graduates

What a great week we had. The most exciting event of the week was Wilda's graduation. My mother-in-law graduated with a bachelor's degree from BYU at the age of 64 this week. It took her 8 years this time, plus two years before she quit back in 1973. It was amazing to watch her work her way through all the challenges that came from going back to school and actually complete her goal. We realized as we were pondering on this amazing accomplishment of hers, that all of her children and all of her children's spouses have college degrees (and all of them from BYU!) (I'm counting Ryan here Heather--I hope that's okay--I didn't understand what Steve was saying about the Army.) All of her girls made the trip to Orem for the convocation and then we had a nice dinner at The Harvest afterward. On Saturday, we all went bowling together at BYU and did a quick tour of campus to see all of the improvements that BYU has done, even since I was there 9 years ago.

I also got to get another pedicure on Saturday. This one was with my mom who'd never had one before. And the girls got haircuts in preparation for school starting on Tuesday. Steve and I went to the adult session of our Stake Conference last night and then watched The Arrival after the kids were in bed. We both really enjoyed it. The ideas it puts forth about communication and about vulnerability were profound and intriguing. I would recommend it to anyone. (There was 1 f-word, put in solely to make the movie PG-13 instead of PG. There was nothing else questionable that I can remember.)

I haven't done gymnastics for a couple of weeks now, sadly. I hurt my wrist the last time I went and it hadn't healed by the next week (yes, that's an injury for each time I went), so I skipped that week. Then the next week, they'd cancelled the class because the schedule for the entire gym was changing. They hadn't started the adult class back up again this week, so we'll see if I get to go anymore. I'm sure glad I went when I could!

I also took my girls shopping for new school tennis shoes, which was a humorous endeavor, since they wanted every shoe they tried on.

Last week, we go a flyer on our door from some girls in the ward putting on a "Princess Training Camp." They wanted $7 per child. Emilia was too old for the camp, but she REALLY wanted her sisters to be able to go. Perhaps I'm just a scrooge, but I thought, "What in the world are they going train them to do? Sip drinks with their pinky up? Walk with books on their heads?" Needless to say, I didn't send them. And Emilia was so-o-o disappointed in me. So disappointed, in fact, that she asked if she could do her own princess camp for the younger neighborhood girls who were too young to go to the other camp (or whose moms were too mean to send them). She entertained seven or eight girls for like 6 hours (some of them were her helpers, but still). They did nails and makeup, talked about etiquette, learned to walk properly, eat and drink properly, colored princess pictures, dressed up in princess dresses and more. At the end, Emilia made them diplomas and gave them treat bags that she decorated herself from the girls' stash of art supplies. It was truly impressive. I was proud of her creativity and drive.

I also roped Steve into talking with a financial planner that found me at the splash pad. Steve was super hesitant, but we needed someone to help us with investing for retirement past Steve's 401k and I really liked her. I thought it went well. I realized I have quite a passion for helping families make finances a priority. We'll see what happens with that.

I'm excited that this coming week the family gets to go to Colorado for my cousin Doug's wedding and EVERYONE from my mom's side will be there. We haven't all been together in almost 10 years. More about that in probably 2 weeks, since we'll be traveling home next Sunday.

dead phone

So...my phone died this week. Dropped it perfectly to leave everything intact except the screen. And I didn't even break the screen itself. It's just a green and black blur. I'm very sad about this. Looking at new phone options, none of them are as good as the phone I had. *sigh*

I helped Julia again on Monday. Tuesday, I took the girls to a book signing for Song Breaker. The author was my mentor two years ago at Storymakers Conference. We learned a Finnish folkdance, made crowns, ate Finnish holiday bread, and got our faces painted. I bought the book, but I haven't read it yet. Steve played LOTR with Ben on Wednesday. Ben brought his oldest, Dylan, with him and she got to stay over night and play with us all the next day. Thursday, I had a doctor appointment in Salt Lake, so afterward, I took the girls over to my parents' house so I could help out a little more. They got to swim in Nana's pool for a little bit, so they were happy. That night, a couple in our ward invited us to go shooting at Springville's outdoor shooting range. I shot a .308 rifle, a .22 rifle, a 9mm glock, and another handgun that was more powerful, but I can't remember what kind it was. Steve sustained an injury that night, though luckily not a bullet wound. :) He sat down to shoot the .308 and was aiming through the scope. He took the rebound in his shoulder just fine, but his face was too close to the scope and he now has a really nice crescent moon scab in between his eyes. Friday and Saturday were sit at home and do nothing days. Even though I still did lots of work. I just didn't leave the house at all. And my kids stayed in their pjs all day. Today was a pretty normal Sunday.

Unfortunately for you, there will be no pictures of pretty sunsets or adorable children. Because my phone is dead . . . and I am sad.

out-of-the-ordinary, sometimes time-consuming, but fairly normal stuff, plus a hike

We did a lot of out-of-the-ordinary, sometimes time-consuming, but fairly normal stuff this week. :) Steve took Emilia on a date Monday to let her spend the last of her birthday money, so I took the younger two to the Bean Museum. I got to have lunch with my friend Gina on Tuesday. I went for a short hike with a friend above our house Tuesday night. The sunset was gorgeous. I helped a friend get her classroom ready on Thursday. We had a playdate Thursday--it involved watching a movie and playing mini-air-hockey/mini-pool/Candyland. I went up to my parents' house to help them with getting their house ready to sell on Friday. We went to Vance Benjamin Frohlich's baby blessing today.

Our big fun thing for the week was a hike with Grandma and Grandpa Watts on Saturday. We were going to go to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon, but Grandpa read an article in the newspaper saying it was so popular this year that you had to be there by 7am to get a parking spot. Wake three kids up at 5:30 in the morning so we can get ready and drive for an hour to get to the trailhead? Yeah right. Thus began a search for another hike we could do with kiddos and grandparents that wouldn't be totally boring for the adults or WAY too difficult for the kids. This was far harder than I thought it would be. Apparently, there are lots of 4 mile round-trip hikes with 1400 foot elevation gains around here. Or half-mile hikes with no elevation gain that are clogged with all the people who can't do the 4-milers. Finally, I stumbled upon the Buffalo Peak hike.  Hoorah! A one-mile hike with a 300-foot elevation gain. Perfection. And it's also to the summit of a mountain. How fun does that sound? Cecily got to summit a mountain at the age of 4! And I only carried her on the steepest 100 feet. ("ONLY" *pants*) Emilia was reading this as I wrote and wanted to make sure that I mentioned that Grandpa took us out for lunch at Culvers afterward. I guess that was a highlight of the trip. :)  (Thanks, Grandpa!)