April 2022

 We started the month of April in one of my most favorite places - the temple! Autumn received her endowment in the Mt. Timpanogos temple on April 1 and it was a beautiful evening.  It was made even more special by the fact that Megan and Mitch had come down for Conference weekend and Grandma Ririe was still visiting with us so they could be there too.  Such a great day!

We went to the temple several more times throughout the month as Autumn was eager to go to as many temples close by as she can before she leaves on her mission.  So far she has been to the Mt. Timp, Draper, Provo City Center, Provo, and Payson temples and has plans to go to her roommate's sealing in the Meridian temple and do a session in the Oquirrh Mountain temple in May.  She loves the temple and we love being able to go to with her.

We had everyone come home for General Conference weekend and it was so wonderful to be gathered together as a family to watch the sessions together and play games and socialize in between sessions. Devin and Levi invited a few friends to join us for the weekend which was even more fun. I love being gathered as a family!  And I love these pictures taken during Conference - everyone working on their projects. :):)

Bryce, Autumn and I drove to Boise for a weekend where Autumn and I helped Megan get ready for a Relief Society super craft day and then went with her to the activity and made some fun craft projects while Mitch and Bryce painted the nursery.  We also explored more of downtown Boise - we always have such a fun time when we visit Megan and Mitch.

Before

After

We celebrated Easter with a new advent that counts down the week to Easter by studying the names of Christ.  We loved lighting candles each night and talking about Jesus Christ throughout the week.  Seth, Delaney and Autumn came over on Easter Sunday for dinner and to complete our candle wreath.

We met Seth at the BYU Museum of Art so he could give us a guided tour of a new contemporary art exhibit that was curated by one of his professors.  The art was really amazing and was made even more amazing by getting to hear the history and meaning of the pieces from Seth, who is so passionate about art and has an amazing ability to remember the tiniest details of each piece.  It was so fun!

We took two trips to Thanksgiving Point's tulip festival.  The first one was with Autumn on a beautiful, sunny and crisp Spring day and the second was just 3 days later when Megan came to town and she and I went together on a cold and windy day.  You gotta love Spring in Utah! :)  Both visits were beautiful - we love going to the tulip festival each year and marveling at the displays of spring flowers.

We ended the month of April with a baby shower for Megan that was so much fun!!  Autumn was so happy to help me put everything together so she could be involved with the shower since she will be in Canada by the time her first little nephew arrives.  We had a great time and enjoyed seeing neighbors and friends that have known Megan since she was very little, some of Megan's high school and college friends as well as several aunts and cousins.  So excited to celebrate this happy event!! Here are a just a few pictures of some of the people who came:

Me, Megan, Autumn and Delaney

Megan and Alathia, one of her wardie friends. Several others came as well and it was fun for Megan to be with old friends.

Megan with her Finch side aunts Becki, Kathi and Kristi

Megan with her cousins Tasia, Bethani, Bella and Sabrina.  Bethani is only 1 week away from her own due date and Bella is 5 1/2 months pregnant with twins.

The cutest sisters :)

Megan with her best friends Rachel and Crystal. Her other best friend, Megan, was out of town and missed the shower.

That's it for April! See you next month!

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. :)