illguthlife: A bunch of random stuff including a lovely wedding

I'm trying to think of an overarching theme for this week. I don't really have anything.

This recap will cover Monday October 5 to Sunday October 11.

Monday was a typical day of work and stuff in the morning. The high school kids got out of school 15 minutes early because there was a training going on at the Roper Auditorium and the officials wanted the kids out of the parking lot before the training started.

Derrick was a little bored after school. So I had him come outside and help me burn a bunch of weeds in our fire pit.

This got pretty crazy. We were putting big armfuls of dry weeds in the fire and then the whole thing would light up with HUGE flames and get really hot. I was really glad we were burning all those weeds. And I was also rethinking the wisdom of letting them pile up behind my garden shed.

We put out the fire around 4:00 and then I took Charlotte to her horse back riding lessons.

She was really excited to wear her boots for the first time.

Here's a video I took of her riding. The up and down motion is supposed to be good practice for when they get to trotting and things like that.

We came back home and I took a shower while Brandon finished up dinner. After dinner we all went to Spirit Halloween. We always like seeing all the animatronics they have.

Derrick really liked their Jurassic Park worker helmets. We almost bought him one, but he didn't like a tiny scratch that was on each of the stickers. So we didn't get it.

Lydia bought a top hat for her costume. We all agreed that the hats are probably the best value in the store.

On Tuesday Veronica stayed home from school because she had been up coughing most of the night.

I had therapy that morning. We had a long discussion about some of my feelings toward money. That was a good discussion.

I went to work after therapy and got a lot done.

At home when all the kids were home I had them all help rake leaves in the backyard. First they picked up all the dog poop. Charlotte was really dutiful and raked leaves and would let one of the other kids know when she uncovered dog poop.

I'd taken off the plastic ring around my compost pile and moved it to the spot where all the weeds had been piled. Derrick and Veronica helped put leaves in the wheelbarrow and I would put the leaves in the new compost area. We figured out a good system with the snow shovel and the push broom. Veronica would push the snow shovel through a leaf pile and Derrick would push more leaves into the shovel with the push broom. Then Derrick would hold the leaves in place while Veronica lifted the shovel over my wheel barrel. They would dump the whole thing into the wheel barrel. Since the snow shovel was so big they were able to move a lot of leave quickly.

Brandon was home and was doing some preliminary work for (finally) putting the sprinkler system in the backyard.

I took Veronica to theatre and picked her up.

On Wednesday I had a big to do list of everything I needed to get done that day and some things that I was hoping to get done.

First up was going to Jori's house to talk about her garden. She has lots of great ideas, but she was overwhelmed with where to start. So we talked about lots of things. I loved all of her ideas, but a lot could wait until Spring. I told her to focus on her bulb area. She needed to get the grass out of the beds and break up the bulbs. Then those beds would be ready to grow in the spring.

After that I came home and got ready for a doctors appt really fast. I was going to a new place so that I didn't have to deal with my annoying primary care doctor. It was a really good first visit.

Then I came home and worked for an hour on prep work for the FIVE Come Follow Me lesson plans that I'm going to write about the 12 minor prophets.

And after all of that I finally got to do what I'd been looking forward to for DAYS. I was able to rotate and sift my compost. And look how beautiful it was. This is probably the best compost I've ever made.

I would take a big scoop from the pile and put it on two screens that I have over my wheel barrow. Then I'd sift out the good compost from the stuff the still needed to break down. All the sifted compost went into my garden. The stuff that still needed some time went back into the compost bin.

I worked on this for HOURS. Thankfully I had a new season of Cold to keep my company. This work didn't seem too annoying with a compelling podcast to listen to.

I didn't get a picture of it, but I topped off a whole bed with compost and then put transplanted strawberries in it.

Brandon started digging trenches for the sprinkler system. Derrick came out and helped him.

Thursday was a busy day. I started out grocery shopping. Then I went to work for four hours. Every other Thursday is the end of the pay period and this was one of those days. I always make sure we have our payments in by Thursday, but I'm extra thorough when its the end of a pay period. So most of my day was spent on payments.

That evening Brandon was at CSI so he couldn't work on the sprinkler system. I was kind of sore from all the work I'd done on the garden on Wednesday. So I didn't do anything that afternoon.

I dropped Veronica off at theatre and then Charlotte and Lydia and I went to DI and Goodwill looking for Halloween things. And then we picked Veronica up when we got home. Veronica told us all about playing a game called Freeze and how much fun it was. I told her, "that's an improve game. I've always thought you would like improve." And I was right, she'd loved it.

The next day Ovation put up this picture of the kids learning some improve in class. I'm pretty certain this is the exact moment that Veronica fell in love with improve.

On Friday I started the day at work. I'd planned to stay for many hours. But after about 2 hours I was struggling to find anything that HAD to be done that day. It was one of the last good weather days that could work on the garden so I really just wanted to go home and start that. So after 2.5 hours I gave up on work and clocked out.

My next stop was Costco. My friend Tom from Seussical had told me how to get slip sheets from Costco. I wanted them to use as a weed barrier for my garden. So even though Costco gives me anxiety I was willing to brave it for free garden stuff.

Tom had been very clear that I wouldn't be able to get corrugated cardboard. But when I stopped at the back area and said I was going to be getting slip sheets one of the workers was like, "Oh you should just take all this, and loaded up a big flat cart with cardboard. She was so nice she basically restored my faith in Costco and humanity at the same time.

So here I am with my victory haul of cardboard.

I came home and put the cardboard to use. I racked back a bunch of the mulch in one of my paths and then covered it with cardboard. I also buried a layer of cardboard in the bed that had been overrun by grass and bind weed. I'm hoping the cardboard helps block the weeds next spring.

Derrick wanted to do something so I had him help me clean out the fire pit. He got the big magnet and used it to find all the nails that were from old boards that we'd burned. He also helped me sift the ash. We put the sifted ash into the compost.

In the evening Derrick and I lit another fire. This one wasn't nearly as crazy as the one from Monday. But we were still burning a lot of random stuff. Derrick helped me sweep all the leaves and sticks out of the corners of the fire pit. Then we added them to the fire.

When it got a darker we let the fire burn down and everyone came out to have hot dogs for dinner. Brandon had been working on the sprinkler system. He was able to finish one small line. He said, "Now I just need to do that 22 more times."

After hot dogs we had smores. They were really good.

I was tired so I went to take a shower and then go to bed. Everyone else stayed up for a while.

On Saturday we had a big event. Our friends Aeyden and Chance were getting married. Brandon was in Treasure Island with both of them when they started dating. And I'd been in Seussical with them too. Aeyden had specifically let me know that kids were allowed at the wedding. And since the girls had all been in the play with Aeyden and Chance I wanted them to come.

The wedding was at 1:00 in the south hills about an hour away from our house. So in the morning we got all dressed up and left the house around 11:00 and drove up the canyon to the South Hills Event Center.

The kids have been to a few receptions over the last few years, but this was their first wedding since like 2021. Derrick and Veronica didn't even remember that wedding. So this was a good cultural experience for them.

Here are the kids when we first got there.

I realized it would be tricky to get seats for 6 of us together if we waited too long so we went and found some seats about three rows from the back. Soon we had many of our theatre friends filling in the rows around us.

They had a photographer so I knew they would have plenty of lovely pictures. But I took this one to remember what it looked like to see Chance and Aeyden surrounded by their 6 bridesmaids and groomsmen. I loved seeing them surrounded by all that love.

The ceremony was so great. Jared was the officiator. He had such lovely words. I'm always jealous of couples who write their own vows. Aeyden has always been a quite and kind of shy person. So I was really in awe of how earnest and loudly she declared her vows. We could hear her voice so clearly even in the back. Chance, who is normally the loud one, was actually so quiet we couldn't hear him at all.

Derrick kind of struggled a bit during the wedding. Mostly it was from boredom. But at the end he nearly lost it when the couple left to the song, "Accidently in Love" from Shrek 2. Derrick HATES anything to do with Shrek so he was not happy with that song.

Everyone else went up to a main building for the reception. Derrick and I took our blankets back to the car. (It had been a little chilly.) Then we walked to the main building. I took a few pictures of the decorations because I'd loved the color combo.

Look how pretty this is.

People were hurrying to take down the decorations because rain was starting to fall. That storm had held off just long enough for the ceremony to finish.

Inside, there were more pretty things on the tables. Brandon had saved me a seat, but I knew I would be able to sit there. Derrick was in a MOOD.

We tried staying in the building so we could get some food quickly, but Derrick was loosing patience. When Chance and Aeyden entered the building and everyone cheered I knew Derrick was done. I told Brandon to get me some food and I took Derrick back to the car.

Derrick mentioned that the parking lot area would be very crowded and crazy if everyone tried to leave at the same time. I realized he was right. So I decided to drive us up closer to the main building. So I drove us there and found us a spot. These were spots for the wedding party, but since everyone was there I figured it was okay to park there.

I could see into the building and I could see Brandon near the front of the food line. So I ran up there and jumped in line with him. I got food for me and Derrick and took it back to the car. Derrick inhaled that food. He was in a much better mood now that he was in the safe car and wasn't hungry anymore.

The other kids started to come toward the car. Brandon would be the last one out because he was having so much fun talking with all his theatre friends.

While we were waiting to leave we saw all the groomsmen, bridesmaids, and the bride and groom come out of the building and head down to the ceremony place for more pictures.

They girls were holding Aeyden's dress. Everyone was singing. It was one of the most joyful and beautiful moments I have ever witnessed.

I took pictures though my dashboard just so I could remember this moment.

I sent the picture to Aeyden later along with the message, "I wanted you to know that your wedding was absolutely beautiful. Your colors were perfect, the location was lovely, the bridesmaids dresses were stunning, and your dress was gorgeous! Everything was just wonderful. I'm so happy we could be part of your special day."

This was the SIXTH wedding our theatre community has had in 5 months.

Dale and Amy were married in May

Tim and Rebekah eloped in June

Lauren and Jeremy were married at some point in the summer. (I think they just eloped too.)

Cathrine and Rich were married in August (Rich is the only person on this list who hasn't been in a play.)

Brett and Shea were married in September

and now Chance and Aeyden were married in October.

And that's not the end of the weddings. Matthieu and Avery just got engaged in the last two weeks. Their wedding will be next June. Brandon is already trying to get involved in helping with it.

I've loved being involved in all these weddings. Our theatre family is truly special.

We came back home and tried to get back into the swing of things for a Saturday. I never really got back into it though. I was tired.

That night we were supposed to go see Young Frankenstein. But I was so tired. So Brandon went with Charlotte and Veronica. (I'd asked the girls to pay half the ticket price and Lydia had been like, "I don't care about this play that much.) I stayed home and watched Igor with Derrick. I'm planning to catch the play sometime next week. Everyone says it's super funny so I'm looking forward to it.

And we've made it to today, Sunday. We all slept in.

I'd made up my mind that I was done with church so I didn't go. The final straw was the 1 million dollars that the LDS church donated to a campaign against Prop 1. I realized this church doesn't support my values and that I can no longer attend in good conscience.

Derrick was still feeling out of sorts from the wedding. Or maybe he felt like he'd already used up his one time he has to wear a white shirt so he did not want to go to church either. He and I worked on the ID badge for his Halloween Costume.

We started off with this picture.

And then I dusted off my photoshop skills and made this.

At 3:30 I had a meeting with my stake president. I'd emailed my bishop and stake president to let them know my decision to no longer attend church. And they both had replied so kindly. The stake president had wanted to meet with me to understand my perspective better. So I agreed to a meeting.

It was good. I was worried he would lecture or debate with me. But he just wanted to listen and understand. So that was good. Nothing changed, he was still the stake president and I was still not coming back to church, but we had mutual respect so I see it as a win for both of us.

And honestly, I'm just tired of the whole thing and don't want to think about it anymore. This has been weighing on me for three weeks. I want to just move on from it all. So that's all I'll say for now.

Back at home the kids were showing me their halloween costumes. Lydia and Veronica had been working on their costumes all week.

Veronica had added bigger wings to her dragon.

They are huge now.

And Lydia. Well Lydia had a lot going on. She'd learned how to do skeleton face paint. She'd crocheted little gloves and then put bones on them. She added bones to pants.

She'd made a vest. And she made a coat!

The coat was made without a pattern. I'd been kind of skeptical of the plan and so we joked this was the coat was made with spite because Lydia did it just to show me she could.