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!