2026, May 4-10

This is the last full week that Mike will be apart from the rest of the family! UM had finals week and graduation, and the fam in Springville had preparations of their own. 

Monday meant a new tattoo for Hallie. A cartoon version of Kai!!!

Mike made a couple of old pictures into stickers while he updated his YouTube music playlist after work (Listen on shuffle. The list is hardly comprehensive, and he's on a Magnetic Fields binge since watching that Argentinian series he mentioned a little while back. He's open to suggestions for essential music to add. If it makes him move or if it moves him, he might add it!). AI seems to like to give cheekbones and jawlines that never existed in real life. 

He then took advantage of the windy conditions to go fly his kite on the UM Oval. He actually got to fly his kite two days this week! 

On Monday, he caught glowing clouds with the setting sun. He also took an accidental selfie. The nail is a makeshift screwdriver he used to get into the battery pack of his Galaxy's Edge lightsaber. It being May the Fourth, supposedly there was going to be a Star Wars-themed activity on the Oval that seemed to have not happened. 

These are shots from the overpass over the Clark Fork River. 

Iris the Osprey laid an egg this week! 

The lilacs are really coming into bloom as the other flowering trees lose their blossoms. 

Hallie got to look after Brooklyn this week while Alicia was away. 

Hallie also got to make dinosaurs with the preschoolers. Miss Kelly, noticing Hallie's excitement at art projects, has now started making extras for the grownups to make "as examples."

Hello, girlie!

Jocie made it onto Springville High School's social media. 

Eliza spent some time at Leslie's looking after the ponies. 

She also got to hold newborn bunnies. 

As this week was Teacher Appreciation Week at the preschool, Hallie got this bracelet. 

Her new frame toppers for her glasses also came in. The future is bright.  

Now that the house has been sold, the stager removed the fancy furnishings. Here are Landon and a friend resting after a hard day at school before the removal.  

Bridle Up Hope had its annual Open House on Friday. Eliza got to be a flag bearer in the riding ring and show off Big Mack. 

Hallie was able to remove the second skin over her tattoo. Now she'll have Kai with her always. 

Mike started his graduation day Saturday walking past some of the young deer on his way to campus. 

We had a reception in the morning before going over to the Adams Center. Mike caught a pic of a ladybug that came in with the processional and alighted on the wall above the corridor to the arena floor. 

The EDLD faculty gave our new pins to the graduates and wore them as medallions on our regalia. Mike thinks he looks better in this getup in a beard. All the pomp and circumstance is goofy, but it's fun too. 

Congratulations, graduates! Cue the bubbles. 

Sometime during the week, Iris laid another egg! Mike finally saw it on the webcam. His mom would have been entertained. 

After all the receptions and ceremonies, UM campus emptied out. Mike was practically the only one there, so he wandered around campus, climbing exterior stairs to get in the movement he didn't get while sitting. Here's a view of the M from the back side stairs on Main Hall.  

In Utah, Hallie got new birthday-themed nails. 

Eliza and Hallie attended our friend Amada's birthday party on Saturday. Unfortunately, Hallie didn’t get pictures at the party. Amanda’s sister Sara hosted family and friends for a great celebration of Amanda. It was fun to meet and see Amanda’s friends that Hallie has heard so much about. On the way home from Saratoga Springs, she and Eliza took the “long” way around the west side of Utah Lake. Eliza had the time of her life by hanging her head out the window most of the way home. 

Mother's Day dawned without a meowing cat and with breakfast in bed. Good job, Eliza! Looks tasty. The fam had a dinner made from our frozen foodstuffs. Time to clean things out before the big move. We love you, Hallie, and we love our moms and grandmas and birthmoms near and far and no longer with us. You rock! 

2026, April 27-May 3

One-third of the year has passed! School is winding down. Final preparations are being made on the house sale. Music is in the air. 

Fergus found a cozy spot on the couch next to Eliza. 

"Don't move, lady."

The local herd has not been around as much lately. That is, until this week. Mike crossed paths on multiple days with a few deer, including Monday night on the way to his apartment.  

Hallie thought the sand buckets on the preschool playground looked like a work of art.

Pins made from Mike's design for the EDLD arms arrived in the mail. We began distributing them to graduates and faculty (both current and former) from the department. The have been well-received. Kind of fun to have made a tangible contribution to the department's story of itself and to have something to tell students, "Welcome to the club!"

We've continued getting interesting weather in Missoula, including a sunshower right in time for a rainbow near campus. 

Between due diligence, counter-offers, and counter-counter-offers on the sale of the house, Hallie has been quite busy. She made a Lowe's run to look at getting a replacement kitchen sink (our current one had a crack. Long story). 

The old Springville High will get demolished after Landon's class graduates. People are feeling nostalgic. Hallie saw these pillows in the seating area at Art City Coffee.

Landon will just be happy to be done with high school. He and Hallie went for a little stroll while they were waiting for his car to have its emissions and an oil change.

UM had its annual Week of Excellence. Part of this has involved celebrations large and small on campus and the installation of a new seal on the Oval. 

Diamond sent a delivery from ALDI (we do miss it so): A new ceramic frying pan. 

Eliza got into making collages, including this one of Fergus. By our estimation, he turned 13 years old this week. Happy Birthday, Kitty!

Hallie saw the way a preschool class was growing plants from seeds. Hallie took a picture so if she gets the growing bug again she can try this method.

No barista favorite for Hallie? Hallie felt big sad when she saw her name wasn't included. Things have really started coming to an end.

Hallie and Reyna found a handyman who installed the new sink. Tah dah! 

Hallie and Eliza had to go out during the installation. They met up with Bryce and Elise's oldest, Lily, and her fiancé, Trevin. 

Hallie spent a little time channeling her inner Bob Ross. Sam's Club for the win.

The Springville folks played UNO. They have all the cool cards. 

Mike took advantage of the lovely spring weather to hike the M Trail. He's been building his stamina over the last several months. At the beginning of the school year, he could only comfortably walk up part of the steep switchbacks. On Saturday, he made it up in 20 minutes. Not too shabby! 

Such a lovely view with all those high cirrus clouds! 

After returning to his office, he entertained himself making "stickers" and other items on Google Photos. Here's Plague Doctor Mike from COVID times. 

AI interpretation from a photo from about a dozen years back. He didn't have a moustache in the original. 

Pin, anyone? 

Apparently AI thinks Mike is now a silver fox. Mike thinks it's just the photo lighting. 

Anyway, on to more interesting subjects, like Eliza and Kai, 

or Eliza and Hallie, 

or the fam at Springville High at Christmastime. 

Kai and Eliza look ready for their close-up.  

Hallie and the pets. 

Fergus with Jocie and Landon. Funny how it matched her eyes to her hair. 

Ferg notices that something is not quite right with Mike in this image. 

That's better. 

Ferg is a handsome devil. 

Here we catch a little more devil. 

Domestic bliss, complete with mate (missing the bombilla though). 

Landon worked a long shift on Saturday, 11 hours! Hallie, Eliza, and Amanda had to get out of the house while the appraiser made sure our house was actually approximately worth what we're selling it for. They attended the Mom and Me Mini Market in Provo and decided to get Eliza's ear pierced. Better that than her nose.  

They also saw lots of fun vendors. At the end they were able to make little bouquets. The three of them spent just close to two hours at this fun event.  

Priscilla looked after Kai while the girls and Landon were out. Fergus looked after himself. 

Apparently Mike can count Orson Welles among mate afficionados. He watched some more Argentinian TV, including a show called "El mejor infarto de me vida" ("The Best Heart Attack of My Life"). While the show itself (based on the novelization of the author's real-life experience) was cute and somewhat inspiring, what grabbed and held Mike's attention was the music that accompanied it, featuring tunes by The Magnetic Fields. Mike has pretty varied and eclectic taste in music, and yet somehow he had never heard of them (although it seems apparent he must have heard some of their music just watching TV over the last few decades). Sometimes we get these strange holes in our pop culture experience, and that is no longer the case for Mike in this regard as he has now devoured their discography. Nom nom nom! 

You're invited. RSVP! 

Mike found these mushrooms at the base of the mountain ash that used to be in his back yard. He has not checked to see if they are edible. Of course, any fan of Terry Pratchett knows that "All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." 

Mike saw this flyer for a Lilith Fair tribute concert on campus on Sunday. 

He found a spot under the shade of a flowering tree and enjoyed the tunes while the blossoms gently fell and the bees buzzed among the buds. 

He caught sight of this vintage baby blue MG TD Midget Roadster too.

Hallie worked her last shift at the Smith's Starbucks. The last day was bittersweet. Two workers from the meat department who are switching stores after today gave Hallie a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. They are her favorite. It made her day! Other than that, she walked out the back door just as she had walked in this morning. Thank you, Smiths and Starbucks!