4 hours ago
Utah is a state with the third highest number of national parks - five - which is an impressive number considering it's size compared with the other top contenders (California and Alaska). Of the five parks in Utah, our family has now visited four of them during various weekend trips.
Even though our visits were short, I did learn a few things about these parks, and I thought I would share a few quick tips about each. While I'm mainly focusing on things that I wish I would have known before going, as an average hiker and parent of young kids - things I would have done better or differently - each and every one of these parks was gorgeous and well worth visiting!
(Perhaps I will eventually update this post once we have crossed the final park - Canyonlands - off our list.)
Zion National Park
I was very excited to visit Zion National Park, since I've heard people rave about it as being the prettiest in Utah. However, our visit was ill-timed, and I think my expectations were so different from reality that it was hard to adjust during our short visit. Here is what I wish I would have known:
There is a shuttle that takes you into the park.
Unlike most national parks we have visited, Zion is accessed mainly by a public shuttle system - first, one to take you from your parking to the Zion's entrance, then another shuttle to take you to various locations within the park. At the time that we visited, cars were not allowed in the park at all unless you had a special permit for one of the more technical hikes, and there was very limited parking close to the park entrance. Had we known this, we would have arrived much earlier in the day to ensure a good parking space, and to possibly avoid the shuttle to bring us to the park entrance altogether. We ended up waiting in line to get on the park entrance shuttle for about an hour, in the sun, with five kids. It took us about three hours total, between finding parking and the two shuttle rides, to finally get to the place where we wanted to hike.
It is best to research the parking situation before going.
One of the reasons it took us so long to get to our hike is because we struggled with figuring out where we could park. The road to Zion National Park leads through several canyon towns, and there are various places where there are hard-to-interpret "no parking" signs. We ended up parking about 3/4 of a mile down the road from Springdale (the town around the entrance to Zion), in an area that was clearly allowed parking, and walking to the shuttle location. Quick tip: There are NINE shuttle pickup locations along the route through Springdale, so I would recommend not stopping at the first one. We waited in line for an hour at shuttle stop #9, the closest to our parking, just to discover once we were on the shuttle that there were multiple stops we could have walked to, a little further down the road, that had no line at all. When we left, we also discovered that people had parked all along the road, even in front of the "no parking" signs, and it didn't appear that anyone had been given a ticket, so it was possible that we could have gotten away with parking closer. Honestly, with the insanity of parking for Zion, even if we did get a ticket for parking closer in the wrong place, it may have been worth the $125 fine.
Try not to go on weekends that will be super busy (especially for your first trip).
With the way this trip worked out, we ended up being on Zion on the Saturday before Memorial Day - possibly one of the busiest park days of the year. When we finally made it to our trail, there was literally a line of people walking both directions on the path, which made for a not-very-nature-filled walk. Our experience would have been wonderfully better had we gone on a quieter weekend, so that's my top recommendation!
Take a walk near water.
As hot as the day was, it was such a relief when we walked into the narrow side of the canyon via the River Walk, and we were able to finally sit down and relax next to aqua-blue water. There were other people around, but that part of our day was quiet and beautiful. Quick tip: Make sure you check with the rangers on whether it is safe to get into the water! When we visited there was an algae bloom, and there was a toxin that could cause paralysis in young kids in the water, so they recommended we not let our kids in the water at all. It was still a cool and pretty rest spot though, and we overall enjoyed the visit just because of the grandeur of the cliff walls in Zion!
Arches National Park
When we visited Arches we spent a whole weekend there, and Ic an say it is certainly worth spending more than one day there! Arches is perhaps my favorite Utah national park, and our visit there was nearly perfect. Here are my tips:
It's not a mistake to go there in summer, but bring more water than you think you need.
When we visited in August (yes, in August), it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit! Thankfully Arches is one of those national parks that you can drive through to get to all the trailheads, so our air-conditioned car was our home base. However, we went through so many water bottles! We ended up drinking all of our water and breaking into our stash of soda in the cooler after we ran out. Every time we got back to the car we were dripping sweat. After each return visit to the car, each of us downed a new bottled water or pop can. I remember reading when we arrived that you needed about a gallon of water, per person, per three hours (or something ridiculous like that). They were not exaggerating. If you go in the heat of summer, load your car up with water.
Plan more time than you think you need.
This could be a tip for all of Utah's parks, but I especially wished we had more time at Arches. Even though we got a full 8-hour day there, we still didn't get to do all the trails I wanted. In addition, the parking can get a little difficult in some of the smaller lots, so there are traffic delays to consider too. I wished we had another full day there!
Do some stargazing.
Perhaps our best memory of Arches was heading back into the park in the evening - not only did we get some gorgeous photos in the evening light, but after the sun set we set ourselves up in an empty parking lot, grabbed some licorice, laid down on the still-warm sidewalk, and stared at the stars. Arches is an International Dark Sky site, and the stargazing there was amazing. My kids got to see their first meteor, which is something they still talk about.
Bryce Canyon National Park
If I'm ranking Utah's parks according to my own preferences, Bryce is right up there next to Arches! I loved that we could drive into this park, and the views were breathtaking.
Plan to walk somewhere, even with little kids.
When we got to Bryce Canyon, we planned a walk along the rim, and then a short hike down into Queen's Garden. The rim walk is very easy, and you'll get wider views than if you just drive to the lookout points - it's a smooth path, so it would even be easy with a stroller. Just make sure your little kids don't get too curious about the edge! The Queen's Garden is a little tougher, but it was easy enough for my preschoolers and neat to get down into the canyon a little ways. As we explored, I was also very impressed with the Navajo Loop trail. It is a very windy trail that goes right down into the midst of the Canyon's hoodoos, the spiky rock formations. It was a little beyond our hiking level right now, and I wished our kids were a little older so we could attempt it! My second grader and I went down the Navajo trail a little way to the "window" in the canyon wall, but we lacked the amount of water we needed (and the hiking stamina, especially for the kids) to attempt going further. Maybe next time.
Go to Mossy Cave and see the waterfall.
This was a highlight of Bryce for us, and I think it would be a perfect trail with which to end the day. To get to it, you have to go out of the park, through the nearby town of Bryce, and back into the park on another road, but the water is well worth the short drive. My kids enjoyed wading in the river and trying to cross a "log bridge", and I was quite impressed with the waterfall. One guy even walked up behind it!
Capitol Reef National Park
On the way home we made a very short stop at Capitol Reef Park. I'm glad we did so we could see what it was about, but I learned a couple things.
Spend a whole day at Capitol Reef to get a worthwhile experience.
We only had a couple hours to stop at this park on the way home, and we quickly discovered that we didn't have time to hike to any of the really interesting destinations. It is a very pretty area, so it was still worthwhile to us to drive through part of it and say we had been there, but I wish we had planned in more time. This is a park that you need several hours to explore properly. Because of that, I have only one other "lesson learned" at this park...
If you want to see the arch, you'll need to hike to get to it.
When we looked up brief information in maps and decided to make a detour to see Capitol Reef, I was under the impression that we could quickly see it's rather impressive arch (you can even walk on top of it!). I tried to figure out if we had to hike to get to it, but couldn't find any information in the brochure. We drove to the area on the map that was labeled with the arch, and saw a sign saying "Arch viewpoint". Well, we looked high and low and searched all around the ground for some sort of trail before we finally spotted it very far off in the distance. We then tried going on the arch trail for a bit to see if we could get a better view, before someone informed us that we would have to hike for an hour or two at least just to get a good look at it. If we had known that, we might have planned a full day to see if we could make it there, but as I said, we only had two hours and I'm not sure the hike would even be friendly for small children. A final tip for this section might be: do your research before you visit any national park with kids, and if you spontaneously decide to stop at one like we did - well, you'll have to take what you can get!
Overall, all our experiences at Utah's National Parks were pleasant and worthwhile to us, even when they didn't go quite as expected. All of them (so far) are arid and hot landscapes, so water is a must, but many of the paths are smooth and easy for little feet. We'd definitely visit any of these areas again if we get a chance to in the future, and Canyonlands is still on our list!
Have you been to any of these National Parks? What tips would you add for families?
I'm trying something new on the blog today, after finding this great new (to me) linkup this month, called Share Four Somethings. Each month you share something loved, read, treasured, and ahead. It's nice to have a little structure for these chatty posts, and I'm glad that casual blog linkups are still a thing, so these are my four somethings for the month of July.
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Something loved.
I noticed the other day how our property has completely exploded with gorgeous wildflowers in the last couple weeks! I don't remember seeing this many flowers last year, and I think the unusual amount of rain we've had this summer is the reason. There have even been a bunch of flowers that I don't remember seeing in the mountains before. Even though bright, sunny days have been a little scarce, between the rain and the smoke blowing in from wild fires in other states, I'll take an abundance of wildflowers gladly.
Something read.
Since I do a monthly book recap, I thought I would share articles or blogs here instead of books. First, I thought this article on homeschool community was really good - I love the creative way she ties in a lesson from nature to the homeschool community. I especially agree that you don't need a huge homeschool group to have a homeschool community either - all it really takes is one good homeschool friend to be that encouragement in the midst of those tough days. I know there were a couple years when I first started homeschooling where all I had was one or two people in my life who also homeschooled, but that made all the difference in helping me not to feel alone. Second, I thought Elizabeth's thoughts on the trajectory of Instagram were really interesting - since I've been off of Instagram for six months, it was interesting to read about how it's still changing since I've been gone, and probably not in great ways for the average user.
Something treasured.
Can I treasure two things this month?
The last several weeks have been such a whirlwind for us, I've been running to keep up and wondering what is happening to the summer. Here we are, with only a few weeks left until school starts, and my opportunities to just breathe have been few. But this past week was a bit slower, with several days just spent at home. I've been able to start off the mornings on our porch, with a cup of coffee and my Bible, followed by enough space to read a chapter or two of a book. I sit, hearing the hummingbirds whizzing around my head, the wind blowing through the trees, the kids voices echoing from somewhere in the house, and I spend a little time refocusing my mind on the things that matter most. Activities and trips are fun, but quiet mornings at home are the thing that fills up my heart best.
The second thing I've felt particularly grateful for this month is having a solid church, with a group of believers that care about us and check up on us when we don't come for a couple weeks. Some people might find that intrusive, but Derek and I love it when one of our church friends sends a text to ask where we were last Sunday. It means that we are missed, and it means that we have that Christian accountability that is one of the main purposes of church. The Bible tells us to "consider one another in order to stir up love and good works", and that's for the purpose of encouraging one another "to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering" and turn our eyes to Him, who is faithful (Heb. 10:23-24). When you find a church that actively does those things for each other, you've found a treasure for sure.
Something ahead.
Although I plan on fully enjoying the last few weeks of summer, August will bring the start of a new school year. I know I have to start organizing the school room and putting together schedules for the next few months. I've been procrastinating to this point, and let's be honest, I'll probably procrastinate a couple more weeks before I buckle down and plan out the 2021-2022 year. But speaking of homeschool community, I am also excited about planning a few homeschool get-togethers and field trips with friends and people at my church. It's going to be a busy school year, and even though I practically have some work to do yet, emotionally I'm ready for it.
It's been over six months since I gave up on Instagram, and in so many ways it's been the best decision I've made in years. In other ways it's been challenging. When people ask me if I'm ever going back, I say a solid "I don't know" with a leaning toward a "no". Since this is no longer a new decision, I've had time to let my emotions settle and really reflect honestly on what I miss and what I don't miss about Instagram. I thought I'd share some of those things with you today.
What I Miss
I miss keeping up with a few Instagram-only people.
There are a few online friends that really only post on Instagram these days, and I am sad that I don't have a good way to keep up with them or interact with them anymore. Occasionally I'll go to Instagram on my computer and type in a username of one of these people and see the limited posts that I can see publicly, but if it's a private account I'm out of luck. To me, this is an example of why it is a good thing to diversify your presence online. I understand that people have limited time, and some may feel that they only have time for producing content in one place online, but when that one platform is a closed platform, people who are not on that platform are not going to have the chance to see what you share. I'm in full support of double-posting Instagram posts onto a more open forum (like a blog). (Consider this my PSA to all my IG-only friends - consider double-posting, maybe? Blog posts don't have to be long!)
I miss being able to share things quickly.
Sometimes something funny or exciting happens, and I briefly miss the ability to share quickly with friends, family, and online friends. As I said above, I like the idea, in theory, of still sharing those short snippets on my blog, but I acknowledge that it will always be a little more involved to sit down at my computer and type up a post. On the other hand, there is a sense in which I think we all have gotten a little too accustomed to instant gratification when sharing online - instant, easy sharing, and instant, cheap feedback (ie. the like button). So maybe it's okay to re-train myself to let some things simmer a bit longer before blasting them out there online.
I miss being able to easily share photos with my family.
This, honestly, is the biggest drawback of giving up Facebook and Instagram for me. Those platforms make it so simple to share photos privately (sort of - except for the data collection from the platforms themselves) with the people in my life who really care to see them, and I have yet to find an alternative that I can keep up with consistently. The solution I am attempting right now is sharing photos of my kids on a private blog, just for my closest family members and friends. While functionally this is working okay, I find that I do miss the feedback in the form of comments. But at least they can still see the photos.
What I Do Not Miss
I do not miss the constant product bombardment.
Every time I would open the app and scroll down even just a few photos, there was someone trying to sell me something - either Instagram itself through ads, or an influencer through sponsored posts and affiliate links. As my forever favorite radio host, Rush Limbaugh, used to say, "there’s an entire industry out there designed to separate you from your money", and a monster of that industry is Facebook and Instagram. Even when you are aware of it, and try to avoid the temptation to shop based off products you saw on social media, it's hard to get away from it. Before I got off Instagram, it had gotten to the point where I had disabled my internet browser on my phone, just so I wouldn't be tempted to purchase something on a whim that I had seen on Instagram. Now that I am off Instagram, and away from the deluge of product placements, I find I make impulse purchases less often. I think critically about what I need for longer before I buy.
I do not miss online arguments and virtue-signaling.
I probably don't need to explain this. It's amazing how much less stress is in my life from eliminating these two things, via eliminating Instagram.
I do not miss having to worry about online privacy so much.
Whether and how much to share about my kids online is something I have struggled with for years, and I've landed in different places at different times. Right now I'm very much in a keep-my-kids-off-the-internet phase, but I can say that it has become easier to exercise wisdom about what to share without the emotional ties to the visual medium of Instagram playing such a big part. In addition, there is the culture of comparison and over-sharing that runs rampant on social media, and I have become much more critical-minded about that aspect of online sharing since I left the big platforms.
I do not miss the subtle ways I was measuring how well I was doing by how everyone else was doing.
We all do it, whether we are conscious of it or not. Maybe it's the flashy vacation that makes your modest camping trip feel sub-par. Maybe it's the magazine-worthy home decor that leaves you feeling like your more humble home needs a remodel. Maybe it's the flash of jealousy at all the quiet time that mom manages to find for herself, while you break up the third spat between the kids before 10:00 AM. Maybe it's comparing the number of followers or likes that makes you feel like you must not be doing something right.
I've been working on not comparing myself to others for years, and I thought I had achieved a nice equilibrium, but after detoxing from social media it has become obvious that I was still using others as a measuring stick way too much.
My life is my own, and it's not going to be exactly like anyone else's - it wasn't meant to be. I don't need to worry about how so-and-so is managing the things God has given to her - my job is to glorify God the best I can with what He has placed in my life right now, to lean on Him for wisdom and strength. Even when the day-to-day is not very fancy or Instagram-worthy.
As an aside, I specifically didn't realize how many things I was only doing so I'd have something photogenic to share on Instagram. When you realize you haven't felt the need to take a picture of your coffee cup in six months, you see how silly it all can become. (The coffee cup/phone photos I took for this post don't count!)
I do not miss getting impatient when I'm interrupted while on social media.
As a stay-at-home parent, I often escaped the hum-drum nature of my days with a little trip into the world of Instagram, and I can see now how snappy I could get with my kids when they jolted me out of it. Sometimes it was a question that I had to ask them to repeat because I wasn't really listening. Sometimes it was a "just a minute" when they asked me to read to them and I was busy typing up a caption. Sometimes it was just the internal annoyance when something went wrong, because there is that subconscious feeling of "why isn't fill-in-the-blank as easy as it looks on Instagram?" Some moms may not relate to any of that at all, but I think a lot of moms don't even realize the negative parenting and attitude patterns they've fallen into because of social media - I didn't realize it fully until I got off. My parenting has improved dramatically since I gave it all up, to the point where I am not sure it will ever be worth it to me to go back.
I do not miss the way social media was making me more self-centered.
It can happen in a variety of ways, but I've found as I've been off Instagram, it's become more obvious to me the little ways that Instagram made me focus on myself. There was that worrying about how I look in a picture, trying to think of something original or encouraging to say (mainly to get that ego boost in the form of likes), and the nagging feeling that I was "behind" somehow or not doing something as well as another girl. Being off Instagram has given me the opportunity to worry less about how I appear or whatever I'm doing, and focus on how others in my family are doing - what they are thinking, things they would like to do, ways I can serve them better. It's not that I never thought about those things before, I did, but it was a constant battle with the self-focus that Instagram encourages. Instagram makes narcissists of us all to varying degrees, and it's only when you've been off it for a while that you really start to see it.
I do not miss the way Instagram had become a barrier to my sanctification.
In case you didn't notice, several of the things I do not miss are actually sin issues in my own heart. Was it Instagram's fault that I was falling into sinful patterns? No, I don't blame social media necessarily. Some people may not struggle at all with the things I was dealing with because of social media. However, do I have a duty to eliminate things that have become stumbling blocks in my life, so that I can live worthy of my calling to holiness in Christ? Yes, that is the responsibility of every Christian.
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..." Hebrews 12:1-2.
While there were some rare accounts that I found to be a spiritual encouragement, the net result of Instagram and Facebook had become a weight and an entanglement for me. At the root, social media brings out the most selfish corner of my heart. Is this something that I still need to work on now that I'm off social media? It definitely is, and the fight against selfishness likely will be a work in progress for my whole life. But I will say I have more clarity about the ways the Lord is trying to sanctify me than I have in years, and it's easier now, without Instagram, to focus on the right things.
As for the negatives of being off Instagram, I am still mulling over those things and trying to figure out how important they are, or if there are alternative ways of accomplishing the same thing without addictive social media - because overall, the positives of being off are so much more significant and important to me. The small things I miss about Instagram can't outweigh all the benefits I am seeing from cutting it out of my life. I don't regret getting off Instagram, and while I don't know what will happen in the future, I am feeling really good about where things stand with me and social media right now.
The main thing I miss is connecting with all of you in a quicker way, so I am open to suggestions on that front!
Summer always seems to be a time to refresh my personal care routine. I usually end up getting a haircut right at the beginning of summer, I take more care to paint my toenails (no one sees them in the winter, after all), and I change up my makeup routine to be a little lighter and fresher. Don't you love the seasonal changes? I read once, (I'm pretty sure it was in one of C.S. Lewis's books) that God perhaps made the seasons because we as humans need a certain level of sameness and routine, but also expected change, as with the seasons. The cycling of the seasons allows us a chance to reminisce about years past, but also keeps things fresh - something we would be missing in a seasonless world.
With that in mind, I just thought I'd share a few of my summery beauty favorites, just for fun. If you need a little refresh in your routine, maybe give one of these products or suggestions a try!
Makeup Picks
Everyone says that you should go a little lighter and fresher with summer makeup, and I concur. I especially change up the eyeshadow palettes I use in the summer to include less color and more neutrals, but I have to say that the palettes below are some of my favorites for any time of the year too!
Huda Beauty Nude Eyeshadow Palette
This is my favorite palette for the summer - I've used it so much that I might need to purchase another one. Since I'm very fair, I need palettes with really pale shades mixed in, and the light pallet in this collection has those light shades I need. The mattes are nice, and I really love just a dab of the shimmery shade in the middle of my eyelid - it brightens up everything and adds a little sparkle. They also have a medium and rich palette that look lovely for deeper skin tones.
Colourpop Wild Nothing Palette
This palette has a desert motif, and I love it for summer. Several of the matte shades have pinpoint sparkles in them, which make them feel a little special but still really neutral. For fancier days, the shimmers really add a wow factor. And I'm sure your eye will be drawn to that green - let me assure you, it's a very neutral green, if you can believe it, and I love the way it looks on.
Going Coconuts Palette
This is my go-to for all the time - all of the colors in this palette just work. And that shimmer shade in the middle is more sheer than it looks, and the perfect neutral shimmer to brighten your eyes.
It Cosmetics CC Cream
I unfortunately, have a lot of sun damage to my skin from when I was pregnant (melasma), and I haven't found another foundation that covers it so well while still looking natural. The finish of this foundation actually looks like my real skin. I have a hard time finding makeup that matches my pale skin, and the lightest shade of this foundation is unfortunately a smidge darker than my natural skin tone, but it blends out really well and looks about right with a little translucent powder on top. And it's such a good product that I can put up with a slight shade mismatch. Tip: Sign up for the newsletter on the website and wait for their (really good) sales.
NYX Bare With Me Skin Veil
I grabbed this product to try, and if you want really light coverage, I think this is a good one. If I have a day where I don't want to look so made up, but I still want to minimize my melasma, this is a nice one - you can still see spots/freckles through it, but it has a blurring effect. I'd use this for beach or pool days, etc.
Makeup Revolution Highlight Reloaded
My usual highlight product was out of stock the last time I was at Ulta, so I decided to try this one instead and ended up really liking it. If you are a little shy of using highlighter (I'm not, the shinier the better), this is a really subtle and pretty highlighter. I think even a tiny bit of highlighter just makes everything look so pretty and glow-y, and this one looks really natural.
Bath And Body Works Mentha Lip Gloss
Do you remember when these minty lip glosses were so popular? I was probably in high school when they came out. I rediscovered them this spring, and remembered that I still really like them.
Fashion/Beauty Channels
I hop around to different beauty channels occasionally when I want to play with my makeup, and I always appreciate Gines videos. Her looks are always so elegant, and her neutral looks are some of the prettiest I've found. (Link is to her tutorial playlist.)
I always have to include Emily Noelle, because I first learned how to play around with different eye looks from her. Her tutorials are really doable, and I feel like she explains more thoroughly than other tutorials I watched, and she also uses more affordable makeup in a lot of her videos (link above is to her tutorial playlist).
I don't really watch many fashion channels because they typically make me want to buy stuff, but the one I make an exception for is Shea Whitney. What I love about her channel most is the way she gives tips on ways to make your clothes look just a little better. Her videos about what styles are going in and out of fashion are also interesting to me, but she tells her thoughts in a way that is not dogmatic. I think her style is really classic, which is also helpful to me since I've been working toward buying pieces that will work for me for a while (not just for the next year or two).
Other Recommendations
Loreal Sublime Bronze Tanning Mousse
A few years back I won a free self-tanning mousse that I really liked, but it wass too expensive for me to want to buy myself. I set out to find a dupe, and this one is pretty close. This is a self-tanning mouse, which I think goes on much more evenly than a lotion. I do maybe one application a week, just to give my skin a tiny bit of color, and I think it looks really natural. I don't know how it would work in you want to look really tan, but for my purposes it's perfect. My one negative is that it leaves my skin just a tad tacky for up to an hour after I apply it, which is annoying. After it dries I usually put on my old pajamas for a minute and that seems to get rid of the tacky feeling.
Kiss Petite Nails
I discovered these nails last summer when I wanted to look just a little more put together for a special event. My nails are naturally fairly thin and small, and difficult to grow longer, so when I wear fake nails that are too long they feel really weird to me. I've also found a lot of fake nail kits have a lot of sizes that I can't use because they are too wide. These ones are made for smaller nails (which I need), and are also quite short. When I wear them they add a bit of glam to my fingers, but without leaving me feeling like I can't function. (How do people with really long nails even open a pop can? I just don't know.). If you have normal size nails but also dislike long fake nails, these "real short" nails are also good!
Expressie Quick Dry in "All Things"
This is just a summery color to me, and the Expressie nail polish dries quicker than the original Essie polish!
Those are my summer favorites for this year! Do you change up any of your products for the summer?
(A photo from our anniversary weekend.)
Thinking about...so many things. I was just talking with a friend about "mental clutter" because I recently watched a video from Mystie Winkler about brain dumping. I've got a bunch of mental clutter this week, and the idea of getting it all out on paper is really helpful, so I may need to do a good brain declutter soon. Right at this minute, I'm thinking about which candles to order here with my fancy coupon code, how to plan for a trip that we have coming up in a little over a month, and all the projects I want to work on during my one open weekend in July (first on the list is getting my Etsy shop up and running again - I'll link to it once I fix a couple things).
Fiddling with...different options for a way to communicate more short-form content or quick updates with you all, without giving in and getting back on Facebook or Instagram. I've been looking for something like that for months, and I have to admit I've been unhappy with my options. Then I was thinking, my blog buddies, do you want to connect on Voxer? It might be a fun way to stay connected for those quick thoughts. The basic version is free, it doesn’t show phone numbers, just usernames, and you can fix the settings to hide your location, contacts, etc. So from what I can tell, we can chat on there and still keep account info private. If you find me on there, I'll add you to a chat for my blog where we can share book thoughts, Bible verses that were encouraging, favorite homeschool finds, whatever. Just send me a message letting me know you want to be added for blog updates! Here is the app, and here is my profile!
Eating...M&Ms, even though I was intending to avoid sugar this week. Don't look at me like that. I only had a cheese stick for lunch, so it's fine.
Feeling...Quite cheerful today, actually. My kids are in our church's VBS this week, and I visited a friend today while they enjoyed the program. We had a nice visit, and I have plans to see a couple more friends this week as well. I just read this post about friendship from Jennifer, and what she said about three things a friendship needs resonated with me, especially her idea about friendship requiring companionship. For some reason I've struggled to explain that idea in the past, but companionship is a perfect word for it. In a world where we can be "friends" online with our cousin's coworker that we met that one time, companionship is a perfect distinguisher between an actual friend and the term we use to describe acquaintances on social media. I'm thankful for all the companionship I get to enjoy this week.
Going...Uh, let's change this to Back from... our anniversary weekend trip. We went out to dinner at the restaurant Derek took me to on our first date, which was very sweet and romantic. We also saw a movie called 12 Mighty Orphans, and it was really good! It's about this coach that goes to work at an orphanage and helps them organize a football team, right at the end of the Great Depression. It's based on a true story, and we loved it! The movie is definitely going on our to-buy list. Then we stayed overnight at a nice hotel, then went to breakfast at a very popular breakfast restaurant in the morning (I ordered the bourbon pecan French toast - yum), before picking up the kids from my mom and going to church. It was a busy but nice weekend for our anniversary! We don't get dates often, so when we do it's special.
Ordering... a guacamole burger with sweet potato tots, from one of our locally owned restaurants. We discovered them last year during the lockdown, and they make quite possibly make the best burger I've ever had. We ordered two on Monday and watched an episode of Centennial for our at-home anniversary date (on our actual anniversary). Derek and I have been married 13 years! So we're basically old married people now (I'm being silly, but we actually really kind of are, and that's a good thing in my book).
Realizing...That I'm mentioning food a lot in this post. Maybe I am hungrier than I thought. I'm going to make myself some fries.
Listening to...I keep meaning to share this album I discovered, so I'm going to stick it in here! I'm listening to Whispering Colors which is described as "consonant chamber music for the 21st century". It's modern classical music, and I really love it! If you need some happy classical music to listen to in the background while you read, or write, or use Draino on your sinks or something, this is really nice for that.
Watching...Centennial, which I mentioned above Derek and I are watching right now. It's based on a novel by James Michener, and I tried to listen to the book recently but couldn't get through it. He spends what feels like half the book describing the lives of animals. I'm serious. I was just waiting for the people to show up, and finally lost steam on it and requested the TV series from the library instead. I watched it when I was a teenager, but couldn't remember it well. It's a really well done mini series! It's kind of like Roots, except it covers the history of a fictional town in Colorado. We are really invested in the characters at this point. I also am watching To Catch A Smuggler on Hulu, and I'm really fascinated by the customs inspections especially. It's amazing to see the weird places that people try to hide smuggled goods!
Reading...The Tyranny Of Big Tech by Josh Hawley, almost anyway - I just got my copy in from the library! Since I quit social media in January I've been really interested in books that discuss the problems with social media, and also how these big tech companies work. You just don't realize how invasive they are until you start to look into it more. I'll do a post one of these days about the books I've read relating to social media, etc. I do have an update on my six month anniversary of being off social media coming in the next week or two!
How's July treating you so far?
I had quite a few books that were just okay this month. I listened to a lot of thriller/suspense books, and they were interesting while I cleaned the house, but would I say you-have-to-go-read-this-right-now? Eh. The 2 stars ones were some of those books where I was interested enough in the story to finish, but there was too much inappropriate content for me to be able to recommend them, per se. I know you guys get what I'm saying.
The Princess Academy: Palace Of Stone by Shannon Hale- 4 Stars - This is a continuation of The Princess Academy series and follows Miri as she travels to the palace to help her friend, the soon-to-be queen, before her wedding. Along the way she finds out there is a rebellion brewing, as the people are burdened by tributes they must pay to the King. Miri is sympathetic with the rebels, but also loyal to the royalty because of her friend, and she must figure out what the truth is and help stop a disastrous massacre. This book was way different than what I thought it was, but overall I enjoyed it! It was fun to see what the characters were up to next, and interesting how the author handled the topic of an uprising and all that (I'm happy to report I didn't detect any real-life political statements being made). Content Notes: Miri kisses a couple boys who are pursuing her (all very innocent), there are references to the "priests" using divination to find where the princess comes from, but that played very little role in this book. Some magical elements since Miri and her fellow quarry people can "speak" to each other through the stone from their mountain called linder.
The Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale - 4 Stars - In this book, Miri wants to go home to her mountain village, but is instead recruited to go train the royal cousins for a possible upcoming marriage to a neighboring king, in order to prevent a war. When Miri arrives, she finds out the cousins' royal allowance has been pilfered for years, and they are barely surviving. As the story goes on, more mysteries are brought to light, and she starts to wonder who the royal cousins really are. I enjoyed the story in this book more than the second book, but there were a few more content notes. Content Notes: As in the other books in the series, the magical elements involve linder allowing Miri to speak to her people from a distance, and also to recover memories from the stones. In this book there were way more references to the "creator god" of this land, and so more may need to be discussed with kids about the made-up religious aspects.
The Survivors by Jane Harper- 3 Stars - I really enjoy mysterious books that take place in small towns, and this book was like that. Keiran returns to his hometown after leaving years ago because of a tragic incident that lead to the death of his brother and another man. As another girl turns up dead, the past is being investigated to find out what is happening in the present. They finally unravel what really happened to the two men who died and another girl who disappeared decades ago. This book is more of a slow burn, it's not un-put-downable, but it kept me interested until the end. I was a little dissatisfied with the ending, but the solution to the mystery is not something I suspected. I also appreciated that this book was pretty clean compared to so many other books in this genre. Content Notes: Sparsely scattered curse words throughout (maybe one or two f-bombs? Can't remember). Keiran recalls memories of teenagers making out, his friends bragging about "conquests", drinking, etc.
Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews - 2 Stars - This is one of those books where you hate all the characters from the start, and it only goes down from there. If you like books where justice is done, this is not that book. Florence Darrow loses her job after sleeping with and stalking her boss, only to get a position as an assistant to the mysterious Maud Dixon, the anonymous author of a best selling book. The entire time she is trying to figure out how to get published, because she was raised to think she was destined for greatness, and publishing a book is what she thinks will accomplish that. As we find out more about how Maud Dixon actually researchers her books, the plot gets pretty twisted. This book is very slow for the first half, and I honestly thought about giving up on it a few times. I persevered, but the ending was so twisted, I almost wish I had given up. I will say that I didn't see the end coming, and by the time I was halfway through it I felt like I had to finish just to see how things ended up. Even though I hated all the characters. Content Notes: Adult situations that I ended skipping past because of raciness (I listened on audio). Curse words throughout. Terrible morals of all the characters - lying, cheating, murder, etc. And no one ever pays for their crimes in a just way.
The Half Sister by Sandie Jones - 2 Stars - I was disappointed in this one, but once again, by the time I decided it wasn't going to be my favorite, I was a little invested and felt like I had to finish listening to it. In this story, Kate and Lauren don't really understand each other's lives, and have very different views of their parents. One day during Sunday dinner, a girl shows up claiming to be their half sister. The rest of the book is spent learning more about the relationships between the sisters and their parents, secrets that were covered up, and finding out if Jess really is their half sister or not. A big part of this plot involved infidelity by one of the sisters, who was also being abused by her husband. I don't like plots that involve infidelity, especially when it's excused. By the time it came up in the book I was halfway through and decided to just finish. The ending was just okay, and I feel if this were to happen in reality, the characters would have been more traumatized by what happened than what was portrayed. Content Notes: Infidelity, etc. Moderate curse words.
Hostage by Clare Mackintosh - 3 Stars - This book took a few chapters to get into, but then was very exciting. Mina, a flight attendant, finds herself on the first London to Sydney nonstop flight, when she gets a note that tells her to open the door to the flight deck or her daughter will die. From then on, we watch as this hijacking drama, and Mina's personal history and family life, unfolds. There were some political perspectives thrown in here and there from some of the passengers, but not too heavy-handed - nothing that made me want to through the book across the room. What I found really interesting about this book is that the author makes the people with whom she would be sympathetic in real life the hijackers. I think it's really tempting for authors to demonize people they don't agree with politically by making them appear awful in their books, and I thought it was interesting that Mackintosh took the opposite tactic. I was unsatisfied with the twist at the end (it was kind of an awful thing to make the character do), but overall I enjoyed the story. Content Notes: Here it loses a couple points. Mina has some moments where she recalls an assault she experienced as a younger woman, and part of it was just way too descriptive for me. I just don't like having those pictures in my head. I think there is a way for that kind of thing to be a plot point without painting the picture for us quite so much. It lost a star for me because of that. Moderate cursing.
The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth - 3 Stars - In this book, Fern Castle (who I think is supposed to be on the autism spectrum?), finds out her sister Rose is struggling to have a baby. Rose has always taken care of Fern, and so Fern decides to pay her back by getting pregnant and giving the baby to Rose. Only...some things in their relationship aren't quite right, and it takes the situation with Fern's baby to see that she has more people that care about her than she ever realized. I enjoyed this book overall, though there were some discussions of adult things that were a little much (I guess I should have realized that since part of the plot involves Fern getting pregnant). As far as the suspense aspect of this book, I didn't realize what was happening in the book until about halfway, and then I couldn't stop listening until I had finished it. I will say that there was some memories discussed by one of the characters of being assaulted in her younger years (I'm trying to be vague here) that were too descriptive for me. I just can't handle any details of that sort of thing. Because of the more serious elements and adult references, I took a couple stars off, but the story was a pretty good one as far as psychological suspense goes. Content Notes: Adult situations discussed, abusive memories from one of the characters that were too descriptive. Moderate level of curse words, I'd say.
Hope you had a more successful reading month in June than me! I'm going back to memoir for July, and I think I'll have a couple of winners for next month!
A Quote
“As for the notion of some lost golden age, it is truly very hard for any competent historian to be nostalgic. What past times were better than the present? An era before antibiotics when childbirth or even minor cuts might lead to septicemia and death? The great days of the 19th century when the church was culturally powerful and marriage was between one man and one woman for life, but little children worked in factories and swept chimneys? Perhaps the Great Depression? The Second World War? The era of Vietnam? Every age has had its darkness and its dangers. The task of the Christian is not to whine about the moment in which he or she lives but to understand its problems and respond appropriately to them.”
-Carl Trueman, The Rise And Triumph Of The Modern Self
A Book
The book I'm working on right this moment is called Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin. It's an immigrant story, about a man that came from Somalia. I'm only a little bit into it, but I just feel like it's going to be good. I love reading immigrant stories from people who have escaped difficult circumstances in their homeland - so many of them have an appreciation for the blessings of freedom in America that a lot of Americans-by-birth take for granted. I think this is going to be one of those uplifting immigrant stories, and I'm here for it.
A Bit Of Sparklers
Excuse me for sharing sparkler pictures instead of nature this week - we had way too much fun last weekend with our ridiculous stash of sparklers! We had probably 20-30 boxes of sparklers that we had somehow gathered over the years, and we used most of them in one night when my family came to visit on the 4th.
A Recommendation
This section is going to be a little long!
I've got an interesting recommendation today, and it's from a podcast I listen to occasionally called "Sheologians". In the latest episode they were discussing gossip, and as I feel there is a definite dearth of Christian resources on gossip, I clicked on it. The actual discussion starts around 20 minutes, but basically what they are doing is taking the Westminter Larger Catechism question surrounding the 9th commandment to help explain what qualifies as gossip or "bearing false witness" against someone. It's a lot more than you might think! I was so convicted by so many of their points. If you want to get the gist, you can read the relevant Larger Catechism passage here (Questions 144 and 145). How many of us think about gossip like this? How many of us recognize the sin of lying in the way we are thinking about others? My mind was kind of blown to be honest.
On a related note, their episode from a while back on forgiveness also gave me a ton to think about. They discuss that "therapeutic forgiveness"(the idea that forgiveness is for myself, not the other person), is actually not the biblical model of forgiveness. They argue that forgiveness in scripture is a transactional thing - a person is repentant toward the person they wronged, and the other person then gives them forgiveness, and it's followed by reconciliation. I take a little bit of issue with the way they expressed certain things, but they explained their points more fully later in the episode, so listen to the whole thing. I love the distinction that forgiveness isn't just some internal feeling, it's an external process that happens between two people that ultimately results in reconciliation in some way. I think we've lost that idea by making forgiveness only something that happens within someone's heart.
Like I said, I'm still mulling it over, but if you want some spiritual meat to chew on, give these episodes a try.
A Moment Of Happiness
A met up with a friend last night that I haven't seen in over a year - for no other reason than that we are both very busy moms of big families, and we were just slacking. What I love about this friend is how there is no awkwardness over the fact that we haven't seen each other in so long - I just send a text saying, "hey, let's get dinner together", she says "I'd love that!", and we make it happen. It's rare to find those friends that you can connect with easily even when it's been a long time between visits, and it was so refreshing to catch up with her over ridiculously large bowls of pasta.
How is everyone's week going? Are you getting back into swing of things after the long weekend?
Happy July 2nd! Are you aware that July 2nd is the day that most of the founding fathers first voted to approve the Declaration of Independence? The vote was repeated on July 4th, so that's the day we celebrate, but John Adams thought July 2nd was going to be the day to be marked.
"The second day of July 1776 will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more."
-John Adams
When you come down to it, I suppose the whole month of July is a good time to celebrate America, since the Declaration wasn't even officially signed until August 2nd, but I especially love that this weekend falls right between July 2nd and 4th. I have some patriotic books lined up to read, and I'm sporting a USA shirt as I drink my coffee and type this. We did sparklers with the kids last night because we have way too many leftover sparkler boxes stuffed in the back of our cupboards from the last several years. We're planning to watch fireworks someplace with my family, I bought TNT poppers, and also in the queue are hamburgers and The Sandlot movie (because a movie that includes baseball and fireworks - can't get much more American than that).
A Lackluster Two Weeks
July 4th feels like a major event this year, for a couple different reasons. First, there weren't that many July 4th festivities last year, and it was a shame. We're making up for lost time. And secondly, the last couple weeks have been fairly blah around here.
The homeschool conference wrapped up right before Father's Day, and that was all good, but the next week was a bit disastrous. I found myself very emotional (as in randomly crying every other day over minor stresses), and then four or five things we had planned to do were either cancelled or foiled. We had a weekend trip that had to be postponed, several playdates with friends had to be cancelled, we tried to go to the zoo on Saturday only to arrive and find out the zoo was closed for a charity event. As you can imagine, all these cancelled plans did not improve my emotional state. Even church was cancelled because of a broken water main! Thankfully we salvaged Sunday by hanging out at a park with our church friends, and then going over to my parents' house. But then we locked the keys in the car, and my dad had to give Derek a ride back to our house to get the spare.
Let's just say I was glad when that week was over.
This week has been better, and surprisingly cool for late June. While the rest of the country is apparently having a heat wave, we had a cold front blow in. Cooler weather isn't so bad if accompanied by rain, because it lessens the ever-present concern about forest fires. We haven't had a burn ban yet this year, and we were able to enjoy a campfire on Wednesday night. It's supposed to warm up in time for the 4th though!
(The light was so gloomy and pretty after the rain the other day.)
Weekend Reading And Curricula
One thing that did go well last week was that I read a ton of books. I think I finished four books in one week? Not too shabby. The books I am planning on reading this week are Call Me American, Wait Till Next Year, The First Wave, and The Penderwicks At Pointe Mouette. I'm also going to try out this podcast, which seems very appropriate for Independence Day weekend.
In other news, our homeschool curricula has started arriving in the mail and our school room is a disaster. I've slowly been trying to get it organized, and wondering if I planned to do a little too much this year. We are adding in a few extras, such as Spanish and a root word study, and we're changing up a couple of our regular subjects. I'm hoping it is all still doable. I wish I didn't feel like I need to re-learn how to homeschool each year, but with a fourth child arriving to school-age and adding in more challenging work for the older kids - I think this is just the way it goes. (Also, p.s., Wyatt did great on his standardized testing, and actually scored above his grade level on the dreaded grammar, so I guess I'm not totally messing this education thing up.)
Planning And Movies
Tonight Derek and I intend to sit down and plan out the rest of the summer. We usually make a list of all the summery things we'd like to do and then slot them into the calendar - if we don't, it's much too easy for the summer to pass us by. This afternoon I will be editing pictures, and perhaps making my own summer activity schedule to do with the kids. June was too busy for me to even think about this, but we finally have some space to fit in some crafts and nature activities.
After our planning session tonight, we'll probably watch Captain America. Derek and I aren't big Marvel fans, but someone told us we need to try watching the Marvel movies in order of storyline, and we thought we'd give it a try. Maybe these big Avengers movies with all the superheroes fighting crime (or something?) together will make more sense if we get the whole backstory. Either that, or Marvel movies are just an excuse for unrealistic fight scenes. I will report back.
How was your June? Do you have anything fun planned for this Independence Day weekend?
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