My National Champion

The BYU men's lacrosse team are the 2026 MCLA National Champions! The tournament was in Richmond, Virginia and unfortunately Randy and I didn't go.  We will probably regret that for the rest of our lives but oh well.  We weren't the only parents who weren't there and since Marcus is the oldest, he's used to doing things like this alone.  

We loved the family FaceTime call with him after as he showed off his medal and hat.  The ring comes in the fall.  The playoffs were exciting but nothing compared to the excitement of when they won their conference game against UVU, and I was there for that one.

Marcus and his teammate JP, who is also from Sammamish and played Skyline lacrosse 

We are all so proud of Marcus's hard work.  Getting up at 4:30am for practice is no joke.  Spending days traveling and missing classes and tests is no joke.  He juggled school, lacrosse, and his social life like a champ.  He was also never home!  

Marcus flew home a week after the big game and spent less than 24 hours with us.  Luckily he was able to pick Henry up at the bus stop (all the boys love doing that) and had time to play lacrosse in the backyard.

Henry got to wear the champion hat

Burnley Soccer Stadium

And now Marcus is in England doing a paid internship for Burnley Football Club!  That's kind of like doing an internship for an NFL football team in the USA.  It's a big deal.  He's living the dream!  Well, my dream anyway.  If I could hop on a plane and spend a few days roaming the English countryside with him I would do it in a heartbeat.  But I'm settling for all the videos, pictures and FaceTime calls.

Here's the locker room.  Definitely giving off Ted Lasso vibes for sure

The staff got to play football on the field before they ripped up all the turf.  Don't worry, before Marcus was a lacrosse player was a all in for soccer.  He said his skills came back, pretty quick!

Don't worry, Marcus even found a lacrosse team to play on.  How cool is that?  It's box lacrosse so it's a little different and really physical and he loves it!

People always ask about his social life so I'll tell you about this funny conversation I overheard.  When he was asked if he hoped to meet a girl on his internship he said "No way because I don't want a wife with crooked teeth.  But when I get back to Provo I'm gonna be ready with guns a blazing!"  I died laughing.  I've never seen Marcus doing the dating scene without his guns blazing.  He's ready to find the one!

Spring Break at Seabrook

Our week of staycation turned into two little get aways and I actually loved it!  After a couple days at Great Wolf Lodge, we came home for a couple days and waited for Landon to return from Arizona and then we went to Seabrook.  I love that place more every time I go.  The miraculously amazing weather probably plays a large factor in that.  Seabrook was a very last-minute decision because I literally waited until the I could see what the forecast would be before I booked anything.  We had a to of sunshine and no rain.  We ended up staying in a small cottage next door to the Stacey's much larger beach house.  This was super convenient for splitting up meals and coordinating adventures.  

This little cottage was bigger than it appeared.  The basement had a bunk room and a big bedroom and the upstairs had a kitchen and family room.  It makes me think of downsizing and all the time I would save cleaning!

Henry showing off his bunk bed

I found so many sand dollars I forced myself to only collect a handful because I have too many.

My most favorite beach discovery--By-the-wind Sailor.  There were thousands of these dried up on the beach but I found a few fresh ones and they are so pretty.  They're a type of jellyfish and they literally have a blue sail that steers them across the water so they look like little sailboats.

Lots of kite flying on the beach

Pickle ball and wiffle ball were a lot of fun after the Stacey's joined us

We finally went clam digging and it's so fun!  There were so many people on the beach digging for clams.  you can see all their piles of wet sand.  

We caught a lot of shrimp and only one clam that I accidentally squished.

The heated pool is always a good time

Henry and Jack just barely learned how to ride their bikes so they biked everywhere and it was so awesome.  They could bike or walk everywhere and the convenience of it all makes me question my life choices of living in a neighborhood that isn't within walking distance to anything.  I guess city life wouldn't be that bad if it meant not having to drive everywhere, especially last-minute trips to the grocery store.

It feels like you're living on a movie set.

sunset pictures and football throwing

The Stacey kids too

Walking to the beach at sunset.  The Seabrook life is a good life!

Spring Break

Spring break was awesome this year!  My boys would probably disagree depending on who you ask. Landon left as soon as school got out on Friday to fly down to AZ for a lacrosse spring break trip.  He had a great time with the team and they played a few games while living it up in a huge house with a pool and pickle ball courts. 

Meanwhile, I was home with Parker and Henry and after playing lots of waffle ball in the driveway, I was already running out of fun ideas by Saturday night.  Yes, one day into spring break and I was ready to hop in the car and drive to anywhere.  So we ended up going to Great Wolf Lodge with the Stacey's.  Randy had work and wasn't exactly disappointed to miss out.  Great Wolf Lodge is for kids and definitely attracts an interesting crowd.  But even with my low expectations, we all ended up having so much fun!  The last time I took the boys, I was trying to avoid getting my leg wet post cancer surgery and Henry was too little to do half the stuff.  This time Henry was there for it all!  He must've run up all those stairs to get to the water slides about a hundred times.  Parker had a great time too and because they could do all the things by themselves, I sat at a table and read and talked to Lauren while the kids played.  Yes, I went down the slides too but mostly I didn't have to so I had a great time at Great Wolf Lodge.  Also, going on a Monday is a game changer.  The lines were super short.  I told Henry this would probably be the last time he goes but who knows, maybe I'll fail at another spring break staycation.  

We played countless games of wiffle ball for the first couple days.  I still get the giggles thinking about how many times I hit Henry with the ball when I was pitching.  He's a patient kid with his old mom.  

We also spent a lot of time searching for wiffle balls :(

Parker finally discovered the awesomeness of the eBike.  It has a throttle and doesn't even require pedaling and he was hooked!  We rode all over Sammamish together and I even got stuck in the mud which was both hilarious and messy.  

Now that Parker rides the eBike everywhere, he is taking advantage of his freedom and I'm loving saving gas by not driving.  We've been paying over $6 a gallon for a few months now :(

Great Wolf Lodge!

The short Ball boys with the tall Stacey's

Look at those smiles

Creepy Henry at the arcade and no, I didn't give him money to play any of the games because that's not the kind of parent I am.  I also didn't let him get another stuffed animal at Build-A-Bear.  Such a money grab!

Henry and I howled like wolves to get our free wolf ears and I wore them around just to embarrass Parker.  It worked.  We also had fun playing games with the Stacey's before going to bed.

Snow Day and a Wedding

This was the perfect snow day because school was already canceled because it was a snow make-up day that we never used.  So we didn't have school but we didn't have to make up the day.  Such amazing luck!  It took a little work to get Henry to go outside and play in the snow but once he got outside he never came back in.  I went for a walk and did my best to shake branches and trees that were snapping under the weight of the wet, heavy snow.  We lost a few more trees in our forest too.

Randy's assistant got married and basically everyone at the wedding was one of our employees or part of the family.  Luckily there was only rain and luckily the rain stopped as we stood on the beach watching this cute little family say I do.  We love our office staff! Kristina is our amazing office manager and she was the officiator for the wedding.  When she realized she forgot her shoes for the wedding she just laughed and made sure everyone took pictures.  She's so great!