Spring and Summer Sizzle

 

Here comes the sun, (dootin-doodah!).  Spring is always too short, but we filled it up with lots of fun things. 

After lots of hard work and extra time, Luke is to the point where he will read a chapter book on his own, for fun. It's been so interesting to see the way his brain is wired. Example: he can read long, unfamiliar words but gets mixed up on "a" and "the", "there" and "where", "I" and "and".  Two different processes, apparently. 

Boston went to a fun "pasta al dente" cooking activity at our bishop's. I jokingly suggested he wear the cupcake chef outfit and was surprised when he did. One thing we are trying to accomplish this summer is to have each of the kids take one week where they plan all the dinners and cook them, also two hot breakfasts.  Luke and Cooper have done a great job, Macy is up next. Chef Boston, I'm ready for you to knock our socks off. 

I wanted to document Rosie's first time in Primary Sunday school, post covid.  On a weekday afternoon. With all the kiddos in their regular clothes, plus masks. Rosie has mostly avoided wearing a mask all year in stores, etc., and no one has called us on it, but we thought we'd play along for Primary. She is in the multicolored jacket, Luke has the silver mask and needs a haircut. 

Now we are back to normal on Sundays, and Mark is even her teacher. (She asks him, "Dad, who's my real teacher?) I baked her a Sunbeam cake her first day in a regular class, per family tradition.

The Weishaar cousins came to our house for Easter. The kids were pretty loaded with candy since I had more hiders than finders this year.  Good thing we had lots, though, most of the chocolate melted in the extra warm weather.

This is a funny picture of me between the two Amazons. 

Brookie is as tall as a BYU athlete. She surprised the boys by arranging some meetups for autographs on BYU campus.  They even got to tour the locker room. Cooper's mind was blown. Thanks for taking him, guys!

Leslie, Brielle, and Benson.

Macy did a little too much Springing--this was the result of a trampoline injury kick to the head.

Rosie says, "Get tough, Macy!"

For Spring break we went on a great trip to Henrieville, UT, right between Bryce Canyon and Kodachrome Park. Our rental loft was super fun, and the host clued us in to this great slot canyon nearby--it wasn't even in one of the parks. Mark says it was maybe his most fun hike ever. Rosie said at one point, randomly, "This is pretty great!" It was also pretty great that we got to bring Mark's sister DeAnn with us. She was lots of fun and kept Luke on his toes. 

The ice was fun to hike on. We may have crashed it down occasionally with our stomping feet. 

Rosie loved this hike. It was out of the wind and not uphill. Plus she kept getting to hop over the little trickle of stream.

The rock is a bit hollow because of the way it is formed, so the sound was pretty incredible.

Boston was mad that I wasn't quite tall enough to get this picture to line up. Plus it is hard to see the camera screen in the glare.

This owl was resting down the trail behind the property where we stayed. He soon caught wind of my noisy children and took off. Maybe he flew over us later that night when we were stargazing on blankets in the yard. Amazing skies out there. 

Boston made an extra big crash. 

Leslie didn't feel good most of the trip, so she and DeAnn didn't join us in the slot canyon. Ice cream at the Red Barn is a nice perk, though.

First time for some of us to ATV, at Bryce Canyon. 

Rosie didn't want to ride with the boys, I think.

Mark had so much fun that he decided to get a couple of toys for while our kids are teenagers. The middles worked hard to do the class and get their licenses. In the meantime, he hit the trails with the fellas.

Mark also spent some time with his wifey, for our anniversary. Twenty-two years went fast!  We were married in Cardston, Alberta, but if we had been married at the Salt Lake Temple, the flowers would have looked something like this.

Cooper was excited to hit Texas Roadhouse and use up a gift cards some friends gave him while he was in the hospital. Feeling much better, although I don't think he finished it all in one go.

Rosie loves to play with friends, and asks to play with friends about every day. 

Luckily, when she can't play with friends, she has a big sister who dresses her up.

Leslie had a biopsy to check on some health concerns. The biopsy came back good but her right arm did not "wake up" after the surgery. She could barely wiggle some of her fingers, had no bicept use, and felt numb down her arm and thumb. Total dead weight. (Kind of like Woody in Toy Story when his arm gets broken and floppy.) The anesthesiologist was stunned--they hadn't done a nerve block or anything. He sent us to the neurologist, who said that she probably pinched the brachial bundle of nerves while she was strapped to the table--tall bony folk are prone to that. She's regained full use now, but this was an unexpected, rather comical hiccup the weekend before she was planning to move out. So, I got to get her dressed, and she got to text with her left thumb and eat Mom's cooking for another few weeks while everything woke up.

My friend Kelsey made some cute potholders for a local boutique. Liking the pink.

Boston has been working on his 40 hours of driving experience before he gets his license. One Sunday he and Mark drove around to all the local temples. We live in a good place.  Provo City Center above, Provo below. 

Orem temple under construction. They forgot the Lindon temple site. 

Mt. Timpanogos temple. 

Saratoga Springs temple, near where we used to live. 

Payson temple. We finally got to attend a regular session last week. 

This was a very good day.  As in, we might have held hands with Rosie and skipped back to the car kind of a day. Leslie had a followup appointment with the GI doc who gave her the original gut biopsy and celiac's diagnosis. He REVERSED her diagnosis, which I am counting as a straight up miracle. (There is currently no cure for celiac's.) Originally the lab said her biopsy came back negative but this doctor thought he had seen vilae damage in her gut--so he diagnosed her anyway. Also her blood test was a little elevated (?), and she had all the symptoms, so they blamed the negative biopsy on sampling error, told her she was celiac and to go off gluten forever. Expect to feel better in a few weeks, etc., aside from all the negative side effects of having an autoimmune disease (and all the extreme hard work to avoid contamination). Well, months later she wasn't noticing any improvement, so they tested her again, sure that she was still getting gluten into her system somehow. She is not autoimmune reacting! The surgeon sheepishly explained that those biopsies can be difficult to call if you are already looking for evidence, and changed his mind. 

He said she might have a visceral hypersensitivity--a problem with your nervous system. We didn't even tell him about her dead arm. He explained that it's like chronic migraines but with your midsection. It's fairly common and treats easily with migraine medicine. She was told to stay off gluten for two more months so as not to muddy the waters, but then she can go back on slowly. I think she has two weeks left, and she is feeling MUCH better in lots of ways. Such a big answer to prayers! And just in time for Summer Term to start.

Luke is a very obedient child. This is his answer to "hang up your church pants."

Rosie is such a popcorn girl. She asks for popcorn before bed all the time. 

This kid can have as much popcorn as he wants, too. All done with braces! Four more kids to go. 

Boston has a great time with his Priest's Quorum. I think they welded these Squirrel Cooker sticks. 

Speaking of squirrel cookers, Luke has been very into watching wilderness survival types of shows. He was pretty impressed with this nightcrawler... I wonder....

Leslie had a fun time putting these pictures together for her missionary. We are excited to meet him--he is finally serving in Brazil after a long Covid visa wait in VA, WV, KY. Leslie is counting down to October.

I finally got peonies that bloomed.

Mark had a business training in Detroit and got to go to a Tiger's game with his buddy.

Ribs for Mother's Day. I like it when the men cook!

Leslie got some business cards! While she has been feeling sick for so many months, she completed  her loan officer training and licensing. Good job, Sis! She is excited to help you out for a refi or a purchase. Her team at Remarkable Home Loans has years of experience.  Message her. She is brilliant and very sweet. And paying her way through college💪

Good thing the raspberries are doing well this year. We eat them like candy.

Leslie got an apartment and finally got to get out of our crazy house. (On a recent visit she told me she could tell that her Chaos Tolerance Level has decreased. We might have been a little over the top...) She has a fabulous view.

She also got to go on her first business trip, a training in Detroit for new loan officers. I was glad one of her coworkers was also going so she wouldn't be all alone in the big city.

Leslie and her cousin Lydia have been spending some time in the BYU library scanning their Great Grandpa Newel Day's albums. Some of these were huge albums with wedding pictures/announcements from all the couples he married as a sealer in the Manti Temple.

Rosie's bedhead is a constant source of entertainment. Poor girl has some curly, some straight, and two whorls on the back of her head instead of just one. She wasn't happy with me when I gave it a trim.

Sometimes we had to fetch Leslie back from BYU to help babysit during our busy Spring sports season. Some days we had all three boys with baseball games, with Mark coaching, and Macy at a track meet. Thanks also to our neighbors, the Guertses and the Argyles who stepped up to help with rides. 

Rockwell's Ice Cream (the G.O.A.T. and honeycomb flavors are the best) and a night at the comedy club with Mark and Leslie. Pretty great date night.

You like ice cream with goat cheese and rosemary Mom? (and lemon blackberry curd, and sugared almonds...) So weird. 

We found out that one of Mark's Mom's ancestors is buried in the Spanish Fork cemetery adjoining Luke's ballpark, so before the game one night we hunted him down.

Near Leslie's new apartment. Rosie doesn't like that she moved out, and when we leave her place, Rosie reassures her that we are just going to check on our other kids.

A few years ago Cooper drew a horrendous short & spiky-haired bully picture of me for Mother's day in this same class. So Macy knew she had to do an extra nice one. Make something up if you have to!

Cooper likes it when his birthday is on a game day. I couldn't resist picking up this water football for him.

Luke loved his baseball season. He hit big and fielded lots of outs. Next year, kid pitch.

Macy all gussied up for the end of year Sixth Grade Dance and celebration. She's growing up fast! (I think Mark may have choked a little when he saw these pictures.)

Macy had some other excitement the last day of school. One of Mark's favorite childhood memories was his sixth grade graduation because one of his buddies' parents rented a limo and took a bunch of friends through a drive-thru. Mark told his friend Dustin the story recently and Dustin said, "Let's do it!" Dustin's daughter is Macy's friend Libby. So, Macy and Libby got a limo that took them (and the Moms) out to lunch. I was too embarrassed to meet them at the school (thanks for covering that, Kerri!) but they came and got me and it was a great time. They were SOOO excited and made a game of trying to get people to wave at them.

Boston, on the other hand, got down and dirty for his last day of school. They had an epic kickball tournament, students vs. teachers.  He came home like this. It's a good thing school is over--everyone was getting pretty antsy to be done. His t-shirt says best for last because his school is transitioning back down to a middle school, so his class is the last class of 9th graders that will have attended there.

A Daddy Daughter date to Zupas. Lucky girl!

A sort of Daddy Daughter date. Mark got to help at Girls' Camp one day. They were blessed to be at this campground instead of Bennion Creek, where a different Girls' Camp had to get evacuated because of a forest fire.

We had a super fun cabin stay with Day/Laker/Marks cousins for Memorial Day. It's been too long. This is Blake and Cassie on the 4-Wheeler.

Doug, Gavin, Mason and Macy.

It was extra special to have a family sacrament meeting and let these cousins administer the sacrament together. 

Rosie got to know her little second cousin Hudson.  Rosie is the youngest grandchild.

I also had a nice visit about genealogy with some of my more distant Van De Riet cousins, who wanted to meet me on their way to Moab. Dennis' Dad was in Pearl Harbor on the Lucky Lou ship, so he promised to record some WWII stories for us. Thanks for the recipe, Martess! 

This was my 3 year Cancer Free Day. Celebrated by going to parts of three baseball games, plus a lot of other Mom stuff. Happy to be here!

Macy tried something new this year and did the Track Club. She doesn't much enjoy running but did really like the field events. She did long jump, high jump, shot put and a relay. Much to our surprise, she was the regional girls' shot put champ and got to go to "state" where she took 3rd place. It was a good year for her to compete--she is still quite a bit taller and stronger than most of the girls.

I kinda like being a track Mom. Mark has had his way with baseball for the boys all these years...it was fun to do something different. Great job Macy! Her farthest throw was 19.6. Her best high jump was 4 ft. She liked high jump the best and says she wants to do track again next year.

Macy and her friend Katrina, who was a discus champ.

On the way to one of his games, Luke was explaining to us that there are two Lukes on his team. "Handsome Luke...and Mr. Apple."  Huh?  "I'm Mr. Apple. I made that name up." I'm glad he wasn't offended about not being Handsome Luke.

We spent a fun day at Tibble Creek Reservoir with some of our Lehi friends. Teenagers were jumping off this stump on the other side of the lake. Cooper wanted to try, and hemmed and hawed for about ten minutes before finally jumping, much to our amusement. I don't think he saw the line of people waiting to jump. 

Cooper has a part time job working with his buddy Kali'i at Kali'i's grandma's property. I get paid in Venmo, then Mark gets a kick out of paying the kids in ones. This day he made it extra dramatic by pitching the ones over the stairs when Cooper was coming up. Silly boys.

Boston got to go on a missionary themed High Adventure camp called Kodiak camp in Wyoming. They went whitewater rafting on the Snake, went shooting, swimming, hiking, etc. and did a lot of praying. He really had a great time and bonded with his quorum.

Rosie had a long week. She got her tonsils out, poor baby! Here is her first morning, with ice cream for breakfast. Surprisingly, she didn't usually want ice cream and would only take a few licks of a popsicle. She wanted ice water, juice, noodles, scrambled eggs, and cold ham. I have to hide all the popcorn for a few more days while she heals up.  She did NOT like the medicine.

As soon as she was feeling better we took her to the aquarium--one of our summer bucket list items-- for the first time while Boston was at football camp.  She loved it. Here we are with Luke, Macy, Rosie, Cooper and Kali'i. 

I took the kids to ChuckaRama for lunch. Rosie howled the whole way there that all she wanted was Wendy's french fries. At ChuckaRama I loaded her plate up with soft foods. She was right--she only wanted the french fries. Haha.