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Sunday, June 14, 2026

St. George with the Englishs

 The kids are out of school for the summer, and the first order of business was the English family summer trip. Kelson's wife Lexi just had a new baby girl, Josephine, about two weeks ago. We decided to do St. George this year so that people could visit them or they could come see us and it would be closer. 

We got there Monday evening and just unpacked and got some dinner. On Tuesday, we spent the morning at the lagoon pool by the house, and then Kelson brought Luke, Jane, and Alice to visit. We swam in the tiny backyard pool and played around and then he went with Emily and Miles and their families to the Lagoon. Most of the Arbons didn't feel like doing that again because it was so hot and the pool was almost too cold and the water really hurt Mason's skin, which is sensitive right now from Accutane. 

While we were there we also rode around in the rented golf cart, played pickleball, went out to eat (Bonrue Bakery and Angelina's Mexican were the best), visited Sue, hit up Fiesta Fun for go-carts, and spent an evening at Crush Golf. We also spent a lot of time being entertained by little Ricky who is hilarious right now.

I think everyone had a great time, even though it is sometimes hard to tell with teenagers. I love being around my family.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Cheer in Orlando

 Brielle and I spend the last week in Disney World for the Summit Cheer Competitions. They got a wild card bid really early in the season. They made it through the wild card round to the finals, but ended up in 13th place there, which was kind of a shock. We were expecting at least top 5 after their performance. Her team had done really well this year and she has had so much fun. North Star has been a whole different experience as a gym. Her team went undefeated locally and they all got along, which makes all the difference.

We got in to Orlando late Wednesday night and got dinner at the resort. We stayed at the Coronado this year. Thursday went to Walmart for some supplies and food, and then she had a practice in the afternoon. The she and Riley went swimming and chatted with Riley's mom, Jen. Friday she competed in the mid morning and then we had the reveal in the afternoon. Then we went and walked around Disney Springs and had dinner. 

On Saturday we finally made it to the parks and visited Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. We only went on a couple of rides at each and by 2:00 in the afternoon we absolutely wiped from the heat and humidity. So we went and got some lunch and just hung out.

Sunday she competed early in the morning, then had a lunch break and then awards. That night we went to the celebration party at Epcot and got to ride the Guardians of the Galaxy. It was almost worth the 2 hour line. 

On Monday we slept in a little and then packed up the car and went to Magic Kingdom. We did a couple rides there and then once again got too hot and left to have lunch and head to the airport. I was nervous all day because I hadn't reserved seats and the flight was full, and when we checked in we weren't assigned seats. But then we ended up getting upgraded seats next to each other for the flight home.

All in all, it was a really fun trip. Too long to be away from the rest of my family and we were both pretty homesick by Sunday. But it was fun to get to hang out one-on-one with Brielle and I'm glad we got to do it.

Monday, May 11, 2026

Bus' Spring Soccer

 Soccer season is in the fall and spring, but since Bus has football in the fall, he only joins his team in the spring. He has had the same coach, Alan Miller, for a few years now and its been a really good experience. He always has a lot of fun with his team at practice. They've also always had winning seasons, which makes it a lot more fun.

Bus is very good. He is super quick and fearless. He played mostly defense this year, which he doesn't love. But no one else on his team is quit as good at facing off with the offense and protecting the goal. So there he stays. The few times he was able to play forward or midfield, he scored. It is so fun watching him play.

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Easter 2026

 After a dissapointingly boring spring break (we didn't go anywhere and rained most of the week) we had a nice Easter. It was conference weekend, which I really love. On Saturday the girls went to Haley's baby shower at Angie's. She and Sue always go all out, it was so cute. On Sunday the kids got their baskets and we had crepes, and then we watched the morning session. We made a quick visit to Tim's parents and then came back for the afternoon. Then we went up to Brigham and had an egg hunt and a rocket launch and ham dinner. We also drove up to Mantua to see Emily and Brady's beautiful new house since they just got all their furniture. I love being around my people, so it was a good weekend.

Bus was stressed late Saturday night because Mason at 11:00 he remembered that he hadn't set a trap for the Easter bunny and Mason wouldn't help him AND made a rude comment about it being Mom and Dad. It took a while to console him so the Easter bunny couldn't come until after midnight, but he made it.

Friday, March 13, 2026

A Phoenix cheer comp

Brielle had another travel competition this weekend. She has 5 comps in 6 weeks and two of them have been travel, so its been a lot. We decided to bring Ava this time and make it a girls trip. 

Flying to Arizona was a lot easier than flying to Atlanta. Our plane left around lunch time so we were able to take our time packing in the morning and then we were there by early afternoon. Our hotel was right by the airport, but we decided to go to eat and get some things at the store before we headed there, so we got to see a little bit of Phoenix right off the bat. It is so beautiful! I wouldn't mind moving there at all.

On Friday morning we went to a mall and a park and drove around a little bit more. Brielle had her practice round at the Phoenix Convention Center downtown. Then they hung out in the hot tub with Rylee. Saturday she competed for the first time and they did amazing. Then we were feeling kind of sick so we went and spent the rest of the day in the hotel sleeping and laying around. The girls hung out in the hot tub again in the evening.

Sunday we competed again, bright and early, and they won! If anything will make a travel competition worth it, its winning. Then we went to wave pool in Mesa and I chatted with Jen while they swam with Rylee. 

All in all, it was good trip. I love spending time so much time with my girls, and I was very excited to get home to the boys. Now she has one more competition this weekend and then a little break.