John and Kylee: March 2025

Its crazy how fast time can fly. Like you spend months planning the details of a week and a half vacation, but before you know it, you are home again. It always feels like it takes me unreasonably long to get my head back into "home" mode. I mean, I have to unpack and deal with the laundry. I have to catch up on all of the things that kept moving while we were gone (school notifications, etc.). I have to help my kids get back in the game of getting up early and doing homework. I have to address all of the tasks that I told myself I would think about after the trip. I have to think about making food for my family again, putting together a meal plan, and buying groceries. And really I love my life at home, but it always feels like it takes at least a week for me to feel like I am back in my rhythm. My brain really likes to live in vacation mode. Learning interesting history and facts, seeing beautiful buildings, nature, and art, and focusing on making fun memories with my family. So it resists switching back to home tasks mode.

This trip to Paris was no different. I remember telling Ellie that my brain just really loves being on vacation because of the all of the interesting stimuli. It's just so happy. But no one can be on vacation always, and I am glad that I have a home and family that I love.

It was so nice to be around the younger girls again. They are just so cute, fun, and loving. I am so grateful to those that took care of them. We tried to give them something nice from Paris to say thank you, but it felt a little insufficient. I probably should have sent them some money to help pay for the extra groceries. I didn't think of that at the time though. We gave Erica and Sarah a box of chocolates from Paris. I gave Miriam (who had them twice as long) a scarf and a French seasoning package.

We brought gifts for the girls too. They each got a Paris t-shirt and a couple of small gifts. Treats and perfume for Miriam. A bear and a journal for Holland. A bracelet and a mirror for Darcy. I think that might have been all, but there could have been more. It is way too easy to spoil these cute girls.

I think we got home on the last day of February, so March hit really fast. The month started out about right when we received a letter from Holland telling us that she "[has] a concern about [her] welfare." Basically it was telling us that she feels too much stress about her chores, and it might have a negative effect on her welfare. There are always prices to pay for going on vacation, and one of those is getting the kids in the headspace of "it's okay to work again." That's a hard brain shift for everyone like I was talking about earlier. It was a pretty funny note though.

That first Sunday was rich. Fasting is hard, but it can make it so much more meaningful. I listened to an awesome podcast, testimonies, gospel doctrine, and Line Upon Line. Ellie shared her testimony of the Plan of Salvation and God's plan for her and how that gives her peace. It was beautiful. She is doing well at her little job! She has been cleaning the bathrooms at the old Caldera building just twice a week, but it is a good little income for her. I appreciate that she is willing to work hard. She worked so hard to keep her grades up despite missing so much school for the Paris trip. It was a lot of work and a real accomplishment when she ended the term with a 4.0. I was crazy proud of her!

Something weird that happened around them was that Donald Trump had recently been reelected President, which is totally unfathomable to me. Not that he was in office again, he came out swinging. During this time there were tariff war between the US and other countries. It felt so unreasonable to destabilize the country and economy like that, but here we were. It felt insane to learn about how much France had to fight and fight to get their democracy but it felt like the US was just handing our freedom and democracy on a platter to a narcissistic criminal. This first year of presidency with him really feels long enough to have been 4. I can't believe we are still getting going on this presidency term. He recently pardoned an insane amount of criminals. And ICE has been rounding up people that are here "illegally" to send them to Guatemalan prisons. It really felt like a dumpster fire over here.

Because of the dubious tariff situation, we decided to just pull the trigger on buying an SUV. It had been on our radar for a while because we needed a car with 4 wheel or all wheel drive. I hate driving in the snow without that. Also we knew we wanted it this year because it was our first year to have the boat and we needed to be able to tow it. Last we wanted a third car because Ellie was very close to getting her license. All of those reasons added together and made get a Sequoia even though we hate buying cars. They are so so expensive. We actually got this one used at a Lexus dealership, and the finance guy totally mocked us when we said it was a lot of money. Ha, a lot of money to us. It had just over 100,000 miles on it, and we bought it for about $36,000. It has been a really nice car for us. It feels absurdly too powerful to just drive around on errands. The kids were pretty excited when we showed up with it. It's so much bigger than our other cars and has a hard time fitting in our garage nicely.

This note is really encapsulates Holland at this age. It is so funny but a bit eye rolling.

Valentine's hair!

I always had to do preschool on the busiest weeks. Why did that always happen? It was art day and they named and signed their paintings.

Miriam had a choir concert. She loves being in acapella. She just shines so bright on stage and has so much fun. The next day she had a band concert. She did so good! I loved hearing the extra music from the honor band. She has learned so much and worked so hard. Later that week Miriam and I went on a delightful date. We went to the BYU volleyball game and went shopping at Smiths. The game was fun (why are in person games so much fun?) and the cougar tail was huge but a little cold. Honestly just going to Smiths was the funnest - we did silly skipping in the aisles, singing with airpods, and we picked out flower seeds and Easter candy. It might have been obnoxious to others in the store, but I guess I am okay with that in order to have a silly, happy time with my girl. The next week I went with her to an escape room at the library. She was thrilled to be in the Harry Potter themed room. I love that our library does that. Honestly, that night was kind of hard because I saw other girls in her church class purposely leaving here out. It makes me want to turn into a mama bear and go wring some necks when I see kids being unkind to my girls. Why are those girls such idiots? Anyone would be lucky to be friends with Miriam!!

We tried out the new Jurassic Jungle at Thanksgiving Point. It was soooo crowded which kind of took the sparkle off for me. But it was still fun. The kids loved the three red slides, and Darcy in particular loved this little curved slide so much.

The next day we had dinner at Glenn and Andrea's house. I loved the Japanese food that they served. It was fun to hang out with them. Darcy got so excited on the drive about "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and the book "I am Invited to a Party." She's adorable. The next day she and I took a midday nap together. She wanted to cuddle so long that it put me right to sleep. She wanted to give me the longest kisses too. Like 45 seconds long. She's too cute for words.

I visited Erica that week, and it was so nice to hang with her. I loved watching the girls play too. That evening I went to bookclub and brought chips and queso which made me feel very cool.

The best snow of the winter was in March. I kept Holland home from school and took her and Darcy sledding. I loved being a fun mom for once. No I actually think I am a fun mom regularly, but sometimes it seems like the kids only remember that I am the task manager. I make them do all the things. But clearly, clearly I am a fun mom too. Remember that kiddos!

During this time I spent a lot of time trying to finish their MCO costumes. Miriam Deru generously did the bulk of the sewing while my girls were at her house. That was so so nice of her. I would have been sunk without it. It was kind of fun to try to finish up the rest of the costumes though. It was being creative in an unusual way for me. Darcy's neckline was so hard, but everyone was so cute. The big girls helped a ton!

We had a day off school and really tried to take advantage of it. We went to a gem and mineral show in Spanish Fork and drove the new Sequoia. We listened to Taylor Swift and jammed out in the car. The mineral show was cool! There were fake dinosaur bones to see and even try on. There were gorgeous jewelry settings and gems. Everyone was really nice to the kids looking at things. Holland bought a gorgeous glass dragon that I have recently super glued back together. We'll see how long it lasts. On the way home we stopped at Bath and Body and got a free product. So fun! That evening we went to BYU's Night at the Museums. We visit all 5 of BYU's museums and solved puzzles there to get a sticker. At the last museum we got the prize of a tote bag for our dedication to solving the riddles. They are pretty cool museums and the treats were a nice perk too. Miriam was so focused on getting the prize. One memorable moment was when we were looking at two paintings of the Nauvoo temple (one of the temple completed and one of it burning) Darcy loudly proclaimed that it was a "before and after painting." But the burning was the after. Yikes. It started snowing on the way back from the JFSB, and the snow was so thick and lovely.

The next day we hosted a "Pi" gathering for the Derus and Armstrongs. We had pizza and pie, and it was a lot of fun. I am glad that the people I love the most are the ones I live with, even though I love all of those people. I felt so bad that the Armstrongs put cashews in one pie, and Marc ate some. I hate food allergies!

I saw something on Instagram that really touched me. It was the idea that Sacrament Meeting is like a funeral for Jesus. It got me thinking about how I have been to three funerals that were hard. I thought about my grandparents and all they taught me. What I would say about them if I could speak at their funerals to someone that didn't know them. I thought about my mom and her example to me. Because of their lives I learned about hard work, love, and sacrifice. And I thought about what I would say at the Savior's funeral. What I would say I had learned from him. The scriptures that came to mind. It was kind of beautiful to think of it that way.

Another beautiful moment was listening to a podcast and thinking about the phrase "after all we can do" and this actually means repenting. Repenting means sincerity.

We also had some friend time during this time. Playdates for Darcy with Olivia Stevens and Maddie Gardner. Holland had Riley over to play (they seem like the same kind of kid). I went to Thanksgiving Point with Jenessa. She is so fun to talk to. Samuel and Darcy played in the Paw Patrol room so nicely. We went to a "Pi" night at the Gardners'. There were lots of fun people to talk to.

We started doing some damage control on our yard. This first step was transplanting some grass to the area that the dump trucks tore up. It was a surprising amount of work. I wonder how much it helped after the clover started to come in.

John and I did the funnest Japanese date. He even got us Japanese snacks. We took a virtual tour of Japan, ate edemame with chopsticks, played other chopstick games, did a Q and A about Japan, and just did so much laughing. I am lucky to be married to John.

MCO performances were coming up fast. It was hard to find an evening at home with just our family. But we loved it when we got a game night or just a yummy dinner at home. I love being with my family.

Miriam won Battle of the Books for Centennial! Ellie had her annual physical. I am so glad she is healthy and well. She drove around Provo so well, and we even took time to try on clothes at Target.

The next day was so exhausting: pickleball, workout, spraying trees, tilling the garden, ran some errands, YW car maintenance, and then a YW presidency meeting. I was so so tired. The next day I rested a bit more than usual ahead of the big weekend. I was supposed to be with Miriam for the run through, but she was sick so I just got to see some of it. It was a super late night and I was glad to hang out with Ellie afterwards.

MCO performance day was here! Messiah in America. I ended up taking a nap after dropping everyone off. John and I got Cafe Rio and made creme brulee. We loved going to the performance. The music and scriptures were amazing. Holland was one of the kids that got to go on stage extra and being close to Jesus. Apparently the Jesus actor told Holland, "Hi, I have been meaning to meet you." He also told Darcy in the hall that she was super cute. I loved hearing the youth sing! Volunteering was nice because I could hear the youth sing better. What an amazing experience!

The next day Miriam and I shared our testimonies. She talked about the MCO concert and the healing she felt in order to perform. I shared my thoughts about speaking at Jesus's funeral. I don't know if it meant anything to anyone, but I loved it.

We went to Ashton Gardens. The girls wanted to go there ahead of general conference to think about and consider questions in the Light of the World garden. It was lovely and a little cold. I loved seeing the daffodils.

Another family let them sit on their huge snowball.

Holland had a fun date with John. Chicks at IFA and folk dancing at Utah State Hospital.

Jurassic Jungle was huge! 5 story play ground.

Me and the cutest date!

Spring flowers!

We finished the costumes!

She got a 4.0 despite missing more than a week of school to go to Europe. I am so so proud of her!

Darcy quotes for the month:

"This stuffed animal is known to go on this shelf."

"The ways our house could start on fire is by volcanoes or dragons."

"One time when we had MCO at a gym, they told us to sit down while we sang a song. Sit down?!" She gestures while the tone of voice and expression said that this is the craziest thing.

D: Is Nicodemus good or wicked?

J: He was good.

D: That's good. Wicked is the worst! Why do people be wicked?

"My two favorite things are spending time with Mommy and getting things done so I can watch a movie.

While I was working out, "Aren't you glad you don't have meningitis?"

Other quotes:

M: I am attempting to smoke through a noodle.

E: I do that daily.

M: I have had enough sugar in my life.

Steven Charles: Disneyland is Hell.