April Wrap-Up

April Fools kicked off April with Adele and her friend smoking candy cigarettes in the school parking lot and the rest of her group of friends running out to stop them to tell them it wasn't worth it. Those are some good friends!

We gathered for General Conference and soaked in all the great messages. Tennie and Ceci made the tiramisu on their own this year and nailed it!

The Easter bunny came early since Tennie wouldn't be with us on Easter.

A few of us went to hear Geoff's business partner, Randy Shumway, speak at the private Alta Club. I've always wondered who and what went on in that building I pass so often!

While we were enjoying beautiful, sunny California, Tennie was taking finals and finishing her first year of university! She will be home for a few weeks while she finds some summer work. We'll take all of her we can get! She accompanied Geoff to a meeting to visit a local company that takes carbon from the atmosphere and turns it into usable products like tires. I love creative, problem-solving people!

I went to the doctor and found I am anemic. After a few weeks of iron supplementation I'm still not showing any movement in my iron levels, so I'm adding liver pills to my health arsenal (better than eating it!) That has been some low-energy fun.

Ceci and her small project team (which includes cousin Bailey) have been working on a community action project all month. As part of bringing awareness to homelessness they walked around the Salt Lake public library interviewing willing homeless people (not as many were willing as they had hoped!)

Bailey invited Ceci to the pre-showing of Endgame, which Ceci was over the moon about, as you can imagine. (Uncle Mike always gets cool tickets to stuff like this, t-shirts included!)

I don't know why Adele took this selfie, but I got a hold of it and think it is too cute not to include...

And in the nooks and crannies of our month we had an unusual amount of minutia to deal with, but we're making progress on getting on top of our lives after being in all directions for awhile, which is really nice.

I can't believe we're down to one month left of school!

So Long California...

It was hard to pull away from California's beauty, sun, salty air and slow pace. Even Stella wanted to stay! While it was cooler than we hoped, it was still amazingly rejuvenating.

Aside from our two day-trips, we spent time at the beach, explored the small town of Carlsbad and fell in love with their farmer's market, ate out at a lot of delicious restaurants, spent a few days at Encinitas having a beach fire with Geoff's dad and his wife Robin, watching a surf competition, browsing the shops and eating a lion's share of açai bowls. Geoff, himself, keeps the açai place in Encinitas in business.

Adele, Ceci and Stella watched movies out on the back patio.

And there was the silliness that comes with feeling so alive.

We watched every sun set.

Geoff's dad sang in a community performance of the Messiah, with Robin playing the organ, so Geoff and I went to feel the power of that music. Wow. It didn't disappoint!

Easter day, after attending the local church, we had an Easter devotional on the beach.

These three played in the sand when things went a little long...

We went back to the house and grilled up an Easter feast and ate to the sun going down on a beautiful Easter, fully celebrated.

So long California. Until next time!

Newport Beach, California

Geoff had to take a last minute two-day trip to New York for work in the middle of our stay here. It was for a gathering for those chosen to be a part of Fast Company's Impact Council. Totally cool and flattering, but did it have to happen right in the middle of Geoff's beach vacation? A big bummer for him. While he was gone we took another day trip to Newport Beach. We had never been there, and I have always wanted to see what it was like.

After fueling at Dory Deli we rented bikes and rode along the beach to the ferry to Balboa Island. This little ferry takes three cars and a handful of passengers for the short ride, but it is cash only. A nice lady heard our plight and paid our way there. Sooo nice. But how to get back? Later we met a guy while getting Balboa Bars (oh my deliciousness) who worked with us in figuring out how to get cash. ATM? That would have been easy, but my pin doesn't work. We worked it out though and got ten bucks.

Balboa was full of adorable houses in a compact little space of land. We explored the small main street and ate our Balboa Bars before heading back to the beach path.

We did a little shopping and then ate Lebanese food in honor of our Passover tradition. It was a good day full of California sunshine.

Los Angeles, California

California has had a wet and cold Spring like Utah, and it has made for amazing swathes of yellow and purple along hillsides, roadsides and just about anywhere else there is wild space. It was the same way through Nevada and the usually brown sections of the drive. Amazing. That also means that some of our days are a bit on the cooler side. Yesterday was one of those days, so we took off for a day trip to L.A., which is a two-hour drive from Carlsbad.

Our first stop was Paramount Pictures where we took a 2+ hour studio tour that was really fun and interesting. What history!

We drove through beautiful Beverly Hills neighborhoods, down Rodeo Drive with its fancy shops and on to the Santa Monica Pier.

We rode the roller coaster and laughed ourselves to tears. This was Tennie's first roller coaster about ten years ago and I'm pretty sure we scarred her for life! That thing seems so harmless but it lurches and lunges and I was pretty sure we were going to fly off the tracks at some places. Oh it was fun!

As pure luck would have it, it was little Cam's 2nd birthday party that afternoon and we made our way to Balboa Park, tasting L.A. traffic at rush hour. My sister-in-law Heather will have her baby this Sunday, Easter Day. That woman is a work horse, I tell you!

She and Geoff's brother Christian know how to throw a party! There was so much food and an Easter egg hunt throughout the area. It was great to meet their L.A. "family" of friends. They always make us feel like a million bucks, those two. It was great to be there.

And that cute little Cam sure connected to Ceci. As soon as he saw her he held out his arms and then clung to her in a full bear hug for several minutes. So cute!

And then we made the drive down the coast to our little beach bungalow ready for some more beach days!

Carlsbad, California!

Sorry to be radio silent. Some weeks just aren't worth mentioning because they're so uneventful. And after spending a bazillion hours creating books out of previous blog years, I'm not into creating more work for myself down the road than I need to!

Spring breaks were on different weeks for everyone this year, so Ceci and Stella are missing a lot of school while Adele enjoys her Spring Break. We booked this trip as soon as we knew Stella was coming. Finally, during a cold, gray and wet Spring in Utah, we are in sunny California!

The drive was long (but so worth it). We unpacked, ate a big dinner at our favorite restaurant in Carlsbad, Blue Ocean, and headed to the beach to see the sunset before a trip to the grocery store to stock the fridge. Let's emphasize "headed to the beach to see the sunset".

No filters, just California.