David's 45th Birthday 2025

David turned 45 on the 21st and we celebrated with his favorite - biscuits and gravy!

He got a caveman game (that we still haven't played) called Poetry for Neanderthals.

He got a new tie from Baylie.

I got him a water bottle because he lost the one I gave him for Christmas. He has since lost this one as well.

Jalen gave him this awesome sign that Baylie doesn't appreciate.

Jalen's amazing wrapping job. 

I also got him Superman socks. (He always asks for socks or ties.)

Elder Carter and Elder Leak joined us for the celebration.

David is 45 and we've been married almost 24 years, so he's spent over half his life with me. Lucky guy!

Colearn Fieldtrip - Rollerskating and State Museum

This year we decided to sign up with a new charter school called Colearn. They are set up to support homeschool families. It's flexible so we can use their curriculum or our own. If we use our own, we have to submit work and grades to them. By using them, we get funding, which is really helpful. It also means Jalen gets a real report card and diploma. They also set up two field trips a month with families across the state. A lot of the people we did co-op with ended up joining Colearn so it replaced our group.

The only bad part is we have to do standardized testing. We ended up only using their course for English - IEW C. We tried their Algebra class, but it was terrible. We found out they were using a curriculum they hadn't vetted. We ended up doing Khan Math. This year Jalen had to take the Algebra EOC.

Our first fieldtrip was roller skating on August 24. It was a fun way to get started and get to know more people.

Jalen and Alee

We hadn't been skating in a long time, but Jalen did pretty good.

Meagan, Jalen, Natalie (headed to BYU), Alee

The Mom Crew

Nicole Welden, Jen Bebee, Beth Bailey, Rachel Luz, Me, Kathy Kent

Turns out Beth can skate!

The Everts

Kaitlyn, Kyle, Declan

Jenn and her youngest, Rebekah Kent

Jalen had a pretty good time.

The next field trip was September 12. I didn't go so Jalen went with the Baileys.

Samuel Luz, Alee, Gideon, Jalen

They even created an AI version of themselves!

Utah - Summer 2025

Book ending the family reunion was the rest of the Utah trip. We started out with a layover in Houston. Because it was so long ago, I can't remember if the trip was smooth or if we got bumped. We don't usually fly through Houston from Columbia so I'm guessing something odd happened, but who knows?!

I know we spent enough time in Houston to buy some tasty, but very expensive, empanadas.

We got to Utah and took our traditional photo in front of the panoramic photo.

Baylie loves to lay on the soft Utah grass. 

I have no idea in what order the following events occurred. 

We climbed into bed with Grammy.

We went shoe shopping at the Traverse Mountain Outlets.

Jalen's shoes

Baylie's shoes

We did baptisms at the Provo City Center temple.

The boys went fishing.

Jalen, Erik, David, Grandad, Asher

We had a visit from the former Elder Brigham Black, one of our favorite South Carolina elders who happens to be from Blanding.

Not sure what is happening here, but it was part of a dinner at Erik and Shanelle's

David, Baylie, Kolton, Asher

Dianne, Kolton, Riley, Bailey, friend

I love it when the family gets together.

Dianne and Shanelle - my brothers married good women

Parker and Jessa

Asher, Riley, Bailey, Kolton

Bailey, David, Me, Erin & son Summerill, Riley, Simon

Dad smoking the meat

Hanging out in his man cave

I have the best parents. I love how much they love each other. Grandad let me take this cute cow home. She now has a bell and I call her Clarabell.

Playing Farkle.

After all the family fun it was time to head home again. We were able to introduce David to the awesomeness that is Garrett's popcorn - even in Houston. And apparently our car was packed to the brim.

Thank heavens for flight benefits or we would never see our family.