What to do with myself

Another week of freedom for me. I tried to set up shadowing doctors for fun, but my connections fell through. So I'm cleaning grout, installing bathroom fans, declogging tubs, and fitting in all of the dental and MD appointments that have been neglected for the past year. 

Waiting for vaccinations:

I actually threw away a diaper bag that was about 2 decades old. I got it for free from the UofM hospital and it had been converted into a junk-toiletry bag. This kid definitely doesn't need a diaper bag anymore:

 

Senior, Sophomore, 5th grade

Last Sunday, Claire suggested we try a family Be Real chat where we all post a picture of what we are doing at the exact moment she indicates. For the first post, David texted a picture of the toilet he was using. First and last.

First day for the high schoolers.

Iris is taking her first 3 AP classes this year.

Sybil's soccer practice was canceled twice this week due to extreme heat, which gave her extra time to be mad at me. She tripped on the the other side of the room and still got mad at me.  The multifaceted nature of my infallibility is perplexing. She wrote me a letter while I was studying for my final this week. The letter said: "Count the number of pieces. The number you get is how mad I am at you." The accompanying envelope had a large chunk of her hair that she had cut. I did not count the hairs.

One of her tween looks on her first day of 5th grade.

Senior year means that Claire is home most days by 10am, so she and Elijah had plenty of time to talk on his p-day. They haven’t talked for a while but were on the phone for over 100 minutes; Claire claimed it was purely talking in circles. From what I heard, there was not one contention-free sentence uttered. Some of the topics of discussion: Is Elijah is a nice person, is it weird that Claire used Grace’s prom dress, is Claire or Elijah more humble, who is more stupid. A few of the lines I heard from Claire's side: “Go outside and catch a lizard if you need more protein.” “You sound so stupid right now.” “I don’t believe that you live in a grass hut and have had malaria five times.” They talked about Claire’s boy interests and Elijah said he never brought girls to our house because we were too embarrassing. Claire said she never tried to be embarrassing. And he said: "That's the worst part."

Jon made a quick visit to Vegas. We went to Tacos al Gordo:

And he made it to part of Sybil's game:

My finals are done and I have a few weeks of freedom. I started it by tackling my closet and we finished the second season of Stranger Things with the girls.

Celebration of Iris

This was one of the highlights of last Sunday. I sat in the corner of my parent's office and watched my mom catch up on reading the blog. She asked questions, giggled, grunted, corrected my spelling and grammar, and noted that Sybil is officially in the tween stage of crusty expressions.

Of course, my parents' house turned into a den of pantsing and wedgies. These two remarked that they enjoyed wedgies, but the ensuing rug burns on their butts told a different story. 

2 firsts are marked by the following picture:

1) Hunt asked me to take a picture of him

2) The reason Hunt wanted a picture was because this was the only time in history that Hunt was more dressed up than David. It was Hunt's first day directing after being called into the bishopric.

David said that he's old enough that potential injury is not worth the glory.

Therefore, arm wrestling has been passed down to the next generation. 

Birthday celebrations:

Iris = 15

Fernando = 39

Sybil Elizabeth Udall = 111

Sybil often asks me if she can have the Udall's Vespa when they die.

The main reason for the trip to AZ was a bday present for Iris:

a little boy band from Utah: Riff Wood.

These girls got matching outfits for the concert:

Claire and Esie made a sign stating that there was a bday girl in the bar so Iris got a serenade by the band and the whole audience. After the concert, they waited in the merch line to talk to the cute band members. Esie was bold enough to ask one of them if she could get his number if she did the Worm. She got the  number. I'm pretty sure I taught her that move.

Next birthday event for Iris: watching the Legally Blonde musical at the outdoor theater in Red Rock.

Of course I had her birthday announced there and screamed her name for everyone to hear. 

On her birthday, she wanted to get all of her birthday freebies: Starbucks, Ulta, Sephora. She invited a hoard of teenagers over to eat pizza and hot tub that night.

I loved listening to Elijah talk to my mom last Monday. He talked about his love for Bible bashing, even though he admitted he shouldn't do it. He said he went up against a man who had been studying the Bible:

 "longer than I've been alive! And I totally won--he was so mad!"

He also talked about the challenges of being a Zone leader: missionaries serving who don't necessarily want to be there. Elijah said, "I change their view of the mission from serving out of a sense of obligation to something that is exciting, so they get FOMO."

And then he explained FOMO.

Hash stash

Iris loves discovering obscure indie groups. For her bday, she invited a good friend and we are in AZ to see Riff Wood, a sold out concert geared towards teenaged girls and their eye-rolling fathers, which is exactly what I predict for tomorrow night.

Yesterday, a car full of 7 ladies went thrifting. Claire has been in rare form this trip. We've been suspicious that she has a hidden hash stash. This is Esie in the front seat, trying to escape Claire by moving her seat forward. Notice Claire's feet.

Retaliation:

The men got back from hiking Humphreys and we went to the temple.

Taiwanese dessert got mixed reviews. The grass flavored pudding was lacking.

Tonight we'll have a bday dinner for Iris, honorary Grandma Sybil, and Fernando.

I took this girl driving a few times last week.

"The fat one is the brake, right?"

"Wait, I don't use my left foot at all?"