MX Race in Mesquite

The Phillip family was down to play and Merril and Mark tagged along and Mark raced. When I first say this picture, I thought Mark was the small kid on the left. That's Archer. Mark is the huge kid on the right.

Waiting to start.

Mark is in the middle. It was his first start from a start gate and he said it wasn't his best. Good learning though. Yikes, racing freaks me out a little.

Merril and Maxine ended the evening with some musical performances at Brianhead.

My Fun Friend Laurie!

Laurie loves to go go go! She made a goal to visit all 50 states before she turned 50. She still has North Dakota and then 3 together of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. She threw out the idea of going some of her last states in mid-December. I couldn't make it happen and neither could any of my other breakfast besties. Her husband, Jeremy, took her to North Dakota at the beginning of January so now she only had 3 left. She asked if anyone could go the weekend of Nicole's funeral and I had to pass again. Plus, there was a major storm on the east coast that weekend that caused a lot of power outages. After the funeral, I was thinking about Laurie and said that I didn't have anything going on for the next 2 weeks and if she still wanted to try and get her last 3 states. She asked if I was joking and I said that if she needed a crazy friend to finish up those states, I was her gal! Turns out, she has 2 other crazy friends that could leave almost immediately. Kerry Dorius and Diane Kent. I've chaperoned with Kerry and been on some hikes with Diane and Laurie, so it was great! I got up at 3 a.m. and drove us down to Vegas and we flew to Birmingham, Alabama.

First stop: Lunch at Buc-ee's. That place is wild.

Then we went to the Birmingham Alabama Temple.

We went sightseeing around downtown.

Then we drove through the night to Louisiana. We stopped at a gas station and ate McDonald's. In order for the state to count, you have to eat there. We got to the hotel in Baton Rouge and crashed at 1 a.m. We were up and at 'em again at 7 a.m. to make it to the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple. It's almost identical to Birmingham's Temple and also Nashville.

We drove to New Orleans to get beignets. Yummy deep fried dough! 

We walked around and saw some of the beautiful balconies that New Orleans is know for and ate lunch at the Red Slipper Cafe.

And that's all the time we have for today folks! We raced to the airport and got there an hour and 15 minutes before our flight. We ran to TSA and it was completely empty! We breezed through and had enough time to grab snacks before we boarded our flight home. We were gone less that 48 hours but we got it all done so now Laurie can cross her last 3 states off her list! Yay! Her 50th birthday is February 2nd. We were cutting it close!

It was a great trip! I drove the rental car some as well and everyone was super easy to travel with. 

Mikayla Pierced Ears

Mikayla wanted second ear piercings. We toyed with the idea of going to a salon to get it done but it was a Saturday and Claire's was open. We did the classic ear piercing thing and went to Claire's to get her ears pierced. It's the first time I've taken any of the kids to Claire's for an ear piercing. The associate, Alex, did a great job and Mikayla is very excited about her new piercing. She said she wasn't as nervous as she was when she got her first piercing so that's good. She was shaking so bad the first time. 

We were able to get Mark to tag along with the promise of getting Pretzel Maker. That place if a giant fav with our family. I've tried other sauce flavors but vanilla glaze is the besttttttt! 

 

Nicole Bennett's Funeral

Nicole Bennett was laid to rest on Friday, January 23rd, 2026. The funeral was really hard. I tried my best to go to the viewing but couldn't do it. I cried in the hallway just outside the viewing. I waited for Mark and Mikayla and President Kuhlman gave me a hug. He seems so serious most of the time, kind of like President Oaks. That was a different side of him. I totally sank into that hug. Juliet and Maxine went to the viewing the next day and they said it was not their favorite. Juliet played a piano musical number and shared funny stories about Nicole with Kate and Alicen. They lightened the mood quite a bit.   

The graveside service was pretty cold and we were in thin dresses. It lasted quite a while and I was shivering. The luncheon back at the church was very nice. Pasta, salad, and great breadsticks and cookies. 

I'm kind of glad the funeral is over. I cried a lot. Now I feel like life will return to normal a little bit. We'll miss you Nicole. Godspeed girlie!  

Happiness is Still Around

Even though this week was crazy, my friend Emily had already planned to come for the weekend. Aaron is working on the St. George Airport renovations and she tagged along. I wasn't sure we'd be able to squeeze in time together with Nicole's tragedy but we made it work. We went to the temple, which was fun. Aaron and Emily were impressed by the assembly room. The next day, Emily and I spent the morning together doing the temple quarry hike. We went to a ribbon cutting ceremony of the new St. George City Office Building with Aaron and then it was time for her to go home. I was glad to see her. 

Matt Campbell's boys were in town and we went for a hike while the boys biked. Mark was struggling a bit.

 

Remembering Nicole Bennett

This week was a hard week. Juliet's friend, Nicole Bennett, passed away from a hiking accident on the 13th of January, 2026. Natalie, her Mom, called me at midnight on the 14th of January. Natalie said that Nicole hadn't come home for dinner and wasn't answering her phone. She said search and rescue was going to be called out because they had searched and found Nicole's car in the parking lot at Red Cliffs Recreation. I woke up Merril and he asked if I wanted to come out on the search. We found Natalie in the parking lot at Red Cliffs Recreation Area. She said that she got home from work at 1 p.m. and Nicole wasn't there. They called her but she didn't answer her phone. They figured she went to the temple. When it got dark, they feared she may have been hiking and was lost. They started searching in all the usual hiking places and finally found her car a little before midnight at Red Cliffs. 

Merril and I arrived in the parking lot around 12:30 p.m. Merril went hiking with Jake Bennett and Tyson and Heather Ence. A deputy arrived after some time and a helicopter with a heat-seeking camera was launched. Several search and rescue volunteers arrived, including Wade and Ryan. The helicopter didn't find anything. After searching until 4:30 a.m., SAR decided to pause the search and resume in the daylight. I had been reassuring Natalie that I was sure Nicole was just lost with a possible injury and that she would most likely be found. Now I wasn't feeling so sure. Jake Bennett returned to Red Cliffs at first light and started searching again. He found her body just after 7:00 a.m. Wednesday the 14th of January. We called Juliet just after we found out for sure. I could hear her crying while Merril talked to her. I called and asked if I could do anything. She didn't know what I could do but I decided to drive to Provo. Merril was assigned to work SAR at the Jeep Jamboree at the sand dunes so he stayed here with Mark and Mikayla.

Nicole was found with her scriptures, the preach my gospel book, and an Italian/English dictionary in a string backpack. It appears that she slipped and fell 80 feet from a cliff while hiking. Nicole was in good spirits and was about to start a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Rome, Italy. It's unthinkable that she isn't with us anymore. Juliet has been sad but is doing okay. I got to her  Wednesday afternoon. She said that Alicen's family went to the temple and had invited her earlier that day. We cried and talked and laughed and went to dinner and for a walk. 

I decided to stay until Friday. I went to the Provo City Center Temple while Juliet was at work. It was the first time I had every been. It's beautiful.

I am heartbroken for the Bennett family. Nicole is doing fine of the other side. I'm excited that she doesn't have to worry about scoliosis anymore or anxiety. I am concerned for Natalie and Jake and the brothers left behind. This is going to hurt for a long time. I'm doing okay and I'm grateful for my family. They are my favorite people, this would break me for quite a while if it was us. Nicole was supposed to give her farewell talk on Sunday the 18th. Instead of a farewell, her family is planning a funeral. Our prayers are with the Bennetts.

Nicole's obituary: https://heartlightfs.com/obituaries/nicole-bennett?fbclid=IwY2xjawPb29lleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeEtru2ockBS5_EicCin7JgPjSEV57Quh_T5KdKRMbKEDNlMEBg6nssQLCdDk_aem_Q3iEGLqeXiGfVKlQ9r6mjg

Juliet was able to hang out with Kate and Alicen this weekend and I feel like that was really helpful. She rode back to BYU today with Alicen and her brother. She'll be back on Thursday night because the funeral is Friday at 11:00 a.m. and Juliet has been asked to play the piano and be a speaker.

We'll miss you Nicole. Can't wait to hear your stories when we see you again!

Airplane Adventures

Merril has 2 friends named Dylan/Dillan that can fly small aircraft. As a result, Merril's been flying fairly often. He's always thought about getting his pilot's license. He asked Grandpa Gary if he'd want to go flying with them. My Dad said yes!

I have no idea how they stuffed him into the back of that plane! Grandpa doesn't move very well anymore. He said he had fun, even though he didn't smile. I remember when my Dad would take me flying, early on Saturday mornings. He always loved it. It was fun for me too!

Mountain Bikers

 While Juliet was home for Christmas break, Merril and Mark and Juliet went for a mountain bike ride.

I hiked while they biked. It wasn't that warm but it was good to get outside!

Temples and Trucks

A great way to start off the new year is going to the temple! Yay!

While the girls and I were at Red Cliffs, I saw this truck and it looks like the truck Jack was driving before he left on his mission. It made me happy. 😇 It made it feel like Jack was there with us. 

Hiking in Zion on New Year's Day

On New Year's Day, we decided to drive out to Zion. We thought we'd be able to drive up the canyon because the shuttles don't run in the winter. We were wrong. They ran them over the holiday. So we drove through the tunnel and went on the Canyon Overlook trail. 

We brought hot chocolate and snacks for after the hike. I didn't have any paper cups so we brought real ones.

We also had fun with the camera.

 

It was rainy and foggy but still nice to get outside for the hike. 

Christmas 2025

We went to the live nativity at Tuacahn this year on the 23rd. I feel like we haven't been for a few years. The kids say they want to be in the nativity again. It's been probably 8 years. We'll have to do it again but we have to get on the ball a little earlier.

On our way to finding our seats, we ran in to Merril's Uncle Dave and Aunt Lynnette. They were there with their kids and grandkids.

Then as we were leaving, we bumped into Justin and Rachel. So funny that we all picked the same night to go to Tuacahn and that we bumped into each other. On Christmas Eve, we had tacos and acted out the nativity.

I'll have to see if anyone else took pictures of Christmas day because I don't have any. The Saturday after Christmas, we went to Fiesta Fun to bowl with my family. I got of picture of Maxine and Mikayla on this giant polar bear and that's it.

There are some days that I'm wrapped up in enjoying the moment and don't take very many pictures. It's fine, I like being in the moment. Sometimes, the remembering is a little random.

December Outdoor Adventures

Merril has two friends named Dylan/Dillon with planes. Merril took the kids to ride in planes while I was working on Christmas things!

Then Maxine and Merril did a multi-pitch climb in Snow Canyon called Leopard Skin.

While they were climbing, Juliet and Mark road mountain bikes. We saved all of Juliet's mtb kits in a bag for Mark. We broke them out for the ride.

 

Zion Canyon Hot Springs

For our un-anniversary this year, we went to the new Zion Canyon Hot Springs in La Verkin. There were a ton of hot tubs! Most were piped out of the sulfur springs in the virgin river so they weren't that clean. There were several things floating in the hot tubs because they're full of river water. It's natural. They smelled like sulfur. There were salt water ones that mimicked hot springs from around the world. They were mostly salt water and magnesium. It was fun but I don't know if I need to go again. It was kind of expensive. I don't have an actual picture of us at the hot springs because I left my phone in my locker so it wouldn't get wet. I attached a stock photo.

There was a snack bar and we got a fruit smoothie and sipped it in the hot tubs. We ran into Jed and Nicole Stout and that was fun too. We stayed the night at The Dwellings, these little houses next to River Rock. They overlook the canyon and it was a good little getaway. We met 26 years ago. Dang! Wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Mikayla's Orchestra Concert

Mikayla is growing up and her orchestra playing is so fun to watch. She and Juliet threw together a video for Grandma and Grandpa. They played the Piano Guys version of Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel. With very little practice, it sounded great! It's just so fun to watch!