Get aways in the hard weeks of recovery

 Paul is just about to go nuts with laying around with his foot in the air.  I'm feeling a little bit cooped up along with him.  I have taken advantage of morning walks for a little get out time as well as doing the work to get things finished up at school.  Paul decided he really needed to get out on Friday and said we should go to Pine Valley and have a KFC picnic at the Heritage Center picnic area.  We got things together and took Bean with us and did it!  And it was wonderful!  The food was good, the weather was lovely cool, the scenery was beautiful and the company was great too!  After we ate we took a little drive around to see how the cabins that are being rebuilt after burning in the fire are coming along and stopped off to read the DUP monument sign and see the Oreo cows.  It was a great little outing.  Paul got pretty tired by the time we left, but it was worth it for him and for Bean and me too!  Sadly, a giant old spruce tree at the grounds by the Heritage Center had been chopped down.  It looked like it must have been diseased so they took it down.  

Today I mowed the lawns and blew off the side yard by the trash and blew out the garage along with the patio.  Paul can't be doing that for a while.  I'm not very good at it, but I did my best.  Bean and I took the car and the truck and got them washed too.  Paul made some cookies and I made a blueberry loaf and cleaned the house, shopped and did laundry.  Just keep on keeping on.  Hopefully Paul's foot is healing well and he'll get some more freedom of movement back at his appointment on Tuesday.  

Zade awards night and Jazz Band's last concert

High school is winding down for Zade...that bittersweet time.  This week I was able to attend an awards night and his last Jazz Band concert.  He got several scholarship  $ awards along with a sterling scholar award from the school district.  He was also recognized with an award for Computer Science and for Gaming Development.  Zade has done well with other activities too.  He was involved for all of his high school years on the Quiz Bowl team and has also participated in the ROTC program.  He hopes to attend BYU this fall and continue in the Computer Science field as well as ROTC and Jazz Band.  We hope that will all work out for him for the next year and then hope he will take time off for a mission.  Go Zade!  We are so proud of you for all of the hard work you've done in your school career!  

Eden gets back to the USA!

 We are so happy that Eden has now arrived back to the USA after her semester in Mexico teaching elementary students English.  It looks like she had a grand time there.  Juge says she was happy to see her at the airport and ecstatic to see her car!  It ended up being a long flight because of some delays, but they made it  home and into beds Sunday morning at 4 am it sounds like.  Eden posted that she is delighted to be back!  Here are some pics Juge posted. Hopefully we will get to visit with her soon!  Great job Eden! What an adventure for you to remember and learn from!  

Paul's foot surgery - getting out!

 Monday Paul had foot surgery for some toe problems.  He's supposed the spend the next two weeks with the foot elevated...and boy, is that boring him to death!  I took him for a little break Friday morning.  We went up and walked (he scootered) around the Desert Garden.  It is pretty level and paved so he could maneuver his borrowed scooter there.  While there we got to see the death bloom of a century plant.  "Most agaves are monocarpic, spending anywhere from 10 to 30 years---hoarding energy for a single reproductive event.  Once it blooms, the mother plant dies."  We also could see where some great horned owls have nested in a cliff and are raising 3 owlets.  The rest of the desert garden is always great as well.  Some of the desert plants are blooming right now.  It was a good get out for him and me!  So glad that Sister Brady lent  him her scooter.  It makes getting around so much more comfortable than using crutches.  

Just to make things more interesting this week, our refrigerator died on Thursday.  It made noise all day long until we figured out it wasn't even keeping things cold.  I went to get some popsicles for Jem and Kaia and found them all melted!  Friday morning I went out getting quotes for a new one since fixing the old one would cost almost as much as a new one.  I went 3 places and ended up deciding on one from Lowe's because we do get a pro-builder 5% discount there and that made the one there the best buy of all the ones I got quotes on.  I don't think it's quite as nice as the one we had, but it's the price we can afford and the size that will fit our space.  Thankfully we  have grandma's old fridge in the garage and it is doing a good job for us until we get the new one.  It's just a little inconvenient getting everything from downstairs and taking it back when you need to eat.  Whine, whine!  I'm just so glad we have that fridge and freezer to keep stuff cold for now.  

Gaige comes home from his mission early

 There isn't going to be an airport return party for Gaige, unfortunately.  His knee got injured several weeks ago during a P-day activity and it hadn't gotten better.  He had just been transferred to a new area where he was the Zone Leader.  He had been the Zone Leader in his last area.  After an MRI and other tests, it was determined that he should come home early so he could get going on the medical care needed to help the knee to heal.  That puts him coming home about 2 months early.  After a zoom meeting with Ferf, Gaige and his stake and mission presidents that was the decision they reached.  We are happy that he served well for as long as possible and now will get his knee injury taken care of.  It would have been very uncomfortable for him to fly home with the seating on an airplane, so Ferf, Kennis and Koen went out and picked him up.  He got home Friday, May 2nd.  We haven't seen him yet, but hoping to get to visit with him soon.  We are  proud of him for his missionary service and excited to see where life will take him next...after he gets his knee back in good shape!  Congrats Gaige!!!  You served with honor!  

This Sunday, March 17th, I will be giving my homecoming talk at 1:30 — I can’t wait to share about the amazing things I learned on my mission!

These last 22 months in California have been the greatest thing I have ever done. It is hard for me to even call it a sacrifice, because God gave me so much more than I could have ever deserved for leaving home for two years.

Although it ended a little shorter than expected due to a knee injury, I’m home full. Full of lessons, full of growth, and full of joy. Serving the Lord brought me so much happiness. Sometimes it was hard to recognize in the moment, but looking back now - even on the hard things - I cannot help but feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift my mission was.

I believe in Christ. I love Him. He is my Savior and my Redeemer, and I am so grateful God gave me the opportunity to testify of Him for nearly two years.

Come hear about it this Sunday. I would love to see you there!

115 W 2000 S, Washington, UT 84780 @ 1:30pm

He gave his talk today and did a great job of it! So proud of him. He served from the Washington Fields 12 Ward. We were able to contribute a little towards his mission each month. It was a blessing. Ferf had a dinner for him at her home afterwards. All the family except Supe's family were able to attend. That was nice. Now Gaige needs to get back on his feet. He's trying to get a job, needs to do physical therapy, get a car...all those things that have been on hold during his mission are now here ready and waiting for him...lots for him to get on top of plus the injury/healing. Love you Gaige. We'll be praying for you as you start back on the path of life. You served and returned with honor!

April birthdays - Noah #17, Christie # 38, Essie #12 & Turkey hunting!

 Noah started off the celebrations with his late celebration of his #17.  We dropped his present off early and then shared the opening of it on Facetime.  He's an amazing snowboarder without enough snow to keep him happy this year.  He started tennis at school and is pretty devoted about practicing at 5 am in the morning at a friend's indoor court.  He had a list of many snacks that we satisfied for a birthday present:  thin Oreos in regular and golden,  some Yoggies from Costco and ChapStick in mint and green apple. He should be set for a while with those.  Happy birthday Noah!  Hope you get more snow later in the year!  

Christie celebrated #38 this year and we were able to get a present over to her a little early - a waxed amaryllis and a pedicure gift cert.  She's a talented and busy lady.  She is a wonderful wife and mother.  The family helped her put together a puzzle she got while they watched conference and celebrated Easter!  They did lots of other fun things on the day of her birthday!  Happy #38 Christie!  We think you're awesome!  

Here's another little celebration that went on  during April - Trigg got his first turkey hunting with brother Zade and his dad.  Pretty big deal for him!  Congrats and hopefully good eating!  

Today is Essie's #12 birthday!!!  We wished her an early one a couple of days ago when we went up for Madi's violin graduation and also to see Essie's play, Annie!  She's one of the orphans and it's a great community play!  Her first one!  She had to audition to be in it and was pretty nervous, but now she knows she can do it!  We loved seeing her perform so well.  Happy Birthday Essie!  We love you tons!

We didn't get any very good pics while we were there...shucks.  Maybe I can get one from them!  

Paul's foot surgery

 Today, April 27, 2026, Paul went in for some foot surgery.  He had done a prior minor surgery to have some tendons in toes cut and they had hoped to straighten his big toe.  The tendon part worked, but it did not straighten the big toe, which was the biggest problem.  This time he went to a different doctor who seems to know more about it.  He went in at 10 and the doctor came to report to me about 11:30 and said all went well.  Now the important part is to keep it immobile for two plus weeks.  He's in a big boot right now and probably for at least 2 weeks, maybe more.  I took the day off and will probably take tomorrow off too.  A ward member lent him a scooter that's a lot better than crutches for him.  He kind of enjoys driving it around and figuring out how to get out of tight spaces.  I'm so glad we found one for him.  Now we will just have to wait and heal.  Of course, it's a lot less terrible than the knee surgery he was doing last year at this time.  Hopefully that will help him get through having to lay around so much.  He had Moss and Wayne Stucki give him a blessing last night.  That should help too.  Happy healing Paul!  They thing they did was to cut a little wedge out of the big toe bone and then screw it down to help it get a little bit straighter and not be crowding all of the other toes.  It has been very painful for him. The doctor says that he probably had a broken toe sometime that caused the toe to be bent the way it is. They also shaved off some of the big knob of bone sticking up on the top of his foot caused by his arthritis and fallen arch somehow.  

Fun with grand kids!

 Paul did some work for a historical group and they invited us to a sneak preview showing a film they collaborated on with Angel Studios - Young Washington.  He could bring some guests, so we invited Zade and Trigg.  It was a really great movie/treats and we enjoyed spending time with them.  

Madi called about a month ago to invited us to her Suzuki Violin Graduation concert.  It turned out that Paul had his one-year knee replacement check up the day before in Park City, so it would be a great time to get to both of those things.  It also worked out that we could attend Annie, a community theater play that Essie was in and even bring her an early birthday present too!  We didn't have time to stay to see Tahlia's play unfortunately.  We did have time after Paul's appointment to visit with Jim and take him to lunch.  On the way home we stopped and took Bean to dinner in Cedar!  It was a great trip for so many reasons!  

Sorry, no trilobites

 We saw the sign for Oak Springs Trilobites a few weeks ago coming back from the Pahranagat NWR and I'd been wanting to make the trip out to try and find some.  We took Bean and went out there on Saturday to try our luck.  We didn't really have any luck, but we had a really nice drive out in the boonies and ate a picnic there and enjoyed poking around and beating on some slate rocks trying to find some.  We did find some pretty dendrites.  Here's what they are:

Dendrites in geology are tree-like, branching mineral formations, typically composed of manganese or iron oxides, that grow on rock surfaces or within fractures.  Often mistaken for fossils, they are actually inorganic, non-equilibrium crystals that form as rapid, fractal growth patterns when mineral-rich water flows through narrow spaces. They are pretty, and we were glad that we at least found those!  

  

Stout Canyon Campout!

We left Thursday after school to go camping hoping we could camp close to Mammoth Cave again.  When we got up on Cedar Mountain we saw smoke that looked like it was over that way.  We stopped in at the fire station by Duck Creek and they said they were doing a controlled burn over that way and that we should not camp there.  They suggested going to Stout Canyon.  We started off to go there and stopped in at Harris Flat to look for a closer spot, but it was all a burned out area.  We went on to Stout Canyon and wondered if we would ever find a spot, but then we found the perfect spot!  It was off the road enough to be private and had a small stream running right by it.  Behind it was beautiful forest and above that were Cedar Breaks type rock formations.  We got things set up and had a great dinner. Then after a short walk, we played some games and went to bed.  (Paul got a perfect score in 5 Crowns!)  

In the morning we went for a down canyon road walk and saw lots of beautiful scenery and Heaton ranches.  Then we got in the truck and drove the rest of the canyon to see where it came out!  Then more exploring including driving up Strawberry Ridge road until it mudded out.  We thought we were heading to Strawberry Point.  We did see lots of wonderful campsites along the way.  Next, we did find the road, a better one, to Strawberry Point.  It was beautiful with a view that made the drives worth it.  You could see clear to Zion.  Then we drove some other roads including Unita Flat and found more great campsites!  It was a beautiful day to see beautiful places.  Then we headed back to camp for some lunch and a nap.  After that we took a heinous uphill hike to see those beautiful red rock formations behind our camp.  We ended up finding huge seeping areas covered in heavy grass.  We thought it was just grass until we stepped into the water underneath!  Crazy all of the seeps going on in this area once we knew what to look for.  We did make it up to the red rocks.  It got a little iffy going up very steep games trails, but it was cool to be up there among the rocks.  Then we followed game trails back down the very steep way back to camp.  

At camp we had time for a few games before we made a great dinner.  Then we took an up canyon walk and stopped in at what looked like a cowboy camp.  We had seen them on the way in.  It was all men from young to older and lots of horses/mules.  Turned out to be kind of a male family reunion.  They had taken all their horses/mules and gone riding in the Dive of the Buckskin canyon that day.  We had a good chat and they even invited us for dinner!  It was fun to talk to them.  Then it was back to camp to get ready for bed.  In the morning we packed it up and headed down to take Bean out for breakfast at    I-Hop. Then it was time to head home.  While coming back over Cedar Mountain to Bean we had a tiny hail storm, but the predicted rain didn't really do much more than that. It was such a wonderful camp and fun time of exploring beautiful places!