Cornelius Chronicles

The best day out with my Loyd.  We had so much fun looking at and exploring the beautiful gardens at Red Butte Gardens.  Then Loyd treated me to the most delicious lunch at Taggart's Grill.  How did I get so lucky to be blessed to be this handsome, kind, and thoughtful son?  I love you, Loyd! Sometimes life is exhausting and you just have to grab that nap wherever you can! Check out these ADORABLE Sunbeams! Diana is so cute! Bedtime fun with our toys.  Where is Diana going to sleep? 

It's time to head back to school and everyone is attending, expect for Loyd.  Loyd.   Rebekah is a Junior this year at BYU, Loyd is prepping for his mission that begins at the end of October, Xavier is a Junior at Morgan High School (John is pictured above inspecting the roominess of Xavier's locker), Maeve is an 8th Grader and looking forward to being a Middle School survivor next summer, Owen is in 6th Grade, John is in 3rd, and Diana has finally begun Preschool!  Yea for education!! Diana's Meet-the-Teacher outfit.  She styled it herself.  BYU Cougar Vibes!! Diana on her first day of preschool!

This gorgeous girl survived being 13! I am so glad we have birthdays so we can spend an entire day showering special people like Maeve with love and affection.   Maeve has amazing creative talents that she tirelessly works at and develops to get better.  This year, in addition to after school art classes, she has been teaching herself how to sew and make furry masks.  Turns out, she's a wiz on a sewing machine and a hot glue gun!   Maeve has the kindest heart I know.  There is room for the whole world and then some.  She is thoughtful of the feelings of others, lifts the hands that hang down, and finds the extraordinary in the work of others then proceeds to let them know about it.  Maeve is always ready with a kind word, a beautiful smile, and the best laugh.   Maeve is an intellectual wizard.  She studies hard, is the most attentive student a teacher could ask for,  reads all the time, and isn't afraid to give anything a...

2026 is another Morgan Mountain Bike Season with NICA for the books! It's our first season with Type 1 Diabetes for Xavier.  It's added a bit more complexity to the sport for us, but Xavier has been a real pro with how he has handled it.  We're doing all the things we use to do and more! There's no slowing this guy down!  Maeve is on the middle school mountain bike team too, but she chose not to race this season.  She has been rocking it at practices every week though!

We won a grant from the Utah Department of Agriculture as part of the Utah Pollinators Program.  We are taking out part of the grass in our front yard and installing native Utah plants (curtesy of the program) that will support and sustain our local native pollinators!  We took out 400-ish square feet of grass from the front yard, side yard, and parking strip.  We then tilled the old soil and hauled in 8 cubic yards of top soil to amend and shape the new landscape.  Then the plants arrived! We were awarded 90 native pollinator plants.  They are very teeny-tiny plants, so it's hard to see them nestled into the 8 cubic yards of mulch we put on top to help with water retention, weed suppressant, and root cooling. We received so many fun penstemons, asters, and various grasses.  We also got milkweed (those are contained in the pots) and some big bushes like rock roses and golden currents.  We ended up with 30 different varieties.  It was quite the puz...

After the best week ever we drove the long drive back to Morgan where we were greeted by the Rock Canyon Fire blazing on the other side of the mountain.  We were very blessed and the fire did not spread toward Morgan.  After countless long hours and very brave firefighters and first responders the fire did not result in any deaths and minimal loss of property.  We're sure glad it's over.  It wasn't fun to see those flames glowing ominously over the mountains behind the M.  Garden moments as the summer season progresses.  Our summer garden is in full production now!  Sooooo much summer squash and tomatoes!!!!