May 2025

 Wrapping up May... We were got most weekends but during the week we fit in a few things.  Abby and two friends, McKenna and Gemma, went to the temple almost every Thursday morning at 6:00 from January to May.  Great girls.  

Abby got to go to Thanksgiving Point with the Clarks and Grandma.  One day I will make it for the Tulip Festival.  There is also a cool exhibit of Nephis Vision.  

Abby has been biking a bunch.  With friens and with the middle school team.  She is a strong little girl!

We sure love our weekly chats with Tyler.  He is an amazing kid!!!! 

Ella got to finish her Junior year.  She made it and did a whole bunch of biking.  She has a great community of kids she spends time with. 

Abby had a back yard sleepover in a tent (but under the stars).  They stayed up, ate good food, and Abby got stung by a bee in the tent.  .... and I LOVE my yard!

Ella's St George with Friends Trip

Ella was busy with friends or biking most of the days but I was able to fit in a few of my bucket list items.  The Petroglyphs in Snow Canyon were great.  There are four different spots.  Newspaper wall, Sinking ship, and a two slot canyons off the path held some cool things to look at.  We feed lots of hungry kids.  The boys stayed at our house. Girls were at Alta Browers house. 

Sunday was a mix of church and slot canyons.  Both were great!  Yankee Doodle was fun with the Allens.  Then Grace and I did Secret Canyon nearby.  We had some water!

We crashed pretty hard after the sun went down.  Pickleball and sleeping were both fantastic. 

The last day we had a small group of friends who went and did half of Water Canyon.  I made them rappel into the water for fun.  Grace was awesome and swam back out there to help Abby get off her rappel device because its hard to do when you are treading water.  

Unpacking and repacking... that seems the theme of the summer. 

 

Neighborhood Moms Trip to St George

 The 4th annual Melissa Berry Moms Trip.  Here are some highlights.  Amanda and I arrived at the trailhead at 1:30 AM and threw out a tarp to sleep.  The rain and snow had a different plan and we were sleeping in the car before long.  The next morning we dropped into Russels Gulch and did that small section.  Then met up with Nolan, Sandra, Sam, and Cam for the Subway.  We had thick wetsuits and were happy about it.  We tried to move quickly since the Balls crew had to drive all the way back to SLC that night. 

The next day Amanda, Stacie, and Vy headed out to Behunin Canyon in Zion.  We got a late start which started the day off wrong.  BUT we had a great time.  It's a beast of a hike up to the drop-in of the canyon.  Lots of huge rappels.  We did great until we got to the swim that Stacie had to do.  Then almost dropped the rope on the last rappel into the Emerald Pools.  Then couldn't pull the rope.  Exiting in the dark and finding a ride back to our car.  No cell phone service worried everyone back in St. George.  

The next day we headed into Water Canyon.  No water so it was easy.  

By Saturday we were all exhausted and spent the morning in the hot tub,  eating, and visiting at the kitchen table.  What a great trip!