Baseball 2023

Benny finished another awesome season of baseball! He lucked out to have the same coach he had for 7U. Coach Ricky is the best coach! He's so kind and patient with the boys and Ben learns so much from him. His team was undefeated almost the whole season. They only lost one game and won the Championship Tournament at the end of the season. The boys all got a championship ring and a first place trophy. Baseball has been such a good experience for Ben and I really hope he wants to continue next spring.

BYU Graduate!

We are so proud of Elayna! She graduated in April with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Brigham Young University. It was so awesome to be there to see her walk across the stage to receive her diploma. We also got to explore campus and got our favorite chocolate covered cinnamon gummy bears and fudge from the bookstore. The weather was so beautiful and we enjoyed an afternoon hike to Bridal Veil Falls. Dan's sister Grace hosted the most incredible graduation dinner party at her home. All the food was so delicious and sister-in-law Carrie made amazing cake. My brother Andy also hosted a bbq at his home the night before the graduation. So grateful for all our wonderful Utah family! It was a blessing to have them so close to Elayna while she was attending college far from home.

I decided not to haul my big camera on the airplane so only got cell photos

Elayna is now working as an electrical engineer at Collins Aerospace in Houston. Same company as her daddy!

Halloween 2022

The kids were so excited Halloween fell on a three day weekend this year! So nice to have the day off school! The Astros are in the World Series and were supposed to play Halloween night, but the game got postponed. Evan dressed up as an Astros player. Lorelei was a leopard/cheetah and Benny wanted to wear his grim reaper costume from last year even though I tried to talk him into a different costume. Avery got to attend the Renaissance Festival this October with her friend and they both dressed up. Avery got to wear her costume again for Halloween.

Back to School!

Hard to believe summer is over and school has started! This year we have one in 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th. This is the last year of junior high for Evan and last year of middle school for Lorelei! Next year we have another senior!

Minnesota Lake House!

This past summer we spent the week of 4th of July in Minnesota with my brother and his family. We rented a cute cabin on Turtle River Lake and had the most magical week on the lake. Getting there however was a nightmare. The day before our trip we discovered that the van Dan thought he rented was in fact never rented! Our 14 year old Honda Odyssey is not good for cross country road trips, but we decided to take our chances on it since we had recently put almost $3,000 towards repairs and maintenance. Big mistake! About 45 minutes from Mark and Courney's house, we broke down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere Minnesota. It was pitch black and mosquitos everywhere. We were lucky we even had cell reception to call Mark and a tow truck. Mark and Courtney drove out to save us. Mark stayed with Dan to wait for the tow truck and Courtney drove us and all of the lugguage from our van to their house. It was midnight by the time we got there. To top it all off, we found out the sad news that Dan's mother unexpectedly passed away. So we were stuck in Minnesota with no working vehicle and a funeral we somehow needed to be at by the end of the week. We also kept getting our credit cards denied because we were traveling across the country. Courtney had to save me at Walmart when my credit card got denied. So frustrating!!

Thankfully our van was fixed by thursday and we risked another huge cross country trip from Minnesota to Utah for the funeral, and then through the deserts of New Mexico back home to Houston. I don't know how we made it! We only had to cut our Minnesota trip short by a day and still had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful weather and lake. Mark brought his boat for tubing and fishing. The kids and Nova had a blast! I only took a few photos with my big camera of the kids on our last day there. The rest are from cell phone. We are grateful for the time we also got to spend with family in Utah. We even got to visit my brother Jeremy in Idaho and see his new baby! The drive from Minnesota to Utah was so beautiful and we got to experience parts of the country we had never been to. It was quite the adventure and a road trip we will never forget!

2022 Graduate!

Can't believe we have another high school graduate! The high school years pass so quickly. So proud of Kyla and all her accomplishments! Kyla will be attending Stephen F. Austin State University in the fall and running on their cross country and track teams. Here's a few cap and gown photos I took before she graduated.

And heres a few from graduation day. When she threw her hat up in the air, she lost her 2022 tassel!