BYU for Jugles

Juliet has started BYU and attended orientation and some other fun events!

BYU turns 150 years old this year and they got special shirts for free!

They had a drone show. I think those look cool!

Looks like she's having fun up there.

Immaculate Peach Days Vibes

I took Mikayla to soccer practice and tried to think of something to do for an hour and remembered that Peach Days starts on Thursday night! I wandered around by myself. The weather was overcast and mild. It was flipping fantastic! I bumped into friends and chatted. I had a lovely time!

We all went on Saturday to get dinner and listen to Merril's band play. 

I saw lots of people stop and listen and several found me and said, "I didn't know Merril played in a band!" It was a nice night. They had a substitute drummer, Jim. Jerry couldn't make it that night. 

Moving Day to BYU

Holy moly! It's time to move this girl to college! She's going to miss Peach Days, which she was pretty sad about. She actually cleaned out her room pretty good before she left.

We took the truck and her car and mountain bike. It's crazy how much stuff one person needs.

Her apartment is at the Riviera. 

She's rooming with Caroline, her cousin. We realized that Juliet has a lot of clothes! They barely fit in her closet. There are three closets in her room, she asked Caroline if she could use the middle closet as well. There are 4 girls in the apartment and it feels bigger than Maxine's in Logan. There are two showers and one big vanity area. 

Her apartment was reasonably priced and she is able to cook in the kitchen. It's been remodeled and seems good.

Awww. I feel like she's going to be so far away. She's so brave for wanting to go to BYU! Deep down I wanted her to go to Utah Tech or SUU since she plans on leaving for a mission in a year. Nicole and Alicen are up there as well. She should be good. This Mom still worries though. 

Frozen Shoulder

Okay, I have a shoulder that I've repeatedly injured. It's always my left one. I first hurt it putting an infant car seat in the back of a car with Mark in it. He was probably 6 months old. It seemed to heal up okay. I was taken out by a tuber on a sled hill several years later and landed funny on it. Fell roller blading with the young women. Lastly, I was helping my Mom clean her fireplace glass. I lifted up with my arms way out in front of me and felt it go. That was in November of 2024. I figured if I just rested it, it would eventually heal up. It felt sore for a long while and I started to lose range of motion. I saw a physical therapist in May but it just wasn't getting better. I saw a shoulder physical therapist advertise on Instagram. Oi. It seems like such a scam. So I cautiously reached out to him because I couldn't lift my arm much above shoulder height and I'd lost pretty much all my external rotation. I didn't want surgery and this was feeling like a last ditch effort. He met me on Instagram messenger and had me try a few movements. Then told me the cost, which was $3,000 but he was very confident that I could get my arm going again without surgery. I'm so glad I did. It's A TON of exercises but I can already feel a difference. 

We meet every week with a virtual meeting and he tweaks my program. I'm so excited to get my shoulder working again.

Juliet's Endowment at the St. George Temple

Juliet wanted to be endowed before she went to college so we set up August 23rd and went to St. George. She wanted to keep it small, I think because she was nervous. We just invited Leighna and Sara.

Mark and Mikayla came and did baptisms without us. The rest of us were upstairs in endowment. Maxine was her escort. Awww. So cute!

This is Mark's general face lately. He tries to look bored and otherwise uninterested. Very nonchalant. 

It's so fun that my whole family can serve in the temple. I love them so much!

A few days later on Tuesday the 26th, Juliet wanted to see what a sealing was like so we went again. Maxine invited Sam and Aslyn and Leighna.

Sam and Aslyn know ASL like Maxine. They are able to talk silently in the temple. It's fun to watch. They can have whole conversations without bothering anybody.  

Adventures in Japan

Flying to Tokyo, Japan! Merril and Juliet had an adventure before she started BYU. 

They started the trip with a stop at the Tokyo temple! Merril got to say the baptism and confirmation prayers in Japanese. 

They ran into some sister missionaries and said hi!

Then they met Shota's family at some shops in Isuzugawa.

And found a beach!

The next day, they caught some little fish with teeny nets at Yana Hiromi. Juliet even touched one.

Then they cook your little fishes.

Found a ward!

They found C.C. Lemon!

They visited the Tokyo Sky Tree!

They had some Denny's and started to climb Mt. Fuji.

It seems really foggy!

They hiked most of the way and slept one night in a hut. They started the next morning at 4:00 a.m., and they summited Mt. Fuji in the dark.

Got to the top for sunrise! The summit is 12,389 ft!

And then came down in the sunshine!

Juliet caught a nap on the train.

Shota and Aya met them again and they treated themselves to a beach day at Irita Beach and got some wasabi ice cream. 

Then they checked into a fancy hotel with an onsen (bath house) on the roof. They were given kimonos to wear around and they wore them to a fancy dinner.

Aaaack! Fish heads!

There's no pictures of the bath house because you have to be naked to enter and phones are banned. They separate the men and women so Juliet went with Aya and Ren and said it was fine. They just all be naked together. 

They went shopping at the Nakamise-dori Shopping Street. They found blowfish and funny little Japanese things.

Then they got a ride to a dirt bike track in Izushima. First they stopped at a place where a tunnel goes under the ocean called Umihotaru. Behind where Julie is standing is where the tunnel starts to dive into the ocean. 

 There is a dirt bike course in Izushima. Juliet and Merril rode a dirt bikes with Kenji. Merril found these friends while racing the Baja 1000. Kenji was broke down on his motorcycle near San Ignacio in the night and Merril was the first rider who happened by and spoke Japanese. Merril helped get his bike fixed and rode with him for a while and then they parted ways. They've kept in contact though and he said if you ever get to Japan, they should ride dirt bikes!

Then they rinsed off in a pool before they loaded their stuff up and headed to the airport to fly home.