Senior Ad, Hike, Marker on Piano

I've had a few tasks I needed to complete this weekend. One is Abi's Senior Ad for the yearbook. Abi sent me some pics that she liked for me to use on Thurs, and I finally worked on it today, and am pleased to report it is finished and submitted. 

She also sent these two other options for childhood Abi. She didn't care for Oreo (our guinea pig) but she liked how she looked. 

Getting dressed by herself. 

She didn't care for the ones I suggested (below) that represent classic Abi to us - Corey called it the Wallace & Gromit smile when she was 7 years old - 

or messy baby face - 

And when she was a little Katharine princess in Costa Rica (at the moment I can't find the post I screen shotted that pic from)

So, it's done, good job me. I also ordered Sophi and Natalie's yearbooks, I'll do Lily and Abi next week, cause I need to space these things out. 

Yesterday was a good day. I worked a lot in the basement and it is looking very much improved. Getting a lot done depends on my mood and Katharine's mood. Today I was ready to work, and she was ready to play alone, so that was perfect. I cleaned and shuffled clutter while K was very self entertained with her  princess legos. I listened to a spanking debate video that Bella sent, and a little bit of Trumps speech at Davos yesterday (as long as I could handle of feeling like I was not receiving any intelligence or edification) then I switched to a Diary of a CEO video that was in my suggestions with Konstantin Kisin which I quite enjoyed. I listened to all of that, most of it as I was cleaning. I got a good pile of stuff to donate. I finished listening when I went on a ride at 1:45. The only positive thing about the low snow levelis that the trail is still bikeable for me on my regular bike tires. It's nice and packed down. I was able to get to the top in 1:07, a pretty good time! 

Corey and I went out to eat last night at Aubergine. We started eating a bit late, cause we went by two other restaurants first but they were both too busy and we didn't want to wait (Bandits and Oak Wood Fire Kitchen). We brought our climbing stuff to go climbing after, but since it was late (9pm) by the time we were done eating, we decided to head home so that we weren't going to bed late. We went climbing this afternoon after I went on a morning hike with friends and cleaned more in the basement after I got back. The kids was at 8:30 for my friend's birthday. We were up at the reservoir to surprise her when she got up there with her family. 

Stephani, Jill, Katie, Michelle and I were the friends that made the hike. We made this little bday arrangement to greet her once she got to the top. 

Katie and I hiding behind the boulders. 

The ice on the Bell Canyon Creek looked so cool. 

I wanted to hike up the river, and would have probably tried if I was by myself. Those pics were at the cool place that Mel and I went to (described in paragraph after the first pic), And I learned that it is one of Elasha's favorite spots to go to as well. We decided it needs a name, and we've called it the Waters of Granite (like the "waters of Mormon" cause it seems like a secret place and there is a little pool that I've thought looks like a baptismal font). The forecast said it was 22 degrees, so it was cold, but wasn't as cold as I thought it would feel. We were all very comfortable for the hike. I borrowed some Kahtoola shoe microspikes from Jill. I think I'll get some of those (a less expensive version tho). It was nice to hike in them, I felt so secure walking on ice! It was very nice, very nice. Maybe I'll get chains for my bike tires! haha. A few more friends (Amy, Aubrey, Bethany) joined us at 10:30 after the hike at their house after for a brunch of sausage burritos and waffles with fruit and cream. 

So last night I told Corey if we didn't climb then, we HAD to go climb today. Corey's been too busy this week and we only climbed together on Monday. He was working, but he was true to his word and we left for Ft Union to do top rope at 2pm. We did 10, then decided to go by Walmart, which is next door, so that I didn't have to do a Costco run. We had to get food for our assignments for dinner tomorrow at Waynes. We're going over there tomorrow at 5 for dinner and then Mark and his family are going to show us pics and share about their month long trip to Israel and Egypt. When we got home, after a shower, I learned that Katharine had done some very thorough artwork on the piano keyboard!

Katharine was following Bandit Heeler's advice "If you're going to do something, do it properly!" I'm impressed with how thorough she was with the green permanent marker. It's been a few years since we've had a permanent marker mess (last I have documented here was 2020), so yeah, it was time. I started and got middle C cleaned off quickly, yay. So this will come off, I just need to put in the time. I plunked away with the magic eraser for 15 minutes, making sure people could heard that their mother was working hard, hoping they would choose to do something productive as well. Lily was working on sourdough in the kitchen and said "You know you can turn off the piano, right?" haha. Yeah, I could/should prob do that.

I handled this totally great and in control of my emotions, like a true "think celestial" disciple of Christ. K was no where to be seen, I think she was hiding, but eventually she came out and when I gave her a hug and smile, she looked relieved and said "I thought my family didn't like me anymore..." I told her it is ok, we just gotta clean it off. "You can draw on paper, but don't draw on the house ok?" I told her that I love her more than pianos to which she replied with a confused look "You love pianos?!?!" I did the middle three-ish octaves, and then came back at scriptures and finished the upper octaves, then lower. All done at10:30pm. It probably took an hour of my time, but the timing worked out well with scriptures. The worst I remember was 2018. That took me a few days to get off. Daniel did a very thorough job. That was also right before I learned that hand sanitizer gets it off pretty well. I didn't use that for the piano cause I didn't want stuff leaking down the piano cracks. The carpet in 2012 I remember being quite upset about and I don't think I handled that the best. If K had colored this equal amount of permanent green on the carpet, I would have struggled a bit with that. but piano, piece of cake. I think I'm getting better, a little more patient and not sweating the small stuff. Key to that is to have the spirit with you, aka to Think Celestial. 

"Mothers can feel help from the Spirit even when tired, noisy children are clamoring for attention, but they can be distanced from the Spirit if they lose their temper with children." 
- Julie Beck April 2010