Window Shopping

Corey and I were a little slow getting out the door this morning, so we just took a short morning ride out to Corner Canyon. We took Sophi out for a birthday breakfast after we got back. Because of our late start, it was less of a breakfast and more of a brunch. As we drove, Sophi was trying to decide between Black Bear Diner and the Pancake House, I said I was totally fine with that, but I wouldn't eat and I was ok with that. She didn't want to go to Aubergine, even though they really do have a great breakfast menu. Then, since it was 10:15, and she wanted me to eat, she suggested Chuck A Rama. They opened at 11. That would work for me since they have enough options. So we went to Fashion place Mall to kill some time while we waited for the Chuck A Rama that is close to there to open. Corey let Sophi know that, according to Mars and Venus teachings, shopping in malls makes men feel tired. So she and I went into H&M, Bohme, and Journey's shoes, and Corey supported us from the corridors outside. We didn't get anything, but I did find out where to get Owen some Crocs. I also liked all the Sambas and Gazelle shoes - I guess I'm still the soccer loving teen I was in the 90s. 

There were also some cute butterfly Vans shoes that I think I should get to match my butterfly phone case and airpod case. 

Although if I were to buy some shoes right now, I think I'd want some grounding shoes. But that's a subject for another day. Ok, we killed enough time, off to Chuck a Rama for a hearty meal.

Group selfie

We enjoyed our meal, had a nice visit, then headed back home for a busy Saturday. The kids were doing their chores. I cleaned up a little bit in the basement and found the old chore boards, and got that set up for Peter to use. He's little and needs something little sized, and this has been working great for the past two days. 

Hyrum is leaving in a week, and I like the spreadsheet that he refined for us, but I'm struggling to get the ipad out and manage the kids - this has been working better for Peter and he's a little more independent with it, so I like this better for him. I'm also making a version for Owen and Daniel to use too. So the little boys can use this visual chore board in their bedroom, and the older and more self sufficient teenage girls can use the spreadsheet maybe? Peter doesn't mind (or hasn't noticed) that I haven't decorated it with his name or initial. I'll try to do that though - I could just get a photo of him and glue that on. 

Bulk Clean up is on Monday, so we spent a lot of time trying to clean up branches and pine needles in the back yard. I had made walls and barriers out of pine needles when we made our backyard track, so today we bagged up and hauled out a lot of those. I mostly wanted to bag up the big pile of stuff that we made when Mel was helping us clean, and as the sun was setting it was crunch time, and I texted Corey to see if he could come out and help me, and we worked speedily and got it done! I am glad. We also put out one of the basketball hoops, some sleds, a ramp that Wayne had made for JeNeal to get into our house, the bike trailer which had it's fabric and straps brake in several places recently, two strollers, and the high chair (I'm hoping someone who could use those things might come and take them?) and lots of branches and pine needles. Feels good to get stuff cleared out. 

Sophi is 13!!

Happy Birthday Sophi! She had a busy day at school and with her friends and sisters after school was out. We were glad that we were able to see her this evening and share some birthday ice cream.  requested something chocolate and chunky, so we went with Chocolate Cookie Crumble from Kroger. That one is a family favorite that Joseph introduced us to years ago. 

The bday girls Sophi and Abi are going to a gem store with Wayne tomorrow, so that will be fun for them. My mom didn't text about when she was coming by. She probably just had a busy day, I'm sure we'll hear from her tomorrow. 

H took carpool for me today, then got the boys off to school. Corey and I took a quick ride out to Corner Canyon. I was on the funnest part (I call it Mario Cart) when Hyrum called and interrupted my music. I could hear him but he couldn't hear me, for some reason my airpods don't work when my kids call, so I had to stop and pull over and get my phone out and put it on speaker to answer his question. He was asking if Peter was allowed to ride his bike to school with Owen and Daniel. The answer was no. He's too little for me to be ok with that unless I'm there riding with him. So messed up my song, and he called again at the end of rush, but kinda silly for me to be angry about that, since I wouldn't even be able to be on a ride at ALL if he wasn't there covering for me at home. So I shall not rant anymore about Mapache being messed up by my kids calling. Got home after that ride, quick shower and change, then I went to get Abi at school. She and I were going to a viewing and funeral for one of our former neighbors and friends - Tyler Robbins.  

I don't have many memories of him, other than him walking through the house to go play with kids in the back yard. He was a friend of Abi, they were in the house next door to us to the east when we moved in. They moved to Arkansas 5 years ago, then moved back to Utah a year or two after that. In 2022 he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, which he beat after a bone marrow transplant in August 2023, but then his Leukemia later returned in April 2024 and he passed away last week. Just 16 years old. The funeral was a beautiful tribute but also obviously very sad, that someone so young had to suffer such a hard trial and die. No parent wants to bury their child. Both of his parents and his sister did share their hope and belief in God, that Tyler is with Christ and that Tyler lives on, that he is with them now in his spirit, and that they will see him again in the future when they pass on. I'm glad they have that faith. I don't know how people manage trials of life without hope in Christ that there is purpose behind these mortal experiences, and that "there are far far better things ahead than any we leave behind" (C.S. Lewis) AND those better things will last forever! As much as I would like to freeze time and not leave my babies behind, I trust that there are better things ahead for all of us as they grow. 

Hard for met to imagine anything better than cute babies and toddlers? Maybe babies are a part of forever? That will make it heaven for me! Even if they do get into our makeup. 

Corey found Katharine like this - apparently she got her eyebrows done. And we were pretty sure that she was the beautician herself. 

Abi's makeup was the victim of her creativity.

We just left her like that for this evening.  Wipes didn't get it off, but we'll get it off in a few when she takes a bath. Although I'm sure soapy bathwater won't get it all off, but coconut oil will take care of it.  We've all laughed and smiled each time we've seen her this evening, knowing that she thinks she looks so pretty. "Woooowwww Katharine! You look great!" We just think everything she does is cute. Oh we'd miss her so much if she were to go to heaven before us! We'll miss any and all of them when we have to say that momentary, yet feeling very final, goodbye. Praying for Dave and Lisa with the passing of their "baby" and youngest child, Tyler. <3

Fall School Days

School is in full swing. Owen has been biking to school, I've been walking Peter to the bus stop, and Daniel goes out with all the bikers, but he's bookin' it on his rollerblades. He feels pretty cool and fast in those, and his teacher told me that his classmates are pretty wow'd when they see him skating up to the class line. I took a pic of him passing us at the bus stop. 

Carpool is going ok. We only have Churchill carpool on Tues and Fri mornings, so that's easy enough. We've been taking Skyline everyday though, cause at the moment there are too many kids for the Morgan boy that drives (7 kids don't fit in a sedan). Today, after it was just us taking Abi and Lily, I texted the moms, wondering where two other kids were that usually have been going with us. They are able to drive themselves now but not other kids cause of the 6 month thing for new drivers, but after that restriction is gone, Abi and Lily could carpool with them too. But since they (Stein and Jules) aren't going with the carpool, there is room for Abi and Lily with the Morgans. Abi wasn't thrilled with that. Abi would like to take a car everyday, but hasn't been able to cause Hyrum has been using it to go do yardwork at my parent's house. He's earning some extra money before school. We're still being a little spoiled by having him around in the mornings. Sometimes he helps get the boys out the door or takes carpool for me. He'll be here for another 10 days. He leaves for BYU Idaho next week on the 13th. Then Corey and I will have to reassess our morning biking outings. Yesterday I got the boys out, cause I only did a morning walk. Hyrum gets back at 1, so then I was also able to go up the canyon around 2:45 yesterday for a quick ride before taking O to trumpet. I parked at Grit Mill and went to Techy and back. I went pretty fast on the climb, so that was fun to get a medal emoji, yay! I got 2nd place for Up Mile 2 - 1.01 miles 14:12, AND 3rd for LCC Road climb, .79 miles in 8:42 (PR was 8:21 11/17/23). Usually we don't get any PRs or medals for the canyon, cause it's so close that we always do it, also maybe it's gotten busier so we have to slow down and stop for hikers and other bikers. When I got back from that, kids were home from school. Natalie was asleep with K - 

And Lily was there too, hidden under that heap of a black and white blanket.

I'm not great at having kids help after school. I guess I'm usually a softie and I feel bad that they've been gone all day and so I let them take a nap. Then I took O to trumpet, he has that every other week. Violin for S&N on Mondays is every other week too, for the moment, once again, as we try to make ends meet. Today was a good day at home. Played with K - 

And for my exercise I did lots of yard work. Bulk clean up is on Monday, so I have plans for us to spend time on Saturday moving lots of branches and bags of pine needles to the front yard for that. I haven't kicked cleaning in gear, but we're doing the basics with that. Excited to make progress on the yard, and to keep biking as the fall colors come. I'm also LOVING reading the Book of Mormon with the membership of the church. I've been feasting on that, and it's great. I've been spending quite a bit of time reading and don't feel bad about that one bit. I love spending time with God and his Word.

My bookmark from Wes, summer 2021. 

Abi is 17!

Haha, when I just went to put in the title of this blog post, I accidentally typed a question mark instead of an exclamation point, made me laugh - "Abi is 17?" That is more accurate as to how Corey and I are feeling. Our little Abi is SEVENTEEN?!? Like... what is happening to life? It is passing by as a dream. As Kyle Hume sings, "The days are passing way too fast, how dare they? Life just ain't that fair" (When I Die). I'm glad that I believe that life with my family will continue and go on for eternity. Ok, but yes, Abi is 17! She is a lovely daughter and we are enjoying watching her grow and flourish. 

My mom came by to celebrate tonight - brought presents, cake & ice cream and a lovely bday card with a monarch butterfly. 

Corey and I took her out after she got home from school today, for an early dinner date. 

She had said yesterday that she was feeling like she wanted India House, but she changed her mind last minute as I was passing 13th east, so we turned to go to Aubergine. I didn't mind. I love India House, but I love Aubergine even more. It's my current favorite. I love the Better Earth bowl. Abi got the Tri Tip bowl, Corey the Salmon Mango.

And I think she had a good day. I've turned lazy/practical instead of putting effort into bdays and being thoughtful, which means we've just been giving cash. It worked good for Christmas, glad it's been working for bdays. Except I did get the little boys presents. Girls have all been ok with cash. And I like going out to eat. We started trying to do that with the college kids, and I think that's a tradition I'd like to keep with our kids and grandkids as they come along. Seems like I should be able to set time aside atleast once a year for a one on one conversation. So that's a goal. 

And now it's time for scriptures and brush teeth and bed. I'm got up before finishing this and found my foot file, that I use to try and smooth out my heels, and I accidentally left it down within Katharine's reach, which means she got a hold of it and licked it. She has this strange and totally disgusting habit of licking my foot file! This side wasn't finished, thankfully. Unfortunately, the other side was licked clean.

Gross gross gross! Katharine, why do you do that?!?! She's so weird! I think she finds it curious that it goes from white to black when she licks it. And apparently she doesn't mind the taste. I think she has enjoyed my reactions whenever I've caught her in the act, cause she gets a big smile as I laugh out of disgust and freak out. I shall try to keep it up away from her, but I did take that pic and shared it with her older siblings so they could laugh and be grossed out with me. And they'll probably use it to embarrass her later in life. 

Sibling Outings & WOW

It's 9 pm and the kids are still gone in Provo. I didn't expect them to be gone this long into the evening. We knew they'd be gone during the morning and so we took one more opportunity to do another long ride. We rode Wastatch Over Wasatch in Midway. 20.21 miles, 2890 feet, 3 HOURS and 32 minutes IN THE SUN. I wasn't expecting parking to be $10, boo. Next time we'll go to Park City for free parking and lots of shaded trails. But I'm glad we did WOW and checked it off. We started waaaay too late though - 10:30 by the time we were on the trail. I was dying in my long sleeved BLACK shirt. We didn't bring enough water for the 2+ hour climb either. Still trying to smile though. Took a BeReal.

Corey's wearing a very thoughtful biking "dad" shirt his sister got for him. I was thinking about water for most of the climb. We brought 3 small bottles but it was not enough for such a long climb in the sun. I missed the Little Cottonwood creek - if we were by there I could pause and get a drink, or I'd have been in shade and wouldn't be suffering like I was! I was praying to come across a stream. We came across a plastic water bottle that had a hole it in but was mostly full, I gratefully drank it and thanked the Lord for hearing my prayer and answering it in a way I didn't expect. Then I was looking for more waterbottles that other riders might have dropped. We checked Life360, kids were still in Provo, so we continued on. Up near the top (2485 meters) we did come across a little cool stream and I drank and drank. Hooray for living waters! I hope we don't get giardia or anything... It was a matter of life and death/extreme thirst and dehydration.

I was very grateful for the water - it was cool and clear. The ride from there was not steep, so we kept going until we arrived at the WOW Aspen Upper Trailhead. Yay, I'm red faced but we did it. Sitting to take a break in the shade for a minutes.

So it was fun, but I hadn't expected that ride to take the whole day. It did because 1) we had a late start and didn't leave home until 9; 2) there was the hour+ drive to Midway via Guardsman and 3) the bike ride was 3 1/2 hours. And I was slow again cause it was hot and the climb was brutal. Corey says I have earned a carbon fiber bike like his but we won't be getting it yet, but I've earned it! My thighs are seriously always burning and he's just fine, I'm saying it's cause I have a heavy aluminum bike. Then after it was all over, 4) there was a ton of traffic on the drive home over Guardsman. I was kicking myself that I didn't go to Park City or Midway, but we found around 6, as Corey was reading the new, that maybe I had saved us some time - there was a truck fire in Parley's Canyon around 11:15 am so traffic was all backed up on I-80 for most of the day, and only reopened at 4:30. So we didn't know it, but we were with all the smart people taking the short cut. 

After we FINALLY got home, we cleaned up our bikes and ourselves, I got a report from Hyrum - they played Super Smash Brothers' for a long time this morning while Ethan and Bella were at work. Then  after Ethan came back, they did more Smash with him, had lunch (chicken tenders and mashed potatoes). Before Ethan and Bella got back, H tried to help them clean up. They knocked over a wedding pictures and broke the glass when they were playing Wii tennis. Then off to walk aroung the BYU campus ~

A lot was closed though, so they didn't see too much. 

Sitting down for a break in the BYU Store.

There was a little seating area to watch some football stuff on a big projected screen.

Next stop was the Bean Museum, they were glad that was open. Selfie in the Bean Museum elevator ~

I appreciate Melodie being a good document-or of the days' events. The little kids thought everything was amazing, and the big kids like seeing the little kids' reactions. 

Ethan took a few videos of Katharine being very concerned for all the taxidermized animals that were being eaten - "He's SAD!!! He's sad!!" Ethan would say "why?" and K would just repeat it, then finally gave the reason for them being sad was "because he's sad." They took a photo of Peter and Katharine next to a grizzly bear because of the dream I had Saturday morning of P&K being eaten by two grizzly bears. 

Horrible dream that was. I texted Corey right after I woke up at 5:36 am, and I was not going to go back to bed and risk having that dream start again. So I texted Corey "I just woke up from the worst dream, Peter and Katharine were both eaten by two grizzly bears. I was out camping with them and for some reason they were in a tent and I was in a little cabin and didn't notice the noise or anything until morning. The bears were still there eating them, Katharine's body was gone but her little legs were still there hanging in her umbrella stroller. I was hoping it was a dream but it wasn't, I stared to run toward the bears to scare them away but then they started to chase me so I was running away sobbing and screaming. My dreams are the WORST!" When I saw that pic, I said that bear looked nicer than the ones in my dream - they were skinnier and had blood all over their faces, so yeah, I'm never letting them go camping.

Then Bridal Veil Falls. Girls had fun. 

They sent a few videos of that too. I'm glad they had such a fun time together. We just called them (8:30 pm) They were into a movie and still had 45 min left, we told H to be the bad guy and tell them they had to turn it off and needed to clean up and pack up cause they have school tomorrow, darn! Wish all days could be fun and free like today. I'm excited to give them a hug when they get home. I am going to open the door like Peter does. Whenever I come back from the store or something, if Peter is on the main floor, he will hear the garage and run over to the door and open it up, but not stand in the door, he just holds the door open and hides behind it as he waits for me to come in. It's really cute. 

Sibling Sleepover

Corey and I are here in a quiet home. We've been in a still and quiet environment since 2pm when the kids all left to go down to Provo for a sleepover at Ethan and Bella's apartment. It has been strange and very nice, and we're thinking we should do this more often. I read my scriptures, made dinner for the two of us, then I took a nap on the grass which always knocks me out pretty hard. So yeah, it's been nice but we haven't been very productive, and that's ok. For this first time we're just adjusting from parenting chaos mode to living in calm mode. The kids have sent pics - and we've been following them on Life360. They went to Rock Canyon park and spent time outside - playing spikeball...

Little kids rolled down the hill...

took some silhouette pics. 

I'm kinda sad to not see what they are doing, but it would change it for Corey and I to be there. This is good for them to be able to have sibling time, and I know they are in good hands with Ethan and Bella and Mel and Hyrum too.