27 April 2025
VOLUME 13 – NUMBER 605
Annual boys retreat
This week was the annual boys retreat, where we go and play video games constantly for three days straight. It was a ton of fun.
I also got to drive Ashton’s car from Richfield down to Provo to go and pick up Cougar, which was really fun! It was my first actual time driving that long by myself, and I really enjoyed it. Luckily Cougar offered to drive back, since I was pretty tired from driving there.
The place we stayed at was awesome, it was so clean, nice, and spacious. The best thing was that it passed my bed bug exam!
Annual boys retreat
In case you don’t know, I have a very big fear of bed bugs, ever since I watched a Mark Rober video that said that there are can be bed bugs a lot of places you go, especially hotel rooms and Airbnb.
But there weren’t any bed bugs that I could find, so I was able to relax and not have to worry about that and enjoy the rest of the trip.
We ended up finishing the Lego Star Wars game, since we didn’t finish it last year, and then we played and finished Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. I had a lot of fun, and I already can’t wait till next year!
Finishing the game at the boys retreat
This week from Thursday to Saturday was the boys trip. To get ready, we had done some planning between sessions of general conference, but now it is here. We went to Richfield to an Airbnb. The place was very nice and perfect for the boy's trip.
So me, Kai, Monte, Isaac, Caleb, Ashton, and Cougar went to the boys trip. Our plan was to finish Lego Star Wars from last year and then we were going to do Pirate's of the Caribbean.
It was really fun, because the food we got was very healthy and delicious, and we all ate a lot, because we were determined not to get sick this year.
We finished Star Wars and started Pirates of the Caribbean, which was very fun. We all liked it, and it wasn't incredibly hard. I mean, at some points it was difficult, but never impossible.
I liked it, and we weren't all staring at the screen the whole time. We would also play football, and Cougar brought his Switch, so that we could all be doing things at the same time. I had a really fun time.
Joanna and Gloria eating crepes
This week I have only worked about 12 hours. I tried making this week a little bit more chill to get more school done, since I only have about two weeks left before I am finished with high school!
This has also been a really enjoyable week. The boys had their boys trip, which is really nice not having a whole ton of people at home. We had only Mom, Dad, Quinn, Joanna, Veidi and I at home.
Mom and Dad made really good meals. Dad was joking that we needed more “girly, fancy, healthy” meals, so Mom made crepes, and Dad also made fancy chicken thai ramen.
London and Heidi’s dance recital
Friday I went to Sister Zimmerman‘s house. She wanted to do my make up for graduation photos. Mom also joined us, so we had like a little girls evening for about an hour at Zimmerman‘s.
Later that night, Mom, Dad Joanna, and I went to London’s dance recital. London and her roommate Heidi did an amazing job! I really did enjoy going to the dance recital. I also got some of my graduation photos done up in Springville that day. They turned out really good.
On Saturday, I also had MORP, which was Riley’s and my last high school dance. That was really fun. For the first hour and a half, we stayed at the house. We did facials and some Bob Boarding with Veidi.
Monte, spooky-eyed Gloria, and Riley
For lunch, we went to Marco’s Pizza, and took it back to Riley’s house. We also played some board games. After like an hour, we went to Jordan Landing and walked around. We bought some pickle-flavored cotton candy, and we both did not like it!
For the dance, the theme was Disney Duos. We decided to do Perry the Platypus and Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Monte also took our photos. They turned out really great.
The dance was OK. There weren’t a lot of people that we knew there. We stayed for about an hour and a half, and then went back to his house and started watching the live-action movie Beauty and the Beast.
Gloria and Mom at London’s dance recital
This week the boys were gone, and I was able to get a lot of school done. I finished a lot of my classes. I have one more class left until I'm done, and I'm waiting for my teacher to respond to some of my things.
There was no stake sports this Thursday, so I just shot around in the backyard, and then after I walked the dogs, Mom said I could play Stardew Valley with Gloria. We played until midnight and then we went to bed. It's been a while since I did that, but it was really fun.
Dad asked me if I would rather go to London’s dance recital or stay home with Quinn, and I decided to stay home. Joanna, Mom, Dad, and Gloria went to London's dance rehearsal with Keaton, and Quinn and I stayed home to watch dogs and to play some Stardew Valley.
This week has been really great for me. I was able to do a lot of school, clean up a lot of stuff in my room, and just relax.
Riley and Gloria at the playground
I finished my finals this week. I have a short break before I start Spring term next week, and we are enjoying it. The boys trip this week was a success, and we made some great memories.
One of the memories I’m calling “the saddest pizza ever.” Caleb and I were downstairs getting some pizzas in the oven while the other boys were heroically working through Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. My stomach was throwing a tantrum, and the pizzas were simply taking too long for my comfort.
In a move of severe desperation—and zero dignity—I slid the pizza off of the tray and directly onto the bottom rack of the oven. The next moment has likely crushed any hopes I had of joining the Olympic curling team.
Annual boys retreat
I then witnessed a true nightmare: this cheesy, pepperoni-y circle sliding further than anyone could have expected. It took a 90-degree turn and had fallen into the gap at the back of the oven.
Seeking to prevent what I knew was inevitable I reached for the pizza, knocking it over face down directly onto the burner. Immediately the pizza was up in the flames and the air B&B was filling with smoke, as though we were summoning an ancient pizza demon.
I slammed the oven door to contain the smoke. Caleb and I opened all the windows and doors before I successfully extracted our sad, and now crispy, Italian dinner with a long pair of tongs. The pizza now had a burnt pizza frowny face, and was looking dire.
After allowing the oven the cool, we cleaned off the pile of cheese, place it back on the pizza, cut off the scar tissue from the pizza and it went right back in the oven to finish cooking. We all tried the pizza and it had mixed reviews, some said it was alright, while others said it tasted like cigarettes.
Gloria’s graduation picture
School is over and the this week marked the four-day break between Winter and Spring semesters, so we left for the boys trip to Richfield, Utah. It was honestly such a fun trip this year. We had pretty good balance in our activities, and no one got sick. Also, if that Airbnb is around again a year from now, I’d definitely want to go back!
It was so fun. That trip is always one of the highlights of the year for me, especially because it marks being done with school and gives a chance to just relax and bond with the boys.
We drove the whole way down and back with one extra person in the car than we were supposed to have, so we were alert to every cop we passed or that passed us both there and back, and we had some fun trying to implement our schemes to make sure we didn’t get caught and thrown in jail!
Heading out to the boys retreat
The boys trip was this week. As part of tradition, we decided to play Lego Pirates of the Caribbean.
We started the trip off with Monte, Troy, Isaac, and I cramping in to the back seats of Ashton’s car. The ride to our Airbnb was two and a half hours. Once we got there, we started by completing 100% of Lego Star Wars. That took us the whole first day.
Once we finished that, we began Pirates. The odds were looking slim at finishing the entire game, but with some all-nighters pulled, we managed to finish the game at around 6:00am on the last day.
The trip was really fun, and I’m so grateful to Ashton and Caleb for planning it. Thanks guys!
Braden and Brooke’s family
Braden went to Florida this week for work, so it was just me and the girls. Sometimes I get a little nervous when he’s gone, because I worry I’m going to burn out, since he’s not here to help, but the week went surprisingly well!
We tried our best to stay busy to help time go by, so we had a playdate at the park with friends, had movie nights, did crafts, went on walks, and my favorite thing was probably taking the kids to McDonald’s so they could play in the play place while I read my book—ha ha!
Braden had a good time on his work trip and enjoyed getting to see his coworkers in person and get to know them better. His company even paid for them to spend an afternoon at Universal! He had a great time, but we were so glad to have him come home!
Ellie with Grandma’s sticky bubbles
Mom was out of town for three days, and I was helping Joanna with school while Dad worked. On the second day, it was Mom and Dad’s anniversary, so Dad left on a secret trip to dropoff a gift to Mom in her hotel room in Park City.
After that, me and Joanna went to activity days. Caleb picked us up and gave me a treat, because I couldn't go to the boys retreat. That night we had hamburgers and played a game. the next day Mom came home and the boys left.
Joanna
Not having school has been crazy. I have so much time now, so I've just been doing a ton of little tasks that I have been wanting to do but haven't been able to because of school.
I also hardly worked this week so it was all just a party! Tuesday evening we had a little game night at Endia and Cougar's and played some Settlers of Catan.
Wednesday morning, I got some pics of Braden’s old moped to get it sold. The past couple weeks I've been working on getting it road worthy, and on Monday I had finally done it! However, Tuesday evening after the game night, the brand new headlight went out, so I'll have to buy another, and that one I won't put in until I'm about to sell it.
Wednesday I got a bunch of tasks done. Then Dad stopped by on his way back from giving a gift to Mom in Park City for their anniversary, and he picked me up, and I went up home to get ready for the boys trip!
Gloria’s graduation picture
This boy's trip was super nice. The drive down was fun avoiding the cops, since we had loaded the car up past it's limit. We had a cool a cappella moment singing a few songs together.
The place we stayed at was exceptional, but going up the winding staircase was a bit of a task with slippers on, I always felt like they were going to fall off, and the stairs just kept going and going! Cougar burnt a pizza—”burnt” meaning like real flames! Everyone was healthy this year!
Lego Pirates was a ton of fun, we finally beat Lego Star Wars, and I threw a football around outside with Troy and Cougar. We also had delicious food—it actually felt pretty well balanced! Most of all I loved how much all of us were able to bond, it was priceless.
After getting back on Saturday, the Nelsons let us go over as a family and hang out in their pool/backyard. I practiced diving and played Pig, and I will proudly proclaim that I was a victor of one of the games!
Gloria’s graduation picture
Jenny was gone for three long days this week. Trying to keep up with everything she does with the children and the dogs was a huge challenge for me, all while trying to get my own work done as well.
She was also gone over our 31st wedding anniversary, which might be the first one where we didn’t see each other at all. So I decided to surprise her. I picked up some Junior Mints, Hot Cheetos and nacho cheese, and a couple other items, along with a little basket, and drove up to Park City. When I got to her hotel, I had an attendant take my gift basket to her room.
Then I snuck away, pleased with my sneaky adventure, until I got pulled over by a Park City Police officer. Apparently, in my escaping glee, I had overlooked several key traffic laws, and just barely avoided a serious citation!
I love you, Jenny! Happy Anniversary!
Jenny with sticky bubbles from her retreat