Just Jonas

Well maybe not just Jonas . . . but I had to stick with the "J" theme . . . 

Jonas went to Prom last weekend - his Junior prom. He took Abigail . . . I am not sure if they are like "officially" a couple, but I do think they like each other. :) Abigail does gymnastics with the girls and is good friends with Emmy. So we learned lots of stuff thru Emmy haha. Like, for instance, that Abigail wanted Jonas to ask her with a poster "promposal." Which Jonas didn't really want to do . . . but Emmy and I scoured Pinterest and found some ideas - one of which Jonas actually agreed on. We had my awesome friend write it out because she does lettering for money and so she's super great at it. It looked awesome, but too bad you can't see how awesome because the silly kids waited until it got dark to take a picture of it . . . 

Jonas took Abigail out one evening, and Abigail brought along her little sister. Layla (sp?) is the sister and is friends with Emmy as they are both freshmen at the high school. Emmy cried several times over prom-stuff and being left out - and this was one of them. She was super sad not to have gotten to go on the promposal night, especially as 1. She was basically the reason the poster existed at all and 2. Layla got to be there. As I told Emmy on prom-cry #2 or 3 (pre-prom pictures), Layla got to come along because she had a sister going to prom and not a brother . . . (Not that I think Emmy would want Lucy tagging along . . . but more likely that then a big brother letting his sister come?)

Jonas finally got the nerve to get the poster out and officially ask Abigail to prom. She said yes. :) Apparently she had turned down quite a few young suitors while she was waiting for Jonas . . . 

The poster reads, "I may not be Luke Combs, but will you be my Beautiful Crazy date to prom?" Yeah, I didn't get it . . . But Emmy and Jonas and probably most teens did right away. Luke Combs is a country-singer who sings a song titled, "Beautiful Crazy." So perfect!

I ordered a bunch of bow-ties and vests and a suit jacket for the big night. It wasn't too tricky trying to match Abigail: colors were a black dress and turquoise jewelry. Both of us got several bow ties, and one of them (Abi's) was a great match. The suit jacket wasn't as simple seeing as Amazon was to have delivered it by Wednesday of prom week. It got delayed and delayed and delayed. The latest update was to have it arrive on Saturday, the day of prom. I couldn't chance that and so I started checking out online what I would find on Junction. Men's Wearhouse was super-duper expensive and so that was a big N-O. Luckily I was able to find some jackets at the Target in Junction (our local one didn't have any, of course and so sadly). 

So on the day of prom, Emmy and I drove up to Junction to pick up the jackets (two of them since I wasn't sure of the size). Emmy drove and so she got some good drive-time in. Luckily one of the jackets worked and so we were all good. (The jackets still haven't arrived and so I have already requested a refund. Lameness.)

Jonas was extremely graciously loaned a fancy Jeep Gladiator from a young dad in our ward. Unfortunately Jonas didn't get any pictures of it, but it looks something like this: 

But even cooler. :) Jonas, of course, was super excited to have it and drive it around for the night. 

Jonas picked up Abigail around 4 and they got pictures. There was another couple there - the girl is one of Abigail's best-friends. So they took pictures and then they went to dinner, the four of them. Apparently the girls didn't eat anything . . . Silly girls.

Then it was on to the pavilion where the dance was to be. Before the dance started, however, they do a "promenade." This was held on the stage and whoever wanted to, would introduce themselves (or themself) and walk out. Anyone could go and watch for $5. Lucy was babysitting and so Emmy and I went to watch. It was really fun to see everyone all dressed up. But there was no way I would have wanted to do it in high school ha! I almost thought Jonas might back out of doing it, but he and Abigail did it and so it was fun to see them. The parents then left and it was on to the dance.

Luckily for Abigail, most of Jonas' guy friends were not there (he and his friends were a bit wild - think mosh-pit - at Homecoming in the fall) and so Jonas only joined in one time in the mosh-pit. Otherwise, he and Abigail danced all the swing-dances and slow-dances. I think they had a pretty good time. After that they went to some party that I was not excited about and had expressed that to Jonas several times. He said Abigail wanted to go and he didn't want her there alone and so that was that . . . But blessings of blessings (if what Jonas told me was the truth - which it seems to line up correctly), within 10 minutes of being there, Abigail told Jonas she wanted to go and so they left. Yay. They then just drove around town in the cool jeep and had fun being out late. I think it was a good night for both of them. I especially hope so for Abi!

Here are some pictures of the handsome couple:

I love the pictures! What a dashing couple indeed. 

Mostly Miles

Well Miles finished up his second semester at BYUI. He had another great one, too. He enjoyed fun times with his roommates and classmates. He worked on getting his mission papers submitted. He loved learning in all of his classes. He rocked it again with another 4.0. Yay! We're so proud of and so happy for this kid. 

My dad was originally going to drive up on Miles' last day in Rexburg to help drive all of his stuff back home. But due to an untimely and unfortunate fight with the driveway cement (i.e., he fell) the day before, my dad stayed home while my mom drove up. (My poor dad - it was the biggest goose-egg bump I have ever seen! The ER doctor wasn't sure he would be able to stitch up the gash due to how swollen it was. Aiyiyi. The neighbor, while my parents were at the ER, hosed down the driveway because, according to her and my parents, it looked like a murder scene! Sheesh. He's all good now. :) )

My mom got up to Rexburg around noon and helped Miles load up all his boxes in their two vehicles. Miles also had two bikes to bring back home and so they got those (thanks to Ben's friend Brandon, who is in my parents' ward, for loaning my mom a bike hitch . . . ) all situated as well. Miles had some money on his "Dining Dollars" card and so he took my mom out to lunch on campus. After that, they left Rexburg.

I think Miles was pretty sad about leaving. I was sad for him, as well! He's had a great experience there and really just loved it. Now he won't be back for 2+ years! I realize, now more than ever, how much a sacrifice serving a mission really is for these young adults. Anyways, Miles and my mom got back by around 7pm to Midway. I came up the next day, Friday, April 7th, and we were able to get Miles' stuff transferred from my mom's car to my car. We had a good afternoon and evening together. On Saturday, while I was out running, Miles and my mom went to pick up a rug my parents had bought in Park City at an estate sell. We helped get that in and situated. Miles made his famous and delicious muffins, and then Miles and I headed back to home. It all went well!

We're all excited to have Miles home - but, for his sake, I kind of feel badly for him! There's just not much to offer him in this town. He was in such a stimulating environment with learning and peers, etc. and that's just not happening here. He has been trying to help Ben with the Pontiac. Plus, he has a little "job" working for some old man here in town doing odd-n-ends in the man's yard. (Ben randomly got involved with a HUGE chicken coop project for this same man. He then contacted Ben a couple weeks ago asking if he knew of anyone who could help out with some yard projects . . .) It's perfect for Miles because it's pretty flexible and chill. Plus, the guy is paying Miles $17/hr! Cool.

So we're thrilled to have Miles back home again. It's just nicer, frankly, with him here. But I am also glad, for his sake, that he's just here for a month (but not for my sake, sniff, sniff). He has his trip to Germany coming up in mid-May and then he'll be heading up to Johnstown to work with his bestie all summer until he starts his home MTC . . . 

Which leads me to Miles' mission call! Miles got notice that his call had come on Tuesday, April 11th. We anxiously waited until about 8pm to open it up . . . Miles was really thinking he was going to (and also wanting to) Europe somewhere. He was guessing Scotland. So many of our friends were all thinking Europe as well. We had our family and some extended family make guesses and they were all over the world. :) We had a small Zoom group with the following joining us: all of the grandparents, my sister and her family (minus a sleeping Oliver), my good friend Sarah and her son Aiden, Ben's two sisters and brother-in-law Jay, Ben's brother and his family, plus a few more friends/roommates - and maybe even a religion teacher - of Miles'. It was a good group. :)

Well Miles ended up getting called to . . . 

Aguascalientes, Mexico! Yay! So fun! We are all so happy and super excited - including, and especially, Miles. While he may have wanted Europe, he is definitely thrilled with his call. He starts his "home MTC" experience on August 7th and then will finish up his MTC experience at the Mexico MTC. He flies there on August 16th. Wow!!!

Good times, hard times, fun times, learning times, growing times - all of this is headed Miles' way in the coming years. :)

Some pictures and a video:

Most of the kids and myself were off on the Monday following coming back from getting Miles. Too bad that Jonas and Ben had to work. But the rest of us took advantage of a beautiful day and enjoyed a little hike in the Dominguez/Escalantes area. It was a pretty little jaunt and felt so good to get out - especially with the sun finally shining!

Here's Miles reading his call via email from the church.

Yeah, he couldn't pronounce it. Yeah, I couldn't either. Which now I feel silly about - but it just looked really long and foreign (because it is foreign haha). My brother-in-law Chuck, who was on the Zoom with us, somehow guessed it - I think I had said it started with an "A." :) Awesome!

Lucy's State Weekend

We headed from Junction to Denver on Saturday morning. Our extra-hour saved by leaving from Junction was made up in stupid big-city traffic. Sadness. :( But we got to Jim and Diana's home by early afternoon and so no biggie. We ate some food and then watched some of the 2nd session of General Conference. We cut it short, however, and headed to Benihana's for an early dinner. (In our many spring break ideas, when Utah was on the table I had told the girls we'd go to Benihana's on my birthday. When we decided against Utah the girls were a bit sad - including being bummed over not going to Benihana. So I found there was one in Denver and decided our Utah-gas money could go towards funding our Benihana dinner. :) )

Jim and Diana came with us - it was their first time going to Benihana. As always, we ate delicious food and enjoyed the chef cooking it all right in front of us. Emmy practically ate her weight in fried rice, haha.

After dinner, we headed straight to the gym for Lucy's meet. Lucy was lucky to get the last Saturday session - as opposed to being scheduled on a Sunday. Yay. Lucy's meet started at 6:45 and went until 10:15. Aiyiyi. Luckily the gym was literally less than 10 minutes from Jim and Diana's! Perfect.

Lucy started out on beam. She did well but had a couple unusual-for-her wobbles. But everything else was pretty solid! She ended up with a 9.1 and so that was a good start. Then it was on to floor. Lucy did and looked great. Unfortunately, her score was much lower than we were expecting. It was actually really frustrating . . . she had scored almost 6-tenths higher at the meet before this one and the routines were pretty darn similar. I just wonder if there was some incorrect deductions taken or something. It just wasn't the score Lucy deserved we felt. But oh well. Lucy wasn't too bummed about it. (Her score wasn't horrible, a 8.725, but was one of the lower ones given at the meet.) Next up was vault. Lucy got an 8.8 and was super happy with that. Finally was bars. Lucy has done well on bars all season . . . but, unfortunately, her form was just a bit sloppy and she didn't get a great score - 8.2. But I was proud of Lucy nonetheless and thought she looked really great out there! Lucy ended up placing 4th on the balance beam - awesome!!

All ready to go and shine!

Lucy and her "salute" when her gym was called. Lucy was the only one in this session from her team. Jim and Diana came to the meet and stayed for the first two events - beam and floor. It was fun to have them there!

All done and with her awesome 4th-place medal. It's tough to place at state. Much harder than a regular meet. So Lucy was happy to get a medal!

Lucy's video here.

We got up on Sunday and got ourselves ready to head over to Joe and Britt's. 

But before we left Ben's childhood home, I had to take a picture of the new tree-strump. The tree had died and so it was cut down. Ben was/is so sad about it! So I thought a picture of his beautiful girls on the stump would help. Not sure it did, haha.

We watched conference at Joe and Britt's home, with Jim and Diana joining us as well. After the first session, we had a lovely lunch together. It's so fun and nice to get together with family! We sure do love them. I didn't get a picture of the other Maxwells, but Britt did get a picture of us:

After lunch we headed back home and while driving we were able to catch most of conference in our car. 

Miles sent me this picture he painted during conference:

I love it!!

It was a quick trip, as they tend to be. But it was worth it to see Lucy perform and to visit with family. :) Emmy's state meet times just got announced and, unfortunately, Emmy is scheduled for Sunday. Emmy has decided not to compete and so we are now officially done with the 2023 gymnastics competition season. It was a great season, though!

Springtime - but you'd never know . . .

Well it's certainly been one of the colder spring-beginnings for sure! BRRRRRR. I mean, I can't complain as much as my parents can - who have like 5-foot walls of snow along their driveway . . . But, still. It's cold. Today, April 5th, our high was 36 - and it even snowed a tiny bit. Sheesh.

Thus, our early spring break plan of backpacking Coyote Gulch was out - plus, only Lucy wanted to do it (besides Ben and myself). We went through many different options and eventually had settled on going to Utah for a few days - but even that ended up getting changed at almost the last minute due to Utah getting pounded with more snow, no temple slots available, Lucy getting scheduled for her state meet in Denver the following weekend, etc. 

Jonas' plans were just working most of the week so he never changed that. The girls were okay with just hanging out at home - although Emmy was definitely bored by the end of the week! She was grateful for our trip up to Denver to get her out of the house. . .

My birthday was the first day of spring break. Ben had work and I had the day off and so the girls and I made the most of it and ended up with a good day. Ben arranged for us to get pedicures and so that was awesome! Then I took the girls up to Junction to check out some thrift shops. I don't love shopping, but the girls were wanting a few things and brand-new stuff is so expensive! So thrifting we went. We ended up going to four stores and they were all pretty great - we all found items and so that was fun. I was kind of over it after the first shop, ha, but that's okay (apparently I am missing that shopping gene from my mom . . . ). We got back by dinnertime and Jonas actually came home early from work and so he was able to join us for dinner - salmon and asparagus. Yum. We watched "Water for Elephants" (a book I had read recently) and really liked it! We enjoyed delicious Rice Krispie cake and that was my birthday and the first day of spring break. :)

Chillin' get pedis. The chair massages are for-sure an awesome bonus to the experience! 

Lucy looking a little weary - but she wasn't, ha. 

Our pretty toes. :)

The girls loved trying on "fancy" dresses at one of the thrift stores! Haha.

Emmy loved this dress. But she isn't a fan of strapless - which is great because I hate them. Not because of modesty issues, but I just don't like how they look. But it was a pretty dress and looked pretty on her. :)

There's my yummy cake. I made it because part of my birthday present to myself was licking the bowls. No picture of me on my 44th birthday, but at least we got the cake ha!

Tuesday and Wednesday Ben and I went adventuring with ourselves. We got the girls to and from gym Tuesday morning and then we headed out to do some XC skiing in Montrose. I had been to this area a couple of times and Ben wanted to check it out. Too bad it hadn't been groomed in quite some time . . . but it was still pretty and had lots of snow!

After a couple of hours there, we then headed out for our next adventure: Redstone. Ben and I had done some adventuring there back in 2017 for our 15th anniversary. Just like then, we stayed at the Redstone Inn. We had a nice drive there (about 2 hours) and then checked in. We then drove up to Carbondale for dinner (the Inn's restaurant was having "issues" and so was closed for the night, bummer). It was hard finding something and I finally decided upon some burger joint. It left a lot to be desired in its aesthetics and was freezing, but the dinner was decent and had the best sweet potato fries we've ever had. 

The next morning we headed back to Carbondale to check out their Spring Gulch nordic trail system. 16 miles of groomed trails. It was pretty great! There was a lot of climbing and it was a bit warm and the snow a bit sticky at times, but it was really cool. We spent a few hours skiing and ended right as the clouds came out and the wind picked up. Perfect.

Some big mountain behind me. I forgot the name. :)

We got home that evening and then I was back to work the next two days that week. Ben had Thursday off and then went in to work Friday. 

Friday after work, Ben, myself, and the two girls headed up to Junction. I had gotten Ben tickets for us to see Garrison Keillor at the Avalon theater in Junction. We found a great rate with an excellent military discount at a hotel right down the street from the theater and so we decided to stay the night. Since we had to head to Denver the next day, it saved Ben and I 130 miles of driving so that was also nice. We checked in to our hotel, walked down Main St. (the hotel and theater are on Main St.) to some gelato place. We all got a treat and then when we finished, the girls headed to the hotel and Ben and I to the theater.

Garrison Keillor was awesome! Ben and I knew we'd be among the youngest ones there - we just didn't realize we'd be the youngest ones by decades! Ha. Whatever, we had a great time. Garrison was as odd and awesome as ever. It was just him for 2 hours - telling stories and jokes, doing sing-alongs, etc. The sing-alongs were great - a lot of patriotic songs that I am positive my kids wouldn't know the words to (My Country 'Tis of Thee), as well as spiritual songs (singing "How Great Thou Art" was a surprising highlight to my evening). It was just delightful, even though he's such an odd character!

We got back to the hotel and the girls had had all sorts of fun - involving jumping on the rolling chairs, following the soccer team boys that were staying there, etc. I think it was a fun evening for them as well. :)

And just like that, March is over! March - in like a lion AND out like a lion. Always. At least it's consistent.