April was a lucky month.
We had our whole family together not once, but TWICE.
And we know to take advantage of those togetherness times these days!
The month started out with Dave and I in California (back HERE at the end of my March little things post), coming home to this:

 …fundraiser for Claire’s friend who was in a coma in the hospital.

That friend, by the way, “woke up” a couple weeks later and Claire was pretty overjoyed to get to go visit her finally back at her HOME.
So, so grateful to hear that. 
Julie, Dave’s sister, came to visit with her family for their spring break and we loved soaking them in in many ways, but here was a day at the tennis courts:

(with Nana & Papa too:)

Claire spent hours on end here with her club volleyball team:

I got to go to a play with my sweet Activity Day girls.  Can you see the excitement exuding out of them?

We were there to watch another one of our girls perform.  She did such a great job but my favorite part was watching all the girls trying to get her autograph when it was over, stars in their eyes about trying their own hand in the acting arena:

Although her face doesn’t quite accurately show it in this picture, Lucy adores her second cousins…two of whom live here, and one who was visiting from out of town:

We read the promises of President Nelson related to seminary attendance for a family devotional one day and took some notes:

Whipped up our traditional Conference Cinnamon Rolls:

…listened to conference trying our hands at some water coloring:

(more on that back HERE),

And enjoyed a good walk/talk with my lovely oldest at-home daughter:

Dave and Lu had to leave half-way through conference for Wisconsin.  They sent us this picture because they were pretty over-the-moon that they got upgraded:

It was “senior night” for tennis:

(more on that back HERE)

And Lu and I finished Wednesday Wars:

…which we loved and I wrote about back HERE.

Claire is Bo’s best friend/worst enemy:

We went hiking:

…and got lost, and got found again, and thought about the goodness of finding paths in our wakes…and wrote about it a couple days ago…
I found this quote somewhere, I think Instagram, and I liked it enough to screenshot it:

So true and important to remember.

Grace and I went and took senior pictures on a WINDY day.

Her friend came along to help.

Love both of those girls so much!

My parents came to town for Grace and Claire’s final tennis match.

So I dragged my mom to my BrainFood shift with me in the morning:

Love having company in that good place.

Last tennis match of the season:

Fellow tennis mom who I realized went on study abroad with my brother (so we had to take a picture to send him), and who also happened to be wearing semi-matching pants 🙂

Max was the last to arrive for my niece’s wedding.  He didn’t think he was going to be able to break away from volleyball but it turned out last minute that he could and one girl was pretty excited to have that big brother of hers around:

(ok, the rest of us were pretty excited too:)

Bridal get-ready party:

The wedding:

Dave’s brother (or maybe sis-in-law??) took this pic and sent it to us…love that husband of mine!

(More details about the wedding back HERE.)

Family volleyball:

Family post-dinner dance party:

Family scooters downtown:

…and family card games:

Family squooshiness:

Don’t worry, that’s not a driving picture, just in the parking lot waiting for me to come out of church…
All about that family togetherness including swimming and tennis too back HERE.

“Memorization night” over at our neighbor’s house…

I showed Grace’s tennis awards back HERE when I wrote about senior night, but Claire Bear got some awards too:

Grace had a non-stop party for about a month before the end of school.  Here they are prepping for a big breakfast one of the “late-start” days in April:

The Activity Days girls came over to decorate Easter eggs…

The blossoms popped out, a little late this year since it was so cool, but they came just the same:

…and created yellow “carpet” all over the place.  This is a very sparse example when I left the gym one day, but I love when the palo verde trees are in their full yellow glory:

Meanwhile Max and Abby were working their hearts out to wrap up their Provo life and get ready to head to China. 

It is a big job to move out of a home.  Their first home.  But they did it with flying colors.  Found a new renter, found a place to store their stuff while they were gone all summer, found willing hands to help.

Goodbye first home, it treated them well.

And also meanwhile, Elle was finishing up graphic design finals, one of which was to design milk graphics:

(small example, but I loved it)

She was able to pack up all her stuff, find a place to store it as well, say goodbyes to so many people she loves and meet us in California for Easter:

Yay for us!

Nice running partners:

And fun to see long-lost friends:

…and chill and grill (well, not really grill, but cool to rhyme) on the beach:

…at sunset.

Loved having ALL these girls (and that cute boy in the corner) together for Easter church:

…and fancy easter brunch:

(Ha:)

And paddle boarding:

Sunset cards:

All about California in detail back HERE.

But I fogot to add the egg decorating there.

We eeked that out in a much simplified manner late Easter night:

I missed having all the paints and creativity going on, but somehow just this simple coloring felt so good to me this year.

Meanwhile Max and Abby got to the desert, picked up Bo Jangles from her dogsitter, and waited for the girls to arrive:

…and Dave and I headed to the Dominican Republic to meet up with my family for my parent’s 50th anniversary celebration.

(all about that grand trip back HERE)

…while Max, Abby, Elle and Lar held down the fort at home, and helped get this gorgeous beauty off to prom:

(all about prom HERE)

And all about those best-ever babysitters and what they did while we were gone HERE.

We had one grand family day when we got back and before everyone else had to take off:

(All about what we did to take advantage of that one day back HERE.)

Then Max and Abby got their visas all taken care of for China:

Claire, Lu and I got to go to Wicked, and were lucky enough to get to watch the second half from the very front.

All about that pretty magical night back HERE.

While we were there, these guys got to go to a game in Max’s old stomping grounds:

And phew, that’s a wrap for April!

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6 Comments

  1. Great post! Interesting though, the 2 pictures above at the top (# 8 & 9), with Grandpa, I think, there is a blue orb around/on his leg. Him only, in all your pictures. Probably nothing, but interesting none the less xoxo

    1. Hmm, I didn't notice those before, but they're just sun spots. Probably my phone lens is a little dirty which makes those show up a little more.
      xoxo

  2. My husband has started traveling to China and Russia for business every so often. Having him adjust to time change and jet lag coming back has been tricky. How do you guys re-acclimate to the time difference when you travel so frequently? You seem to pop right back into life when you get home. I’m curious if you’d share tips or tricks to help with that adjustment?
    Thank you!!!

    1. Dave has this rule that you never think about the time where you were, only where you are at the moment. It really does help with the adjustment. Dave is better at it than I am…good luck to your husband!

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