April

 April began with General Conference.  I made cinnamon rolls, as per tradition, for Saturday since we were leaving for Capitol Reef on Sunday.  

Sunday morning we left and listened to conference (or tried to) in the car.  We had decided to take the 4 Runner down and about 1/2 way down there the muffler got so loud we could barely talk to each other.

We arrived in Torrey (the town outside Capitol Reef) around 1 p.m.  We were traveling with Cory and Torrie and the Ahyous.  Torrie has a sister who owns a kiva (like the ones Native Americans built) and she and Corey stayed there.  Ahyous brough their van and parked on the property.  We had a hotel at Capitol Reef resort about 4 miles up the road.

The kiva was built in 1996 by a pair of brothers who built it authentically.  It is so unique! 

After we arrived we played corn hole for a bit and then went to get something to eat.  Went to a Mexican restaurant and it was OK. 

We came back and hung out by the firepit outside.  

That night we went to Capitol Reef and did the petroglyph walk.  Very short, but fun to see.  

While we were at the visitor's center Jacob looked under the hood and could see the "donut", that attaches the exhaust pipe to the engine, had fallen off and was sitting on the crash plate.  This was a piece that we had fixed last October.  

The next morning Jason called a car shop in Loa (about 2 small towns away).  Ben Ahyou has a friend's cousin who owns it.  Corey and Ben followed Jason to the shop.  The guy said he would have parts overnighted and fixed by Tuesday probably.  

They came back and we went to Slacker's for lunch.  We ate a lot on this trip and most of the food was just ok.  This burger was delicious!  I had a jr. bacon burger with pepper jack cheese.  Loved it!

We then headed to hike Chimney Rock.  I was a little worried about my back/ hip, but had it adjusted before we left and was trying to keep a tight core.  The hike went fine, but my legs were tired.  The view was beautiful up there.  

After the hike we went back and later got some pizza for dinner.  It was the thickest crust!  I like crust, but it was almost too much.  

Next day we went over to the kiva and played corn hole, hung out again.  Went and grabbed lunch.

After lunch Corey let Jason and I take his car (a new Bronco) to pick up our car.  It was fun to drive it and see what we thought of it.  The fix was what we thought it was.  The donut. Came back and walked to a shop in town.  Ahyous all bought cowboy hats.  

That night we did dinner at Red Rock Rim Inn.  It was good, but I only had a potato.  I was tired of eating.  

Jacob, Teneya, Torrie, Corey, Ben, Andrea, 
Jason, Me, Elias

That night we played card games.  That was fun. 

We got up the next morning and headed home.  The rest of the week was spent catching up and hanging out.  

April 16 was mom's 86 bday.  Chris and family were in town because the weekend before Mallory and Jon graduated from BYU-I.  

We visited, had cake, opened some presents. 

On Saturday the 19th we went to Jared and Stephanie's to celebrate March, April and May bdays.  We did and Easter egg hunt, and Jason and I made a shrimp boil.  Turned out pretty well, but didn't have as much taste as we thought it should.

Jacob got this shirt. 

After dinner we did birthdays and then gave Daniel and Sage bridal shower gifts.

Jacob wrestling Robbie

Sunday morning was Easter.  This was the first year Jacob has not hunted for his basket/candy.  It is boring!  Next year he's going to have to work for it again!

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Church was very good.  The choir sang, Pres. Critchlow spoke and I was in a small musical number at the end.  

We then went down to mom's for Easter dinner.  Chris' family was all there, Joy/Matthew, Mike/Jessie and we were there.  It was a nice afternoon. 

Wedding time!  On April 25 Daniel and Sage were married in the Draper temple.  The wedding was a 1 p.m. with a luncheon at 3:30 and reception at 7 p.m.  It was a great day.  Those two have a ton of energy and are headed to Thailand for a 2 week honeymoon. 

Waiting for the bride and groom
to come out

Married at last!

March

Beginning of March we went to a book launch for Brandon Mull and his new book on Newell and Doren from the Fable Haven series.

Brandon Mull apparently used to be part of Divine Comedy down at BYU.  So he invited former cast mates to join for a show he did with the launch.  Some of it was funny.

On Saturday, March 8, MarySue held Galentines at her house.  It was medieval themed...we made a personal "crest", played games and had great food.  It was fun.

Lisa, Birthe, Inez and I got together for lunch and had a fun 4 hour visit.  

Later that week, on Friday, I started to feel like maybe a cold was coming on.  Saturday Jason and I went to the Republican convention where they vote on new leadership.  This whole thing of being a delegate has opened my eyes to things.  

The next day, Sunday, I was sick.  I had taken a Covid test that was negative.  I headed into Instacare to get checked out and had Infulenza A.  They gave me Tamiflu which reduced my symptoms.  

By Tuesday I was feeling well enough to be up and around the house.  By Friday I finally felt normal.

Sunday was Jacob's 17th birthday!  In honor of that I cleaned his bathroom for him.  

Saturday morning he and Jaxon went to the Pic-n-Pull junk yard to look around.  That night Elias came over, they went to dinner and then came back for the movie.  Jason and I went to the ward fund raiser dinner for the ward budget that had gotten messed up.

He opened gifts on Sunday morning.  Here he is trying to "figure out" what the sun visor gift could be.  

Lucky Charms and Pop Tarts, 2 video games, new tennis shoes, a Car and Driver magazine rounded out the gifts. 

That night Cathey's came over for cake and ice cream.  Tom's parents were in town and we celebrated Bob's birthday too..March 25th.  

The last Sunday in March Jacob texted Luke Anderson to see if he could hang out.  They invited us over for dessert and games.  Turns out it was Lee's bday.  Had a fun time.  

 

February

This actually started on Friday, Jan 31, but it went into an overnight stay to Feb 1.  

Jason has had PVCs....premature ventricular contractions.  When he went in last September to fix them, as they prepped him, he was showing that he was in afib...so they did that surgery and said it might clear up the PVCs.  It did not.  

Jason went in, but that morning he was showing very few PVCs.  They took him into surgery at noon and it was over 3 hours.  Problem was the surgeon only saw 2 PVCs.  That is not enough to fix it..though she tried.  Dr. Nanipanini said they gave him heart medication to speed up the heart--trying to make it show PVCs.  She actually woke him up during surgery to try and get PVCs, but nothing worked.  

He got back to the recovery room about 3:30 and decided to stay over night.  I left for home about 5:45, once he was settled in a hospital room.  

The next morning I went to pick him up and he was showing PVCs all over the place!  Quite frustrating.  He has a follow up in March.  

Screen showing 23 PVCs a minute

After I brought Jason  home I went to lunch with Collie Lucus, Suzzette Gatherum, and Stacey Oppenhimer.  These are friends I have known for 30+ years.  When my old roommate Anna and I lived in Santa Fe apartments we'd have parties.  They would come and were part of the Murray South Ward.  It was a fun time.  

We have  had very little snow this year and Jacob goes out whenever he can to work on his car.  We tool this picture to help him remember where things go back in the car.  

It is hard because his car is very low to the ground and difficult to get under.  What he needs is a garage with a lift.  

On Wednesday, the 5th, I went in to begin a tooth implant.  He pulled the tooth and it seemed like a more difficult procedure than the last time I had it done in 2022.  I was taking 800 mg of Advil with Tylenol for 24 hours.  Then I tapered off to 400 mg and then to 200 mg about every 12 hours.  My jaw is still sore, but getting better.  

A bonus with all that ibuprofen is it took the pain out of my hip.  I wonder if it had been agitated for so long, that maybe parts were inflamed and the ibuprofen helped bring it down.  I'm hoping the pain stays away.   

Sunday, the 9th, we went over to Cathey's to watch the Superbowl (again, no pictures).  We usually go over to Dave and Gwyneth's, but they were sick.  So last minute we connected with Catheys.  It was fun to watch with them.  

Valentine's Day I made fondu after dinner and Jason bought me flowers and Sees candy.  

We also did Chinese New Year's over at Jared and Stephanie's on Feb. 5th.