The End of the 2022-2023 School Year

 And that's a wrap folks!

Junior and Freshman year, done.

7th grade, check.

And the annual candy grams:

Miles,

Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider . . . but you went to BYU-I to get more SMARTies. You rocked your academics and loved learning - chemistry and physics especially! You had MOUNDS of fun as well - with your awesome roommates, a trip to Mack’s Inn, snowball fights, backyard ice skating, and more. You also were able to do the two sports you love: mountain biking and climbing. You checked out the sweet ROPES at the climbing gyms in the Rexburg/Ammon areas and enjoyed them. Although you told us (and your friends) there were a lot of hot CHICKS at college, you didn’t date any of them. Instead, you traveled across the world to go and see your special SPUD, i.e., Melody. What a cool trip to Germany you had! Lucky kid. Have a CLASSIC summer full of work, play, and sunshine! We love you!!

Jonas,

You finished up your Junior year, not quite passing all your classes truth be told. . . Which made some of your classmates and teachers think you’re an AIRHEAD. But, we (you and your family) know the truth: you’re dang smart. You worked this year as a LIFESAVER at the rec and were a great employee. You truly lived PAYDAY to payday - using your money on gas and food and auto parts. You sound like a boy! You had fun with your BUDDIES and have a lot of them. Maybe too much fun and too little schoolwork . . . !? You joined the Utah National Guard, crushed the ASVAB, and will be heading to Basic Training this summer, which is close to Cotton country - CHARLESTON, South Caroline (Fort Jackson, South Carolina is technically where you’ll be). We’ll miss you this summer, but not the stress you cause haha. We love you!!

Emmy,

Your freshman year started off a little SOUR (stupid Snapchat post among other things), but ended up with SWEET friends and good times - thank goodness. But no matter if it was sour times or sweet times, you were always a little (a lot?!) KRABBY to your family! Dad would get scowled at for asking about your day . . . haha. You showed us you were no TURTLE and ran well with your fast cross-country team - you even ended up securing a spot for your team at state. Whoop, whoop. You got to go with your gymnastics team to ARIZONA - no, I mean, California. You had a great vacation and a so-so meet there. :) One of your highlights this past year was getting those WHATCHACALLITs off - oh, your braces. Now you actually smile with your lips open. Gorgeous. We ended the school year with a FUN WATER(melon) trip with friends on the Green River - so great and you just had a blast with Holly and the two boys, Tag and Ashton. Have a good summer. We love you!!

Lucy,

You are done with your middle year of middle school - congrats! Another great year for you - full of learning and fun. It was your first year as a Centennial BEAR (change of mascot) and it was a good one. You especially love your friends and love getting quite LAFFY with them! :) Although you always wanted to take a friend to GRANDMA’s house, it didn’t happen - but you had a lot of good trips to both Midway and Littleton. Even though it wasn’t the ANDES mountain, you still got to go to Powderhorn and be a part of the school’s Ski Club. Each time you had a blast! You also had a great gym season, even getting a couple GOLDEN medals - including for all-around. Whoop, whoop. We ended the school year with a FUN WATER(melon) trip with your bestie, Lila. Awesome memories made. What a year! We love you!! 

River Rats

Our good friends from Montrose, who moved to Utah last August, invited us to join them on a 3-day river trip. Jonas had drill that weekend, Miles was in Germany, and Ben just felt he had too many projects to finish up before he heads out to California for three weeks (Army), and so it was just me and the girls. Heather was my good friend and my two girls were best of friends with Heather's two oldest - Holly and Lila. We did preschool together, etc. Anyways, Heather divorced recently and remarried - hence the move to Utah. So she and her new husband Tyson brought all their 8 (!!) kids, plus one friend. So we had 11 kids total and 3 adults. Kids were in ages from 7-15. It was a lot! It's been years since I have been around young kids for that long!

Tyson has all the rafts and canoes and they have done a few river trips. So that was good because it was quite new to us! We met up in Green River, UT on Thursday night and camped at the State Park there. Then we got up and packed up (so much stuff!) and headed to our launch area - Ruby Ranch. 

We then headed out on a total of 2 rafts and 2 canoes and spent the next 3 days and 2 nights on the river. It was quite remote and we really didn't see too many other people. The kids had a blast! Emmy and Holly hung out the whole time with Tag (Holly's step-brother) and Ashton. "The Teens" as we called them. They had such a fun time together. It was perfect and just what I was hoping for for Emmy. Lucy loved hanging out with her old bestie, Lila. They are such adorable friends.

The river was so high which helped us move along at a good pace. However, it also meant that dry land (i.e., a good place to bank for lunch and/or to camp for the night) was hard to come by. It was really hard to bank for stops, lunch breaks, etc. I did it once with the raft, but it made me so nervous that I made Heather do it all the other times because I am awesome like that. Rowing was a bit difficult. However, by the second day I spent most of my time on the canoe and it was more enjoyable (i.e., easier). We could almost just "coast" along. The Teens had a blast on the raft and had a game of throwing each other into the river. :) The water was cold, but the air hot so it was refreshing - or so I heard. I never jumped in, ha.

The first day we spent 8 hours on the river - it was a long day. We didn't find a decent campsite (i.e., place to bank along camping areas) until about 6:30. But we did 25 miles that day and so that helped the other days be more chill (doing about 15 the next day and 10 the last).

Our first campground wasn't super awesome, but, again, it was hard to find land. We still had a good evening! The next campsite was fun and the kids had a lot of time for hanging out and exploring. The Teens "stayed out" until 10 - watching for falling stars. Fun for them.

We finally got to our end take-out point - Mineral Bottom - on day 3 at about 1pm. When we got there, the van, which was supposed to be shuttled there, was not there. Long story, but it didn't get there until four hours after we did. Boohoo. I was ready to start heading home. But the kids had an absolute blast while waiting! They just played and played at the take-out spot. They played slip 'n slide on the raft, had an epic mud-war battle, ate, and chatted. They were more than happy to have to wait for the van!

The van finally arrived and we (mainly Tyson and Tag and Ashton) got everything loaded. Then we had to drive back to Green River - about a 2-hour drive. The road coming out of the area, Mineral Bottom road, was insane! Like scarier than Red Mountain Pass. The crashed cars still on the side of the road didn't help at all. The fact that we were a large van with a trailer with two large rafts on it didn't appease me either. It was nuts. Luckily it was only 30 minutes on that road, but still.

Anyways, a fantastic and memorable trip for sure.

The start of our journey.

One of our first stops included this rock and its writings/signatures. Some were genuine pioneer names, others definitely not.

"The Teens." Tyson, before we headed out, had given instruction and reminders on what to do for a swamped canoe. Well, within 10 minutes, the boys had swamped their canoe. Haha. But they and the girls were able to take care of it. The Teens swamped their canoes twice more on the journey - but became quite adept at getting it all sorted out. :)

A cool rock ledge at campsite #3.

Holly and Emmy helping with the dinner I had prepared for the first night on the river. Fun.

The flowers were gorgeous!

Cuties.

Heather manning the big blue raft.

Lila, Lucy and maybe Thatcher getting ready to head out on the yellow raft (Tyson would be manning it this time).

Super fun, cool, nice, and hardworking boys: Tag and Ashton.

Holly, Alta, and Emmy.

We were in Labyrinth canyon. Such a beautiful area!

This area was called Bowtie Bend - or something like that . . . !?

We hiked up to the saddle - and you can see the river on both sides of the saddle. It was about 8 miles from where we banked on the one side to where we would be paddling to on the other side.

My pano of the spot.

More pretty flowers.

Campsite #2. (The first campsite was at Green River.) One tent of two teen boys. Another tent of the four girlfriends: Holly, Emmy, Lila, and Lucy. One tent of just me. Finally, the green tent with the rest of the crew - all 7 of them!

Lucy and Lila hanging out during a lunch break.

Canoe buddies. The kids were always going from the rafts to the canoes, etc. Switching it up. Except the teens. They, after the first day of mainly being on the two canoes, liked the yellow raft and spent most of the rest of the time (if not all) on it.

Campsite #3 - our last one. We had hammocks, shade, etc. It was lovely. Except the bugs. They were awful. I literally came home with at least 50 bug bites - with a dozen of those on my bum. Ugh. Ha.

1, 2, 3 - jump! Lila and Lucy jumping in.

Holly and Emmy eating dinner.

We tried to go on a hike to an arch from our last campsite. However, it began sprinkling with thunder and lightning. So we didn't make it to the arch, but it was still a pretty outing. (Other rafters that I talked to at our get-out spot, who camped about 2 miles downriver from us, had hail and torrential rain. It soaked their tents, etc. So glad we didn't have to deal with that! Lucky us.)

Pretty Emmy above our campsite.

The beautiful view from our potty. :) We had to take out all our #2, so we had a bucket with a lovely seat on it set up a bit from our camping areas. Not a bad view at all.

Hestin (sp?) - a step-sibling. He was my adorable canoe buddy for a lot of day 2 and 3. He's almost 10 and just a really sweet boy.

The Teens chilling on the raft.

Here we all are at the end - we made it!

Mud war!

More mud war!

And a cool and muddy Emmy. :)

Here's a link to a compilation of videos from the trip.

The girls and I had left our car in Green River. So all 14 of us squeezed into this van - and it wasn't even that tight! Crazy. What a cool adventure.

Sisters

 Emmy wanted to do a little sister photo-shoot when we were in St. George. There were a lot of pictures that turned out adorable! Here are a few (well, okay, more than a few - but not all!):

Hmmmm, they must have had an awesome photographer . . . :)

Cute sisters!