We ended this week with a bang! McKay had a concert performing songs from his debut album, "Begin," and Megan was his event manager! It was fabulous! He performed at the Angelus Theatre in Spanish Fork. We had glow sticks, popcorn, raffles, and stickers. Not to mention, Great Music!! We had about 70 people there and McKay did a great job. It really was a ton of fun.

It was an especially busy week for Megan and Ammon. In addition to the concert, Ammon went to Denver to start selling and to get housing secured while Megan finished finals and worked on packing. We saw Meg a bit more as we helped and tried to soak up more time with her before she leaves for the summer! She spent a night with us Wednesday night and on Friday night we took her out to dinner. Saturday morning, most of the family helped her move everything from her apartment into a spare room at Grandma and Grandpa's for the summer. They leave today for Denver. We will sure miss them!

Savannah was able to help on Saturday but it was a crazy-busy day for her. She also worked at Funfinity and Bro. Berger came to help her check on the bees. She told us proudly that her bees are making baby bees! This is the sign of a healthy hive and of a colony accepting a hive as its home.

Cali and Cheyenne had tennis on Monday and Wednesday. On Saturday they each played a singles match and a doubles match. They are really playing well! They also had piano. Cali worked at Funfinity and Cheyenne had track. Chey ran in a hurdles relay and they won 2nd place! They had about seven of their friends come to the concert Saturday and afterwards they came to our house and played games. Fun times!

Bethany and Benjamin had a karate tournament on Thursday night. It was just a fraction of their school and parents watched on zoom, but they had a tournament! Bethany won first place in forms and Benjamin did really well, too!

Bethany had track meets on Monday and Friday. On Friday she ran the 100M hurdles and the 800M. During both laps of the 800, she ran in the back with the last runner. Knowing my sweet-hearted girl, I wondered if she was with the last runner to cheer her up. I found out afterwards that I had guessed correctly! She says she encouraged the last runner the whole race but in the last 200M, the girl (who was from the other school) said she wouldn't be mad if Beth sprinted the last bit. So she did, zooming past half the runners in the race. It will definitely not make her a winner in sports, but I hope no one coaches that sweet heart out of her! 

Kevin has been playing a lot more tennis lately. He's even been coming home early a couple of days a week to meet some men at the courts. He decided to invest in a ball machine for the twins, but he has enjoyed it just as much!

I started book ten of my series this week! I also ran three times and went hiking once. I've started volunteering at a place called Circles which helps people come out of poverty. I do that one evening a week in Provo. I'm really enjoying it.

Back to school this week! Cali and Chey and Beth dreaded going back. Cali and Chey dreaded it because this junior year has been so much work and will continue to be. Beth, I think, would just rather be home. Benjamin seems to feel good either way: being home is fine and being at school is fine. I'm glad he feels good at school.

Chey and Cali had tennis on Monday, but Wednesday's practice was cancelled due to bad weather. They had a match Saturday morning, singles and doubles, but they lost both. They were sad. Cheyenne practiced with the track team all week and ran in the 300 hurdles at Friday's track meet.

Cali worked at Funfinity but only had to work one day this week because Saturday was . . .

PROM! Cali went with Richmond and Chey went with Kimball. They both got to go but they went with different groups and did slightly different things. Cali's group got pictures, then went to a friend's house for dinner, then the dance, then someone else's house for root beer floats and jack box games. Chey's group got pictures, then went out to eat, then to the dance. Afterwards they watched a movie. They both had a really good time. (Oh! For day dates, Cali's group did Bob Ross paintings and Chey's group played games in the park).

So, backing up a little, on Friday night we had a family party to celebrate Ammon's graduation from BYU! Go Ammon! They are leaving us next week (just for the summer) to sell pest control in Colorado, so we needed to party while we had the chance! Grandma and Grandpa came over. We had hamburgers from the barbecue. We decorated. We sang the cougar fight song! Afterwards we played Ticket to Ride and Ammon won! (Just kidding. Cheyenne won! But Ammon came in second!) We are super proud of Ammon and we sure love both of them. We are going to miss them this summer!

On Saturday, in addition to Prom, we also had Benjamin's friend birthday party. We have always done a big birthday party when our kids turn ten, but because of COVID, Ben never got that. So we did the giant birthday party this year! Ben invited eight of his friends to Hang Time (which is a building filled with trampolines and obstacle courses). Boy were they excited! They had a great time and it was fun to see Ben with all his good friends.

Also on Saturday, our good friends, the Groslands, had the wedding of their daughter, Sam, to celebrate! Of course, we had to celebrate, too! It was fun to wish her well and to visit with old friends, too.

This week was Spring Break!! We took our four youngest and left Monday morning for Dinosaurland! (Which sounds like an amusement park but is really just what an entire county in Utah calls itself. Ha ha!) We stayed in a hotel in Vernal and on Monday we went to the museum there. Afterwards, we had dinner at a local diner, went back to our hotel for some games, and then walked over to Wendy's for late-night snacks/treats.

Wendy's! Sitting on one bench.

On Tuesday, we drove to Dinosaur National Monument. We saw the wall of bones they've preserved and built a building around. It's amazing because most of the amazing dinosaur bone recreations in museums all over America, came from this spot, and there's still hundreds left.

We travelled on through the park. We saw petroglyphs, had a picnic by the Green River, then saw Josie's cabin and hiked to the box canyons where she kept her animals.

After that, we drove to Red Fleet State Park. We went on a two-mile hike to see dinosaur footprints next to the lake. The beautiful desert hike wore us out with lots of ups and downs on plates of rock turned vertical from geologic upheaval. We had fun finding the footprints and taking some eye-tricking pictures!

Back in Vernal, we went out to eat for dinner again and visited the Vernal temple. Then we went back to our hotel room to watch Land Before Time. Dad and the girls drove out to the desert to see the stars, but Ben wasn't feeling well so I stayed back with him.

Wednesday was our last day. After a good breakfast at the hotel, we found the hike to Moonshine arch. Another beautiful desert hike took us over geologic formations to a very splendid arch. Ben had a rock Kevin had given to him and he lost it here. That made Ben very sad.

Ben cheered up when we got back to Vernal, though. Yesterday, he found a park ranger pin and he renewed his efforts to say to all of us, "Congratulations! You are now a Junior Park Ranger DINOSAUR at National Monument." We had a picnic in the city park and bought souvenirs before we headed back home to Springville.

We had a great trip but it was good to be back home. Benjamin's birthday was on Friday! It's been a fun birthday because he just finished the Harry Potter series. Ben is turning eleven which is the age of Harry when the books begin and he gets his letter from Hogwarts. Ben's class at school is starting a Harry Potter unit at school and to kick it off, they sent all the kids letters from Hogwarts which Ben received as we got home! He had also told me he thought it would be cool to get glasses like Harry's and they arrived in the mail on the same day. So much fun!

On the day of Ben's birthday, we got him a present that he has really been looking forward to. We took him to the pet store and got him a hamster! He named him Marshmellow and it is true love! For the rest of the day he played with the hamster and his friend Luke. That night, the family came over for presents and cake and ice cream. It was a fun day!

In other news, Savannah couldn't come with us because she needed to work every day this week. In addition to keeping Funfinity open and in business, it was the week to move the bees into their new home! So, she also painted the beehive boxes and on Saturday, Brother Berger came over and helped her get the bees in the hive! Her new project is officially under way!