Mr. D and Mrs. M

When we lived in Seattle, Mariana lived with us and helped us take care of our kids (as our au pair). When we moved to Utah she finished her year with our family and returned to Mexico for college. Mariana was kind and visited us a few months later when she was in the US for a vacation and then just this past weekend she visited our family again when she was in the US. We love seeing her!  This time we were in for a special treat because she brought her sister to come see us too. David got to play tour guide for a couple days and took them to Temple Square in Salt Lake, BYU campus in Provo, and the snow in Park City. I asked Mariana what her favorite part was and she said skiing and seeing the boys how they’ve grown.  We are so grateful she took time to see us and see our kids. While she was here David and my oldest had a soccer tournament in Mesquite that was also a good experience. 

Last month we got to host our friends Camille and Matthew (and their daughters) so that David and Matthew could go to Dragonsteel. One evening we met up in Salt Lake at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for a concert. 

Back in February I told David we should get chickens! He told me the egg shortage would end soon and that we wouldn't save any money having chickens. He was 100% right (there are a lot of fixed costs with raising chickens like building a coop and run, but afterwards the expenses are not too bad) and the chickens have been a lot of fun. Turns out there was a lot I didn't know about chickens and I greatly enjoyed learning about them!  For example, I learned the following: Why are grocery store eggs white? Most eggs we eat come from white leghorn chickens, which lay white eggs, but different chicken breeds lay different colors. Meat Chickens vs. Egg Chickens - Humans have cared for chickens for a long time. Some chickens are bred for their meat (think Cornish cross) and others for their eggs. David and I are not excited about processing chickens, so instead we went for chickens that are egg layers. Egg production vs. Collecting the rainbow of egg colors - We decided we wanted a mi...

  Our family recently crossed the 1 year in Utah mark. We've really enjoyed exploring the area and being outside. We love going on the Murdock trail near our home.  Recently our oldest, Neil, went on his longest bike ride ever (a 20 mile trip!) and rode from where we live in Highland down to the Lindon temple (and back home).  The boys love biking and scootering and visiting the various parks nearby. We've been really happy with our ebike (a radwagon) and this past summer added a couple escooters (secondhand segway ninebots). Hope you've had a great summer. 

Our family had a reunion in Washington state this past week! Our family took the big drive to Washington from Utah. We got to stay at a neighbor's home and do a few fun activities on the Eastside before heading over to the Olympic Peninsula for the reunion: Museum of Flight Raspberry Picking Hiking around Evan's Creek Preserve Ferry Ride to Bainbridge Island Visiting the Bainbridge Island Troll  Here are the Olympic Peninsula attractions we got to experience: Hoh Rainforest Tree of Life Ruby beach Olympic Game Farm zoo Hurricane Ridge It was great, here are more photos from our trip:

 

This past weekend we got to celebrate with our friends Sean and Eunice at their wedding! With help from our nanny, my brother and his wife, and a babysitter, we were able to trust that our kids would be okay back home for the weekend. Based on the photo below, can you guess what airport we flew to? We flew from Provo to Portland! I guess this carpet has been teased as very ugly and it was a trend a while back to take photos of your feet with the carpet when you pass through the Portland airport on social media. Most of the carpet has been replaced at the airport and the Portland airport has also been significantly beautified since.  We got to see many people we love. On Saturday before the meet and greet at the wedding, we were able to hike a section of the Pacific Coast Trail, a trail that goes thru the United States from Mexico to Canada ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Crest_Trail ) with our friend Dan.  The connection of us to Sean and Eunice and a subgroup of the g...