2024 :: week 26

June 23

Sunday LMC families members began to leave Bennington. The Wilsons left in the morning and the Allreds after church. In the early evening Pepaw gave us a "family history tour" of Bennington and surrounding area. We drove past the Maple and Buttercup Fields where my dad owns land and stopped to see the area where my Grandma Crane was born 1917. We drove up into the beautiful Pine Canyon and walked to the Red Fern bus and to an overlook with a gorgeous view of the valley. We visited the cabin my grandpa built to homestead the land in the 1930s. We visited the Bennington cemetery and found the graves of my dad's paternal grandparents, parents and siblings that have passed, as well as his maternal grandfather and Miles Franklin Weaver--my great-great grandfather and father of my great-grandmother Idella (my middle name comes from her). Anthony and I loved all the family history, and hope our kids will remember what we saw too.

June 24

Monday morning we stopped at the Butch Cassidy Museum at the Bank of Montpelier. The Bank of Montpelier was established in 1891 as the first chartered bank in Idaho and became famous after Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch Gang robbed the bank on August 13, 1896. It is the only bank in the United States that was robbed by these infamous outlaws that is still standing.  The old building was restored to reflect the 1890s time frame and original elements and artifacts were preserved, though not in the same layout. The museum docent was very knowledgeable, though he seemed to be a big fan of "hearsay." The kids were good sports and agreed to pose for this picture. After the museum we headed down to American Fork. We made a pit stop in Logan and picked up In-n-Out for lunch. We agreed the burgers were pretty good, but the fries were just okay. We arrived at Nana & Papas around 3pm. That evening around 8:45 we walked to their neighbors home to witness moonflowers bloom. They were fascinating to watch!

June 25

Tuesday afternoon the Toms hosted our family and the Allreds for pizza and water fun. The Toms have an awesome blow up water slide and pool the kids enjoyed using. The adults visited on their patio while the kids cooled off and played. We feasted on Costco pizza, fruit and veggies. Then Trevor got out their snow cone machine and treated us all to dessert. Will helped grind the ice. It was great catching up with the Toms since we don't get to sese them as often. Madeline was born since our last visit to Utah seven months ago. She is very alert and happy, but rumor has it she isn't a great sleeper. While some of the younger kids were taking turns jumping on the trampoline in their basement Trevor let Elliott and Miles use his workout equipment. He coached Elliott and Miles on their form as they attempted to do sit-ups at an incline. 

June 26

Tuesday evening the Maxfields arrived from Oregon! Since none of our kids had ever been to Salt Lake, and it is shrinking at a concerning rate, we decided to drive up to Great Salt Lake State Park and float in it at least once. We were warned that there were a lot of bugs, and there--gnats!--and that because the water was so salty it would really hurt if it splashed in your eyes--it did! But everyone in the John family (besides Miles) successfully floated. The Maxfields floated as well. After our quick visit the the lake we drove the the Cottonwood Heights pool. We visited the pool back in 2022 after cousin camp and had a great time. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon. 

June 27

Thursday was a very Harvey Fletcher themed BYU day. First we hiked the Y. Apparently Elliott told his Maxfield cousins that he had hiked the Y, and they were bummed they had never done it. Turns out Elliott had never done it either. When we hiked the Y back in 2016 with Will & Lauren, Elliott stayed back with Carly. How is the Y connected to Harvey Fletcher? Before the Y was originally whitewashed on the mountain in 1906, Harvey was one of three BYU students in the Junior Class that surveyed the letters "B," "Y," and "U," on the side of the mountain. When class members assembled to begin the letters, they started with the "Y" to keep it centered. Students stood approximately 8 feet apart and created a human chain carrying buckets of lime, sand and rocks to construct the letters.  It took hours to create! Because it took so long the students never completed the other letters. I can testify that it is a very steep incline and not for the faint of heart.  When we hiked the ~1 mile trail Wednesday morning it really pushed me. Will called me when he was sitting on the Y and it took me another 15 minutes to get there.  After the hike we met Doug and Tina for lunch at the Creamery on 9th. After lunch Tina arranged for us to visit the anechoic chamber Harvey Fletcher built at BYU when he was a professor in the 1960s (after he retired from Bell Labs). It is inside the Eyring Science Center, so we walked across campus and marveled at what has changed and what hasn't. An anechoic chamber is used to study sounds. The walls, ceiling and floor of the room are covered in acoustical wedges that are held in place metal grates. When you walk into the room you walk on a wire floor that is several feet above the actual floor of the room. Being in the room is a lot like wearing noise cancelling headphones. We were in there for a few minutes and my ears adjusted to the muffled sound, but as soon as we walked out the cacophony of noises hit me. The BYU professor that gave us the tour is married to a friend that also grew up in the Lenexa Stake. We found Nana's name on the wall, listed with other BYU physics students throughout the years. After the tour we walked to the BYU Library and the enjoyed the hand-on Lego exhibit.

June 28

Thursday Elliott headed to Liz's cabin with Nana, Papa and the cousin camp crew. The rest of us went to the water park formerly known as Seven Peaks--Splash Summit--in Provo. Carly and her family had been at a family reunion with Daniel's side of the family until Thursday evening. Will, Lauren and Elliott were anxious to spend time with Sadie, Elise and Grant (Elliot and Millie were at cousin camp). Anthony and I got season passes to Seven Peaks in both 2006 and 2007, so it felt a little like coming home for us. We spent most of our time in the tadpole area with Miles, while Lauren and Will went down the various slides with cousins. We floated through the lazy river a few times for old times' sake. We stayed until closing, then headed to the Nielson's for dinner. We got Costco pizzas for the kids and ordered Costa Vida for the adults. It was such a gorgeous evening we hung out on the back porch after dinner. Will and Sadie challenged Anthony and Carly to an epic game of pickleball. The John adults do not go easy on their kids, and the kids will be better competitors for it, though they didn't seem to pleased in real time.

June 29

We were all pretty tired Saturday. I wanted us to have a relaxing day because we would be driving the entire way home the next day. I did some cleaning and prepping for the trip. Anthony, Meredith, Carly and kids went up to Harvey Park and played a lot of pickleball. That evening we got the kids Chick-fil-A and then the adults got tacos at Holy Taco in Orem. We finished the night with s'mores in the Nielson's backyard, visiting while the kids jumped on the trampoline, played "ghosts in the graveyard," and games of pickleball and pick-up basketball. I made the kids go to bed around 11pm while Anthony and I finished packing. We probably stayed up too late visiting with Meredith (considering we had a 17 hours drive ahead of us), but the late night chats with siblings are one of the most important parts of getting together. We had a great week in Utah!

2024 :: week 25

June 16

Happy Father's Day to Anthony! He's a great dad and our kids are lucky to have him. We had a relatively simple day. I made breakfast casserole. The primary kids sang in Sacrament Meeting. That evening we had a potluck dinner of Hawaiian Haystacks with the local Cranes.

June 17

The John men were pretty excited that the Celtics won the NBA Finals Monday night. We let Elliott stay up late to witness "history." 

June 18

Will is assigned either the "cashier" or "rover" at work. He prefers to be cashier. The rover takes out the trash, sweeps, picks up trash, walks the perimeter to make sure the grounds are clean, etc. Whenever I see him walking around I think in my head "they see me rovin', they hatin'," to the tune of Chamillionaire's Ridin'.

June 19

This week was Elliott's turn for baseball camp and it was hot! Several of Elliott's friends participated, including Elliott G who got sick from the heat. We carpooled with Townes and Cole. Dave was extra nice and got the boys some Gatorades on the way home.

June 20

We left early Wednesday morning to visit family out west. We decided to drive through Colorado and  sneak in a Rockies baseball game. The game started at 1:10pm, so it was hot, hot, hot in the sun. We bought tickets in the bleachers that had no shade. After the first inning (where we saw Shohei Otani hit a lead off home run on the first at bat). We ended up moving to a row of purple seats in the upper deck that were in the shade. The single purple row is located at 5,280 feet above sea level, or a "mile high." After the game we went to our hotel, swam and ate some pizza. We were disappointed with how bumpy the Colorado roads were. As soon as we hit state line, the roads got significantly worse.

June 21

Friday morning we hit the road for Bennington. It took us about 8 uneventful hours. When we got to Bennington we set up camp up Maple Canyon at Camp Bare Toes. We set up two tents for our family, with Will, Lauren and Elliott in one tent and Miles with Anthony and me. The kids had fun exploring with their cousins and second cousins. The Allreds and Wilsons also came out for the reunion, though both of them had been in Bennington for a few days. For dinner we had a weenie roast and s'mores. Then people told stories, recited poems or told jokes around the campfire. 

June 22

I had such a great time at the reunion! It was so good to see family that we don't get to see very often, and it was fun to see my kids explore with their cousins the same places I enjoyed exploring as a child with my cousins. We survived the night camping, even though the ground was rocky and pretty uncomfortable. We went on the beautiful hike up the canyon to the rocks. In the afternoon the kids went on the stick pony hike and participated in the egg drop. In the evening we ate a dinner of sloppy joe sandwiches (my first time going when they did not serve lamb cooked in the dutch oven) and potluck sides. Uncle Melvin's homemade root beer and Aunt Norene's fudge were my favorites, as always. After dinner was the program, where each family does a skit. Our family had all the kids being loud around my dad as he sleeps totally unbothered. Then someone whispered, "While Pepaw is asleep let's throw away the 13 year old ketchup," and he instantly wakes up and says in a grumpy voice, "who's talking about my ketchup?!" 

2024 :: week 24

June 9

Operation new deck begins this week! I wanted to record what our deck looks like before it gets torn down later this week. 

June 10

A few weeks ago Joi mentioned that she would be willing to help me tint and lift my eyelashes this summer. Now that school is out she reached out and asked if I would be available Monday. I already was planning to meet with Charlotte and Michelle about the OPC carnival so we combined the meetings and Joi did our lashes or brows while discussing the carnival, among other things. It was such a fun night! Joi is the ultimate hostess.

June 11

I took Miles to Children's Mercy to get his annual leg x-ray to check make sure his osteochondroma isn't growing. It seems to be stable and isn't causing him any pain so we won't do anything for now. Miles was a little nervous about the x-ray, but he did great and walked into the room all by himself.

June 12

We spent a lot of time at the pool this week. Joi brought freezer pops to share (Miles ate one but did not want to be in the photo). Will had baseball camp at SMS Monday through Thursday mornings this week. He enjoyed it, though he was older than most of the kids there. 

June 13

Our deck is gone! They started tearing it out on Tuesday, and finished the job today. Thursday evening we "cleaned up" all the junk that was hiding under the deck and did our best to fit what we could in the dumpster. The dumpster filled up faster than we anticipated, so we are going to have to figure out an alternative way to get rid of some of this junk. 

June 14

Friday was the Pink Thunder's final hurrah. Her teammate Madelyn's dad has a connection with the KC Current and was able to schedule Lauren's team to be part of the pre-game ceremonies at CPKC stadium. The girls got meet players before the game, walk onto the field with the players at the start of the game, and then stand on the field during the National Anthem. The only downside was they had to wear blue "Amazon Prime" shirts when they walked onto the field, because the game was broadcast on Amazon Prime. We were hoping that family at home could see her on the field, but apparently Amazon Prime doesn't broadcast the opening ceremonies. It was a fun game to watch with the Pink Thunder family. The Current tied the Chicago Stars 2-2.

June 15

Miles is loving his new bed. He often perches at the top of the ladder reading books. I am tickled every time I hear him reading to himself in that spot.

2024 :: week 23

June 2

Elliott is still our #1 snuggler, and there is no where he'd rather snuggle and read than on Mom and Dad's bed. In the background you can see our newly painted accent wall.

June 3

It's the first official full week of summer! Elliott started basketball camp and Will had to work. We went to the pool, but it was a little overcast and almost chilly when the sun was behind the clouds. The pool is more fun with friends, and hardly anyone was there because it wasn't that hot. Lauren and Miles had fun being silly together.

June 4

JAW Lawncare is keeping busy! On Tuesday I drove the boys to KCK to mow Sarah's lawn. I always enjoy chatting with Sarah while the boys work.

June 5

A big project we've been working on the past few week is getting Miles' and Elliott's room deep cleaned and bunk-bed ready. For the past few years Elliott has slept on a twin bed on one side of the room and Miles has slept on the other side first in a crib, then a twin mattress on the floor. The boys have a lot of stuff and really struggled to keep the room clean and it was driving me crazy. Talking to Charlotte, I found out she was preparing to have her girls move into separate room and would be getting rid of their relatively new bunk bed. She offered to sell it to us at a deep discount and so Wednesday after piano we picked up the bed and Rob and Tony reassembled it within an hour. Yay! Miles is now the top bunk buddy and Elliott will be sleeping on the bottom full-sized bed. We have an extra twin mattress that we will keep under the boys bed (a "trundle") that we can pull out when we have company. The boys have been a big help getting the room ready. This weekend Anthony will put together their new IKEA dresser, we will move the Lego storage over from Will's room, and we are passing our old bedroom set on to friends from church.

June 6

Elliott had a fun week at the SMS Sunflower Basketball Camp. He made a few new friends, and had a great time with Townes and the Wilson boys. 

June 7

Friday was a very Royals day. A few weeks ago I got an email from Elliott's baseball league letting us know about an event the Royals were hosting for young baseball players in the community. Teams in the MLB host "PLAY Clinics," to promote a lifetime of healthy activity for youth. In the email it said there were limited spots, but all kids that came would receive complimentary tickets and parking passes for their families to the game that night. It sounded like it would be something Elliott would like, plus free tickets to the game was something the entire family would enjoy. Friday morning after stopping at Lamar's and Krispy Kreme for free "donut day" donuts, we headed to the K. I asked the event coordinator if Will and Lauren could participate in the activity too and she said they could. After the entire group--including parents and younger siblings--listened to a lecture about the dangers of fentanyl, the kids split into three groups and went on the field to learn about nutrition, strength & conditioning, and injury prevention. A Royals player was at each station--Michael Wacha, Michael Massey & Kyle Wright. The kids were excited to get their shirts and hats signed and Will took pictures with each player. Miles and I waited in the bleachers. That evening we went back to the game. We arrived early enough to get the free t-shirts and hung out for a bit in the Kid Zone. The game got off to a rough start. The Royals' starting pitcher pitched through the entire Mariners lineup (10 total at bats) in the first inning and the score was 0-7. The next few innings were pretty slow, though the Royals made a bit of a comeback in the 4th and brought the score to 4-8. After the 6th inning it was 7-9. When it started to rain and there was no runs scored by either team in the 7th or 8th I all but assumed the game was over. However, in the bottom of the 9th the Royals came back and won after a clutch triple from Bobby Witt Jr., tied the game, followed by 2 intentional walks and a walk-off fielder's choice from Nelson Velazquez. It was the most exciting baseball game I've ever been to in person! The crowd was electric and people went crazy (especially Will). After the game was a fireworks show.

June 8

We had a "lazy" day Saturday after our late night. TJ worked on the dresser for the boys room. Lauren went to Cat & Sally's house. I took the boys to the pool. Will mowed some lawns.