December 5, 2025

Wishing this morning’s breakfast was a Banzai Bowl on the beach. Instead I’ll just put on my warm socks for the day because it is cold. 

December 3, 2025

Funniest Wednesday ever. Saw Ryan Hamilton tonight and of course laughed and laughed. And the two openers we’ve seen before had new stuff that was funny. Wahoo. 

Cam sent us this picture today which also made me smile.

December 2, 2025

Did some dish washing tonight and stacked a few to dry. No one could stack dishes like my dad. Thinking of that gave me a smile and a “washing the dishes” song line (he made up) in my head.

I sent this picture to Kenzie the other day. It's from our Christmas tree hunt in 2008.  He always had these big orange UDOT garbage bags that came in handy for Christmas wrapping paper gathering and making a sled.  :)

November 30, 2025

Woke up thinking what a blessing to have a home. And my Christmas cactus is bloom-ming! Plus the church released their Christmas video short and as always I loved it.

November 29, 2025

We finally made it to Bunnyhenge.  :)  We also went to a mall with a food court and enough stores to pass the time before our flight (which had a sunset and cool clouds from above - I think flying is miraculous.) We all made it home safe and sound with another California trip to remember.

November 28, 2025

This morning we all walked to Banzai Bowls for a yummy breakfast.  Plus Sadie got some Seaside Donuts.  It was confirmed by Darren this trip that Seaside Donuts does in fact have the best apple fritters. We spent most of the day just hanging at the beach - some reading, some eating a burrito (even though its just dehydration), some chasing waves, and some just relaxing.  We saw more dolphins (with some water spray). Then it was a gelato run where Kenzie assured us that this is the best gelato she's ever had.  Dinner was Sadie's famous alfredo. 

November 27, 2025

Happy Thanksgiving.  We started out the day at Crystal Cove State Park.  Low tide was a bit inconvenient this trip but we hit a somewhat low tide this morning at 8am (which most of the kids voluntarily woke up for).

I took one for the team and did an oven shuffle for our TG meal while most were at the beach.  Costco came through with yummy food.

Back to the beach for a gorgeous sunset.  Our evening beach time was so much fun! We snapped some photos, played the hand push game, and had so many laughs.  Oh, and we saw a dolphin swimming with the sunset going strong behind it.  Sigh.

Evening had us playing games while watching Sky High (classic) and eating pie. This was a really good Thanksgiving!

November 26, 2025

Wednesday started off with a run (why does it feel good? Oh yeah - sea level) and then some Seaside Donuts. (Cam does not like filling in her donut.  How could I forget?)

Tanner and Darren took one for the team and went to Costco to secure our Thanksgiving dinner.  Then we all went to the Aquarium of the Pacific.  Sea cucumber, octopus, and archer fish feeding were pretty cool.

Dinner was the tradition of Red Robin when in Cali.  It was one of our best visits with a balloon hat and Tanner getting the birthday dessert meant for Darren.

November 25, 2025

Thanksgiving in Newport Beach begins! Today was a travel day.  We met up at the beach after stopping at the Nature Preserve (where the girls had round two dancing after round one in the parking garage) and The Sandwich Spot.  Playing Bocce on the beach was way fun.  The girls did other things like take naps and put shells on people taking naps.  We went to Von's Grocery Store and shopped very slowly until check-in time.  The evening was playing games and relaxing.  You know I love Dr Mario and Hearts and we played both tonight.

November 22, 2025

Darren's birthday celebration included yesterday's birthday eve comedy show at Dry Bar, an 11 mile hike with Baylie, a movie, and dinner at Olive Garden (with a delicious complimentary dessert).  

November 21, 2025

For Darren’s birthday eve we saw some comedy. The funny Alex Veluto was at Dry Bar so we ate down the block and then laughed a lot. 

Had a good time chatting with Ry and Cole last night. 

November 18, 2025

Today’s hike to Silver Lake had more moose than people. (Moose 1 - people 0.) That’s just the way I like my hikes. I also like a good lake reflection which we had. Plus a little snow. 

November 16, 2025

Lovely Sunday. Morning journaling with quiet, church, a puzzle, brownies with ice cream, and Cam and Sade put up Christmas. This evening we were all in the living room with the tree lights on just relaxing. Sigh.

November 14, 2025

I always love a colorful morning sunrise when taking Baylie out. Then I went on a hike with the ladies. We hit Lake Mary and Martha since there isn’t any snow at the ski resorts yet. Fun hike with mountain air and a cool wind. When I got home Sadie was making crepes and gave me some. Fantastic!

Even more fantastic was date night with Darren. We went to Ogden for a comedy show from Robert Mac. He was hilarious. One of the openers was also funny. Pre- comedy we ate at Rooster’s and then stopped at a small art gallery store. 

November 13, 2025

Found some old pictures while doing a little cleaning. They were printed out as 8x10s and I love them. 

Above - summer 2005 Rocky Mountain National Park

Below - fall 2007 (I think) Goblin Valley

November 10, 2025

Great evening with Sadie. Chick fil a followed by the outlets. Love hanging with her. 

November 9, 2025

Just feeling extra thankful for my family today. And that we could make apple crisp. Sometimes I hope my mom and dad are looking down and smiling at the kids being together. The three younger girls were so fun this evening. 

November 8, 2025

Some things I enjoyed this week:

Last Sunday School lesson taught for the year. Cotton candy pink and blue sunrise colors on Monday. Beaver moon. Hot chocolate. Skinny 50. Froyo with the girls. Costa Vida salad Sadie made. The girls going to Lagoon one last time with their passes. 

November 6, 2025

Antelope Island was quite enjoyable today. Saw more bison than people on the trail (I put on my brave pants and crossed a couple sketchy parts), the cloud reflection was pretty, the top of Frary Peak was great spot to snack and rest, and I got a new bird. 

November 1, 2025

Started November off right in Capitol Reef.  We drove through small towns and over smashed pumpkins to find fall and pie.

I had such a lovely hike where we went to the Radio Tower.  Eating pie for second breakfast (because first breakfast was of course a breakfast burrito from Maverick in Richfield) at the Rim Overlook high above the yellow trees and road was awesome.  The smell coming from the Pinyon Pine was also awesome.

October 31, 2025

Sadie was so clever with her Halloween costume. She and Jessie have celebrated together for many years. D and I came to Richfield and hung out with Mason and Rachael and then Cris and Denise for a minute. Still getting used to the Richfield without my parents. While I’m getting used to it, I don’t have to like it. 

October 30, 2025

I like a good Throwback Thursday. (2010 and 2007)

I also like when I see big horn sheep (even though their horns aren't very big) in AF Canyon.

October 29, 2025

Today in the temple my thoughts went to my grandma and grandpa Payne. They have been in heaven my entire life but I’ll bet they’ve looked down on my life a little. I wish I had better pictures of them. 

Elwood Payne:

Myrle Payne (61 years old):

From my grandma's life story she wrote, "Mother wished I'd been more lady like, she wanted to dress me in lace and frills. I told Her I didn't want lace on my petticoat because it got caught on the fence when I climbed over or through them." This makes me smile.

October 27, 2025

That son of mine sure knows how to make my day.  Got this text and am so thankful he sent it.  I'll look at this often.

October 26, 2025

Had a low key, enjoyable weekend. Saw my friend Patty Friday night. Chatted while we watched Carson play football (I haven’t missed anything by not seeing a high school football game in I can’t remember how long) then we chatted as we ate ice cream at Handel’s. Nice to hang out with her. It’s been awhile. 

Also watched an actual baseball game. Game 2 of the World Series Dodgers vs Blue Jays was enjoyable. 

Then tonight Cam and Sadie carved pumpkins while D KT and I played Five Crowns. What a relaxing weekend. 

October 23, 2025

Kinda wish dinner was here tonight.

October 18, 2025

Happy Rylie's birthday! It’s always nice to see your kid in person on their birthday. And when the rest of the kids come to celebrate it's even better.

Ry is such an amazing person.  She's so kind and helpful and just a joy to be around.

October 17, 2025

We took our time packing up this morning before hiking the 3 miles out, eating at The Moab Diner, and driving home to the kids starting Rylie's birthday celebration.  (Thanks to Darren for snapping this picture.)

This trip had me thinking of my parents a bit as the echo at Druid was fabulous and I let out a classic Ross yell to hear coming off so many walls.  Then on the road to Canyonlands there were so many cattle guards so I made sure to touch the car ceiling for most of them which my mom would have done.

October 16, 2025

Today dawned clean and beautiful.  I caught the sun coming up over Elephant Canyon and also lighting up the needles.  Sigh.  The shadows of the needles on the other needles was cool.  It's so quiet here.  It's like you can hear the quiet.  D&C 117:16 - Have I not made the earth?

We quickly visited The Joint (this place makes you feel like a kid) and then over slick rock and around needles to EC2.  Darren helped me through the couple of obstacles I was concerned about with my pack on.  (Me concerned about things? What?  :))

We spent some time relaxing at camp and then headed to the spectacular Druid Arch.  I don't love getting there but I always love being there.  We had the place to ourselves which was incredible.  I can't describe how peaceful and resetting it is to be the only ones in a vast and beautiful place.  That's my favorite part of backpacking here - the solitude and with it the quiet.  Oh, and the stars.  

Back to camp for a warm dinner to warm us up and then into the tent as the sun goes down and it cools down.  Kindle o'clock comes early with the temperatures dropping and the sun going down a 7:00.  The silence is also loud at EC2. Except when we start singing Shadows in the Moonlight by Anne Murray.  :)

October 15, 2025

Time for our last backpack of the year.  Needles - Canyonlands for two nights.

We stopped in Moab for some pizza at Canyon Pizza Co.  I love this pizza place.  We ate plenty of pieces and then headed to Elephant Canyon Trailhead.

We arrived at CP1 to a visitor and ended up inviting her to stay at our site.  Somehow she missed her EC1 site and I kept thinking how lucky she was that cool people like us were the ones to share this site.  

It had rained just a bit hiking in but we were able to set up camp, eat an Uncrustable (since we weren't very hungry thanks to the pizza), catch a rainbow at the back of our camp, and see the sunset out the front before the rain came back.

We hung out in the tent listening to the rain on and off and heard the flapping of crow wings through our camp.  Then the wind came.  It blew and blew from about 9pm-2am.  It was especially fun when the sand would come up under the rain fly and pelt you a little.  Go backpacking they said.  It'll be fun they said.  Ha ha.