After we had both influenza and a stomach bug blaze through the house in less than 10 days, we decided to sanitize the bejeebers out of the place.
This was especially important because we had 2 more of my siblings who would be joining the (already bursting at the seams) household for Thanksgiving.
My youngest brother, Jack, was also around a little more since classes had ended. And he got the children good and riled up on multiple occasions.
One of the highlights for me, was that I got to go to lunch with my best friend from college. We talked in the restaurant for over 3 hours, which was a delight. It felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other.
As we were preparing for the arrival of my siblings, my mom came to Clara one day and asked if she knew how to properly make a bed. And then she took her and showed her how to do it.
And as silly as it sound, it meant a lot to me. Nomading has been amazing. But I have deeply missed having a village. Jonathan and I have been EVERYTHING for our kids for the past year. And it is absolutely exhausting. It really does take a village to raise a child. I know that now better than I ever have.
To have an adult other than myself or Jonathan step in and teach my daughter a life skill made me so incredibly grateful. The end of the nomad year is very bittersweet; establishing a village will be one of the sweetest parts of putting down roots. (Thank you, Mom ❤️)
The day before Thanksgiving, my sister Jamie arrived! (Jenna and Jon arrived EARLY on Thanksgiving morning)
And Jonathan and the kids (I stayed home with a sick Evie…again…) went up to Thanksgiving Point to pick up the race gear for the Jonathan and Clara’s 5k. And they and met up with their Urie (Pehrson) cousins. They had a great time at Thanksgiving Point. The majority of the kids basically disappeared onto the ropes course. Isaac and Nathan remained firmly on the ground, and they bonded.
That evening, Jonathan and Pa did some manly bonding; they spatchcocked their turkeys together. It was adorable. And surprisingly competitive. 😂. I took upon myself the role of commentator. And basically, I think I’ve found my calling in life.
On Thanksgiving morning, Jonathan and Clara went and did their 5k. However, the whole experience was marred by the fact that Jonathan got the stomach bug that we had hoped had been wiped out.
He had woken up and thrown up in the middle of the night. And somehow he still did the 5k. (Clara was very prepared and carried a barf bag 😂)
After coming home, he was basically out of commission for the rest of day. Poor man. He ate almost nothing. He had some gatorade and a few crackers. ON THANKSGIVING!! The horror!
Also, he didn’t get to complete his competitive spatchcocking tournament. His understudy had to step in and try to do it justice. And that, folks, is how I came to cook my very first Thanksgiving Turkey. (It’s true, I’ve never made a turkey before). And I must say it was delicious. I was so pleased. The flavor was most excellent.
While we were all bustling around cooking, the uncles took the 8 mobile kids over to the church and they threw paper airplanes around for a while. This was genius. (Way to go, Jake. Great idea)
And then we feasted. Everything was seriously amazing. My family can COOK!!
Also, my sister, Jenna, announced that she is pregnant with her first baby!! Due in June! Woot! Good month to be born!
All in all, it was a very nice Thanksgiving.
My brother in law is doing Russian at the Defense Language Institute. This is a Russian “delicacy” it’s pinecones. Pinecones in a syrup that are soft enough to spread like jam. We all tried them. And we all agreed trying them once was probably enough. They taste exactly like you would expect. Like pinecones.
11.26.22- Saturday After Thanksgiving.
Today, Jake and Tamara bundled up their family, and we bundled up ours and we all went to the rec center to go swimming. This was the top request our kids (repeatedly) made when we were deciding on things we wanted to do while we were in Utah. (And it was basically the only one on the list that we actually did) And we were finally all well enough to go.
We had a great time while we were there. The ‘going’ was rough. The twins simultaneously screamed their heads off the entire time we were in the locker room as we were trying to leave.
(They didn’t want to get out of the pool. They were cold. Then they didn’t want to get in the shower. Then they didn’t want to get out of the shower. They didn’t want to put on clothes. They wanted us to carry them. They wanted to buckle themselves into the car….etc… ad nauseum. It was rough.)
That night, all the gals went to the first ever Lester Fest. It was basically a party for all the gals (ages 8 and up) on my Mom’s side of the family. I literally took ONE picture of that evening, of the crafting activity. I guess that goes to show that it was an amazing time; because it didn’t even occur to me to take pictures.
The food was amazing! And it was so fun to see aunts and cousins that I haven’t seen in a long time. And the two hour drives up and back with my Sister in Law were delightful too. Clara and Lauren sat in the back and played a game. And Tamara and I just talked and talked, without a single interruption. It was weird. And delightful.
Sunday 11.27.22
A lovely day. We went to church. Came home and took naps. And then we decorated the tree. We rounded off the evening with some JustDance.
Now, at some point over the next day or two, I started to get sick again. Again. AGAIN!?! That’s my third time getting sick since we arrived in Provo. WHY!?!
And to be honest, it felt like Covid. I had the exact same symptoms I’ve gotten the previous two times that I’ve gotten it. As soon as I realized I was getting sick, I went out and bought some N95 face masks. And I proceeded to wear a mask around the clock for the next several days unless I was eating. Not fun. But no one else got sick!!!! So, it was 100% worth it.
The really unfortunate thing about it is that we have been trying to get together with some friends who live in Payson since the day we arrived in Provo. But we have been repeatedly thwarted by sickness; we have obviously been passing around all the sicknesses. And so have they.
At this point, it was mostly me and Shauna that were sick (rude! Moms should get a pass on sicknesses). So we both just decided to wear face masks and to sanitize our hands like crazy and that we would get together anyway.
We had a wonderful time. Our kids played really well with their kids and it was just perfect. I didn’t take a single picture. (It was just that much fun!) So please accept this picture of pizza as a stand in. (We did eat pizza. So it’s not completely random!)
One night we did an early birthday celebration for Jonas’s 9th birthday.
Other than that, our days were pretty quiet and low key. We just enjoyed the remaining time that we had.
When the time finally came for us to go, we were all very reluctant to leave behind our loved ones. It was fortunate that we were going to be with other loved ones in California.
