April update 2021

Happy Birthday Jim! 5 years without you. This anniversary was especially hard for me. I hate that it’s been so long since we’ve seen your face and heard you laugh. And, because of you I want to do better and be better. I think I’m feeling like I’m still so far from where I want to be. And that feels a little like letting you down. But with the anniversary of your passing, your birthday, Easter and General Conference all falling within a week of each other, I feel reenergised and recommitted.
Every year we like to do some form of service to honor Jim. This year Rusty and I went and helped prep meals at the Crossings Homeless Shelter. And the kids and I prepped some fun Easter egg hunts for a few families we love with small kids. We left the eggs in the yard and doorbell ditched. We drove by a few min later to see kids happily hunting eggs in their front yard. It was fun!
Colorado being gross
All this dog does is sleep. In the funniest positions. All day long.
We watched Grace perform at Erie Idol. She was amazing!
Hoping to get a glimpse of the Bald Eagle nest at Standly Lake. This is the Eagle Blind. But the nest was still 1/2 mile away. Needless to say, we did not see it. So, we pulled up the webcam and watched it instead. God bless technology
Halle’s awesome stage mic hooked to her head. She got to record her One Act plays and we are so excited to get to watch them.
Trying to save my daffodils
Blake found a recipe for “The best ever chocolate cake.” And the recipe totally lived up to the hype. It was delicious!
Rocket Dash. Pretty sure this will go down in history as my favorite picture of Dash EVER.
I missed a turn on the way home from tennis, and much to our delight, we drove past TWO baby hairy Coos! They were adorable.
Josh and Ethan played in their very first USTA tournament in Ft Collins. It was so much fun spending the day watching them play.
And so exhausting being the one actually playing!
Happy Birthday Jane!
Jane and Rusty have such a special relationship. She invited him to her party so he could come throw around all the kids in the pool. And they all LOVED it. Rusty and Jane are also reading Harry Potter together right now. It’s all she can talk about. So fun to have a little one to be a Potter Head again. Love you, Jane!
I have no idea what is happening here
Another colonoscopy for this sweet girl. And we hope that’s the last one for a loooong time. We are going to change her medicine to Humira and hope that we can get her feeling tip top again. She’s never really felt great since her hospital stay in September. Kids with chronic illness deserve a special place in heaven. Halle is strong and brave and I am in awe of how she handles herself and the heavy burden of Crohn’s.
The one bright spot of colonoscopy day is Crepes when it’s all over.
Blake AND Dash sleep
We got some more catapillars and loved watching their journey to become butterflies. One of the butterflies grew a double wing and couldn’t fly, so we kept him for the rest of his short life and named him Larry.