Megan's family was here Saturday through Tuesday, but they had a lot of things planned with friends this time around, so we saw them for a few hours on Monday and Tuesday. The kids made ribbon wands with Nana on Monday and we played some Heads Up (a game app that's like Headbandz).
Tuesday we got to go bowling at BYU and checked out games and books at the bookstore for a while.
I HAD TO finish up my application for renewing my teaching license on Monday, because it was supposed to be renewed by Friday. (I don't procrastinate at all, what are you talking about?) I found out Monday that the principal that was going to sign my application had complications with a surgery and wasn't going to be into school until the end of July. So I had to go to a different principal, and unlike the first, she wanted me to have all the proof that I'd done the hours printed out and taken to the school with the application. So I had to contact the writers conference that I go to and have them send me documentation. That took until Tuesday, and then I got it signed and sent in. Lucky for me, it only took the state two days to approve my application. Whew! Nothing like cutting it close. :)
The girls also had another make-up for gymnastics that day and I had my online critique group chat.
We had nothing on our calendar Wednesday. What freedom! Steve had game night that night, so I knew I had to make sure the basement, where they play, was clean. Then Emilia's friend, Tehani, who moved to Eagle Mountain half-way through this last school year, said she could do a play date. It's about a 40 minute drive from here to Eagle Mountain. It ended up being longer because I was listening to a book on the drive and totally missed the exit by 2 exits. (Oops.) Since she was going to be gone most of the day, I set up to have one of Mira's friends come over, so the other two would be entertained. When I got home from dropping off Emilia, I started some gluten free bread. I'd gotten a new cookbook that was supposed to have a recipe for the best gluten free bread you've ever eaten. One has to at least try that right? Unfortunately, the bread is supposed to do a slow rise in the fridge for up to 5 days! That's a lot of waiting for good bread. If this stuff isn't the best thing since ice cream, I'm probably never going to make it again. It took me over an hour to put the dough together and get it in the fridge (the starter had to raise for 45 minutes before I could add the other ingredients). When that was done, I needed a break, and I ended up falling asleep on the couch for an hour. But when I woke up, I was so frustrated. I'd really wanted to get some decluttering done that day. Our whole house needed a good decluttering, and since all my girls were occupied, I thought it would be ideal circumstances to work on a project. But it was already 4:30 and I didn't want to make a huge mess before Steve's game night. But, I decided I could clean out the small space under our stairs in the two hours before he got home. I had to. The space under the stairs is right next to the basement family room. The guys wouldn't even be able to walk into the room if I didn't get it done. About an hour in, I got a text from Tehani's mom saying Emilia wanted to come home. Ugh. All that I had accomplished so far was to get everything OUT of the closet. It would take me 45 minutes to an hour (one way!) to go get her during rush-hour traffic and the guys would be arriving before I could even get home, let alone clean up my mess! Then I remembered Eagle Mountain was sort of on the way home for Steve. And luckily, he was willing to stop and get her. After I had that figured out, I managed to build two makeshift shelves to hold water and get everything back into the closet or put away somewhere else or tossed in the trash before 6:45. I was super impressed with myself. And by 7:30 when Steve and Emilia arrived, I'd gotten the entire play room cleaned up, because that was going to be my project for Friday. Dinner was easy (and late!) that night: French toast.
Thursday, I was worn out. I think I overdid it a little on Wednesday. I can't even remember what I did that day. It probably would have been fine, but--some of you don't know this--I'm pregnant. And I had to do some lifting to get boxes of books out of my way along with cutting wood and doing a lot of bending. I'm 14 weeks along this week. Below is my belly picture. The belly doesn't look that big in this picture, but I already feel huge. I'm not used to having that space being taken up!
By Friday, though, I was ready to do some more decluttering. I went through the play room and got rid of all the stuff the girls don't play with. For example, they play with Barbies, occasionally, but they had two boxes of Barbies and all their accessories that got rifled through and dumped on the floor and dragged everywhere every time they got them out. And I really only saw them play with one or two of the Barbies each time. So we got rid of like 16 barbies, and half of the clothes they'd collected. We did the same with their MLPs. The girls were so good and got each of them dressed and accessorized and bagged up ready to be sold at the garage sale they desperately want to have. Then we all needed a rest. But before dinner, I worked with Emilia to clean her room. Which took us almost an hour and a half. I swear that girl is a teenager some days with her backtalk and penchant for living in a pigsty. I found a sock that had been missing for over a year at the back of her closet.
Then after dinner, I did the same with the younger girls and their room. Theirs wasn't nearly as messy, thank Heavens. Man was I worn out Friday night!
But to reward the girls and I for working so hard (with almost no complaining!), and since it was only supposed to be in the low 80's, we went to the Tracy Aviary--another of our Visit Salt Lake pass venues. The aviary was about what I expected it to be, but Steve said it was way more fun than he expected. We all enjoyed watching the flamingos fight and pick on each other (and sit on their fake eggs--the real ones are being incubated by slightly more careful zookeepers), get up close with peacocks and toucans, and watching a zookeeper feed the vultures and learning about them, playing grab the stick with spoonbills, feeding the ducks, and talking to the Macaws. Steve got one of them to say, "Hello!" "Hi, Picasso!" (that was the bird's name) and take turns with him fake laughing. I thought the cutest bird was definitely the burrowing owls. You should look them up. They are adorable.
There is a peacock in the background of this picture, but it's a little hard to see.
Spoonbills
Pelicans
Toucan
Other rare and strange birds
After the aviary, the park that the aviary resides in had a food-truck face-off and there were about 30 food trucks rounded up. It was a really expensive meal for us, but we got some tasty barbecue, stone-fired pizza, a teriyaki bowl, a funnel cake, and a raspberry dessert crepe. We wouldn't have been able to get that much, but one of the food trucks was the one run by our neighbor and he gave us three free pizzas. We were all worn out after so much sun and walking and crowds. I fell asleep by 9:45!
Today we get to have dinner at the Watts' and see the Strattons who are in town for the 4th. It should be a great evening.
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