May and Mother's Day

 I had a beautiful Mother's Day this year. I used to really hate Mother's Day, but when I realized it was a day I could celebrate my own awesome mom and my Heavenly Mother then I felt better about it. I'm so grateful that Michael and I both have been raised by such inspiring women.

Michael brought me some beautiful flowers for Mother's Day.

I loved this All About Me from Benjy this year. 

Loved this creative 3-D card from Henry.

Sweetness from Clayton and Benjy.

Robbie sent me on a treasure hunt to find his sweet card.

Delicious breakfast in bed from Michael, card from Robbie.

We had our first couple's pedicure the night before Mother's Day haha. So fun!

Robbie bought this begonia with his own money from the school, and Benjy decorated this pot at activity boys for me. 

Celebrating Clayton at his art program! He really does enjoy art.

Finishing up seminary on our last day--the bishopric was able to join us (minus Bishop Robertson who was serving at the temple that morning). Seminary is very challenging and also rewarding. One student slept nearly every day, but the kids are all good kids and I appreciate them.

My spring garden! Yay! Two kinds of lettuce, Lacinato kale, garlic.

Broccoli!

Clayton planted a pea seed for fairy tale day and it finally finally bore fruit! The sugar snap peas were so delicious.

Clara did so great in her spring dance recital! She danced to a song from the movie "The Greatest Showman," and it was probably her most challenging dance yet. 

Camping fun

 We had such fun on our camping trip this spring. 

One of my goals has been to learn some songs on the ukukele that I could play around the campfire. I learned a few, which was super fun. I need to practice more for next time though.

Henry also brought his recorder, which was so great. He won an award this year in fourth grade for memorizing 36 songs on his recorder--wow! He also likes to just pick up songs that he hears and figure out how to play them on the recorder. 

Walking to the lake that evening with the sun setting was magical.

The next morning, the boys were eager to use the new poles Michael got and try their hand at fishing. Robbie finally caught one.

Pancakes + bacon + hot cocoa = quintessential camping breakfast.

Even though this happened and a pole got broken, the kids still seemed to enjoy the fishing experience. Not sure if we'll do the fishing part again, but we'll see.

Looking forward to the next trip!

April updates

 April was a busy and fun month for our family. The weather began to get warmer and we all enjoyed getting outside more as the leaves appeared in that lovely light green they begin with each spring.

Clara was very excited to go to Capernaum prom at the vineyard like she did last year with her Capernaum friends and had a blast dancing the night away. She also met with a job intake coordinator through DARS and we are trying to help her explore some job opportunities in the future. The intake coordinator wants Clara to do some counseling to work on her anxiety, so we are trying to figure that out. She did some counseling several years ago but didn't like it and felt very nervous, so we need to find someone who's a better fit and can see her clearly. A kind sister from the ward has offered to have Clara help her out at her jewelry store once a week--we will see if we can make that work in the summer.

Henry has been begging us to do baseball for the past several months (he asked for a bat for Christmas) and so we caved and signed him up for Keezletown baseball. He really loved it and even started to learn how to pitch. He hit an inside-the-park grand slam at one game, which was so fun to see. Baseball is super competitive and intense here in the Valley, so I'm not sure if we're going to continue, but he did great for his first season, especially as an older player starting out. Very proud of how he has been unafraid to try new things.

A friend from church, Debbie Fordham, gave us some goose eggs, and Clayton made some scrambled eggs out of them. Clayton is such a fun boy. For some reason, he has taken to calling Michael "Johnson." I He doesn't do it all the time, but it cracks us up when he does. He also likes to call Clara "Clarey" and she calls him "Sassy," which he tolerates. 

Robbie has been running track and doing super great, getting faster and faster. He also went to the temple early one Saturday morning with our ward youth. I'm grateful for his faithfulness in bringing the bread whenever he's asked by the teacher's quorum president; he comes early each Sunday to set up the Sacrament because Dad drops him off before he goes to pick up people for church. I'm thankful I can depend on him when I need to leave that the house won't be burned down when I return haha.

The seminary kids gathered manna (Rice Krispies) for our lesson about Moses.

Benjy loves creating things out of cardboard. Notice the "Emergence" (emergency) button. His teeth are growing in and he's getting so tall. It's crazy that he's going to be baptized this summer! 

Easter and spring break!

 March seemed to crawl by, mostly because I was impatient for our visit out to Utah to see family. With my dad deciding not to continue dialysis and after a scare with a mini-stroke and subsequent pacemaker, our planned trip suddenly became even more important and precious. 

However, I couldn't forget St Patrick's Day. Of course, Lucky came and left a little chocolate gold for the kiddos. Benjy and Clayton made some pretty sweet traps for him, but he managed to escape.

Sneaky guy!

Before we left, we couldn't not dye eggs. Check out Benjy's cute toothless smile. 

Growing up, we never did the Easter baskets which my friends' families did, which I was fine with. (The candy is the best part anyway!) However, I decided last year to do Easter baskets, trying to elevate the reason for Easter and also make it a special day. 

Palm Sunday sundaes. Is that a thing? It is now!

After some delays at the airports and a very long day of travel, we were so grateful to have arrived safely in Lindon at our Airbnb. Nana and Bapa generously arrived with dinner, and it was so good to see them.

No captions needed on these pics--just happy times.

We loved visiting the Lindon temple with Bapa (it was pouring rain so sadly we didn't get a photo). The kids had a positive experience and it was less rushed than our other times at temple open houses. They were very struck by the celestial room, and Clara said, "I got chills." After the temple, we grabbed lunch at the BYU Creamery and got some swag at the BYU Bookstore. Michael led us on a little tour around some of his favorite science buildings, but I confess so much of campus has changed that I hardly knew my way around.

A huge highlight of our visit was seeing Bryan and Emily and Hobbes. Notice how somehow I don't have any pictures of grown-ups, just the kids and Hobbes. Benjy especially loved him and wanted to give him lots of treats.

Good thing he is a patient dog.

While Michael was out skiing with the older two boys in freezing, blizzardy weather, I went to Thanksgiving Point with my parents and Aunt Heather. She was so awesome to take off work to spend time with us.

Gearing up to enter the Jurassic Jungle Adventure park--everyone, including the grown-ups, had to purchase and wear neon green grippy socks. A racket for sure--it cracked us up that Nana and Bapa had to wear them, too.

Thanks to Aunt Heather, Clara did a super brave thing by sliding down that huge slide!

Clara got to stay with Nana and Bapa while we headed down with the boys to Moab. After staying in a small motel room with three queen (double?) beds, we awoke early to catch the sunrise in Arches National Park.

It was cold, but the boys decided it was worth it after seeing the landscape come to life as the sun rose.

No one else I'd rather adventure with. For real. He was the one driving the 12-seater van the entire way.

Our little humans helping give scale to these enormous formations at the Windows Arches.

What a view.

Hiding in the shadows.

Delicate Arch!

Landscape Arch. So grateful we could take these hikes. Definitely one of my favorite things to do.

Nana and Bapa babysat the kids while Michael and I went to dinner and took a walk down memory lane. BDA Apartments, where I lived when Michael and I met. Looks so run down haha!

Michael's apartment complex, Continental. He was surprised it hadn't been condemned and torn down. Maybe they remodeled them... 🙏

We had a super yummy breakfast of pigs and blankets at Nana and Bapa's house, and the kids loved seeing Mr. Fox again.

Reading time.

Jenga with Nana.

Between Conference sessions, we were treated to an amazing Easter egg hunt, courtesy of Aunt Heather, who had even hidden money inside some of the eggs. Definitely set the bar high for future egg hunts . . . 

xo

So much fun talking with Bryan and Emily. We talked about potential future travel together...

Another special evening spent with Caleb and Shannyn. They are just the best and are such great examples. 

The boys stayed at their house with Jane and Georgia and had a great time on their trampoline. 

I enjoyed some tender moments with my dad on a Sunday morning walk before Conference. (Why didn't a get a picture with Mom?!) And the chocolate eggs were are delicious as ever. I thought about continuing this tradition, but man, it's a lot of work. 

My mom's mini art studio made me so happy to see.

And of course our trip wasn't complete without Dunford Doughnuts! We had a beautiful Easter program at Heather's house and enjoyed watching Conference with cousins. It was such a lovely trip. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father answered my prayers of health and safety.