Every year we take a staycation and stay a weekend in SLC. This year we did our staycation at home; partly because we went to Disneyland in February. Here's what we did... and boy did we keep ourselves busy!! We were supposed to spend the week before school getting back into early bedtimes and normalcy days... oh well! We were too busy instead...
Several Thursdays ago I came home from work early. I'd about had it with work and sick of planning my life around it. That night we quickly threw together a "friend late night" as sort of a "goodbye summer; hello, school year." The girls each got to invite a friend and stayed up late eating pizza, having ice cream cones, watching movies, and running around the backyard. Copper invited Aria and the twins invited Emery and Maycee. Everyone came in their pajamas and HAD A BLAST. Taryn got a late night too... this time at her friend Sam's house. *By late night... I mean the party ended at 8:30...
Tim and I had a date night the next night. My mom crazily suggested having six of the grandkids sleep over as a last minute party. Wow, no kids!!! Tim and I had a nice steak dinner at home (yummy), browsed Home Depot, took a long walk along the Jordan River Trail Parkway, and spent $$$ at Best Buy buying a game system. To our credit- ours broke and it's how the girls watch the only TV they're allowed to watch. But really, we stayed up all night playing it ourselves...
On Saturday Tim had to work. The girls and I spent the day finishing painting their rooms and reorganizing and decorating. It was a TON of work! But turned out cute (see previous posts).
On Sunday we worshipped our Heavenly Father. Really. And did Family Council AND Family Home Evening again; I try every week but it's hit and miss. Sundays are busy, busy days. I'm seriously certain that the 7th day of the week, the "day of rest" really means spending time doing the things Heavenly Father would want us to do: coming together as a family, taking care of church callings, visiting family and friends, reflecting on the past week and refreshing for the coming week, journaling our lives and gratitude, studying scriptures and life improvement... and all those other things. Long (for us, anyway) are Sunday naps. Bummer. *Side note: it's okay- I take a nap during lunch at work at least twice a week. It's the best decision for my sanity.
On Monday I woke up and thought, "Yep, no work!" Then I remembered I had a few things to do. So I trekked the five (the little girls and Taryn) of us to my office. The girls know just whose office has treats waiting for them and the whole office knows who they are. They are showered with candy and crap. Two hours later we went home and loaded up bikes and scooters. I took them back to the Jordan River and they rode the trail for about a mile. We found a park along the way and we stopped and played for a bit.
We got home, packed up, picked up Taryn's friend, and headed to 7-Peaks.
Tuesday morning we woke up, had pancakes for the second day in a row, and headed to SLC with my sister and mom and all our cousins. First we hit Tracy Aviary and checked out about 20% of the place. Between the heat and Cameron's panic of flying birds, and Micah's absolute whiniest moans of wanting potato chips, we didn't last long.
After bird watching we ate our packed lunch and headed over to Liberty Park to wade in the water and play around. It was bloody hot so we didn't stay super long!
That night Tim had Scouts and was off making fires and chopping wood with 11-year old boys who like to play with matches. I put on a movie on my laptop and the girls were out within minutes. Awesome.
Last week, the girls decided they still wanted their Oma to come on Wednesday and play with them. I left and had the day (mostly) to myself. I headed to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple and it was, as always, the best way I could have spent my time. I like that time seems to stand still in the temple- no one is in a hurry, there's no loud talk or people being obnoxious. Everyone has a sincere look of peace. It's only when I walked back outside that I remembered that life outside the temple is a hustle bustle of craziness.
Afterward I met some friends for lunch. I met Elizabeth Feil and Michelle Bahr about eight years ago. They both work for Wasatch Mental Health- which sometimes feels like my second workplace. I recruited them to help me run the Strengthening Families Program and supervised their work every Wednesday for Years. Like they need supervision- I learned much more from them!!! Well now Michelle is moving back to Oregon so the three of us had a farewell lunch. Elizabeth took a picture... which I don't have. One day when we make it to Oregon I want to catch up... Michelle is amazing!
I bummed around for a little bit and went to pick up my girls. I told them last week that if they wanted they could come to my SFP program with me for our graduation night. They've been at Wasatch Mental Health plenty of times (enough that most people know them by name) but never for the whole night of my program. Pizza, cake, and helping me at work helped and they did great. This is like my 27th (or something) graduation. My fire for SFP is dying a little, haha. Anyway- the girls loved it and Copper and Dakota even dressed up in fancy dresses to go. I'm so happy to be able to take them to work with me sometimes. It's rare (like never) when I'm actually doing something besides paperwork. They thought they were the shizz.
On Thursday we woke up and decided to clean the messy house we'd neglected most of the week. By "we decided" I mean I decided, and it was mostly myself who cleaned. After lunch we picked up Taryn's friend Dylan again and headed to Highland Glen Park (the "duck pond."). We threw frozen bread at ducks and watched two boys accidently catch a duck when they were fishing. Don't use bread as bait... seems simple enough to me but they were shocked. The girls waded in the pond and we walked the trails, tried to catch rabbits, and enjoyed the sunshine.
On Thursday night we trekked to the junior high to take Taryn to her back to school night. A flood of nightmares from 25 years ago rushed back. There were probably a dozen people at the junior high that I went to school with, all with their aging teenagers... and I just thought, "Thank Heavens I survived..." Junior high might be the most awkward time in existence. I told Taryn she would love it, make incredible friends, and have the time of her life; really I meant the most opposite.
Friday we were all lucky because Tim took the day off. He and I took a half-day date and went swimming and out to lunch. First, though, we wished Taryn a happy-first-day-of-7th-grade by giving her a father's blessing. And she was off! That afternoon, the twins and Copper had their back to school night and met their awesome teachers.
Me: So these two are pretty close and sometimes pretty dependent on each other; they're excited but they're pretty nervous...
Her: Ohhh I'm SOOOO nervous too! This is my first year teaching... etc. etc.
Me: Oh I'm sure you'll be just fine! They will love you and you will love them!
Not fantastic to tell the parents if you're nervous, but I immediately liked her genuineness and sincerity, her excitement. I loved that she got on the girl's eye level, talked softly, and had a fun scavenger hunt that let them explore the room. They loved it! She's kind, enthusiastic, and ready for a great year. Giving them suckers at the end definitely won Micah over... I love great teachers!
We celebrated the end of the day by hitting Pizza Factory and staying up late together!
Saturday we headed to 7-Peaks and decided to try out the SLC location. MUCH less crowded but the water was MUCH colder. Still, we had a good time and loved spending the day together. We topped off the night by roasting marshmallows and having s'mores.
I loved staying home with the kiddos and everything we did. Busy is tiring but so FUN! So grateful for my family and everything we do together!
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