2025, March 31-April 6

We had an eventful Spring Break week. 

Eliza had a horseback riding lesson at BUH, and when Hallie was there, she saw some deer come up very close to the main building. 

Kai came back in the afternoon. For some strange reason, Ferg decided to take up a sleeping position in Kai's cage. Now, Kai seldom uses the cage, but it was still kind of funny. Hallie was on the phone in our fourth bedroom when she caught this funny scene.

Ferg is Kai's friend, and we think Fergus misses Kai when he is gone. 

We got some early spring snow mid-week. Eliza helped out at Leslie's, and the girls got to see the kids. 

Kai makes himself at home wherever. 

Later in the week, we got to look after Amanda's dog Frankie. He always adds spiciness to our days. 

He and Ferg don't get along very well. 

Frankie likes going on rides and messing around with Kai.

Kai has taken on some attributes of either Ferg or Frankie, such as lying on the back of the couch. 

Yeah, maybe it's Frankie who's doing the influencing. 

Mike had the day off Friday, and this meant running errands with Landon. The boys took the dogs on a walk and met another goldendoodle belonging to the Melos friend Marcos' girlfriend from Canada. So while Kai and the other dog look similar, they are only distantly related. The dogs had a jolly ol' time playing catch with Landon. 

Spring is in the air throughout town. Here are a couple of images of the trees near city hall (likely before the snow took out some of the blooms). 

On Saturday, Fergus went visiting around the neighborhood. He ran into Kohar's cat Pablo, and Kohar took some shots of the kitties interacting. Pablo doesn't go out a lot, so it's nice for him to have Ferg show him around. 

Earlier in the week, the University of Montana search committee invited Mike for an interview as a finalist for the ed leadership position up there. Yay! 

While Hallie was at work, Mike and Eliza went up to Provo to run some errands and participate in the Hands Off protest. 

They stopped by the Asian Market, where they saw some Japanese food and ceramics. 

Then they went to Pioneer Book, where they made a couple of purchases. 

Then they went to the city hall and participated in the protest for about an hour. The Hands Off rally was part of a nationwide effort in which millions of people at over 1300 locations called attention to the negative impact of the current presidential administration's policies and actions. There was a wide cross section of people protesting about a variety of issues that shared a common thread of opposition to the present administration's executive overreach and corruption. Politics aside, the event provided both Mike and Eliza a chance to see the peaceful exercise of the First Amendment in action. 

We were some of the few protesters carrying flags, so Mike was able to find us on social media. Eliza stood out in her green shirt, camouflage pants, and cowboy boots.  

Our crowd was small but loud. Up at the State Capitol in Salt Lake, over 10,000 protesters marched. Considering that this is Utah on General Conference weekend, it's a pretty big deal. 

Eliza remarked that she was grateful to be able to go and see that other people shared how she was feeling. She was glad to know she wasn't alone in her views. 

Here's a drone view at the capitol (credit Jim Urquhart / Reuters)

In a pluralistic society, people are going to disagree about how to tackle thorny topics such as trade, immigration, domestic policy, and social issues. Mike appreciated this statement made by one of the Mormon Church's general authorities. He sincerely wishes we could all disagree better. One day at a time. 

After getting home, Mike and Landon played with the dogs before Landon drove Mike to Jocie's and Mike went to run some more errands. 

In the meantime, after getting home from work, Hallie took Eliza over to Gma Maygren's, where they made pizza rolls. 

After getting home, the people took the dogs for another walk. Amanda's flight got delayed, so we got to have Frankie for one more night. Fergus was thrilled. 

Amanda retrieved Frankie early Sunday afternoon. 

We spent a mostly quiet Sunday morning at home, and then Hallie went to work. Spring Break is winding down for yet one more year. This year we had no major April Fool's Day stunts or absent technology. It was probably for the best.