March 2022

March was a pretty eventful month for our family - take a look:

Megan and Mitch spent the end of February and the beginning of March on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, where they had a great time enjoying the sun and sand and of course, some shave ice.  They spent time in Honolulu, the North Shore and all around the island.  They said the weather was pretty perfect while they were there and they enjoyed some time just the 2 of them.

They also did some hiking around Boise, started some new plants for their garden and Megan continued to grow a little baby - well done, Megan. :)

On March 5, Bryce, Autumn and I took off for a weeklong trip to Paris, France.  It was nothing short of magical.  We found an old airbnb flat in the heart of Paris that was super close to the metro stations and tons of cafes where we enjoyed daily croissants. :). Here's a look at some of the fun stuff we did:

First stop, Versailles palace and gardens.  We loved exploring the massive gardens on a rented golf cart and liked walking through the palace, too.

We spent the next day at the Louvre (where we saw lots of amazing priceless art and also went on a 20 minute scavenger hunt for what Bryce thought was a giant gold statue - see pic below), walked through the Tulleries garden to the Musee de L'orangerie where we got to see Monet's largest water lily paintings along with lots of other beautiful impressionistic art, and then walked down the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe where we hiked up all the stairs to the top to enjoy the beautiful views of Paris.  We ended the day with some pretty delicious crepes.

We took a one day trip to Normandy with a tour guide and had a wonderful day driving through the French countryside and exploring several sites related to the D-day invasion.  We learned about the German fortifications, visited Omaha beach and Point du Hoc and also visited the American Cemetery above Omaha beach.  It was a long and powerful day and we were all really glad that we took this day to remember the sacrifices made by the Allied foreces to liberate France and other European countries.

After getting back to Paris that evening, we walked through the streets of Paris and went to this really yummy steak and fries restaurant that's pretty famous before walking to the Eiffel tower where we were hoping to see it sparkle, but they had it lit up yellow and blue in support of Ukraine, so we enjoyed that instead.

We spent a day exploring the Orsay museum which was probably our favorite of the art museums we visited, mostly because it has a lot of art by our favorite impressionist artists.  

We spent the rest of this day exploring St. Germains church, Saint Suplice, walking through the Jardin du Luxomburg (where Autumn found some of her favorite macarons of the trip - she was on a daily hunt for macarons and Paris did not disappoint) and seeing the outside of Notre Dame and the Pantheon.  We also got to see the Eiffel tower sparkle. :)

We took a train to Disneyland Paris - the destination that initiated discussion about this trip to begin with.  We had a fun day, because it's Disneyland and how can you not have fun at Disneyland?

We spent our last day in Paris exploring Sacre Coeur, the love wall, the Pompidou museum of modern and contemporary art (where Autumn found the shovel from a Dada period artist that she used as the focus for her final project in her humanities class last semester) and the Picasso museum.  Our trip to Paris was amazing and we are so glad that we let Autumn talk us into taking her there.

Once we were back in the US, Bryce helped Delaney purchase a new used car to replace the one that was totaled in their accident last month.  She is still having issues with her wrist and fingers on her right hand, but was happy when an MRI showed she doesn't need surgery.  She and Seth both stayed busy with lots of school work, goofing off a little to relieve stress and taking care of their cat Blaze, who is pictured below after he stole the chicken defrosting on the counter and proceeded to enjoy a little meal. :)

Devin and Levi continue to love doing escape rooms with their friends for fun and have escaped some pretty fun adventures together. They also got to play with their friend's gecko and decided they might need to get one themselves.  Devin also started a new job at a different lab in Logan that pays better, has better hours and is way more interesting to him, so that's all good.

Autumn spent the remainder of the month doing homework, hanging out with her amazing roommates and friends and enjoying a warm spring day at the Color festival.  

She also spent a lot of time getting stuff to get ready for her mission. (She told me recently that shopping for her mission isn't nearly as much fun as she thought it would be. :)) After doing tons of research and talking to a lot of people who have lived there and after finding out that Winnipeg is the 3rd coldest city in the world,  we bought her a coat that should keep her from freezing.  We hope.

We also had Grandma Ririe come and stay with us for 3 weeks and enjoyed having her company and peaceful presence in our home. She and Bryce went for walks together at lunch every day. :)  

That's it for March.  We already have some fun stuff that has happened in April, but you'll have to wait for next month's report. :)

February 2022

 February was fun! Take a look:

Autumn enjoyed going to a Utah Jazz game with Bryce when he won tickets at a raffle at work.  Seth had planned on going with him, but had something come up at the last minute and Autumn was happy to step in and enjoy and evening with her dad.  Seth and Bryce went bowling together that weekend to make up for the lost father/son time.

Autumn invited me to go to the Cougarettes concert this month and we were both AMAZED at the talent of these consistently national championship winning dancers.  It made Autumn both happy (because she loves to watch dance) and sad (because she misses dancing so much), and we both loved the concert!!

Our kids had some fun Valentines day celebrations :).  Autumn came to our house with her roommates and they made Valentines day cakes.  She also had roses delivered from her favorite missionary (by his mom) that day.  Seth got Delaney some flowers (being guarded by Blaze), Devin and Levi went to an escape room with another couple and had a great time, and Megan and Mitch continued their tradition of making chocolate dipped strawberries.  They also had Megan's best friends from college come out for the weekend after Valentines day, 

But I think Bryce and I had the most fun for Valentines day this year.  On February 12, we flew to Grand Cayman and enjoyed a week of sun, sand and relaxation on the very sparsely touristed island.  Grand Cayman is still not allowing cruise ships to stop there and just recently opened the island to fully vaccinated travelers from approved countries, so it was not at all busy.  Here's a look at some of the fun stuff we did:

We hiked through the jungle (not for long though because there really wasn't much to see and it was infested with human eating mosquitos) and saw beautiful trees, flowers and birds.  

We drove around the east side of the island on a rainy afternoon where we visited a cool sculpture garden, found this cool double swing overlooking the ocean, saw a blowhole and walked down along Lovers Wall (which was appropriate because it was Valentines day)

 

We visited Hell, which was a bit of a disappointment, but still kind of cool to say we've been there...

We visited the turtle preservation center where we got to see tons of sea turtles (and snorkel with), and see the workers hand feed nurse sharks.

We enjoyed lots of time at the beach enjoying some sunshine and in the ocean snorkeling and enjoying the waves.

One of the coolest things we did was snorkel in bioluminescence bay at night.  The bay is one of only 12 places in the world where you can see bioluminescent plankton.  They are like fireflies, but in the ocean, and they light up when they are touched.  So you can't see them because they are microscopic, but as we got in the water, every place we touched lit up like a night sky filled with tiny shining stars.  And as we would move our arms and legs, the sparkling lights would follow our movements and I felt like a witch in Harry Potter casting spells.  It was one of the coolest, most magical things we have ever seen or done!!  Even as we held very still in the water, the water around us would sparkle as the plankton ran into us and released their light.  I wish we could have captured it on film, but it isn't really possible to capture the twinkling beauty.   You'll just have to go there someday. ;). Here's a picture of us on the boat heading out to the bay.

While Bryce and I were in Grand Cayman, Autumn received her mission call.  It was honestly so hard to not be there in person, but we are grateful for technology and for Seth and Delaney who face timed the entire family in so we could all "be there" as Autumn discovered that she will be serving in the Winnipeg Canada mission starting May 30.  She is sooooooo excited about her call to serve as a missionary and also excited about her assignment to serve in Winnipeg.  We are so excited for her!!!

Autumn with her family :)

Autumn with Macie, her bestie and roommate who correctly guessed Autumn's exact mission!

Winnipeg Canada mission (outlined in blue)

Bryce was excited to order a Canada flag. :)

Devin and Levi came home for Presidents Day weekend and we did an escape room together.  It was a super fun way to spend time together as a family, and we totally beat the clock. 

Autumn and I went to her friend Hannah's mission farewell as Hannah gets ready to serve in the Dallas, Texas mission.  Autumn and Hannah have been good friends since elementary school.

Autumn and Hannah, 2011

Autumn and Hannah 2022

My sister Kathi hosted a baby shower for her daughter in law Lauren at our house that was so much fun, but I failed to take a single picture of the party.  I did however get this beauty of a pic of Bryce and Kathi's husband Rod enjoying some fun time together.

Bryce took me to the Utah Symphony as they played the score of "Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince" live while they played the movie on the giant screen behind them.  It was so much fun and I enjoyed one more way to feed my Harry Potter mania. :)

The month ended not so great when Seth and Delaney were in a pretty bad car accident.  A man ran a red light and crashed into them as they were crossing a road.  Delaney was driving and broke her wrist and suffered from some burns from her seatbelt.  Both of them were pretty shaken up, but they are okay and we are grateful for that.  Delaney's car was totaled, so they will eventually have to get a new used car, but we are all just glad that they weren't seriously injured.

At the instacare

That's our February. :)