Week(s) in Review

Things are moving right along here on the homefront.  The week of July 9 Miss Emma officially made the switch to one afternoon nap. She dropped her morning nap earlier than the other three girls did, but her average nap is now running about 4 hours straight so I am enjoying the lengthy break.  If I can get at least one other girl down for a nap or some of them outside to play, it can be pretty quiet and productive for me.

Tuesday July 10 I took Ava, Lily and their friend Savannah to the movies again – this time to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2.  Lily and Savannah were quite underwhelmed and Ava was constantly loudly whispering questions about the movie.  Yep, a typical movie visit for us.

Wednesday was a full day.  It started with Bible Study followed by lunch and naps (for the three younger).  When everyone was awake, the girls and I took advantage of Free Slurpee Day at 7-11, then on to Old Navy to use my 40% off everything coupon (we needed little girl flip-flops bad and I picked up a few shirts for myself too).  After dinner we distributed flyers on our street to try and enlist more neighbors in our streetwide garage sale on July 28th (I think we got a few more).  Everyone was super thirsty, so home we went for ice water and pajamas.  We finished off the evening by dancing along to So You Think You Can Dance. 

Thursday my friend Kim and her children came down for the day to hang out and visit.  Kim is a friend of mine from Las Vegas who happened to move to Utah too and lives about an hour from me.  For being so close, it somehow seems so far away.  Kim and I constantly wonder why we don’t get together more often (only twice in the last year) and after a full day of non-stop talking we decided we have to make more of an effort.  Everyone (including the kids) had a blast!

Friday, July 13, we did some major grocery shopping in the morning (we were out of everything) and since the girls were well behaved I took them to Chik Fil A for lunch.  If we dressed up like a cow (although ours was not as elaborate as other customers), we got free meals.  Woo hoo!


The girls had a good time playing in the play area, Emma ate everything in her meal (yes, Emma got her own meal) and I ran into a friend from church so I got to visit with her for awhile.  After lunch I put up my first batch of green beans in the canner.  It was only 5 quarts, but the spider mites have been merciless this year and the beans are really struggling.  I was grateful for the 5 quarts (although we have been eating beans for dinner all along).

Saturday I went to the eye doctor in the morning for a routine exam and new contacts.  My eyesight is unchanged; in fact, the doctor wanted to take my prescription down a smidge, but it just felt weird and I opted to stay with my current prescription.

In the afternoon I drove up to Salt Lake City for my monthly haircut with Rachel – which will be my last since Rachel is moving to L.A. next month (boo!).  I had been considering growing my hair out again just because I won’t be able to get my Rachel discount, aren’t I cheap?  But in the end I like my short hair and am just not ready to give it up yet.

I had to wait to cross the street downtown to get to my haircut for … a Porsche Parade.  Seriously.  I think the pageantry was completely lost on me; I was just annoyed I couldn’t cross the street.

While downtown I also stopped by a local fishmonger for some sushi-grade salmon and tuna to make sashimi for a stay-in-date with Elliott later that night.  I had heard this market was great – and it was!  I even stumbled across a very exciting treat – they had monkfish.  I first fell in love with this beast in Boston, when I ate it at our favorite North End restaurant.  The fish is the ugliest thing you ever saw in the raw, but it is called the “poor man’s lobster” for a reason.  The fishmonger filleted it for me and I took it home, along with the salmon and tuna.

Our spread for date night that night was amazing!  I sautéed the monkfish, turned the salmon and tuna into sashimi, and sent Elliott to the grocery store for a few appetizers (some potstickers for me, jalapeno poppers for him).  We had so much food we brought the bench from the table over to the couch and used it for all of our plates, bowls, and sauces.  One word – heaven!

All last week I took the girls (and our friends, the Ellis’) to Vacation Bible School at a neighboring church.  They start VBS at age 3 and run all week long, so that’s why I go there (we went there last year too).  I was prepared to keep Piper and Emma both home with me, but on the way out I made a comment to the leader (the pastor’s wife) that Piper was so sad she couldn’t stay too and she said Piper could stay too, if she wanted.  Oh, she wanted to all right!  She ran right back in and joined the Preschool group with Lily and Savannah – and never looked back.


I had a great time all week long with just Emma and I for three hours to ourselves every morning.  Bliss!  I got lots of errands ran, lots of stores wandered, lots of projects done, and (best of all) lots of sweet time with my Emma.

One of the things I got done this week was refinishing two matching dressers.  I had already been using one in my bedroom (a hand me down from Elliott’s parents) when I spotted the match in Grandma Jerry’s garage.  The wheels started spinning and I asked Grandma if I could have it (she said yes).

I’ll show you the “after” picture in a later post, but I used a free can of paint I picked up at the dump in a lovely shade of gray.  I have been letting it cure for awhile before I put the hardware back on and I am excited to see how it looks in our bedroom.

Saturday, July 21 the family and I headed up to Hogle Zoo for a blogging event, taking advantage of the free passes to enjoy a great day out.  (I’ll write more about that later).  We lasted through noon, then headed up the road just a few miles to a Salt Lake institution, Ruth’s Diner.  It’s been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and has been in existence since the 20’s.  We sat outside on the shady patio, nice breeze, mile-high biscuits, free coffee, and the yummiest asparagus omelet.  I was in heaven.  Elliott and I decided we needed to come back up for an evening date night to enjoy the cocktails, live music and outside atmosphere.