MAY-JUNE 2023

IF YOU WANT TO SEE YET MORE PHOTOS< HERE IS THE LINK TO AN ALBUM

Anyways,  I did not realize I never posted for May...too busy for sure and you will see why!

We spent a lot of time up at Dad's helping get the basement ready for our great new caregivers Matt and Lorena.

The bedroom got wallpaper removed (sorry Jennifer for that memory both in it being her old room and in all the help she gave me in removing it!)

And we painted it to match the trim color so it is lovely!

Took Lori and Carole and Braden and McKenna to TULIP FESTIVAL this year!  Great tradition and lots more tulips than when I took LeAnn and Mike in April!  

I held GRADUATION in my house and had treats on the driveway and garage due to the overseeding we did on the lawn...that was yet another April-May project that took over our lives!

CUTE kiddos including this set of twins!

I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but the kids ALL caught a fish at BIGBROOK PARK within just a few minutes after arriving.  They catch Sunfish and then...

...they KISS THEM and throw them back!  HA!

We got to be in New Jersey for a very special occasion!  Klay decided to be baptized!  It was an amazing event for an amazing  young man!

Speaking of amazing...

Klay on the soccer field!

Cassidy rules in her games no matter the position she plays!

And Carter in his Middle School Track championship event!  Super fun to see him run as one of the very few 7th graders to compete!

Jensens had the cutest young foxes playing on the wood chip pile while we were there!

And, yes, we went birding.  Found a new bird we had never seen before, the INDIGO BUNTING.  Beautiful!

From NJ, we flew through Seattle down to Cancun, rented a car, drove in the dark to our hotel and woke up to this view!

We hired a local guide to take us out to find some new birds and he was amazing!

In this plain field, we found several new birds including a Yucatan Wren.

The second day, he took us out on his boat to explore the lagoon area.

Wait for it...YES!   The traditional heart shape of a Flamingo pair!  We had such a wonderful outing!

Lots to see all over this area!

Our guide recommended some places to stop on our way to our next destination.  The first was a place called KIKIL.

We were the only ones in this restaurant and it was delicious!  We sat through a rainstorm while we ate.

Then we explored the CENOTE or underground water hole that you could swim in.  It was just amazing!

So cool and beautiful with vines and stalactites and such from the cavelike opening for this pool.  No idea how deep it was, but we wore life jackets just in case. (It was required)

So, these are the birds that we first saw in the barren field with our guide, but which nest near the Cenotes in Mexico.  They are called Motmots and have the most interesting tails!

The ruins our guide recommended to us were called Ek Balam.  Much less touristy a location and just charming to explore.  They allowed you to climb the ruins here as well.

You cannot tell how high we really were here, but it was super high and steep, really scary!  In the distance you can see other ruins to give perspective on how high up we really were.

The lush jungle setting here was also ideal for birds so we spent a long time just walking around the property after the ruins and found some beautiful birds like the Squirrel Cuckoo and an amazing woodpecker that we did not get a photo of unfortunately...it flew before we caught that one.

Ek Balam also had a nearby Cenote that we swam in and were SO GRATEFUL for the cool water on a very hot day!

This gives you an idea how incredible these underground pools are!

Here is Scott swimming with the hundreds of little black catfish that joined us.

We went to a couple parks where we actually saw wild Spider Monkeys in the trees.  It was really fascinating to hear them rustling in the trees and then watch them jump from tree to tree with ease.

MEXICO was great.  We loved our rural experience better than visiting Chitchen Itza, which we did visit but which was VERY CROWDED.

We would go back to this area in a heart beat!

On our way back from Mexico, we stopped a few days in Seattle area to visit Austin's family.

We took the kids to a playground nearby and loved watching them climb and have fun!

Brooklyn

Mackenzie

Clara

Evan

Great visit there and as always, they spoiled us with lots of wonderful food and activities!

Back home, we went on a walk with Braden and McKenna who are also amazing birders.  They can spot things that we just don't notice as fast.

They wanted to show us the Yellow-breasted Chat they had found...and they did help us find it!

Braden also spotted, about 5 feet behind me on a branch, this tiny 5-6 inch tall Western Screech Owl that was a baby.  ADORABLE!!!  It just sat there and slept while we oohed and aahed over it!

Jennifer and I introduced Dad to a new Senior Center that need more patrons to help out.  He quickly got involved playing a very fun game that I would like to re-create at home with him sometime!  

He will be a volunteer there starting in July for 3 days a week.

Scott got to cover the New Mission Leader Conferences at the MTC in Provo and met up with our friends the Eastmans who will serve in Madagascar for 3 years!   Love them!

Our kids started arriving late June and after helping Jenna with her 20 year high school reunion, Austin's family also arrived and it was COUSIN PLAYTIME!

They were just so happy to be together!  And we were too!

So, one of the games of choice with the kids was OREGON TRAIL card game.  It is almost impossible to actually finish this game alive.  

So, when I played with Cassidy and Klay we did amazing.  We only did one little hack and WE WON!!  Made it to Oregon!

We decided to join Jenna and family up at YELLOWSTONE for a couple days before Austin's family returned to Utah.  

We drove up to Ty's sister's huge cabin to spend the night and headed into the park fairly early.

Lots of amazing BISON!

Lots of amazing ELK!

And when you least expect it...coming around the bend on a paved trail, you may run into a 

BLACK BEAR!  We were so close!

It could have been really scary, but this bear was just munching away on greens and could care less about a bunch of hikers.

We waited until he crossed the driving road on the other side of this green patch before continuing our hike. Crazy!

The falls area was just lovely!  We loved being there with our kiddos!

Ty has loved Yellowstone all his life!  He knows all the ins and outs of where to go when and where to look for certain animals etc.  It was really great being there with him and Jenna!

Look at the cool RAINBOW created by the mist of this waterfall!  It was only there for part of the time we were there so we were glad we got photos!

Glad we got to explore Yellowstone with the real experts!  Looking forward to next time we visit there!

 

APRIL 2023

WELCOME SPRING...SORT OF!

This year our weather was slow by about 2 months so we were delighted to see some spring birds start showing up even in the snow!

This is a Mountain Bluebird.

Scott surprised me by arranging for Braden & McKenna and Bree and Elliot to join us in our weekend outing up to Bear River Bird Bird Refuge and Antelope Island.

It was the BEST SURPRISE EVER!

The kids humored us by birding with us all over the place!

We found our goal bird, the Chukar.

We saw some cool Bison including this big guy.

We were excited that we actually saw some cute Burrowing Owls as well.  They were so fun.

Lots of time with our favorite Dad and Carolyn!

We spent a lot of the month preparing the basement to be an apartment for some live-in caregivers we are so excited to have join our family.

Dad was invited along with Carol Olsen-Taylor to go up to Bree's 5th grade class to talk about growing up in the days of the Great Depression.  They did a wonderful job and it was amazing to see the kids realize that these people grew up without electricity, running water and indoor plumbing, let alone without cell phones!

I enjoyed some outings with LeAnn's kiddos this month.  Trying to keep them busy while LeAnn was recuperating and  not able to even lift kids.

This one was to an indoor playground and was fun!

The boys were  not afraid of the big slides.

Scott ditched me to go to first Egypt and then Israel with Elder Uchtdorf and his family.

He did see a very majestic bird perfectly Egyptian in every way...the Eurasian Hoopoe.  Crazy bird!

The pyramids...

The Sphinx...

And some time chilling with Elder Uchtdorf in one of the pyramids.  How cool is that!

Here he is with both Elder and Sister Uchtdorf.

Meanwhile...

I am back in Provo taking care of business as usual including helping out with a baby shower for a neighbor Emmy Nelson.

Preschool Drive-In Movie day with Lucas and Timmy in their adorable cars!

I took Lucas and Timmy to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point another day and we had a ball.

Timmy riding his pony.

And Lucas riding his!

Scott moved on to Israel for the last part of his trip.

Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock on temple Mound.

The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.

My Prschool class making a big box into a BUS!

And then we rode a REAL BUS up to BYU to explore the Eyring Science Center.

We love to pose at the Tree of Life Statue each year.

And I like to take them to see the real COUGARS inside the Wilkinson Center!

With Scott back in town, we got out to do some birding again.

Found these cute Snowy Plovers near the south end of Utah Lake.  So tiny and not as loud as Killdeer.

And we are so happy to have some of our summer birds start to show up like this Snowy Egret showing off for the ladies!