All the Books

We spent all day back to school shopping yesterday. It was tiring, but productive.

We did have one big distraction though: we walked by the books.

Phoebe snapped this picture of Topher reaching for his favorite book series. When he turned and saw all those books he gasped and ran to them, then asked if he could please spend his school clothes budget on books instead.

It made my reading mom heart happy.

Ice Cream Evening

This was an evening that felt so idyllic. After dinner we drove Phoebe to the corner ice cream shop to meet her friend. We all got a sweet treat and I brought the other two home to enjoy the ice cream in the backyard. I was overwhelmed with how thankful I am that we live here and were making happy summertime memories.

Cake Masters

We hosted the Youth activity last week. They were planning a bake-off and we have two ovens, which turned out to be pretty important since they split into two teams. We worked hard and got our house company-ready. The evening was loud and fun and chaotic. Two of the leaders brought their kids, one leader had driven his son, plus another young man and his little brother who is Topher's age. That meant instead of going to bed, Topher also got to stay up and play host. It's a good thing I haven't given away the toys our kids have outgrown, because all those kids sure had fun exploring our playroom.

First the teams mixed up their cake mixes (not from scratch, no, we didn't have that kind of time), one gluten-free and one gluten-full. When those went into the ovens, we pulled the already-baked-and-cooled cakes (using the same brand and flavor box mixes the youth had just prepared) out from the panty for them to decorate. We had frosting and sprinkles and one of the leaders brought two secret ingredients that had to be used: raspberries and mint leaves. These are their final creations:

The leaders announced a tie, so Sophie arm wrestled the other team leader and came out victorious. Cooper, who doesn't attend these activities anymore, came and helped since his friend who moved away a few months ago surprised us all by showing up to the activity. Phoebe and Sophie were on the other team. I'll give you a hint about which cake they made: Phoebe really loves Spider-man.

When we bought this house I could envision the Young Women, who I was serving in church at the time, gathering for activities around our kitchen island. I'm glad a version of this was able to come to pass.

Camera Ready

My kids read the blog post from yesterday and all commented that I had the beautifying filter turned on in my camera settings. I never activate that function and Sophie quickly took credit for turning it on. I grabbed my phone to set the camera back to its normal, we-look-like-regular-humans setting.

But I couldn't find it. Certain that they could, a few of my kids tried as well. Guess what? They couldn't find it either.

I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually (surely my phone won't hide that setting forever), but for now I guess we'll all be showing up with flawless complexions in our pictures.

Way Down to Hadestown

Tonight Phoebe and a friend hung out by seeing the filmed version of the Broadway show Hadestown. The theater is about 30 minutes from our house. Since I had to drive there anyway, I took Cooper and Sophie and we saw it too!

The five principle actors were the same that I saw in the original cast in 2019. It was so cool that I got to share this beautiful show with some of my kids.

All the World's a Stage

There was an afternoon last week when Topher and I were the only people at home. He decided to hold a talent show. I played the ukulele and sang a song. He performed an original composition and played his homemade banjo, then he beatboxed and danced, then he demonstrated sword fighting. It was an entertaining show.

Peter: Week Four in Pictures

Making Music With My Friends*

Sophie and I had a ukulele gig on Saturday. We played in a room with really amazing acoustics.

It's such a blessing to sing and play with this group and I'm so glad we're both in it.

It fills my soul.

*This is a line from one of the songs in our concert set, does anyone know the song without Googling it?

The Benefits of Good Taste in Music

About a month ago, one of Phoebe's Young Women leaders, Tisha, told me she had a funny request. She had bought tickets to a concert for herself and her sister, but now her sister wasn't able to go. Tisha could take her husband with her, but he didn't really love the band or the style of music. She thought about all the people she knew who would want to actually go to the concert.

And she thought of Phoebe.

She asked if Bryan and I would be okay with her taking Phoebe to this concert. It was an hour and a half away, and it was just them. I should add that this leader is still in her twenties. She's closer to Phoebe's age than she is to my age. Bryan and I discussed it and prayed about it and pondered it and discussed it some more. And then we finally asked Phoebe if she wanted to go.

She said yes.

Hold on, that's not quite right. She actually screamed, then said, "YES!"

And that's why on Saturday Phoebe attended the BTS concert at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. If you're not familiar with BTS, they're a KPop group and currently the number one band in the world.

It was a very big deal.

These are some of the pictures she sent me. The size of that crowd is staggering.

And yes, she had an amazing time.

Peter: Week Three (Which Was Week Before Last) In Pictures

This picture deserves context. These two elders have known each other for over a decade, ever since their dads were in the BYU MBA program together and we participated in a babysitting co-op with them and two other families. Every Friday evening for about three months these boys, and their siblings, got together for a playdate while the parents took turns going on dates. Did either of them realize this and recognize each other? Nope. But the other elder's mom saw a picture of Peter on the mission Facebook page and knew right away what family he belonged to. She contacted me and told me they were serving in the same mission.

And I think that's very cool.

I don't know what church this is. I should probably ask.