What's Up With The Wheelers: Alluring April

So May 15th came and went and I didn't get blog books printed, not for lack of trying. I kept getting a server error message, and Blog2Print's customer service couldn't help me. I guess there's not a lot of incentive to troubleshoot when you are going out of business. Drats. They referred me to a competitor's site (Into Real Pages) which looks decent, except for the fact that they print in size A4 and aren't offering Blog2Print's 60% off. Putting it all on the back burner for now.

In the meantime, I'd like to try and finish getting caught up on this blog. It would be great to write about my current life without everything feeling out of sequence. It's a tall order because currently my life is busy. In addition to all of the end-of-the-year craziness, I just started 12 credits of an online RN to BSN program through the University of Utah. I'm totally swamped with discussion boards and responses to other student posts--blech. Plus, I'm not technically an RN yet, although hopefully that will change on Tuesday if I pass my NCLEX licensing exam. Oh, and I'd REALLY like to find a job. Anybody willing to hire a middle-aged Mom with more life experience than nursing experience? Taken all together, it's a lot.

In the meantime, let's see if I can get on top of this one particular thing. If I can get something rolling in the right direction, it's easier for everything else to follow.

Alluring April. 45 minutes after we rolled into Omaha from our spring ultra-vacation, Talia performed her Federation pieces, Praeludium and Allegro by Kreisler and Partita in E major by Bach. The Kreisler in particular was a major undertaking that she'd been working on for the much of the year. We're so proud of her sticking with it and doing really hard things! With Annika playing violin in the fifth grade orchestra, it's fun to remember Talia in the exact same place and recognize how far she's progressed since them. To celebrate, we indulged in ice cream from Spilled Milk.

In April I'm all about the flowers. I went to see the cherry blossoms up at the Capitol several times. Part of the reason they are so special is because they are so fleeting.

My first encounter was with Eli. I love how this kid is always up for a spontaneous adventure.

The next day I went back on a bike ride.

Then on Sunday we met up with the Millcreek Wheelers for a picnic and a stroll. By the way, do you like Talia's sweatshirt? In case you can't read it, it says, "In My Bluey Era." Too true!

Violet hugs are the best! She just wants to be like the big girls.

In April the flowers around our home start to look pretty as well. I positively adore perennial bulbs.

Our peach tree blossoms were beautiful as well, although this is kind of a sad photo. We buried our baby bearded dragon Mango here. Despite stellar care from Uncle Adam, Mango passed away during Spring Break. Unwilling to eat, we knew that Mango was very sick when we left, so Adam had the hard duty of providing hospice care. Thanks for making Mango's last days comfortable.

But wait, the story gets even more tragic. We'd learned from the pet store that Mango had spent more than a month in quarantine before we bought her because she was so tiny. Never a good eater, we kind of suspected that Mango just wasn't meant for this world. So, we bought a second bearded dragon named Eucalyptus, or Yuki for short. At first, Yuki seemed more vivacious than Mango ever was, darting all over and even escaping to hang out by the window.

Tragically, Yuki didn't make it either. I feel terrible about it. We tried SO hard, offering vitamin-dusted crickets, meal worms, dubia roaches, and a variety of fruits and veggies. I spent major amounts of time trying to coax both lizards to eat. We spent a small fortune setting up what we thought was good habitat with a heat lamp, UV lamp, thermometers, and even a heated mat. I still don't really know what we were doing wrong. Perhaps our house is just too cold and we needed more heat? I don't think we'll ever find out because we're not getting another. I'm not about to kill any more baby beardies.

On a more positive note, we got to watch Brooklyn play Ultimate up in Farmington. Go Chi! It was fun to see Lily playing for Utah State too.

Other fun moments: Talia made an Eras cake to celebrate the release of Taylor's new album, The Tortured Poets Department. This girl is a fount of creativity.

One colorful slice for each of the 13 Eras. Amazing!

Plus you can't forget the bracelets. I love my Swiftie! Still wish I could get her Eras Tour tix.

Next up, baby owls. Our friend Melanie showed us a tree in the Salt Lake Cemetery with three fledgling owlets. Apparently Great Horned Owls have used this nest for several years, so I'm hopeful we can see more babies next year. We brought binoculars, and Eli came up with the brilliant idea of taking pictures with my phone through the binocular lens. Brilliant!

You can see all three babies in this one.

I'm got my eyes on you, hoot hoot.

With nicer weather, I've spent a bit of time out on the trails. On this day I met up with Callie over her lunch break. I love how we started at the Capitol, hiked for ten minutes, and found ourselves here.

On a different morning I went for a run up on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. As I crested a hill, I noticed this coyote was trotting the trails along with me. This was the first of four coyote encounters I've had this season. The last coyote I saw was a behemoth and super close. Fortunately it seemed uninterested in my presence.

I also went for a lengthy 55 mile ride along the Legacy Trail in an effort to prepare for Little Red. I definitely should have applied sunblock!

Then one Sunday after stake conference Talia and I spotted this trail on our way home from the 18th Avenue chapel. Intrigued, she and I came back for a quick wander. Such a beautiful day with such a radiant daughter! A year from now we could come back for Senior pictures.

All blossoming trees are beautiful, but this one in the cemetery is our very favorite. Glorious!

Heading back indoors, Annika, Eli, and I spent a day at the Tumbleweeds Film Festival, designed just for kids.

Our favorite part was this sound effects workshop where Eli got to smash a grapefruit in an effort to create the sound for Toothless slurping in How to Train Your Dragon. Did you know that in order to create the sound effects for the T-rex in Jurassic Park, they layered a whale blowhole, alligator, lion, and baby elephant? Also, Jedi lasers sound effects are made from a stretched out slinky. Fascinating.

We also got to meet the cast of JK Studios. Fun!

Back outside again for the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. So many thanks to Brianna and Violet for inviting me! This year was themed after the tulip fields in Holland. Appropriate since the Millcreek Wheelers just took a trip to Europe and got to see them in person.

Best part of April--picking Brooklyn up from college! Words can't express what a WONDERFUL year she had at BYU. This girl was extraordinarily happy with her classes, her ward, her calling, her job, her Ultimate team, but most of all, her supportive friends. She will cherish these friendships forever.

Let's see if I can remember all the names: from left to right we have Omar, Kenny, Henry (the boyfriend), Luke, Max, Cameron, Brooklyn, Taylor, Laney, and Kacie. Most of the group is headed out on missions over the next few months. I'm excited for them to spread their light all over the world.

Saying goodbye was hard, really hard. So many tears! We thought that getting Brooklyn's stuff home was going to be hard too, but it turns out that minivans are beyond amazing. Made it all in one trip with room to spare.

Unpacking Brooklyn's treasures at home. Among the skills that she acquired in college was the ability to write in this secret code called Willowscript.

She also showed me this cute suitcase that she made in connection with the Kennedy Center for International Studies. They had everyone write down the next place they hoped to travel. Brooklyn wrote down Spain, even before she received her mission call!

With unstructured time on her hands, Brooklyn enjoyed coming home, being a kid, and playing Legos.

I adore how kids big and small all join in the fun.

At some point they assembled what seems to be a hairless army.

I'm both amused and alarmed by how Annika armed all of her Friends figures with weapons, including the elephant who's carrying a spear. Beware the bunnies in the back.