Arizona birthdays trip

Andy and I have birthdays three days apart so this year we traveled to Arizona for my nephew Hyrum McNeill's wedding. Neither of us had been to the Grand Canyon before, so we took a day trip from Flagstaff to see it first. It was FREEZING. It even hailed when we first got there. It was super windy but we hiked the South Kaibab trail anyway! We also visited the Lowell Observatory, the Out of Africa Wildlife Park and saw the Mesa Pageant while we were there. Hyrum and his wife, Mariah, were sealed in the Mesa Arizona temple and we were glad we got to be there with them to support!

Look how steep those swithbacks were!

 

Prom 2026

 

Sydney and Tyler had a great time! 

You are sixteen going on seventeen

 

Sydney's teacher recently called her "the eternal child," and it's true. One of her defining personality traits is her continued love of pretend and whimsy. She is unconcerned with looking cool or like everyone else and dances to her own music literally.... even if there isn't any. She loves to laugh and feels deeply. She is very concerned and mature about her emotions and discusses them with forethought and understanding. She is learning to take more and more responsibility for herself and will be an amazing adult. She has a beautiful soul. 

She wanted to celebrate her 17th birthday with family, some of my friends :D and her boyfriend. She loves interacting with older people because she prefers their company to the frivolity of her peers. She also requested a reverse piñata that she could break out of, rather than break it open from the outside. Her boyfriend, Tyler, obliged with a giant Cheez-its she could get in and then break out of. It's so fun to watch her be silly. We love her a million!

Visitors!

 Nicole, Brendan, Tru, and Tru's roommate, Mia, came to visit us over Valentine's Day weekend! We had such a fun time hanging out together. We didn't get many pictures, but we enjoyed seeing them, and it's so awesome for our kids to get to know their older cousins :).

While they were here, Sydney was at the Montana Thespian Festival competing with her school. She won the best monologue award, so Nicole and I made her a shrimp piñata to celebrate! Sydney loves weird celebrations and hates shrimp, so we made her a shrimp piñata to destroy (filled with her favorite thing... Cheez-Its!). It was super funny to watch her break it open. Andy made a sign for it that said, "Your monologue was 'shrimply' the best!"

Family temple trip

 We had a special time as a family when we could go together for baptisms for the first time. Abby said she was nervous, but once she was inside, a calm came over her, and she felt it was special. We love the Lord and his gospel, which gives everyone the chance to accept it and live with him again. 

Star cruise

 We went on a cruise with our family and friends on the new Star of the Seas. My favorite part was the Aquadome watershow and area. I think it's so relaxing and cool in there. Abby loved having a friend and a cousin on boards she could run around with. Wynn really liked having his own bunk area in the room with his own tv and running around with his cousin Drake. Sydney's favorite part was the new dueling-piano and karaoke venues that are open every night! Andy loved all the new food venues and the way it didn't feel crowded, even though there were 7,000 people on board. We are so blessed to be able to take these trips and spend time together! 

Universal Parks

 We spent the New Year in Florida getting ready for a fun vacation. Then we spent the next few days at the Universal Parks. We are so blessed by my job as a travel agent that I can take the family on trips with me at a discount. The kids were very excited about the new Universal park opening in Florida called Epic. They decided to forgo the cruise we had scheduled in October and instead go to the new Epic park. We spent three days in the parks, wearing ourselves out on all the rides and running things. Sydney and Abby were super brave this time and went on almost all the roller coasters. Andy and Wynn even rode most of them. It was so fun to see the new lands like Mario and the Isle of Berk from How to Train Your Dragon. It was the favorite for all of us. We had a super fun time trying all the themed treats and seeing some shows too. Here are some of my favorite pics of our trip!