Goings On

My posts have become sparse over the last couple of months. I’m not sure if this is something people have noticed, or if it’s like, “Hey, now that you mention it, you’ve been a bit absent!” I haven’t really felt like blogging, and I don’t have a lot to say. This makes me sad because I love writing. I also love journaling and documenting, so my little private corner of the internet is a wonderful place for me to accomplish all of that. Lately I just haven’t been able to pull it off. 

I’m also not reading, and it’s weird. It’s like a switch went off one day and suddenly I didn’t enjoy reading anymore. I hope I’m just taking a break and that I’ll pick it back up again sometime soon. April 11 was the last time I finished a book. I keep trying - every now and then I turn on an audiobook or load something onto my Kindle app, but so far, nothing has held my attention. 

I honestly haven’t felt like myself for a while, and I don’t know if it’s depression… or something about being 40… or some kind of life transition. Am I just… changing? Is it perimenopause? 

I’m a bit off these days, but here are some things I’ve been up to lately:

We had a decent strawberry crop this season, and I was able to make some jam. The rest of the garden is… sorta “meh,” but the strawberries thrived!

On Father’s Day, Scotty had to meet with some people from the Tabernacle Choir about new dresses for the women (they’ve been wearing the same ones for 20+ years!!) I’ve always wanted to go behind the scenes at the Conference Center, so I invited myself along. 

I went with Scotty to his meetings, and then we stayed for Music & the Spoken Word (it was Lloyd Newell’s last broadcast). 

We’ve been to Lagoon a few times. We just go for a couple of hours first thing in the morning, but it’s getting too hot for my taste. 

I had to do a sleep study. This is the mannequin that taught me how to strap my equipment on. Results in 3-4 weeks.

My kids found size 21 Nikes at the DI. I want to find the former owner of these shoes.

We had a family campout with Scotty’s dad’s fam. They are not camping people, so this was really out of their norm. 

I’ve been spending a lot of time working on food prep for stake girls camp. My camera roll is full of stuff like this:

My committee and I will be feeding 150+ people nine meals and daily snacks. My basement is full of food. My freezer is full of food. And my mother-in-law’s freezer is full of food. 

We have just less than a month til camp. Meanwhile, the stake young men are leaving for camp tomorrow, and they just had their planning meeting on Sunday. 

Kid Report

Kids minus Eva

Nicky

• Is super busy all the time with his rich social life
• Works concessions at a concert venue to pay for his performing arts fees
• Works two nights a week belaying for rock climbing classes
• Loves working with people with special needs and has a few special needs friends that call him all the time to talk 
• Has a broken down Jeep right now (update: the Jeep is fixed!)
• Is taking voice lessons
• Has been to youth conference so far this summer and will be going to young men camp and FSY soon
• Is going to be a senior in high school (sniff)
• Is taking an online English class
• Has won tickets to three different concerts on the radio (Stevie Nicks, New Kids on the Block, and Heart) (I was driving one morning and suddenly heard my son on the radio answering vacation trivia)
• Always has to be doing something adventurous. He cannot sit still. 
• Is going to lots of missionary speaking events (the big summer wave of missionaries leaving has begun)
• Has a makeshift pottery studio in one of our sheds

Daisy 

• Is bored 
• Might have broken her toe this week (update: seems like it might just be a sprain now)
• Loves watching Dance Moms
• Watches movies with me a lot and has just started wanting to watch a few scary things (A Quiet Place and The Village)
• Has been listening to The Hunger Games books (she’s on Catching Fire right now). We went to a rescreening of the first movie at our local theater yesterday. 
• Can sometimes be convinced to make a dessert for us
• Is obsessed with Ryan Gosling 
• Makes a lot of bracelets
• Is not being social at all right now, which makes me kind of sad
• Is going to high school this year
• Loves pizza rolls and salad with honey mustard poppyseed dressing 

Zoe

• Is doing a summer theatre camp
• Likes to go ride her bike and listen to audiobooks
• Is currently our most contentious child
• Claims she is going to make her own scuba diving tank out of a milk jug
• Is still full of big, exhausting ideas 
• Is going through a phase where she won’t eat chicken nuggets out of respect for chickens. She eats other kind of chicken, just not nuggets
• Asks everyday if I will take her to KFC
• Will be going to girls’ camp for the first time this year, and I’m terrified to let her go (even though I will be there)
• Loves bean and cheese burritos

Eva

• Does hundreds of cartwheels a day
• Is always full of energy at night and can’t shut down
• Is a sassy little thing
• Refuses to brush her teeth
• Refuses to do her chores
• Is very sneaky 
• Is ravenous from 7:00-10:00 pm and eats non-stop
• Lost a tooth this week and then texted Scotty to tell him and included a gif that said “Hell yeah!”

Currently (June 2024 Edition)

Reading: still nothing. I haven’t read a book since the beginning of April.

Drinking: NOT soda. As of Monday. Again.

Never mind. Wednesday got me drinking Coke.

Cooking: Asian BBQ Chicken 

Watching: 

Sick of: social media. 

Wearing: a shirt that says “May the Lord be With You” and biker shorts.

Buying: dish soap.

Annoyed by: new credit cards. I hate having to update all my accounts.

Laughing about: I recently had to draw a pen*s, and I realized I had never drawn a pen*s before (even though it’s like the most frequent form of vandalism of all time). 

Dreading: doing a sleep study. 

Missing: being able to read books and enjoy them.

Craving: homemade brownies.

Singing: songs from Bright Star. I’ve listened to it twice this week.

Thinking about: what time I’m going to get out of bed and go to work in the morning. 

Playing: 

I play Bloom and Quixx with Daisy a lot.

Trying: nothing. I’ve been a quitter at everything lately.

Needing: to vacuum the sand from our California trip out of the van.

Excited about: going to lunch with my friend Lynsie tomorrow for her 40th birthday (which was May 11, but you know how life goes)

Eating: Chinese food (with Lynsie!)

Regretting: drinking a Diet Coke on May 18th at Woody’s Drive In after not having soda for a while - thereby putting me back on the wagon even though I don’t like diet drinks.

Smelling: dry shampoo.

Struggling with: everything (to put it simply).

Wanting: a new trampoline.

Remembering: James. This week is the one-year anniversary of his passing.

Hoping: to start blogging normally again, but I just haven’t had anything to say lately.

Procrastinating: finishing this post (I’ve been working on it since June 1st). 

Wishing: that Zoe didn’t have to go to junior high someday.

Avoiding: returning a voicemail from earlier this week.

Noticing: that boys have really terrible hair throughout all eras. 

Wondering: why I have so many zits. 

Grateful for: my five senses. 

Adventures in Hollywood

While Daisy and I spent a day in Disneyland, Scotty took the other kids on an adventure through LA. They started at the California Science Center. We’d been there a few times, but it had been a while. Some of the exhibits have been updated, and my kids were excited to report that they learned all about reproduction!

Eva was excited to see these tadpoles hanging from the ceiling

After the science center, they explored Hollywood. 

They stumbled into a gift shop where they were able to buy some really cheap souvenirs, much to Zoe and Eva’s delight. Nicky was happy to be out and about - he is not okay with sitting around relaxing. He wants constant adventure. I joke that he is like a high energy dog breed that needs to be walked several times daily.

They had some really yummy brick oven pizza for dinner (I later enjoyed the leftovers).

That evening, Scotty took the kids to Downtown Disney to wait for Daisy and me. They got beignets and watched the fireworks from outside the gates of the parks. 

They also listened to some live music and walked through the stores. They were all really good sports about Daisy and me going to Disneyland. We were expecting a little more pushback, but they were great, and they had a really good day with their dad.

Before we left the Disney property, we hung out for a while and talked about everything we did that day. Happy reviews all around!

The next day we kept things low key and hung out at the beach and pool. Then we had dinner with all our fam and played some games. Nicky got his first seat at the poker table, and he ended up being the big winner. 

On Wednesday we went to Knott’s Berry Farm. Sadly, it was chock full of school buses, and the lines were 2-3 hours long. 

We ended up spending most of our time eating and walking around the ghost town. We gave up on rides. We had a meal plan for 3 of the 6 of us that let us get an entree and side every 90 minutes, so we just wandered around from snack time to snack time. We also had a soda package that let us get a fresh refill every 15 minutes. We were sad that we missed out on a lot of the rides, but we made the best of it. Knott’s closed at 8:00, and on a whim, we decided to hit Downtown Disney again before we headed back to our condo. We watched a band play, watched the fireworks from outside Disneyland, and got beignets. We got back to the condo pretty late and slept in on Thursday. 

We spent Thursday lounging at the pool and getting packed up and ready for the drive home Friday. When we left on Friday morning, it felt like we were heading our way too soon. Our vacation flew by! It was really nice to get away. 

Disney with My Girl

We just got back from a vacation to California. It was a bit of a weird trip because we never really took time to plan it. May was crazy for all involved (we went with some of Scotty’s family), so it felt like we all marked our calendars and then just rolled out of bed and showed up on the right day. 

One of the highlights of the trip was that I decided spontaneously (8:00 the night before) to take Daisy to Disneyland on Monday - just the two of us. I was originally going to send her and Nicky, but then I thought, ya know what? Nicky got to go in March with his school, and Scotty went earlier this year for Brocation. I was going to take a turn! So I got online and bought the tickets and went and told Daisy the news. She was so excited!

On Monday morning, Scotty dropped us off, and we spent the day park hopping. Yes, I’m still mad at Disney. Yes, I forked over all the monies to make it a good experience. Just like they want me to. Yes, it cost a fortune. Yes, we had a blast.