Hello!
I feel like we have just lived a marathon of a weekend! Thankfully, for most of us, today (Sunday) has been laid back and low-key, which has been very much needed! Here's the rundown of life in the Leake residence for the last six days...
On Tuesday it was semi-nice to get back to school, work, and routine after our birthday extravaganza and three-day weekend. Once everyone was gone, I painted the closet in Bridget's soon-to-be-new room. Honestly, not at all how I wanted to spend my kid-free time, but it had to be done. Thankfully, I had Marco Polo's and great music to listen to to keep me motivated. :) As soon as Gretchen got home from kindergarten, we took Ziggy to the groomer. I swear he knows exactly where we are headed and as soon as we turn onto her street he moves to the back of the van! Ha! Once I turn him over to her though, he just licks her and is so happy to see her. Dogs...they crack me up. While Ziggy was getting freshened up, Gretchen and I ran up to a dance store in Kaysville. Gretchen started dance on Thursday and needed a couple of things. If she had her way, she would have bought every black leotard in there that fit her. When I told her she could choose one, she resorted to eenie-meanie-minie-mo. :) Excellent decision making! As we were leaving the dance store, I realized that for the first time ever, I have two dancing daughters. And that, at least for now, I will have two daughters on stage for the dance recitals. I am over the moon. Seriously. I am SO happy about it! Who knows how long it will last, so I am living in the moment and soaking up each event. Gretchen and I were elated to pick up Ziggy and see that his fur was in good enough shape that he didn't need a complete shave down, and instead we were greeted with a very clean and perfectly fluffy dog. I had no idea this 15 pound thing could bring me and us such happiness. Fortunately, the rest of our day was not the usual crazy that Tuesday is. The only thing we had on after school was dance for Rachel. Richard and I did finish prepping the basement that night for new carpet in the morning. Oh, one funny thing, as I was driving Rachel and Sara to dance that day, they were having a conversation about where they wanted to live when they grow up. When Sara asked Rachel she said, "I just want to live in a mansion, so I can live anywhere as long as that works out." So matter of fact as only Rachel can say things. :)
Wednesday morning was a real treat for me...my Mom came over at 9:30 in the morning and we ate popcorn and watched the Downton Abbey movie! It was the most refreshing and enjoyable morning I have had in a long time! It is ten times better than the first movie. We laughed, we cried, and we both loved it. While we were indulging ourselves, new carpet was getting put down in the basement! The carpet guys were done about 1:30 and it looks great! We got the same carpet as is in Marshall's room, just a more dense/thicker version of it. So it goes down our basement stairs, through the hallway, and into the current guest room, which is soon to be Bridget's room. I am loving the new carpet smell as I go up and down those stairs this week. Heavenly. The rest of Wednesday was filled with horseback riding for Bridget, dance for Rachel, and a youth activity for Marshall.
Thursday morning Bridget had a field trip to a 9-11 exhibit that was in Farmington for just a few days. She was captivated with it and has not stopped talking about it. We were hoping to get the rest of our family there during the weekend, but it was just too busy. A few weeks ago, Bridget decided she definitely wants to go to NYC for her upcoming trip with Richard and me. Initially, we weren't planning on doing the 9-11 museum with her, but now we are definitely planning on it. Such a sobering event. I volunteered in kindergarten that morning as well. Gretchen was delighted to see me, and I was equally delighted to see her. :) She and I were home to eat lunch, and then it was off to dance class! She was SO excited! Initially, I just signed her up for a jazz class, but a couple of weeks ago, I decided to tack on ballet. They are back to back classes, and she said she was up for it. I am so glad I did because her best friend from preschool is in ballet with her! Months ago, when I signed her up, I thought about reaching out to Genevieve's mom, but we were out of town when I signed her up, and brushed it off. But in the end, it all worked out! Gretchen had such a great time and could not wait to show me and Rachel all she did and learned. I just ran errands for the entire 90 minutes of dance class, so that wasn't fun, but also so much easier doing it by myself! Thursday was a busy afternoon and evening for us. Marshall had soccer practice, Rachel had piano, I had a RS activity, and Richard went to see a Star Trek movie with some friends in the ward. We all went to bed tired, but very happy.
On Friday, I picked Bridget, Rachel, and Cambria up from school and finished helping Bridget and Cambria pack up for the State Fair. One of the Garlick's daughters, Heather, was so kind to offer to drive Bridget and Cambria in for me-that was beyond helpful! I took Bridget and Cambria to Heather's house and off they went to the fair. They spent their afternoon bathing goats-of course they loved it! Gretchen went to Charlie's birthday party that afternoon, and even though it was construction themed, she had a great time. At 4:00, I coerced all my kids to get in the car and go to the fair. With the county goat show so recent, they had zero desire to go watch another goat show, but I was insistent. We also picked up my Dad and zipped into Salt Lake. Fortunately, we had a livestock parking pass (this cracked me up last year and still cracks me up this year-I get to park in the livestock lot!) so we didn't have to pay for parking, and we got to park very close to the barns. Anyway, we located the goats and Bridget and Cambria and helped Bridget make final preparations to be show ready. The show was supposed to start at 5:00, but didn't start until about 5:15. I forced my kids to come because I thought the whole showmanship show would be one hour tops. I was basing it off our experience last year. Well, I just need to remember I cannot predict these goat shows. The first group in the ring is always the high school aged kids. The judge spent 90 minutes judging just this group. One group-90 minutes! Oh my gosh. We were dying. We were all squished on metal bleachers (thankfully we were in a cool barn), but it was bananas. At one point Rachel yelled, "Hey Lady!" at the judge! Ah! When I told her to calm down, she told me she was about to climb in the ring herself and choose a winner! I would not put it past her! I could not believe it. After the first group, I gave my Dad some cash and he and Marshall walked around and got themselves some dinner. My girls eventually buddied up with some of the Garlick grandkids that they know from school and walked around and saw some animals and talked and played. After that first group went so long, Richard said he would come pick up the kids and take them home, but by the time he drove from Ogden down to Salt Lake, Bridget was just about to go into the show ring. Richard quickly parked, bought himself a ticket, and ran into the barn. So, even though we were all irritable, tired, hungry, and impatient, all of us were there to finally watch Bridget show Luv Bug! The judge spent about 30 minutes with her group. Bridget placed fourth out of eight. In my humble opinion, I think she should have taken 2nd and both Marshall and I completely disagree with who the judge placed first. I mean, we know nothing about showing goats, but still! However, Bridget was happy with how it all went, and that is all that matters! She got a pretty ribbon and we had her pose with Luv Bug and the rest of us for gads of pictures. We finally made it out of there and got home after 9:00 pm! Yikes! It was a great introduction to goat shows for my Dad! Sheesh! Once we got home, Richard fed all the girls and put everyone to bed so I could run up to book club, over one hour late. We talked about "Educated" by Tara Westover and it was a fantastic discussion. I got home after 11:00 pm, everyone was sound asleep, and I fell into bed! What a day!
Saturday morning I was up at 6:15, Bridget was up at 6:58 :) and we were out the door at 7:30 to pick up Cambria. The girls were ready for another day of fun with the goats! I was only able to drop them off at the state fair and then I had to turn right around and head back home. While I was not sad about missing a day of sitting and watching goats, it did break my mama heart to walk away and leave her without a parent for the day! Thankfully, I knew she was in great hands with Cambria and the Garlicks and the Fawcett girls, and she had a phone to keep me updated, but I still missed her. Once I got home, I got ready for the next adventure. At 9:20, Sara's family came to pick up Rachel. Rachel had dance choreography that afternoon, but the only way she could get there was with Sara's family, but they had a baptism to go to in the morning, so Rachel got to tag along. :) She loved it, just as she loves anything she does with Sara and her family! I left at 9:30 with Marshall and Gretchen, dropped Gretchen off at Danny and Stacie's, and then Marshall and I drove up to Hyde Park for a soccer game. That is a long drive! Marshall's team tied 1-1, but it was a great game for them. For a huge variety of frustrating reasons, we only had 11 players, so that meant zero subs. We scored first and it was a very offensive first half for us. The boys were tired in the second half, one player sat out the last 20 minutes with a head injury and two other boys needed their inhalers, but they played a man down and kept the game tied. For the last ten minutes Marshall was the only center back and he rocked it. We were all so relieved when the ref finally blew the whistle to end the game! Two tender moments for Marshall that I have to record. First, near the start of the second half, our goalie needed his shoe tied, but he had his goalie gloves on and Marshall bent down, while the ball was being played on the other side of the field and tied the goalie's shoe! I wish I would have snapped a picture. Towards the very end of the game, when Marshall was the only center back he booted the ball up the field and it ended up hitting an opposing player in the head, very soon after he kicked it. The player immediately went down and Marshall was right at his side and got the ref's attention to blow the whistle. Such sweet, considerate moments! On our way home, we picked up Gretchen who had had a great few hours playing with her cousins. Bless Danny and Stacie for taking such good care of her for me! The three of us got home about 4:00, and by then the goat show was just ending. I zipped down to the fairgrounds and picked up two very tired and hungry girls! What a day they had had! Bridget had not had time to eat lunch! She came home with more ribbons though and was happy with how the day had gone. During all of this, Richard was at home, working 10:30-6:30. :) So, he could not help with any of the madness, but we survived! Richard finished work just after 6:30, hopped in the car with Marshall, picked up Ricky and Duncan and made it down to the BYU game on time! They had the best time coupled with a very late night, but had a great time and made the 2:00 am arrival worth it. :) The girls and I went to Arella's for dinner last night, Bridget's pick after her big day. We really had such a relaxing and fun dinner. I was just relieved my driving back and forth along the Wasatch Front was done! Once I got the girls into bed last night, I caught up on all the royal news with the passing of Queen Elizabeth. :)
Richard had to work again today at home. His shift was 10:30-6:30 again, so he did get to sleep in after his very late night! But in the afternoon he found out one of the radiologists who was supposed to be working today was sick, so they asked Richard to work until 8:00 pm-long day for him! The kids and I had a relaxing day. We went to church, Marshall went to stake priesthood meeting with my Dad, I took a nap, and we just hung out and spent time with each other. It was a great way to end the day. Here's to another busy week starting up!
Love to each of you.
Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)
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