Landon Finally Broke Something

And it wasn’t even gymnastics related! More on that later.

Shortly before the month started Mike and Hallie decided to see who could get the most steps every day and a bit of money would be put on the table for the winner. We will let you know who wins at the end of the month, but one of the two is already ahead. Not by much, though!

Monday, was definitely a “regular” day. Work, school, gymnastics, and more work. By the end of the day we were all definitely tired.

Tuesday Mike took advantage of the fact that we have ample construction materials to build the kids a chess set and thus build on their interest in the game. 

Shall we play a game? 

The pieces are blocky and simple, but they get the job done.

Mike picked up our meat order from the big rig (AKA Zaycon Fresh). They have the best bacon, and thank heavens Landon has a fast metabolism because this kid downs the bacon like it is candy. Well, to some of us it is candy. The rest of the day was filled with work, school, and gymnastics like usual.

What a difference a year makes. On Wednesday, May 3, Hallie celebrated her one-year anniversary of having the vertical gastric sleeve. 103 lbs marks the most weight Hallie has lost to date. May 3 also marks the date Landon was sealed to our family nine years ago. Wow, time sure does fly!

Today we had a man come out and give us a quote to move us to Utah. Boy, moving is a lot of money! But it sure would be nice to have the help this year as we have so much happening in the next 2 ½ months.

Hallie went to lunch with her friend Yackie from school, and they had a great meal at a Thai restaurant in Ventura called Jasmine’s. The two then went to pick up their girls from school, where Hallie was given a tray of lumpias (Filipino egg rolls). Yum! Then a kind mom from school knew Hallie had been packing and sent her home with some extra steak she had. What kind and generous friends we have!

Several of the preschoolers and Kindergartners played after school at the park until their older siblings and friends got out of school, and they all had so much fun.

Landon went to Scouts and had a great time planting seeds with his friends, and he brought home bell peppers, peas, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. Hallie is a bit nervous as we haven’t been too successful with gardens (well, wait. We have managed to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers in past years), but we will give it a go.

Mike had a busy day Thursday with a dissertation defense, meetings, and a potluck. The kids and Hallie did work, school, and gymnastics. We are sure more happened today but our memories fade quickly these days.

Landon has said many times, “Can we just do nothing today?” So, Friday we let them sleep in and skip school for Cinco de Mayo. Yeah, that’s it. 8:00 a.m. came, and we all decided to get out of bed and start our day with yummy Krispy Kreme donuts. After cleaning out the car, we headed north on the freeway to Santa Barbara. The four of us stopped off at Carrillo Plaza Mall to see our friend Debbie who works at Pottery Barn. We arrived a bit early, so we spent some time walking through the mall and stumbled upon a great dress for Eliza to wear to Diamond’s wedding this July.

Pottery Barn was fun and the coolest place to go—even Michael Keaton showed up there later in the day!

Mike drove us down State St, and it is sad to see so many storefronts empty. We grownups can’t wait to come back when the kids are not with us. On our way back south, we drove through neighborhoods in Montecito because why take the freeway when you can gawk at the big houses along the way in the neighborhoods?

We stopped at Padaro Beach Grill in Carpinteria for a super tasty lunch and for the kids to get their hands dirty in the sand. We all had yummy food to eat, and there was great atmosphere.

Some good lookin' people right there! 

The locals are totally chill with us hangin' out on their turf. 

Landon built his own custom Ninjago plane. Hey, LEGO Corp, you have a budding designer here! 

(Heartbreaker, this kid, by the way)

The night was topped off by watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The kids both liked the movie. The parents had their own movie, La La Land, in the evening.

This Saturday was our least busy day of the month. The kids went to gymnastics while Mike went to a Cub Scout Day Camp training. Later he went home and did some more packing/building boxes. After gymnastics, the kids and Hallie helped do some cleaning and packing. We know it seems early, but Hallie will be out of commission for six weeks come the end of the month, so we are trying to get as much done as we can. Landon and Eliza made packing up a little more dramatic when Landon stepped wrong over an Easter basket Eliza had filled with stones from the back yard and injured his toe.

On Saturday and Sunday, we also had rain and stake conference (yes, again. This time, it was our normally scheduled conference). Elders Ren S. Johnson (an area authority seventy) and D. Todd Christofferson (an apostle) came to speak.  Mike attended the priesthood leadership and adult sessions while Hallie hung with the kids. They watched some shows, had pizza, and spent time cleaning in Landon’s room. While Landon convalesced at home with a cake pop, Hallie and Eliza returned the DVDs and went to Ice Bar for some shave ice. 

On Sunday, we attended the general session of conference. We appreciated the testimonies and advice. The kids and Mike got to shake the speakers' hands. Both children were impressed, and hopefully this is a life-long memory for them.

Good ol' camera phone never fails to fail in the clutch. 

Afterwards, Landon’s toe still hurt, so Hallie took him to the urgent care. Turns out that he actually managed to fracture his toe with that bad step. This means a boot, crutches, two weeks without gymnastics, and a probable upcoming podiatrist appointment.

Our home teacher Matt was kind enough to come over and help Mike give Landon a blessing. Thanks, Matt!