Abnormal April

Remember how we've been getting a lot of snow? Well, early April was no exception, and then we had rain, snow and hail off and on throughout the month. For this reason I called this month Abnormal April. It definitely kept us guessing what the weather would be like each day.

We started off on the 3rd of April with a big overnight snowstorm that dumped another 10-12 inches on the ground in our area. We began wondering if Spring was ever going to come mid- April, but by the end of the month we did get enough rain, and some days in the low - mid 50's, and a few days in the 60's, which helped to slowly melt the snow. 

 

Oh, what a difference 3 weeks can make!! There's still quite a bit of snow in the mountains, and it's not gotten up to the 60's much, but we'll take the blue sky and sunshine and the rain and the snow that melts within a day or two. We were able to get out in the yard and rake the lawn and dig in the flower beds a bit. Spring was looking like it's around the corner by the end of the month.

The month also started off with General Conference. I do have to say I was a bit jealous as we were watching on TV and saw the flowers were in full bloom around the Conference Center and Temple grounds, because we still had at least 2 ft. or more of snow.

We got together with the Mallory's to have dinner and listen to the Sunday afternoon session of conference. The kids worked on jigsaw puzzles as we listened to the speakers. It entertained them for the 2 hours, and after quizzing them after each talk they even remembered what most of the talks were about.

At the end of the session our Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, who will be turning 99 this September, announced that 15 new temples would be built---“Jesus Christ is the reason we build temples,” President Nelson said just before listing the new locations. “Each is His holy house.”

The 15 new temple locations announced Sunday, April 2, 2023 are:

• Retalhuleu, Guatemala
• Iquitos, Peru
• Teresina, Brazil
• Natal, Brazil
• Tuguegarao City, Philippines
• Iloilo, Philippines
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Hamburg, Germany
• Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
• San Jose, California
• Bakersfield, California
• Springfield, Missouri
• Winchester, Virginia
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 

I am grateful for this dear man who is guiding our Church and for his love for us, as well as the access he is making available for members all over the world to be able to serve and receive the blessings, peace, and comfort that can come while serving and attending in the temples of the Lord.

I met Matt & Amie at the temple to go through an endowment session on a Wednesday that Dale was serving in the temple. Matt got to see him at the veil. We waited for him to get done with his shift and then went to breakfast at "Stacked" a pancake/breakfast place. It was a nice way to prepare our thoughts for Easter.

We had our annual Easter Picnic and Egg Hunt at our house the Saturday before Easter. The kids brought their baskets and with the lawn being under around 2 feet of snow we did everything inside this year. We still had our traditional Chicken bites, potato salad, deviled eggs, and other salads and dessert with all pitching in to help with the meal. Then we played Easter Charades and Pictionary. I was impressed at how well the kids could act and draw. 

Titan and Grandpa Dale entertained the kids by teaching them how to make origami animals while the parents hid the eggs throughout the house. Each family had a floor of the house to hunt their eggs. The Mallory's were upstairs, the Hassell's were on the main floor, and Andrew & Lindsay's family had the basement. While the kids were hunting for the eggs I set up the Prize room. Then the kids opened all the eggs to see what they had inside. Some had candy, some had change, some had symbols of Easter, and some had $1's, $5's, and $10's. Andrew put in one that had a $50 bill (the famous golden egg) for the adults to find! Matt was the lucky winner. The eggs also had papers with everyones initals and a number on it that they took to redeem at the prize room where I handed out their goods. It ended up being a sunny day, but still windy and not real warm, but the lawn still had a bunch of snow as you can see from the picture I took that evening.

We missed Garrett and Zandra's family and Nate and Diana. 

It was nice to have Sunday to attend Church and focus on the resurrection of Christ to remind us of the true meaning of Easter. We are blessed to have a loving Father in Heaven and His Son that made it possible for us to see our loved ones that have passed through the veil of death once again.

I ushered at the Eccles Theater for the USU Dance Company, a Comedy Night, and Cache Theater's "School of Rock" this month. Quite a variety of entertainment.

I also joined some of the ladies in our neighborhood and area for our monthly Lunch Bunch get together. We went to one of my favorite spots in the valley, Tandoori Oven. It was not only great food, but great company. I sure love these ladies.

Dale celebrated his 64th birthday with Amie, Garrett, Danica, June and I at Firehouse Pizzeria in Brigham City for lunch. It was nice to spend time with them. We missed Andrew and Nate, but they're both out of the state and so they called and wished him a Happy Birthday by phone. I gave him a shirt, some pants, and told him to get some paddles for his pontoon boat for fishing. He had a nice relaxing day, it was a rainy, snowy day, and their weren't any good movies to go to so we chilled at home. Happy Birthday Dale!! We love you! 

With Dale serving as the Republican Vice Pres. Chairman of Hyde Park Prescient #3 and me serving as a County Delegate in the Prescient, one of our duties is to attend the Cache County Republican Organizing Convention. We went to a "Meet the Candidate Night" to hear from those that are vying for the Cache Council District Chair and for spots in the State Central Committee before attending the convention to get a feel for the candidates. Then we heard again from all of those running, as well as others that are currently serving. It was a long meeting, but we voted to the best of our knowledge and it's done. We'll see how it all goes from here. 

Dale and I are still learning all the ropes in how things work with this appointment we got into.

With the snow melting it's brought the deer back into our yard. We've seen a lot of tracks, but were only able to get a picture of them in our neighbors yard this time. I'm sure they're loving the grass, weeds, and lower snow levels to get around in.

I celebrated my 63rd birthday. Danica lined up facials for herself and I at Paul Mitchell's Beauty College and we both came away with our faces glowing. It was very relaxing. We met up with Amie at Herm's Inn for lunch. My nephew, Lance Petersen, was working and he brought out a dessert crepe for me because it was my birthday. We also got in a good visit with him. 

It was a beautiful day! After lunch, I went to Amie's house and hopped in her car and Kennlyn, Mazin, Amie and I met Danica & June in Ogden for Kennlyn's soccer game, they lost, but I came away with some color on my arms. We stopped at Costa Vida and Amie treated me to dinner after the game. Happy Birthday Me!!

One cool thing about this month has been the awesome sunsets we've seen. At the end of the month our area as well as other places throughout the state were able to see the Northern Lights. We missed it again, but we had neighbors that saw it and got a picture. Dale's sister Nancy, who lives in North Logan also go a picture of it. Pretty neat.

Nate and Diana got away for a weekend to somewhere warm to get them out of the rain and snow they've been having in their area. They went to Nevada's Red Rock Canyon National Park to get in some rock climbing. 

I think they've figured out how to leave work at the office, don't you?

They also celebrated Lili's 11th birthday!!  She's been a loyal part of the family and also helps in the office sometimes by greeting Dr. Hansen's patients that come in.

Happy Birthday Lili!!

With all of the snow at the first of the month during Spring Break for the local schools, the Mallory's took advantage of it and went skiing at Cherry Peak (Cherry Peak had a Snow Bunny building contest), went sledding at Gibbons Park, and made their own
Snow Bunny in their front yard to honor Easter. The wet and cold snow doesn't stop their fun.

Spring soccer got bumped back a bit, but by the end of the month they were playing some games and able to practice outside sometimes. The weather for some of the games has been pretty cold, but that's outdoor sports. Stay warm and play tough!

Andrew and Lindsay's crew got away from the cold by heading south to St. George for the kids' Spring Break from school. They enjoyed the warmer temps by going on Razor Rides, hiking among the rocks and sandstone, and playing in the sun.

They cut their trip short in order to get home before the snowstorms were supposed to come in, but they hit storms in Salt Lake, which slowed them up a bit, so they didn't get home until 2:00am!!

Nora lost another front tooth. Lindsay just popped it right out without Nora realizing it and didn't even cry.  Way to go Lindsay!!

She's only 6 yrs. and has lost two teeth now. I hope they grow back in before she loses more.

 

Arwyn celebrated her 6th birthday this month with friends and family. Lindsay bought a smaller bounce house that they set up in their basement, Titan did balloon art for the kids, and the party had a fairy theme with mushroom looking tables and fun decorations. The cake was also pretty cute too. Happy Birthday Arwyn!!  We love you!

Because Nora never got a party, they celebrated Nora too. Fun times!!

Elosie is playing recreation soccer this spring and with the weather clearing up we took advantage of one of the better days to go watch her game. She had back to back games, and tied one and lost one, but it was fun watching El's determination on the field to get the ball.

Garrett, Zandra, Jorie and Luke took advantage of Spring Break and got a break from moving snow off their driveway and walks by going to Belguim, Paris, and the Netherlands. They went to Paris' Disneyland, saw the Eifel Tower, Castles, the Paris Saint-Germain professional soccer game in Paris (they lost though, but they all LOVED seeing it live), windmills, and tulips just to name a few of the things. It was quite the trip. They're becoming quite the world travelers.

When they got back, they still had snow on their lawn, but because of good neighbors the driveway and walks were cleared. What a wonderful experience for them.

The Hassell's finally got back to the states after getting stuck in Mexico for an extra 3 days. They got in some more sights and beach time, but I don't know who was more excited to be home with June. She posted this on Instagram-- "A week of celebrating Jason and his amazing accomplishment of making it into the President's Club! I cannot describe how proud I am of you baby! Your hard work shows and it's been so fun to celebrate you the way you deserve! Some much needed R&R! (Even if we did get a couple more days of it than anticipated). Thanks Guild for a week we'll always remember!"

They left the beach and sunshine and came home to a snowy day and a little cuddler. Danica posted this on her Instagram too --"My little koala girl. Feeling so much peace being home with my little sidekick. I think she missed me just as much as I missed her because she hasn't let me put her down since we came home and I'm soaking up every minute of it."

June took her most steps alone at Church on Easter day while out in the hall, and now she's getting around by herself pretty good!!

They all headed south to St. George to spend some time with their friends in the sunshine. June loved every moment...from the hikes to the swimming pool, to the water parks, and playground. 

I think next time though she's going to make sure she's part of the luggage on their next trip. She loves to have fun as much as dad and mom and doesn't want to miss out, cuz she's a walker now and wants to explore.

In our local news USU hired a new Men's Basketball coach, Danny Sprinkle, who has been coaching at Montana State University. The bad deal is that we lost some players because they entered the Portal for a chance to play at larger schools. Steve Atwood got a nod from Creighton University, Sean Barstow and Max Shulga got picked up by the former USU coach, Ryan Odom at Virginia Commonwealth. Trevin Dorius choose to not play next year, and Rylan Jones hasn't gotten an offer yet in the transfer portel. So, Coach Sprinkle has his work cut out for him in recruiting some new players. I hope all goes well. He's got some big shoes to fill.

We had record snow depths, which also ended up bringing a lot of avalanches and run-off with the warmer days. Some flooding began in Salt Lake and Odgen, and I'm sure more will come in other areas as it warms up more next month. Their were also some new housing areas that ended up with big sink holes in them and homes lost due to mudslides. 

Definitely an abnormal April this month.