April 2025

Our lives are consumed with volleyball at the moment. If it isn’t high school ball, it’s girls’ club ball. Oh, and Millie is playing soccer this quarter as well. Busy, busy!

Tatum had this shirt made with pictures of Jack all over it. It was Hawaiian night at the game. 

This is Millie’s ‘bestie’ (aka crush). This is Will, the team libero. He had the exact same shirt on as Millie before the game, but wouldn’t put it on for the picture. However, he was kind enough to take this picture with her. If you think Millie won’t eventually date one of Jack’s friends, think again. 

Jack went with Tatum to the lantern festival in Phoenix. Before hand he asked me to order this necklace from Amazon. I knew when I saw it, it looked familiar but couldn’t place where I had seen it. Then, this day, it hit me. It was the sun emblem that Rapunzel had on her wall in the tower from the movie ‘Tangled’. It was so thoughtful and romantic. All Stuart could say was, ‘That chain is going to turn her neck green, it was so cheap’. Thanks for the info, Stu! 

Look how cute they are!

This is Joy and Roy Lawson. He was the senior pastor at Central Christian Church when I sang there in the 90’s. He also was one of the ministers who performed our marriage ceremony. We have kept in touch with him over the years. Roy and Joy came to see us in Dubai and we visited them when they were staying in London a few years back. They were in town for the retirement of the pastor that took over when Roy left. It was a short visit, but it was meaningful for sure. They were shocked at how tall Jack was. 

Although our visit was short, it was amazing to see friends from the very pleasantly memorable past. 

The Space Needle was on our tour. 

Pike Place Market was also a must see. 

This was a fun wall! Yep, exactly what you think it is. 

I surprised everyone by bringing them to Seattle the weekend before Stuart’s birthday. It was such fun. The biggest surprise, which is the entire reason I booked the trip, was when James, Louise, Billy and Zoe showed up our second night. Louise had messaged me two weeks before and asked if there was any way we could get to Seattle as they were given a free cruise leaving from Seattle and going through the inside passage of Alaska. This was due to all the tour groups she puts on cruise lines. Of course I jumped at the chance. Stuart was surprised about Seattle, everyone was surprised to see Louise, James and the kids. It was so great! 

Clam chowder and fish and chips down on the Pier! Of course we did the touristy things and the kids road scooters, but just spending time with the family was the best. 

Last picture of our 36 hours together. Not cheap, but totally worth it. We have created so many memories with these four people and I love every second of it. 

For Stuart’s birthday, we went out, just the two of us, to the Epicenter. We haven’t been there before. It was great. We had reservations at Undertow, but arrived early and went to The Barn for some beers beforehand. 

We had cocktails at Undertow, a cute little speak easy in the Epicenter with a submarine flair. It was so cool! The cocktails were leather. So much so, that I think my blood sugar spiked and we didn’t even keep our dinner reservation. It was so weird!

Stuart made us brunch before leaving for Gallup the Sunday after his birthday. He made homemade English sausages and they had been in the freezer. So we got what the British call, a Full English. It was delightful.