Baja 1000, eh 1300!

They don't look that ready but it's about time to goooooo!

These crazy boys are racing the Baja 1000 again! Merril signed up for Pro Moto Ironman and Jack is on a team with Ryan, Dillan, Shawn, and Darryl. One of Merril's old missionary companions, Shun, was in Las Vegas. Merril met up with him on his way to Mexico. The race start is in La Paz, which is way down at the bottom of the peninsula. So to start, they had to drive a lot.

They stopped at this cool old church. It's called the San Javier Mission. Wade found it and picked it out to visit.

Tacos!

They are running my little boy ragged.

There was a live stream of racers being interviewed.

They goofed off on the beach and took some pictures.

Merril and Wade got IVs on the beach the evening before the race. Uh, seems sketchy but the nurses were from the US so it's fine.

And they raced. Merril and Jack started the race together. I don't have a good picture of it.

It was super hard. This Baja 1000 was more like 1300. Merril raced as long as he could. After about 32 hours and 800 miles of racing, Merril had to drop out. He didn't feel it was safe for him anymore. He said all 4 limbs were cramping up and he didn't want to end up dead. The other team continued and finished with minutes to spare before the cutoff.

Merril hopped in a chase truck and fell asleep. He'd only had a few minutes of sleep in 32 hours. The other team finished safe and that makes me happy. When Jack was almost to a checkpoint, he crashed and blacked out a little. He said he woke up and another team member was already there. They fixed the bike a little and got it to the next team member. Glad my boys made it. I predict Merril won't have any grip strength for a month. 

This is unrelated but while the boys were gone, I wanted to see a huge flag hanging in Snow Canyon. It looks awesome! It's so much bigger than this! Mikayla was the only kid I could get to come with me. Juliet had homework. That's basically her life now.

Mckayla Maughn's Wedding

Mckayla Maughn got married and Maxine was asked to be a bridesmaid!

The colors were pretty fall colors.

She looks so happy. They had their reception in a greenhouse nursery. I wish they did this in Southern Utah.

Lots of old friends from the mission were there! I spy Emma.

That same day, Juliet decided to run up to the temple and do baptisms. She went by herself. I'm proud of her.

 

Birthdayssssss

We are wrapping up our Fall birthdays! It was a big year for birthdays! Maxine (21), Jack (18), Juliet (16), Mikayla (11), Mark (10). Not all of them are monumental but a lot of big numbers! I sneaked over to decorate Jack's truck for his 18th! He actually caught me. 😅

We had cheesecake at the house but we only got video. Maxine was here for the weekend and we celebrated while she was here!

Karalee came down for the temple open house.

Maxine went to Vegas for a show! I drove down with her to help her get home because the show didn't even start until 10:30 p.m. Bro, I'm old and that's late! She saw some of her favorite celebs and had a good time. 

M+J

Utah started making these fun black and white minimalist plates. I thought for a while and got one that said M+J. I freaking love it! It makes me smile every time I come out to my car.

 

Pre Ride for Baja!

Merril is going to Iron Man the Baja 1000 this year and went down early to pre ride some sections. Ryan Rosenberg and his Dad went with.

Unfortunately he crashed and smashed his finger. He broke his handlebars too. When he first called me, he thought it was broken. After sitting there for a minute, he thinks maybe it's just badly bruised. I don't know what this is going to do for his Baja race but it's still a few weeks away. Hopefully it gets better. I think he's going to lose that finger nail, no matter what. Anyway, after a bit he switched bikes and kept riding.

Halloween 2023!

One of my favorite times of the year! Here comes Halloween! 💀🎃👻 I saw these skeletons at Walmart and they were $29. I had to have one!

We got the pumpkin on the grass!

Mikayla was a green goddess. All things magical and green and growing.

I decided to be a scarecrow!

Juliet was Rapunzel. I was surprised to see a few other girls dressed up in the exact same way that Juliet was. I thought we were being so clever.

The boys were Hurricane Hooligans. I bought Jack a mullet wig and it was hilarious!

After a super night of trick or treating, the kids came home to sort and weigh their bags! They each had between 5 and 7 lbs. of candy. That's so much candy! 🎃

Jack mentioned wanting to go to Walmart to buy Halloween candy the day after and get the 50% off discount. I want him to help Mark and Mikayla eat their candy. 

Happy Halloween! 👻🎃💀