Max

Eli sure loves his dog. (Also, Max looks so old here!)

Scholarship

Ali has worked hard this semester applying for a few different scholarships, and she got news that she got at least one of them! So pleased she is seeing positive results from her efforts. 

Teenagers

I'm not quite sure what look we were going for here, but it felt like it needed to be captured for posterity.

11!

Happy birthday to Jake, our creative, fun, loving eleven-year-old! We had so much fun celebrating Jake with cake and presents as a family, playing hooky from school to see a movie, and having a party with a bunch of friends. Here's to another wonderful year with our wonderful Jake!

 

Temple Treats

I took these great teens to the temple, and we got Wendy's on the way home, as usual!

Josette and Scotty

 

Jake and my good friends Josette and Scotty came to town for a quick visit. We were so happy that the weather cooperated for one day, so we could go to Cantigny (one of their favorite spots). It was so good to see them, as always.

5th grade Farewell

Jake got to go to a super-fun indoor play place for his 5th Grade Farewell. There were indoor rollercoasters, inflatables, arcades, mini-golf, laser tag, food, friends, and more! He had a great time.

18!

They're 18! What a joy these years have been! We are so proud of Ali and Logan and are so excited to see what the next 18 years (and beyond!) will bring. WE LOVE YOU!

(Logan just dug into his cake)

Ali had a fun group of friends over to celebrate and had a great time.

Project Hail Mary

Jason, Ali, and I read Project Hail Mary, and so we were very excited for the movie to come out, and we were not disappointed! We loved it! We saw it together, along with Jake, and then Ali saw it again with friends, and Jason and I went again on a date. So, so good!

Downtown Chicago

Eli and a few of his friends decided to do a Chicago day trip. They took the train to and from, wandered around, and stopped somewhere for lunch. They had a great time!

Author Visit

Jake and I had the chance to meet one of our favorite authors, Matt Eicheldinger! It was kind of a thrill, and it was so fun to see that he seemed as kind and fun in person as he does online and in his books. Jake was only one of two kids there to meet him, so for his two young fans, he drew them as if they were a character in one of his books-how fun is that?!

Fishing Friends

Eli continues to love fishing and has done quite a bit of research on the best ways to catch different kinds of fish. He's gone with all of his siblings, his dad, and a couple of different friends.

Soon

It is starting to sink in that Ali and Logan will be moving out in a few months. I expected the big lasts, but a few smaller ones have snuck up on me: not needing to save both the birthday door streamers after their birthdays, or not keeping their Easter baskets once Easter was over this year...they won't be here next year for their birthdays or Easter!  

Snorkeling and Caving

 We took a boat trip to the island of Culebra to find some good snorkeling. 

After we snorkeled, we hung out on a beach for a bit, and Aunt Donalyn and Stephanie found all these beautiful and interesting shells.

That night we had dinner at the place Stephanie dreams about :) It was right on the beach, and we saw a double rainbow while we were there!

On Sunday, we went to the church building, only to find out that it was Stake Conference week! We were bummed, but that meant that we were able to go on a cave tour we were thinking about doing. It was about 1.5 hours away. It was called Cueva Ventana. There were 800-year-old petroglyphs (this guy looks like a skeleton!). There were bats in the caves, too.

We checked to see where the temple was, and it was only 10 minutes out of our way home! We pulled up and saw that it was gated, and the gate was shut...but there was a young man in the guard house who let us on the grounds. It was a very small temple, which was interesting to see. 

It was a lovely way to end our trip. I had such a great time!

El Yunque National Forest

The next day, we got up and out the door by 9am to hopefully beat the crowds to El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rain forest in the United States. We first stopped at the lookout tower, and then headed onto an easy hike that led to a two-tiered waterfall. We were so glad we went when we did: when we got to each parking area, pool, or waterfall, there were a few people, but not too many that they spoiled the ambience or made it hard to get pictures. But on our way back down, there were crowds of people!

After another quick hike, we drove back to our apartment and then spent the afternoon at the beach and out to dinner! It was a pretty perfect day.

Vieques

The next day, we went snorkeling under the pier we'd seen the night before (we didn't see a lot, but it was worth doing), and then we went on a little golf cart drive (with all of our stuff again!) to an old lighthouse. We were the only ones there and had this little beach all to ourselves.

Then we took the ferry back to the mainland and checked into our third (and final) place for the trip- an apartment on the 17th floor with amazing ocean views.