Gabe's 19th birthday, A New Greenie, Church Ball, Easter

Gabe's 19th Birthday

Gabe celebrated his first birthday away from us in...well, FOREVER! :( I was pretty sad that he wasn't with us for his 19th birthday, but he hopefully felt very loved. Not only did we send him a digital birthday greeting video with all of his many family members and friends wishing him a message (I think I had over 30 messages that I put together into a 12 minute video) but he also felt some love from his fellow missionaries. All the missionaries in his zone put together a video for him too (which I didn't even know they were doing). THEN, one of his favorite people from his last area in Aranjuez, an 18-year-old boy named Bautista, came on the train and brought him a surprise birthday cake and meal! It was so sweet. Bautista's mom, Daguimar, was so sweet to Gabe when he was in Aranjuez. She's a single mom with four kids. Her oldest is on a mission, then Bautista, then she has two daughters that are like 16 and 13. She basically treated Gabe like one of her kids and had him and his companion over for dinner a lot when he was in Aranjuez, so it was super fun that Bautista showed up at church on Gabe's birthday with a cake! He ended up being so tired that he fell asleep on the tables in the church classroom. lol

A New Greenie - Elder Jara

About a week after Gabe's birthday, they got transfer news and they found out that Elder Bradshaw would be leaving Cartagena and Gabe would be getting a greenie to train! Gabe was sad that Bradshaw was leaving because he only had one transfer with him (six weeks) and he really probably got along with him the best of any of his companions so far. But he was excited to become not only a trainer, but also a district leader. So in the beginning of April, he took the train to Madrid and met his new greenie, Elder Jara! They also found out there would be two other elders added into their apartment, which turned out to be Elder Leal and Salmeron. Long story short, they were fun guys, but not really great at following the rules. Gabe was not too sad when the mission president decided to transfer Leal and Salmeron away by the beginning of May. Now it's just Gabe and Elder Jara in their apartment and things seem to be going well! Elder Jara likes to cook Peruvian food for Gabe, and Gabe likes to do the dishes, so they are like a happy little married couple. ;)

Church Ball Tournament

One thing that was going on here in Rexburg in March was church ball. This year, our ward dominated. Like, we actually did. We ended up winning the championship! We had Robby and Lucas Matthews and their cousin, Kamden. Then also Caleb, Sebastyn, David Elliason, and Gabe Appleby. It was pretty fun to watch them play every Wednesday in March and some of April. All together, I think there were about 10 wards in our stake that they had to play over the course of about 6 weeks. We won every single game! 

Caleb's Spring Sports / ACT / Asking Lexi to prom / Gold Bug hike

So, Caleb and Gabe both did track last year and kind of competed with each other all season to see who could throw the discus farther. Gabe did end up getting to over 120 feet by the end of the season and I think Caleb was about 115. So I really thought this year, Caleb would be amazing and get even better. However, he also decided to sign up for tennis this spring, and whenever there was a schedule conflict between going to a tennis meet or a track meet, he chose tennis. So, by the end of the season, he hadn't really improved at throwing. I honestly don't even think he will do track next year. He said he wants to for sure do tennis again. He liked tennis a lot because his friends, Benson and Noah, were also on that team. 

In early April he also took the ACT (he got a 20), and asked Lexi Packard to prom (more about prom later) with a little Easter egg hunt in her front yard. He also went up to Gold Bug Hot Springs with his friends, Noah and Benson, for a little overnight hike and camp trip. (Josh drove up with them, but stayed at the base of the hike so they could have their own boy time. lol)

Josh's Birthday

Josh turned 45! The ladies at the Family Crisis Center plastered pictures of his face all over the windows on Main Street, which I thought was hilarious. lol 

Caleb's Sweethearts Dance and the Cruise with the Matthews

Again, I am not very good at keeping this blog updated! I feel like I am on this blogger website all the time, but it's to update Gabe's mission blog!

Quick update on Gabe - he's in his second area now! He got to Spain on September 2, 2024 and stayed in his first area (Aranjuez) until the middle of February! He started there with Elder Bright and then Elder Bright left after 12 weeks. Elder Olson arrived and moved in with him and they got to baptize Boyan, Smith, and Damaris. I think his highlight was teaching and baptizing Smith, who he called "elect" all the time. ;) Then, the same day that he got to go with Smith to the temple for the first time, he got on a train with all his bags and left Elder Olson and transferred down to the southeast coast to a place called Cartagena. He's been there about a month now with Elder Bradshaw. They seem to get along well, and they had their first baptism (a girl named Enma) on Sunday! Also, the man named Emmanuel that Gabe talked to on his train ride to Cartagena ended up getting in touch with his local elders and getting baptized on the same day! So Gabe considers that one kind of "his" baptism too. ;) I think Gabe's biggest concern right now is that summer is right around the corner and pretty soon the weather is going to get really HOT. He's worried he's going to be sweating all summer! His birthday is coming up in a few days, and so I'm busy trying to make a video for him with all his friends and family wishing him a happy birthday! (He celebrated at his zone conference, hence why he's wearing a birthday crown!)

So now about Caleb! Right now third trimester just started and Caleb is busy trying to do both track and tennis. The weather has been so snowy though, so their track meet today just got cancelled! He also went snowboarding a lot in the past couple months, but his snowboard rental is due back to Al's on April 1, and we are just waiting to see if there's one more big snowfall for his to go again this season or not. (He's already been probably 15 times.)

Also, Caleb went to the Sweetheart's Dance in February with a girl named Kenzi. I know her mom because she had subbed for me before. They had a lot of fun and were kinda dating even after the dance, but we just got back from a cruise and she's been busy with volleyball, so I think that might be cooling off.

Avery has still be doing weekly piano lessons with Claire on Mondays and she's been going to tumbling on Wednesday nights. Tuesday nights she usually goes to young women's, so those three things keep her at least a little busy after school. She also had her spring orchestra concert where she played the viola, but she didn't let me take any pictures. :( We also went to the orthodontist yesterday and scheduled her appointments to get her braces put on! She's going to start the process in May!

We recently returned home from our cruise with the Matthews! We flew out to Florida on Thursday, March 6 and first spent a few days with my dad and Melissa. We flew into Tampa and rented a car, and that first morning, Caleb and Josh met up with Johnny (Alex's husband) and did a little ocean fishing from about 8am - 1pm. Avery and I did a little shipping during that time! Then, we drove to North Port (about an hour) and stayed with my dad and Melissa for the rest of Friday, Saturday, and we left Sunday afternoon. We had a lot of fun going to Boca Grande beach, riding the golf cart, doing a scavenger hunt, and just hanging out.

On Sunday night, we drove to Miami (about 2.5 hours more) and stayed in a hotel. The Matthews (Jessica, Kyle, and Robby - not ALL of the Matthews) took a red eye flight and then came to our hotel at about 8:00am. We hung out there, ate breakfast, and then took a shuttle to the cruise ship. We boarded at about noon and then the fun began!

We really loved eating dinner in the nice dining room every night. Caleb and Robby went crazy ordering things (actually we all did), and it was just fun to chat at dinner. We spent the first day in the Bahamas, which was just okay (it was windy and we just took a bus tour around), then the second day on Coco Cay (the private island of Royal Caribbean - which was AWESOME), and then the third day was just a sea day. Coca Cay was definitely the high light of the trip. We paid extra to be able to go to the Thrill Park and do all the water slides. I loved that there was also good food everywhere you went, clean bathrooms, clean sand, and it was just overall really fun and really nice. It wasn't even that crowded. We went and laid out at the beach after the waterpark too. By about 4:00, we got back on the ship, but I wished we could've stayed there until sunset. It was so nice.

Another highlight was watching Caleb sing "Hit Me Baby One More Time" during karaoke night. He had the whole audience singing along and he did the worm at the end. It was really funny. 

We flew back home on March 15, tanned and tired, and now we are back in snowy Rexburg. I am really ready for some spring weather! It's feeling like this year is going by fast because we are in the last trimester of school now and I know it won't be long before it's May and we are wrapping up this school year! We are trying to figure out some summer plans, but I am thinking our next big trip will be to Spain in 2026! I can't wait for that!

That's all for now! Here are some pictures!

Thanksgiving, Avery's Orchestra Concert, Caleb's Winter Formal, Christmas 2024, Vegas, and St. George

I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated! I am updating Gabe's mission blog every week, but I kind of forget about this one! Here is what the other four of us have been up to!

Thanksgiving

I really should've taken a group picture at the table or something, but we had Janell's family over for Thanksgiving this year. We were kind of debating what we should do because everyone was going to get together at Brad and Diane's and we were going to go, but then Ben had to be on call so Heather wanted to host it at her house. But everyone hates driving all the way out there to Driggs, so Janell had texted me and been like, "Do you want to just have our own?" So we kind of secretly did our own with just her family and our family. So it was me, Josh, Caleb, Avery, Janell, Aaron, Carter, Alex, Johnny, and Bentley. Tyson was with his fiance (now wife) Kiersten and her family. It was a very low-key and easy Thanksgiving. I did the turkey and some sides, and Janell did some sides. We ate at about 1:30 and then they went home by about 4:30. I think Jenni's family and Brad and Diane were the only ones that ended up going to Heather's house. Shannon's people were all in the hospital with Jack, who just got a heart transplant! (That's a whole story... but long story short, he got a new heart and he's fine now.) Bryan's family all stayed home and I guess Jada's family went over there. So, that what Thanksgiving! It was pretty good and easy.

Avery's Christmas Performances

Avery had her Christmas concert the second week of December. She did a great job playing the viola, and we are so proud of the progress she is making with both the viola and the piano. She also had a Christmas piano concert at a church along with about ten other students that Claire teaches. She played a duet with Claire called the 'Coventry Carol." She did great! We also got to watch her tumbling showcase! She and he friend Olivia started a tumbling class about a month ago at Airbound and they are both working on their front walk-overs and their front hand springs. Here are some pictures of her events! Caleb also had his football banquet and he was awarded the second team all state offensive player of the year! 

Caleb's Winter Formal

Caleb didn't ask anyone to the winter formal, but he ended up going last minute! Apparently, the boy who asked Camri Call (Parker Willmore) flaked out at the last minute and said he couldn't take her! So Lindsey texted me at about noon and asked if Caleb would be willing to take her! Caleb was out snowboarding at Grand Targhee, but he got home at about 4:30, showered in 15 minutes, and picked her up at 4:45! He had a fun night, and he didn't need to even plan anything! haha

Christmas

We started the second trimester at school and I would say this new batch of students is a little harder than first trimester. Really, it's just my third hour. I have a pretty loud group that are all friends (including Kohl Rolph and all his friends). But it's pretty nice to be able to leave every day at 12:30! (I rarely leave right at 12:30,  but it's nice to know I CAN if I want to... ;) I just wish they paid me a little more! 

As Christmas approached, there were lots of fun things happening at school. The wish assembly is always a highlight and I always love watching it on the last day of school (Friday) before the break. We also got out at 11:00, which was really nice. We did a white elephant gift exchange in my class the day before that, and that was really fun. 

So then we had the weekend, and Monday and Tuesday before Christmas off school. On the Saturday before Christmas, we got together with Josh's family and had the Rhodes Christmas celebration at a church in Rigby. (It was fun, but always feels kind of weird to have the Christmas celebration at a church, in my opinion.) Then, we did some Christmas shopping and went ice skating in Sugar City at the outdoor rink on Christmas Eve day. Then we went out to dinner at the Mandarin at about 5:30 on Christmas Eve. I feel like Chinese food has become our Christmas Eve tradition. We also got to talk to Gabe on Christmas Eve day because that was his P-Day for the week. So we talked to him earlier in the day for a couple of hours. He was busy having fun at the mission office making gingerbread houses and watching a Christmas movie with some other missionaries. I was glad he had a fun day on Christmas eve day because on Christmas day it sounds like he didn't have much going on. No one invited them over for Christmas dinner. :( I think he was a little lonely, but he and Elder Olson did have their stockings and a few presents from home to open up on Christmas morning. Then we were able to talk to him for about an hour at about 1:00 our time (9pm his time), so that was nice to be able to talk to him two days in a row that week! 

On Christmas morning, we woke up at about 8:00 and Avery and Caleb opened their presents. Caleb got an Apple watch, a couple Funk-o-pops, a record player (weird that he wanted that, I thought), a couple records, some clothes, a Magic the Gathering card pack, and escape room game, a Mandalorian model building set, and a big Lego car set. 

It was kind of cute because he was building his Lego car at the table which Gabe was building his Lego car at his desk across the world in Spain at the same time. They used to always sit at the table on Christmas morning and build their Lego sets together, so I thought it was kind of cute and a little sad that they were doing that a world apart now. Avery got some LOL dolls (even though I feel like she's too old for them, but still wants to ask for them), a lot of clothes, some makeup, some nail stuff, a friendship bracelet making kit, and more. Josh and I filled each other's stocking with treats and I got him some shoes and some shirts, and he wrapped some things I bought for myself. ;)

After we opened presents, we ate lunch, talked to Gabe on the phone, and then we went to see the new "Mufasa: The Lion King" movie. We saw that at about 4:00, then we came home, packed our suitcases, at dinner, and got ready for bed because we had to catch an early flight to Las Vegas at 6:00am the next morning!

Vegas and St. George

We flew into Las Vegas and got there at about 10:30am on December 26th! We rented a car and then drove to St. George. We checked into the Red Lion hotel at about 2:00 and hung out on their little basketball court for a little bit. Then, we met up with Janell's family at the church where they were going to have Tyson's reception the next day and we helped decorate for about an hour. Then we went to dinner at the Cracker Barrel. Josh's parents and Bryan, Jada, Quinly, and Blakey, had also just gotten to St. George (they drove all day) and they met us for dinner too. 

The next morning, we woke up and Josh and I went to Tyson and Kiersten's wedding at the Red Cliff's Temple. Caleb and Avery decided to stay at the hotel because they didn't want to just sit and wait outside the temple. By about noon, the wedding was over and Josh and I drove back to the hotel and got them for the reception. They had Costa Vida food for lunch at the church (which Josh and I actually picked up for Janell) and it was really good. The reception was pretty small (maybe about 60 people), and it only lasted from about 1:00-4:30. But Caleb still got bored and decided to scale a mountain in order to get back to the hotel. We didn't even know he was leaving, but apparently he walked outside and saw the mountain that separated the church from our hotel and thought, "I can climb that," and decided to walk back! I think it turned out to be a lot more intense that he had bargained for (especially in his church clothes), but he had fun I guess, and he ended up making it back to the hotel just as we were getting back there at about 4:30. He said he enjoyed his adventure.

That night we went out to Winger's with Janell's family (minus Tyson), and Brad and Diane. Then we went to sleep in our hotel and woke up the next morning and checked out. 

Saturday morning after we checked out, we decided to drive just north of St. George and do our favorite hike that we always do in St. George called the Red Reef Trail. We did that from about noon to 2:00, and then we drove to Vegas.

We spent Saturday evening walking the strip in Vegas. We went to this big Ross store and Caleb bought a weird tank top with Spongebob on it. lol Josh and Avery also walked down to the M&M's store. It was a lot of walking that night. We also walked through the Venetian and walked by the Bellagio and saw the fountain show. 

The next day, we went to Red Rock Canyon for a little bit, went out for pancakes, and then went back to the hotel. Then in the evening, Josh and Caleb got tickets to the Golden Knights hockey game and Avery and I went to the Cheesecake Factory at Caeser's Palace. Then we walked back to the hotel (we stayed at Treasure Island) and showered and relaxed until Josh and Caleb got back. Caleb also had brought had brought his garage sale Batman costume and insisted that Josh got out and take pictures of him with the Vegas strip in the background. lol I think it's funny that Josh had to do it and not me! haha His social anxiety of having to follow Caleb around, dressed as Batman, through the Vegas casinos makes me laugh really hard. 

So, then we flew home on the morning of December 30th. It was a fun trip, but we missed Gabe! It was our first trip without him. :( We got home and took down all the Christmas stuff. Then we celebrated New Year's Eve with a party at the clubhouse with the Kunzes, Matthews, Merrills, and Evans. It was really fun! We played some games and had some appetizers and we wrapped it up by about 11:00! Caleb and Avery were both out with friends, but we picked up Avery at about 11:00 too.

Now it's Saturday, January 4th and we have to go back to school on Monday! :( It's been such a nice, relaxing break and I'm really not excited to go back! But, I guess it'll be good to get back into a routine. 

Gabe is still in Aranjuez with Elder Olson, which he found out today he is NOT being transferred. I think he was a little bummed not to move, but he will be okay. Hopefully, he will move on the next one in February!