April - El Cheapo, a Colonoscopy, Easter and Dixie Water Wars

Chris’ schedule: Out of 30 days in April, Chris spent 12 days in Wyoming, and 18 days in St. George. He worked the first week of the month and the last with two weeks off in-between (because of some switching around for spring break.
General Conference: General Conference was held on April 1st and 2nd this year. Matt had a soccer game on Saturday so Dad and I listened to the end of the first session with AirPods at the stadium while he played. The weather was beautiful for the first time in awhile so it was nice to be outside. We watched the second session at home and then headed to Pioneer Park to explore and then grabbed Coldstone for a fun treat during the third session.
Sunday we ate French Toast and watched the first session and went to Tonaquint Park to sit on a blanket in the sun. Megan wrote in her journal and we taught the boys how to play ROOK. It was so fun to see my cousin Elisa and her family talking a walk. Then back home for the last session.
Some of my favorite talks President Uchdorf’s, K. Brett Nattress, Camille N Johnson, Neil L Anderson, President Russell M. Nelson, W. Mark Basset, and David A Bednar… but all of them were so good.

El Cheapo: Megan asked her friend David to El Cheapo. This Dixie dance is a casual western girls ask boys (but then the boys pay). She had so much fun with this group of friends. For their day date they went to get Swig and go to the park for a picnic and to play Pickle Ball. Megan and Dave kept winning everything and Megan loved it! She said it definitely takes top place for day dates. Then they met up for pictures and then headed to the dance, which she said was so fun.

Brian comes to hang out for the night: My mom was supposed to come as well but got the stomach flu from little Becca four days earlier and still didn’t feel great. After four days of not getting sick, Brian decided to come down by himself. We had a fun night talking, eating homemade salsa and nachos and playing a prototype of Brian’s new dice game — which the boys LOVED. They kept saying things like, “Brian, you are SERIOUSLY a GENIUS. How do you come up with these games? It’s the best game in the world.” Definitely an ego booster. They sure think Brian is the best. That night Brian came down with the stomach bug. Dang it! In the morning he was feeling better but decided to head home just in case he got worse and to limit the exposure - but promised to come back later in the month. It sure was fun having him here!

Megan turns 18! Can you believe it? So fun to celebrate this amazing girl. Megan’s birthday was on Thursday. She had no classes in the morning so I took her shopping to find some clothes. Shopping isn’t her favorite thing, but we found a few things she was excited about — and that’s always fun. We’ve been shopping a lot lately trying to build up a wardrobe for summer and college.
Megan enjoyed receiving so many texts from family and friends. So fun to be remembered… especially from her friends in Colorado. Since I was with her for most of the morning, she’d call out who the next text was from every couple minutes.
Megan spent her birthday evening with friends at the Boys Soccer game and hanging out afterwards.
Since Dad was out of town and Katie and Emily were coming home for the weekend, we moved her birthday celebrations to Saturday. We opened presents in the morning and then headed out to eat brunch at First Watch… Megan’s choice, since she loves all things breakfast. We spent the rest of the day at the pool, eating tacos, out to Snow Canyon to take Senior Pics and then to grab ice cream at Handels.

Easter: It was fun to have Katie and Emily home for the weekend to celebrate Megan’s birthday and Easter. Love that we live so close!
Well, it was definitely a memorable Easter. Sunday morning the Easter Bunny hid Matt’s Easter basket in the washer and covered the basket with pool towels. While we were waiting for the kids to get ready, I took some kitchen towels into the laundry room and noticed the washer was already full of towels so started the washer. As the kids were looking around for their well-hidden baskets, I suddenly gasped, froze and said…”You didn’t put…” as I looked in the direction of the noisy washing machine. Chris ran over to stop the cycle and pull out the soaking wet basket covered in wet paper grass and melted chocolate. The only thing that survived was Matt’s new swimsuits. haha. Actually it could have been a lot worse. The kids shared candy and I had enough bonus candy to pretty much replicate his basket. The paper coupon for an afternoon at a Trampoline Park had disintegrated but when Luke opened his I told Matt it was for both of them. I had also accidentally put his Taquis in Luke’s basket so those were saved as well. It’s actually quite hysterical.
For our Come Follow Me Easter study, Dad had us pick out of a hat a day of the Holy Week and we each took 7 minutes to prepare what we wanted to teach everyone about that day. We finished the first five days before church and then came back to talk about Friday, Saturday and Sunday after church. I was emotional bearing my testimony of how grateful I am for my Savior and what the gift of his Atonement means to me. Because of Him, we get to be together as families after we die. I’m so grateful for wonderful Easter talks and a week to reflect of this most wonderful gift. I purchased and used Amy’s cute Holy Week printables. She’s just so talented!!
We ate a dinner of BBQ chicken, potatoes, salad and rolls, played a game of Azul and listened to Katie give a presentation of Equity and Diversity - that was so interesting and educational for all of us. Then another episode of THE CHOSEN. Such a great Easter.

Dixie Water Wars: This has been so fun! Everyone in the school who wants to participate gets into groups of 4 and pays $20/per group to the school to be logged as an official team. Then you are given a plastic bracelet that you have to wear. You need a water gun or squirt bottle to try and squirt people out but it can’t be done on school property. Wearing a floatie around your waist or a life jacket will keep you safe but you can’t squirt someone else while wearing them.
Saturday after our brunch we headed to Target to help Megan pick up a squirt bottle and floatie. Megan was so nervous to even be in the store unprepared. We saw a group of high school boys with wrist bands in the store too picking up their supplies. Meg was so worried about them getting out of the store before her. And Chris, being the protective Dad he is, made sure to get her out of the store safely while I paid for the things. So funny. For the rest of the day Meg made sure to have her gear with her. Saturday night we ran by Swig and Sadie was wearing her lifejacket while she worked.

On Easter Sunday Megan brought her floatie in the van but then was worried when Tyson bolted out of church as soon as it was over. Meg stayed in the foyer until Dad ran out to the van to get her floatie and bring it back to her. Such a funny sight seeing her wearing the tube around her waist as she walked out of the church. As soon as she walked out Tyson materialized with his spray bottle totally disappointed.

Megan and her friends have been having so much fun heading out trying to ‘get people out’. Currently two of Megan’s teammates are out.

Monday night Meg took her life jacket to her soccer game. Two of her teammates go to Dixie and were wearing their lifejackets as well. They called a truce for while they played but then immediately put them on again when the

Today two boys appeared at our front door asking if Megan was home (with squirt bottles hid behind their back). She was at school otherwise I wouldn’t have answered the door. Can’t wait to see how this goes - especially since she’s working tonight.

UPDATE: She’s out. She knew that working her shift at Crumbl would literally ‘be the death of her’. She just couldn’t wear a lifejacket or floatie while making cookies and working the register. Her co-worker and fellow Dixie student knew her schedule and ordered a cookie to be delivered outside. When she ran out there to deliver the cookie, she was squirted with water. Dang it, Megan. It was fun while it lasted!

Lisa’s Colonoscopy: I was anxious to get this over with. I had a lighter meals on Sunday and Monday and then did my all day liquid diet on Tuesday. I mostly drank white grape juice and warm chicken broth and had green jello (with Mountain Dew in it) for dinner. My boys were so jealous of all my liquid days treats. At 5:00 I started my prep drink = 28 ounces of Blue Berry Power Aid plus the powder mixed in a 4 ounces of Mountain Dew. To my surprise, it was actually good. My boys wanted to try that too. Haha. I drank it pretty easily between 5:00 and 7:00pm.
It was a rough night. Not very much sleep as a got up to go to the bathroom over and over again. At 3:00am I started my second prep drink. I tried to drink it as fast as I could but that just gave me a stomach ache. I was up for an hour and a half finishing it and doing a little research on Maui. Then I tried to sleep some more.
We were at the hospital by 9:00. The night was bad but getting the IV put in was pretty bad too. They had to try twice and it was rough. When they wheeled me into the procedure room I answered some questions, signed some papers and then within 2 seconds everything went dizzy and I was asleep. Seconds after that I woke up back in my original room with the Doctor telling me that everything looked great. No polyps. I was so sleepy and did NOT want to wake up but the nurse quickly had me move my legs around to the side and try to stand up. I did what she told me to but I was so weak I could hardly stand up by myself. Chris reached for my clothes and started helping me dress. When the nurse walked out of the room I sat back down on the bed and started to laugh. And then I could not stop laughing. Chris continued to help me get dressed and I just thought it was SO funny that he was trying to get me dressed when I was so sleepy. The nurse wheeled me downstairs and then on the way home I started laughing again just thinking about it. So funny.
We headed straight home, ate some granola and then I went to bed for about 4 hours, which was wonderful. Then Chris and I and Luke went to Matt’s soccer game, picked up some Thai food on the way home, and enjoyed it while watching the last RING OF POWER episode. So grateful for my cute husband and how well he took care of me today. Love him.

Chris’ Guys Golf Weekend: Doug, Brian and Jared came down for a quick three day golf trip. They golfed all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Copper Rock, Green Springs, Sand Hollow and Ledges. On Thursday they came over to the house and I made Texas Pile-Up for them. Fun to see them. Jared won the weekend and Pete lost.
Megan’s Wisdom Teeth: Poor Meg got her wisdom teeth out on Thursday. Chris took her in and waited there with her until it was over. They wheeled her out in a wheel chair and then Chris drove her home trying to take a few videos while he drove. Meg was sobbing the whole way home. So sad. She wasn’t in any pain but the drugs just made her so emotional. When they got home she had a seat on the leather chair and when I asked her some questions about the procedure or how everything went (which she thinks she was awake for) she just sobbed. It was equally hysterical and sad — especially when she sobbed upon seeing her new Converse shoes and said, “Owen hates Converse”. Katie facetimed right when we were asking questions and taking care of her so she got to see how she was responding. In part of the conversation Katie said, “Meg, Chase R has a girlfriend.” Megan looked at her and then broke into tears. Chris then asked her about Gunner and Zach Wilson and Megan again sobbed saying, He’s not good. He’s going to get cut. It was as if any emotion she’d usually have (excitement or surprise or frustration) was transformed into sadness and tears. At one point when the boys were trying to suppress a giggle, Megan turned around and with a scolding mumble said, “Does this seem funny to you?” That only made us laugh more.
After our funny sobbing conversations we got her propped up on the couch and I headed off to get her medicine from Target. She mumbled, “Can I talk to Owen?” We convinced her that she would just be crying the whole time and he wouldn’t be able to understand her without an interpreter so to wait until later. That probably made her cry too.
Thursday night Dad woke up every 3 hours to make sure she had enough meds to make it through the night pain-free. Friday morning Chris convinced her to come for a drive to look at lots with us — and she did — but she should have stayed home. She was pretty weak still and just stayed in the van as we walked around. She spent most of the next couple days taking naps, watching Gilmore Girls and eating mashed potatoes, tomato soup and ice cream. She made a quick trip to Swig with me and enjoyed a 15 minute jaunt to a friend’s birthday party before heading to bed for the night.
Amazingly, Megan’s face didn’t swell up at all! I was amazed. She was on the schedule to teach her YW class on Sunday and prepared diligently on Saturday. Sunday morning we were called in by the Stake President for an interview and asked if the three of us would speak at the Adult Session of General Conference about the Children and Youth Program. When we arrived at church Megan looked like she was going to faint. Chris took her home after the Sacrament and she rested until heading back to the church at 12:30 to teach her lesson. The leaders told me she did a great job.

Hiking in Snow Canyon We started on Butterfly Trail and then headed to the Lava tubes and then back up over the cool rock formations. It took us a good hour and it was great. Love Snow Canyon!

Walking through homes: After hiking Chris and I would drive around town looking at neighborhoods, lots and calling up builders to walk through homes. It’s been fun but it’s been a lot to process as well. We just have endless conversations about how big of a house we need/want, if a lot with a view is important, how much we want to travel, if Chris’ Wyoming job is going to stick around, what features we love in the different homes we see, whether we should just wait and buy a spec home or if we should start the building process now or in December. So much to think about!
D-Dance: Dixie High always ends the school year with a fun D-Week filled with races, a lake day and a D-Dance. Megan and Luke both went to the dance and had a great time. Love that they could share this one activity together since they were kind of robbed of their high school year together.

Shelley’s Roses are in bloom and they are so pretty! I love it here in St. George!

April BeReals: