Friends, Sand, Family

We have not been as diligent with our Come, Follow Me studies this year with the Doctrine and Covenants as we were last year with The Book of Mormon. However, we do manage to sneak a few lessons in here and there. Eli will often volunteer to take over lesson planning and he does such a great job. This night he made paper dolls for the boys to dress their doll with The Armor of God. Smiles all around. 

Any casual reader of the blog here (and anybody in our neighborhood) knows Lincoln and Jonah LOVE the garbage man. We are loyal fans and admirers of the friendly, big trucked community worker. One afternoon we had just gotten home from school and got a knock on the door. We were surprised to see the garbage man himself standing there with a toy truck for Lincoln and a Republic Services hat for Lincoln. It was so sweet and thoughtful and only further secured our love and dedication to our weekly sanitation superheroes. 

Covid restrictions have begun lifting for youth activities. We dove right into getting back together with a stake Youth Conference to the sand dunes. The weather was lovely, the kids were cheery and fun, and the event was adventurous with dune buggy rides and a homemade zipline. 

I went straight from the sand dunes to sandy St. George with Jeff and the kids. Jeff's dad told us about a dreamy little escape along the Virgin River called Babylon Brook maybe? It was a perfect beach-like spot along the Virgin River that allowed for fish observing, river wading, owl hunting, and sunbathing. 

We went back to Jeff's parents' house to enjoy an evening walk on a path that followed our familiar friend, The Virgin River. 

We got to a bridge where Jonah fell down pretty hard and ended up with some splinters in his hands. The whole way home he kept saying, "WHY DID THEY MAKE THAT BRIDGE OUT OF SPLINTERS?!?" 

The real reason St. George was calling our names is because the Bess Bunch was there for spring break! It's too short of a drive not to squeeze in some time with them while we could. 

This is three for three on sandy locations for me in one weekend. We met at Snow Canyon to play in the sand dunes there. I didn't mind. It's one of my favorite places and it was a touch chilly so we had the place practically to ourselves. 

After grabbing lunch, we went on a hike that I absolutely loved! Maybe one of my favorite hikes ever. There were so many cool things to climb on and over and different types of things to see all along the way. Perfect for this crowd!

We came home to welcome The Wrights to Las Vegas. They had come to town for spring break and stopped by to see our house and have dinner with us. We loved catching up and appreciated the excitement of having company after a year of solitude! 

Parting Thoughts

I was informed by the internet recently that parting your hair on the side is no longer cool. Also not cool are all the emojis I overuse and my collection of skinny jeans. Just as I was maturing into my styles and feeling comfortable and confident in my appearance, the younger generation has made me second guess my entire existence. Is this what it feels like to get old?

I've been told middle parts are the rage. I do enjoy keeping up with fashion trends, and I don't want to become an old lady who gets forever stuck in the same styles I wore as a teenager. But A MIDDLE PART?!? Can't you give me something better to work with than a MIDDLE PART?!? Also, I'm having an inner battle of will it look like I'm trying too hard to stay young by switching up my hairstyle? Now either way I wear my hair is bound to give me insecurities. 

(My Mom has had a strong meme game on her blog lately, so Mom, this one's for you:)

I mean, I did pull off a middle part once in my life. 

And the reason I had that hairstyle is because I had just seen the movie Pocahantas. And my main takeaway of that movie was, "John Smith has really great hair. I want to cut my hair like John Smith." So Gen Z, you have officially gone John Smith on me and I'm not ready to be back in that headspace. 

I found these inspirational words by President Eyring fitting as I have been debating whether or not I am brave or cool enough to symmetrically split my hair. 

I guess hair parts don't really matter after all...just as long as we don't go back to the zigzag, okay, Gen Z?!? I'm gonna need a pinky promise on this one. (Wait...are pinky promises still a thing? *outdated crying face emoji*) 

Here's a dude that doesn't have to try hard to be cool. 

He rediscovered our roller blades in the garage and spent literally an entire week getting his Apollo Ohno on. 

Even while in the house refueling. Even in the car on our way to pick up Eli. Even while playing video games on the couch. Carson was a rollerblading bro!

Speaking of bros, these two decided to twin from head to toe one day. I gotta buy more matching outfits cuz this is adorable!

I did the marshmallow test on my kids. Gave them two, told them if they didn't eat either in 15 minutes I would give them two more. I'm happy to say they all got four, though one of them had a few dicey moments. This was for a Come, Follow Me lesson on patience. 

They all ran and got books to help them pass the time. Little cuties. 

I've been dying to go to Valley of Fire, but Eli just started baseball and has practice every Saturday right in the middle of the day, so it sabotages our ability to weekend adventure. It rained on Friday, so the fields were closed on Saturday because they were still wet. I knew we had to act fast and plan a last-minute trip to Valley of Fire with our free day before it got too hot. It was perfect!

Trying to stick a line down the center of my head may have been the worst part of my year so far, but Valley of Fire quickly became the best part!