Fun Friday

Merril was working his tail off at rampage and couldn't join us but we had a nice day! Jack and I started the day doing initiatory work at the temple.

After we got home, I was thinking about the weather. A big storm is rolling in Saturday afternoon and the weather has been so warm but not anymore. Rainy and 60s for most of next week. I wanted to hit the lake while it was still warm and started hatching plans. Maxine needed to go earlier in the afternoon so I made some grub and we headed out. I don't have any pictures but we brought a frisbee and wiffle ball. The girls and Mark played wiffle ball before Jack got there. We inflated some tubes and Maxine and I floated in the lake. Then Jack arrived from work and started to play frisbee with Mark. It turned into a wrestling/drowning match. We all ended up playing frisbee in the water. Some of us didn't get too wet. Then we heated up the bbq chicken sandwiches and while we were hanging out, Maxine noticed a stick bug. 

I really thought the wind would kick up in the afternoon but it was so calm. 

Then Maxine left and we took a picture before going home.

The lake was wonderful and that might be the last warm day on the year. If it is, we'll say goodbye to the lake until next year. 

Lovesac Party

The Lovesac party was so perfectly timed this year, the same day as Juliet's Provo MTC start date! After we dropped off Juliet and went to the temple, we headed to Salt Lake for the party. It was 80s rock band themed. We thought it was just 80s theme. We thought Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World would be easy to pull off. 

Carson and Brooke came this year. 

The dinner was lovely and the band was rocking! The Nelson 6 killed it. Pepper Nelson played a killer guitar solo on Sweet Child of Mine. Then Rick Springfield (Jessie's Girl) played. I didn't really know any of his other songs. He only played 4 or 5 songs. But Jesse's Girl was great and Rick Springfield is 77 years old and we felt he did a great job and looked awesome!

We weren't finished yet though. After the party, Merril drove us to Panguitch and we stayed in a little cabin. Merril immediately drove to set up a radio repeater. I slept. The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast and went for a hike. Then we took down the radio repeater and drove home. No pictures of any of that. We've been so busy with missionaries that it was so nice to spend time with Merril!

 

MTC for Jugee

Now that Juliet is set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Saints, its time to start home MTC. 

It didn't seem like Juliet had nearly as many classes as Jack or Maxine. It was still a lot but she had some free time to hang out with us. We made it a tech-free week to help support Juliet. But it made me want to be better about my phone usage. I'm making a goal to be more productive. Little micro projects that I tend to put off.

But now we're getting ready to send her off to the Provo MTC! Maxine stayed over Tuesday night. Juliet woke up way early and felt like she had a sore throat. She checked her temp and it was normal but she got pretty nervous. She called the MTC and they said she would have to call the health department when they opened at 8 a.m. She was sad and worried that her mission might need to be delayed. Jack woke up and told her that she shouldn't call back and that it's fine. Because everyone is sick at the MTC. Maxine said the same thing. So she felt better and we got ready to go. 

 Hugs!

So sad! Saying goodbye to these goofeys!

Awww.

Juliet, Merril and I drove to Provo. Everyone else had work and school. We arranged to have lunch with some of the Campbell cousins. Elizabeth, Stephanie, and Caroline met us at First Watch.

After lunch we took a few pictures at the BYU campus.

I'm gonna miss my girl!! It's time to go!

This was the first time we've been directed to the underground garage. We dropped off both Maxine and Jack outside. Juliet really sank into her hug with Merril. I feel like I hugged Juliet several times that day and so I wasn't too teary. Maybe just a little. Then a sweet sister helped Juliet with her bags and away they went. She sent an email an hour later saying," I'm feeling good and doing good!" After lunch, she had a touch of nausea, which we were hoping was nerves and not food poisoning from lunch.

Merril and I made plans to go to the temple. I had some names that needed sealing to their parents. I thought it was fitting that I was sending off my girl and we were also uniting some children to their parents. We went to the Orem temple! I've seen it from the road when I would visit Juliet and have wanted to go there. It reminds me a lot of Red Cliffs. It was a perfect afternoon.

Maxine Running the Kokopelli Triathlon

Maxine decided to sign up for the Kokopelli Triathlon at Sand Hollow. We left the house at 6:30 a.m. to be ready to race. 

She spent about 20 minutes in the water, a great time! Swimming is her best event. She started the bike strong! 

The bike took about an hour and 5 minutes. That's about what she thought it would take. She was on Juliet's mountain bike and it's not a fast road bike. 

Then she transitioned and got ready to run. 

Her run took about 39 minutes. Wow! I would be dead after all that! She said she didn't train well enough because she's had some injuries. She fell hiking and had to take off time from training. 

But she finished and did so good. She said it felt good too. She was worried about the bike portion but said it went fast and wasn't bad at all. She felt like she was able to calm herself down and set a good pace and felt good. So awesome!

She said a fast lady in a bike passed her and said, "Yeah mountain bike girl!" Lol.

Juliet's Farewell

Wow! It's finally getting close to Juliet's mission! We've had a nice long time together as a family and now it's about time for Juliet to go! The farewell was great. The girls planned a musical number. I played the piano, Mikayla played the cello and Maxine and Juliet sang I Will Walk With Jesus. We had food after sacrament. We had chicken salad sandwiches and lots of people brought food. I didn't take any pictures but my friends did and so did Juliet's.

Home MTC starts Wednesday!

Eagle Mountain Race and Bingham Copper Mine

We're going to the Eagle Mountain Race this weekend. Me, Merril, Juliet,  and Mark came up Friday so they could preride. I set up the pit zone. Mark was visualizing speed with his helmet. 

I saw Darryl Zitting as he was about to preride. He asked about dinner and if we were going, to let him know of the place. Bumped into Wade too and made a plan to go to a pizza place. It was a fun dinner with our families. After, we stayed at a hotel in Bluffdale. We thought more people were coming so we thought two rooms were needed but ended up only needing the one. Mark and Julia both had their own beds in the other room. 

Mark doesn't race until 2:30 and so we were trying to figure out what to do with our morning. We ended up going to the Bingham copper mine. We haven't been since 2008, back when we only had 3 kids. Maxine and Jack are standing by the tire. 

We recreated it with Juliet and Mark. 

We only managed a picture from the shuttle bus.

It was a quick adventure so we could make it to the race. Juliet and I were working the coach zone but managed to run over to see Mark start.

He started 11th and moved up to 10th place. 

 It was hot and dusty so I was pleased that Mark did so well. It's his last race of the year as junior devo. Juliet and I were so dusty after the coach zone. 

Then we drove home. Merril was using the driving time to finish some search and rescue medical certifications. I thought he was studying and listening to the video but looked over and he was dead asleep. Lol.

Skydivers!

Juliet has wanted to go skydiving and Jack wanted to go as well so we decided to do it before Juliet went on her mission. We went to skydive Mesquite, the same place Maxine and Merril went. I asked Juliet if she was nervous and she said she was fine. She said if she died, and that's just the way it's supposed to be. No regrets.

It was a lovely morning but still kind of hot.

Jack came out of the plane first, and his chute deployed just like it should! Excellent! Juliet popped out right after him and her chute deployed perfectly as well. 

Both landed perfectly on the ground. Juliet said she was ready to jump up there and do it again. Jack had a little motion sickness. He was glad he did it but he was good.

I'm just glad they're both safe on the ground! 

Another Lovely Peach Days!

As a lead-up to Peach Days, I was asked by Laurie Scholzen if I wanted to participate in a community quilt. The idea was that everyone would make a blocks of this flag and then it would be put together in a big quilt. I was busy with Jack getting home from a mission and only managed two blocks. Then the quilt thing exploded into a fundraiser for the scholarship foundation that Laurie helped set up and I helped sell tickets to the quilt giveaway at the rodeo on Thursday night. I had $20 in my Venmo account and bought 5 tickets.

On Friday, we found some delicious Navajo tacos from the Campbell Kitchen Co. so we had to have some of those! Peach cobbler, always a favorite, and then we headed over to the Peach Days Rodeo! It was great!

On Saturday, Merril pulled everyone into a band for Peach Days. Dan came and played the banjo. Logan Phipps played the saxophone on a number. Mikayla played her cello, Maxine learned the bass guitar, Jack played rhythm guitar and they all sang. Rich Strobel and his brother Max rounded out the band. 

Then we went to In-N-Out afterwards and I got a call from Laurie that my quilt ticket was a winner! I was going to get one of the quilts!! I was so excited and randos from the In-N-Out Burger clapped for me. When I picked up my quilt from Laurie, we tried to find my quilt blocks in one of the other quilts that were in the giveaway. I finally remembered what mine looked like enough and posed next to it. And then I was able to get my quilt from Laurie. 

It's a great lap quilt size.

I love my friend Laurie! I don't know how she gets it all done but her adventurous spirit is so loveable. She wants to spread love and joy and her testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Thanks friend!

Gunnison Mountain Bike Race and Hiking Mt. Timp

A rainy forecast had me wondering if the Gunnison race was going to be a bust. The pre ride was overcast and delayed for an hour because of lightning. Mark was able to pre ride when it opened back up. 

Mark said this Gunnison course was so fun! There's a climb right at the beginning and then some fun downhill. Merril, Maxine, Jack, and Juliet hiked Mt. Timpanogos. It's like 15 miles. The peak is 11,753 feet and they gained 5,000 feet. Maxine said she was cooked. She's still hurting from a hiking injury.

But they made it!

They saw a mountain goat.

We met them at the hotel in Ephraim. We looked at the new Ephraim temple. It'll be open in a few weeks. The open house starts on Monday. If it was open, I would've run though. Maxine and Jack both had things to do the next day so they drove all the way home. The rest of us stayed at the hotel in Ephraim.

Saturday started overcast again and Juliet and I got there early to help at the registration table. Races started. Merril and the littles showed up around 12:00 p.m. with food but they had just paused for lightning. Juliet and I had been hiding from the lightning in the trailer since we didn't have a car to sit it out. We ran to the car and ate subways with everyone in the car and waited. 

NICA ended up canceling the race and it was a mad dash to clean up before the weather closed in. We got pretty muddy and wet.