What is May?

After 2 years of this fire pit not working and that having a major impact on our summer enjoyment, Nilsy Nils figured it out and now we have a reason to enjoy the backyard. Wahoo! 

Just Timpanogos being attractive again.

Just Pip "ON THE CASE" as ususal. 

Our niece Harmony went through the temple last weekend and we got to be there. 

SurfacePix, the dominator of life ATM. 

Ava's last band concert for the year.

Anders is in Denmark and we're trying to keep up with the Instagram stories. He makes me laugh. 

An unsettling discovery. Thanks for the arrangement, Ava.

Got my hair done and this was there to greet me. 

Aani is working as a lifeguard this summer and had to get a drug test. They sat in the city council chairs to have their drug test administered. Very official. 

Our good friends had a big loss in their family, so we heart attacked them with the help of some other neighbors. When you don't know what to do or how to help, sometimes your efforts feel trite, but they appreciated the love. 

Aani's friend Brylie got baptized a couple of weeks ago. Aani was a big part of all of this, so it was a sweet experience. 

Cheri, Ruth, me and Kat. My chips and salsa friends, group text about our lives and troubles friends from the days of yore when we served in Relief Society together, many moons ago. When you're in the trenches with people, the bonds are strong. We cackle and sometimes say things we wouldn't say to anyone else, and we lift each other up. I'm so thankful for them. 

We don't really remember May. It's been busy and we've been bad at documenting. June is stacked and is going to be totally nuts, people. Maybe the most nuts of our lives. Pray for us. See you then. 

Shouldie, Moab, and More!

 Heyyyooo! It was Spring Break at the beginning of the month, so we took Aani and Ava to Moab for a couple of days. Good times were had. We drove to Canyonlands NP to the Needles area to do the Chesler Park hike. It kicked our butts pretty good, but it was a beautiful hike the whole way (about 6 miles), with lots of uphills, downhills, some scrambling, and lovely views. Canyonlands is way less popular than Arches, and with it being spring break we thought it was a good idea to try it out. No regrets. Pictures are at the end of the post b/c this blogging platform is frustrating. 

Anyhoo- the next day we drove somewhere in town and Aani and Ava hiked by a river and played in it for awhile and had great times. We went to Milt's for lunch, as you do when in Moab, and then in the evening we went to Arches since the crowds had thinned. Such a beautiful, stunning place. 

Double Arches

Double Arches

Double Double Arches on BeReal

After our Arches adventures, we got back to the hotel. We planned on leaving for home the next morning, but we decided to leave then and sleep in our own beds that night. We left around 10 pm and got home 3 1/2 to 4 hours later. I tell ya what, we're nutty.

The next week I had surgery on my shoulder. I named my shoulder "Shouldie" a year and a half ago, FYI. Shouldie got fixed. They repaired the labrum and rotator cuff, so I've been one-handed for 3 weeks. One more week in the sling, and then PT starts. I can't wait to get some motion going in this arm. I really can't move my shoulder at all, it's pretty weird. 

Here's an awkward shot of the steri strips and my sling. Three tiny incisions and I'm completely debilitated in this arm. The mind can't comprehend.

Nils has been so very kind in helping do things I can't do. He helps me put bobby pins in my hair, and he puts my hair in a top knot before I go to bed. Then he refreshes my top knot so I can go on walks. 

I'm pretty self sufficient now, except for the above mentioned hair struggles. 

So we had a dumb idea. Nils and I thought since I was having shoulder surgery, which isn't fun, we may as well add on to the misery and do the keto diet. So we did that for 10 or 11 days and realized we had no happiness in our lives.We stopped that and went to Leatherby's for ice cream. Happiness restored. 

Addie's taken up knitting, which is impressive on its own, but on this day, she was knitting while lying down. She said it was harder to knit lying down, but she managed pretty well. 

Aani went to prom with her boyfriend Aidan. Or Aiden. I don't know. Anyway, he likes her a lot. She likes him a lot, but it seems like he likes her a little more. He's a nice kid.

Ava's still playing tennis like a boss.

One day Pip started digging in this planter box, searching for a mouse, we assume. She'd pop her head up every once in awhile and it was black. She needed a bath real bad. 

I took Addie to physical therapy today. She has achy joints and we're trying to get to the bottom of it. When it was done and we were checking out, she got really light headed and went pale. She had to lay on this couch for about 20 minutes, but she got pretzels and water from the people there, so it was totally worth it. Just kidding. She didn't feel well for awhile and that was sad. 

Nils and Doug are working on a Will it Print, YouTube channel, since we don't have anything else going on. They printed this shoe and it came out pretty cool! 

They also had a guy from Germany come visit for wall printing purposes and they pretended like this car showroom was their company headquarters. I don't even know what's going on anymore. It's fine. It's all on the up and up, don't worry. 

Hey, it's the Needles at Canyonlands! 

Next time I write, maybe I'll be able to lift up my left arm! 

Have a good one.

March: Maybe it could rain some more.

Hola. We come to you from a month of rain and snow. "We're thankful for the moisture we've received" is a phrase we aren't saying in our house lately. #overit

We were bad at picture taking this month, so I don't have tons of memories, but here are a few pictures that aren't purely utilitarian/super boring:

I always appreciate brainy Skeletor teaching me a thing or two. This made me ELL OH ELL.

Pip: She continues to terrorize us with her naughty behavior, and then she does weird stuff like this and we laugh at her and decide to keep her. She sat up like a human and let me scratch her for quite a long time.

Have I mentioned we're turning the garage into a studio/woodshop? It's been a whole thing. The walls, ceiling and floor are finished, and it's time to move everything in. Hoorah! Next, we get a carport! Hopefully sooner than later! ;) 

Insulated the attack above the garage. Good times indeed! 

Nils and I spent a couple of days in Boise at Click Funnels HQ to meet up with people who are in the same coaching program that we are. We made a few good connections and got to hear form this guy for a few minutes. He's the face and founder of CF, so it's kind of a big deal to people in that world. 

Sometimes kids can be real turds, and sometimes they leave you notes that make you feel like you're not totally failing at life. 

Life updates: 

NilsyNils: Working hard, trying to figure out the balance of opportunities, what makes sense to spend time on and where to place energy. Is excited about the garage space and being able to do what he wants as far as woodworking and filming. He loves tickling my back every night and doesn't get tired of it at all. I would go so far as to say it's his favorite thing in life. JKJK. I do love him so. 

Katrina: Also trying to balance the things. Eager to make this Click Funnels thing work for us- I'm happy to have met some people in Boise who we can hire to help us with that. Totally unrelated, but my shoulder has been really struggling for awhile, with multiple dislocations in the last several months. It dislocated a couple of weeks ago and I decided enough was enough. I've had an MRI and CT scan in the last week, and tomorrow meet with the surgeon to go over results and see what we can do to fix it. I'm dreading surgery, but I also need to get it done so I can live normally again. We shall see! 

Anders: Exciting things for Anders lately. He started a new job last week doing software development. It pays well and is what he's been looking for for months now, so we're all very thankful. It's remote, so he works from home. Speaking of home, he moved into a townhome yesterday in Orem, so that's a big deal. He sold his little van a couple of weeks ago, and is working on fixing up the mini truck to sell as well. He also placed an order for 7 more vans, so those should be in a shipping container and crossing the ocean very soon. Things are going well for him now, after an extremely difficult year of trial, heartache, and major struggle. Did I mention we're thankful? We're thankful. 

Addie: Exciting things for Addie, too! She took her medical coding certification exam and passed, so she's now a certified professional coder! She's not looking for medical coding jobs at the moment, because she was just offered the job of being the manager of the outdoor pool this summer. She loves the outdoor pool and looks forward to it all year. She'll probably start looking for coding jobs at the end of the summer. We're proud of her for all the things. 

Aani: 4.0 student, works at Mickey D's, goes to mission prep every Sunday, likes a boy named Aiden (who also goes to mission prep every Sunday), calls herself a basic white girl, is fine with her siblings also calling her a basic white girl, loves all things beauty and hair and fashion. Fun to talk to and joke with and we love her. 

Ava: Getter of good grades, player of tennis, player of the clarinet, watcher of YouTube, struggler of room cleaning (still), haver of a good attitude, always down to hang out with mom and dad. She had a band concert the other day, and instead of dropping her off at her call time which is a half hour before the concert, I went in with her. She wasn't expecting that, so when I got out of the car at the same time as her, she was surprised. I asked if she was embarrassed to walk in with me, and she said, "You're my mom, why would I be embarrassed of you?" So I listed all kinds of things I could do to be embarrassing, and I think she really enjoyed the visuals I was providing. 

It's been a good month. A year ago, March was not a good month. It's been a year of challenges, changes, struggle, blessings, heartache, tears, and more blessings. It's weird to have that dichotomy of blessings and trials. That's life, though, ain't it? 

Wishing you a happy April!