Sgt Pepper's Family Reunion

Nothing screams family reunion like a reunion t-shirt! This time it was designed by a nephew based on the Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was fun to take a look at the design and find each member of the family.

We loved the beach and all of the kids were big enough to help with all the gear.

The sand creations were superb.

And the naps were as usual. I feel like I've had a kiddo fall asleep in my lap for the past 5 family reunions.

My dad was wearing my mom's old sunglasses at the beach. Apparently, he found them in her car many years back and they were in good shape. Not being one to waste a good thing and enjoy the memory (nor care about fashion too much), he took to wearing them. Love it!

Oliver gets a really sandy face.

There was a lot of good conversation on the beach. This gathering of the minds is one of my favorite things about the reunion. We talk for hours, and then we do it again the next day. There is no end to what we can talk about and the topics are many and varied.

Elsie had thee curliest hair in California. That humidity does wonders to her hair. One morning she woke up like this. The wave in front, holding her hair out of her eyes?!? I mean, come on.

We went to Legoland as well. In the photo below, take a look at Jess and Elsie. They are sitting next to each other and doing the exact same thing! I can't believe Elsie was putting her hands up. Everyone was a fan of the Coastersaurus!

Ansel, Ian, and Elsie are at a great age to go to Legoland. Ian was fascinated by the mini town built of Legos.

And, well, Ansel likes any chance he can go on a ride.

Can you tell we had fun? So much fun! There were absolutely no lonely hearts during our reunion. Huzzah!

So many things to share

There are many things I’d like to post to the blog (since it is currently my form of journaling, including but not limited to:

- our trip to Europe (France and Switzerland, beautiful!), 

- Ian’s birthday (and his natural tendency to eat a Keto diet, ha!), 

- Elsie’s first day of preschool (and her love for dance class), 

- Ansel’s melting jolly ranchers in the microwave and glass-blowing it into shapes (plus soccer!), and 

- Oliver’s sailing (and starting high school!). 

- Plus, Jess does a 100 mile bike race less than a year after being in the hospital (miracle!) and 

- our summer stops where we made many memories (St. George, Oceanside, Bear Lake, heck…Lagoon!). 

- And we don’t want to forget school starting and tennis fun and all the things that make this season a season I am so very grateful for. 

I can’t figure out why my photos are not being saved to my blog. You see, it seems that every time I post something new, more photos disappear. I’m sure it’s due to the fact that the memory in my Google account is seriously waning, and I’m way too cheap to subscribe to a monthly fee. So I need to figure out what’s next. More in that later. 

From the mouth of a three year old

When talking about going on a HUGE playground slide: “When I become a boy, I’ll go down the big slide.” Hopefully, we’ve cleared up that misunderstanding. 

When looking at the HUGE Ferris Wheel at Lagoon: “Look, it’s the Holy Ghost!” Again, hopefully, we’ve cleared up that misunderstanding. 

After being asked why she was placing a foot long piece of yarn in her nose and letting some hang out: “Because, I’m a doctor!”  I’m at a loss on this one. 

And one last thing, I’m using Duolingo to learn some French and Elsie really is the best at repeating the phrases she hears coming from the app. Tres bien!

End of the year wrap up

Um, it’s summer already. Wow! There was a whirlwind at the end of the school year and lots of activities for the final days of school and then we were onto the next thing. So let’s take a moment to remember those times because they were big!

We were able to enjoy some beautiful hikes, one being a quick jaunt up to Temple Quarry. The water was the highest we have ever seen!

Ian had an end-of-year program. The teachers made a cute video of the kids describing the things they loved about Kindergarten. Ian said, “recess and reading and making new friends and brain boosters.” It was a great year for him!

Ansel received his Bachelors Degree in a fourth grade program called the University of Learning. He did projects on piano, soccer, and cooking. Way to go!

On the third to last day of school, he and his buddies ceremoniously burned his Wonders book (the guide the school uses for writing practice) because it was something they loathed. Ha! 

Oliver had a birthday party with his friends at Top Golf. He and his buddies are hilarious. His last few days of middle school were good. He’s happy with his experience and ready for high school. Yowza!

Elsie finished her year of tumbling. She loved wearing her leotards. She really enjoyed the class and doing it her little friends.

We had our neighborhood end-of-year party. It was a good time full of BBQ, bounce houses, face painting (Elsie with her buddy), 9-square, and lots of good conversation with neighbors young and old. 


Jess and I went on a helicopter ride over the Wasatch mountains. We flew around our house later on during the ride and Oliver waved up at us. Taking a ride in a helicopter has been on my bucket list and Jess made it happen. Wahoo!

The creek near our house continues to rise and fall as the snow melts. Even though our neighborhood has prepped for flooding (sandbags galore!), the weather is cooperating and it looks like we should be clear. It’s crazy to see it this high!

We visited the Great Salt Lake because Oliver did a report on it and wanted to check water levels. He found that it has risen with the snow melt (yes!!)! Plus, the temperature was perfect and there was a breeze so there was no stinky smell. He and Ansel swam (and floated) in the water. None of us came prepared with swimming suits so the younger kids didn’t get to go out. Next time! 

After being out of school for only a couple of days, we were off to St. George with our friends and neighbors. We had a great time playing with buddies and chatting with pals. Always such a great time. We also spent time with family. My sister’s family was down there at the same time and we went to Sand Hollow Reservoir together. My brother-in-law loves the Flite Board and let me give it a try. So fun!

Now onto the rest of summer. Today I drove to swim lessons and picked up Ian from camp. Oliver’s off at a service camp with his cousin. Tomorrow we’re headed to Lagoon. And then onto the next thing and the next. Hopefully, in the (good) whirlwind of it all, the kids are making memories. 

Wild Thing

This here is our Wild Thing, our Elsie. Her hair rivals what mine looked like as a kid. My mom called me “Lion Lady” when I was young. Elsie has now taken on the title. 

She’s often busy drawing and painting, even on herself. 

She loves a good playgroup activity, especially when it involves riding a unicorn. 

She’s often seen with another wild thing, an Ian one.

She eats chicken wings and all kinds of things. She loves to run around nakey and dance. 

She can be very civilized at times. 

But most of the time, she’s a wild thing. 

Good Communication

Growing up, I feel like I had good communication with my parents. I’d talk with my mom a lot and when chances arose, I’d talk with my dad too. Some subjects we never touched on because we had no reason too, others probably could have been talked about but we never got there. The truth is, my parents made an effort, and that’s what was important. 

Going out to eat and talking was a frequent activity I did with my mom and siblings during my teenage years. Sitting at the counter or on the porch having discussions with my siblings happened often. At current family dinners, 10 conversations are happening at once and it fills my soul with goodness. I don’t know what it is, but the power of a good talk really recharges me. 

My family likes to talk, Jess will attest to that (ha!), and I think it both stems from our desire and love for the art of conversation but also by the way our parents nourished that art. This I am trying to do with my own little family. 

One such night we started talking about a YouTuber whose channel contained sub-par food reviews. We talked about his delivery, the camera work, his hat choice, which led to us questioning how such a person could have so many subscribers. The conversation wasn’t about anything of huge importance, but everyone was involved (even Elsie was trying!) and we came together on something so we can come together on bigger things in the future. 

I read a quote recently by James E. Faust that read, “Parents spend a lifetime seeking to establish and maintain good communications with each of their children.” This stuck out to me for a couple of reasons, 1) good communication has to be worked on constantly and 2) each child is going to have a different style of communication that parents must come to discover and then nourish. Jess and I talk about these different styles often and sometimes we have to adjust based on behaviors, either those of our child(ren)’s or our’s. 

Hopefully, there is good communication within the family, it will spread to good communication within the community. This is my hope for my children as they grow up and work with others. 

Santa Catalina

To celebrate a big birthday for Jess’s dad, we set off to California. Riding in the shuttle + plane + Uber + boat to get to Catalina Island was half the fun. 

But first, we got to Long Beach a day early and enjoyed some activities. Unbeknownst to me, Long Beach is more of a port city and is not bursting with tourist stuff. 

Still, we found some things to do, like riding in Swan Boats (where we spotted a Great Blue Heron):

and visiting Queen Mary (a boat bigger and faster than the Titanic). 

We also found an old, abandoned shopping area across the street that gave off Disney vibes. Then we happened upon these trees made of styrofoam. Um, what? Apologies if these tree characters haunt your dreams tonight. And apologies if you were really looking forward to going to Long Beach sometime in the future and now you’re not so pumped. 

Back to Catalina, we got on the ferry and arrived. We made our way to the hotel. We had ice cream and seafood. We rented golf carts and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the island. The views were stunning. 

We spent time at the beach too. It was a brisk 65 degrees, but this did not stop the kiddos from enjoying the sand and the sea. 

It was a wonderful time! It was so nice to be with family in such a beautiful spot. One last thing, we like to call what Ian is wearing in the above photo “gym leisure” (he had gym shorts on with this sweater. With this clothing, you can go on a run to get to the nice restaurant where you have reservations. 

Elsie at three

So many good things come from a three year old, Elsie is no exception. 

When something is not matching her timetable, she says, “It’s taking for a long time!”

She loves to comb her baby doll’s hair. 

She can play outside and pretend or ride her scooter (or strider bike) forever, still, she always wants to play with her buddies. 

She loves to paint. 

She calls a piggy back ride a “piggy ride” and elastics for hair “pony elastics.”

She always says she needs three of everything because “I’m three!” Three slices of apple, three pieces of candy, three doughnuts!?!

When she wants me to hold her she says, “Can I hold ya?”

And when she says she’s not tired, she most certainly is. 

Being three takes a lot of energy. 

Easter down south

Easter this year was surrounded by snow, General Conference, and Spring Break. As such, we didn’t have our usual neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, but we still had a few hunts. One was at Grandma’s house. She has the best yard for such a thing. Such fun was being had, so it’s the usually story, no pics. We had another hunt was down in St. George where we spent Spring Break. 

Ian had lots of excitement.

Elsie got all the eggs that cousins passed up. She took the hunt slow while the other kids were running around at high speeds. The excitement was certainly there. And then the kids counted eggs and traded candy, while all the teenagers asked them to share their candy. Ha!

We did some other things during the break. We hiked Gunlock Falls (which was crowded like no other), and had lunch in a wash. 

We swam, paddle boarded, and played tennis. We made food and enjoyed conversation. We relaxed. Ahh! Balm for the soul. 

A week later, we took part in the egg launch. A tradition my brothers came up with many years ago. Here, Elsie gets help from an older cousin. The eggs fly across the field and one of these guys tries to catch one. It’s a lot of fun. 

For many weeks now, I’ve focused a lot on the idea that God and Jesus Christ are the source of peace.  Amongst all the fun, my thoughts continued to circle upon that idea and the celebration of Easter emphasized it for me even more so. 

When you oldest and youngest…

…use the same piece of paper. You get this:

Oliver with math homework and Elsie with some creature doodling. Gotta love it!