While in England, we started each day with a yummy breakfast we bought at the local supermarket. Rock had scones and jam and I had sugar waffles with nutella and rasberries. It was delicious!

On our 4th day we rode the train into London. It was very similar to the trains in New Jersey to New York. It was pouring rain when we arrived in London and somehow there was room on the sidewalks for all those people AND their umbrellas as we walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was good we’d picked something indoors to do! St. Paul’s was amazing. I’m not sure I can pick a favorite cathedral from all that we saw but going up into the dome was my favorite thing about St. Paul’s. My pictures couldn’t do it justice so I will use the internet’s again.

This is looking up into the dome.
You can climb 257 steps up this stairway…

to the Whispering Gallery to walk around inside the dome.

If you climb another 119 steps you get to the Stone Gallery which is outside.

If you climb another 152 steps up this staircase…

You get to the Golden Gallery

The view from up here was amazing. You could see all around the city. It reminded me of being on top of the Eiffel Tower.

After St. Paul’s we went to the Globe Theater to see some Shakespeare! We saw Twelfth Night.

After Shakespeare we ate dinner at a restaurant called Flat Iron. Check out my knife! After dinner we wandered over to Westminster and Big Ben.

From there we wandered through St. James Park and over to Buckingham Palace.

After seeing St. Paul’s and London this time, Rock and I had a good laugh about that the fact that we were both thinking about movies filmed in England, but we were thinking about very different movies. For him, it was Mission Impossibles and for me it was shows like Downton Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. So that night when we got home we watched the Mission Impossible where Tom Cruise runs all the way around the whispering gallery and through a funeral.

Each night we were in England we ended the day with a yummy treat we discovered. Meringue nests filled with nutella, whip cream and rasberries. So something like this:

It’s a very good thing that you can’t get those meringues very easily here in the US. But-I will probably order them from Amazon from time to time. It’s a new favorite!

Back in 2015 Rock and I took a trip to London and Paris. Ever since then, Rock has secretly been plotting a return trip to England; something he never does. I can’t get him to go back to the same place twice. I would LOVE to go back to Hawaii but he always says, “but we’ve been there already”, to which I always say, “but there are FOUR other islands!”. Well, when he suggested a trip back to England this year, I happily agreed, not just because I would love to see more of England, but because it means I get to use it next time he doesn’t want to back to the same place twice!

We mostly failed to sleep on the red eye flight to London, but I suppose I never would have gotten this picture of our airplane in the air over the ocean if I’d been asleep. Silver linings, folks!

We got through customs lickety split because everything is automated there. Then it was on to the car rental place. Rock had totally forgotten that we drove on the left side of the road in the Turks and Caicos 14 years ago, but he picked it up again pretty quickly. It was terrifying to drive on roads that have two lanes crammed into the space of one of our lanes. And every road is very curvy and lined with hedges so visibility is terrible. Not to mention the people coming the other direction are usually going 60 miles an hour. Roundabouts were everywhere and I never would have been able to manage driving those. Even after a week I would try to figure out the way through one and I was always wrong. Good thing Rock was driving. All that being said, the roads were beautiful. It’s like driving through a tunnel of green everywhere you go.

We stayed in a little town about an hour from London called Henley on Thames. It is right on the river and is famous for it’s Rowing Regatta’s. Part of Boys in the Boat was actually filmed along this stretch of the river. It was beautiful. We spent our first day walking around the town.

This was our home while in England. Most of the houses, even these little ones were named. Mead Cottage, Wesley House, Happy Cottage. Rock and I decided we should name our house after visiting England.

First night dinner-what else???

On our second day we hit a couple nearby National Trust sites. They are state owned properties, often big houses that were donated when the owners could no longer care for the big properties. This was Grays Court which is used in a Downton Abbey episode. We had rain and sun off and on every day. Sometimes sprinkling, sometimes pouring, and then it would clear up and the sun would come out. We took our umbrellas with us wherever we went. And every day it was windy.

The grounds and gardens of the houses we saw were so beautiful, just as amazing as the houses themselves if not mores so. And the views of the rolling English countryside were amazing. I didn’t get many pictures that did them justice but I did get many blisters from walking around so many estates!

3rd Day was the Downton Abbey Day! The house is actually called Highclere Castle and it is owned by the Earl of Carnarvon. It was so fun to walk around the the estate and see the inside of the house/castle where they filmed one of my favorite shows! They wouldn’t let us take pictures inside, so I used some from online.

Last stop that day was Watership Down. One of Rock’s favorite books is actually based on a real place!! I had no idea before we planned this trip. He really wanted to hike to the top of the down, and since it’s near Highclere castle we ended our day there. It was a beautiful hike and we managed to do the whole thing before it started to rain.

Didn’t see any rabbits, though I’m sure Hazel’s descendants were there hiding in the brush.

Just before we left on our Washington trip, Levi had to say goodbye to one of his closest friends as he left on a mission. I’m not sure how Levi will manage without his good friend to have crazy deep talks with, but I hope he can still have a fabulous Senior year.

Speaking of Senior status, one of the perks of being a senior at Centennial is that you can get a senior parking spot that is all yours to paint however you like. We told the kids they had to buy their own if they wanted one and Cade didn’t care about it enough to do one but Levi did. I don’t think they did them when Reagan was a senior. Levi designed his based on the amazing mountain goat that wouldn’t leave his territory when the YM were camping in it this summer. Here’s the picture by way of reminder:

It was an awesome design and Libby and a friend of hers helped him paint it. It took several days and was quite the undertaking, but they finished just before we left for WA and it is Awesome!

If you don’t know what on earth “Goated” means, don’t worry, neither did I. It comes from the acronym G.O.A.T-Greatest of All Time.

And speaking of school, here’s the first day of school pictures. They were done a little differently this year because on the first day of school our house was shrouded in plastic because it was being painted. I grabbed a picture of Levi as he left for school out the back that day but Libby had left really early for a student council event and I didn’t even get one of her that day! I finally got one on the front porch of the two kids about a week later.

I spent all of July picking paint colors for the house and when they finally finished I couldn’t even look I was so nervous I would hate it. But I love the finished product! We still have to put the shutters back up, but I’m really happy with it.

Speaking of colors, Libby and I bought identical Wesel pink shirts and wore them to church one day as twins. Which is which?

And one last fun picture from August. Brad Wilcox came to speak in our area and Levi and his friends stuck around afterward to talk to him.

We took Levi and Liberty on a trip in August that was Levi’s 16 year old trip a year late and Liberty’s, a year early. We knew these two would enjoy that more than a one on one trip with Mom and Dad. Since it was “their” trip, they planned it. They locked themselves away one Sunday afternoon and decided where they wanted to go and with the help of chatgpt found all the coolest places to go plus pictures and time lines to go with. They made a whole slide show presentation. Which I will link to here. Then they presented their plan to go visit the Olympic Peninsula (not Forks). Ironically enough almost all our kids think Washington is the greatest place on the planet so they always want to go on vacation there. After a few tweaks, we approved their plan. We flew to Seattle and then drove to Port Angeles where we stayed in a tiny home on a little lake called Lake Sutherland. It was a beautiful deep blue lake surrounded by mountains and forest. Our tiny home was indeed very tiny, but very comfortable.

On our first day we ate breakfast at a little place called Granny’s Cafe that opened in 1956 and was an enchanting little old fashioned cafe with delicious food. We liked it so much we ate there multiple times!

Then we hiked the 6 mile round trip Alava Trail which leads out to the Western most tip of the US, Cape Alava.

On our second day we went to the Hoh Rainforest and walked through the Hall of Mosses. It was very much like many places I grew up near, and I’m glad the kids got to experience it. You can’t get to the Hoh Rainforest without driving through Forks, which the kids stubbornly refused to be excited about. They didn’t want anyone to accuse them of going to the Olympic Peninsula with the purpose of seeing Forks. Rock was the only one willing to pose for me in front of the sign.

Our last stop that day was probably the highlight of our trip. We went to Rialto Beach, where my parents got engaged up on top of a sea stack. Levi was determined to climb the same one, but when they got out to the beach, they turned left and we never had time to go North towards the sea stacks they climbed. I was not too sad about this as I didn’t want Levi getting stuck on top of a sea stack when the tide came in. They had a fabulous time exploring the best tidepools they’d ever seen and climbing around on the rocks the low tide had exposed.

We watched the sunset before heading back to our tiny house.

On our last day on the Peninsula, we planned to canoe/kayak on the beautiful Lake Crescent but unfortunately, the winds were too strong that day and they wouldn’t let us rent boats. They were really sad, but the kids and Rock jumped in for a cold swim instead.

We headed to Seattle instead to play in the city till our flight left. We went to Pike Place Market to show Libby the gum wall. She didn’t love it. lol

We watched the fishmarket guys through around some fish.

Levi found his twin.

We finished off the day with dinner on the wharf at Iver’s.

We got one last view of the almost bare Mt. Rainier while we waited to board our flight. I sure miss this mountain. Liberty wanted me to make sure I pointed out how cool the big flag in the hanger is too. 🙂

And that was our big trip this summer to the Olympic Peninsula (not Forks).

June and July always seem to fly by in a blur before I can blog them.
In June Liberty started her first real job and she also babysat someone other than a cousin for the first time. I was babysitting every weekend by the time I was 12, but we live in a very different world now and people only trust older sitters. Roll eyes. The official job is with a catering business where she gets to help set up and serve food. She’s only worked a few times, but it was an important moment so I had to document it!

Girl’s Camp and Boys Camp also happened in June though I have virtually no pictures from either.

4th of July

It was an odd 4th of July this year with only 2 kids home. Reagan stayed in Texas to watch fireworks by drones instead. It was a really quiet day actually. Liberty spent all day with friends and Levi did as well. I worked on picking paint colors for the exterior house paint job coming up in August.

Rock spent his day on another AMAZING creation. For Father’s day he got a fancy crust book and he put it to use on the 4th.

This year someone set off the HUGE fireworks in the street behind our house, so I got to sit on my back patio and watch the fireworks show literally right above my head. I even got hit with ash and debris. It was SO cool!! When I had little kids I would have been annoyed that they went until almost midnight, but not anymore!

Hymas Family Reunion

We went to Utah for Rock’s family reunion in July. It was fairly lowkey but really great to see everyone. We picked Reagan up at the airport and headed to Midvale.

We hiked to Silver Lake up at Brighton. It was a hard beautiful hike.

We surprised Rock’s parents with a 50th wedding anniversary celebration since all their kids were together.

In July Cade turned 21 and got a new mission president. He’s been out for 20 months!

When we got home from the reunion, Levi got to go backpacking with the young men. He absolutely loves backpacking and had a blast this time too.

While at their campsite, the boys had a visitor who let them know that THEY were actually the visitors. He hovered around their camp the whole time they were there, staring them down just to make sure they knew who was boss.

After being home for a week, I turned around and went back down to Utah to help Allie decorate her new house. We accomplished a lot but this entry wall was the most fun to put together. It’s not quite finished here but almost.

Rock and I celebrated 24 years in July!!!!! We went to a snazzy restaurant to celebrate and in August we are going to England!!!

Including paychecks! Reagan took a big leap this summer by moving to Texas! He and his coworker quit their jobs and moved to Dallas to sell cars. It may just be for a summer, it may be longer. He’s still trying to decide if he likes it or not. But either way he’s having some new cool experiences.

And my favorite picture so far from Texas:

He loves how patriotic they are in Texas, though really, it’s Texas first, America second. LOL:

His first response when he landed in Texas was, “I can’t breathe.” But that was the last time I’ve heard him complain about the humidity. He’s been trying hard to get us to come visit and I hope we can make that happen, but I’d much rather go when it’s NOT summertime.
Here’s to big adventures in the Lonestar State!

In addition to all the choir craziness, Libby also had her piano and ballet recitals. Her piano recital song was Waterfall by Jon Schmidt/Piano Guy and it is one of my favorites! I’ve been trying to get Cade to play it for years and Liberty took on the challenge-inspiring Cade in the process-he’s now learning it on his mission! Her song was too long for this blogpost but it was amazing. Ask her to play it sometime.

Next was her ballet recital. She had 3 shows and danced 3 different dances in each one. It’s a very long, fun day. She did a beautiful job and it is so fun to watch her dance en pointe. The show this year was Peter Pan and Liberty’s class were the Flamingos, the Braves and the Crocodile.

Libby’s closest friend, Susie was John in the show and so all her friends came to see her. This is of all of them talking to Libby after the show.

Prom was also in May this year, right smack in the middle of all the crazy. They went ice blocking for their day date, how fun is that?!

It wouldn’t be May if we didn’t get the annual pilgrimage of ducklings waddling their way through our yard.

A few weeks before her recital she and I went with a ballet friend and her mom to see the professional company, Ballet Idaho, perform Sleeping Beauty. It was amazing and so fun to watch these two young ballerina’s in awe of the ones on stage, now that they are learning how to do that for real. Something to work towards! Libby and I were twins that night.

And.. speaking of twins, now for the identity of the mystery girl I posted in May part I. The picture on the left is Liberty! Most people guessed wrong! But the picture on the right is me at the same age. This picture of Liberty was the closest I’ve ever seen of us looking alike. Genes are a CRAZY thing.

At the end of May we had friends over for Memorial day and Levi helped make the smash burgers! They were delicious!

May was SUPER busy this year, more so, it feels like, than most years so I’m splitting it into two posts.

Cade had a busy month in May. He sang a duet with 5 minutes notice for his entire mission at their annual service project at Martin’s Cove.

He was also able to meet up with his grandparents at the Fort Collins temple. They took him and his companion to lunch and then did a temple session. How cool is that!!???

Liberty and Levi had their final concert of the year which is usually all show music. Levi had some solos in a group number he was in. Liberty is actually on stage in this video as well. She’s the second girl on the right, first row. But she wasn’t allowed to watch so you won’t get to see her face. lol

This show was also sad because their choir teacher is retiring so it was her last show as well. I wish I’d gotten a picture of her and the kids. She taught Cade as well.

Levi competed in the state solo and ensemble festival and his group tied for 1st place! Here’s their song:

I went down to Utah for Women’s Conference again this year. It was just as awesome as last time and I think I will make it a yearly thing, now! Allie and Sarin went with me and we ran into my cousin Katelyn and got to go to several classes with her too! We ate way too much creamery ice cream and learned a ton.

For Mother’s Day I got to talk to Cade on the phone, Levi gave me these amazing flowers,

And Libby gave me this very cool box filled with my favorite candy:

Reagan was home for Mother’s day as well! He gave me more lilacs for my yard because you can never have too many lilacs.

And in honor of Mother’s Day I’m putting up a picture I found recently. See if you can guess who it is-Me or Liberty. I had to cut out the other people in the picture so it wouldn’t give it away. 😉

I’ll tell you the answer in Part II of May coming up next!

Liberty ran for Sophomore class president and though she didn’t win, her posters were EPIC! Their mascot is the Patriot.

Levi went on an unforgettable choir trip that involved tires coming off the bus, a wildfire and him saving the day. Ok, not really, but kind of. While they were on their way home two of the tires came off their bus while on the highway! They rolled into traffic and after barely missing a nearby car flew into a field and started a fire. The bus pulled over and the adults got out to see what could be done. The next thing Levi knows one of the chaperones gets on the bus and yells for Levi to come out. She handed him a fire extinguisher and told him to RUN with it to the choir teacher who was at that point trying to put out the fire by throwing dirt on it. Through several miracles no one was hurt, the fire department got there to put out the fire and they were able to get a new bus. It only took 4 hours of sitting beside the road.

Some other pictures from their trip: this one is taken near Snoqualmie Falls in Washington. Glad I wasn’t there. Who knows how far the drop off is.

Levi finished up his track season. Between sickness and a concussion, he wasn’t able to do as well as he’d hoped this season, but he’s looking forward to cross country season.

Levi’s Prom Ask this year:

Levi helped plan a really fun ward party that happened to be close to, but not ON Pi Day. Games included the Eat the Oreo from your face with no hands game:

Eat the fruit by the foot with no hands game:

And other fun minute to win it games. After the activity, the cleaning crew decided it would be a good idea to put Levi in charge of getting the balloons down. 😦

Levi went to his Second Sweethearts dance in a month. Just by way of reminder, here was her Ask:

And here was his answer:

The group of boys going together decided it would be fun to make the corsages.

Spring Break this year was all about skiing and ballet shoes. Liberty needed to get some new pointe shoes and the closest store is in Utah. So on Monday she and I drove down to Bountiful to buy the shoes and Levi stayed here to ski and work. You would have thought it was Christmas morning, Libby was so excited about her new shoes. As soon as we got to Allie’s she started sewing them and spent the rest of the night working on them.

The next day Reagan and I went skiing at Sundance again. It was a great day with new snow and not crowded. It was fun to spend the morning with him on the slopes. Liberty spent the morning helping Allie at her elementary school and then she and I wandered around BYU campus that afternoon. We people watched in the Wilk and walked the halls of the RB where all the dance classes are and she dreamed and drooled over college life. We ate dinner at the Brick Oven with Reagan, hit the Creamery for dessert and then headed home because we were all tired. The next morning we drove home.

While we were gone, Levi did some skiing of his own. He sent this text to Rock that day:

Somewhere on that magical snow day he fell and got a concussion that we didn’t really catch until I got home 3 days later. He was super sleepy and out of it the rest of break, which was a bummer because he was hoping to hand out more of these flyers for the new business he is starting.

Reagan is working on becoming the new face of Orem Mazda. This is SO cool!

My mom turned the big 70 this month so we threw her a party to celebrate her oldness. She was less than thrilled but she was a good sport. We have good genes in our family and she regularly shocks people when they find out how old she is.

Cade visited Rocky Mountain National Park on his P-day last week. Here is just one of the many beautiful shots he took.