2024, April 15-21

We soldier on. In Hallie's case, she did it through the power of AI! 

Fergus cuddled up to Eliza. He's the picture of slumbering bliss.  

We had a day perfect for kite flying on Wednesday. Landon, Kai, and Fergus joined Mike outside. 

When Hallie came home, she caught Mike with the fur babies. 

Speaking of animals, Hallie got a visitor at the preschool on Thursday. 

Later, she and Eliza got Cupbop at its grand opening in Spanish Fork. 

Mike and Eliza went to visit the ponies on the weekend.  

We heard that a version of Star Wars blue milk had come out, and Hallie actually found it and brought it home. It's certainly interesting. 

Flowers and flowering trees have been in bloom for a little bit now and may have reached their peak over the weekend. Mike got some pics on his walk on Sunday. 

A bumblebee, honeybees, and even yellow jackets were all hard at work on the crabapple bush. 

Just a nice view to the north. 

He's also been working on his birthday presents. Here is LEGO's version of Under the Wave off Konagawa by Hokusai, still in progress. 

Here are the tiny plants. 

Hallie got the chance to attend a fundraiser for Bridle Up Hope up at Scheels. That's where she got to make her print at the start of this post.   

 

2024, April 8-14

Mike got another year better, and we all celebrated with some of our favorite things. 

Eliza seemed to be a bit perplexed by this situation she got into with cuddly Fergus. Or Hallie just caught it at a weird time.

Hallie and the kids saw deer down at Jaker's. That's super close to home! 

Fergus makes sure to mark his territory when he goes out with Mike for a walk. 

He also likes to make sure Mike knows when it's time for breakfast. 

(Also, here are some bonus bleps.)

Hallie saw more deer. 

On Thursday before he went to work, Mike and Eliza walked over to Wing Park and played some music together while taking in the warming spring weather. Linden, cherry, and plum trees are in bloom all around, and the horse chestnuts are setting to bloom. The daffies are getting past their prime, and the tulips are just starting to come in. 

At the class Mike taught at on Friday, the teacher had a handmade pentomino calendar. Intrigued, he needed to solve it with his favorite date of the year. 

The class also had a magnet board with triangular magnets. He had to make an approximation of his flag. 

On the school's playground was this beautiful little cherry tree. The bees were hard at work. 

We celebrated Mike's birthday on Saturday with a surprise road trip up to the LEGO Store by way of Jack in the Box (tacos and curly fries!) and the (at least for now) world's largest Costco in Salt Lake (and buying a couple of their new huge chocolate chip cookies!). Hallie and the kids got Mike a gift card, which he used to its full (along with accumulated Insider points and birthday money from the Maygrens). The kids also got some of their own. 

We're planning a trip to Japan in 2025 as Hallie and her friend Amanda (and now Mike because he's fine with delayed gratification when foreign travel is involved) celebrate their 50th birthdays. As part of his birthday, the good people at the LEGO Store said he could have a free minifig. With our trip in mind, Mike and Eliza built a traveling companion for our journey, who we named Tomari, whose Kanji meaning is, in part, "to fly in the sky." Cute, eh? She likes dogs and photography. 

After our adventure at the mall, we headed back down to ASADO in Orem for some empanadas and a Parrillada Utah. Muy rico! 

We ended the day back at home with a set-building party while watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine. So funny!

On Sunday, we continued to delight in the luscious weather. After walking Kai and taking care of some chores, Eliza and Mike went to visit Jack and Raunchy.  

Landon and Eliza finished their sets on Saturday. Mike took a little longer with his. 

Ferg kept him company.

Here are the finished products. Landon's Batmobile from the 1989 movie features moving flames from the tailpipe and guns that pop up when you turn a dial. The Millennium Falcon has a bunch of hidden details and Easter eggs. Eliza's sunflowers fit perfectly in the vase with the other wildflowers. Hallie’s Hedwig pencil holder is plain adorable.