Day 1-Flying to Germany

My alarm was set to go off at 4:30 am, but true to form, I woke up a couple of minutes before it went off and just got up ten minutes early to shower and finish packing. We were upgraded to Houston (yay) and figured we would be served some sort of breakfast on the plane and would eat then. That allowed the girls to sleep a little longer which would in turn would benefit us all.

Chanel Adams agreed to drive us to the airport. I told her it would be early but she agreed anyway. We left the house at 5:45 am driving our car; Chanel planned to return it to the garage at home, that way we would pay the tolls and not have to worry about reimbursing her. And we wouldn’t have to worry about a big parking bill at the end of our trip. Yay for Chanel.

The security area at the airport is slated to be reconfigured, so United's Global Service had been temporarily moved around the corner from United’s check-in area. It was a bit crowded, but we managed to get our bags checked and boarding passes printed.

Since getting Global Entry, I have gotten pre-check every time except for today. And everyone else in the family had pre-check except for me.  Boo.  But since so many people get pre-check now, the regular line got me through security faster than the rest of my peeps. I watched as the drug sniffing dog followed a guy in front of me.  He would stop following every so often and then go right back to the guy.  Not sure what happened, but I bet he got the benefit of some additional security checks.

We stopped at the United lounge for a quick bite of food and then headed to our gate to board. The plane had been changed since Chris first selected our seats so now we were no longer sitting together.

I have decided that the adjustable air feature on airplanes is specifically designed with women in mind who are experiencing hot flashes. I am not enjoying this particular time in life.

We had a three-hour layover in Houston where we planned to leave the airport, meet up with Kevin, and have lunch. To our surprise Grandpa Kline was waiting at our gate to greet us when we arrived. Pleasant surprise. It was also the first time we brought out Flat Amy to take a picture with us. I had a brainstorm a couple of weeks ago that it would be fun to bring a picture of Amy along with us on our trip since she wasn’t able to come with us. Kristen made it before we left and Chris posted our first picture on Facebook. Amy thought it was hilarious when she first saw it. We hoped that she would enjoy the fun pictures even though she couldn’t come with us and was pretty sad.

Kevin took us a short drive away to a Mediterranean restaurant called Awlidi. The girls were just happy that there was a Subway close by. We took a picture of Kevin and Flat Amy as he dropped us off at the airport.

Unfortunately for me I still didn’t have pre-check. Luckily the airport in Houston was not busy either. Our gate had been changed since last night and so we walked from E gate to C8 (which happened to be right where Kevin had dropped us off). Oh well, with a long flight ahead of us, the walk was good for us.

Chris was upgraded and would enjoy a lovely ten-hour flight to Munich. We FaceTimed with Amy just before taking off. She loved Flat Amy. Her friend, Liz, thought we were weird.

Though we didn't get the lovely dinner service that Chris enjoyed, we were served lemon sorbet.

She's a Senior Now

Misha is a Senior now (not citizen).  She has had finals over the past three days and is more than ready to be done with her Junior year.

Last Day of 7th Grade for Kristen

Kristen was just a little bit excited this morning for the last day of school.  (I might just be a little bit excited too).  I came upstairs to find her eating her breakfast on the floor.  She said that since it was the last day she needed to do something different.  Crazy kid!

Last morning getting on the bus.

Landscaping 2018 Update

It has been fun to watch all of the work being done in the yard.  It is kind of like the frosting on the cake and just makes everything look awesome in the yard.

We increased the size of the west side berm to the property line to get rid of the native grasses.  A couple more trees will be planted in the open space that as well as some lilac bushes. (That wooden pin will be my compost bin.  It is in a temporary position right now until the area by the garden is finished).

Added pavers to the front sidewalk.

Added breeze (crushed stone) to the pathways around the house and by the garden.

Lots of additional plantings added.

Trees too--honey crisp apple trees and peach trees.

Added another rock ledge on the back hill.

Brought in more sand at the beach, planted trees and bushes, and created a parking area.

Potting Table

I searched on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for a potting table for quite some time before coming across this functional yet inexpensive piece of loveliness.  $25.  We did have to drive to Boulder to pick it up (thanks to Howard Hamilton for always being willing to loan his trailer).

We've had some work being done on the yard, so the potting table isn't at its final resting spot, but I am excited to get it set up.

Columbine

The state flower of Colorado is the Rocky Mountain Columbine which is blue and lavender.  I planted a variation with dark burgundy petals and love the shape of the flower.

Old Roommates

My roommate from my Ricks College days, Laura, just got remarried.  She lives in Highlands Ranch now and even though we only had a short time to visit with her at the reception, it was great to see her again after 30 years,  Yep, 30.

I loved her simple yet elegant cake.

Moab Biking 2018

I must admit that when Chris goes on biking trips with friends, I do a lot of praying while he is gone.  He left early Wednesday morning and was supposed to stay until Saturday morning.  Sam Hendrix, who organizes the ride, rented a huge house for the group of 20+ men and boys to share.  It seemed to work out pretty well, though the boys have a lot to learn about picking up after themselves still.

There were a few broken bikes before the guys even got started on their first ride.  Chris had a charlie horse problem on the first day with the intense ride.  No wonder since he was just recovering from a bout of food poisoning from Mexico.  They rode hard over the next couple of days.  Chris (along with two other guys) rented a bike in Moab to use.  Apparently, that bike was superior to Chris' current bike and made the riding some much easier.

Because the bikes had to be returned before the business closed on Friday or they had to pay for another day, Chris and two others arrived back at the house earlier than the rest.  I think they enjoyed some time without all the chaos of 20 others.  Justin McFadden decided that he needed to leave for home that night, so Chris hopped a ride and arrived home Saturday morning at 1:30 am.  I barely woke up when he arrived but was glad to have him home a little early.

The Nephi Award

Over the past year, Misha has walked to our neighbor's house for seminary.  Even during the winter, she was able to walk most days across the lot next to us that has a house being built on it.  She received the Nephi Award in seminary "for her willingness to walk day after day from the wilderness to the Promised Land".

Landscape Project 2018

I wanted to get some before and a few after shots of the projects being worked on this Spring.  We have a lot of plantings going in.

Right now two guys are working to add pavers to the sides of our front sidewalk.  It is pretty narrow and will add a nice dimension to the front of the house.

NJHS President

Kristen likes to set goals for herself for the next school year and after being inducted in to the National Junior Honor Society chapter at her school, she decided that she wanted to be president.  She ran against four other students, each having to prepare and present a campaign speech.  Kristen excitedly texted me on Friday morning (after giving her speech on Thursday after school and then voting) that she was chosen to be President.  Her best friend, Maggie, was elected as Vice President. 

Kristen was also excited to be chosen as the "B" day morning announcer for next year.  And she will be participating in BIONIC - Believe It Or Not I Care.  She will help the 6th grade students get acclimated next year, be a positive role model, and show prospective students around the school when the come to visit.  She is pretty excited with all of the awesome opportunities for 8th grade.

Last Friday of the School Year

Kristen dressed up for Game Day at school on Friday.  The 6th, 7th, and 8th grades participated in the "Top Dawg" challenge throughout the school year, trying to be the best at school spirit.  For the first time in many years, the 7th grade class toppled the the 8th grade reigning champs from the winning spot.  Kristen was pretty excited.

Misha's Hair Cut

It may have been a little shorter than she wanted, but Misha still looks awesome.

Mother's Day

I was pampered with a massage that Chris arranged for me for Mother's Day.  Kristen could hardly wait to give me the scrapbook she and Misha created for me, and my college girl languished in bed sick in Idaho (not so much fun when you are sick and no one is there to take care of you!)  I am grateful to be the mother of three wonderful girls.

Missionaries

The missionaries came for dinner last night.  All of sudden I remembered that they were riding bikes and it was pouring rain and hailing.  Chris started to go find them when they pulled in to our driveway, completely soaked.

Chris gave them some sweat pants to change in to while we put their pants and socks in the dryer.  Didn't quite help as they were soaked clear through, but enough to help them warm up a bit.

He sent this picture to their moms showing them wearing Chris' much too long sweats.

Yard Work 2018

Anson Savage has been working in our yard helping us get it ready for extra mulch.  He and I spent about four hours weeding a week ago and amassed a huge piles of weeds--and that was just for a small portion of the yard.  Anson and Levi came last Saturday to help spread all of the mulch.

It was so wonderful to have their help.  My back just doesn't appreciate all of the Saturdays of work to maintain this yard!  While they were working on mulch, Kristen and I started moving rocks from an area that will have a tree planted and maybe other shrubs.  Moving the rocks meant we didn't have to order any more to fill in some of the spots that looked a little thin in other areas of the yard.  After a couple of hours, I asked Chris if he could spare Anson and Levin to help Kristen and I finish the pile of rocks.  It would have taken hours, but those boys dug right in and we were all done within a half an hour.

Anson has been working on various projects on the main lot and down at the beach.  He even came yesterday and worked in the cool and the rain.

Our neighbor, Mike DePriest, texted to Chris that Anson was a hustler. Chris mentioned that yes, Anson was a hard worker. Mike replied, "No, I mean, he runs from project to project."  Pretty sure that Anson could get a job with Mike's landscape company if he wanted one.

We have some bigger landscape projects being installed by Mike's company in the next couple of weeks.  It should give our yard a more finished look (though I'm sure I will always want to be adding more plants, bushes, and shrubs.  Shhhhhh, don't mention it to Chris).

Percussion Concert

Misha had her last percussion concert of the school year and probably her school career last night.  The band teacher is moving to a different school and Misha didn't want to start with a new teacher for her senior year.

Their final song was completely played on balloons.