Friday, June 12, 2026

May 2026

 May was aMAYzing!



Cameron came home for a visit and was here for his 21st birthday (Saturday, May 2nd)!  I am afraid it was not the most exciting of birthdays.  I made him help with a move that morning.  But we did go to one of his favorite restaurants, YC's Mongolian BBQ, for his birthday dinner.  His girlfriend, Gracie, flew in on Sunday morning just before church.

We adore Cameron.  He is such a great kid.  He is fun, playful, respectful, hard-working, dedicated and so handsome.  Although he finished his Junior year with the ability to graduation with his Bachelors, he has decided to play at least another year of football at Rocky. We were so happy to have him home for the week.

While Cameron and Gracie were here, we went to all the temples in the valley.
Hannah was not home from NAU yet and Chuck was working when we went to Gilbert.

Christian and Chuck were both working when we went to Mesa.

Hannah refused to be in the picture when we went to Phoenix.  I don't blame her.  It is an awful picture.

On Friday, we drove up to the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Phoenix temple on the way and had lunch in Flagstaff.  When we got to the GC, we went to the rim to take a peak but the visitor's center had already closed. All of us, except Chuck, stayed at the Red Feather Lodge in Tusayan.  Chuck wanted to camp.  I think he thought others would want to camp also, but no one did.

On Chuck's bucket list is to hike Rim to Rim to Rim.  But it is not on anyone else's bucket list.  There was a big fire at the North Rim last summer and it hasn't fully recovered and in addition, the North Rim wasn't going to be open when we all could get there.  So, I proposed a plan to hike South Kaibab to the river and up Bright Angel.  It is a little less mileage and elevation gain than hiking Rim to Rim, but would still be a challenge and if Chuck wanted to reverse direction, we could all go back to hotel and he could hike another 20 miles.  The bridge to the river via the Bright Angel trail was closed, so we ended up hiking to the river via South Kaibab, came back up South Kaibab, crossed over on Tonto Trial to Havasupai Gardens and climbed out via Bright Angel.  

South Rim - South Kaibab trailhead


Skeleton Point


Tip Off


The river

Tonto Trail



Havasupai Gardens









 South Rim - Bright Angel Trailhead

I don't usually like to brag, but the Royaltys are rock stars!  We started the hike about 6:30am. Getting to the river was cake.  We spent a little time at the river, resting, snacking and refilling our bottles. There is no water on the S. Kaibab trail, so we had to refill at the river. (We used iodine). Hannah didn't realize how far it was to Havasupai Gardens, so she did not think she needed to refill. From the river to where you connect with the Tonto trail is the hardest, hottest part of the hike.  Christian killed it! Hannah stayed with me and I struggled a little bit.  Maybe it was the heat. Christian and Hannah took off on Tonto together.  Chuck and I were behind them and Cameron and Gracie were behind us.  Hannah ran out of water about a mile before Havasupai Gardens, so Christian ran ahead, refilled and took water back to her.  He then brought water to Chuck and me.  We still had water but it was nice to have some colder water.  We met up and took a break at Havasupai Gardens then headed up Bright Angel. It took Chuck and me about 10.5 hours.  Christian and Hannah finished about 40 minutes before us and Cameron and Gracie were just a little behind us.  The hike was pretty much perfect.  No one got blisters, heat exhaustion, or complete fatigue.  No one even got sunburned.  But we were a little slower than Chuck thought we would be, so he opted not to reverse course. We aren't sure how long the hike was, but somewhere between 19 and 21 miles. We did get on the wrong bus at the trail head, so it did take us a little bit longer to get back to the car than we had planned.  We drove back to Tusayan, had dinner at a local restaurant that wasn't good but wasn't terrible, and then hit the hot tub.  On Sunday, we went to the visitor center, bought our souvenirs and drove home. Cameron and Gracie went back to Montana on Monday, which was my birthday.  

And come to think of it, I did not take one picture for my birthday.  I taught a yoga class that evening and we went to Cold Stone afterwards.  We went about a week and a half later to Spinatos for my birthday dinner.  Really for all the May birthdays.  

I did take a picture of Chuck and Hannah on their birthday (even though Hannah really didn't want me to).  For their birthday, we went to Cava for lunch.  Hannah had to work that evening, so Chuck and I had dinner at Picazzo's, where she is working.  On Sunday, we had family dinner.  Hannah did not want a dessert and Chuck just wanted ice cream, so that is what we had.


Happy 19th birthday Hannah!
Happy 62nd birthday Chuck!

We adore Hannah.  She is such a great kid.  She is so talented, motivated, dedicated, hard-working, helpful and beautiful.  She is also a little bit crazy, which makes her so fun to be around. She finished up her freshman year at NAU with straight A's and when we went to dinner at Picazzo's, her co-workers told us what an amazing job she is doing.  We are not surprised, because like I said, she is such a hard-worker. We love her so much and are so blessed to be her parents!

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

April 2026

April was a good month!  

Hannah came home for Easter and we started the day with a hike to Tom's Thumb in the McDowell Mountains.  We watched conference and had an Easter lunch with the AZ family before Hannah headed back to school.





Christian finished up his tennis season.  They had a REALLY tough schedule.  Despite more losses than wins, Christian played some REALLY great tennis.  He was usually the last won playing in a marathon match that would often end in a tie break.  He was award the Most Improved Player as well as his Varsity letter. His coaches had such nice things to say about him. (I should have recorded it).  But basically they said he works hard, does not give up, is always respectful (despite having some opponents making really bad line calls) and is committed to making the right call. I am more often than not disappointed in high school coaching and team culture. But I have to say that I have been super impressed with Corona's coaching and player behavior.  Tennis has been a breath of fresh air (especially after football).


We had our pool refurbished.



And Chuck spent a week in Billings, MT to support Cameron at his poster presentation for his senior project. Only Chuck went because that way we did not have to rent a hotel room and because of the timing of the flights and the timing of the presentation, he had to stay the whole week, which would have been hard for me to do.

Monday, April 13, 2026

March 2026

Christian had two weeks off of school for Spring Break and Hannah had one.  During the week that Hannah had off, we went to Universal Studios in Los Angeles and spent a little time on Hollywood Boulevard and the Santa Monica Pier. Hannah invited her friend (or maybe she invited herself), Paityn, to join us.

We stayed in a crappy hotel (although not terrible cheap) near Universal Studios. We drove to LA on Wednesday and went to Universal on Thursday. It was a good day for Universal Studios. We did everything there was to do with plenty of time to spare, We didn't have to wait too terribly long in line for any one attraction.  A lot of the rides were motion simulation, so that got a little old after a while. But overall, we had a good time.  The kids enjoyed the Studio tour much more than they thought they would and we all really liked the rides in Harry Potter World.

On Friday we drove to Hollywood Boulevard to see the Walk of Fame.  But the kids didn't know many of the names on the Walk of Fame and that area has become very run down, so I can't say there were to impressed.  We then drove to the Santa Monica Pier and walked around for a bit.  We were somewhat prepared to spend time at the beach but the water was cold and we didn't have much time before we needed to get home, so no one got in their swim suits.  

We drove home after lunch and it took a very long time! It was a quick trip but a successful one as far as amusements parks and California goes.











I was gifted 3 tickets to a Spring Training game (Angels and Reds) from the tutoring program I am a volunteer in.  Christian invited his friend, Oliver, to join us for a 1pm game with a temperature of ~100 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  Needless to say, it was not a great day for a Spring training game. If it had not have been so hot (we sat in the grass because the benches were too hot to sit on), it would have been a great game.  There were lots of hits and it was very close.  But it was hard to enjoy when we were so uncomfortable. We stayed until the 7th inning stretch and then called it.

February 2026

February was a very chill month.  Christian started tennis practice and matches but not much was going on other than that.  Christian is playing Varsity 6 and JV Double 1.

 




Monday, March 2, 2026

January 2026

 Christian turned 16!

Christian's birthday was on a Tuesday this year.  Before Cameron and Hannah left for school, we had a family dinner at Mongolian BBQ. He did not ask to stay home from school on his birthday.  He just had too much going on.  I did get up and make him a better breakfast than I usually do

We had another family dinner that included Camera, Jomo, Melody, Emily, Rylee and Raygan on the Sunday after his birthday.  He requested ribs and funeral potatoes.  He didn't make a specific requests for a cake, so I just bought him one from the freezer at Cold Stone.  It was red velvet with cake better ice cream.

Christian didn't want to have a party or any sort of celebration but he did go to DisneyLand with the steel drum band a couple days after his birthday.  Once he was home, he got his driver's license. He passed with flying colors.  He mastered driving the Jeep and now drives it everywhere.  He often refers to it as his car, but I remind him it is my car.

At 15, Christian is 5'9 and weighs 130 lbs.  He has gotten taller and very lean, but he would still like to get even taller and put on some muscle.  Christian is smart, creative, handsome, dedicated, and fun.  He is a good example in his speech, dress and behavior.  Christian loves to be on his phone, play video games and watch TV.  He still loves to buy and play with Legos and every night before bed he practices his Spanish on the Duo Lingo app.  I think it is more about keeping his streak alive because he is not taking Spanish.  He played on the freshman tennis team in the Fall and will be playing on the varsity tennis this Spring as well.  He has joined the Tempe Union Composite mountain bike team even though they aren't in season, he still goes on rides at South Mountain with several of his friends. He has great friends, in part through seminary, and is often invited to birthday parties and hang outs.   He has also started going to the gym with friends.  He can be a bit picky about who he'll work out with though.  He likes to work his total body and not waste time.  Christian still loves to sleep late into the morning and has embraced taking naps.  Naps are in part due to getting up at 5:35am in order to get to steel drum band by 6:20.




There is complaining but no desire to quit the band.  He still works as a lifeguard when they schedule him and it is so nice not having to drive him to and from work or anywhere else.

We love Christian and are so glad he is part of our family!