2022, April 18-24

We had more cousin visits, bought a new couch, and made a fire pit.

Let's start with the couches. We bought them from a sweet lady in Orem, and Shad, Cru, and Dwight were kind enough to help Mike retrieve them. With growing kids, it's nice to feel like everyone has a seat in the front room. 

The girl cousins got to join Eliza out at Creekside. They had fun, of course. Sawyer helped Pippy do some physical therapy.

Eliza caught a pretty sunset in the evening. She ran in wanting someone's phone so she could go take a picture. Mike has trained her well to look for the beauty around us.

 

Tuesday was a hard day for Eliza. It started off on the wrong foot and only got worse through the day. She ended up going to the ER in the evening, and we're grateful for family, friends, and medical professionals who helped get her back on an even keel. The picture below is the crisis social worker that Hallie and Eliza met with in the ER.

On Wednesday after picking Eliza up from Yates Place, we went to the Payson Library as usual to do school work. We saw what seem to be the makings of a Christmas movie setup ("Best. Christmas. Ever.," maybe?). 

 

The views watching Eliza riding outside at Creekside never get old, especially when Eliza has a great day of riding and receives all kinds of praise from Sara. Horseback riding is good for the soul, the body, and the mind. Never is a day wasted at Creekside, and we will always be grateful to the three families who referred us to Creekside nearly two years ago.

Thursday meant graduation at the university. One of Mike's doctoral students, Jaynie, graduated with her EdD, and several Master's students also received their degrees. He's proud of them all! 

Several attempts went into getting this image. Several attempts. . . . 

Finnley is always ready with a smile. 

Eliza had a third day of riding this week. She never gets tired of riding! The wind was wild on Thursday, and Sara did not think Eliza should ride Juneau. So, Rue and Eliza rode together again, and Eliza was successful and had a great time riding! 

This time Landon had to stay at the stables rather than getting to come home. He managed, somehow. He even warmed up to one of the ponies. The funny part is this picture was not even posed. Hallie looked over, and he was petting the nose. It has taken two years for him to come maybe four times and to now pet a pony on his own. Bravo, boy!!! Now the other adults give Hallie props for how far she has come with the horses over the last two years. It is quite amazing to be honest. 

The cat trap is working. 

On Friday, Hallie and Alicia took blueberries from Easter dinner and lemons brought up from California and made a tasty three-layer cake. Hallie wishes they could make the pictures look Instagram-worthy, but here is the process and the finished cake. Hallie commented that making a cake with a friend is a lot of fun and goes a lot faster. Towards the end, Alicia noted that there were egg whites left and asked what we were going to do with them. Hallie would have just thrown them away. Alicia looked up a recipe from Mel's Kitchen, and the two made candy-coated almonds. Both ladies commented on how they are glad they don't bake for a living.

Eliza liked the cake so much, she took Hallie's portion. 

Fergus was full of interesting behaviors Saturday morning. 

Saturday evening, Hallie and Alicia went to see the musical Camelot at the Hale Centre Theatre. They also had Indian food and all around had a great girls' night out. Mike and the kids watched the final episode of the Book of Boba Fett, which Landon had somehow managed not to see. 

On Sunday morning, he shared couch time with Mike and Eliza.

Ferg and Eliza have a bit of a love-hate dynamic. 

The day was super pleasant. Beautiful Utah spring weather with dramatic clouds. 

Eliza has asked Mike to do a fire pit all week, and most evenings have gotten busy or windy. He decided to do one during the day to give her the chance. Given that grubs have made a huge bare patch on our lawn and that it has not yet been reseeded, it made a good spot for a front yard pit. Several neighbors stopped by as they strolled around or walked their pets. 

Later on, Mike even got a second day of kite flying in (he took some time on Saturday too). For whatever reason, the dynamic weather seemed perfect for listening to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (one of his all time favorites since Music 101 in college). Having music you can stream on your phone is such a joy! 

The day ended chatting with Grandpa, Grandma, and Alie Owens and watching an X-Men movie.

2022, April 11-17

Happy Easter! We had a busy week with a hospital appointment, school, and visits from family and friends.

Eliza has enjoyed getting to know Kai, the dog our neighbors co-own with other folks. Kai walks Eliza during the week to give her a break during the school day. 

Mike took in some of the neighborhood flowers on Monday before they start going away. Who knew that there was going to be snow that would quicken the going away process?

We have been ordering a couple of meals each week from a company called Every Plate. This week we made flatbread. It was yummy. 

Eliza had an endoscopy appointment early on Tuesday morning, so she and Hallie drove up to avoid weather and not have to deal with morning traffic. They didn't avoid all of the weather. . . .

The next morning, Salt Lake was covered in a light blanket of snow.  

E got her endoscopy and was super about it. 

We had some snow in Springville too. 

Landon was none too happy about having to wear cold weather clothing again. 

For his birthday, Hallie got Mike some fun perishable consumables from the Midwest! 

They came packed in lots of layers. 

Some of those layers included dry ice to keep things frozen. Of course, we just had do do some fun science. 

Due to time, we had Beto's breakfast burritos and horchata for dinner. Delicioso!

Flowers proved pretty resilient to the cold snap earlier in the week. 

Eliza rode indoors this week. She got warm enough on Thursday for her to go short sleeved once she warmed up. Eliza rode Pippy on Thursday. Eliza needed a safe, loving horse who could take care of a broken hearted family Thursday. Pippy has been lame since the fall and the two needed each other, and as parents we are grateful Pippy was there for Eliza. Wednesday was a tough riding day for many reasons. Thursday as we pulled up to horseback riding, our family received devastating news.

Friday's pizza came from far away and rocked! 

Carly, Shad, and their kids came up to visit the grands on Friday. Eliza and her cousins went to an Easter celebration at Jaker's on Saturday. This may be the last time Jaker's does an activity (at least at its current location). Eliza likes being the bossy older cousin to take care of the girls. We are grateful she is willing to work with the younger girls when the boys don't want her to hang with them.

We arrived to the Easter activity a bit late, so Hallie treated the girls to shave ice. Really, there is no bad time to have shave ice.

Because the girls got there late, they didn't end up getting to participate in a lot of the festivities. Hallie took them to Grandpa Dutch's so they could at least get some pet zoo time. Thanks to Google, Hallie believes the bird under the bench is a turkey.

Dietrich (from Landon's time at Victory) and his family were out in Salt Lake and came down to visit Landon. We played outside some before the weather turned. 

Sawyer got to help Mike fly his kite and fret over the big kids playing on the jungle gym. 

The boys went ax throwing and timed it to avoid the (light) rain that rolled in later in the afternoon. 

The girls met up at the Barn to try some uniquely Utah snacks. Have you ever tried freeze dried Skittles? The awesome staff at the Barn let Carly try several different items that were freeze dried. Carly is not sure if they are for her, but it was fun to give them a try. Hallie on the other hand never leaves the Barn empty handed.

As part of making Easter baskets, Hallie asked Mike to make some money origami. This was fun, and the kids seemed to enjoy them!

Bunny ears for the girl. As we were filling the eggs Eliza found the ears, and it doesn't hurt that she is a bit photogenic.

Annoyed cat. "Why you take my picture?"

Easter Sunday dawned bright and warm. The kids seemed to enjoy their candy-free baskets (candy to come later).

Mike enjoyed some of the kids' goodies. 

We had an egg hunt and dinner at the Maygren's. Even the big kids got into it. 

Between the hunt and dinner, Landon and Cru went on a bike ride. They decided to jump, and Landon landed hard. Fortunately, he mostly bruised his pride, although he did have some nasty trail rash on his back (shown) and rear (not shown). Landon even let Mom put salve on his back/rear, and his mom had to try to keep a straight face while he was laughing so hard that Mom kept putting stuff on him. As Hallie left the room he said, "Mom, I Love You." Simple acts of service to those we are closest to is what draws us closer together.

 We ended our week with Landon and Eliza earlier in the day playing video games with Caleb and chatting with Mike's family.