While Justin helps Sports Journalism students practice their dreams at the Olympics in Milan, we will double-duty our daily reports to him and Elisabeth as blog posts.
Day 1
Today we dropped Daddy off at the airport to head to Italy and the Olympics. We recited The Living Christ on the way up, and Katharine and I talked about her future on the way back. When we arrived home, there was a big note on our mailbox and another on our gate directing everyone to choir at the Tolley's home instead of ours. We had leftovers for lunch and tried to put Miriam down for a nap, but that didn't work. (Sidenote: she was excessively pleased with herself in her new blue and white dress complete with blue satin bloomers and rosette clips to adorn her pigtails. When I encouraged her to go look at herself in the mirror, she knelt down and spread her dress around her.) We got to church on time and were delighted to see Julia pulling in at the same moment we were. Gwyn, Elinor, and Gabriel all ran immediately to her car, shouting her name. Miriam was calling to be extricated from her carseat so she could join the welcome, too. By the time I got to our row after picking up scrap paper, colored pencils, and pencils from the library, we were spread across two middle pews: Julia, Elinor, and Gabriel in one; Carolee, Katharine, Miriam, Gwyn, and Abdiel right behind; the Cooks behind that with Katie and Micah eagerly showing Miriam their toys. I decided this was not a day to angle for either family togetherness or impeccable reverence, especially since we'd be getting up for a choir number in the middle of the meeting anyway.
Long story short: Gabriel is a little like Mary Bennett; he times his bodily functions ill, and I missed singing with the choir. They had a full house, though, and even though Gwyn went up on the alto side but still sang her soprano part, she and Abdiel repped the Collings Clan well. Julia took Miriam for the duration of the meeting after the sacrament (you would know this, Elisabeth, since she did it to wander the halls and talk to you) and then dropped Miriam at her first official day at nursery. We heard talks from Mary Bailey, Shawn Whitaker, and Carolee Skinner (pinch hitter). They were all great.
I neglected to get our crockpot meal going before church, so after I put Miriam down for a nap and we had a Come Follow Me about the importance of words (each of the four older kids took one of the talks "Words Matter," "Tongue of Angels," "Reverent and Clean," and "Blessed are the Peacemakers"; I showed video clips of two of the talks to Elinor and Gabriel; we reconvened and shared what we had learned), I took Miriam downstairs and Julia made dinner. We played Guesstures before Julia left and Miriam went to bed, then Abdiel, Gwyn, Elinor, Gabriel and I tried to play Signs. There was an interruption and mild harumphing about Gwyn's disastrous side of the bedroom from Katharine (for the disaster) and then from Gwyn (for having to clean it up), but we finally ended the night with everyone in their own beds.
We have had lots of offers of help and many condolences that I didn't get to accompany to Italy, but I really do not feel bad at all. A week away from this many children, this small does not make me happy, no matter what the occasion. I also heartily pity you, Justin, to think that you are only eight hours into your travels. So don't worry about me!
Day 2
We had a lovely day. After my little rest recovering from Miriam's 1:22 am revels, my foolhardy hike up to Dry Canyon with her on my back, explaining to the children all about the Abrahamic Covenant for Come, Follow Me, cleaning the whole house, and playing football with Abdiel at the church, my strength normalized. Now that I write that, I'm sure you must have said a prayer for me, so thank you. So I left my bed after talking from it to you and Elisabeth and made everyone lunch, played with Miriam, and read through Gwyn's NHD draft. Wowza. She is so talented. I was literally crying at the end of it, it was so moving. (I would have told you that anyway, but when she saw that I was writing you, she said, "Be sure to tell him that his amazing authoress daughter moved her poor mother to tears with the beauty of her writing!" So there you go.) If we can get it cut down (I timed it and it was exactly twelve minutes), get a great bibliography together, and get her to memorize and perform it well, I can't imagine that she won't be headed to D.C.
We didn't do too much work on it today because we wanted to go to Classic Skating. The kind woman admitting us ignored the fact that those four free passes expired on 1/1/2026 so we ended up with five bouncy house passes (Abdiel and under) and two skates (Elinor and Gabriel) for $19.61. Elinor participated in their skating game "Wipe Out" and helped earn the girls a free skate by beating the boys three times in who could drop to the floor fastest when the DJ yelled the titular phrase and cut the tunes. (Both had to happen. You gotta watch him; he'll trick ya.) Gabriel helped earn me a personalized reprimand from the DJ: I was walking along on the floor holding Miriam on my right hip and dragging him along with my left hand. We had gone about five steps when the DJ announced, "Let's just go over some rules again: only skates, blades, and scooters are allowed on the floor. Absolutely no walking on the floor, even if you're a parent helping a small child." I obediently started leading him from the carpet until we hit the wall, at which point he despaired and I just heaved him over and let him go bounce house to his heart's content. 
Schlepping a huge diaper bag, two pairs of skates, Ramona-shin-kicking-boots, a jacket, Miriam's blanket, Miriam's milk, and Miriam all out to the car, the baby and I returned looking for a way to entertain ourselves. Buried deep at the heart of an Amazon Adventure Tower was a space with blocks for toddlers to climb. The DJ apparently had our number. As soon as our bare feet had touched down on the padded floor and Miriam's milk cup dribbled a bit on the ground, the loudspeaker rang out once again: "Let us remind you of the rules of the Bounce Houses. Absolutely no bare feet! Socks must be worn at all times! And absolutely NO food or drink allowed in the bounce house area." Guess there are more ways to be renegade than just eating pop tarts untoasted.
We spent the 100 Arcade Credits in some combo of the following activities: Lia and Miriam playing Monster Truck Mayhem; Gwyn playing Jurassic Park; Gwyn and Abdiel playing Jurassic Park; Elinor and Abdiel playing Jurassic Park; Gabriel and Abdiel playing Jurassic Park; Abdiel playing basketball; Elinor playing catch a candy; Gwyn playing catch a candy; Abdiel playing catch a candy; Elinor and Gabriel playing race car; Gabriel regretting not being able to play catch a candy.
We then spent the last of our Timpanogos Academy Silent Auction Largess by heading to Waffle Love and purchasing The Sunshine, The Dolce, and The Nutella to be shared as our FHE treat. Carolee met us back at home to have Moroccan Chicken for dinner with us and provide a foreign face. This was a good scheme because Miriam was on one as soon as we returned home. We had a lovely FHE with Gabriel playing "Hot Cross Buns" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the piano as the talent and Elinor choosing more Olympic viewing as the activity. Everyone split Waffle Love while I put Miriam to bed, Carolee cleaned up some little things and let herself out, we read the Book of Mormon with Elinor as the bedtime story, and everyone was in bed by 8:30.
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