June 2024

It felt like summer really began in June, which looks like swim team and goals. I tried to scale back on how much I was requiring the kids to do this year, but they still seem to drag it out. Actually sometime in July I had a bit of a meltdown about that very thing. I want to be a fun mom who does lots of activities together, but because they drag out so many of their tasks we hardly ever have time to do anything for very long. And this is after I had trimmed down their list ask much as I thought I could. It hit me that I only have two more summers with Ellie, and the kids were prioritizing reading time over anything else. I wanted to live our lives together not it someone's made up story. It was a sobering and devasting day for me. I eventually shared my thoughts with them, and for the rest of the summer they did better at balancing reading, tasks, and fun activities. 

Miriam had a goal to strengthen her relationship with Holland, so each day they did a little activity together like watching a youtube tutorial on how to draw a dolphin. Holland had a couple of goals so we just had her work for 10 minutes on one each day. Eliza wanted to do summer classes to free up her schedule so that was her extra thing. Besides goal work, we did swim, music practice, weeding, and scriptures. 

This was Holland's first year of jr swim team. I was pretty nervous about it because she was so stubborn about not getting in the cold pool last summer. But she actually got in! It was a bit touchy for the first day or two, but then she managed to get in the swing of things. I think winning swimmer of the week the very first week helped a lot. We carpooled to swim this summer which made a world of a difference to me. Claire Reimschussel played at our house for an hour each day after swim, which was the perfect motivation for Holland to bathe quickly, while her mom was at the pool with the older kids. It was such a nice set up, and I feel like it gave me more time than ever in the summer. 

This cactus started having the weirdest growth. 
Miriam: It only kept growing weirder and taller.

We celebrated Father's Day early this year because of our Boston trip. John is so loved by all of his girls. They made him such cute cards, and I have to say that the food was delicious (Creme brulee french toast, 7 layer dip, and chocolate cream pudding pie). John got some new shorts and sandals. It was also my Grandpa's 100th birthday!

Creme Brulee French Toast!

Miriam: I love cuddling and also smushing Daddy!

Fun little poppy in the front yard. There was a pink and orange!

Miriam: We sound so much better than we did then. Actually we still sound bad. Just LESS bad.

Miriam did Summer Band for a little while in June. She couldn't make a lot of the practices because of Boston and Young Women camp. But I was still proud of her for doing it and for making new friends there. She really enjoyed playing with kids that weren't in beginning band and getting better at the clarinet. 

Those older girls are so wonderful. I love just chatting with them. One day we talked about their thoughts around friendship. They are getting so mature and thoughtful, but are also silly and carefree. It is pretty beautiful. 

Another beautiful thing is that the church is coming out with new hymns. For the 5th Sunday meeting we had the whole second hour to hear and sing them. It really brought the Holy Spirit and was touching. 

One day Holland, Darcy, and I planted corn and beans. They were so careful and cute about it--counting aloud each seed as they put them in the holes. I was so sad that this section didn't grow well. 

This was while Eliza and Miriam were at Young Women camp. They had so much fun and came home so happy. They particularly talked about an obstacle course and the delicious food. 

Miriam: There was so much yummy food! We had these delicious French toast slices with rich homemade whipped cream and lots of fruit and syrups! We had Cafe Rio and J Dogs. There was also a fun zip line and water slide. We were on the edge of a clearing with other camps around it too and in the clearing all the groups shared bunches of fun activities. Solo time wasn't as great this year because it wasn't super peaceful and quiet which was sad. We made lots of bracelets this time though, like Disciple and WWJD bracelets. We talked some times at night and it was fun! I really feel like I strengthened my relationships with the other young women enough to be reasonably comfortable around them, if not super close. We also went on some fun hikes and also played with a water cannon. It turned out to be really really cold though when we did that. We had testimony night which was really sweet and I started to understand the other young women a lot better. It rained some but not over board like the year before. Overall I think it was super fun and great but less spiritually impactful than the year before!

At home one of my favorite things is eating outside and swimming in the evening, playing motor boat with the girls in the pool. Everyone wants to climb in my lap while in the hammock. It is so fun. 

One day my friend Erin Moulding stopped by with her family. It was fun to hear about their life in Wisconsin and to share about life here. That same day Darcy was so excited to go to the doctor for her well check. She ran to the nurse when they called her name. 

Darcy went to Samuel's 3rd birthday party. It was firefighter themed, and she had a ball. 

Another fun thing in June was that the large cul-de-sac in Cinnamon Ridge threw a big summer bash. There was food, dunk tank, bouncy house, and more. It was so cute! I am impressed that these women had the band width to put that on. Miriam loved manning the dunk tank. It was so nice of everyone!

We also went to the Caldera Summer Party. There was so many prizes and fun games. I always think those are a little awkward, but it is nice of them to put it on and give out so much stuff. Miriam got second place at the kids' watermelon eating contest and won a gift card! 

Miriam: The boy who got first place totally cheated. He SPIT OUT it after taking bites. So unfair.

Playing with water in the yard for their sister time. 

Miriam: BEST SISTER TIME ACTIVITY EVER! I'm so sad that was the only time we did it.

Game time after tasks are done. 
Miriam: I love playing games with Mommy and the rest of the family!

Darcy to Claire: "Our house is really really old, old so we have to be careful with it." It is 2.5 years old. 

Darcy tells me every time we're in a parking lot, "Hold hands, HOLD HANDS!" She has changed her tune from when she wanted to walk by herself. 

One of my favorites of Darcy's, "If you knew how much I loved you, your heart would explode with laughing." 

Miriam threw out one night, "I can't see you as an assassin, but if you were your name would be The Apologizer because you would feel bad for killing them and would apologize as you killed them." That kid. 

One of Darcy's most noteworthy phrases this month was calling me "The one I love." For example, Darcy says to our family, "I want the one I love to sit next to me." It is equal parts adorable and ridiculous. 

One night Darcy told me, "Don't forget kisses from you little Darcy!" 

Miriam: I got a water gun too! But I unfortunately didn't have the chance to complete the fire fighter training as the tube was like 1 and 1/2 feet tall. I am not that short.

John wheeled our grill over to the other cul-da-sac for the party.
Miriam: The food was delicious but there wasn't enough of it. 

Dunk tank girls. 

Miriam: The little kids were SO CUTE to help on the dunk tank. It was really funny but I also felt kind of bad because Emmy kept picking me to help her over her cousin.

I guess they were doing face paint somewhere at the party. 

Ellie got emotional about some stuff she was learning in her online health class. Holland wrote her a note and left it on her door. "I love you. I will protect you." So sweet. 

Miriam: Ellie and I played cornhole with this super sweet older couple who helped us through it and were super nice. I love old people, they are the best.

Miriam got a back brace to help with her scoliosis. She has a lot of growing left to do according to an xray of her hand that showed that her growth plates have a lot of space still. Scoliosis gets worse as you grow so we decided to get her a back brace so that hopefully it won't get worse as she grows. 

It was pretty fascinating process to see how they measured her so exactly. And it worked. According to an xray with the brace on, it is correcting her curvature at 50% which is about as good as you can hope for. She is a trooper to wear a brace every night and deal with back pain occasionally. 

Miriam has started to become quite the babysitter, and it all started one day in June when she babysat for the Neeley's and made quite the impression. Apparently there house was a disaster because of a crazy week, so Miriam organized all of their stuff in little piles on their counters. Thankfully Cassie thought it was adorable and now can't get enough of Miriam babysitting. She also told all the ladies in the ward about it, and Miriam is in high demand as a babysitter. I am thrilled for her but feel a little bad that she eclipsed Ellie's babysitting jobs. Thankfully Ellie doesn't have as much time as Miriam does so there is that at least. 

December 2023

Christmas time! John started the month still in Turkey. A couple hosted him and his coworker/wife. They were so nice to him. They took him to a nearby amusement park where they strolled (very, very slowly) a shopping area. It was so pretty. 

Hey, Smartie Pants

Another little reader in the making!

December is so busy. I am glad that John's trip was at the beginning and didn't conflict with the MCO concert. The problem is that we try to fit so many things in, but then extra things get fit in without us trying.

I love our advent. I love doing extra fun things with the kids. We try to use as many built in activities as our daily activity as possible, but I love the extra things too. Like one day I made German Pancakes with cranberry sauce after school. And when we gave the kids their chocolate advent calendars. Busyness + Daddy being gone makes for some high emotions but we made it through. Eliza was my rock through the whole thing. 

Cherilee brought us dinner too, which was nice. And John did come home. Hallelujah. He is the best. The next day we watched the Christmas Devotional. I love the spirit I felt as President Nelson testified of Jesus Christ. 

On a lighter note, Darcy calling our neighbor "Bucky Bundy" stills makes me smile. Also, when she told John all the things that her body wants--not to have light, to walk, and when asked if her body was ready for reading lesson, "Yes, it absolutely is!"  

Daddy brought us home presents from his trip! "Holland" chocolates and Turkish delight! The hosts also sent home some little bags for the girls and coasters for me. So thoughtful! 

The MCO concert was so amazing! Joy to the World, Frosty, O Holy Night, Carol of the Bells, and Far Far Away blew us away! We had amazing seats and saw all three girls in the front row of the first balcony. I loved their little waves, big smiles, and beautiful faces. There is just nothing like an MCO concert. I guess that is why we keep coming back even thought it is such a hassle. Everything great comes with a price! 

The evening afterwards, Eliza had her Christmas concert. It was a musical retelling of a Christmas Carol. It was so fun. Eliza and her choirs did a great job. Miriam and I read a Kasie West book together while waiting for it to start. I loved it!

The next swim meet we took the whole family to watch Eliza! It was so fun to cheer her on! Later that evening we read about prophecies of Christ and some of His teachings. I love our family scripture study--it is when I feel the Spirit most. We decided to focus on reading the scriptures this Christmas season instead of watching the Bible videos. For whatever reason, I loved it so much more. 

Miriam hid notes around for us. She is such a sweetheart. 

One advent activity was breakfast in bed for the kids. We made them creme brulee French toast, and they were so happy. Eliza said she felt like a noble  woman being waited on. Darcy told us it looked like a cake. Months later they'll still talk about it. 

Going to Thanksgiving Point was so fun. I loved seeing Darcy go down the slide one million times. I also loved playing Christmas Scattergories with John later that evening. We had so much fun that we played it again with the kids. 

Holland wrote the sweetest note for her teacher. 

Christmas manicures!

I love the simple advent activities maybe the most. One classic activity is doing a candy cane hunt. I love everyone's excitement about finding them. And then they want to hide them for the parents to find. Also, snowman pancakes are always fun, but never as cute as I think they will be. They always end up looking a little scary. :) 

Snowman pancakes, Eliza's swim meet, and Miriam's choir concert all happened on the same night. It was crazy busy, but we made it happen. Miriam's concert was so sweet. I am glad she has so many friends in her choir and loves it. 

But there are still happy normal days. Like when the kids wake me up by cuddling in bed. Darcy wanted to be all over me but didn't want my arms or anyone else's arms to touch her. Silly goose! 

Miriam also had her ballroom dance showcase, which was adorable. She danced with a whole bunch of ids, but on one song didn't have a partner (the partner had gone home sick). It looked like she was dancing with air. Darcy got all teary and upset because she wanted Miriam to have someone to dance with. 

Remember Arizona day with blood orange Italian sodas, fig butter, and lemon curd. I miss our AZ trees!

My ministering sister (who I have never met) dropped off a little cookie decorating kit for us. That was kind of her, but it would be nice to feel like she wanted to get to know me. Either way though, it was a fun activity. Darcy was very proud of the work she was putting into hers. She kept telling me, "I am doing such a good job Mommy!" She had to place each individual sprinkle, and when she decided it was done she just licked off the sprinkles and frosting and did not eat the cookie.

Cocoa and carols around the tree

Christmas Eve was on a Sunday this year. And the Sunday before that I spoke in Sacrament Meeting. My assigned topic was about being a peacemaker, which felt like an easier topic. I was pleased with how it went, but it definitely wasn't smooth. I made some last minute adjustments that morning and tried to print it. The printer ran out of ink half way through printing the papers. I didn't have time to change the cartridge, so I grabbed the Ipad and downloaded my talk to it. I noticed it was almost out of battery, so I grabbed the battery pack and the cord. During the opening song of of the meeting, I plugged in the battery back and saw that it was at 0.05% battery life. Yikes! I was getting geared up to reading it off my phone--not what I wanted to do, when the other guy speaking offered to let me send it to him and read it off his monstrous tablet. He loaded it up and handed to it me. I literally did 0 things but somehow managed to get it to freeze up, and he had to restart it. Finally he handed it back to me after changing the screen lock settings. It was so nice of him! So after all that I was proud of how calmly I delivered my talk. I had a bunch of people ask me about our family rules afterwards. It is funny that that was the part that stood out to people. I got special permission to send out the broadcast link to a coupe of people, and I was grateful that they actually watched my talk. It felt like a little miracle that everything worked out in the end, and they actually watched. 

That same day we hosted the Pearson Christmas dinner, which I am calling a success. When I was getting out a patter for food, Darcy told me, "I like this platter; it feels my heart." :) Besides feeding Darcy's heart, we fed everyone dinner. Then we came up with a couple of games with prizes. We tried to think hard about what kinds of games would work for a crowd like that of all different ages. We did research and landed on cutting flour with a coin on top, pouring water into a cup without it going over, and doing a big ball of plastic wrap with money and candy inside. It was a lot of fun even if it cost us a little bit of money. We even had a prize platter with goodies for the winners to choose from. I am proud of how it turned out. I think everyone had a good time. 

Dance party advent night. 

So many random good things. I loved reading scriptures as a family during the holidays. I just hit a little different this year. I loved timing Eliza's swim meet. I loved witnessing the team spirit. I loved going to book club and starting to feel like I am really getting settled in this community. I loved how much my girls tried to help me learn the alto part of the song that we sang in church on Christmas Eve--they are so patient with me. Our next door neighbor did the violin part, which made the whole thing so much nicer. I loved getting a surprise CD that included my grandparents' 12 Days of Christmas version. We also danced to other classic Christmas songs. I loved when Darcy told John, "I had a good day because Mommy always takes care of me" 

We have another butter lover.

Morning cuddles! 

She loves painting.

Winter Solstice candlelight dinner with china. 

Darcy worked so hard on a Christmas card for her friend Marta. She had several drafts that she deemed were not good enough. 

I had such a nice relaxing beithday. We played pickleball early, made a new French toast bake, and played Settlers and Hand and Foot. We decorated gingerbread houses and Jess and Cherilee stopped by. They decorated our door and dropped off a jar of fun quotes, and a certificate saying that they paid to plant some trees in my name. It was really thoughtful of them. For dinner we made shrimp scampi (a new favorite) and chocolate fondue for dessert. I was surprised how much a missed my mom that day. I feel like my birthday is the day that connects me the most with my mom. She went through so much to give me life. 

Some fun surprises for my birthday--jewelry, flowers, and tickets to a play. 

Christmas Eve Sacrament Meeting

Singing in church was stressful and fun. Darcy was mildly cooperative. She was so loving with my dad and happy he came. Last minute wrapping, lasagna, china, rice pudding, nativity, reading, acting out the nativity (a little bumbling but so fun). Decorating presents for Christmas--I loved it all. 

Christmas Day! Yummy parfaits before presents. Darcy's squealed and gasped at the Bingo stuffed animal. She wanted my dad to open every gift. Holland loved her new boots and all of the dragon gear. She was so protective of her new violin. Miriam loved her sweater from Ellie, the mini-speaker, and gave the best shrieks at the furniture and pop-a-shot. Ellie is a teen and loves her earbuds and boots. 

Dinner at Kayla's house was nice. We did a Christmas breakfast for dinner with Deru sausage, waffles, and fruit. We did a gift exchange with my siblings' families. Kayla passed out some of my mom's and grandma's old clip on earrings that she had turned into pendants for necklaces. It was so nice of her! 

This year we went a little overboard with Christmas. We got new furniture for the big girls--dressers and a new bookshelf. We also got a desk with lots of drawers for Holland as a lego desk. We got little bins for her to sort her legos in. And we got a pop a shot for the basement. It is so fun, but I think John and I have more fun with it than the kids do. The problem with getting the kids too many presents for Christmas is that the most expensive things we get them are very practical. So it doesn't feel like a silly gift. It feels like we are using normal (but expensive) purchases to be Christmas presents. And then we feel bad that we are only getting them practical things, so we want to pick up a couple of things for them that are just for fun. And then if you add it all up it feels pretty overboardish. 

We really set ourselves up to fail though because we had to assemble all of that Ikea furniture after the kids were in bed every night. And it turns out they don't go to bed early anymore. Then we had to hide the furniture, which was a real challenge. We used the shed and our closet. Cherilee really bailed us out when she offered to put together one of the dressers. That saved us hours on Christmas Eve.  

Sorting and trading the water bottle stickers. 

She likes the Styrofoam as much as any present. 

Holland loved her dragon bad and necklace from Aunt Patti.

So many beautiful necklaces from Aunt Kayla. 

Kayla gave Marc and Miriam a shockingly lifelike cat as a prank gift. Darcy love, loved it. It was robotic, so it would meow and move a little bit. I wish they weren't so expensive or I would get one for Darcy sometime. 

December 26th was a perfect winter break day. John had the day off work because the holiday was partially on a weekend. We spent time setting up the kids new bedroom furniture. It was weirdly satisfying to sort Legos with Holland. That evening there was a family party at will's house. We played a hilarious candy bar game. The food was a variety of dips, and we played a surprisingly fun game of Telestrations. I loved doing the 12 days of Christmas with everyone. 

The next day John had to be back at work, but we had fun as girls at home--naps, games, nail polish, food, and cleaning up our house. We loved trying two new games and playing pop-a-shot. John and I played early morning pickleball which was much more of a workout with two players. 

The following Winter break day we spent a bunch of time reworking the girls' closet. We did two playdates, and John and I met up with Matt and Julie Guinn for dinner. It was so fun to catch up with them.      

Another advent activity (a favorite of the kids) Santa Shakes! 

We got several new games for Christmas.

I drove the girls up to Ogden one day during winter break for a big sleepover at a hotel with Jane and Suzette. David had some points that he wanted to use and thought this would be a fun way to use them. The girls were over the moon. They went bowling and went to dinner. They played games and swam and watched Percy Jackson in the hotel. The next day when I picked them up, they raved about a crepe place that they went to. Miriam said that it looked like Hobby Lobby exploded in there. 

We made a festive list everyday. I love Winter break! 

We had the best New Year's Eve.  After church we made a big list on the wall of all that we wanted to do for our party--our best party of the year. Pop-a-shot tournament, marble track, laser tag, boardgames, watching the Hong Kong fireworks with noise makers. It was so noisy that Darcy said, "Um let's do a more quiet activity." We decided that seeing the Hong Kong fireworks life is now on our bucket list. We also talked about the year and drew our vision for 2024. We made a bucket list for the year. I wonder how many we can get to. I love our New Year's Eve bash! 

Our avocados weren't ripe enough for 7 layer dip, so we made that another day and made fancy quesadillas. 

Epic marble track

Miriam won the pop-a-shot tournament!

My birthday lilies were gorgeous. 

Laser tag in the basement was super fun. 

Ice cream sundaes was the dessert of choice. 

Our vision sketches of 2024. 

Fireworks and noise makers!

Twinning with my Miriam

 

Yay! I love fun dates!