Crest with the Gygi's

We had a great ride with our friends the Gygi's this morning! I asked Jill earlier this week if they'd want to join Corey and I for a ride of the Wasatch Crest, and I'm glad they took us up on it! They've done it before but it's been a few years. For Corey and I this was our first Crest ride this year, and we probably only need to do it once every summer. Maybe again in the fall? We woke up at 6, got dressed, loaded up our bikes and went to pick them up at 6:20. Wes came along with us to be our chauffer. We drove straight to Guardsman's Pass by Brighton and unloaded and then Wes drove the car back down and left in near Macey's in Holladay on Wasatch, and he called Lily to come pick him up there. Wes took some bad photos of us, trying to be funny. Too close...

Or too far away...

But the far away ones got the sky, which was very pretty. 

Ok Wes, that's enough dinking around from you!

As you can see, the sky was party cloudy, and that gave us amazing shade for most of our ride this morning. It was so nice and the temperature was lovely, AND it rained a little bit last night (thunder and lightening, but only for like an hour) which was just enough precipitation to wake up the aromas of the mountains. The trail wasn't muddy, just amazing "hero dirt" as the biking community says. It was actually so perfect, I felt like it was a gift from God - a gift of time, sights, shade, and smells. Love love loved it. 

We were back at the car around 11:30. Total distance was 23.78 miles, 3 hours 6 min of riding. It was a lot of fun to be with the Gygis!

While we were gone, Lily took the kids to their games. Instructions were not totally followed, but in their defense, I didn't write them down. (Owen and Daniel's soccer games were right after each other, O at 9 and D at 10:15, and Owen was just supposed to stay for Daniel's, but Lily took Owen home cause she thought Daniel's game was at 11:30, and that she didn't need to go get him until 12, so after the game Daniel was a little lost waiting for someone to get him. The coach still had one more game to coach, her kindergartener's team, so Daniel stayed and played with their kids until Lily got there. So some miscommunication, but it all ended well. Games were attended even without me there to manage, and I was able to go on a ride, so yay, it worked.

I took a shower and then a nap after we got home. Then I went to the church to do some stuff on the Relief Society board, which calling I'm going to be released from soon, so I'm trying to have it all organized and ship shape.

I told the older kids yesterday that Elder Kearon's talk from this week is required listening. I did some googling after listening to minute 21:04 ~ The ancient Greek word for "consider" in the biblical phrase "consider the lilies" is καταμανθάνω (katamanthanō), which literally means to study a thing thoroughly, to examine it with real care, or to learn it by heart. When Jesus uses this word in Matthew 6:28 during the Sermon on the Mount, he is not telling his audience to simply cast a passing glance at the flowers. Instead, he is commanding them to investigate, dissect, and deeply analyze the nature of how they exist without anxiety." (So good!) 

9pm, shared a polo with my siblings and then said it all again to my kids. I was preaching to them all about the health that comes from eating a plant based diet. My siblings and I have been talking about this a lot because of my mom's undiagnosed dementia, which is getting worse. I have shared this with the kids before (June 2017), but now that Corey's on board and with my mom's health, it's coming up again with a bit more power and urgency. So, I remembered this part and decided to give us all a refresher on this great book! There's a great quote that has stuck with me since I first read it in Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live" on page 58 - 61, he talks about how wealthy nations are the ones dying from dietary disease, and poor nations die from infection diseases from poor sanitation problems. See this graph:

Then starting on page 61 (all emphasis mine) ~ "The diseases of poverty are mostly infections diseases and are found in areas of the world with compromised nutrition. Heart attacks and the most common cancers (breast, colon, prostate) are found in rich societies where nutritional extravagance is the rule. No where in the world today can we find a society that combines economic wealth with a high intake and variety of unrefined plant foods. CAN YOU IMAGINE the HEALTH POTENTIAL of a society that would be able to enjoy excellent sanitation, emergency medical care, refrigeration, clean water, flush toilets, and availability of fresh produce year round and yet avoid nutritional ignorance and nutritional extravagance? WE HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY TODAY! An unprecedented opportunity in human history the opportunity to live a long and healthy life without fear of disease. This opportunity can be yours!"

After our ride today, Corey went to work at his dad's. He stayed there a little late, but that's ok. I read scriptures with the kids. Talking at scriptures ~

Laughing as Hyrum told stories and was being clever. Daniel is dressed for church tomorrow complete with tie, lol.

We're leaving at 8 to go to church in Layton at Uncle Neil's ward for cousin Mikey's farewell and cousin Sam's homecoming! Exciting. Sam got back on Thursday, Mikey gets set apart on Tuesday. 

Oh, a few things from yesterday - I took a quick hike at 6:40 am, exploring below the 1st bridge before Lily had to go to school. 32 min, .74 miles

I am looking around at a closer spot so I can go have private quiet time when I need a quick escape but don't have the time to walk to the ruins. The 1st bridge will work nicely!

Natalie stayed home from school yesterday to babysit for a neighbor who had a wedding and couldn't find anyone else. Katharine woke up at 6 and went with her and was with her all day. I checked in at 10 - I thought it was funny. 

That is why I miss having Peter at home, cause he was the same way with Katharine. It helped me out a ton to have a kid who knew how to play like a kid! We joked that Natalie should split her babysitting money with Katharine, haha. Katharine was there with her all day until 4 and I got a lot done around the house. With the money she earned, Natalie wanted to go buy clothes, but instead Corey took her to Hobby Lobby to buy a sewing machine and some fabric, so that she can scratch that itch but do it by making her own clothes and ALSO learn a skill at the same time. So she stayed up last night working on that. I haven't taught them anything, they're just gonna teach themselves and learn as they go.

They broke my sewing machine earlier this year, and I don't sew much so I didn't care about fixing it (just to have them be the ones to use it and probably break it again). We'll see how long this one lasts them.