Jack's Seminary Graduation!

Wow! Jack's got so much stuff going on because he's a senior. Today, he graduated from seminary! We're proud of him. 

I've got a list of things on my brain and I'm just plugging along and checking stuff off. Jack's seminary graduation, wahoo! Yes, done. On to high school graduation! 

Pit Bike Race at Dillon's house

Jack was really getting after this year's pit bike race. He wrecked a little and his face got dirty. He's okay though.

Fun afternoons filled with tasty food and good conversations. 

We Love You PNW!

Maxine asked if I wanted to go to Portland, OR for a Lizzy McAlpine concert. She wasn't touring anyplace close and plane tickets were like $25 each way. That is so cheap! We spent a few days there looking at all the freaking water!

As someone from the desert, the Columbia River astounds me! We spent the first afternoon finding beautiful waterfalls!

Multnomah Falls.

The lighthouse at Cape Disappointment. Lol.

Maxine's hair and the humidity go crazy!

When we were on this beach, a random dude was like, "Look at your hair! It's amazing!"

We saw Cannon beach! Famous in Goonies.

Such lovely coastline!

The boys were goofing off while we were gone.

Last time I was in PNW, I couldn't get anyone to jump on my idea of visiting the Tillamook Cheese and Ice Cream Factory. Maxine was down! Love her! We found a group of Elders on Pday and said hello!

Closer to Portland, we toured this cool old house called the Pittock Mansion.

We hiked to the Witch's Castle. Not really a castle but a small abandoned house. We hiked there and the legend goes that a young woman and young man wanted to get married but the dad forbad it. They eloped the next town over and when they returned, the dad shot the young man dead. Sadness.

The hike was lovely though. This .6 shot looks odd but I wanted to get the trees!

The smallest park in the entire world. It's located on a crosswalk.

We visited the largest bookstore in the world! Maxine purchased B Dylan Hollis' cookbook and I bought a new canvas bag.

We saw Lizzy McAlpine and Maxine knew all the songs!

We had to have breakfast at this cute cafe the next day.

When we got to Vegas, I'd never seen the Sphere up close and wanted to. We drove by and took a pic before heading home. 

I'm grateful that Maxine and I were able to spend the long weekend together!

New York, DC, and a Tahoe

Merril took Mikayla on an adventure. They flew to New York to pick up my new Tahoe. It's cherry red and it's going to replace the Expedition. The Expedition has been a workhorse and been amazing but it has 270,000 miles on it and it's time for an upgrade. Empire State Building

They took the subway down to the ferry.

They saw the Statue of Liberty and talked to some people on the Staten Island Ferry. 

They visited One World Trade Center.

They bought a beanie in Time Square.

They went to New Jersey to stay at a "sketchy airbnb" and they locked the Tahoe but one of the doors doesn't lock reliably. (We didn't know that yet because it's a new car.) A few items were stolen including: a spare phone, wireless earbuds, a set of real pit vipers Merril got from rampage, some cash, and my favorite item, a bag of apples. Because when you're thieving in the middle of the night, sometimes you need a snack. Easy come, easy go. Onward to Washington D.C.

The Lincoln Memorial.

The Washington Monument in the rain. It was a Sunday and it was rainy so no one was there.

They visited the war memorial for the Vietnam war and found Ken Maxwell, Merril's great uncle.

The White House.

The highlight of the trip, hotel waffle makers. I'm kidding but our kids really like them.

And then they had to drive home from the East coast. The Tahoe used to be a government vehicle, we're thinking fire truck. It's got fewer miles, only 115,000! The alternator was acting up on the way home and Merril got parts on the way home and fixed it in the parts store parking lot. Then it was fine.

Look at that shiny thing! I'm hatching a scheme to make a new license plate. The state of Utah came out with black plates with white letters and I think they look amazing! I want one that says MPLUSJ. So cutesy!

 

Eve Dixon's Wedding

Maxine wanted to go to a friend's reception but it was in Springville, UT and she didn't want to go by herself. So I went with her. The reception was at an art museum, which was fun and pretty. Maxine and Eve knew each other in 1st and 2nd grade and were good friends but then Eve moved to Texas. They lost touch but Maxine found her on Instagram recently and they've reconnected. 

There was fun dancing.

Some funny high school boys asked if Maxine wanted to play Go Fish. I watched while Maxine played. They were cousins of the family and funny like Jack and Talon. It was a good night!

Merril's birthday and Moving Maxine Home

Merril is turning 46 this year! WoW! He rode dirt bikes for his birthday!

That weekend, I went to Logan to pack up Maxine. She's moving back home because she transferred to Utah Tech. She would've loved to stay at Utah State but they don't have an ASL degree. Sadness.

She was worried about her car making it home so I brought the trailer. I can't remember why Merril couldn't come with us but he was busy. We loaded the car and then blew a tire in South Salt Lake. I was able to change the tire on the side of the road and then we were able to get over to an exit that had a tire shop. They got us fixed up and we were on our way.

It was good to have everyone home again. She'll be living in the basement for a bit until she gets her own place.

 

I've Missed You...

As a goal this year, I want to go to the lake more. We barely went last year. When the children were small, we came all the time. ALL.THE.TIME. After we sold the boat, we came less and less. Then they raised the price of the park pass to nearly double. *grumpy sounds* I think we came once last year. Lame. I decided to buy a park pass this year and that means I need to get my money out of it. We are going! Monday night was warm and lovely. All the goodness and silliness was still there.

I was setting up my camera for a timer shot and Juliet made this face. It might be my new favorite shot of her. :0

Jack didn't come because he had stuff to do but it was just like old times. Bonus: No one even got swimmer's itch. I guess we're still immune. We'll be back.

Jack Won Dixie Tech's Xtreme Auto Competition

The night before, Jack said he was going to an auto competition. It was at Dixie Technical College and I said to text me and we'd shop afterwards. Jack was going to meet me in town at Christensen's department store. Uncle Greg works there and because it was closing for renovations, everything was heavily discounted. Jack sends me a text that said, 

"Be there in about 20 minutes, just gotta load up my prize." 

So I asked him, "What did you win?"

"$10,000 worth of Matco tools"

What?!? He competed against 45 kids from surrounding high schools. He said there were kids from all over. There was a kid from Kanab. He said there was a written test consisting of questions about how cars and car parts worked and diagnosing problems. There was a hands on parts identification portion and something else I'm forgetting. He won first! All these tools and a won a scholarship to Dixie Technical College. 

I'm going to have to lock that box so it's not missing a bunch when Jack gets home from his mission! I love it when my children succeed!

Also, I tried and tried to get California poppies to grow while Maxine was on her mission and I couldn't seem to get them to grow. One of the seeds decided to grow and this is my first orange poppy! Love it!

And we shopped at Christensen's and Greg hooked us up with great discounts and Jack got almost all of his mission clothes. So easy to shop for boys!