Mikayla's 9th Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Mikayla! She's nine years old! She got the cutest diary from Grandma Campbell!

She had a few friends over for a small party and they had a good time with a piñata and an oreo ice cream cake.. 

We decorated the house to look like it was underwater. It was slightly claustrophobic somehow. I wanted to see from the windows and I couldn't. 

 This is unrelated but this is Mikayla's cute, Valentine box. It's a kitty, "Meow!" 

Adventures Await!

Merril knew he wouldn't really be home for Valentine's Day so we planned a small getaway before he left for Kilimanjaro. Merril fixed something down in Mesquite and scored a free dinner at a nice restaurant, Gregory's Mesquite Grill. The casino comped us a room as well. Sweet!

We had to go to Vegas to swap some machines and stopped at a Japanese market! We found C.C. Lemon and furikake and brought it home for the kids! Merril got some umeboshi because he was out.

We got food in Vegas and Merril came home and threw up in the middle of the night. I've never seen him throw up ever! He said he hasn't since he was a little kid. Oh no! He's supposed to leave in a few days for Kilimanjaro!

Update: Merril just had some food poisoning, we think from the breakfast place. He was back to himself after one day.

Playing in the Snow

I took a lot of video this day but not very many pictures! We came up to Cedar to play in the snow. It was a little windy but we still had a good time.

We almost had the whole place to ourselves. There was plenty of snow and we had a good time.

 

Petroglyphs by Quail Lake

I tried to find these petroglyphs in the fall of 2020. I was hiking by myself but was in constant cell phone reception. I hiked for almost 3 hours but could not find these petroglyphs! After my failed attempt, I talked with others over the next few months and got a better idea of where they were. Merril came hiking with me because he's training for Kilimanjaro. 

They were fantastic! Lots of little designs!

The sun is so in our faces!

Yes! Success! And a perfect little morning date!

Hiking Hurricane Rim

I decided to sign up for one of Katie DeMille's hikes. The weather was cold and windy, even though I felt like bailing out, I went. I wore many, many layers!

We were staggering against the wind.

At one point, I warmed up enough to take off my coat but ended up putting it back on.

The hike was supposed to be around 6 miles, which turned into 7, which became 8 and a half! I was pretty dead but made it.

Gingerbread Houses

Christmas got busy and we never made our gingerbread houses. Even thought it's January, we still decided to make them. The boys ones have garages with trucks and cars. 

This is Maxine's house.

This is Juliet's house.

Mark thinks this is Jack's house.

This is Mikayla's house.

Juliet is a Baker!

Juliet is fantastic in the baking department! Her latest creation is this carrot cake. I don't love carrot cake, mostly because it often has raisins and walnuts but she left those out. The cake was delicious!

This is an aside but I've wanted a wedding band with channel set diamonds for a few years now. I picked an estate jewelry piece from Ebay for $150 and it came! I got a great deal and it's very nice! I figure it's good for our 20th anniversary and now I can have a diamond ring that won't snag things.

I plan to wear it a lot!

Happy New Year 2021!

We made homemade confetti poppers this year. We are quarantined.  I made a quick grocery order because I figured I'm the least contagious right now. I couldn't find any New Year's items in the grocery app but was able to get some Martinelli's and balloons. After that, the crafting began! Poor Maxine, she always wanted to do crafts when she was a kid but I was never a very crafty person.

Lookee here though! We totally crafted with items I had on hand! Toilet paper tubes, wrapped in colorful paper, with a balloon stretch over the bottom, make reusable confetti poppers. Mikayla, Jack, and Mark used the paper shredder to make confetti. It's kind of a lot, in my opinion.

We also had the idea to make some confetti balloons to pop at 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 o'clock.

We popped confetti everywhere. Then, the kids decided it wasn't spreading enough confetti and started throwing handfuls. Nice!

We made a great mess of it. Every single person stayed up until midnight! We think it's the first time ever!

About 2020: It was a little rough but not too bad. Masks are annoying. We hiked a lot and did more outdoor activities, especially in the Spring and Fall. At school, my kids were able to return for in-person instruction in the Fall and a lot of states never did. We were lucky! People have been moving to Utah from all over, trying to get their kids into school. Dan and Angie Moore moved from Vegas so their kids could attend. Crazy stuff! Merril and I both had to get root canals this year. Lame. The COVID-19 pandemic has made me less worried about germs, if you can believe it. I was freaking out at first but settled in. Constantly being freaked out about germs is taxing. I just couldn't do it. It is what it is. We are not guaranteed our life; we never were. Life has risks. We can do our best to find happiness and spirituality and love and the rest will take care of itself. Also, I've been a busting it with the exercise. I found harder strength training exercises and I feel like my whole body is stronger and less bothered than it used to be. Less carpal tunnel, my funny elbow bothered me less, less knee and shoulder fussiness, which has been amazing! Merril and I celebrated 20 years together! How awesome is that!? He's still the person with whom I love to spend my time. My eldest turned 18! Wow! 2020 may have brought some temporary adjustments but we still had a good time. So thanks 2020! We're on to bigger things! Here's to 2021!

Christmas Break Quarantine

Jessica came down with COVID the day after we got together at my Mom's house for dinner and presents. So now we are quarantined. I didn't hardly get a chance to talk to Jess but I did give her a hug when she came in. Oops! We're home bound until January 7th. But the kids have been having fun playing with their Christmas gifts. Grandma Gordon gave Jack and Mark some magnetic sticks and balls to create structures. They've been a hit!

Mikayla has been playing in her mermaid tail. She hops all over and has had it in the tub. 

Hopefully, we'll get through. My Dad started to come down with sickness after Jess left so we're thinking he has COVID. That's no bueno for my old man. Hopefully we'll pull through okay.

 

20th Anniversary Band

Okay, this is something that I wanted for Christmas! Since we celebrated our 20th year together, I kind of wanted a different wedding band. I LOVE MY PLAIN WEDDING BAND! I wear it all the time. I hardly wear my diamond engagement band. So I wanted a band but also wanted something a little fancier. I saw a channel set diamond band. I bought it on an impulse and told Merril it's what I wanted for Christmas. Afterwards, I was browsing Ebay and found one that was the same price but twice the total diamond weight. I bought it too. Eeek! So this is the Ebay one. It's 1/2 carat total weight of diamonds with 10K yellow gold. I'll take the other one back to Walmart. Hee hee! I'm loving it! 

 

Christmas 2020

This is the stash as Merril and I left it on Christmas Eve. We feel like this might be the peak. 

The kids got up early but weren't allowed to get us until 5:00 a.m. We woke up at 4:30 because we could hear them giggling downstairs. Presents were opened, joy everywhere. We were done by 6:00 a.m. and Juliet was asleep by 6:15. Mark was playing with Jack for a while but was asleep by 7:15 a.m. with baby Yoda. Awwww. 

Jack got a unicycle and rode it for many hours of the morning trying to make sense in his head. He would go on to be able to ride it all the way around the cul-de-sac and down to Lisa Nelson's front yard.

Spa Day

Juliet was having a spa day and wearing an actual face mask from the store. Mark and Mikayla wanted one too. So I made some out of coffee filters. :) 

 We decided they were pretty close to the same thing!

Caroling in Ryan's Military Trucks

Ryan Rosenberg bought a huge military truck. Then he bought another one, because two is better than one. Ha!

He arranged to carol at some senior living facilities. The trucks were decorated with lights and so were we.

Merril was asked to drive one of the trucks because they are so BIG! It was chilly, I wore ski pants and was still a little cold. It was a great night spreading Christmas cheer!

 

I've Known You 21 Years!

We stole away for a night in Springdale/Virgin. We left Friday afternoon and went for a short, slightly cold hike in Zion National Park. We went back to Virgin, where we were staying for the night to change for dinner. We stayed at a new glamping place called Wildflower. The place had tents and covered wagon accommodations but Merril opted for a bungalow. They were perfectly small and secluded.

We went to dinner at the new restaurant in Virgin called Balcony One. It was a perfect little getaway with my perfect person. 

 

Maxine won a major award!

Maxine won general sterling scholar at Hurricane High School! She came home and told me and I hadn't even know she'd applied! We're pretty proud of her! She said she had to write 7 essays on the application. Seven! Good job girl!

 

Mikayla's Hip Hop Recital

Mikayla's dance class has continued through COVID. She wanted to try a hip hop class.

She missed some weeks because of COVID but it was still cute. She had a matching set of reindeer antlers and often wore the dance outfit to school, until Christmas break. 

This crazy kid cracks me up!

 

All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth!

Mark had a dead tooth pulled a while back. The other front tooth became loose but wouldn't really fall out. It was pushed to the center of his mouth and crooked. It looked pretty weird. It finally fell out just in time for Mark to sing, "All I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth!" YES! I'm so glad it's finally out!