Maxine's almost summer job...

Maxine declared that she's worked hard every summer since she was 14. She didn't intend to get a summer job. She's done a few odd jobs for me and Grandma. Merril talked about how great it would be for Maxine to get a singing gig. She could sing for a few hours and make some money but not be bogged down everyday with a job.

While Merril was at a car meet at Chronic Tacos in St George, he heard someone playing live music there. He talked to the manager and she said that she's always looking for someone else to do live music. Merril got her number and gave it to Maxine. Maxine called her and went in for an audition without telling us. She told us she got a gig playing every Saturday night. She makes $50 a night plus $15-20 in tips for 2 hours. Not bad scratch.

Last Saturday, she got a $50 tip with a note attached that said, "Keep up the good work!" She was overwhelmed and said it made her so happy. It's great to see your kids doing something they love! Yay!

Pine Valley Hike!

The Howards and Beattys invited us on a backpacking trip up Whipple Valley trail in Pine Valley. I was feeling nervous about the whole adventure because I haven't been backpacking since before Maxine was born. However, I've been exercising regularly and felt fit. That can all change with a 20 pound pack. Merril must have felt my nervousness because he carried extra weight. I think my pack came out to 18 pounds and his was more like 45.

Maxine had to play music at Chronic Tacos on Saturday night and didn't want to be worn out from backpacking so stayed home. The Beattys and Howards were staying for 2 nights but I wanted to be back for Mercedes's bridal shower (Mitch's fiance), so we could only stay 1 night. Our adventure started at Friday at 7:00 a.m.

Everyone had packs, including little ones on Mark and Mikayla.

We stopped for snacks and to rest our feet. Our littles were at the back of the back, the older kids at the front.

Mark did pretty well for the first 4 miles. He was the youngest in the group. He started to get blisters and became discouraged. I had some Moleskin for blisters and we kept stopping to put some on. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and carried him now and then. My pack was light but 50 extra pounds of kid makes it a challenge.

We found Whipple Valley!

This was about 6 miles in. Jack and Juliet were doing great but I could tell they were getting tired. Mark and Mikayla were done. Mark or Mikayla got "towed" by Merril or me the last bit. They were ready to get to camp. Dave H. wanted to get to the next valley over but we weren't quite sure how to do it. We bushwacked through the wilderness for another mile until we found West Valley.

We were excited to be chilling. Unfortunately, we were chilling with a bunch of mosquitoes. 

We built a fire, in hopes of keeping the mosquitoes away. I'm not sure it worked but the fire was nice. We had fun deciding which was better, Twizzlers or Red Vines. In the end, we called it a draw and decided that everyone likes licorice. Statistically, Red Vines are the winner. 

The weather cooled as the evening came on. We were unprepared for the cold.

I was tired by bedtime and crashed. We didn't bring enough to keep Mikayla warm. She ended up in a mummy bag with me at 12:30 a.m. It was tight and one or both of us needed to be on our side during the night. After Mikayla jumped in with me, we put her bag over Mark to keep him warm. Julie was cold some of the times but not all night. There was a lot of dew and it condensed on the inside of our tent and "rained" on us. The dew outside of the tent froze! We weren't expecting that. Jack was in a hammock part of the night but decided it wasn't the best after about 1:30 a.m. He ended up on the tarp with Merril and used the sleeping pad that Mikayla had been using.

Besides all that, we were safe and made it through. I woke up a lot but at least no one was crying all night. I was using the best air mattress! We woke up early and headed down. 

Juliet's stomach was not feeling great and we emptied her pack after she told us. We continued on. I stayed back with Julie and she made pretty good time for feeling crappy. We finally made it to the bottom and put our feet in the river. I smelled like a sweaty hiker and had brought clean clothes to change into but needed a rinse. The FREEZING cold river was the only shower. I sat on a log and got one leg all wet and then the other. Then I lied down in the river and tried to rinse the sweatiness off. It mostly worked. There may have been some light shrieking! Ha ha! 😅 I'm a chicken for cold water and Merril said he couldn't believe I did it. 

I got dropped off at the shower and met Maxine there. The rest of the family went home to count up mosquito bites and rest. Merril and I agreed that we probably hiked 14 miles total, which is a lot for little legs. The Beattys and Howards didn't stay the second night. The mosquitoes proved to be too much and they came down the mountain in the afternoon.

I don't want it to sound like a horrible adventure! I actually had a great time! It was a lot of work but that's often the case when I try something hard. My body worked like it was supposed to and got me up and down the mountain. I'm so proud of the kids! Jack had a heavy pack and carried it like a trouper. Juliet didn't complain and just kept hiking, even though she didn't feel well. Mikayla and Mark are still small and I was proud of how far they hiked! Wow! Just WOW!

Mark's Swimming Lessons

Since Mikayla is doing swim team, Mark also wanted to do swim team. I felt he still needs some improvement before swim team so I put him in lessons again. We missed a good portion of the days because of the backpacking trip and because of weather but it's still good to get him in the pool. Good times. 

The best thing for Mark's swimming was all those months doing physical therapy with Grandma at the pool. 

Jack's cyst removal...

For about a year, we've noticed a cyst growing in Jack's cheek. At first it was the size of a pea but it has increased to about the size of a quarter. I was going to get it out around the beginning of the year. I put it off and then Rona hit and cancelled all elective medical procedures. After things opened back up, I scheduled an appointment for Jack. 

Surgery Day! Jack is giving me a thumbs up but he was sad while they were numbing him. After he was numb, he did great!

The doctor put 3 stitches inside and 7 on the outside. Jack says that the scar running in this direction will look cooler than an incision that is straight up and down. Very Inigo Montoya.

He still can't smile though.

He's pretty numb so he should be fine once it wears off.

Update: Jack only needed pain meds that first night. He felt fine the next day and all the days after. I had to keep Mark and Jack from roughhousing because I didn't want the incision opening up. The stitches were removed after a week. Pathology came back benign. It's looking great!

Juliet's 13th Birthday in New York and D.C and my 20th Anniversary!

Merril needed to pick up a car on the East coast and it was close to Juliet's birthday. He asked her if she wanted to tag along and they could see the sights! My main squeeze spent our 20th anniversary across the country, being an awesome Dad to our 13-year old! After flying and picking up the Jeep, they drove around New York City. It's pretty closed down, partly because of 'rona and partly because of Black Lives Matter rioting. They went to Times Square and it was deserted! Merril said: I've never seen it like that. We were the only people except for like 100 cops. 

Juliet's birthday breakfast!

The Wall Street Bull.

One World Trade Center.

Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.

Carlo's Bake Shop in New Jersey.

Merril arranged for this awesome bouquet to be delivered on June 17th!

It doesn't feel like 20 years until I look back at pictures. Yeah, we definitely don't look like that anymore. :)

The next day they visited Washington, D.C. It was rainy and a little cold but they still saw the Lincoln Memorial.

A view of the Washington Monument.

Finding Merril's Uncle Maxwell on the actual Vietnam Memorial. We've seen a replica tour in Washington, UT.

Then they started driving. They made a stop at the St. Louis Arch. I still haven't been but I want to!

Juliet said the trip was very fun and there were so many trees! The drive back didn't feel as long as she expected it to. She said it was just a blur of sleeping, watching movies, and looking out the window. 

Shopping is hard...

Maxine and I tried to shop for swimsuits the other day and that's hard when you can't use a dressing room! COVID has caused most stores to close their dressing rooms. The store will allow you to purchase what you want, take it home to try it on, and then bring back what you don't want. We decided to head out to the car and try on the suits!

I used the big black car blanket to shade the back windows and drove to a deserted section of the parking lot. It kind of worked. Maxine didn't have a mirror so it was hard to see what she looked like. We ended up just bringing them home and she tried them all on again. Such strange times we live in. 

Hello pretty eyes...

Jeannie's son, Mike, married Chaise this evening. Chaise is adorable and we are excited to have her in the family. I don't have a picture. We went to the reception, which was weird for me to be around people. It was refreshing to feel normal. 

The reason for this post is not the reception but Merril's irritated eye at the reception. He had an eyelash in his eye that wouldn't blink away. I got some drops from the car and also tried to swipe it out with my finger. I had hand sanitizer on my finger so I just made it sting. He took the drops, which were allergy drops, and went to the bathroom to take out his contact and clean it. Came back all fine and good. Fast forward to getting home late and getting ready for bed.

I looked at Merril as we were in the closet and noticed something was very wrong with his eye that was irritated. His pupil was blown!

We did a quick Google search and determined he wasn't having a stroke or any brain injury. A blown pupil can be caused by irritation to the eye. Who knew? The next day it was almost better and 24 hours later, it was normal.

Trying to Hike West Temple

This is attempt #2 to hike to the top of West Temple. Somehow they made a wrong turn and ended up at the top of a nice mountain, just not the one they wanted. Wade is there with Merril and also Steve Christian and his son Tyler Christian. Poor Christian carried the rope all the way but they didn't end up using it because the took the wrong path.

Merril's convinced that the next time they try it, they'll make it for sure.

The wrong kind of Cheez-Its

I tried to buy Cheez-Its the other day and they were sold out of the regular kind. I bought the extra cheesy and they had too much cheesy powder on them, leaving your fingers like Cheetos. Maxine came up with a brilliant solution! Chopsticks!

She sat on the couch and ate Cheez-Its with chopsticks, which was funny. 

Colorado River Adventure: Black Canyon!

Merril and I were invited on a Colorado river trip by Shelly and Dave Howard. The Beattys and Nicole and Jed Stout were in the group too plus some other people that I didn't know. We started just below Hoover Dam just down from Las Vegas.

Right away there were amazing hot springs and a sauna cave to explore. Merril and I borrowed kayaks. We had a two-person kayak and a smaller yellow kayak. We started out in separate kayaks. It was super fun to explore all of the hot springs and the cool things on the river.

I really didn't want to get sunburned so I had on hiking pants and a long sleeve quick-dry shirt. 

The first day was pretty chill. We would paddle for a while and then stop for a while. When we made camp, it was super hot. We ended up making dinner and chatting and playing songs. Alex Chamberlain brought a guitar, and we carried it on the two-person kayak. There was singing and a bocce ball game and lots of stories. I went to bed super hot, but put a wet bandana on me and slept well. Exhaustion makes it easy to sleep, so does half a sleeping pill. 

The next day we saw another hot spring and a cool old water metering station, that hasn't been used in years. There was a cat walk that a worker would hike from his house a quarter mile away and go in a basket across the river to the metering station. Of course Merril and Wade decided to explore on the catwalk. It looked a little sketch.

The wind kicked up that afternoon, which made for some strenuous paddling. Paddling against the wind was hard for me, people told me I had a slow kayak. I was dragging way behind. Merril was having a hard time keeping his two-man kayak straight in the wind. Once his kayak got sideways, the wind would blow him all the way around.

Everyone stopped for a break and we rearranged the kayaks. We loaded all the stuff into the yellow small kayak and towed it behind us in the two-person kayak. With both of us in the two-person kayak, we were able to keep it straight in the wind. It was so much better!

We paddled for another bit and then stopped for snacks and drinks. It seems silly to me to paddle into the wind when we could just camp and then get up early the next morning and paddle without the wind. Dave Howard had to be back in St George by 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and so they were worried about not having enough time in the morning to get back. We kept paddling down river and looking for a campsite. We're having trouble finding it and so we just kept paddling into the wind. Soon we could see Willow Beach, which is where we were supposed to get out the next day. Since we couldn't find our campsite and people were starving and tired, and vote was taken on whether we should camp across from Willow Beach, or just head home that night.

Out of 18 adults, I was the only one that voted to stay and camp that night. I knew that if we drove home it was going to be hours before I was asleep, whereas if we camped I knew I could be asleep in a couple of hours. So we paddled the last half mile through some super windy weather to get to Willow Beach. We got out and loaded up kayaks on our trailer and smashed 18 adults in a suburban and our truck. From there we dispersed, some people stayed in Vegas some drove home. We ate at Wahoo's fish tacos with the Beattys and the Howards, then we plowed on home. I didn't get into bed until 1:00 a.m. with noodle arms.

Overall the trip was a blast! I had no idea there were so many hot springs along the Colorado River. It was so fun chatting and hanging out with adults. My arms felt used the next day but not too bad. I thought my abs would be super sore but they weren't at all. I wouldn't mind doing it again without so much wind!

Summer teams...

Because of COVID, a lot of things have been cancelled. However, the pool opened up just in time for Mikayla to join Jr. Tigersharks. After her first day, she said that swim team was hard! Harder than swim lessons. I think she'll get better but it's always hard on the first day.

Jack is back on the mountain bike team! He'll be a 9th grader in the Fall. This is his time trial and a nice person got photos of the kids racing. Jack's picture turned out awesome! He looks great!

Jack's friend, Paul Fagergren (Ellen's little brother), was set to be on the mountain bike team too! Unfortunately, Paul hurt his knee and had to have surgery. He'll be out for the entire season. Boo!

Jumping boys...

There are some bike jumps by the city pool. Jack asked if I could drop him off for an hour while Mikayla was at swim team. I love it when a plan comes together! Mark went along too.

These aren't good jumping pictures. They were jumping way more than this. Jack is getting so good at stunts on his bike, like wheelies and stoppies.

Mark was getting air too but I didn't seem to catch it.

I have such cool kids!