There They Go

We've loved having the Phillipp family as neighbors but they are headed back to Idaho. Sad day but we know they are going to be awesome neighbors to someone else. Bye! We will miss you!

Taylor, Hunter, Archer, Chase along with Mark, Liam, Jack, Jesslynn, Mikayla, Evie, and Isla. 

Water Canyon Hike

The Phillipp family is about to move back to Idaho and Shannon really wanted to hike Water Canyon. Merril was gone and I hoped I could remember it. 

We brought Talon because he's going to miss the Phillips too. 

It's a lovely little hike.

Shannon had family down that hiked with us. I remembered the hike being easier. We may have mislead them. 😬

I'm glad we were able to get this crossed off her bucket list.

End of School, Time for Summer!

End of school awards, programs, field trips, all the good things! I'm ready for summer! Bring it. 🌞

Juliet received an outstanding student award in honors biology, foods, treble choir and also received perfect attendance award. I'm stunned about the perfect attendance. She really hates to miss school. 😂Juliet wanted to go to Dairy Queen afterwards to celebrate, of course. 

All the crazies did awesome at their choir concerts. 

Jack received third place in the math trig star competition, which awarded him cash! He also came in first place on a test in auto shop and received a toolbox as the prize. He scored higher than all the seniors and juniors that take the test! 

Maxine helped teach Suresh and Neha and was able to come back for the baptism. She said she promised they were happier in person. 😂 

Washington D.C. Girl's Trip

I've never been to Washington D.C. I got to steal away with my family.

Jeannie, JoLyn, and I went to church on Sunday.

This is the Ford Theatre. This is the box where President Lincoln was shot.

The White House was neato. It was smaller in person than I thought it would be.

I don't even know what this is. It's beautiful though!

My head's against the Washington Monument. We didn't manage to get tickets to but looked at the outside. It it so straight!

The Lincoln Memorial.

We went to Arlington National Cemetery. I had no idea it was so big.

I really wanted to go to the Washington D.C. Temple open house and it was awesome!

JoLyn had a friend on a mission and we were able to find her at the temple! She had to leave at 3 p.m. and we didn't get there until 3:20 p.m. JoLyn was afraid we missed her but some other missionaries helped us find her! I cried. She was so happy to see JoLyn!

Mom really wanted a tour through the capitol building, which required contacting our state senator. It was a lot of emails back and forth but it happened!

Technically, it's supposed to be closed because of COVID.

It was a beautiful building!

Mask night!

This is the Jefferson Memorial. 

I don't have any pictures of the National Archives because they don't let you take any. We saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Really cool stuff! One kid sat on the display case and got yelled at by a security guard. 

This was a hard trip for me. Maybe I've taken too many trips this year. I had to apologize to my Mom later for being mean. I felt like I was in charge a lot and that's not a fun place for me. My favorite part of the trip was probably the national archives. I left wanting to watch National Treasure. There are so many things I saw in DC that are in the movie!  

Hop Valley Hike with Mike and Shannon

In preparation for a longer hike, I hiked 7 miles out by the Washington Parkway exit.

We threw together a hike through hop valley with Shannon and Mike because they are moving back to Idaho soon.

Shannon loves to hike and had meant to hike Hop Valley but never got around to it. Merril and I were thinking of hiking it because Merril rode his snow bike here for a search. He wanted to hike it in the summer. We discovered that we both wanted to do it and had to get it done before they moved. So we hiked from Hop Valley, to Kolob Arch, and on through to Kolob Canyons. It was a perfect weather day!

It's about 14 or so miles. Maybe a little more. It was fun because we just chatted the whole time!

Kolob arch is high and in the background.

It was beautiful! I was tired at the end but felt good the whole time!

Shannon and I kept stopping to take pictures of the flowers. Everything was in bloom. 

I'm going to miss Mike and Shannon. They've been great neighbors and friends! I'm glad we've had the opportunity to know them this past year!

Playing in the river

Warmer weather brings the fun adventures of playing in the river. I don't feel like I have played in the river near our house at all. The kids have gone down a lot with the Phillipp family and Mikayla wanted to go down with Reese. 

The water was great and I should have brought a chair but instead I just sat in the water.

And we are getting new carpet in the living room! We pulled up the carpet ourselves to save a little bit of money and I cannot believe how much sand was under the carpet pad. Mark helped me vacuum it out. Yay!

Sister Fagergren at the Temple

Ellen is preparing to leave on her mission to Oklahoma and Merril and I were invited to the temple. Merril wasn't able to go. I was able to sneak away for the afternoon. Sister Merrill, Maxine's favorite seminary teacher, was there too. Outside the Cedar City Temple, I snagged this picture to send to Maxine. It's fun to see these kids growing up and making great choices.

 

This and That

 This next group of pictures is just a bunch of odds and ends but I like the color scheme. It goes together so well! Maxine and Sister Bullard were part of a service project in Yorba Linda.

Mikayla rainbowed the cars bin.

Maxine, Sister Bullard and their new ASL companion, Sister Bray.

Browniesssss.

Brownies can really make people happy.