System

Today I cleaned a little bit in the basement. Yay. I was listening to Laura Dixon's podcast "Reward Loop" as I worked. I really like what she shared at minute 12 about the way we think about children. We have a choice! We are free to think "Being a parent is a thankless job..." and feel put out and like a martyr, OR, we can think "I am so lucky, I get to share my life with these awesome children!" Katharine wakes me pretty much every night, but I don't even think about it - it doesn't bother me! I love taking care of her and nursing her. I just say amen to what she shared. "I get to do this" and "It's my choice!" and I love it. I'm grateful that my hearts desire has been answered in this way. I know there are many others who long for what I have. I am grateful to know that God will wipe away all tears, and for my belief that that no blessings will be denied in the end. 

So, I was listening to that as I organized papers (the ones Natalie messed up right before I went to Indiana...) and I was looking at Joseph's piles of stuff (he had to move out of his apartment but is down in Guatemala for another week, so it's all shoved here) and Mel just brought back her stuff on Tuesday too, yay, plus we have a lot of Ethan's stuff and Hyrum's stuff (he gets back tomorrow!) so yeah, it's just a mess and we have not organized it. Some things are organized, but most of it is not. And as I was thinking of that, I came upstairs to take Owen to trumpet, and I'm thinking about having a "reward way" of thinking, not a "sacrifice way" of thinking about the mess, and I opened the fridge and saw this:

I texted the college kids and asked "what is wrong with this picture..." Answer: there are two bottles of ketchup (one empty), and there are THREE bottles of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing! One empty, two half full. And also two things of ketchup, one basically empty. I wanted to pull my hair out and banish all the children from the house. Why don't they follow basic rules? (Cause they're kids). I will be patient, but I might make up a quiz with various household happenings to test them on basic things, such as:

Question #1 - If you use a bottle of ketchup when it becomes empty, you should 

a) leave it on the counter 

b) put it back in the fridge 

c) rinse and recycle the bottle 

d) go get a new one

e) put it upside down

Maybe I need to label places for everything. Cause they'll want ranch, then they will perhaps go look for ranch in several locations in the fridge and not be able to find it, so then they go look in the garage. Hence why we have three bottles of ranch in the fridge. I need a system of implementation. Today I found Mel's airpods, they had been missing since she got back from Vienna. I found them in a cinch sack in the coat closet, yay. All these kids to take care of and a houseful of stuff to organize, and I'm babysitting caterpillars... I gave 4 caterpillars away to a neighbor today and one chrysalis. I also watch this hummingbird nest that is outside under the awning where we are able to see it from the kitchen table. There are two birds in it!

I'm a nature watcher. And a nature photographer. Flowers in our front yard ~

My kids are up and coming photographers, too! Especially Katharine, she practices her photography every chance she gets. 

She specialized in feet. In some areas I and our life feel like such a chaotic mess. In others I think we might have figured it out a little bit. Exercise is something we've gotten pretty good at, so that's good. And I'll be patient with myself as I continue to fight to be better in areas that I need to, and give myself a break, cause I'm swimming upstream with all these kids! We went on a ride with Mel and Wes this morning. I'm back in the saddle again after my fall on Monday. Yesterday we went to the ruins and did techy on the way back, but we just took it easy the whole time, so no achievements. Then last night I heard Mel and Wes talking about going on a jog in the morning, and so we were able to cut them off at the pass and make them go biking with us instead!

They were a little reluctant but it was good, I think. It took Mel a bit to know how to shift down to an easier pedaling pace, so she got tired quick and Corey stayed behind with her, Corey wanted Wes to stay challenged and interested, so I went ahead with him and we made it to the third bridge. We passed Mel and Corey on our way down. I let Mel use my bike and Corey let Wes use his. Wes thought the ride down was really fun, yay! And he did pretty good on the ride up too (keeping up with his mom!) We all started at the parking lot, but Wes and I rode home (to relieve our babysitter Owen) and Corey and Mel finished their ride and then drove the car back. When I got home, Wes stayed with K&P and I walked to the bus to get Owen and Daniel's bikes, since they had to rush to the bus. As I walked up, kids were telling me that Daniel had gotten a rash on his neck - from stinging neddle or something that touched him when he was climbing  in the bushes there at the bus stop. Daniel, don't crawl around in the bushes. I took a look, didn't seem too bad, but I worried it would bother him at school, but he stayed the day and toughed it out, even though after school the rash was still on his neck. There's always something. So my motherly advice is to take a breather, take one day one crisis at a time, and go for a bike ride in the mountains or look at flowers to find your center again to cope with the chaos. :)

Library Reservation

Hello there. I was feeling like a wimp this morning and didn't do the mountain with Corey, I just did fishtail. Did ok. Then Wes, Abi and I did the fit test tonight. I did ok considering my injuries, but my hand is bruised and my shoulder got hurt and my knees, so I didn't beat many of my scores last week, but I tied a few. 

Tonight the kids had soccer practice. Owen and Daniel have their practice at 6 at Falcon Park, and then Natalie's is at 7 at Flat Iron. I took Natalie with me when I took Owen and Daniel and I told her that we were going to go to the library. I had reserved a room a few weeks ago, as a trial run to hosting a class. So now I know how to reserve it online, were to go to get the key to get in (don't need to do that, it was open and ready) and Natalie studied while I organized my life coaching papers a little bit. 

I had reached out to a group of friends about it, and only one commented, so I let her know I was going to do this tonight, but she wasn't able to come. And since it was basically just her who knew about it, I wasn't worried about people coming. It was just a test, as I'm trying to take another step towards something, I don't know what. We left in time to go pick up the boys and then go to Natalie's practice. They saw the big green hill and wanted to roll down it. I said they could after practice was done. O&D played on the playground while we waited there. I pulled and pushed them on the metal zip line thingy. After practice, they didn't want to stop, but to pull them away from the playground, I told them I'd meet them at the bottom of the hill and they could roll down the hill. They liked that. I laughed at Natalie's somersaults at :35. That will make for some good childhood memories. And here is cute Katharine today.

I don't anticipate doing anything work-wise with life coaching or anything until this cute little bug is in school, and even then, I wonder if when that moment comes, will I volunteer at the school finally? Or will I practice violin? Or maybe I'll be busy with grandkids then! Maybe I will want to dabble with something else, but who knows. For now, I'll just take a day at a time. Things will work out and unfold as I take one day at a time and stive to stay close to Christ.

First Day of Elementary

Today was the first day of school for the elementary kids! These pictures courtesy of Mel -

Natalie is in 5th grade, her last year at Granite. Owen is in 3rd, and it was Daniel's first day of First Grade. 

They had a red carpet event for the incoming first graders. Wow! Hooray for the Class of 2035! 

A friend was there and sent me a video of the kids walking in. Yay Daniel, cute boy. I didn't get a pic of Natalie, she had safety patrol. I didn't get one of Owen either except for this one below - 

I passed out some school supplies to the little kids, and the girls came to take some of the mechanical pencils and stuff for themselves. I didn't get a picture of Abi and Lily last week on their "first day" but this was them this morning. And we'll call that good. 

I like doing back to school pics, but I didn't do great at them this year. Oh well, lucky for them I have lots of other pics of their life here. Little kids have backpacks out, touching up their hair. Another year of school, here we come. So now it's just Peter, Katharine, and me. I bought Peter a new coloring book and some new pens so he can do school stuff too. (Peter is left handed!)

Mel helped me made this poster for Hyrum. He comes home on Friday! Those two years went by faster than Josephs, Mel's and Ethans. I'm glad, I think, that it seems to go by quicker? But doesn't this poster look so good?! I was impressed at our mad skillz.

It's been nice having Mel here with me. On Sunday we made some brazilian rice and beans, and we were going to cook chicken but we still can't open our oven. Melodie started to write a song (with the help of Chat GPT) about how sad it was to have a broken oven. 

Mel kept Katharine at home and I took the girls to violin. First day of violin for the school year, it's our Monday schedule. Miss Amy is a great teacher. 

Peter was glad to go back to their basement - it's like a preschool nursery

At dinner tonight, Peter was doing staring contests with everyone. He was killing us all! Wes was amazed at little sweet Peter's ruthless staring abilities!

Taking on Owen from across the table...

Part of his winning strategy seemed to be a very tight neck and jutted chin. Ok Wes, you're up again! 

It also seemed to turn into a try not to laugh contest. Peter was the hands down all around winner. 

One other thing from this morning, when Corey and I went on a ride... so Corey's been telling me for a while that he thinks I ride my tires too low. Well, today I got a pinch flat when I went down the rocks and then straight down over the pipe on the 3rd bridge (not from trail or at an angle) and I think I must have gotten a flat there on the pipe, cause after coming that, something sounded and felt off and I think I tried to look but I know I promptly crashed. I didn't shred my skin except for on my right knee, hooray for my good pants for saving me. I would have/could have  gotten SO torn up if I was in shorts or a short sleeved shirt! I will NEVER not wear long pants and long sleeve shirts biking. I got some holes in them, ripped both of my shoes, and it HURT. Mostly banged up on my right side. Corey didn't see me fall, just saw me in a pile. So with my bike out of commission, he rode back to the car, which we had fortunately parked to the trailhead, and I walked back up to the third bridge where I was able to get to the road, and waited for him to come get me. We had parked at the trailhead to try and get home in time to see the kids for the first day of school - but since I crashed we missed them leaving. Anyway, I am officially sad and shaken and have just been laying on my bed. My fear says to stop going down the quarry trail and just go to Corner Canyon and do Ghost Falls. Oh my right shoulder hurts bad too, like I feel like I got in a car accident. Mel put some deep blue on it and her barely rubbing it hurt pretty bad, I need a massage. 

Clean the Church, Games, Butterflies

We got up early for our turn to clean the church. Our family has a turn every August. Every Saturday of August. We forgot on Aug 5th when we were in Park City, so we've been sure to be there on time the rest of the month. Good job Peter.

I left the church with Natalie, Owen and Katharine and took them with me to Natalie's soccer game. I texted Mel to put Owen's soccer uniform in the dryer. K was horrible at the game. 

I do not like taking her to games. 

And I'm not going to do it anymore. It's no fun. Natalie made a cute little goalie. 

Then I hurried home, as fast as one can move with toddlers....

and left K with Mel, then off to take O and D to their game. Daniel makes a cute goalie too. 

And Owen playing defender. 

As predicted, we had four lovely butterflies eclose today. Three of them hanging out to dry, one more almost ready.

Mel texted me this photo of her taking the butterflies outside and sharing them with Katharine. So cute!

Katharine is happier at home. So is Peter. Him in Mel's BeReal playing legos in the basement when I was gone at games. 

They don't want to come to soccer games. So Corey was working until 5, and then came home to take the kids to Classic Skating. I had been taking care of kids and caterpillars, and I put my bit cats out on milkweed to let them have some "real nature" time, and guess what I learned? Well, today I learned that wasps kill caterpillars (gross video, be warned). I would leave them out there and come back after a bit to check on them and make sure I still had all of them, and then some were missing, and I was looking and looking for them, and I couldn't find 4 of them (eventually found 2) but I did see some wasps busy at work on the ground. Wasps are yellow and black striped just like caterpillars, so it was hard to tell what was caterpillar and what was wasp, but I think they killed my caterpillars and were chopping them up. I have since learned via that youtube video that wasps killing caterpillars is a thing. So that was mean and I feel bad for putting my cats in harms way. I thought once they are big enough to take on the spiders then I don't need to be as worried, but nope! Well, I'm 12 years into fostering monarchs and I'm still learning new things. So that was disturbing and I was thinking about that video for the rest of the evening. Poor caterpillar there eating lunch, minding his own business, and boom, some guy comes and just starts cutting you up and eating you alive. It's a bug eat bug world out there.

To get my mind off that a little bit, after Corey took kids to Classis Fun Center, and Wes was also hoping to borrow the car and leave somewhere, and so I took the opportunity to have Wes drop me off at Tanners so I could explore a trail that supposedly leads from there to Lisa Falls? The Tanner campground, however, was destroyed by avalanches over the winter... I struggled under and over avalanche debris for a bit before I found it. It started raining though, and I didn't know where I was going, which is obvious by this pic I sent Corey.

This pic is where I was still struggling. I sent it to Corey to shore him that o didn’t know what I was doing, and that I would text him if I needed to be rescued. I eventually made it through to the ruins. None of the Trail was that great, would be a nice hike but I have no desire to bike it again. True, it could have just been the combination of a new trail with the rain that discouraged me, I still am fine to never do it again and to stick with well used trails. I got home in time to put on a dress and we left for a wedding reception for the Jensens. They got married a few weeks ago but had the reception today, which I think was a great idea to have them separate. I shall perhaps encourage my kids to do that when they are planning a wedding. Speaking of that... Ethan is currently under the spell of a beautiful woman. 

We haven't met her in person yet, but they both teach at the MTC and they are super cute in all their pics (she's like in every pic he posts on Instagram or BeReal). Some of our college kids have been losing hope, but I trust that we will have a kid get married someday!

Three other pics from today - Katharine waking from a nap on the bottom bunk in Abi's room. 

This bed is the most hidden bed to hide from people in the house, and also the darkest during the day for the most relaxing sleep. It's a favorite of mine and Wesley's! And Abi made a dinosaur diorama tonight for herself to eat. Mashed potato island and broccoli trees. Funny

Another Day or Two

This morning Corey and I met up early at the quarry trailhead with Corey's friend Nathan. We had a pretty good ride, got some emoji achievements, yay. Natalie watched Katharine for us. Hmmm, who is babysitting who? 

Other snapshots from today: Lily and Sophi are a bit silly and boy crazy. Lily draws pictures of "hot" guys and then she and Sophi talk about how handsome they are. 

Corey took Katharine to the park. Playing on the Teeter totter. 

Hyrum gets home in a week. We are making a sign for him that looks like this:

That will be good! I've sketched it on in pencil and I think I'll let Mel help me finish it this weekend. I found a video that Katharine took via my hone while I was laying on the floor resting. She came over to me...

lifted her little hand...

Then in the video you hear a small smack. It was funny. And a few funny memes that I can relate to: 

I follow this first rule of the parent club very well. Speaking Spanish helps!

All my caterpillars are growing and doing well!

I've got 4 chrysalides that are dark and will be coming out tomorrow. 

Oh, our oven is broken! I do not know what is happening but we cannot get the oven door to open!! I don't know if Katharine broke a latch or something, it is so strange. I've googled things for how to reset it - like hold down the cancel button and hold down whatever else but it is latched tight and I can't get it to budge. So... for date night tonight, we cooked pizza in quarters in the microwave, and then tried to toast the bottom of it on the frying pan. 

I figured I've microwaved frozen pizza before, it's fine. Corey and I had a nice meal at Aubergine in Sugarhouse. 

My apologies to the children that we get to go have a nice meal and that I left you with microwaved pizza. But it's the one night we get to have together, so it is necessary for our sanity and our eternal marriage. 

I guess I'll report on yesterday too - In the morning I went on a short hike at Bells. It is so beautiful. I was exploring a bit until I saw two coyotes ahead of me. Then I turned around and headed back. 

On my walk home, I stopped by Lisa's house for some milkweed and said hi to the bees enjoying her monarch waystation. My heart was feeling good, but there was some sad nature news - the owners of the property next to us were here cutting down the cottonwood trees. :( It is sad. I'm glad the dead one was taken down after the half dead one crashed into our yard, but I would have liked the life ones to be left alone. 

Maybe they're thinking these trees are all near the end of their life cycle anyway, so might as well take them all down now. It was so full and green when we moved here 12 years ago (3rd pic), but plants don't last forever. So there were 5 and now just two left. It's getting thin. I think he would have taken these down, but they are leaning toward our home and he was just there working by himself with a chainsaw. Prob needs professional equipment to get this down. Hopefully that will buy some time. I've said before, half joking half serious, that once these trees are gone, we can move. No point being here without trees out every window. Might be time to move back to Virginia. Life goes on, you can't stop the change. We did have a sit down dinner tonight. It's been a while.

Joseph stopped by for a bit yesterday, he's driving to Vegas and flying out from there to Guatemala. He'll miss Hyrum coming home next week, but that's ok, he's off doing great things to prepare for his future.