2025, April 7-13

We had another eventful week with animal encounters, business travel, and birthday celebrations. 

The deer came out to play while Eliza was at BUH on Monday. 

The girls went over to Leslie's on Tuesday. Hallie visited with the animals while E got some riding time. Grandma met us there, but the pictures of her are on her phone. So we have to believe her when she says she held the baby goat and it fell asleep on her.

Landon had prom this week, and Mike had a job interview. This meant some new clothes. The girls helped Landon with his outfit and got Mike a couple of shirts. Below, Hallie is trying to help L believe that the outfit will come together with a tie. Eliza picked out the tie and was very proud of herself. Eliza really wanted to be part of the prom.

We're not going to grow a garden this year after several years of limited results. Hallie and Eliza sold some of the grow boxes and had to empty them out. 

Meanwhile, Mike headed up to Montana for a job interview. He got to visit the airport LEGO Store on the way up. 

Missoula is a lovely town. He stayed right on the river and had views of the local mountains. 

Mike appreciated how the University of Montana's College of Education is built as a courtyard that literally surrounds a school playground. Talk about student-centered!

Here's another view of the pedestrian bridge over the Clark Fork River looking toward Mount Sentinel.

Hallie wanted Mike to show her a pic of him dressed for his big day. Mike had a great experience getting to know potential work colleagues. Now it's a game of wait and see. 

Speaking of getting dressed up, Landon and Jocie had prom on Saturday. We made sure to get pictures. Lots of pictures! Kayla Lunt (Hallie's relative) took pictures for us. So, while we wait for their arrival you will have to settle for the shots from Mike. Hallie had to work at Starbucks and was sad she missed out on the fancy part of the prom. Earlier in the day Eliza and Hallie took the kids to the movies and lunch for their day date. Jocie's parents took care of the evening portion. We are so lucky that Landon has a great girlfriend, and her family is wonderful too.

Yes, this is Eliza hanging from the cherry tree so that petals could fall on the couple.

Mike celebrated his birthday on Sunday with many well-wishes and moments doing favorite things like lounging in bed with the family, flying his kite, cuddling with the cat, and going out for a Sunday drive. The boy has to get his driving hours sometime!

We also spent some time down by the creek, which has risen quite a bit with spring runoff. 

Living among the fields has its picturesque perks. 

Later in the day, we got some Japanese food from Taichi Bubble Tea, and Landon got some night driving in. All in all, Mike had a great day and feels blessed to have had so many happy returns of the day. Hallie worked at Starbucks and was grateful that they got the food to go so she could try some of the tasty things that they had told her about from the last time they went there.

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.