Jack's Mountain Bike Race and a hike...

Merril and Jack have become friends with a family in the ward, named the Phipps.  Logan (Dad) and Collin (son) both like to mountain, like Merril and Jack.  They often ride together, fathers and sons, and it's been fun.  Logan and Collin were riding in a mountain bike race and said Jack and Merril should too!  We signed Jack up, mostly because it was pretty cheap, Merril's race was more expensive.  Jack took off well.

Jack had a hard time of it.  His chain fell off twice out on the course.  But Jack is Jack and still finished the race with a smile on his face.  😃  He's pretty good and I think he would've been a pretty fierce competitor, had his bike worked.

Along the same time, we went hiking in Zion National Park.  We ate at Oscar's, because we had a gift card from Merril fixing something.  Jack can attack a HUGE hamburger like no one else in the family.  He's growing up!

The air was crisp but still.  The sunset was perfect.

We saw some mountain goats, which were quite tame because they're national park goats.

Crazy face selfies with the peeps I love!! 💛

Jack's Arrow of Light...

Merril was amazing and helped Jack finish his arrow of light award for Cub Scouts.  I was over it but I am proud that they pushed through to the end and earned it!  Yay!

Spring Break RV trip!

Since we own an RV, we decided to take a trip with some of our other RV friends.  Darryl Zitting's family, Dan Zitting's family, and Jake Mortensen's family and us decided to head out towards southeastern Utah.  Between here and Lake Powell, there's a hike called "Toadstools."  Funny little rock formations that remind me of Goblin Valley. 

We visited Horseshoe Bend.  

This is a little too close for comfort for some Moms.  They seemed okay to me.  

Stole a picture them squishing together for a selfie.

  

Hilarious Bubbies faces.

We camped out by Monument Valley.  Left and Right Mittens are always a good time.

Merril arranged a tour of Monument Valley that ended with dinner and a show.  We learned some Native American dances and it was really interesting!

The next day we drove out to 4 Corners Monument.  This has been a bucket list item for me for a long time!  It was exactly what I thought it would be.  Cool!  Take a picture!  Okay, let's go.

It's kind of in the middle of nowhere.

The RV caravan.

 It was a great way to spend Spring Break!

My little sleeper...

When Mark gets out of the bath, he likes to warm up next to the heater.  So I wrapped him in a towel and turned on the heater and left to do something in the kitchen.  About an hour later, I was thinking I hadn't seen Mark in a while and went to investigate.  He totally fell asleep, in front of the heater, without any clothes on.

I guess when you need a nap, you really need a nap.

Little swimmers...

Mikayla is a fish!  She loves to swim and so winter is hard on her.  It's not nearly lake season yet so I promised her we could go to an indoor swimming pool while the kids were in school.  The Sand Hollow Aquatic Center opened the earliest for open swim so away we went!  The place was completely empty!  We had a blast!

And I don't know why but I'm throwing this picture in right after it.  It doesn't have anything to do with anything.

Emergency???

Early one morning, Maxine started yelling from the basement that something was wrong.  She was writhing on the floor and holding her stomach and said it hurt really bad!!!  So we took off to the InstaCare in St. George because it was a Sunday.  They ran a bunch of bloodwork, examined her all over and couldn't really come up with anything.  

They suspected that something might be wrong with her gallbladder.  Gallbladder attacks are triggered by fatty foods so they said if it comes back after a greasy meal, we'll know for sure.  We went home and she got better.  Greasy foods didn't trigger any worsening pain.  Who knows?  She's fine.

Boys Mexico Trip...

Merril and Jack, Darryl and Will, and Ryan and Kaden had been planning a trip to Mexico on motorcycles for a while but it got pushed back because Merril had to recover from surgery.  He was finally well enough to go!

They drove the truck and parked it at a Walmart in San Diego, CA.  They unloaded motorcycles and headed south.

They camped by the ocean.

Beautiful!  They pulled oysters off the rock and cooked them.  Jack said they weren't very good.

This is at Coyote Cal's.

Jack and Daddy had some cow head tacos at a small taco shop and they said they were really good!  Jack was the oldest of the boys who went and Merril said he did the best (didn't complain).  They all made it back safe and sound!

Odds and ends and surgery clearance!

Here are some crazy pictures:

On my birthday, I did a headstand.

The dab was huge this year.

Spring is coming!!!!

Mark and I both have ducktails.  Mark's ducktail is my favorite feature of his.  I figured he got it from some obscure gene until I cut my hair short.  We realized, I have a ducktail.

More signs of spring...

And lastly, Merril got his clearance to lift things heavier than 10 pounds, which means Mark can be picked up again.  Mark was pretty sad when Daddy couldn't lift him up.  

Merril did really well and followed doctor's orders.  I scolded him plenty when he'd try to help.  He's normally the strong man but he needed to take it easy so we didn't have to have corrective surgery for his abdominal wall.  Good job!

My birthday surprise...

Merril is recovering well from surgery and decided to surprise me with a cruise for my birthday.  It's perfect for him because all you do on a cruise is sit around and eat.  Perfect for a recovering cancer patient.  

We drove down to Long Beach to board the boat to Ensenada, Mexico!  Our room reminded me a ton of an RV.  Basically all the systems are setup a lot like an RV, with fresh water tanks and black/grey water tanks.  

Hey look, we're at the buffet!

We did a shore excursion to La Bufadora (the blowhole)!

We took a lot of selfies together.

There was some amazing food down by the blowhole!  There was an amazing pina colada drink and seafood cooked in a clam shell.  Muy delicioso!

 A mariachi guitar player sang us a song!

We were dropped off a mile off from the ship or so.  We wandered around Ensenada and then found a carriage.  We rode the rest of the way back to the ship.  I worried about Merril pushing it too hard with all the walking.

We went to a singing show that had a bunch of rock from the 80s.  It was okay.

This was our dressy night on the ship.  

I feel like a cruise ship is a little boring if you don't drink or gamble. :)  We did go on a behind the scenes tour of the ship, down into the laundry, kitchen, and engineering rooms of the ship.  That was really interesting!  I learned that the ship grinds up the leftover food and pumps it into the sea to feed the fish.  The ship has 2 fuel systems and can run on crude oil when it's out at sea.  😖  The crew never leaves the ship for their entire contract of like 6 months.  There are places for them to hang out and a bar but they can never get drunk because they have to be on the ready in case there's an emergency.  So they can have a beer or a drink but not much.

The ship had a running track so I got up early for a run one morning.  I tracked it on my running app and it said I ran a lot, but only because the ship was moving a lot and I happened to be running on a moving object.  LOL!

Merril and I had never been on a cruise before so I was a little worried that one of us might get seasick but we never did.  I was painfully full a lot of the time but that's not the same thing. 😉

As we left, we spied the Queen Mary 2, which doesn't sail anymore but is docked permanently as a hotel.

My conclusion of cruising: I could see it being more fun with a big group.  I feel like my vacation time with my husband is precious so I wanted to be seeing destinations.  Basically, I saw the inside of a ship, which is fine.  Our day in Ensenada was my favorite because we were in a different culture, walking around, seeing people and their way of life.  The day we spent at sea was a little boring.  I kept looking out at the ocean and wishing I was spending the day in a different city, eating their food.  The cruise food was okay but there is so much buffet.  Maybe I'm a traveling snob that likes to do things my own way.  I am glad that we went and had this experience and I'm glad that I was able to spend the time with my husband!    

Mikayla's 5th birthday...

This is what it looks like when you're 3 and it's not your birthday.  Suck it up buttercup.

He's clearly recovered.

 Mikayla was pretty excited that she is turning 5 and we had a princess party!

Yay!