Lovely Times Together!

Getting a freshly cut Christmas tree is something that I truly love. I wonder how long Merril and I will be able to do this. I assume at some point we will be too old but that day is not today!

Look at the groovy snow this year! It was so spikey! I loved taking pictures of it. So fun!

Love my boys!

Mikayla smacked me on the elbow with this stick. Made me laugh for a good bit because she got my funny bone.

Yay!

Silly me and Mikayla got it in the house!

It took a few more days but the tree was decorated with all the memories made with the people I love. Feeling grateful for the people in my life and the good times. 😍

 

Thanksgiving at Jo Anna's House!

Thanksgiving was at Jo Anna's house this year and that made it easy for Maxine! We got an Airbnb up north for a few days. Recently, my kids convinced me to get BeReal. That's been fun. :) 

Me and my girls independently picked the same color to wear today.

We went to the mall and played with the escalators on Black Friday.

 It was snowing in the parking lot of Best Buy and the most perfectly shaped snow flakes landed on us.

I've never seen snow flakes like these. 

Maxine has a friend from college and she was going to be alone for Thanksgiving. Her name is Karalee Bundy and she's from Oklahoma. I told her to make sure and invite her to vacation with our family if she didn't have Thanksgiving plans. She came! We were crazy and funny and everyone was agreeable. It was a lovely time together.

While chatting, Merril discovered that he went to high school with Karalee's dad. (Of course he did. He knows everybody!) We took this picture to send it to Karalee's dad. He responded and said he remembered Merril.

On the way home, we stopped at the Beaver Creamery. It was packed and lunch took a while but it was still fun. 

It was a great little weekend. I've really missed having all my kids home. Maxine's mission was amazing but it was hard. She grew so much and had great experiences. That being said, I have enjoyed having her within arm's reach again. Hugs all around! I love my family.💓

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.