We Did Some Things In April

After our exciting and exhausting Spring Break, we got home just in time for Grant's 14th birthday!  He was sick (it seems like he's often sick on his birthday).  Too sick to enjoy cake, so we pushed that part off for a few days.

We gave him some gifts, and Heavenly Father gave him a beautiful sunset for his birthday.  

Grant has grown so much in the last year!  He is taller than me now!  He is so fun to talk to.  He is super smart and works really hard in school.  He is good to notice people who need a friend and he's kind to them!  He is such a great part of our family!

Ryan had a district band concert.  They did awesome and made it to the State Band Festival.  He tried out for choir for next year and made it, so he is quitting band after this year.  So I tried to soak in all his concerts.  I really enjoy hearing him play!

Maren had Prom!

About a week after his birthday, Grant was finally feeling like eating birthday cake.  So we made that happen, but he was still not feeling well enough to have people over.  He ended up being sick for a month!  (He didn't miss a month of school, but it took him that long to begin feeling better).  I took him in and he tested negative for covid, strep throat and flu, and when I took him in a month later, they finally put him on an antibiotic for a sinus infection, and then he started to get better.  Rough month for Grant!  

I was in charge of our Senior Honors Night for our ward.  We have seven from our ward graduating this year, plus five more from the neighborhood.  So fun!  We did a Hawaiian theme and it ended up being a fun night.  I love these kids!  I was their chorister in Primary, then their Primary President, then their Sunday School teacher and now I have been in Young Women's with them for 3 years.  Plus, they have all been great friends of Maren's over the years.  They have grown up together!  I will miss them when they are gone!

Our friends, Camille and Wendy brought her a beautiful quilt they had made her.

April was filled with track meets!  Maren, Ryan and Grant all participated.  Grant's first meet got cancelled due to rain, and he was sick for his second meet, so he only had one official meet, but he qualified for South End in the long jump, so he got a bonus meet. 

We had ward service project, making jackets for homeless people.

I coached Grant's rec coed volleyball team this year.  He is a good volleyball player!  It was fun. 

Maren took her Senior Pictures out at Saltair.  They turned out so beautiful!

We went to our nephew, Ammon's, BYU graduation.  Just a few more months and Maren will be there!

And then we babysat Ammon and Anne's dog for a couple of days.  I should say that my family babysat the dog.  I was at a Mother's Who Know retreat with a few friends from my ward.

While I was gone, they went to see our cousin's new puppy.  She is adorable!

What you are not seeing pictures of that also happened in April is lots of work, homework, prep for an AP test and still trying to recover from a concussion for Maren.  We had lots of fun weekly conversations with Avery in Seattle--she is happy and loving her mission!  Ryan is finishing up Driver's Ed and getting ready for driving groups with his teacher, and Grant is working hard in school and having fun with friends.  Dustin has been busy at work with a big trail project, plus his church duties, and I am just trying to manage it all!  What a fun month!

Spring Break Cruise

For Spring Break this year, we decided to try something we had never done--a cruise!!  We found a four day cruise out of San Diego for a decent price and we started out our trip down to Cedar City the night before General Conference.  We had planned to stay for a bit and visit with my parents, but Grant began feeling sick right before we were supposed to leave, and since my dad's heart is still struggling a bit, we ended up arriving late Friday night, wearing masks to visit (and Grant went straight downstairs to bed), and getting up early the next morning and starting for California before the first session of General Conference.

It was my mom's birthday the day before we got there.

We listened to Conference as we drove and that worked pretty well.  We made an impromptu stop in Barstow, California, along Route 66, to get two new tires on our van.  Dustin noticed at a gas stop that they were wearing funny, and felt like we needed to get them fixed, sooner rather than later.  I'm grateful that he watches out for and notices those kinds of things.  I never would have!

We arrived at Arie and Isabel's house in California and ate dinner and played in their community pool and hot tub until security kicked us out at 10 P.M.

The next day was Sunday and we spent the day enjoying more General Conference, walking around their neighborhood and soaking in actual sunshine (It has been a very long winter in Utah!  In fact, Utah was getting a blizzard for Spring Break, while we were in sunny Cali), and spending time with Arie, Isabel and Jenny.  We took a tour of Arie's work and then drove to a nearby beach that night to watch the sunset.

Monday morning we were up and heading to San Diego for our cruise!

We stopped at a random sand hill along Highway 1 so that Ryan could run up it.

Getting ready to board our cruise

We got on the ship around noon on Monday, so we had the whole day to explore the ship.  The weather was pretty windy and cold.  I was so glad I had brought my coat!  

Because of the weather, the boat was seriously rocking that whole day and night.  During dinner at the restaurant, we were swaying and could hear the waves pounding against the ship.  By the end of dinner, Grant was feeling pretty sick.

The food was fun!  They always offered something unique that we could try, like calamari, frog legs and alligator meat.

After medicine, a Priesthood blessing and 20 minutes of breathing in the freezing night air, Grant was finally able to feel good enough to go to sleep that night.  We kept motion sickness medicine in him the rest of the cruise and he did pretty good after that.  (Although the first and second day were definitely the worst for the rocking ship)

One of our cute towel animals.

The second day of the cruise was supposed to be our day in Catalina Island.  We woke up to more windy weather, and within about an hour the captain announced that the waves were too big to be able to ferry everyone over to the island, so we got another day at sea.  It was pretty disappointing to miss the day at Catalina, especially because we had already spent the whole first day exploring the ship, but the ship went far enough out into the ocean that it was less rocky and more sunny, and that helped!

Catalina from a distance. :(

The kids did the ropes course and we played mini golf.  Dustin and Grant dared to do the water slide (the water was freezing they said).  We also watched an outdoor movie on the deck and ate a lot.  Our favorites were the pizza and hamburger restaurants and, of course, the ice cream station.  That night was our fancy dress dinner.

The next morning when we woke up, we were docked at Ensanada, Mexico.  Yay!  We got to get off the ship and explore for a bit!

We had booked a tour to go see LaBufadora, or the blowhole.  It was a fun 45 minute drive through Mexico to get to it, and then a 10 minute walk of fighting off street vendors and then we were at the Blowhole.

On the way back through we succumbed, both to buying stuff from the street vendors and to holding the adorable puppies at one of the shops.

Then we had another hour to walk around Ensanada's main street, eat a taco and then we were back at the ship's docking area.  There was a nice park near there, so we took advantage of being in sunshine and off the ship for a little longer.

The next day was another day at sea as we made our way back to San Diego.  We spent the day relaxing, playing the different trivia and scavenger hunt games that the ship provided and eating.  Again.  We also spent a couple of hours every night watching HGTV and Food Network.  Haha!  It seems like an expensive way to get an all-you-can-eat buffet and Food Network on TV, and it was definitely not our usual way of vacationing, but it was fun to try it out!  To be honest, we found ourselves a little bored at times.  The drinking, partying, gambling lifestyle isn't really something we love to be around.  And the glutten of all the food intake began to make me feel a little guilty and grossed out.  I do recognize that we are spoiled because we even have the money and opportunity to do something like this.  I am grateful that we could, but it will probably be our first and last cruise.  But, now we know! 

Dustin participating in the Scavenger Hunt.

Our little room that fit all five of us!

After we got off the ship, we drove to Las Angeles to go do baptisms for the dead at the LA Temple.  It was lovely.

And then we drove north toward Santa Cruz to see Nicole and Matt's family, as well and Monica and James' family, who were visiting from Illinois.

We celebrated little Flora's first birthday on Friday night after we got there and went running (some of us) and biking (some of us) in the morning on Saturday, 

We had an epic Easter Egg Hunt in Nicole's amazing, mountainous yard.  It was even hard for the big kids. 

We spent the afternoon in Capitola and then headed to the beach to eat dinner and then to the Mystery Spot to finish out our night.

The next morning was Easter Sunday.  The kids found Easter baskets!

We went to church!  It was really nice and so great to be there with family, worshipping Jesus Christ on Easter morning.  And there was sunshine.  And, an adorable puppy that loved to have it's belly rubbed.

After church, Nicole had set up an Easter scavenger hunt that talked about all the different days and events leading up to Jesus Christ's Resurrection.  The kids did it and we had a great discussion about the Savior and then the we all wrote names of Christ on rocks that we could take home with us.  We also ate a delicious dinner and we got to talk to Avery because it was Easter!  So she got to say hi to lots of cousins, which was fun.

That evening we went to the beach to look at tide pools and roast hot dogs for dinner.  It was a really great day.

We got up early the next morning and started our drive home.  Grant got very sick with a high fever just as we got back from the beach the night before, so we were eager to not infect everyone and get on the road back to home.  He did ok on the drive home but ended up being sick for a week after with some mystery virus.

The snow was so high at Donner Pass near Lake Tahoe!  Just like Utah, they have had record snowfall this year.  We stopped at the rest stop and took these pictures.  So crazy!

 We got to talk to Avery on the way home, too!  While we were having Spring Break, she was getting transferred and training a new companion.  (She is holding her breath in facetime as we go through a tunnel, haha!).

Overall, it was a busy, 2300 mile journey, with new adventures and lots of family!  It was a fun and happy Spring Break!