A Mountain Bike Race and a Stolen Dirt Bike

Okay, I have to start this story about a week ago. Jack's dirt bike got stolen off our driveway. There were lots of nicer bikes on the driveway but somehow, his got picked. So we filed a police report and then Merril posted a picture of his stolen bike on every Facebook Marketplace and dirt bike group that he's in. We got a couple leads but turned out to be nothing. Fast forward to now:

Jack and Merril are in Moab at a mountain bike race! They took dirt bikes too so they could ride around in Moab, the day before the race.

Jack raced but was maybe tired from riding the day before.

He still did well and we are proud of him. 

Merril called me after he'd left for Moab and said he had a tip from Facebook that Jack's bike might be in a garage in Coronado Ridge, the next neighborhood over from ours. I told Merril I would breeze past the house and hope to catch a glimpse of it. I drove past a couple times when I left for an errand or to pick up kids. On the way to dinner with the littles, I drove past the house again and the garage was open. There it was! It totally looked like Jack's bike but I wanted to send a picture to Jack and Merril and have them confirm before I called the police. I walked up the driveway and the kid was standing in the garage. I was trying to be casual and take pictures without arousing suspicion. It didn't work. The kid said, "You're kinda freaking me out lady." I said, "Okay BYEEEEEE!"

I drove off and sent the pictures to Merril and Jack. They immediately called back and said to call the police. The police came a few minutes later and confronted the boy (maybe 16 or 17?). He said he bought it at a yard sale in Sky Mountain and didn't know it was stolen. The police wanted me to get the bike out of there a.s.a.p. I called Natalie Bennett and asked if I could store a motorcycle in her garage for a few hours until Merril and Jack drove back from Moab. She said, "Yep!" and gave me the garage code. 

And just like that, Jack's stolen dirt bike was recovered! The kid had painted a few panels but whatever, it's home. We decided to press charges because we don't want people stealing things but who knows if it was the actual kid. We'll let the police do their work. Just happy it's home!

Palisade Gordon Vacation

My Mom wanted to go to Palisade State Park again for the Gordon family reunion. It was a little colder than the last time we went and the water was super low. 

Merril had to fix something in Cedar City and we waited in the parking lot. I started looking at a weird bush/tree that used to be a hybrid apple tree but part of it had reverted back to the original apple tree. This bush was way in the back of some land at the hotel and the apples were falling and going to waste so we picked some to take with us. 

Camping in the camper.

Like I said, The weather was poorly. It rained and was cold. My Dad just decided to sit out in the rain instead of coming in.

Snuggly naps.

I feel like Maxine and Mark both have a retro vibe going on with their outfits.

We decided to ride bikes around the pond/lake and Jack rode his unicycle the whole way. Hahaha.

We got to visit with family and JoLyn's fiance, Logan. They'll be getting married at the end of the year! How awesome is that!

Mission Call Arrived! Finally!

It feels like we've been trying to finish Maxine's mission papers for forever! We thought we had everything ready for submission when the stake president bumped her over to LDS Family Services because of her anxiety. It took almost two extra months for her papers to finally clear and now her call arrived! Except she has to work until super late so she opened her call a day late. We invited friends over and we printed her call without looking at it. That was hard!

It has been decided that she will serve in the California, Anaheim Mission and reports for home MTC on November 22, 2021. That's in two months!

After everyone had gone home, I asked Maxine how she felt about her call. She said she felt calm. That's excellent because that's exactly how I felt! It's feels awesome to finally have a date and destination! Now we have a ton of stuff to get done before she leaves! She will be a fantastic missionary!

Busy Saturday for Jack!

Jack had a mountain bike race in Richfield. Merril had a SAR fundraiser that he wanted to try and attend so I went with Jack. Isaac LeBaron is a kid on the team who placed first in the last race and he received a special leader jersey. 

Jack's race was delayed for about 15 minutes because of lightning. 

Now he's ready to race. Jack finished 15th in his division in the last race and they called him name to place him at the front of his wave.

The Richfield course features a section of a motorcross track. Jack's not that fond of the portion but Wade got a picture of him looking awesome! He finished 18th. He said he was hurting a little from his unicycle ride on Thursday. 😉

Then Jack slept in the truck on the way home. As soon as we got back, he showered and got dressed up for Homecoming. He and a bunch of friends aren't really old enough to date yet so they all went stag together. There haven't been any stake dances since COVID and I felt like it was fine if they all went together.

A Boy and His Unicycle

Jack's pretty good on his unicycle. It's a fun stunt. He wanted to ride it home from work. He doesn't work very close to us. The bike shop is clear on the other side of Hurricane. I told him I would bring him his unicycle and keep my phone close in case he needed a ride at any point.

He did the whole 5.7 miles!! That's a ridiculous long time to ride a unicycle! I had people comment that they saw him in town and wanted to give him a ride. Merril and I must look like the meanest parents, making our child ride a unicycle home from work. Jack said to tell them, "If anyone asks, it was my idea and I'm glad I did it." He might be like his father just a little bit. He said he probably won't do it again.

Mountain Bike Season Begins!

It's time to race again! The first race was in Cedar City and he scored the sweetest position!

He was positioned first in his wave, even though he was 58th in the total pack. 

He ripped it though! He jumped from 58th place to 15th! He was cruising through the competition! Great job Jack!

On a side note, Merril and I were cracking up because Jack had like 4 girls next to him and chatting him up before the race. The body language from the girls was very flirty but I doubt Jack noticed. It was hilarious!

Gun 'N Roses Concert

I was on my way back from California with Maxine and the Fagergrens when Merril called. He was talking to Justin Campbell and he had tickets to Guns 'N Roses in Vegas but their kids were sick and they couldn't leave them. He wondered if we'd go. So I had the Fagergrens drop me off and I met up with Merril. Guns 'N Roses aren't exactly our style but it was still fun. 

I was wasted from traveling with Maxine for a few days so we didn't stay for the whole concert. Slash still had it though man! He rocked! Axel Rose, a little less so. He was mumbly and you couldn't hardly hear him.  

The opening band, Mammoth, was awesome. The lead singer is Eddie Van Halen's son. 

 

Monterey California with the Fagergrens

Ellen and Amy Fagergren invited Maxine and I to Monterey as a fun vacation before Ellen starts college. We drove the first day until we got this cute VRBO. 

We spent the first day in Sequoia National Park. Maxine and Ellen loved the BIG trees!

We climbed Moro Rock viewpoint.

We got out of Sequoia and were starving and found a taco place.

The next day we drove to Monterey and had tickets to see humpback whales. We followed 

three whales around for a few hours and they were so big and slow moving. One of the whales was missing half of its fluke. 😥 Maxine was struck by how big they were. She said it's so different to see pictures and imagine the scale. 

The next day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was probably my favorite part of the trip! Jellyfish are always awesome. I shot video of huge schools of sardines.

This eel was creepy!

We went shopping afterwards at Cannery Row. We also drove to Carmel-by-the-Sea, which I've only heard called Carmel. We found an expensive ring shop (one of the rings was $150,000!) We also found a candy shop and an antique book shop. Everything was expensive and we didn't really buy anything. We found an art gallery with paintings between $30-100,000. Crazy, who has this kind of money?!

There's a place off Ocean Avenue, where I used to sit and talk with you.

The next day we spent cruising around the coast and enjoying all the beautiful things that Northern California has to offer!

This was called Pfieffer Beach and Maxine and I climbed to the top of this rock for a picture.

I spotted this license plate and loved it! Sometimes we yell Maxine's name all high pitched and say Maxeeeen! I can hear it in my head when I read this license plate.

Then we drove all the way home. Good times!

First Day of School 2021

Everyone is all ready for school!

Jack didn't want to pose for me on the first day of school so I snagged this a few weeks later.

Seems like this year is going to be great! Mark seems less nervous about school. It's weird not having Maxine start school. 

 

Backyard Chair Fix

This is a little random but I fixed this chair the other day. I bought these chairs used and one had a bent leg. When I tried to straighten in, it broke off. I bought 7 of these metal chairs so they could stay outside by the fire pit and the whole family would have a seat. Then I broke one. I was bugged. I kept it around with the idea of trying to fix it. 

I ended up ignoring it until Maxine said she wanted to have a party outside with some friends. I had an idea of bracing the leg with a rod and bolting a piece of metal on both side of the break. It's perfect! I think it will last for a long time like that! And that is why I love fixing things! Making something useful again makes me feel good!

 

Mark vs. Nerf Dart

Summer has filled my house with tons of neighborhood kids! We have a basement and that's a great place to hang out and have Nerf wars. During one such battle, Mark got a Nerf dart in the eye! He was crying and so I brought him upstairs and put a wet washcloth on his eye, in hopes of calming him. When he allowed me to inspect it, I realized his eye might need some medical attention. His iris was filling with blood. It was already 5:15 p.m., late for an optometrist office to be open. I didn't feel like taking him to the E.R. because they'd look at it and refer me to an eye doc. 

I opened Google and searched for ANY open optometrist office. Luckily, one was open until 6:30 p.m. I called and asked if they could squeeze us in or if we should go to the E.R. I was told to bring him into their office. This is the picture I took as we got into the car. The blood is partially covering his pupil. Mark said it orange-tinted his vision but he could see okay. Eyes are important and that's a little unnerving. 

We waited and the doctor examined his eye. He thought it would be okay but wanted to get a second opinion from the St. George Eye Center. They prescribed 3 different types of eye drops, one to dilate his eye, one to reduce swelling and inflammation, and one for to reduce the pressure. This is the first night. The dilation makes his eye look crazy. He had to sleep with his head elevated to help drain the blood.

We saw a specialist the next day. He was advised to take it really easy during the next 7 days, so as not to reinjure the eye. If it bleeds again, it could be very difficult to stop.

He was told to be the ultimate couch potato and watch a lot of tv. I banned him from rough housing and riding his bike. We bought him some sunglasses and told him to be careful. 

Update: It took about 6 days for all the blood to disappear. We went to a follow-up appointment after 8 days and he got the green light to resume normal activities! We are keeping up two of the drops for another week but he'll make a full recovery. Yay!