Sunday, March 17, 2024

2024, March 11-17

Erin go bragh! As is tradition, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, and special green Lucky Charms. For whatever reason, animals seemed to make up most of this week's photos. 

Here is Ferg on Monday. E is making a face because she chose to eat a fresh strawberry top first. 

We had snow off and on throughout the day Wednesday. Here is the scene in the morning at BUH, where E had yoga and art. She painted this horse, and she was willing to keep it. Sometimes she doesn't like to keep  her work, but we try to encourage her to give herself credit as she learns. 



The snow left later in the day, and the tulips are trying to come up. Hallie thought she had pulled all the bulbs at the end of last year, but as a present to her here was a surprise. 


Hallie and Eliza found a fun Disney-themed LEGO set at Target: Stitch with a Hawaiian shirt holding an ice cream cone! We built it over a few days and set it in the living room. 

Mike took E to see Jack and Raunchy a few days this week. As the weather transitions into spring, we have appreciated getting to spend more time outdoors in the sun. 



Funny story. At Hallie's work, the electronic babies are getting ready to go home with the students for the weekend. Hallie received a text saying, "Need help now!" The students in Hallie's lab and Hallie headed to the classroom to find everyone holding babies and trying to burp them to get them all to stop crying.
 

Kai came back on Friday, and he immediately found his toys. Sadly, we had to bid this polar bear farewell, as he had torn it open and pulled out the fluff.  We don't need a dog to barf fluff. Fortunately, he has four other stuffed animals to chew on to his heart's content. 


When Mike and Eliza went to see J&R on Saturday, Fergus joined them. He had a good time climbing up the hay bale stack and getting into the storage building on the property. Our cat and dog are quite the shadows.  




Mike took photos of some of the flowering ground foliage and found that Ferg had squeezed under the door. 




Later, we went up to Gma and Gpa M's house hoping to catch some kite-flying wind. No luck with the wind, but Eliza did get a chance to earn some money picking up deer droppings from the front lawn.  


On Sunday, we relished in a delightful early spring day. Hallie, Eliza, and Kai went for a walk along the Mapleton Lateral Canal Trail. Today they saw llamas (alpacas?) and goats. 




Later on, we had our Irish meal. Come by for some soda bread! Sláinte!



Sunday, March 10, 2024

2024, March 4-10

We had a pretty low-key week. Or maybe we just didn't document it very much. 

The photo below shows Kai just so excited to see what's behind the couch. 


Maybe he was looking for his squeaky lion, which he squeaked all week long. Hallie is very proud of her find at Costco. Is he really not the cutest? Thanks, Kong Toys, for making this indestructible toy (so far).
 

He's such a teddy bear! 


Ferg, on the other hand, makes no squeaks. He ends squeaks (and then eats their makers). He makes bleps instead. 



While we didn't do a whole lot this week, family members made memories. Hallie's brother got a promotion at work. Bryce is now an E7, Sergeant First Class. We are so proud of you! We wish we could have been in Hawaii to celebrate.
 

Eliza and Gma M. finished a pajama pants sewing project E had started at BUH. 



And Diamond and Caleb went to a music concert they had wanted to attend since it got canceled during the pandemic. The two were very excited to see Dan and Shay. We love it when they send us pictures. We miss them too!
 

Daylight Saving Time started on Sunday. Springing forward is not our favorite. That said, spring is in the air--full of life and warmth, and it felt delightful as Mike rode his bike this morning. 

Later in the day, he and Eliza went over to see Jack and Raunchy in their field. They don't really attend to Eliza's directions while she rides them bareback, so until their owner brings back his riding gear, she has decided to make a simple bridle of her own. 




Being human has been hard this week for some members of our family. Mike has applied for a lot of jobs this week, and we really hope something comes through soon. We are grateful for his hard work while he waits for the next thing to fill his time.  

Sunday, March 03, 2024

2024, February 26-March 3

March has come in like a lion. We took advantage. 

We had warmer-than-normal weather at the beginning of the week. The deer came down to visit Hallie while she waited for Eliza at BUH.



Hallie and Eliza also did some shopping, which included getting Kai a few more durable chew toys like this lion. 

Hallie's parents live about 20 minutes away and it is funny to see how the weather is so different.

Here is Eliza doing some science work at Yates Place.

By Friday, the weather had taken a turn. After getting home from work, Mike toyed with flying his kite in the blustery wind. The wind was too erratic, and it didn't work. 

So he went on a walk. These daffies had come into bloom. 


Then the snow hit. Hallie and Eliza were up north and had to drive through some of it. Eliza wasn't sure why Hallie didn't want to go up north to begin with. One day the kids will understand, we hope.

We stayed in the rest of the day Saturday. Eliza and Hallie gave Kai a bath. He took a long time to get dry. Hallie has decided this is why we only bathe him once a month. 

Here's the scene on Saturday night. 

Hallie is glad she has her beanie. Thank you Springville High School for the Christmas present.

The snow and ice left the trees covered in a light coat. 



Fergus is not a fan of the snow. We're not a fan of getting the snow off Kai's paws. 


The kids are excited to make snow ice cream on Sunday evening. Glad we found this fun tradition so many years ago in Michigan.