Elder Maxwell Update

Well it's probably time for a little update on Miles. Even though not much has changed with him . . . Miles has been through 3 transfers in Mexico (I think) and has stayed at the same place each time! I for- sure thought he'd go somewhere else this last transfer, but nope! Which is fine with Miles; he really likes where he is. Plus, there was this big festival thing coming into Aguascalientes and he really wanted to stay in the area for that. :) He got a new companion this past transfer - I guess he is like 27 or something and so that's a bit different, but also cool. Miles seems to like him and is just always happy when we talk with him on Mondays. 

Here are the two emails we have gotten since the last time I posted an update: 

Hola people, it's been another six weeks, and I've decided it's time again to remind you of my existence. I'm still living here in Aguascalientes, and haven't changed areas. The only thing that did change was my last companion, who died. For some reason missionaries say that when someone finishes their time and go back home. One thing missionaries have when they're about to finish their mission is something called "My plan." It's basically where you have to plan out the rest of your life, which includes school plans, job plans, scripture study plans, and plans for how to talk to girls (I guess there's too many missionaries that don't know how). So it was interesting to see my comp planning all that. Made me glad that I have a lot of time left living here,and that I don't have to worry about it. The only thing I do have to worry about is the food. Now if you ever heard a returned missionary tell stories, they've probably talked about how, either the food was incredibly weird, or they didn't have any and starved. Well I've got the exact opposite problem. So we get most of our food from the members, as they offer to make it for us. And since we have a lot of people in this area, we get food every single day. And they dont just give us a little, oh no, they give us the largest plate they possibly can of about three servings, and then expect us to eat two more. And if we don't eat it they get very offended and think we hate their cooking (even when you're sick and try explaining to them that you can't eat anything right now). So my problem isn't that we don't have food, it's that we have too much. So I actually gave up trying to eat all a few weeks ago, so now I just tell people no. I couldn't do it anymore :( Anyway, other than the food life is great. I'm feeling a lot more like a missionary now and I'm getting used to the life. I think one of the best things that happened during these past few weeks was me met an aweome woman who was having struggling with depression and other stuff. But as we started teaching her to pray and to read her scriptures we were able to see mighty change. She began to be a lot happier and eventually made her first promise with God and got baptized! It's crazy to see her now because she's changed so much, thanks to the gosple of Jesus Christ! It was a wonderful experience for me, because it's the first time I've ever been able to see first hand the power of the Lord. Christ really can change us and help us! He stands knocking at the door, all we gotta do it let him in! But yeah, I loving being here, Mexico is awesome, the food is amazing, and the people are super nice! Glad for my opportunity to serve! (Also ice cream here costs about 1$ for two scoops. Haha, imagine having to pay 8 bucks you U.S. people. México es mejor.)

That one was sent on March 11th.

My mom told me I had to send more emails, so I'm doing this one. Actually, that's a lie, I'm sending this one because we had a short transfer. Usually there six weeks in a transfer but for some reason this one was only five. But other that it was pretty odd for me, because I was a trio, or group of three missionaries, instead of the normal two. That was kinda weird, but also fun. Not too much else crazy happened. There's a lot of cool people here and we walked a lot and talked a lot and ate a lot food, and i forgot english, average missionary stuff. We got new transfers just under a week ago, and much to everyone's surprise, I'm staying here! Both of my comps left, which doesn't usually happen, but I'm rather happy because I like being here. Anyway, sorry I don't have too much to say this time, here a bunch of random pics of the tranfer. I'll let yall guess what they are.

And that one was sent out on April 15th.

Here are the random pictures he sends me, most of which I don't know who's in it or what is going on, haha:

They have delicious frozen yogurt there per Miles - you pick your fruit and then it is mixed in a machine with the frozen yogurt. YUM.

They befriended a stray dog - he visits them often. :) Even though it looks like the pup does have an owner since he has a leash.

Miles had fun with the Eclipse!

Interesting modern row-houses in Mexico?!

Spring Break 2024

Our school district had a first-ever "winter break" (not Christmas break) back in February (that's when Ben and I took Jonas to Whistler) and so it pushed out our spring-break to mid-April (as opposed to late March as it usually is), which turned out to be quite nice as it actually felt spring-ish!

It's a bit difficult to get our teens to agree to do much with us (sigh and cry), but we came up with a plan that at least the girls agreed to - yay. (Jonas went up with a friend to Rexburg for the week and seemed to have a good time.) We didn't take up the entire spring break - which is key to planning a trip with teens, at least our teens. 

Ben and Jonas actually had the same weekend for drill and so they drove up together on Friday night. Then on Sunday, we girls left after church and met up with the boys in Salina. Ben came with us and we drove on to St. George. Jonas drove the rest of the way home and then headed up with his friend on Monday.

The main purpose of St. George was for Ben to check out the Ironman routes. Plus, it's always lovely to go to St. George and so it worked out great. Monday was the bike day. Ben and I headed out (twice as I forgot the bike rack key the first time - ugh!) to Sand Hollow and got on our bikes and went. I was with Ben for about 16 miles and then I headed back to our car - giving me a total of 25 miles. Ben continued on with the route, which pretty much brought him back to my parent's place and so that was handy! Ben biked 56 miles and said it was the toughest ride he's ever done! The last section is in Snow Canyon and the last 10 or so miles is about the worst - a huge climb. Ben said he even thought he'd have to get off his bike a couple of times because it was just so hard. Aiyiyi. So it was good for him to now know exactly what to expect! While Ben was finishing his ride, I took the girls thrift shopping and each girl found a few clothing items and so that was fun. That evening we all went to a theater production at the St. George Theater (located in the old Opera House) of Legally Blonde. It was super fun! Oh we also got frozen yogurt beforehand because that was one of my main purposes of going to St. George: eating froyo!

Tuesday was the run and swim day. Ben and I started the morning running the run loop. We only ran it once (6 miles each loop) - but Ben will be doing it twice for the Ironman. It was a decent run with some decent ups and some decent downs. :) After the run we came back and all got ready for the temple. We went to do baptisms at the new Red Cliffs temple. It's a gorgeous temple and I just loved the inside - so pretty! We had a nice time doing baptisms with the girls. 

After that we headed out to Sand Hollow again. This was to be our first try at open-water swimming. And it was a doozy! The water was freezing - about 58 degrees. We had wetsuits on, but still. Ben's suit is long sleeves and mine has no sleeves (my triathlon is in late June and will be in warmer waters). Ben took off to swim with the girls following on the paddleboard. I tried to get the courage up and finally did - but lasted about 10 strokes, haha. My arms and face were freezing! After a few minutes, I checked on Ben and the girls and saw Ben holding on to the board. The girls eventually towed him back to shore - turns out Ben got super-duper nauseous. In fact, he was sick for like the next hour. Such a bummer! He was so bummed and worried out his race, etc. 

The girls had fun paddleboarding while Ben tried to recover. I wanted to get my wetsuit off but I also wanted to give the swim another try. So, finally, I did. I swam for maybe 5 minutes. But, hey, I did it! I didn't love the open-water feel . . . Ben decided to give it another try, too, and he was able to swim for about 10 minutes and didn't feel awful. So that was good. (Later on I checked online and found a lot of people said ear plugs were the trick to not feeling nauseous! I guess the cold water does a number on your inner ear, etc. Plus, Ben also had decided to take a half dramamine the next time he went out.)

After Sand Hollow we went home to rest and shower and then went out to dinner that night. We had a good time and finished the evening with, yes, froyo, and watching Grease at the house. It was the girls' first time and Lucy thought it kind of didn't make sense and Emmy seemed a bit bored. Haha.

Wednesday morning Ben and I got up early and went to the "new" St. George temple for an endowment session. The temple itself is beautiful! (But the inside is not as pretty as Red Cliffs in my opinion.) We had a nice morning there and then came back, got packed and ready, and drove home. And that was pretty much the end of the parents spring break - Ben and I were back to work the next two days.

On Saturday, Ben did an olympic distance training triathlon (just on his own) and we went to Taviwach. Ben felt the water was even colder there, but he was able to swim for 30 minutes (with ear plugs and 1/2 a dramamine). He didn't get sick, but did say it was so very hard. (Ugh, I don't want to do an open-water swim anymore!) I paddleboarded next to him while he swam just to make sure he was safe. Then Ben headed out for his bike and run and I came back home.

The kids have one more day off (tomorrow) and then back to school and real life again. But just for another month or so - then summer break! Crazy!

Pictures:

Heading out together for our ride. The wind was stupid that day and certainly didn't help. 

Watching the play that night.

Tuesday morning temple trip. This is the Red Cliffs temple.

So pretty!

Getting up the courage to test the waters . . . 

Girls having fun on the paddleboard.

Sand Hollow is so pretty and nice!

Lucy trying to stab Emmy at dinner.

Froyo! :)

State 2024

Well the girls both were able to compete this year at the State's Gymnastics meet in Lafayette (north of Denver). Emmy was actually a bit bummed that she wasn't scheduled for Sunday because she was kind of over competing this season, ha. Lucy was thrilled to be on Saturday as I had told her the chances of her being scheduled for a different day than Sunday was very, very slim. Welp, she ended up getting scheduled for Saturday night and so lucky her (Emmy was Friday night). Unfortunately, I had to work that Friday and so I wasn't able to go. Boohoo. I was bummed to miss out, but grateful Ben was able to get off and take the girls. Their good friend and teammate, Alaina, came up with them and so that made it really fun for the girls. Alaina choose not to compete and so she was just their as their cheerleader. :) It worked out great.

Emmy did well at her meet.  Her vault was simple but done well. She connected on her bars and hit cast-degree and so that was excellent. She didn't fall on beam, but had several pretty big wiggles and thus a sub-8 score. But oh well - not horrible! And floor she did great on her difficult front pass (she always struggles with at the gym but usually executes well at meets). So, all in all, she did well. The best performance, however, was her attitude - she actually seemed happy and to enjoy herself. :) Literally the best part! Her scores (in order of vault, bars, beam, floor): 8.725, 8.75, 7.95, 8.5, AA - 33.925. (Her floor would have scored higher but she gets a difficulty deduction . . . which is dumb because her front pass it harder than what is actually counted as a higher degree of difficulty. Ergh.)

Emmy's video.

The girls had a fun Saturday and went for a "walk" that morning on the Highline canal. The walk was really just a photo session, haha. But their pictures were super cute and made for some adorable Instagram posts from all the girls. Ben took them to the mall that afternoon for a bit, they visited Joe and Brittany, and then it was off getting Lucy to her meet.

Lucy had a really fantastic meet. Her vault was solid; her bars was really good; her beam was also really good (but not her best - she's usually super solid but did have a few uncharacteristic wobbles); and her floor was great. She was happy with everything and ended up placing 2nd on vault, 7th on the beam, and 7th All-Around. So that was fantastic - it's just always so hard to place at state and so my girls are usually thrilled to just place once. So that was a really great state meet for Lucy! Her scores: 9.2, 8.625, 8.825, 9.05, with an all-around of 35.7. (Oh, out of the four teammates competing with Emmy, only one of them placed once - a 6th place.)

Lucy's video.

Pictures:

Alaina, cutie Lucy and her medals, and Emmy.

Handsome dad and his beautiful daughter.

The girls chillin' at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Lucy's 2nd on vault!

Lucy's 7th on beam!

And Lucy's 7th all-around - yay!

Jim and Diana were able to make it to both girls' meets. So fun and special!

In Like a Lion . . . Out Like a Lion

March is always a crazy month - from one day to the next. It's spring! No, it's winter! Back and forth these two fight through to the bitter end. The winds start kicking up and it's just an all-around crazy time for the weather! 

The big event for me was turning 45! Some friends had planned to do a hike in Moab that day and so that was perfect (I didn't tell them it was my birthday but they found out anyways and gave me some nice gifts . . . ). Moab's hike ended up not working out because the water levels were too high, so we went to GJ and did the Ribbon Loop hike. It was very neat and just a great hike! The weather was pretty mellow and so that was good. :) A bit cool, but that was pretty much perfect.

We went as a family out to dinner that night and that was really yummy and fun! We enjoyed rice-krispie cake of course and maybe a TV show (Abbott Elementary probably). Oh, we also got to visit with Miles as he can chat on birthdays - so that was a a fun bonus!

All in all, a good day!

Pictures from our hike:

I got some fun gifts as well. Like this shirt from my sister! And cash! And clip pedals from Ben! A book! Earrings! Sourdough bread! :)

Yummy as always! We all love it.

And chatting with Miles. :)

Easter was nice and pretty chill. The kids didn't even look for their baskets until after church. We had to give them each some clues as we the Easter Bunny did a great job in hiding them. Church was nice. That afternoon, Ben and I went over to our neighbor's for a visit and that was fun (it was Molly's bday and we had a little something to give her). We enjoyed a yummy dinner of bulgogi with coconut cake for dessert. We watched a nice conference talk on Easter and that was pretty much it. We didn't dye eggs this year - Lucy asked about it like the day before . . . but we still didn't do it. But they got dresses, candy, and cash and so that sounds like a pretty good teen Easter day to me. :)

Sunday pictures:

So long March . . .