April and May 2022 - What's Happening in the Family?

 Ali had a starring role in Annie.  This was a super performance and lots of hard work learning her lines and dances and songs.

I was able to take mom and she had a great outing.

Mason got braces and played LaCrosse.  He will make such a handsome young man with really straight teeth.

Brookie and Lala were in their first dance recital.  Lots of hard really paid off with great dance moves.

Kacy was Cruella in her dance review.

Wow, this was quite a costume.

And school has now ended for 2021-2022.  I love that Marc and Brittney do fun things with their kids to make memories.  They ride on the Vespas to school the last day.  Happy kids.

Pensacola, Florida: April 16, 2022 to April 23, 2022

 As a family, we really wanted to go on a cruise.  Covid got in the way.  So, Pensacola, Florida was backup.  It was a great backup.  How fun for Lauren, Brookie and Jesse - their first plane ride(s).  First ride was from Salt Lake to Dallas. Masks were still required.

At Dallas, we had a four hour layover and so we called Aunt Neala to come visit.  She and Karen Ann drove the half hour to the airport and we had a grand little reunion.  

It had been a long time since Neala had seen the kids and she was so excited.  There were lots of hugs and oohs and ahs at how big they had grown.

We were never at a loss for Neala's laugh.

Next leg was from Dallas to Pensacola where we picked up our rental cars and drove to Pensacola Beach.  I had no idea we were that close to Alabama

 on this long narrow peninsula.  The sand was wonderful.  The weather - so, so.

You can't stop us from having fun though.  Some got buried in the sand; others laid out in the sun; some swam in the ocean and surfed the waves; and our resident teenager showed off his strength by throwing others around in the pool.

Taylor, where are you?

Then, there was the alligator farm.  We had some very brave people who held an alligator and some were just brave seeing them through a chain link fence.

And then there was the eating experiences.  The kids first time at a counter diner.

By the time we had flown from Pensacola to Austin to Dallas to Salt Lake, everyone was old hat at going through security, taking their shoes off and remembering to put them back on.  We had only one tragedy - Jesse took his hat off at a play area in Austin and forgot it.  New hat required.

We missed Marc and Brittney's family - they are doing braces this year instead of vacations.

Love this family and love that they like to do things!!!!

First St. George Visitors - April 2022

When we got back from Yuma, Marc, Brittney and the kids came down and stayed.  They were going to attend Breann's daughter's baptism in Las Vegas.  So we got to have them for a couple of days.  We hiked to the lava tubes in Snow Canyon a little red rock climb.  The pool got heated and we really enjoyed being back with family.

Family History Yuma Style

 The last month we were in Yuma, Theron volunteered us to teach family history classes - our usual 4.  We set up 2 large screens (people with old eyes could see); we had everyone bring their own laptops and tablets (the ones they were familiar with - well some were); and we expected about 10 people.  

No way, this branch is too gung ho, there were at least 40 and most of them stayed with us all four weeks.

I guess we will start over when we go down to Yuma next winter.  Glenn is in the branch presidency now so we can't really hide.  He knows where to find us.

It was good and many people got the bug; we hope they continue.

These guys were intense.

Oh yah, we found an indoor pickleball court and played the last few weeks.  Can't wait to go back.