Nia quinceanera

 Nia turned 15 this year. She had her very dear friend S over one day and celebrated with Hyrum before he left for the Provo MTC, she had a second cake on her real birthday, and then a few days later she left for Indiana to watch over her 5 yr old cousin for a few days. 

New dress

Cake 1

Cake 2

Smiling at her friend

Birthday steak

Her favorite present by far was a magic book. "I got 2 magic books that light up on command. It has 4 colours- pink/purple, blue, green, and my favoriite, yellow." It speaks back to you when you address it as "Magic book" and changes colors. Gotta admit, they are super cool.

Here she is at the airport, about to fly solo for the very first time. "It was fun. L is adorable. It was funny that I wanted to watch Bluey more thans she did. She liked doing crafts, but needed more help than not with them, but it's the thought that counts. On the way up, Uncle Steve recognized me by my hair, and on the way back Mom recognized me because I was wearing bright pink sweatpants."

Early summer pictures

April 11 - Joy and I went on a walk around town along the Bosque River Trail and found a mural we hadn't seen before. We took a pic near a little fairy reading a book, just like our Nia.

April 20 - Nia on a giant trampoline doing backflips and 360s and scaring her poor father to death when she lands on her head. No damage done, bouncing up again laughing gleefully. Mom, thankfully, never saw it. JT sits tall and proud.

 

May 11 - Joy has taken up woodburning. Nia liked the idea and tried it out as well. She has some real artistic talent! Left: a dragon for Grandma. Right: a girl reading a book under a tree for our cutting board.

May 26 - Nia discovers Tofu and spinach

May 29 - Hyrum takes missionary pictures

May 31 - Mini golf. Joy hit Lovey's ball in for a hole in one!

June 4,5,6 - Hyrum's driver's license arrives! 

Elder Watson's missionary name tag arrives too!

And then we spend the day at Six Flags!

Only after taking the picture did Bugs discover we were dressed for the "wrong" park

We stayed overnight at a hotel and then spent the next day at the temple

June 9 - Nia enjoyed her strawberry ice cream smoothie with sprinkles in a Buddha head cup. She also enjoyed going to For the Strength of Youth (FSY) as Hyrum was about to become ... Elder Watson!

Picking up Hyrum from BYU

Last week Hyrum - now Elder Watson - left for the MTC and eventually Pittsburgh, PA and its surroundings. Most of our summer has been spent preparing him (and us!) for this glorious two year quest of his. So let's back up!

Hyrum loved BYU. He enjoyed his first year of studies as a math major, attended lots of sports games, made friends, and generally had a blast. He also got his mission papers turned in before he turned 18. In February he got his call to the PA Pittsburgh Mission and we started preparations. April 22-23 we drove up to Provo to fetch our son back home for almost two months.

Nia took an impressive number of landscape photos from the back seat during the drive. I'm including one here. 

One fond memory was on the first day I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner. They excitedly chose KFC, which we can't typically get in town and most years only have on Dec 23 as a family tradition. On the one hand, it was delicious. Our main takeaway, however, was to never do that again in the car -- no plates or silverware makes it REALLY hard to dish out greasy chicken and sides! Lots of clothes got messy. Chaotic fun.

We made it to BYU and checked into our hotel just across the freeway from the Orem temple. It's not often (for me) you get a view of the temple from your hotel! We were there for just a few minutes when Hyrum let us know he was done with his finals and ready to receive us.

After a quick peek at his room, we drove to the tennis courts across campus so he and JT could play some tennis before leaving. J: "Didn't you also play with him?" I did for a few minutes. We grabbed a bite at the cafeteria - a much more expansive and impressive place than when I was there 25 years ago - and then spent a frenzied hour moving Hyrum's stuff out of his room and cleaning it up for an earlier-than-expected inspection. We made it! J: "Though we did miss a couple of drawers, they were okay with me cleaning them out after the inspection." What a nice Mommy! Nia was also very helpful. "Hyrum wished he hadn't needed any help. It's hard to move."

After a short walk through campus, Hyrum went to say goodbye to some friends and we went back to the hotel. Joy and I repacked some of his stuff to take up less room and chose some cleaning supplies we really didn't need to haul back to Texas with us. Even though we four had only brought a couple carry-ons, unloading an entire dorm room filled the car surprisingly well! That was Hyrum's last night at the Y for the next few years. Here is Nia at the library, the place of her soul's delight.

DisneyWorld 25-26 - All Good Things

Sunday, January 4 we were all sick. We managed to attend church on Zoom and otherwise slept the majority of the day away. We finally gathered in Pop and Grandma's hotel room for one of the most important parts of our trip:

John-Thomas received the Aaronic Priesthood!

Hyrum was voice, with Pop, Uncle Steve, and me in the circle as he was ordained a deacon. Even though everyone was still tired and worn out, it was one of the higlights of the trip. He has loved serving as a deacon, having a quorum with activities, and passing the sacrament to the congregation.

We had planned to also take him to the temple for the first time on our drive home, but enough of us were still too sick to make that happen. :( 

Monday - Epcot day 2?

Monday was the first day all of us were well enough to get to spend most of the day all together in the parks. Frozen, Remy, and the Guardians of the Galaxy naturally got more love. 

We wandered through Moana's water fountains. It's such a lovely walk! Joy eventually decided to park herself there for a time and rest. "I wanted to stay there because it was so peaceful and beautiful. They even recreated Te Fiti. They did an amazing job with her. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the same one they used in the movie ;)  ."

We finished doing most everything at Epcot and Hyrum had a hard choice. We had talked about him leaving the group to go to Animal Kingdom that he had missed because of being sick or maybe he could catch a couple roller coasters at Hollywood Studios. JT and I would follow wherever Hyrum wanted to go, so I said, "We just want to ride the Hyrum." That was one of JT's favorite memories. In the end, Hyrum decided to stick with the rest of the family for the afternoon. 

We had dinner at the Space restaurant, where Hy told JT he had really been wanting to go on the Tron ride with him. JT: "That was the best time of my Christmas vacation!" The space restaurant had this chocolate cheesecake, covered in decorative chocolate to look like a planet with dusted chocolate chip asteroids and a somethingberry swirl. I liked the whole thing. Joy liked the asteroids. 

After dinner, Hyrum, Nia, JT, and I raced from Epcot to Magic Kingdom (which takes quite a long time, really) to ride Tron. That was Hyrum's last ride. 

Tron is pretty awesome. Since I wore the MagicBand+, it took pictures of me and whatever person I was with, but missed the rest of our party. Here are Nia and I experiencing it for the first time.

On our way out of the park, I parked the kids at the corner of Main Street to watch the electric light parade while I did a little errand. Joy had seen A and L enjoying some giant Mickey chocolate chip cookies and she wanted one. We asked at every cookie shop all over the place, and no one had them. Finally we just asked Emie, and she told us where they were. The cookie shop insisted they only had M&M cookies. I got several, which were WONDERFUL. But the searching and debating with the staff took a while. Once I came out, the parade was just ending. Hyrum said that watching the parade was "the perfect end for my trip." We were all very sad to put him on an Uber Tue morning early and ship him back to the Y.

Tue - Magic Kingdom

At some point I finally had the bright idea of letting the professional photographers around the park take pictures of us when we had a little time to kill waiting for someone else. I wish I had done so earlier when we still had Hyrum. I didn't know my parents were going to buy the full set of pictures. I just figured it was a little fun and maybe we'd be able to find a way to use a miniature or preview version of one. Instead, here are JT, Nia, and I outside Adventure Land:

One of the things I really loved about the trip were the Christmas decorations and especially the Christmas music in every park. The variety and, especially in EPCOT, the cultural versions of beloved Christmas songs were delightful. I've been scouring the internet to find similar renditions and just cannot. Disney is missing a trick, not selling me the international Christmas soundtrack! One of the sad things, was watching the Christmas decorations slowly vanish. There were a few fewer every day after New Year's, and by our last day they were mostly all gone. I sure do love me some Christmas!

Nia's favorite souvenier was a mini Eiffel Tower. She has loved learning French at school, so greatly enjoyed her time in France at Epcot. Here she is posing with it outside Tiana's water ride that replaced Splash Mountain. Sadly, it broke. Both the ride (again!) and the tower. Pop and Grandma were staying in Florida an extra day or so beyond what we did, and even though they were feeling very sick, they did a quick jaunt to Epcot to get her a new tower. My parents really spoiled all of us!

Our second time on Tron.

Wednesday morning we flew home (well, my old home), arriving in Santa Barbara in the early/mid afternoon. We rearranged all the stuff we had left at Pop and Grandma's, fed the cats, and drove off to Riverside, CA for the night. That's where we had hoped to do temple work Thursday morning. Instead we got off to a late start, ending in our usual stop in Deming, NM before finishing the drive home Friday. We were very thankful to have taken two nights for the drive instead of just one. That gave us permission to pause or rest when we needed to. I attended my college meeting on Zoom as we drove.

And THAT was our great adventure to DisneyWorld and California this Christmas!

DisneyWorld 25-26, Day 3, 5, 6

 Wed (31) - Magic Kingdom

We spent New Year's Eve in the Magic Kingdom. Our family huddled near the exit from Tomorrowland for the fireworks at midnight. Everyone else had gone to bed. Disney sure does know how to do a good display!

This was the day John-Thomas discovered the joy of roller coasters and began going on ALL of them.

It was an odd day because we kept splitting up. Joy walked with the rest of us to Pirates, which she doesn't like, then walked back to join Steve's family for the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train. The mine train was A's favorite, so she went on it as many times as her special pass would allow, taking each of us with her 2-3 at a time. That's also why we kept getting together and splitting up again. 

We have known for a long time that Nia looks a lot like my mother.
This picture shows that JT gets his looks from her too!

I had this memory that the Autopia was "too easy" a driving experience. Maybe it is at DisneyLand, but in the Magic Kingdom it is one of the hardest cars to manuever! You have to keep jerking the wheel back and forth to stay going straight, but you can keep the wheel straight to go around curves smoothly. JT enjoyed it greatly, and you can see Nia here being very cool about it.

A and I, Grandma and JT

That night we also caught the Country Bear Jamboree, which they have updated to include a bunch of countrified Disney songs. I have to say, it was a blast! Nia and I were falling over ourselves laughing.

L and Pluto

Fri (2) - Animal Kingdom

After Give Kids the World, we spent Friday at the Animal Kingdom, where I got my newest hat: a safari pith helmet. It's very good at shade and keeping cool, but is not as good at blocking rain as I thought it would be. For some reason I think of wicker holes as being less permeable than they are. Nia says, "It was the first time I ever left a store bearing my personalized name on something. You can NEVER find those ANYWHERE if you have a unique name. It was an engraved bracelet, and only $15 or less, and I was like, MINE." Joy got a tribal drum that fits in your hand.

Nia and I had a great time during the safari. Our tour guide kept pointing out things on the trail and saying, "And we know that because...." So when we got to the Baobab tree, he explained that it actually grows that way; nobody had planted it upside down accidentally. I called out, "And we know that because....?" He didn't get what I was saying, so Nia helped. "How do we know that someone didn't sneakily plant it upside down?" That stumped the guide. He said he was going to be pondering that all day. And he referred to it again as we left.

Joy remembers really enjoying the safari ride. We got to see a lot more animals than usual, everywhere we looked. "And there was a walk through Asian architecture and animals that was really nice too. I enjoyed the bird sanctuary. I worried about getting pooped on, but they always make the bird sanctuaries so green and pretty" Nia remembers meeting up with Pop and Grandma on the walk.

My favorite fun fact about Baobab trees is that in German they are
Monkey-Bread-Trees.

We love breakfasting at the Tusker House. It's a character buffet with both traditional Mickey breakfast items plus a number of African specialities. Joy says, "It seems there was some yummy whip cream thinger that they were serving that was really good."

Hyrum was sick starting today. He hadn't been feeling too well at Give Kids the World, but today he was really down. He hoped to rejoin us when Pop and Grandma did at lunch, but he still wasn't up to it. So he spent all day at the hotel.

L at the Yak & Yeti

Nia and JT loved the Mt Everest roller coaster. My stomach can still just manage it and the seats are ever so much more comfortable than the Matterhorn at Disneyland. 

We watched the Nemo play. Joy says, "I think that was my favorite play." L and A enjoy the plays and bring us along. "It was cute and fun and worth watching." And of course we love our dinosaurs. We managed to catch one of the last showings of the new Zootopia 3D show that replaced A Bug's Life. I had pointed out the holes in the seats to JT, telling him about how little bugs would poke you during the previous show, and there they were again in the new one! 

Dinner was at the Yak and Yeti, which we hadn't ever tried. It was one of my favorite dinners. We also got their souvenier mugs of Buddha's head, which turned into a .. well, not a running gag, but we sure did buy a lot of souvenier mugs this trip! Nia enjoyed some shopping with Grandma. At one point the ladies tried to sneak away to do some shopping, but the menfolk had no other instructions, so we picked a direction and started walking ... right behind them. They got about 2 minutes of uninterrupted shopping. Sorry, ladies!

We usually get through the Animal Kingdom in half a day, but this time it took the full day! The park was spectacularly crowded. I had expected worse crowds on the 31st, but they came out in force once the New Year started!

Sat - Hollywood Studios

Joy, Nia, and JT got up extra early in the hopes of catching Rise of the Resistance before the line got long. I stayed with Hyrum for a bit, but he urged me to get to the park and enjoy myself. I caught up to them at the Resistance, but Joy had left the line to find breakfast. She was too late for the breakfast and then missed us in line too! A very disappointing start to her day. Nia and JT waited for Joy at the end of the line and convinced the cast members to let her in all the way to the start. Joy had many worries for her children, "But none of my worries happened, and it was nice."

I remember being very disappointed about Rise of the Resistance. It's one of my absolute favorites, but for whatever reason they opted to have the line skip all of the cool interactive stuff, like Rey inviting you to join and BB-8 and all that. Nia says, "I think they were down, out of order ... which is funny because it's the First Order, so maybe that's why they were down." The ride didn't quite break down while we waited for it to start, but it was a long delay. Some of the props hadn't been cleaned in a while, it seemed. It just felt like an older ride than it is! Star Tours was great, though!

The Little Mermaid play left something to be desired. There's, like, only one human actress (Arial of course). Everyone else is either a muppet or CGI. "Even Eric was a muppet!" Joy agrees. Eric and Arial don't even kiss at the end! But it is a good review of the excellent songs, with just enough plot to tie them together. The effects are good.

JT with his new lightsaber

Hyrum joined us with Pop after lunch while we were in line for Toy Story Mania. I gave up my scooter so he could sit, but as a merely-17-yr-old he wasn't allowed to drive. So I manned the controls and walked alongside it in line. I won the Toy Story Mania for our car.

We eventually decided between the rain and him and JT not feeling well that I would take them back to the hotel for a nap before dinner while the others headed to the Rock n' Roller Coaster for our last chance to ride it before it is upgraded. Unfortunately, it took us so long to get to the hotel, that it was already time to leave for dinner! So we just traveled for a couple hours, arriving last to the dinosaur restaurant in Disney Springs. Think of a Jurassic Rainforest Cafe and you've got it. We sat in front of the T-Rex. Every 20-30 minutes, the meteor strikes as the lights change color and all the dinosaurs scream for their lives. Joy says, "That was one of my favorites. It had a lot of atmosphere. It wasn't just a place with some decorated walls - it was a different world! That made it fun."

Most everyone went home after dinner, but Joy, Nia in her wheelchair, and I tried to find a particular souvenier. We got caught in one of the most torrential downpours! We took cover in a surf shop for 15 minutes while I found a couple ponchos. Nia remembers the hard time she had picking a souvenier at the many parks. She eventually chose an Eiffel Tower from EPCOT "to be my special little souvenier."

One of these days, no memory which one, Joy and I grabbed a deep fried Hawaiian roll and some corn dogs on the Boardwalk. That deep fried roll was surprisingly good! "Tasted like a really good cinamon roll," Joy says. 

Give Kids the World, Jan 1, 2026.

Many of you will be familiar with Make a Wish kids. You may be much less familiar with Give Kids the World. Those Make a Wish kids who choose to do a weeklong Orlando vacation go to stay at an equally magical resort called Give Kids the World. There are streets and streets of vacation homes where their families stay. Dedicated volunteers focus on helping the children and their families be able to relax and enjoy this very special time as much as possible.

Hy, Joy, L, me, Nia, Pop, JT, A, Steve, Emie
Mom was too sick to make it

My niece, A, was a Make a Wish kid some years ago because of brain cancer. (She beat the cancer into submission.) For her wish, she chose to stay at Give Kids the World and enjoy a week of Disney, Sea World, and I don't know what else. They allow alumni to come visit occasionally and bring family with them. During this Disney World trip, we took Thursday to visit. For our TX family, it was the first time experiencing this loving place.

The main building and welcome center has a large collection of stars, one for each child. They like to know that you are coming in advance so they can find your special star (that you signed as a Make a Wish kid) to showcase for you. There's a lovely ceremony where cartoon fairies welcome you back to see your star and they send their friendly giant to help you find yours. The door opens and you are ushered into a room of stars and they reveal where yours is.    

Like, a LOT of stars

 There's also a bunch of stuff for kids to do there. There's a movie theater, a small arcade that also has ping pong and one of the most complete, interactive model train sets I've ever seen, several parks to play in, playground equipment, and dino mini golf. They have an antique merry go round that needs a bit of a push to get it running. 

The dino mini golf is pretty special. The dino statues are sometimes statues and sometimes animatronic. When you get your ball in the hole, various roars resound. There are some that spit water at you when you pass them. The last hole has a T-Rex that pops up to say hi. There's a hole in a volcano with lots of glow in the dark paint. ... It's well done.

The cafeteria has a wide variety of kids food. A robot brings by fruit snacks. They also have all you care to eat ice cream and cookies. And all of it was free for all 11 of us because we had A with us. JT best remembers that they had great food. Nia says, "It was fun. The dino putt-putt was cool. And the ice cream was yummy."

L being adorable

We spent a full day there. One of the staff drove me up to the local WalMart to get a prescription med we had run out of. The volunteers really are something special. Joy says, "The people are loving, going out of their way to help with the very smallest comfort. The dear lady in the cafeteria who cleans up after people have eaten defends her sacred right to clean up every dish, requesting very kindly that you not do her job and you leave your dishes there. The people at the ice cream shop come in and ask if you would please like to have more ice cream, and don't even complain when you ask to bring it someone who isn't there" [like me at WalMart!]. "They didn't just take Derrill to WalMart. He was unable to get the prescription because we sent it to the wrong place. So then the man very kindly came back later to pick my husband up after the prescription got to him. They aren't just working for those kids. They are living for those kids, and it's really beautiful."

Really, it's a bright little jewel and a wonderful service these folks give. It's a charity well worth supporting!

A and Nia