April - Ben and Miles go to Mexico

There is no way I am going to document Ben's trip. I might write a few things under a few pictures, but that's it. But I will say this was definitely "a trip of a lifetime" for both Ben and Miles. I think it was everything Miles hoped it would be and was fantastic for Ben as well. Ben loved it all - the culture, people, getting a non-tourist vibe of the areas they were in, etc. etc. But his most favorite and special experience of all was just seeing how much Miles loved the culture and the people and how much they just love Miles! Ben said that Miles was practically a celebrity everywhere they went. :) So, so, so great! Here are a bunch of pictures, but these aren't all - most of the ones Ben sent me. He had more. :) But they give us a glimpse at least!

Pictures are very out-of-order . . . 

Miles met up with a friend (aka, date) and so Ben was on his own for a few hours in San Luis Potosi (SLP). He was a bit nervous as there were hardly (i.e., less than half a dozen) any other english-speaking person . . . So he hung out in the catholic church for a while as nobody would try talking to him there, he said. Haha. He did meet the man and he actually spoke very good english and so they visited for quite awhile. 

There was a welcome-home for a sister in the ward Miles served in. That was fun for them to be a part of.

The entrance to a local cemetary.

Delicious food was served from here apparently.

They met up with this sister missionary, serving a service-mission in her hometown of San Luis Potosi. Miles knew her and was actually there when she received her call. Miles had no idea why she got assigned to a service mission (she was surprised herself), but she is so happy to be doing what she's doing. She brought along snacks for everyone on their adventures. :)

The SLP temple - so very beautiful! It's not open yet, however.

I am pretty sure this was in Aguascalientes. Ben and Miles took a 3-hour bus ride from SLP to there. Miles served a few months in this area. He met up with one of the elders he served with and that was awesome. They got chascasfruta, which is something Miles told me about on his mission and that I would love it. Of course I would! They take frozen chunks of yogurt and whatever fruit (frozen) you choose, put it in a machine and out comes your frozen yogurt treat! So cool. And, yes, Ben and I just might get one (when we're rich) and operate a little food-truck in our town. Haha. But also kind of serious . . . 

The missed the bus back to SLP by like 5 minutes and so had to wait almost 3 hours for the next one sadly. But Ben was impressed how clean the station was!

This is the home where Ben and Miles stayed - with a family of women. A grandmother, mother, and daughter? Or maybe it was a grandmother and 2 daughters? Check out the dogs up top! Dogs were everywhere Ben said.

Their cozy bed they shared ha.

The inside.

Another shot inside with Miles talkingn with the grandmother.

Someone from the ward (bishopric member? mission leader? Miles knew him) took Ben and Miles to some ancient mining town after church on Sunday. It was really cool looking and they all had a great time.

Miles lived in that place on his mission - the place right behind him. Apparently the pizza store wasn't there when he was.

Ben loved these purple blossoms!

The church. The day they arrived there was a cute primary baptism and so Ben and Miles went with the women to it. Miles made a HUGE entrance and everyone was thrilled to see him!

This was one of the first places they ate it. Apparently it's a restuarant haha. But Ben said it was delicious!

I'm actually going to grab a few more pics from Ben's phone just because . . .

A little outside market they hit on their first day. The guys in the background got a huge kick out of Miles and his awesome spanish skills. :)

The baptism.

The ate this popular corn thing at that mining town - the member really wanted them to have it. I think they both liked it! Elotes.

Here they are shopping again. They met up with a set of elders serving in SLP. 

Miles served with the elder on his left. :)

This is an iconic spot in SLP.

However, this is The iconic spot . . . not sure why per Ben . . . ? It's like a well maybe? Caja de Agua

This little girl loved Miles and loved the little lady he sculpted for her in a couple of minutes. Cute.

This is the bishop that Miles served with - Bishop Ramos. He was great! He actually has a mechanic's shop in his home and so that was a bonus for Miles. Bishop Ramos promised Miles a coke if he came back to visit - so there ya go! Although that is what everyone serves everyone, so . . . haha.

This was the entirety of the kitchen of where Ben and Miles stayed.

Puke. A "public" restroom. It was behind a curtain like along an alleyway. Wow.

Sopes! This was one of Ben's favorite food he ate there (although he really did love it all and didn't get sick). He even made it for us the week he got home and it was delicious - even when made by a gringo! 

A beautiful catholic church - but the picture on the donation table thingy . . . ?! A popular LDS artist. Haha, so great!

Miles and his "date." Pretty sure she loves him. :) She loved him as a missionary, too. 

They ended the trip with a very authentic futbol game - the home team vs. someone?! SLP's team lost, but it was such a fun time for Ben and Miles. Funny side note: so they took the bus or Uber pretty much everywhere, with the exception of a few rides with the women they stayed with. As they got to the stadium, Ben realized he had his backpack and knew it wouldn't be allowed in the arena. Well, Miles got super-savvy with Uber from his mission and knew that you could uber "stuff." So they "ubered" Ben's backpack to the bishop's house (the women weren't at home). Haha, so funny!

Anyways, a truly wonderful trip and I added way more than I thought I would. :) Miles is ready to move there - or at least another visit this summer hopefully!

April - State Gym Meet

After our weekend to Utah, the next weekend we headed to Denver for the girls' state meet. (Ben actually headed to Mexico and I will that later.)

Lucy was set to compete first at 3:00 and so we were able to just head out the morning of. We got to the venue site a couple hours early and had time to walk around and get some fresh air and eat a little sack lunch. It was also at this time that Emmy realized she had forgotten her warm-ups and leo . . . oh dear. But she ended up borrowing from another gymnast - but ultimately just ended up wearing Lucy's. Wow, that could have been a disaster!

Lucy was up first and competed with her fellow friend and teammate Gracie. They laugh a lot and just have a good time together and so that was fun. Bars was up first and Lucy didn't do horrible. Bars is probably her weakest event and she just struggles hitting the "degrees" which lessens your starting value and of course overall score. But she didn't do too bad and looked just fine. She scored a 7.8. Beam was next - Lucy's solid event. She didn't fall but she unfortunately didn't get her "connection," which starts her off at a 9.5 (which is essentially like having a fall). She scored decently, though, with a 8.525. Floor she did great and completed her tough front pass: front handspring to a front full. It doesn't look big, but it's a huge skill for Xcel gymnastics. She got an 8.975. Last up was vault and it wasn't her best, but she also did great and ended up with a 8.75. She ended up getting 5th on beam (13th all-around since they give every one an all-around. Which is stupid because then the last-place person basically gets showcased as being last . . . not cool. Lucy was not last, but I still hate it. I think there were about 17 in her age group.)

This was Lucy's first year in Diamonds and it was tough. The skills and deductions and requirements are just harder, as it should be. So she really did great for her first year as a diamond! I was definitely proud of her. :)

Link to her video HERE.

Pre-meet. 

Post-meet with Gracie. :)

Emmy was next up at 6:30 that same night (which was kind of nice to get it all done in one fell swoop). She, of course, was all nerves. She was competing with the other two senior diamonds - Liv (Olivia) and Rish (Marisha). So that was fun! They, like Lucy, started out on bars. Now Emmy has been working on that very difficult toe-on front-flip dismount and hadn't yet had a meet where she landed it (without either landing on her butt or falling promptly on her butt . . .). She had told me she had landed quite a few at practice, but that she wasn't doing well on her giants. Sigh, always something off for this girl! So, she started on bars . . . AND STUCK IT! YAY! So many happy tears from Emmy, teammates, coaches, mom, etc., etc. The best ever. She got a 9.0 - yesssssss. She had the hardest dismount at the meet and I was so proud of her - but mostly just so darn happy for her!! (Well . . . one other girl did a double-back dismount but she was just so out of the league we hardly counted her ha and another girl did Emmy's same dismount but did not stick it.) Next was beam - which is her weakest event. She fell on a silly jump and didn't get her connection either - so her starting value was a 9.5 and she lost another .5 with the fall . . . So she wasn't too bummed about the 7.6 score ha. Floor went well for her - but it was a bummer because she had some way better front-passes in her practices but such is the sport. She still looked great and scored a 9.075. Last up was vault and Emmy actually has quite a difficult vault, even though it doesn't look it. It is one of very few vaults in the diamond level that starts at a 10.0 starting value. Emmy struggles with landing this, but had two very, very solid and beautiful front handspring full-twists. I heard a coach from a different gym, who was standing near the mat waiting for his gymnasts to go, congratulate Emmy on her vault and said something along the lines of, "That is a very difficult vault!" That made me happy for Emmy to get the unsolicited validation. She ended up with a 9.1. All in all, Emmy took 2nd (!) on vault, 6th on bars and 8th all-around. It was an excellent meet and a great way to go out and end her gymnastics career! (Both girls could have gone on to the multi-state regionals, but neither wanted to . . . )

Link to her video HERE. 

I think that is a post-bar landing-stuck smile from Emmy. :)

Emmy, Liv, and Rish. 

The seniors with the lovely and awesome coaches - Jess and KJ.

Stunners! The seniors got recognition at the state meet and that was pretty cool. 

That night we grabbed food at Denny's (it was open and actually delicious) and then slept at Jim and Diana's. We went the next morning and visited with them at their assisted care facility and that was nice, even though sweet Diana was feeling miserable and suffering with a UTI. After that and a ridiculous amount of time trying to get frozen yogurt (drove to one place out of the way because they said they were open early . . . which they weren't . . . but by that time the closer place was open . . . blahblah), we made our way back home. 

All in all, a stressful yet wonderful State. Emmy's final competition. Sniff, sniff, sniff.

April - the beginning

 Ugh, I am so behind and I just hate trying to catch up - I just throw it all together in one huge, long post . . . So here we go - April!

We started April by heading to Utah. We got tickets for General Conference and also decided to take a trip up to Logan to have Emmy check out the campus . . . good times.

Cute girls. Our car was packed with some boxes my friend Csilla needed delivered to someone in Utah. Haha.

Utah State University! Not only did Emmy decide that this is where she's going to college, I also started looking housing for us - i.e., moving there. Haha! Kidding, but also not. I do love Logan myself and maybe one day we'll end up there.

Ben and I being dumb on campus. I have zero idea what my hands are doing so don't ask.

Yay, Emmy an Aggie!

The campus is beautiful and we had a good time walking around. Lucy thinks she might want to go there as well. :)

Lucy and I making resurrection rolls one night at my parents' home. Good times. Delicious rolls.

We got 6 tickets thru the hard efforts of my mom! Jonas and his friend, Kolter, joined us and it was a lovely session. This was Sunday afternoon session and right after it was over, we drove home. Jonas drove back to Idaho.

Jonas and Kolter.

Ben posted this picture but nobody thought anything of it. . . . look closely!

We Love to See the Temple!

March 2026

 Out of order, but here is a wrap-up on March . . . 

I had a birthday and turned 47 . . . This was Lucy's instagram bday post to me. :) Sweet. 

My birthday was a nice day. I helped Berry in the morning and she treated us to soft-serve ice cream for lunch. Perfect. Dinner was with the girls and Ben at Colorado Boy - Ben and I enjoyed walking to it. We then left the girls and walked to the movie theater and saw Hail Mary. Then we walked home and ate and enjoyed my rice-krispie cake. :)

I am looking old haha . . . 

The night before my birthday (but in no relation to my birthday ha), Ben and I went and did a session at the temple. The temple is so pretty - especially at sunset!

My 2nd ONE in Wordle. Amazing!

Cuties.

Miles and his "FHE sisters" (an apartment of girls) all went to Utah for a weekend. Miles and Brooklyn (on Miles' left) share the same birthday and Brooklyn wanted to go to Top Golf for hers. So down they went to Utah. Top Golf, Midway, dressing up in my mom's old wigs, etc. They had a fun time. Too bad my parents were away in St. George to miss it all - but maybe not too bad for them?!

Wigs, robes, costumes, oh my!

This is like the only picture I got from Emmy's trip to BYUI sadly! I mean, it's a cool truck - and Jonas' new/used truck - but still! Emmy flew out to Idaho and spent a few days in Rexburg. She stayed with those "FHE sisters" and had a good time. I don't think she loved it up there, but I think it was okay at least! Jonas was good to her - picking her up, taking her to breakfast, for drinks, etc. She and Jonas hung out Friday afternoon at the car dealership while Jonas traded in his 2 trucks for this one. Great deal in my opinion! Emmy went to the temple by herself Saturday morning, walked around campus a bit, went to the mall with those girls, and ate dinner in Idaho Falls (Texas Roadhouse of course) with the girls and Miles and Jonas. I'm glad she went . . . even if it didn't convince her to go there haha.

Oh yes, I remembered Ben had this picture! The kids (my kids and the roommate of girls) went to some cave that first night. Cool, cool.

Byebye March!