Happy Anniversary

February 19, 1999 these two young kids got married. February 19, 2024 we celebrated our 25th Anniversary. We did a trip to Arizona a couple weeks ago to celebrate. So on our anniversary we kept it pretty low-key. We did breakfast at the diner and dinner that night with Dallin and his girlfriend. What a blessing we have been to each other the last 25 years. I’m so grateful that each morning we wake up, still choosing one another.

Tech Wars 2024

Laiklie and her two best friends got to participate in tech wars again this year. They signed up to do the welding/fabrication as the only all girl team. There were six teams in the competition. This year‘s project was a fire pit. They are given a blueprint and five hours to complete their project. The girls worked so hard! They finished right as time ran out. This year they got third place. Great work!! They were beat by two senior age boy teams. Not to bad ladies! 

Time with Oakley

Oakley got out of the hospital on a Monday morning. I was able to stay the week with her. We had a great week together. We did some hiking/walking each day. We did a little shopping and apartment hunting. I got to go watch her at clogging one evening. That was so fun! I haven’t watched her clog for a very long time. And, I also got to be the babysitter so that her and Logan could do a few things together. There were tears from both of us when it was time for me to go home, but she knew it was time for her to try and adjust on her own with Logan for the weekend. We are so proud of her for continuing to fight this battle of depression.

Fasting for Oakley

Oakley’s had the hardest year of her life this past year with her mental health. What started as lingering postpartum depression was compounded by seasonal depression this fall. She spent some time in a mental health crisis center in November after some medication changes and becoming suicidal. We thought they’d figured things out, but the end of January she started really struggling again. They made another medication change and within a few days she was back at the mental facility because of being extremely suicidal this time. :( She spent a few days there. While there both the Andrus family and our family decided to have a fast. We had to put up a few reminders on the fridge and pantry for the hungry teenagers. We are so blessed that we were able to get her help when she needed it and for Logan following the promptings of the Spirit. 

 

Dallin’s Old Lady Hair

When we got home from Laiklie‘s volleyball tournament, she had me hurry and straighten her hair before her date showed up for a date she had planned. Dallin and his girlfriend Brennae happened to be there. Dallin joked about Brennae using the straightener to fix his hair. She is the manager of a haircutting salon, so she grabbed the straightener and went to work. We laughed and laughed at how she styled his hair like she styles the hair of the little old ladies that she does each week. So funny!

2nd Club Tourney

In February Laiklie had her second club volleyball tournament in Logan, Utah. Her team played so well Friday night. They didn’t lose a single game. Her uncle Jody, and Aunt Arnica came to watch her. It was so fun having them there. As soon as we finish the last game as she came over to the chairs, she told me she didn’t feel well. I could see her legs were starting to shake. She has not had a bad POTS episode since July so I was hopeful she would be OK. She ended up passing out several times. Her legs didn’t go completely dead, but they definitely weren’t working right. It took her sweet uncle Jody, and one of the team dad’s to get her out to the road. I got stuck in the parking garage trying to get out with all of the traffic. By the time I got down to the road, she was able to walk herself out to the car. When she climbed in the first thing she said to me was, “people are so nice mom!” And she’s absolutely right! We have been so blessed to have great people surrounding us just when we need help with these episodes. 

Rhett Skiing

For Christmas this year we bought Rhett a gift certificate to Kelly Canyon. He hasn’t been skiing in years and years due to cheer competition season falling at the same time. He never wanted to take his chances of getting hurt. We had a beautiful day with a lot of snow, so he decided to run up to the ski hill by himself. He wanted to be able to take his time and enjoy the day alone. He sent me only one picture from the hill. He didn’t last very many hours. The snow was deep and thick and hard to ski through. He was so sore afterwards! I’m glad he got to spend a little time on the mountain though doing something he loves to do.

 

Sweethearts ‘24

Laiklie asked her friend Alyssa‘s brother Pierce Trane to sweethearts this year. He was a senior and hadn’t been asked yet. They had a huge group they were planning to go with. Earlier in the week though Alyssa‘s date got hurt wrestling and ended up having to have surgery. So Laiklie, Pierce, Alyssa, and her date ended up going mini golfing on their own for the day date. They met up with the group for pictures and dinner. Alyssa‘s date wasn’t able to go to the dance because of the surgery. So Laiklie and Pierce decided to skip the dance as well and just hang out with them at Pierce and Alyssa‘s house. She was a little bummed, not getting to go to the dance, but she had a great time, anyway. And she seriously looked absolutely stunning! The purple was so gorgeous on her!! We got sooo many compliments! 

It took a lot of convincing to talk Laiklie into wearing her cowboy boots. They were absolutely adorable though! I told her to hold up her boots so I could send Oakley a picture to see how cute they were. This was the pose she gave me on the couch. When I text it to Oakley, almost immediately, Oakley text it back, having photo shopped it onto a zebra. So funny! Absolutely, hilarious! Only Oakley thinks of these kinds of things. Hahaha! 

Oakley Hiking

While Ryan and I were in Arizona, the weather turned warm at home too. Oakley sent me this picture of her and Jax out hiking. It’s one of my favorite pictures of the two of them! I’m so glad she was brave enough to go on a hike by themselves. This was during one of the weeks when she was struggling so much with depression. It was so good to see her smiling!

 

Arizona

Ryan and I celebrate our 25th anniversary in February. In January we were able to spend four days in Arizona with his grandpa Max. We had such a great time! The weather was absolutely beautiful. The first day we took Max on a ride on the Dolly Steamboat. It was beautiful. We even got to see a few bighorn sheep! The second day, Ryan and I drove out to Sun City to see our sweet friend Luella. We spent the day visiting with her. She took us to lunch and to see some of the rec centers there by her house. We did a scenic walk at one of them that was gorgeous. And of course she sent us home with plenty of fruit from her fruit trees! :) On the third day Ryan wasn’t feeling very well from a cold. So we drove out to see the Gilbert Temple, and then enjoyed laying out in the sunshine. We had a lot of fun being together and spending time with his grandpa. It was just what both of us needed!

Tyce’s Mission Farewell

Our nephew Tyce is headed to Zimbabwe on his mission. In January he had his mission farewell. He did an excellent job on his talk!! I was so glad we got to be there. Rhett and Tyce are only one month apart in age. They have been best friends since day one. Rhett is going to miss him like crazy! We sure love him!

Jax Gymnastics

For Christmas I got Oakley and Jax a mommy and me gymnastics class. They have been going for about six weeks now and he’s finally getting more comfortable. He’s scared of the teacher. Lol! I love when Oakley sends me pictures of him though. He looks like he loves it.