Picking Plums

Corey and I went on a bike ride this morning, up to the ruins. Seems like I haven't been up there for a long time, but it has only been a little over two weeks (July 22). I listened to Follow Him podcast with Nicole Pikus Pace. The thoughts she shared went along with "Learn to Join the Dance" - 

I spent some time texting neighborhood moms to figure out carpool. School starts next Wednesday for Skyline and Churchill. We've only got 4 of us driving, so I volunteered for us to do three mornings. Corey will drive Monday and Wednesday mornings and Abi will take Friday morning, cause that is a late start day for Skyline. 

My mom called and asked if I know about dyson vacuums. Yes, we used to have one, I figured I'd be able to figure out what was going on - they were having trouble emptying the canister, so I went to help  with that and got it fixed in less than two minutes.  Then I was able to stay and visit for a few bit while K played with their russian stacking dolls. I'm glad my mom called and asked for help. As I drove home and headed into the neighborhood, I saw the neighbors plum trees that they've told people they can come pick. Went home and got 4 big bowls, then back and Katharine helped me filled them all! We reached the ones that we could from where we stood on the ground. The branches were hanging low, heavy with fruit.

Then I got a ladder so we could get some of the higher ones. I'd put plums in the plastic bowl, then K would dump them in the silver bowls. We got a lot!

Then K wanted a turn on the ladder. She did a good job. 

My little helper. We were there for an hour but she didn't complain. 

We just kept picking and saying "We have a lot of plums!"

While I topped off the bowl, Katharine took one and said "I'm going to try one..." and then as she bit into it, she did a surprised and pleased little "Mmm!" sound, then "Mmm!!!" again, so cute. She ate 5 of them. 

Katharine enjoying the fruit of her labor! We'll be eating plums for breakfast for the next few weeks! When I came home, Peter and Natalie were upstairs, and it was hot. It appears the upstairs AC isn't working. I might sleep on the main floor or in the basement tonight. It's 85 degrees in our bedroom, ugh. 

I also found 4 baby caterpillars. The popular spot for the mamas to put their eggs in the yard right now is the west pine tree in the back yard. I agree, that milkweed is really nice. It's very pretty green and looks lush, not like the hard and kinda dried out and colored light green milkweed that is in most of our yard.

I did some blogging, and I'm pleased to report that I have finished December 2024, yay. Then I finished March, woot. Working on April now, and trying to stay current. I really just need to do it at the end of each day, then I can stay on top of it from Aug 7 on into the future from here. And still catch up on April, May... June... sheesh and July, doh!

Learn to Join the Dance!

Here are a few photos of Katharine dancing in the kitchen this past Sunday - spinning and twirling and dancing ~

Natalie took this slow motion video of Katharine dancing that is pretty cute, I only wish she had gotten more of the little side to side dance she started to do at the end. But I loved how Katharine winds herself up one way, then switches to turn the other way, getting a good spin from her dress. 

She's such a sweet little girl, she's all things pretty and princess!

We enjoyed watching her dance.

And then yesterday on our family group chat, we shared some thoughts that go along with these pictures of her dancing perfectly! 

So I'll share those after Katharine finishes her dance. 

Ok, I think that's her final pose - not a bow, but she's done for the moment. :) So yesterday Bella shared with us an email that she got from a missionary she taught last year. 

Corey asked what was meant by the phrase "Learning to join the dance" that she mentioned. Ethan said "Most important lesson I've ever learned in my life and the center of what I taught missionaries." I knew it was from a song from "The Prince of Egypt" "Through Heaven's Eyes" sung by Brian Stokes Mitchell. Corey and I looked that up on google. AI Said "In 'The Prince of Egypt,' the phrase 'learn to join the dance' from the song 'Through Heaven's Eyes' means to embrace life's journey, even when the path ahead is uncertain, and to find your place in the world's larger purpose. It encourages letting go of control, accepting change, and finding meaning in the present moment." So good! Ethan sent a voice message to share with us his mission experience with the song and I loved it, so I wanted to document it here on the blog for posterity. So this was from Ethan yesterday:

Hey Wride nation, so let me explain "learning to enjoy the dance". I just did a whole 15 minute recording and then the audio wasn't good so I have to do it again, but that's ok! That's part of what learning to join the dance is! It's dealing with trials. So I’m going to learn to join the dance and make this recording again. When I was in Litchfield with Truman and this other guy, Elder Hess, I was extremely depressed, which is kinda funny cause I had not idea how much worse it was going to get. I told Mel the story recently of me getting poisoned with schizophrenic medicine when I was in the DR by a Dominican psychiatrist. Anyway, things got really bad there for a while, but when I was in Litchfield and I was struggling, I was sitting in the back of the car feeling sorry for myself and the song "Through Heaven’s Eyes" from Prince of Egypt came on (but the rendition that was approved for us with the Tabernacle choir). And it was one so powerful, it was the start of a very insightful experience and just feeling I had about learning to join the dance. So! What do I mean by that. When I was sitting in the back of car, here are the words: "No life can escape being blown about by the winds of change in chance, and though you never know all the steps you must learn to join the dance" Some of the most profound words I think ever written. because I heard that and realized - well the first thought I had was of Grandma Wride, who couldn’t walk. "No life can escape being blown about by the winds of change and chance" And I just thought of how Grandma learned to join the dance. It’s essentially this idea, It’s a way to articulate what we all deal with and basically it's just learning to deal with hardships. 

So I yeah I first thought of Grandma Wride, then I thought of you Dad (Corey), who had a really depressing mission, and then I thought Chalane who has Lyme disease. I thought of Mark who had a lot of struggles with his young adulthood, and I just realized "wait a second... I’m not the only one who is depressed! Or who has been wrong by 'change and chance'!" So learning to join the dance - it ties in perfectly with the scripture of learning to take up your cross and follow the Savior. Like, we’re all gonna have a cross and you just have to take it and follow him. 

Anyway, for example, Dad, you and John Dehlin had very similar experiences with regards to your mission being difficult, and you've said before that you could write an anti-mormon book if you wanted to. But the difference you learned to dance, and instead of cursing God and wishing to die, you were like "OK how do I figure this out", and you jumped in and tried to learn to join the dance. You have to listen to the music, that's what really makes it so powerful. It's the idea of embracing the hit, embracing the hardships of life and realizing that we all have problems. This is the answer to any problem in life. David Archuletta - his problem is he is not learning to join the dance. Instead of "learning to join the dance", dealing with your hardships, turning to the savior, picking up your cross, whatever you call it, I like to call it "learning to join the dance" ~ instead of doing that, David chose to curse God and he complains online every chance he gets about how he's been wronged by life and by the church and just whines about it. "NO LIFE can escape being blown about by the winds of change and chance" - We're all wronged by life in some way. Some of it's chance, we don’t really have control over it, but none of us are able to evade being wronged by life in one way or another and the trick is learning to join the dance. It goes back to that quote you shared dad, 'The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.' (quote by Jenkin Lloyd Jones at the end of this post). "Learning to Join the Dance"

If you haven’t listen to the song recently, I mean, even if you have, go listen to it, relisten to it and follow along with the lyrics, look up the lyrics online and follow along with what it is saying, cause it’s really profound. And I love the part "And although you never know all the steps, you must learn to join the dance" and then you hear the choir come in - it’s so powerful. I love it because I feel like I’m hearing this choir of people who have been wronged by life, but who learned to join the dance and are turning towards the Lord. It's really cool to hear the choir come in. When I first heard that in Litchfield, I literally visually imagined JeNeal, just people, grandpa, we all have reasons to curse God in some ways, but I thought I imagine the group of those people all just dancing and you know the dance is difficult. It’s hard to do. It’s not always fun, but the trick is learning to join the dance. And Wesley has learned to join the dance. The first few months of his mission, he was trying to figure out the dance and decide if he should go all in but now he's learned to join the dance. I think that's what the mission is  primarily, is learning to join the dancing. That was a big turning point in my mission, especially since I internalize it. I think the dance is learning, taking up your cross and following the savior is the key to any trial anyone has, is learning to join the dance and accepting the Lord will and still join the dance. Do you know what I'm saying? The dance is hard, it's difficult, it’s unfair, but the idea is we all have problems, we all have issues, and you suck it up! We're all in this together. We all have been wrong my life one way or another. So hopefully that makes sense. It is definitely the most important thing I've taught missionaries and the most impactful. Letters like that one you read I receive all the time, and they're almost always about The House videos and Learning to join the dance. 

So I thought that was really good. 

Click the link below and here are the lyrics so you can follow along as you listen ~ Through Heaven's Eyes - Song by Brian Stokes Mitchell ‧ 1998

A single thread in a tapestry

Though its color brightly shines

Can never see its purpose

In the pattern of the grand design

And the stone that sits on the very top

Of the mountains mighty face

Does it think it's more important

Than the stones that form the base?

So how can you see what your life is worth

Or where your value lies?

You can never see through the eyes of man

You must look at your life

Look at your life through heaven's eyes

Lai-le-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

La-lai-lai-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

Lai-le-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

La-lai-lai-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

Lai-le-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

La-lai-lai-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

A lake of gold in the desert sand

Is less than a cool fresh spring

And to one lost sheep, a shepherd boy

Is greater than the richest king

If a man loses everything he owns

Has he truly lost his worth?

Or is it the beginning

Of a new and brighter birth?

So how do you measure the worth of a man

In wealth or strength or size?

In how much he gained or how much he gave?

The answer will come

The answer will come to him who tries

To look at his life through heaven's eyes

And that's why we share all we have with you

Though there's little to be found

When all you've got is nothing

There's a lot to go around

No life can escape being blown about

By the winds of change and chance

And though you never know all the steps

You must learn to join the dance

You must learn to join the dance

Lai-le-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

La-lai-lai-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

Lai-le-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

La-lai-lai-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

Lai-le-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

La-lai-lai-lai-lai-lee-lai-lai

Lai-lai-lai-lai-lai-lai

So how do you judge what a man is worth

By what he builds or buys?

You can never see with your eyes on earth

Look through heaven's eyes

Look at your life

Look at your life

Look at your life through heaven's eyes

~

The quote by Jenkin Lloyd Jones (shared by President Gordon B. Hinckley in BYU Devotional 25 Sept 1973 "God Shall Give Unto You Knowledge By His Holy Spirit") -

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.

Life is just like an old time rail journey…delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.

Last Week of Summer

Corey, Lily and I went climbing early this morning. Lily bouldered while Corey and I did toprope. She  was done before us, then came and watched as we finished our last few climbs. We usually try to do 8 toprope. Lily was glad to get it in before she started FSY today at BYU. She'll be gone this whole week until Saturday morning. 

There is a 5.11b which is the hardest I've ever done, and the best I've done on it is just taking one rest. Today I was trying to beat that but did 1 rest & 1 cheat at the top... I had to grab a yellow to survive. My goal is to get it with no rests before they take it down. 

It's the one with the small red holds, in between the yellow and purple. Maybe I'll see if they can leave it up through January for after Wesley gets home! I bet he'd be impressed. So, came home, then Mel and I helped Corey put stuff in the van to take back to his dad's house. 

He moved his contraptions here when Ethan and Bella moved in to live with Wayne for a bit. Now they are up with her mom for a few weeks before they go back to BYU. Our kids are starting school next week. Well, the older girls all are. Natalie needed to get a few immunizations shots to go back, so that was scheduled for today. 

I thought it would be good for K to see Natalie do something hard and that K would be impressed that Natalie didn't cry. Katharine kept saying "Natalie needs to get a shot. She's going to be brave..."

They both got suckers after. 

Kids have been playing legos in our bedroom all day. 

And that's why it looks like this...

Natalie and Katharine have been playing "Girls" - with all the Disney Princesses, and the baby princesses (on the triple bunk beds). 

And they've been using my Lego Story books that I saving for when my grandkids want to play with them. But Katharine saw the Isabella pink book and it's her favorite now and she wants Isabella, so I told Natalie I'm trusting her to not lose the pieces, or to find them all again if they do get lost. Fingers crossed.

Cute little dorm room the lego girls have going on.

And Peter made a Spider-Man house. I like seeing the kids get lost in play, even if it leaves my bedroom trashed. It's a good thing. 

Mary's Blessing

Mary's baby blessing was today. 

This is when a child has their name officially put on the membership records of the church, and they are given a blessing. It was going to be at our ward at 9:30, but then they changed it to at our home after church, in order to give people still up at Park City a chance to pack up, check out, drive home, change, and get here. So it was changed to noon - 12:30pm here at our home. Eliza's parents came to our ward with us, as did Joseph Eliza and Mary, aaaand Mel and Christiaan! That was his first time at our ward, ooo! After church, I got a meal ready and Eliza's mom took JEM out for a few blessing photos. 

Mary with her daddy -

 

and her mama ~

Everyone gathered in the front room for the blessing. In the circle for the blessing were Wayne, Kim, Scott, Corey, Bishop Gygi, Mark, Ethan, Christian, Scotty, and Ben. Then we joined in prayer and thanked the Lord for friends, family, and the meal we'd be eating (which I hadn't finished getting ready...)

In my defense, it was fast Sunday, so I figured I had a little more time and that we'd eat around 2, but after the blessing, Joseph invited people to stay and eat. doh! I hurried as fast as I could and trusted that people would be ok to visit for a little while.

The happy family ~ Sweet Mary looking at the camera.

Sweet Mary looking at the camera in both of these photos! What a good girl!!

She was wearing the dress that Eliza wore when she was blessed, which is a dress that her grandma made from the extra fabric from Eliza's mom's wedding dress, which she made as well, wow! They changed her out of that asap before she spit up on it or anything, haha I know how that is.

Then people helped finish getting the meal ready. I had the rice ready, we chopped vegetables, stirred stir fly, shelled edemame beans, baked the chicken, and iced the water. The chicken was the final item we were waiting for. We got out a little bit at a time, as soon as any seemed heated up, so we did a repeat of our Park City meal that we were in charge of this past Thursday. It was enough to feed a crowd, the colors were pretty and Christian said it was amazing, that he loved all the colors, and "...each bite is different!" Corey joked to some of the guests that I have been a little emboldened to make healthier stuff since Bella and Eliza are around, and now Christian - they are careful eaters. I am proud that I didn't throw any junk foods on the table, like chips or cookies (although Natalie would have liked a little bit of that kinda stuff). 

Natalie took a plate, looked at the food, then asked me what we were having for dinner. Sorry Nataloo - dinner might be leftovers of this lunch! My parents and my sister Beka came over and visited, and we visited with Eliza's parents for a bit - they were the last to leave. Ethan and Bella took Joseph to the airport around 4:15. He starts school tomorrow in Ohio. And then Eliza headed to Idaho with her parents and brother, for a family reunion. Joseph held Mary to say goodbye to everyone. 

Eliza's brother Gideon holding Mary and Alvie! 

It was a very special day. We're counting our blessings, all that God has done in our life. He has been very good to us, and we're enjoying these blessings here and are grateful to know these relationships continue into eternity. Treasures in heaven <3

Bye Hyrum

Well, we're home from Park City. I just got back from taking Hyrum to the airport - he had a 9:45 pm flight back to San Diego.

He'll finish up his internship the beginning of September, then will be back here sometime after the 5th before going back up to BYU-I. School starts up there on Sept 15th. Bye Hyrum! We'll miss you!

I went bouldering after taking Hyrum to the airport. Corey and Lily were going to meet up with me there, but something happened to the garage? Corey ended up bringing Lily and she was with me for the last 30 min before it closed at 10. Today was a pretty busy day getting things kinda ready for tomorrow. Joseph and Eliza are here, Ethan and Bella are still up at Park City with most of the Wrides. We were going to have Mary's baby blessing tomorrow at 9:30 at our church, but Joseph changed it to noon at our house so that the people at Park City have time to check out and get back down. 

For our final day at Park City, K made it memorable by peeing her pants last night. She was drinking a ton of her water bottle right before bed, so I kinda saw it coming, but I didn't have a diaper. I took off her wet clothes at 3 am and then wrapped her in a towel and she went back to sleep. She was a bit upset in the morning to find that she did not have on any clothes. 

I was able to wash and try them before she woke up, so we put them right on after she was awake.  We enjoyed time with Mary and Alvie. Hyrum holding Alvie, Natalie with Mary.

Natalie doing magic tricks while she held Mary as we waited for breakfast to start. Mary was amazed!

But Mary's always amazed. If she's awake, her eyebrows are wide and in awe. I did most of the packing up while Corey sat in the sauna. I cooked up all our sausage and 3 quarts of eggs. We checked out of the lock off and J&E out of their room across the hall, they put their carts in our room, we went to eat, then we headed down to load up the cars with bags and bikes. We headed home around noon. Abi and Owen were boating with Mel and Christian's family. I drove the van home with H, Eliza and Mary and LSPK. Joseph drove Corey's car with Natalie and Daniel. Corey stayed in Park City a bit longer to help load up Eliza's dad's bikes after Mel got back. They boated until noon, they came back to Park City, then they came home. Hyrum helped me fix the furniture in the house while Joseph managed unloading the cars. Natalie was his best helper and earned herself some ice cream. Corey went by Costco for a few things. We mowed and edged the lawn this evening, found a few monarch eggs (21 eggs and two babies!), I cut back some bushes in the front yard and tried to clear out some of the morning glory. It was a good busy day, and it was a good week at Park City. 

Deer Valley

We did the bike haul at Deer Valley today. Original plan was to do that on Tuesday, but everything got shifted, and I wasn't sure if we'd be able to make it happen, but today we made it out! Corey wanted to bring Katharine, I discouraged that, and she didn't want to come anyway. After we got there, when Corey was buying tickets, he learned that they don't allow shotgun seat, so yay, that was the right choice to leave her. Owen and Daniel came along with us without too much pressure. We weren't very prepared with them. Owen didn't have running shoes, so he was going to wear his blue crocs. I let him wear my black biking shoes which are tight on me (we basically wear the same size!!!) and I took my running shoes which are bigger and roomy-er. Daniel had velcro sandals (like Tevas) with his socks and did ok with those on. Lots of sunblock, biking gloves, helmets and yay we're ready to go. On the lift. 

We don't really know this resort, so it was good to figure it out without too many kids to manage. We went up the Silver Lake Express...then were going to go over to the Sterling Express, where we saw people going up last year, but that lift and mountain was all closed to biking and hiking because of construction. Darn! That was one we were a little familiar with, so that was too bad.... we went to the Homestake Express and that took us up to a little trail called "Secret to My Success". It was pretty good for Owen and Daniel, and super slow for us. Corey said "So my impression of Deer Valley is that it's pleasant, but not hard core. Yeah, pleasant but pampered." haha! Then he articulated his thought again as we sat on the lift for our second time "Deer Valley is a little bit like fine dining: small portions." haha that made me laugh too, and I think he hit it right on the nose. We'll see if Corey and I come back another time and try the blue trails or anything else, or maybe next year when Bald Mountain is open. Then we'll have more to judge if it's a good bike park or not. We were ok to go slow for the boys cause we're thinking long term - trying to get these two boys into biking. We did that three times, then Owen was ready for something more, so we took Ripple, and that was still a green trail, but it was so long for Daniel that it put him over the edge. 

He was struggling. It felt pretty long cause we were going so slow, but I get it, they're new to the downhill and they don't have great shocks on their bikes. 

Daniel was done and never wants to go again, but we got ice cream after and are hoping that seals it as an ok memory. Daniel was hiding behind a towel as he ate his ice cream, but here's Owen enjoying his. He had a good attitude.

Owen and I went out again at 4:30 and had to hurry to make it before the lifts closed at 5pm. We got on the Silver Lake Express at 4:40 and made it to the Homestake Express at  4:58 for the last chair!

We did Ripple again. From the top, Owen noticed Jordanelle where we were yesterday!

Owen was surprised at how fast this second ride seemed to go. We were done at 5:50 and headed back to the Marriott for the family bbq. Joseph brought Eliza's dad's bikes down from Idaho, and wanted to go on a ride together, and we were down to our last evening, so I went on one more ride today with him. For a 8:43 sunset, I knew we were leaving too late. We left at 8:02, were just going to go to Dawn's. It was Corey, Me, Joseph and Ethan. Joseph and I were in front and waited a bit to see how Ethan and Corey were doing (E hasn't done much cardio and Corey overate at dinner). Corey and Ethan made it to the bottom on King Con express and then they turned around and went back down on Armstrong (which is an uphill only trail) Joseph and I continued on to Dawns, which I haven't done for a few years so I wasn't sure of how long we still had to go. I kept thinking we were going to be able to connect to Seldom Seen, but then it just kept going and we kept climbing. Joseph wanted to turn around but I told him the fastest way down was ahead. We finally did made it to the Spiro connect to Seldom Seen, and it was super dark. We took that for a few, and then bailed out down the service road cause it was too dark. We finished at 9:20pm. But we almost got in 5 miles, not bad. I haven't gone on as many rides as I would have liked, but it's ok, I haven't felt the desire to get up and going in the mornings, cause we've been up late almost every night. It will be back to reality soon. School starts in a week and a half. We'll be heading home tomorrow after the family brunch. Joseph across the hall and Abi Sophi Natalie in the lock off next to our room all have a 10am checkout, our main room got a late check out, so we have until 11, yay. It will be a busy day tomorrow, getting the house put back together and doing some food prep for Mary's baby blessing on Sunday. 

Oh, and Mel, Christian, and Lily joined Nancy over at the Park City Art Festival today. Mel said "I'm an artist too! I have a tie dye shirt on!" 

Below is Hagrid's Owl from the Harry Potter movies, or something (above Mel's head). 

Mel and Lily were both amazed at the art. Two things she showed me - some glass art where different colors of glass were woven together! How in the world did they do that!?!? To weave glass when it's hot like molten lava?!? And another one was a field of flowers, but it was embroidered. If you see Mel, ask her to see the photos, it was pretty amazing. Mel couldn't believe that this has been going on every week we've been up here! It's always the first weekend in August, so yeah, that's when we are always up here. I knew it was happening, as we went many years ago, I think I'll join them wandering around the festival next year.