The last two weeks have been perfect “summery” weeks. We
have done lots of swimming and have spent some good time in the mountains. The girls have also been enjoying time
playing with friends. Here are a few
highlights:
We had a fun neighborhood barbecue and backyard movie one
night. It was with the 6 families in our
little corner. We just had a new family move in one house over. They have a son
that is a little older than Tennessee. It makes me happy to know there are
going to be some kids his age close by.
We enjoyed getting to know them a little, and of course spending time
with the neighbors. It’s funny how busy things get sometimes. Suddenly you’ll
realize that you haven’t had a good conversation with your neighbor (other than
“Hello! How are you?” kind of stuff) in a while. I’m glad we live in such a great area.
On my birthday we spend the day in the mountains. We had a
delicious lunch at Silver Fork and then spent the afternoon wandering around
Silver Lake. I even ran into my brother, George, up there! He works for the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation,
but is rarely at the Silver Lake station. He was actually just popping in to
check on interns. It was fun to get to see him in his element. I love that we
have these beautiful areas right in our back yard. Utah is great!
I had a great birthday. Eva made me breakfast in bed. She
has been planning it for weeks, compiled a menu, and even practiced a couple
times. It was fun to see her put it all together. She is becoming excellent at making eggs. I
enjoyed getting spoiled. Naiya made me
an awesome comic strip. I love that she likes to do that as gifts. They always
make me smile. In addition to the fun
day out, Jared spoiled me with some kitchen appliances that I’ve been needing
to replace. I got a new blender and a nice Kitchen Aid hand mixer. Tennessee
gave me the gift of lots of snuggles and following me around saying “Happy to
you, Momma” (his version of happy birthday) all day. So sweet!
Thursday I had chance
to have lunch with Julie and Holly. We had a good lunch at Zuppas, but we
missed Chelsy who was off adventuring with Todd and Riley in Canada. (So cool
for them). I have been terrible at
getting together for sister lunches this past year. Hopefully my schedule will work out better
this year if they continue to do the monthly lunches. It really is nice when it
works out to get together.
That Friday, we met up with some friends at the Draper Days
festival. It was actually with a friend of mine from Elementary school,
Nicholena. She has two sons and the youngest is just a couple months younger
than Tennessee. The kids had a blast running around and enjoying the activities. I think their favorite things all included
animals. Naiya almost convinced me that
Princess Lola (our cat) needed a friend. Almost. Maybe some day, but I’m not quite sold on
that idea yet.
On Sunday, we had a birthday dinner with my family. My
brother’s birthday is two days before mine, and his wife’s is on the 27th. My mom made a delicious dinner and an even
more delicious cake. It was also good to get see everyone. I feel like time
flies between visits and we always have so much to catch up on when we all get
together (minus Martin and Travis, who live in Texas).
This week we got
together with some of my teacher friends and their kids for a mini
reunion. I always miss teaching until I
hear them talking about all the meetings that they have to go to in
August. I am grateful that I get one more
month to enjoy my kids before they are back in school. Since I finished my last class, I will be able
to plan some fun August activities… although sometimes just hanging out and
enjoying each other’s company is just perfect as well.
I also got to sneak away by myself for dinner with a friend
of mine who is in town from Japan. Her husband was offered a 3 year assignment
there with his work, so they decided to take the leap and move the whole family
(the two of them plus 4 kids) out there. It was amazing to hear about some of
their experiences. They have had wonderful opportunities to explore some of
Asia as well as some other parts of the world the last couple years. They will
be there for one more year and then will find out where life will take them. What a cool thing for them and for their
kids!
The girls had their last bike club activity this week. They learned how to change a tire and how to
adjust the breaks on their bikes. This
has been such a good experience for them. They ventured out to a number of parks
within a couple mile radius of our house.
They really developed their bike-riding skills and they had a
blast. Maybe next summer we will have to
think of an activity to host/plan for some friends as well. We’ll see how busy I am finishing my
schoolwork.
Naiya is having a fun time with soccer. She really loves it, and is excited for their
first tournament when we get back from the ranch. There are a lot of new girls on her team, and
their coach has been working hard to not only help everyone develop on their
own, but also to get them to work well together. I can’t wait to see all of their hard work in
action.
Eva and I have been running with Tennessee (in the stroller)
around the park while Naiya is at soccer practice. We usually go a few miles and,
in between laps, let Tennessee play on the playground. We always stop and chat with some of the Pokémon
Go players. I have never been a big video gamer, but I think it sounds like a
fun way to get people who would normally be inside playing video games outside.
(That said, I still kind of think people are on their phones waaaaay too much).
Tomorrow (today) morning we are leaving for the Ranch. I can’t wait. We are driving up with Holly and we will spend one night in Mountain Home because the ranch won’t be available for us until Monday. It will be an ideal way to break up the drive for the kids, and we got a hotel with a pool and a hot breakfast (that I don’t have to make). Then we’ll just have a couple hour drive and we’ll be in paradise. I am excited for Tennessee to get to be up there this year again. Last year he was still to young to really get to go out and explore everything. He loves to be outside, and all four of us have already been planning things that we want to share with him up there.
I will be sure to write about the week when we get back. For
now, I’d better finish packing and get some sleep!
XOXO
Lucie et al