Venue Searching then Up to Park City

Hello. Today the majority of my time was spent checking out venues for Mel's reception. Abi didn't have a flute lesson today, so I had the car, and she and I left at 10 and drove by Wildflower Event center. I wasn't impressed by my drive by - it's just in a strip mall. Meh, then I drove by the Midvale Cactus and tropicals, didn't love the parking or surroundings there. Then the Ivy House... that looked like it was closed - had a chain link fence around it. Then the Sugarhouse Cactus and Tropicals, I did like that one - easy access from the freeway, easy parking, and then we got back in the car and headed to Red Butte Garden to meet Mel and Aimee for a 12 appointment tour of the Orangerie. 

We really liked that one. It is usually $5000, but Saturdays in January are only $2500, yay. That is doable, the only catch is you have to use one of their caterers... We were able to stay and sit at one of the tables there and we called and emailed a few of them to try and get an idea of what that price would be for light refreshments. Didn't make too much progress with that, but they let us put a hold on the venue for one week for free, yay. So we'll try to do some work and figure out things before next Tuesday.

Katharine making her contribution as we tried to crunch numbers. 

Many decisions to be made, but the venue is one of the priorities, cause we have to have that one figured out so we can put it on the announcements. After Red Butte, Katharine and I went to Costco in SL to get some groceries for the next few days - we are up at Park City for Thanksgiving. Abi drove up with the kids, Corey and I drove together. We brought ice skates, coats, hats, and a bunch of other things that filled up the back of our two cars. It will be a fun week though with plenty of food, SpongeBob...

... and grandbabies!!! Alvie!!!

Joseph and Eliza and Mary are flying out and will be here in the morning, yay!! Fun fun for everyone.

Cute Kat

Cute Kathrine this morning.

I actually look forward to her coming into our bed. It's usually between 2-3 am. She'll come over to my side of the bed, ask to sleep with me, and I help her come up and then we snuggle. I'll tuck her in but after an hour or two, she usually kicks off the blankets, so I am sure to wear socks so my toes don't get cold when that happens. She also does a bit of rotating, so I have to keep her far enough from Corey so she doesn't kick him awake, while also keeping her from going off the side of the bed. I love her. She's three and a half but she's still my baby. 

Lily got creative yesterday and make a soda can choir with all the soda can's that she's been collecting from her friends. Cute, creative, and I'm trying to not be annoyed at her wasting my hot glue for the eyes. 

I took a ride up the canyon today, and got another local legend, yay, this one for Downhill Quarry (17 times in the last 90 days). After that, I got cleaned up and then Corey and I left at 5:30 for our date to meet Christian's parents!

We met up at Aubergine to negotiate the bride price, haha. They are super great, and we willingly give Mel to Christian and are happy to share her with his family. We met at the Aubergine in Sugarhouse, which was a good in between spot (they live in Bountiful) and this Aubergine was the perfect restaurant because it is the one that Mel worked at after her mission, and cause his parents are plant based too! That pic was at the end of our meal while we were talking some wedding plans. We should have taken it with our visually pleasing plates of food before us, oh well. I'm sad to report that the cashew melt is gone, hopefully not forever. Corey got the Aubergine melt instead. I got the Vitality Bowl, I think? Either that or the Good Earth bowl, those are the two I switch in between, though now I can't really tell them apart. Tomorrow Christian's mom, Aimee, is going to come with Mel and I to look at Red Butte Garden as a possible venue for the reception. Ahhh, there is probably a lot to do! Lucky for us, Mel and Christian are both college graduates and very responsible adults. They are doing a good job so far at taking care of the plans, and shared their spreadsheet with us. Lots to do, but we should be able to do it all before Jan 10th, even with holiday festivities and a missionary coming home!! 

Temple with Alvie

Today at 11:30, Ethan and Bella attended a marriage sealing at the Draper Temple, and asked if any of us wanted to come watch Alvie for them while they went inside. Um, YES!

Katharine came along with me and she helped me watch Alvie. I asked her if she wanted to hold him, and she said no. But then she said yes. 

I think she said "no" at first, cause she could see that this baby was not tiny sleepy baby Mary. This was big baby Alvie. But then she got brave and held him for a second. And we walked around the temple lobby, and then I saw the waiting room area and we went in there, and let Alvie practice his push ups and planks - 

and look at a magazine about temples... 

and stare at Aunt Katharine...

...and eat the television remote. 

He liked that the best. There might have been a few germs on it, but honestly I don't think anything is dirty at the temple, so it was good. And I let Ethan and Bella know I let him have at it. It kept him happy. 

And we looked at fake plants. He liked practicing grabbing those, and then Ethan and Bella were back out. Lily and Natalie came to perform baptisms while I watched Alvie, so it was all good for everyone! 

And since I shared pictures of Alvie, here are a few of Mary too. Joseph sent these to us on Wednesday. CUTE MARY!!! 

Aww she's getting so big! We are excited to see them next week!

So they are cute. Yesterday/Friday the church announced that young women can serve missions starting at 18 years old now. That means Abi doesn't have to wait until September and can turn in her papers like in two months (they say to do it 4 months before you anticipate being available to serve), so I think she's going to get started on that soon! She could start right after graduation in May 29th. Wow! Yesterday I'm pleased to report that I finished blogging April 2025! yay, good job me. Today I went over to the church to update the Relief Society board. And as I came out, I saw the updated missionary board! There is our cute Wesley! Center top - 

He is coming home so soon, yay, we're so excited!

Official

Guess who is "officially" engaged???

Yes! It's Mel and Christian! We're glad she finally popped the question tonight

Haha just kidding, he asked her of course. He swept her off her feet. 

They are thinking January 10th, so this is coming fast and things will be busy, but we couldn't be more excited for them! They are an amazing couple. Boy this is going to be busy and fun these next two months!!

40 Days

We got flight plans today! For a certain Elder that we are super excited to see again!! 

Yes, Wesley is coming home on December 30th!!! It would have been January 7, but that is the day that school starts at BYU Idaho, so that would make him miss the first day of school and we wouldn't get to see him hardly at all if he had to head up there right away. But he didn't want to come home in the transfer before Jan, which would be at the end of Nov, cause he wanted to stay for December and have a "white" Christmas with his mission. They have a goal for each companionship to help someone come to Christ through baptism in December, so we're praying for him for that, and his mission President worked to help him be able to stay for December but also get home before school. So so so excited to see that young man, especially excited for Peter! So BYU just lost their game to Texas Tech, which is a college in Lubbock, and Corey's been teasing Peter that BYU lost because Peter was cheering for TTU cause Wesley was there. That pic above was on game day, Wesley was there on campus, and Peter was here wearing his cowboy boots! Peter isn't ashamed his heart was rootin' for Texas. BYU can win it next time. Anyway, yay, next month, we can't believe it's so close! Just counted it out on the calendar, that's just 40 days away!!! We are going to have a party. We are really glad that we get to have a week with him before he goes to school. I'm excited to go climbing with him again! Wes in Dec 2022 when we went with Joseph~

Maybe some of the other kids can come play with us too. Joseph and Eliza will be up in Idaho for Christmas, but they might make it down to see Wes. 

Today I had the van and K and I took it in for an oil change, then we went by Macey's for ice cream and bananas. 

I hope I'm not damaging her with all this ice cream. Yes she's wearing the same outfit as on Monday. Yes, it and she have both been washed since Monday. K had a playdate with Scarlet at 1, and while she was gone I blogged and almost finished April! I just have one more post to do. Then I went to the DI to pick up a Christmas tree for Ethan and Bella, then picked up K, then took Owen to his trumpet lesson at 5. 

We saw a rainbow on our drive there. Rainbows are SO AMAZING. I don't know how God thought of all these over the top things that we see in season and weather. After getting home, I texted a neighbor to ask if I could cut some of their ornamental grass for a Thanksgiving decoration idea at park City next week. Then Corey and I went climbing at 8 and did top rope at Millcreek. Now it's late and time to go to bed, we survived another week of school. Just two days next week before Thanksgiving break. Time is ticking by and I don't mind cause we're SO EXCITED TO SEE WES!!!!

Outing with Grandpa

Wayne and JeNeal had tickets to Hale Center Theater and would go together before she passed. Wayne has kept the tickets, and now takes his grandkids with him to the different shows. Tonight Peter went for his first turn to go on an outing with Grandpa, they went to see Frozen!

When Wayne first asked me which kid would like to go, we were thinking Katharine would like it.  That was two weeks ago. When I asked her about it, she was a little nervous about being alone without her parents or siblings. Then a few days ago Wayne saw that children have to be 5+ so that made it easy for us to swap her date with Peter. Plus it helps that K doesn't remember she had that on her calendar for tonight. Abi took Katharine with her (and SNOD) to go to Churchill on Parade, which was helpful for her to be gone when Wayne came. They had fun there. I can't believe Owen will be going to junior high next year!

So I'm just here with Lily and yay I have a moment to blog. Corey is working late, I took a bike ride earlier today, love these mountains.

Oh, and I was able to get out successfully this morning to the temple (unlike last week). On my drive there I listened to Stick of Joseph, finished this one on the drive there and back (temple covenants found in the Book of Mormon), and started this one while I was bouldering at 6am (the temple, the veil, and the bridegroom). I went to Millcreek, I like the bouldering there the best. Oh and they have the sauna now! In the women's bathroom. I was going to go use it after I climbed but they closed the bathroom for cleaning or something cause it was roped off, darn! Next time. I like the top rope at both Ft Union and Millcreek, Sandy just a little less. 

Also after going to the temple today, I thought I'd record the names of the ladies I did work for. I did initiatories for Alice Bull 1911, Gertrude Fitzpatrick 1903-1971, Alice May Sutton 1903-1998, Olive Sarah Davies 1913-1992, and Elsie Gray 1897-1975. I guess someday I'm hoping to come back and see where we link up and research the lines more. I was listening to a podcast recently (Follow Him for D&C sections 125-128) made me want to keep my own record the names of people I do temple work for, which ordinance, what day, and not just let the church keep the record. So, yeah, I'll just keep this info here for now.

Game of Spoons

I did a really good job today across the board. I cleaned the kitchen this morning for a few hours, even pulling out the table and sweeping and mopping under there. I listen to the Book of Mormon while I cleaned. I went on a bike ride, and I didn't over eat today. Those are some of things that, if I do them, make me feel good about the day. Oh, aaaand I prepared a sit down dinner (win) from food storage (win-win) and the kids liked it and couldn't tell (even Abi!). I also had a dessert ready for FHE. It was parfaits using the leftover yogurt pie from Sunday, with extra bananas, whipped cream and ice cream. K and I went to the store earlier today to pick up those three things and to get her ice cream.

I had dinner ready on time at 6, yay, and the desserts were displayed on the counter, but first we had a sit down dinner (go me) and then we played like 5 rounds of spoons, then we decided that the next person to get the 4 cards and grab a spoon got to withdraw from the game and go get their dessert. They were all suddenly highly motivated. Owen won first - 

And of course we gave Katharine her parfait, cause the girls went nuts going for the spoons and Sophi knocked her in the nose. 

Lily won second, then we did one last round and let the kids have at it. Then we had scriptures while I finished loading the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen! So the sink was "shined" and we were done with food and scriptures at 8! Which means were done with kids and I have a moment to blog. I am gong to go to the temple tomorrow for 5am initiatories. Last week I wasn't able to go cause this little girl woke up when I was making my escape. 

To prevent that from happening to me again tomorrow morning, I asked Abi if she could get K to sleep with her. Abi said yes, then tried to become K's best friend by painting her nails. K allowed that service to be done, but when A asked her to please sleep with her, she very quickly frowned and said "No. Mommy." So, we'll see how it goes tomorrow morning. 

Yesterday we had Stake Conference. Katharine was really really sad that she didn't have nursery, so after the 2 hour stake meeting, I relented and we went into the nursery to play. The girls went home, Corey visited with friends, and I watched P&K play for 15 min. They were excited about toys like this Castle that was there!

Then I got dinner ready for when the stake missionaries came over. I made a pot of roast beef with carrots and potatoes, broccoli, and Corey made rolls, and then we had 4 yogurt pies. 

We are excited that our missionary is coming home soon! We're on the countdown. We talked to Wes tonight, he said he should find out this week what his release date will be. It is Jan 7 right now, but that is the day school starts for him up at BYUI, so he let his mission president know that and we think they'll let him come home a little early. Hyrum is really excited to have Wesley up there in Rexburg with him. 

Climbing & Reels

Corey and I went climbing with my sister Camilla and her husband Steve, who are in town for a few days. It was fun! 

We belayed each of them for a climb, then Corey and I both did one (black 5.10a, Corey did a yellow 10d), then to the south wall for them to go again, then me a red 5.10b, then the west wall. I actually can't remember if I did 3 or 4. But I think they did 3 and then Camilla and I did a little bit of bouldering, and the kid area. 

Steve passed on those cause he had hip surgery 5 years ago and didn't want to do the fall down. But he was ok with the ropes, He did one more, then my hands were done (still tender from yesterday so near the end they were wasted) but I tried a new pink one that said 5.11bcd, I say d, impossible, but Corey was able to do it (with rests) without cheating. It was a good start to the day. I'd like for us to always go at 6 am, but we'd need to get to bed earlier. I think I need more sleep. Right now it's 1:25 pm. I have the house to myself and I want to lay down and take a nap, but I'm fighting my natural man and shall take advantage of this moment to blog. Abi took the car to school today, she gets out early on B days, so she came home then went to work for my mom, but first dropped K off at Scarlets house for a playdate. Corey had a 1pm appt with an ear nose throat doctor. 

I feel pretty tired most days. I'm going to say it's cause I'm not sleeping great. Katharine wakes me up atleast once a night. Could also be anemia, but I'm taking my iron supplements pretty consistently, so maybe not. Could also be perimenopause? A major symptom I do feel like I have across the board is that I do not care. (I find her videos funny and relatable!) I also like this guy's posts:

I think God's next test for me should be "Can he handle a ridiculous amount of money" haha! And this one!

I googled my symptoms, turns out I just need money - Why do I feel tired? Why do I feel anxious? The answer is literally because rent is due. We're not mentally ill, we're just broke. So funny. It's like listening to someone read demotivator quotes and finally feel like I'm being heard, someone gets it. Yeah, maybe I just need money, haha. To quote Tevya, May the lord smite me with it AND MAY I NEVER RECOVER! Also, since I have been sending so many reels... it could also be that I spend to much time on instagram. I've been cutting back this week, trying to keep my phone away from me as much as possible. I don't want to escape my life, I want to embrace it and live it better. These little bits of laughter help though. I share them with the kids and my siblings, and they share reels with me. Here are a few of my favorites from the past week: 

• Beka shared this - Fossil Safari! I want to take Peter here next year! It's open May-Sept, I've put in on my calendar in May to schedule a time to go.
• Patrice - Holderness singing K pop - Our age going up up up at this moment!

And here are some I've sent ~

• God and Me when discussing my life plans "Are you in? Or are you out?" haha
• Me and Jesus: I need to change, how do I become you? 
• This guy Josh Sundquist was inspiring - loves Halloween, so creative, I want that kind of cheerfulness in my trials. 

Now an hour has passed and I've watched everything from a pantry diy conversion into a lovely space, and a ninja warrior reel (4'9" kid with glasses) and came across a pretty Brussel sprout sweet potato recipe for thanksgiving. And that is how my free time slips away from me. Yeah, I should prob do a social media fast, or atleast keep it to a strict time window. I went over to Kathy O's house at 10:15 today and we put together Christmas gifts for the sisters in the ward. Kathy's house is so beautiful. I took K to use the bathroom, and her bathroom inspires me too. Her whole house, her cheerful personality, and the way she "grandmas" too. She has her kids over every Sunday and she goes to their kid's sports games, I want to be a grandma like her. K, going to go get K soon. Corey and I are going to dinner tonight at India house with Mel and Christian. I'll post a pic of that later. 

2020 Photos Up

I did something productive today. I put up photos of the kids!!! ...from 2020!

So obviously, yes, this was a project a few years in the making (...or a few years in procrastinating?)~ I brought up the frames from the basement last month when I attempted a bit of organizing. Then they've been kicking around on the laundry room desk waiting for me to get at it. I bought these frames in 2020 or 2021 to put the family photos in from back then when we had 12 kids. I uploaded those photos to Walgreens on Saturday night, and picked them up Monday. 

Katharine saw me working on this and said "Where is me?" "You were up in heaven! Peter was the baby" as I showed her the pic of little Peter. She was satisfied with that answer. I wanted to put them side by side somewhere, but didn't find a good location on the walls. So I moved other photos around - put the 2012 pics in the music room, the 2014 pics where the 2012 were, and these 2020 pics where the 2014 were. Ugh, I'm missing other years too... should prob put up the 2016 pics, 2017, 2018 pics, doh...  Ok, my first NEXT priority is 2023. I want a big group photo on canvas and will maybe put on the wall where the medallion art thing is? We might need more walls. As for now, the sun bleached paint helped me stay dedicated to the frame locations. I would have preferred them side by side, not one on top of each other, but there wasn't a good space for that. But after changing it to on top of each other, it didn't look right... 

So I took the bottom frame and flipped them all upside down, then the frame upside down. Now the bottom one doesn't have the grippy thing to hold onto the nail, but that's ok. I'll secure it later. But I'm glad I did something today. That's a win.

It was an ok day. I was fighting hard to not lay down. My goal for today was to not take a nap. Just... keep...moving. I saw a meme that said "This month I'm doing a challenge called 'November'. It's where I try to make it through everyday of November." haha. This morning I did bouldering at Ft union for 45 minutes. Katharine had a friend over so that helped me keep moving. I wasn't able to scroll reels cause I had my phone playing princess songs on the Bose. I unloaded and loaded the dishes, wiped off the counter, started laundry for the boys, and then my cute SIL Stephanie called, so that was good. It made the princess music stop, but they were in play mode by then so it was ok. It was good to chat with her and I cleaned the laundry room a little bit while we talked. Nicole called too. Her divorce was finalized on Monday, that's hard. After the girls got home, I left for a ride. First I took a photo of Lily wearing her father's pants to school!!! 

Lily, those are for a 5'11 male. That is not you. Please don't wear your father's clothes, that's ridiculous. My ride to the ruins was slow, but slow still gets you there if you keep moving. I like the ruins. Someday I'll cross over the log and actually go touch the stones there.

Veteran's Day Program

I went over to the school this morning for Owen's Veteran's Day program. Owen has a red shirt on, right side, middle row. 

I don't remember going to a Veteran's Day program in the years past - this might be a new thing? They sang a lot of the same songs they do for the Patriotic Program, which since that is for 4th and 5th graders, I think I've gone to that for a decade, minus during covid. The favorite part, as always, was when they sing the songs for the different branches of the military. The Army has "The Army Goes Rolling Along," the Navy has "Anchors Aweigh," the Marine Corps has "The Marines' Hymn," the Air Force has "The U.S. Air Force," the Coast Guard has "Semper Paratus." I'm not totally sure if that link is the specific one the kids sang, but that's the gist of it. It's also really touching when the people who have served in the different branches stand when their anthem plays, like our neighbor dressed in uniform below. Really powerful. 

Good job Owen. Katharine and I enjoyed the performance! And Corey came for a minute too on his way back from the temple. 

Abi had the car, cause today she has her flute lesson, and since Corey was gone at the temple, Katharine and I took the bike and trailer over. 

After school, Owen and Daniel has activity days. They did some service raking leaves for a widowed neighbor. I left the girls in charge and I walked them down there with two rakes for them to use, then I kept walking and went to Bell Canyon to my rock. 

Just a 45 min walk outside, getting some sunlight and fresh air. Someday I’m gonna go up there with a pillow and blanket and take a nap. Gosh I'm talking a lot about sleeping and naps. Abi stayed after school for something then picked me up on her way home as she was passing the trailhead. Perfect timing. Corey and I went climbing later tonight just for a little bit. They were demo-ing some new shoes, Tenaya shoes. They were good, other than I told her 7.5 and she gave me a 7, so they were super tight, but maybe that's how climbing shoes should be? 

They had coupons for 20% off, so we'll see if we give those to ourselves for Christmas. We did 4 climbs (I did a 5.11a with only one rest!) but then Corey wanted to get back home to manage the kids. When we got home they were all cleaning and doing homework and practicing music. Good job kids! And that was without me telling them to do that before we left! Owen was practicing trumpet, he had just gotten back from a friend's birthday part at Top Golf. 

Good kids. Abi took this pic of me at scriptures tonight - K asleep on my lap, Peter laying down on top of her and me, asking me to scratch his back. This is something that happens most every night. 

Sometime I just don't have it in me to rub their backs. I'll feel like I've given everything I had and I just don't have more. When that happens, it's nice when the kids step up and Abi will offer to rub Daniel's back, or Lily/Sophi will rub Peter and Natalie will take care of Katharine. Those small gestures help so much. Today I was glad to have Owen's Program to get me out the door, cause I've been struggling a bit recently to be productive. I had very little wind in my sails. My mojo got killed early today with my 4:30 am encounter with Katharine. I slept with Katharine last night on her bed, she was cute singing a little song last night. I started recording after she had already been singing for 2 minutes. Super cute. So I slept with her on her bed, and my alarm to go to the temple (I had a 5 am appt) went off at 4:10. I got off the bed, not too carefully but didn't do crazy movement, got ready, and five minutes later, she was knocking on my door. She whimpered "Mommy I thought you were going to sleep with me!" She woke up Corey, he tried to take her but she refused him. She wanted mommy (aww). She said she wanted to go to the temple with me and didn’t want me to leave, so after a few minutes failed negotiations, we went back to bed, in our bed this time, and thus I didn’t go to the temple at 5, didn’t go bouldering at 6, but I did do two blog posts this afternoon after I basically lay on the couch all day with her watching movies (The Swan Princess is the current fav) or playing in the room. Corey told the kids tonight at scriptures about how it kills him to see them waste time. He wished he had more time, so to see them just waste it hurts. Lily brought up the Three Amigos canteen scene, haha. We watched it and laughed and thought it made a good analogy. Corey is Steve Martin, just getting a few drops.

Me/Martin Short, getting it worse haha thanks to kids who suck whatever time/moisture I did have out of my body)

And the kids are Chevy Chase, prone to be careless with time, oblivious to what a treasured commodity it is that they are wasting, and curious as to why we look shocked and exhausted.