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. 

St. George for Easter

This year, our girls' Spring Break was sandwiched between Easter weekend and Conference weekend. My siblings and I had been talking for months about going to Lake Powell during that time, but it was like pulling teeth to get something organized for this. First there was this or that scheduling conflict, but then it got resolved, but then there was another, and then a potential solution, but no one could actually commit to even doing a video call to nail down some decisions, let alone actually make decisions about the trip. 

Eventually we landed on postponing the Lake Powell trip, but then I kind of forced people to agree to another trip of sorts just to St. George. David and his family thought they would come, but then pulled out at the last minute. We all coming and going at different times. 

Our family arrived first. We drove down on Friday after school and work. It is a lot of work to get everything together for a trip while everyone else is gone, but it felt worth it to me so we could enjoy a full Saturday down there. We stayed at a hotel and enjoyed the free hot breakfast in the morning. We had researched a few hikes that we wanted to do, and first on the list was Padre Canyon. This is a the canyon that Tuacahn Theater is in. We had to circumvent the theater to hike the canyon. Side note: I would love to attend a performance there. 

It was interesting to see all of the props and equipment stored outside behind the theater, but it was nice when the hike felt like it was further from civilization. This was such an enjoyable hike. The weather was perfect, just cool enough to not get hot while moving. We wore hats but it really stayed overcast throughout the hike. There were fun places to climb, caves to explore, and desert plants to exclaim over. I loved that it was just our family. 

We spotted a fun little cave off the main trail and did a quick detour to go enjoy a snack and a rest there. There were cool skylights in the cave, and it was nice to sit and enjoy the view. 

Unfortunately, on our way back down from the cave, I stepped wrong and injured my knee. My left knee is the one I fight knee pain with anyway and the awkward step, plus carrying Darcy, plus the sand sliding over the sandstone, made for a lateral knee injury. The good news was that it was a different kind of pain than I normally deal with. So I don't think I exacerbated the problem I struggle with daily and am constantly trying to be careful with. But it also was excruciating for a few minutes there.  It was such a weird injury. After the initial pain lessened, it didn't really hurt to step up, or step with no elevation change, but stepping down really hurt. I found that it was the least painful to step with the sore knee (so it stayed straighter?). So I was awkwardly always stepping down with with the same foot, but I am glad I could step at all. Unfortunately we had just come to the sharp ascent to get to the pass of the canyon. I ended up staying at the bottom, and the John and the girls finished the hike. I was so disappointed to miss out on the rest of the hike, and frustrated that I have reached a point in life that injuries happen just because I am wearing out. Thankfully I was able to make it back to the van without too much pain, and I took some ibuprofen to help with any inflammation. 

Next up was actually heading into Snow Canyon State Park instead of just being adjacent to it. It was crowded but we were able to eat a chilly lunch at a picnic area, and even found parking to hit a popular little slot canyon--Jenny's Canyon. It was pretty much just a short walk to the slot canyon, which was nice for my tender knee. 

Next up was a little trail was Pioneer name trail. It is short trail where you can see Pioneer names written on the cliffside. Particularly interesting was seeing the mountain climbers scaling the massive cliff face. 

Our last trail was my favorite of the day--Hidden Pinyon. This was not only a fun hike, with little extra trails to explore, but it also was a nature walk with a pamphlet and info about the different desert plants. Of course this one was my favorite. It really made me miss my mom too. I think she would have loved it. We loved all of the extra little rock scrambling along the trail, even though it was a little tricky carrying Darcy in the pack and being careful with my knee. 

I loved how much Darcy loved being in the carrier (for the most part). I am going to miss it when she is too big for it. It was a little hard on my neck but sweet on my heart when she wanted me to kiss her lips while she was on my back. Cranking my neck that hard isn't how I normally move. "Can I be on your lips so I can kiss you?" So funny and cute! Other times, Darcy was frustrated that I wouldn't go everywhere she wanted to. "I like to go secret places that Mommy doesn't let me." 

We hiked up to the Hidden Pinyon overlook which was lovely but quite windy and chilly. We took a snack break sheltering in a little outcropping. 

Next we headed to the Airbnb we got with Marc and Miriam. It was so nice, and even had an extra bedroom than what I expected. Holland got a huge fancy bed to herself. Darcy was thrilled with her little cot in the closet. Eliza and Miriam and their cousin Anna shared a bunk room. And the rest of Anna's brothers took the other bunk room that had a gaming system. John and I got the fancy master, and Marc and Miriam took the nice room adjacent to their kids. It was a delightful space for our families and I think it would have been cheaper then us all just getting hotels for our family (depending on how cheap the hotels would have been). But it also gave us a gathering place and a kitchen to cook meals in for our family. I am team vacation rental all the way for families. 

On Easter Sunday we went to church and then headed over to the St. George Temple and Brigham Young Home. I don't really know why, but I but I was feeling pretty emotional that morning. I think Darcy was being a punk about only loving Aunt Miriam, and I wasn't being very mature about it. It's kind of embarrassing in retrospect. Trying to get a nice family photo at the temple was the salt in the wound, and I had to tear up a little bit. But tearing up is fine occasionally, and we still had a wonderful time at the temple. What really pulled me out of my funk was that I was able to pull the word "ranunculus" out of my brain when identifying some flowers. After the temple visit, we headed back to the rental and got lunch. We helped family get food together for Easter dinner, and then headed to Gunlock Falls. 

Gunlock Falls were way cool, but felt a little too dangerous. Especially my little Miriam kept going way too close to cliff edges for my comfort level. Thankfully no one got hurt or even really slipped in. Anna ended up scrambling around with our family. Those falls really are so fun, but I think everyone should have a stern talk with their kids (and by everyone I mean me) about being conservative about risks. 

This drop was much bigger than it looked.

Darcy was there, just hiding.

The Easter egg hunt and dinner were a hit. It was fun and delicious and all of these kids were spoiled so much. I couldn't believe the amount of stuff the three families put out for them. That evening we stayed up with Marc and Miriam playing Hand and Foot. The girls had a big come back and won big. It was a good night! 

Miriam made stuffed shells for dinner. Fancy and fun. 

We fit everyone but it helped that the boys wanted to eat outside. 

The next day, we cleaned up from the rental and got loaded up in the van. John had to work that day, so I did almost everything. The kids were helpful, but not as helpful as they could have been. I guess they are still kids and teens and act like it. 

I dropped John off at the Washington library, where he worked that day. I headed back to Snow Canyon with our family. He found a good place to work in the library, but it was funny to hear about the awkward things that happened to him. Two guys met up to talk about financial planning in detail right next to John. He heard all about how one of the guys got taken advantage of financially, and it was a real problem. Another person scowled at John when he was discretely trying to eat some food. I appreciate that John works when we play to provide for our family. 

Over in Snow Canyon Darcy wore Daddy's hat for the hike, or at least for a little bit. We hiked the Butterfly trail saw the lava tubes. Marc's family had to leave early, but we stuck with Kayla's family. All those cousins were so cute hiking together. The lava tubes were way bigger than I expected, and Marc took the kids exploring in them. We climbed up a nearby rocky hill to get a cool view. On the way back to the car, Kayla's kids told me all about caring for their dog. They don't ever really like to talk to me, so it was fun to chat with them. Darcy was helpful along the hike by pulling on the carrier straps to help me walk faster. :) 

After we headed back, Kayla broke out some donuts she picked up for everyone. They were delicious but man the weather did not play nice in the moment. It was windy and cold. Kayla and her family decided to take off, and we did a quick nearby tortoise walk. There were so many interesting facts about tortoises even if it was particularly cold and windy. 

After the tortoise walk we headed back to pick up John and head home. I had to drive a lot of the way so he could work, but it was worth it to spend some time with my family that day. What a fun little trip! We got home in time to clean up and put things away, which was really nice. But it sure was cold in Provo. We were glad to go south for Spring break, even for just a couple of days.