to true happiness if we will follow where they direct us in this maze of life on earth.  As we've sought to follow the truths that we learned, we've been blessed abundantly.  I'm so grateful for my husband and children and for who I've become by being a wife and mother.  I have not kept many of the papers and assignments from my college days, but I do still have within easy access those two reports Corey and I did.  A quote by President Spencer W. Kimball is the one I remember most and have sought to live by:

"I have told tens of thousands of young folks that when they marry they should not wait for children until they have finished their schooling and financial desires... They should live together normally and let the children come."

We are so grateful for those instructions we received years ago. 

Snow Day

Yesterday was school, but Natalie stayed home sick, and Sophi called me 30 minutes after school started to tell me she felt sick too. So it was a regular school day, but not a regular school day. And today was not regular either, cause we had a huge snow storm last night that has lasted most of the day too, and there was so much snow that school was cancelled. Er - moved to "distance learning" which we figured the kids could do in the evening, so we went skiing! Corey volunteered to stay home, so I went with the older kids WALS and Corey stayed with NODPK. The canyon was closed for avalanche control, but we left as soon as it was open, and were in a line along Wasatch, which was a new thing the city is trying - rather than things backing up along 94th, they had police cars out directing people to turn south, so we were driving in the wrong direction for a few miles until we found the back of the line. No butting in line allowed cause the cops were there making sure everyone followed the rules.

We blasted music in the car, the funniest one was Venus by Bananarama, Abi Lily and Sophi in the back had some head banging choreography that was funny. There was a little complaining about the ski traffic but we made it up to Snowbird right at 11 and got a great parking spot and took off. We did two runs and then the kids stopped for food, but I didn't bring a lunch and didn't stop - I did Mid Gad two times while they ate. I skied from 11 until 4:45. Sophi is a great little skier and she was able to keep up with Wes, so the two of them skied together all day and I skied with Abi and Lily. Abi could usually keep up with Wes but she was cold today. The powder made it hard, and I had like 5 wipeouts that were fun. It's like you die in a poof of cold white silence. The kids would laugh as they looked back to only see my skies sticking out of the snow. At one point I was trying to follow them, and we were going through the trees, and Wes went over a place that was roped off right at the bottom of the lift, but you couldn't see the rope cause the snow was too high. He caught air and landed ok and was able to turn around and stop Sophi, who's feet were dangling over the rope. She was able to crawl up a bit and go to the right and get down. Then I captured the moment.

There was a lot of snow. It was fun. We caught one of the last chairs up. It was great. So yesterday I finally got all the ice off of the driveway. In the fall, Chuck fixed the NE corner of the house that was falling apart, and now the ice just backs up and spills out, so we've got a glacier on that side of the driveway that I haven't bothered with until it was warm enough yesterday, and I wanted to clear it off as best I could so the snowblower would be able to clear the driveway. The kids have been playing and digging tunnels and it's been fun for them. Tomorrow looks like a good ski day too, but we won't go, we need to get back to reality. Seems like all we do around here is eat and party. Well, they do pretty good at practicing their instruments, and ok with homework I think. But I need to pay attention to the house and get the kids to do some chores. I've stayed on top of laundry, but everything else is lacking big time. It has been in disarray since Christmas break. 

Ski Day at Alta

Hooray for President's day! It was a day off from school and so we all went up and had a great day skiing  at Alta!

It didn't take us too long to get out the door this morning, just the usual long. We had parking passes for both cars. It was snowy looking but the roads were good and the van made it up the canyon fine. BeReal went off on the drive up.

Mel took her photos as we unloaded. 

That was when we learned of the first glitch of the day - we couldn't find some of the ski goggles. We had left them in a bin downstairs from after skiing at Snowbasin on Friday. So I volunteered to head back home and get those, which I did and I made it back up by noon. Ethan took his BeReal on the chairlift.

Mel kept Katharine in the lodge there while I drove back home, cause K hates her carseat. After I got back, Mel headed out and I stayed with K. Soon Corey came in with Peter for a break, and he stayed with Katharine while I hurried out to catch up with Mel and Daniel. We went down one run with him, and then we took him back to the lodge with the rest of the kids who had stopped for lunch...

Mel and I did a few runs together. Eventually the kids all caught up with us. Corey had stayed with Daniel, Peter, and Katharine - he took them all out on the Snowpine lift. Mel and Abi both took a turn taking Katharine too. Here she is on Abi for a bit. Cute little eyes!

It was fun to ski with all the big kids! We tried to do a pic without goggles, but not everyone was brave enough to let their eyes face the wind. 

It was such a fun day skiing! It was cloudy but visible enough that it was fun and we all left wanting more. 

I also think it was the best I'd ever skied! Best because I wasn't scared when I was going fast! I really enjoyed skiing with Owen. I took my BeReal on our last run of the day. 

Owen and I were on the last chair of Supreme and had the mountain all to ourselves on the run down. I also listened to music for the last few runs and that was so fun! I really liked listening to the Killers of course, esp "Change Your Mind" and "For Reasons Unknown" ("I look a little bit colder!") I caught my stride today, haha. I also liked listening to "All I Need Is A Miracle" and "Take On Me"! Fun fun, I was laughing it was so fun, and I also was surprised, cause if I didn't have my music or a podcast to listen to, I probably wouldn't even bother biking, or I'd go back home to get my music. And I've been skiing without music all this time, when I could have been listening as I speed down the hill to my death. But again, I didn't feel like I was going to die today - I wasn't scared, it was just fun! We're supposed to have a big storm this week and I hope we get in a few more days skiing! I've still got two days at Snowbird and one more day at Alta. I hope Corey and I get to go together without kids for one of those. 

24 Years

Today was our happy Anniversary. Our celebrations were held over this past weekend by 1) going up to Wolfcreek Thursday night (with AN&K in tow), 2) skiing on Friday at Snowbasin (also with AN&K), 3) a date night dinner at Miyazaki, and 4) climbing yesterday morning. Today is the actual date, and we had all the kids home to enjoy our final celebration - our Family Anniversary Feast! Here are the kids after the meal when we were dancing in the front room -  

I meant to get a photo of just Corey and I, oops. We all missed Hyrum today. After dinner when we were watching the House, Peter was the first to say "I miss Hyrum!" and everyone else piped in as well, feeling bad about little things they used to argue over with him. I guess they are all growing up and getting along better, yay! He's almost home - he's 3/4 of the way done! The sisters that were in the MTC with him all went home this past week. He'll be back before we know it. 

So, this morning we got ready for early church (starts at 9 this year) and I was teaching/leading the class discussion today in our ward, so I got up early to try and do some final prep for that, then we went to church, came home and changed, and worked to get our fancy feast ready. We girls all got distracted from our cooking and cleaning tasks by adoring how cute Katharine's feet were as she climbed up a stair.

So, Sophi helped set the table, Abi made her famous pink mashed potatoes, I roasted veggies, made a citrus beet salad, and cooked salmon. I don't know what Ethan was doing, but he did come and grab bites of treats as we set up. Lily and Mel have been absent for the past few days, hiding in their room working on something that I can't see, since they would hurry and hide it from my view anytime I went into their room. So I originally had the thought that it's too bad that they are so busy working on whatever that was that they didn't help me clean, which is ALL I'VE WANTED for my birthday and Christmas and my whole life (sigh)... but then I thought "I guess they should be free to give gifts that they are excited about, not just what I want..." I texted Corey at 5 and said he could come back anytime. The  food was ready, we're just waiting for Joseph. Corey and the kids came back, Abi held a blanket to block off the kitchen from view, and they were ushered upstairs to get fancy! Pearls and lace and a pink bow!

Table all set with china, goblets, ribbons and flowers. Short video right before we ate.

Waiting patiently for the feast to begin. I bought Peter those suspenders yesterday just for fun.

Joseph's here! Mel and Lily came downstairs - 

Before we began, Mel and Lily gifted us what they've been working on for the past two days. They originally planned for it to be a Christmas present, but they didn't start it in time. And it wasn't all the way done, they said they still have a few things to finish, but wow o wow! They illustrated a little book about our relationship! Here's on example - a pretty accurate drawing of our first date (fourth pic)!  

It made Corey cry, so they knew it was a hit. We talked for a bit more, thanked God for our marriage and family, and then enjoyed our family feast.

I really like this tradition. I'm glad that we have this fun meal together. The kids say that it is one of their favorite things. And it's also good that it's not a national holiday that we need to share with the rest of the country. I guess it kinda goes along with Valentine's day, but this is really our thing and I love it. 

Oldest to youngest serving themselves (but I said they should let the little kids go first so that they can scoot into their seats on the far side of the table benches. 

After the meal, we watched our wedding video...

...then The House (we all let Ethan know that we're ready for the next episode)...

Katharine fell asleep on Mel, aww...

And then we had a dance in the front room, and took a group photo of the kids. It was a nice evening and it's one of my favorite traditions too. After cleaning up a bit and kids dilly dallied...

And now we're heading to bed at a fairly decent time and we're all going to go skiing tomorrow at Alta! Well, Joseph has to head back to Provo in the morning, but the rest of us will be skiing. Should be fun! I feel so grateful for Corey and for our life together, it has been wonderful. I give all the credit to Jesus Christ and his gospel, which has made Corey amazing as he strives to follow the Savior, and guided us along the way in the important decisions we've made regarding our family. The fruit of the gospel is wonderful. And with that another year is in the books.

1999 - Marriage - Honeymoon at the Homestead in Midway, Utah (Dinner at the Lion House)

2000 - 1 Year, went Blue Boar Inn in Midway, Utah (Dinner at the Roof and the Blue Boar Inn)

2001 - 2 years, went to the Worldmark resort at Wolf Creek in Eden, Ogden Canyon, Utah

2002 - 3 years - Pepperdine Weekend at Malibu, California (Corey was there being recruited for his MBA so we turned it into a trip)

2003 - 4 years - Wharton Visit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and trip to Washington DC

2004 - 5 years - Homestead in Midway, Utah (trying to relive that first night)

2005 - 6 years - Hotel Monaco at Salt Lake City, Utah (Dinner at the Roof)

2006 - 7 years - JW Marriott and Teotihuacan in Mexico City, Mexico

2007 - 8 years, Barao Geraldo Chacara in Campinas, Sao Paulo Brazil. We had just moved to Brazil for our first adventure and Corey spent the day looking for a car with a friend, and I spent it with his wife learning Portuguese. 

2008 - 2010 - undocumented here on the blog, so sad. We were living in Sandy in the Crosswood house at the time... him, I'll have to go break out the scrapbooks to remember what we did.

2011 - 12 years - in Chile, took little Abi to the ER after getting her finger slammed in a door by the wind in our windy apartment.

2012 - 13 years - Skiing and The Roof with baby Sophi

2013 - 14 years - a romantic dinner for 10, went to Park City, kids stayed with Corey's parents, bought red flower framed pictures.

2014 - 15 years - Skiing at Solitude

2015 - 16 years - Dinner at the Garden Restaurant, Night at Grand America

2016 - 17 years and a quote from the Proclamation on the Family, Corey and I took a little early anniversary trip to Hawaii, in Feb we had our anniversary family dinner

2017 - 18 years - I uploaded our wedding video to Youtube, went to San Diego and Tijuana

2018 - 19 years of family pictures, big snow storm on our anniversary

2019 - 20 years - Grand America with baby Peter and night skiing at Brighton. I made a list of 12 kids, 10 moves, 7 cars, 4 countries, and 2500+ blog posts

2020 - 21 years Bed and Breakfast fail, then Hotel Monaco, family breakfast feast, 21 years and a little trivia

2021 - 22 years Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee anniversary Ski Trip turned Family ski trip, Wasatch Broiler for lunch, Tuscany for dinner, family dinner

2022 - 23 years - Skiing at Brighton and dinner at LaCaille, 7th annual Anniversary feast

2023 - 24 years, Night at Wolfcreek, Skiing at Snowbasin, Dinner at Miyazaki, Climbing at Momentum, Illustrated book by Mel and Lily, anniversary feast.

Anniversary Ski Trip

On Thursday night, Corey and I left for a little anniversary ski getaway! Ah, just the two of us.

In 2021 we took an anniversary ski trip and had 9 kids in tow. Not this time. Covid was responsible for that group trip, but this time it was just us... and Katharine of course, cause she's still nursing... and Abi... and Natalie, cause we needed some babysitters, and they both could do it cause they still had a ski day at Snowbasin (they missed out when everyone skied here on the day after Christmas.) So, it wasn't ideal, but we'll take what we can get. I told the kids to not expect something like this again, and you kids at home that weren't able to come, don't think that you're gonna get a turn next year! This was just a fluke, again. But it was fine. So we drove up to Wolfcreek late Thursday night, babysitters watched tv and weren't much help, but that's fine cause K didn't want to hang out with them either. She loves ME and only wants ME. Lucky me. Yesterday morning, we woke up, I stretched for a bit, then packed up and left to go skiing at Snowbasin. It was just my second time there, but the first time I went I wasn't able to ski or explore much, so this was my first real taste of it. It was really fun! Unloading our lunch for the day, and our provisions to keep baby K dry and happy. 

I hung out with her first, and Abi and Natalie went skiing with Corey. 

Not how I thought I'd spend an anniversary trip, but that's ok. Soon Natalie was tired of skiing, and she wanted stay with Katharine (aka use the ipad with Katharine in close proximity). So soon I left Natalie and Katharine at the lodge, then I found myself sitting on a ski lift all alone, trying to find Corey on Life 360, not really knowing the resort or where to go. Smiling at strangers, hey, yeah I'm here skiing for my anniversary. Trying to find my husband... Also let it be noted that Corey and Abi are both way better skiers that I am, so, it was kinda them skiing off ahead and me tagging along way behind...

I'd try to keep up with them, praying as I skied at a speed way faster than I was comfortable, praying outloud to God "Please don't let me break my leg..." It seemed like they were the couple and I was the third wheel.

Kinda funny. We left Abi's phone with Natalie and checked in on her now and then. She's a very chill mother. She always said everything was fine, and we didn't hear screaming in the background, so we trusted her. At the end of the day, we go to see for ourselves the status of things.  

Natalie had K pinned with an armrest across her like a roller coaster lap bar - K seemed happy though! 

No complaints here! ...although Katharine wouldn't let me get away with treating her like that, no fair. Maybe she lowers her standards when her sisters are in charge. Or perhaps I let her bully me around. We let Natalie do what she wanted and were grateful she kept Katharine alive and happy while we skied. We are all still alive, no broken bones, I'd call that a successful ski day. On the drive home, Abi said "Mom! Give me your phone! I need to take a picture of Katharine! She looks like an angel!!

Look at how she was holding her sweet little hands! Ok, that is super precious. So reverent!

Then, today, Corey and I finished off our anniversary weekend with a little bit of climbing at Momentum. We sent V1s-V3s until we both got flappers. I went to the store and picked up groceries for our fancy dinner tomorrow. And now I need to go finish preparing for my lesson, I'm leading the discussion in Sunday School on the Sermon on the Mount. So I'm going to go try and prep a little more for that now! It's been a busy week and full weekend, but it's all good.