2021, September 20-26

We spent the week with the downstairs undergoing a well-needed facelift. In addition, we fought dragons for the kids and took them on a couple of fun outings. 

The house was in disarray most of the week, first with flooring removal and installation. 

 

By work day's end on Monday, the new room was starting to shape up. 

Here is the view of Hallie's new work digs. Hallie changed school's and started on Monday. By Tuesday and Wednesday the classroom desks were not set up the same.

This praying mantis hitched a ride home with Mom and Eliza from horseback riding on one of the folding chairs. Hallie got a kick out of seeing it on the chair and invited two of the neighbor girls to try and help take him gently off and add him to the garden.

Landon showed off his mad gym skills during the week. Thursday was our annual boys' parents' team meeting. The meeting started off like usual with Coach Sam reading the packet/contract. The meeting started at 7:00 and as time went on more and more adults joined the group, and Sam and the new owner were quite surprised to see so many parents attend. 

The meeting took a more sobering turn when Jimmy (the husband of the new owner) decided he should speak after Sam was done with his part. Jimmy said the quiet part loud when he started his talk to the parents by prioritizing that he was running a business and considering the needs of his family first. Fine, we get it. But he's running a business that is built on people's aspirations and goals. He basically told us through his words and attitude toward the boys' parents that his core priorities and ours were not well aligned. He could have done us the courtesy of at least pretending to care (which he lamely tried to circle back to when the parents started getting riled up), but for us it was too little too late. 

Based upon what Jimmy chose to share, we're going to have to consider whether we can continue to pay for his services or look elsewhere. When a parent brings up a safety concern and the owner's husband tells her she is whining about it, that makes us a bit nervous for what his priorities are for the boys at our gym. For Landon (a boy who doesn't want to do another sport), this hurts. For parents who see all the time, emotions, and physicality Landon has put into this sport, we are all hurting. When we got home from the meeting that night Eliza went upstairs and cried for her brother.

Meanwhile, back to the house. The floor installation continued apace on Tuesday. 

We think the overall look is quite sharp. Now to change out the couch covers, add a throw rug and window treatments, and bring on the coastal cottage vibe for real! 

Fergus seems a bit befuddled by it all. Also, we think he may not be a fan of the hard floors. Landon feels iffy about them as well. 

Fergus kept Eliza company during her lessons on Wednesday. On Tuesday (with Dad) and Friday (with Mom), she went up to Bountiful to participate in a series of intelligence and other tests to see what can be done to support her learning. Eliza was super tough and a very hard worker. Over two days she spent nearly six hours with a therapist she had never met and did a great job!

This is the kind of meal Hallie gets at her new job. Apparently they have a stellar cook at Merit. The funny thing is none of the kids that Hallie had in her classroom liked it.

Fall is definitely in the air, with cooler nights and a golden-to-red hue on the mountainsides. Ferg is trying to take advantage of the warm sidewalks while they last. 

On their way up and back from Bountiful, Hallie and Eliza attended some boutiques and found many articles of interest. 

Hallie and Eliza love stickers and this booth definitely had some good ones to choose from.

Eliza wants to decorate the front of the house this year for Halloween, so Hallie bought a broom similar to this one at the boutique in Farmington.

They also got a picture of the colorful mountains. 

Oh, and a flamingo hiding in a bush at Dutch Bros. (which was thankfully right across the street from Walmart in Centerville). Our house windows need some temporary blinds until we can decide on some new window treatments. 

Among their purchases, they got Dad got this great cookie from his star pupil.

Also, Christmas is coming, and we got this LEGO set as part of a deal for buying another holiday-themed set. Instead of doing three different Lego Advent calendars this year like Hallie usually does, she decided to buy a Christmas house and every day leading to Christmas we will work on it together. Still, getting the little sailboat in our newly-themed coastal main floor wasn't a bad "free" gift.

2021, September 13-19

The updates to the house have started, Eliza gave us the gift of another ER visit, and we took a road trip that reminded us of the excursions we used to make in Michigan.

Eliza went to gym Monday afternoon saying, "I think my earring is going to come out some time." Whether it was a self-fulfilling prophesy or coincidence, about an hour later, she calls us up telling us that her earring had torn through the lobe. Our neighbor, Nurse Julie (thank you, yet again!) suggested we find out whether it was safe to wait to have it dealt with, but Dr. Bartholomew (thank you, yet again!) said it needed to be dealt with within 12 hours. This meant another ER visit for Eliza to get three stitches. 

The attending physician was named Dr. Murdock. Eliza thought this was funny considering one of her favorite shows is Murdoch Mysteries, so they got a photo together. 

Here is her ear the next morning. 

On Tuesday we got started on renovating the downstairs. We are starting with paint and flooring. It worked out that the painter (Payden Law, who served his mission in Detroit when we lived in the Belle Isle Branch) was available before the flooring people, so we started with paint. Eventually we'll have to change out or repaint the cabinets, appliances, and so on, but we're going to have to take it one project at a time. We opted to paint the walls in Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams as part of an overall beach cottage theme we hope to create. Mike loved the front room in our house in Michigan, and hopefully we can eventually recreate a similar vibe. 

A few days in, and the walls seem to be coming together. Hopefully the new flooring will bring out the cooler colors in the paint, which seems to change quite a bit as the day goes on and different lighting hits the walls. 

Landon stayed home from gym on Thursday and Friday to catch up on homework (with Mike's help) and nurse his sore back. Eliza ended her first mini-term, and we're working on giving her grade-level reading comprehension and math activities while addressing lingering issues with her phonological awareness. We're grateful for teachers who are working so hard to help our kids have a positive school experience!

On Thursday evening, Landon went to see our bishop (who does chiropractic) to get an adjustment for his back. He got all ticklish as he went through the process. Silly kid! 

Landon went to school Friday, so Fergus just had Mike and Eliza to keep him company. 

Our neighbor Matt decided to shave his head in solidarity with another neighbor who has had a cancer relapse and will be losing his own hair. 

On Saturday, Landon had a gymnastics excursion at Lagoon, and Mike and Eliza joined Hallie for a trip up north to Logan to pass the time until Landon finished. We went to Grossner Foods and Herm's Inn (too long a wait) and then to Vintage Market Days (which apparently is a nationwide thing) at the county fair grounds. This outing felt like a throwback to when we'd go on mini-excursions to points unknown in Michigan. 

We found lots of fun and interesting items, particularly those having to do with words on boards. We found some articles we particularly liked at Averie Lane. 

We hoped to get some yummy grub. Did enjoy a Navajo taco together but missed out on Sugar Mama's. 

We intended to go to Angie's (having heard it's a tasty place), but Landon called letting us know he and the other boys were done, so we'll have to try it on another visit. 

We did manage to sneak in a last stop at Cox Honeyland on our way out. We saw the beehive in the store along with many other bee-themed items. Plenty to see and do left up in the Logan area, and hopefully we can take the time to come back up soon!

And wall art. 

We had dramatic skies to enjoy on our journey, and those skies extended into the night, where they were backlit by the waxing gibbous moon. 

Oh, yes. Landon won a giant Tabasco inflatable for holding an extended pull-up. 

One more shot of the living room with the new paint. We're looking forward to seeing how it looks with our stuff back in it. 

In preparation for the flooring guys who are coming tomorrow, Mike removed the old powder room toilet. We opted to buy a new one with dual flush. 

Eliza had fun riding with Mom up to Grandma and Grandpa's (who are away at Penelope's baptism) to run some errands for them there, including harvesting some ripe fruit and tomatoes.