2023, April 17-23

We babysat a puppy dog this week. 

Landon got quite a bit of sun on Sunday, and here is the look on Monday. He thought Hallie's ideas of ibuprofen, lotions and aloe vera were not smart. So, after a few days we let him handle it himself.

Eliza got to do some embroidery at BUH. Hallie loves it when whoever does BUH social media posts pictures of Eliza on their story.

Here is Fergus helping E with her schoolwork. 

Here is the view of some forsythia and mountains on campus. 

Mike definitively mastered the Rubik's Cube this week. He even got a speed cube and can routinely solve it in under three minutes. This is quite a feat for anyone. Way to go, Mike!

Hallie responded to a social media post about the JK! Studios upcoming film Go West. We all got to see a test screening of it at the Hive Collective in Provo. Some of us may have been more excited about getting their picture taken. Take a guess. The film was hilarious, and we look forward to seeing the final cut with the fancy editing and music complete. 

Hallie and the preschoolers got to see pigs at the school. Hallie has come a long way with animals. On this adventure, she even put her hand in the pig's mouth. Hallie said later she didn't know pigs didn't have front teeth. A lot of the preschoolers were scared to go up to the pigs, so Hallie thought if the kids saw her put her hand in the pigs mouth they would come up and at least try to pet the pigs. No such luck.

On Wednesday we got to babysit Hallie's friend Amanda's dog Frankie.  

Here he is making friends with everyone. Landon wasn't sure what to make of the dog at first, but by the end of the first day Landon decided this would be okay.

Frankie liked to take trips out with Hallie and Eliza. 

Eliza got to do some sparring at TKD this week. She really got into it!

Even Fergus finally warmed up to Frankie after a day or two. Well, at least Fergus would be in the same room as Frankie. 

Eliza really enjoyed having Frankie around as a travel companion. Frankie went to the lake with us for a walk, to an outdoor boutique, and to school carpool pick up.

At Yates Place, the kids have been doing studies of animal organs. Eliza has really gotten into it (so to speak). 

Look at Frankie endearing himself to the boy! 

At the preschool, the kids got involved with . . . a project where they could watch their flowers/hands grow as they blew into a straw.

Maybe it's Hallie who thinks Frankie makes a great travel companion. 

On Saturday, Mike, Landon, and a couple of Landon's friends went to an anime convention in Salt Lake. It was a bit underwhelming, to be honest. A fair number of cosplayers attended, but there wasn't a huge variety as far as the vendors went.  

Turning 50 means that Mike and the friends from his childhood have transitioned into this strange phase of being nostalgic about some aspects of the "good ol' days" while appreciating that we live in "the future".  

After they got home from the convention, Landon and the boys played games, had pizza, and sparred some at home. Frankie didn't quite know what to make of it. Hallie didn't know what to make of it either, so she went to the bedroom for a while until is subsided.

Once the friends went home, Frankie got to have some lap time. Landon got a haircut on Frida--once again, not his decision. But needless to say, he likes it after it is done.

While Mike went to assist Hallie as she walked Frankie Sunday morning, he spied a new local resident, a groundhog who has found a home in the field across the street next to Reagan Academy. 

Can you see it perched on the tire pile there? 

Here we see one of the tulips peaking out of the raised bed. Hallie is hoping more come up soon as most of the neighborhoods tulips has already bloomed.

We took Frankie on a walk over at Bartholomew Park in the morning and spent some time basking in the early spring sun before Amanda came to retrieve her pup. Hopefully we'll get to visit with Frankie again soon (Fergus says, "Not too soon," though).