APRIL 2021

PLEASE CLICK HERE if you want to see a few more photos.

APRIL was a full and fun month for us.  It started with Susan and Amanda and her family still here in Utah.  We went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity and played there for a long time.

We love Amanda and Jimmy and really love their kids so much too.

Then after a picnic lunch, we went to the Ashton Gardens and had the most fun feeding the Koi in the ponds.

The kids liked the bronze statue garden including the Joseph Smith scene.

Jimmy helped us look for a new vehicle while he was here.  As a reward, we took them all to Bahama Bucks for some shaved ice!  That makes all of us happy!

Conference Weekend, one of our RM's married another RM.

Conner Albrecht married Sarah Jensen and it was really fun to see them at the reception.

I also got to see Shannon Magee Newbold with her husband.

And Aryssa Hutchinson McBride with her husband and new daughter Lily.

I flew out the next day to spend some time with Dana at their new home in Prescott Valley.

I was going to see their new home and to help her organize and decorate and we had so much fun!

The home is a rustic ranch style home in a more rural setting very different from Peoria where they lived before.

It was a beautiful space to work with.

This is the new living area after a trip to Hobby Lobby and Home Depot for accessories.  So comfy and homey!

We organized some shelving with cool antiques.

And we moved a cool shelf into Ed's office to display his rock and gemstone collection where everyone could admire it better.

We had a really great time together and worked hard.

It was just so fun being there with them for so long!

Then they took me to some nearby lakes and we just walked and enjoyed how beautiful it was there!

I am so happy for them to move to a cooler and less busy area.  It will be the perfect place to retire in a few years!

Scott came mid-week to pick me up and after a stop at Chino Bandidos for dinner, we headed on towards southern AZ.

We made a quick stop at the Gila Valley Temple and it was really beautiful at night.

The next day we hiked at Cave Creek Canyon in Chiricahua National Monument area.

We started seeing some new birds pretty quickly.  This was a Painted Redstart, really pretty little bird.

We saw some really nice lizards.

(This one was actually in Ramsey Canyon)

And some interesting old rock shelters threatening explosives.

The weather was beautiful and we got a lot of walking done at quite a few areas in the canyon.

We hiked along a stream for a while to a pretty rock and water area.

The next day we drove to Ramsey Canyon and enjoyed a hike up to the top of the canyon there.

When we came back down, we sat and watched hummingbirds a while.

We learned later that this is a Broad-billed Hummingbird.  

We saw tons of Acorn Woodpeckers here as well.

This is the woodpecker that we hiked like 4 miles to go see in SLC because it is so rare in Utah.  Ha!

We spent the afternoon at a place with lots of feeders to attract birds.

Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary.

We saw many kinds of birds including this Greater Roadrunner just hanging out for a while.

That night we went to see the smallest owl in the world, the Elf Owl.

A local bed and breakfast has one that nests in a pole in the yard.  Pretty cute little owls about 5 inches tall.

Next we visited the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. Nice trails there along a small river where we saw lots of flycatcher  type birds like this Vermillion Flycatcher.

And a bird we kept seeing in this part of AZ was the Pyrrhuloxia.  Whoever named that bird?

On our way back up to Phoenix, we stopped in Tucson to see the Catholic Monastery with the domed towers that the temple there was designed to complement.

And here is the Tucson Temple.

We had time to get out a bit more so we stopped in a Wetland Preserve in Tucson called Sweetwater.

Here we saw our first Green Heron.  So pretty in the sunlight.

And we love the flowering cactus in AZ.

The night before we headed back home, we got to visit with our mission office couples that were able to meet up in Peoria.  We were all so grateful to be vaccinated so we could see each other.  These are the dearest people.

We met at our favorite taco truck "Waldo's" run by a local Church member and friend.

EARLY the next AM, it was home to Utah to be there for Church.  We flew from Mesa to Provo.

And here we are waiting in the COLD for Braden to come pick us up to drive us the 3 miles home.

The next Friday we got our final vaccinations!

Second time is a charm.  No bad reactions or anything.  Grateful for these vaccinations!

And that night we picked up our new Chevy Traverse that Jimmy helped us pick out.  It is really a nice vehicle that will hopefully take us on lots of great trips in the future!

I call it my "glorified van" since is has so much room in the back for storage.  But that is why I chose it!

Our Ward FHE activities are fun and creative.

This night we built towers out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows.  This is my team's creation.  We would have won the competition but it sort of collapsed right at the end!

Remember the little House Finches that came and sang at our door last year?  Well, they came back this year and sang.  And then, within a couple of days...

...they totally built a nest in my wreath!

By the time I went to move the wreath somewhere else (because who really wants birds ON their front door?) there were 2 eggs in the nest.

I felt so guilty after moving it and not seeing the Mommy bird come back that I moved it back a couple hours later.

And then I read online that the birds will lay an egg a day and THEN they incubate them.  So eggs can sit there like 7-14 days and be OK until the Mom starts to warm them up.  Interesting.

So, we have 5 eggs now.  And we will see what happens in May.  Mommy sits on the nest most of the time except to go eat and when strangers come to our door!

We completed a framing project this month.  We were given the cool hand of Christ painting and it was framed so I decided to frame my Rome Christus print to coordinate and found a good deal for a frame online and we really like how it turned out.

We traditionally take Lori to Ashton Gardens for Tulip Festival and this year we took her and Carole again.  The tulips were much more in bloom than when I went earlier in the month.  Very beautiful day and stunning flowers and wonderful company!

We hung out in the "Secret Garden" a long time just talking.  It is so good being with people again!

Here is the waterfall area at the gardens.

And a preview of the LEGO displays that will be in the gardens this summer!

That hummingbird and flower are all LEGOS!

Scott and I went birding with Aaron this month.

We did not see a lot, but what we did see was pretty cool.  This Meadowlark just posed for us and sang.

April means bus trip to BYU with my students and it was so great that we really got to go.  Lots of sanitizer and masks and lots of fun!

We always eat snack at the Tree of Life statue on campus.  You can see it was an incredible day!

And this is the love of my life...trying out some teleprompter lights that leave rings on your glasses...wouldn't you like to see a video interview with this guy?

We ended the month with lots of family interactions.

Klay held a PUPPY PARTY virtually for the April 30th birthday of his Beanie Boo named SLUSH.

We all brought our stuffed pets to join the fun and Klay directed the activities for us to have a real party!  It was a fun way to end the month of April!