Jubilant June

The best is yet to come! 1) My parent's return and 2) James' baptism. We have filled our time with some other magnificent events in the meantime...

Grannie is in town! She came home with us from the Ditto reunion so she can be at the baptism. We tiptoed out while Penny was napping (Andrew works from home) to the movies. Cousins Simon and Esther and aunt Lindsey met us there. My kids haven't been around their cousins for nearly 3 years which is too long!

Tuesday, June 24

We had the BYU Dittos over for dinner less than 24 hours after returning from vacation. Only one of these Dittos made it to the reunion. We ate outside and the temperature was perfect. Andrew grilled and playing "Rook-o-lee" was a given.

Monday, June 23

You're welcome

Family reunion in Spokane, WA June 18-22

Wednesday, June 18: We began our drive at 6:00am. Izzy threw-up twice in the car. Yikes. The last half of the day traveling went smoothly especially when Penny got some shut eye and I could finish my book in solitude. Get your hands on "The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion" series this instant! We spent the evening playing pickleball! I need to make playing more a priority. 

Thursday, June 19: Silverwood the amusement park was incredible! I'd never been. It is immaculate. So well maintained and gorgeous. It wasn't crowded either! Andrew ripped the bandaid off quickly by taking James on an intense rollercoaster right from the get-go. Whew. James was mad at him for awhile after but ended up being a daredevil. I got to ride a few rollercoasters myself and am grateful for all the helpers we had with our kids. Stunt Pilot was epic. I did lots of kiddy rides too with Izzy and Penny. The waterpark was fantastic. Andrew and I went on a double tube ride and got drenched. It was worth the shivering. We were at the park from opening-close! All 3 kids zonked on the hr drive back. We will be going to Silverwood again! It's only a matter of when..

Thursday, June 19

Isabelle was enamored by the magic show. She got the magician's autograph after.

Friday, June 20: The Dittos went to the temple early and filled up the baptistry, a sealing room, and initiatories. Sealings took long, so we didn't make the cut for the group picture. We then headed to Logan and Julia's lakehouse on Diamond Lake. It's a little over an hr drive. We had 2 lake days planned, but the weather didn't cooperate. However, that didn't stop several from jumping in the water. I was not tempted when the weather app said it "felt like 50 degrees." (The high was 65 but it was windy and even rainy that morning) We had the fire going and the blankets were plentiful. We ate super well, played hand and foot, and the kids had cousin playmates for days. Penelope did gag after dinner, but fortunately that was short-lived. Had one of the best pasta salads of my life and also can't stop thinking about those J Dawgs or chicken teriyaki bowls.

Friday, June 20

Saturday, June 21: The weather was even colder/rainier. Our backup plan was vintage shopping and a park for the dads/kids. They played soccer and kickball but clearly that wasn't enough because the men later played basketball at the church. I was in charge of lunch that day and made taco soup, cornbread muffins, and cookies. Grannie helped with the meat and fruit. That evening we had a bday celebration for 3 Dittos.

Saturday, June 21

Sunday, June 22: We stayed at Logan and Julia's home which is always a delight. Their property is serene. We rolled out the door at 6am. We avoided throw-up this leg of the trip. We did encounter rain for a good chunk of the drive and even SNOW at one point. One child gave me a beating headache and left my ears ringing. She will not remain nameless. Cast your guess now... Penelope was a pill. She sure is cute and got doted on by many at the reunion. We still adore her. We drove directly to Jess and Chris' house for dinner. Super sweet of them to host us stinky and starving travelers. 

Look who is into everything

 No camping was involved this reunion and despite the weather it turned out to be one of my favorites.

Several Dittos were missing! 43 came. (Claire and Deena were there but aren't pictured.)

Track and piano started this month for James! 

Andrew took the older kids to see "How To Train Your Dragon."

Saturday, June 14

We went to the rec center pool with Louie, Fred, and Jess.

Friday, June 13

Happy birthday Go-Daddy! We biked to his house to deliver cards and chocolate.

 Friday, June 13

3 days of science camp for James and Isabelle at Mrs. B's. 

June 10-12

We met the Thomans at a splashpad/park for a picnic dinner. Insert imaginary picture here.

Goodbye lunch for Mary! Alysee made her beautiful artwork of her new home. I've since hired Alysee to do our house. 

Tuesday, June 10

Jess and I played in my ward during sacrament meeting and at Adrienne Clarke's mom's funeral.

Saturday, June 7

Last day of School and end of year festivities! 

Friday, June 6

Puppet show

Kinder program

Andrew and I celebrated the end of school by going to a couples game night at Garret Jensen/Jessica Brahm's house. We played "Blood on the Clocktower" which is similar to Mafia. Andrew lives for social deduction games. 

Sunday dinner with the Fisher family!

We had my cousin Sara and her family over for dinner. Jessica's family came too. It was lovely. The cutest was at the end when Abbie asked her mom Sara if she can get Isabelle's phone number so they can set up a playdate.

Sunday, June 1

Lots to look forward to!! My emotions are going to be all over the place.

Marvelous May

Life is beautiful!

Memorial Day Hike and Pool Party: We continued our hiking tradition on Memorial Day tradition. This year, we went to the Poppy Fields in Alpine. Isabelle brought up the poppies hike awhile back and my heart soared. She remembers how gorgeous it was. 

Monday, May 26

The Allmans and Bradshaws came with us.

Monday, May 26

We last hiked the poppy fields with Grandma Langlois on Saturday, June 10, 2023. I was pregnant with Penny.

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Jessica's in-laws had a pool party and bbq on Memorial Day. It was extremely hospitable of them to let us crash their party. I brought potato salad and cheesecake bars and we splashed and relished in the sun for hours.

We ended the night playing Ticket to Ride. What a perfect family day.

Movies: We saw 2 movies this month!

Andrew and I went to dinner and Mission Impossible. Long movie! It wasn't our favorite Mission Impossible, but it was enjoyable and we still had a good time. We thought it felt a bit over dramatized and really put Tom Cruise in the spotlight since it's the last movie in the series. The Mi Ranchito beforehand was a homerun. Still thinking about that guacamole. We went to the movies on a Friday, what? We don't like to pay full price for movie tickets and we didn't have to. We got a deal through T-Mobile Tues and got $5 movie tickets through atom.com.

Friday, May 23

Lilo and Stitch is loved in our house, so we prioritized seeing this. Cousin George and co joined us! Chris is taking the pic. Dorothy was a champ during the movie. Didn't make a peep. We didn't attempt to bring Penny. Andrew took one for the team and stayed back with her. The movie was cute. Not amazing and stuck to the basic storyline we all know and love. Still fun!

Tuesday, May 27

Grandma: We met Grandma at a park for a picnic lunch in Lehi near her house. We got kids meals for the children from McDonald's because the kid meal prize is a squishmallow! Say what? (Thanks Jill for the tip.) Day made for the kiddos.

Saturday, May 24

Dance: Isabelle had another dance competition! And a spring recital. This time around, I went to the dance competition at Olympus High in Holladay. The dance team had a 7:30am call time which meant a 5:30am wakeup time on a Saturday morning to get ready and be there in time. Isabelle's jazz class got diamond 1st place! I'm happy to report that I nailed Isabelle's bun! The video helped me perfect it.

Saturday, May 3

This was after the performance and it's still in tact.

I was thrilled to see that the spring recital was at close Herriman High School. We've learned that recitals are long events. We drove 2 cars so the whole family didn't have to arrive early and stay for the entire 2 hour production. Isabelle's smile could be seen from our seats in the back of the auditorium. Shoutout to Jessica for coming! She even paid a babysitter to make it possible. Isabelle's feelings about dance are all over the place. Having her decide what she wants to do for dance next year changes on the daily.

Saturday, May 10

Basketball: James finished another season of bball! This time he played at the Gene Fullmer Rec Center in West Jordan. His friend Jordan was on his team. His classmate Harrison was also on the team and his mom was the coach. We were all bummed that the boys didn't get a basketball this time. Oh well. James didn't score as much this season, but still made some baskets! He was not feeling his best during the last game which didn't help. I loved having a scheduled chat time with Andrea (Jordan's mom). Next athletic event for James is track which is right around the corner... Hello June!

Saturday, May 17

Isabelle lost her first tooth! How did she grow up so fast?? She couldn't talk about anything else that day. "Mom aren't I the luckiest? My tooth came out the day it became wiggly!" The tooth fairy even brought $2.

Thursday, May 15

Temple! My friend Liz invited me to join her at the temple. She went back for the first time in over 2 years. It was really neat to see her experience the session. She was touched.

Saturday, May 3

Recovery: The gum graft is behind me! Woot woot!

The scariest part was...I passed out twice after the surgery which was bizarre. Andrew was terrified. Luckily he was nearby and caught me both times. He helped me out of the car and the next thing I remember was hearing Andrew frantically shouting my name as I lay on the garage floor. After that, he helped me to bed. I couldn't quite make it and woke up once more on the floor in our room. Hooray for Andrew catching my falls. After that, all was well.

The unexpected part was... the recovery wasn't as miserable as I'd heard it would be. It was much better than anticipated! I will say I missed food and had a rumbly tummy for about 5-7ish days on a liquid diet. (In the beginning, I had to pick Reese's out of my ice cream--too hard to eat and skip the chicken in my soup.) Boy am I happy I paid the out of pocket price for the retainer they recommended to help with my recovery. I was told to wear the retainer while eating and could wear it other times too which helped with pain. The retainer covered the roof of my mouth which was very tender/sore since they took some of my gums from up there to put on the bottom of my mouth. I had blue stiches as well as dissolvable stiches.

The best part was... the kindness shown to me. I got teary talking to the kids about it. Jessica watched Penny during the procedure. Leslie brought us dinner that night including a smoothie just for me. Alison sent over soup and popsicles which I guzzled. Another day Jessica brought me soup for lunch (sponsored by Mom) and Swig. "The Denning Girls" (Mom, Lindsey, Jill, and Jessica) got me a Roxberry giftcard and Zupas giftcard. McCall sent me a Jamba giftcard. Becky brought by a superb casserole. Others texted and checked in (Debbie, Jess Brahm). It was humbling.

The good news is... I've had one follow-up appointment so far and my mouth is healing nicely. There had been talk of a second surgery since things were so bad, but so far it doesn't seem to be needed. I go in for another appointment in July. 

I was awake for the 30 minute surgery and last minute brought headphones which was the right move! At one point I closed my eyes after seeing bloody stuff being removed from my mouth. Yeah no thanks.

The shocking part was... I asked Andrew to capture a photo of this moment. He didn't seem to believe I was serious. Clearly I was!

Some not so beautiful/glamorous parts of this month: (I say this to be real. Our life is far from perfect.)

• Our garage broke. What started as "just a spring" turned into a new motor and was over $1200. I'm grateful we could take care of it.
• When we took out our deck, we discovered an uncovered window well. Who knew getting a new window well cover would be so complicated? The cover we ordered didn't fit which meant Andrew got to drive over 1 hr roundtrip twice, once to pick up the cover and then again to return it.  He had to take work off to do it to make it there during business hours. We had to get our window well measured and order a custom size. Our hazard and danger zone should be hopefully taken care of for good in 2 weeks.
• I got in a car crash! What! This is a first for me. And guess who ran into me? A police officer. My family can attest to the fact that I've always been afraid of the police and being pulled over (which has also never happened). The cop ran a red light, avoided hitting another can and swerved into me (I was stopped). The officer said he was distracted and looking at his computer. I am grateful I was alone and that it was minor. Because the accident involved an officer, another cop had to come to the scene as well as the police officer's supervisor. I will refrain from my rant about the supervisor but let me just say he didn't help my opinions and was extremely condescending. The other 2 officers were kind. Someone followed me home from the scene and told me they witnessed the crash. I thought it was extremely nice of them after I got over the initial worry. My heart was pounding when I noticed someone following me home and stopped at my house. Hopefully I'll be done with the endless phone calls, paperwork, and statements soon.

Wednesday, May 28

• Caught some fraudulent activity on our credit card. Not a big deal and not a big charge. Just life I suppose.

Goodbye piano! I'm officially done!! Goodbye subbing (for the summer)! I am a free woman! As if.