My Mom's Retirement...

My Mom is 66 1/2 and retired after 29 years at the Dixie Center! All the sisters made it to the party, even Jo Anna who lives the farthest and wasn't feeling that well. The Dixie Center put on a great party with food and well wishers.  I remember when she worked at the old Dixie Center inside the Burns Arena at the college. She worked her way up from receptionist to marketing director. She was always a hard worker. Can't believe she's old enough to retire! 

Let's go summer!

What should we do today? Let's go visit Maxine at work and hike in Zion!

Maxine is working at an ice cream/sandwich/espresso/fudge/fancy chocolate place in Springdale, UT with her friend Ellen. 

After ice cream, we hit Angel's Landing. Not the whole thing.

We just hiked part way up and then turned back because we were short on time.

I'm so ready for summer!

A little girl's lunch!

We went to lunch for Mandy's birthday at River Rock Roasting Co. before the kids got out of school! I love these gals. We got close serving in the Primary presidency and I'm glad no one else has moved. We still miss Libbi. These gals are my pals.

End of the year slog...

We are in the mad dash to the end of the school year! Several recitals, award presentations, concerts, etc. Jack had a guitar recital. Next year he'll take guitar from the middle school so he won't be taking from Kylee next year. He seemed like the senior kid. He sang while he played and sang while the rest of the kids played the group number. Merril brought the drum kit and played the drums too.

Juliet and Jack both received 4.0 GPAs all year long!  Dang I have smart kids.

Maxine received a 4.0 GPA all year as well!  She had a concert/chamber choir concert but I only took video. She sang with the chamber choir at high school graduation.

I went on a field trip with Mikayla to the children's museum and splash pad in St. George. It was fun to do something just the two of us. 

Mikayla had a dance recital. I took lots of video but not very many pictures. She had two numbers, the first was a pretty ballet, the second was a pirate dance.

Mikayla's first grade rainbow program. It's hard to believe she'll be in second grade next year!

Juliet and the choir. She accompanied one of the songs for the choir.

These last few weeks seem like we've had something every night. It's fun to see all of my children's accomplishments. They are growing up awesome!

Mother's Day 2019!

I was awakened by breakfast in bed! Juliet brought in eggs, toast and strawberries. Then I opened gifts. Merril gave us new pillows, ours were lumpy, and the kids gave me gum, hand sanitizer, a face mask, chocolates from Maxine's job, and cards. Since I forgot to get a Easter Sunday picture, I wanted to get one for Mother's Day. 

But any time I pull out the camera, people are dopes.

I like the non-posed ones way more than the posed, except I'm not in them.

Dragon fruit!

My adventure for the week was trying dragon fruit. The inner texture is like a kiwi with the little seeds, but it's not as sweet. I really liked it. 

The kids said it was kind of good.

I thought the inside was so different from the outside that I was a little shocked when we cut it open. It's fun to try new things though. 

Merril's 41st birthday!

After our trip to Japan, our whole family fell in love with Japanese toilets. The seats were warm and had so many features that are awesome. As Merril's birthday approached, I was talking about it with my neighbor, whose husband is a plumber. She told me she bought a Toto washlet but that it didn't work out for them and so she still had it at her house. I decided to buy it from her and install it so that I can give it to Merril for his birthday. He's always talked about the Japanese toilets and how nice they were. It took a trip to Japan to convince me.

He was gone to Mexico on a motorcycling trip and so it gave me the perfect window of opportunity to install it without him knowing! He came home late at night to a warm toilet seat.

Merril went with Ryan and Owen.

They took a boat ride out to the arch of Cabo San Lucas, or the El Arco.

On his actual birthday, we had cheesecake and dinner together as a family.

Update: it was Easter weekend and spring recess for Merril birthday weekend. We decided to have a get-together with Friends the following Friday night. Merril invited people via text and then we both completely forgot about it! I made dinner on Friday, we ate together as a family, Merril went to the bathroom, came out at 6:23 p.m. and said, "We are supposed to be eating dinner at Cappelettis at 6:30!" We had forgotten to make reservations and they were totally booked. I had to take Jack to a movie theater that I had previously promised him and Merril took off into St George, calling friends quickly.  

We ended up at Viva Chicken and had a great time, even though we didn't actually eat. We all laughed about it and thought it was hilarious that Merril threw his own surprise 41st birthday party! I was so frazzled I didn't snap a single picture. 

Easter 2019!

Yo it was Easter! Winchester as usual.

Jack graduated to the big kids field, where the eggs are hard to find!

Julie still has one more year of the easy stuff.

Mark wasn't in the mood and wouldn't walk onto the grass to pick up eggs so he didn't get any. Then bawled later because he didn't have any eggs. No effort, no reward bucko. I'm trying not to baby him as much.

By the Sunday morning egg hunt, Mark was ready to rock it.

I never remember to take a Sunday dress Easter picture until it's too late. Whatever.

Rolling through April...

With the new age changes that the church made this year, Juliet was able to do baptisms in January of 2019. She's only 11 and a half but was super excited to go. Our Ward is still new and trying to get things organized, so she's only been once with Maxine. So I took her to go again because she was wanting to go.

Other than that there was a bike/walk to school day and we participated in it. Since we live too far away to walk or ride our bikes, we drove in the expedition to a drop-off point and biked from there.

And we got this new outfit for Juliet for Easter, and I just can't believe how old it makes her look!

Wow! Gunlock Falls!

To say this is a waterfall would be misleading. Out at Gunlock reservoir, there is a spillway that leads to these rocks. We have received so much moisture this year that the reservoir is overflowing. This is a rarity and so Gunlock Falls was flowing this year. I have never seen it, but wanted to.

At first I told Merril I wanted to go during the summer, and he told me that wouldn't be possible. It only happens during the spring when we've had a ton of moisture.

So we seized the day and went to play in the water. It was freezing!

It was not disappointing!

Maxine wasn't even posing for this picture, I just snagged it while she wasn't looking.

The kids were making me nervous, there's a huge drop-off right below them.

I didn't get any pictures of Mark but he was running around somewhere and of course got all wet even though we weren't in swimsuits.