Girls' Camp and The Dangers of Toast (07.29-08.04.24)

MONDAY (07.29.2024)

This afternoon, the twins and I drove Jonathan to the airport for a work trip to New Mexico.

Clara, Jonas, and Logan had climbing club this evening. Isaac, Evie, and I dropped them off and then we were off to entertain ourselves for the next two hours. We went to Costco and then we went to our favorite used book store. We browsed, got a few books and then we got back to climbing club just as it was finishing up.

For dinner, Clara and I got Taco time (and everyone else requested orders of tater tots, cause they are transcendent). And then we went across the parking lot to McDonald’s and we ordered food for everyone else (no fries needed). We ate, and the kids played in the play place.

TUESDAY (07.30.2024)

Clara has Girls’ Camp this week, so I dropped her off at the church nice and early. She was so excited. I’m so grateful that she has good friends at church! Literally an answer to prayer.

I wrote Clara a funny girls camp letter, just like my dad used to do for me and my sisters. Jonathan, before he left, wrote her a lovely and heartfelt note too.

Later, Logan had guitar. But other than that, it was just a relaxed day at home.

WEDNESDAY (07.31.2024)

Logan created an arsenal of swords and daggers (with sheaths) during outside time

Jonas had his violin lesson.

And a friend, Angela dropped off some hand-me-downs for the kids. It was a non-stop fashion show for the next few days. Here are just a couple of the photos that people demanded I take.

This is apparently Mrs. Blueberry. She informed me of this later.
The shirt and pants are tuxedo style.

THURSDAY (08.01.2024)

We went to the children’s museum with the McKeans. They are one of our favorite families from back in our Provo days. They lived in the apartment just above us, and we were married on the exact same day, and we have kids very close in age, and in personality. And we just straight up love them. We love that they only live 45 minutes away.

This is a great children’s museum. We spent a long time in the arts and crafts area. It was especially hard to drag the twins away.

I think the favorite feature was the wading stream. We didn’t have swimsuits or towels, but that didn’t stop the kids from getting in. It was so fun. I’ve decided that, for me, this is preferable to splash pads, the vibe is really low key and peaceful.

Moving their way upstream like spawning salmon.
This is where the water comes out.
The four big boys.
Isaac’s goggles are the best.

We came home, had dinner, I put the twins to bed and I went to book club.

I left straight from book club to pick up Jonathan. I’m very glad that he is back.

FRIDAY (08.02.2024)

Clara came home from Girls’ Camp this morning. She was exhausted. As expected, the girls stayed up WAY too late every night. But that’s how it is supposed to be. Haha! One of her leaders said that Clara was the was best at handling the sleep deprivation without getting cranky. Good one baby girl!

In the evening, we put the twins to bed, and left Jonas and Logan with a movie and took Clara to her favorite restaurant: Din Tai Fung, cause she’s the best and she’s getting so big.

SATURDAY (08.03.2024)

Today, some friends from book club and I road-tripped to Portland for a book signing & meet-n-greet with one of my favorite authors, Beth Brower, who wrote one of my very favorite series: the Emma M. Lion books. Seriously, we are all obsessed with these books.

We left at 7 am, and got to Portland just in time to do brunch, which was DELICIOUS! I will dream about that sandwich for a long time.

And then we went back to the little bookstore, where we got to meet Beth, ask her questions, and just hear her talk about the best series ever. Here she is, holding the next book in the series:

And then we got books signed, and took a picture with her.

Actually, as I’m writing this, I’m realizing that I have gone to talks for my two very favorite authors. That makes me so happy! And, actually, I love them both for very similar reasons: I love the witty repartee between characters, I love the references to poetry and literature, and I love the quirky characters and settings. (Note: The other is Louise Penny, I love her Armand Gamache series)

Back at the homestead: about an hour after I left, I got a call from Jonathan, who had woken up to the smell of smoke. He immediately got up and tried to figure out where the smoke was coming from. But he could not track it. And the smoke was about 2-3 feet off the ceiling in the front room.

So, he got everyone outside and called the fire department. 2 firetrucks and 2 ambulances arrived about 3 minutes later. They made sure that all people and pets were out of the house, got suited up and went in.

Gah!

A few moments later, they came back out with the all clear.

Y’all.

It was a piece of toast. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Toast which now resembled charcoal. 🤣

It was toast. This toast.
Smoke marks
Burnt underside of the cabinet.

The firefighters were incredibly gracious about it: “Oh this happens more than you’d think” “It’s better to be safe than sorry” “This is why we’re here!”

And they even showed the kids the thermal imaging camera that they had, which the kids loved.

And they used their heavy duty fans to blow the smoke out of the house.

Considering how scorched the bottom of the cabinet is, things definitely could have been a lot worse. We are very grateful.

And we joke about how dangerous toast is.

Logan knocked on the window, and when I opened it, this is what he said. HAHAHA!! That kid.(Notice that the aforementioned toast is on the windowsill)