Sunday, June 29, 2025

Megan the winner

 On our drive to Utah I got a text from a friend at the science fair awards ceremony we had to miss, letting us know Megan won first place at SARSEF and her science fair project would be advancing to State (AzSEF). Yay Megan!!!

Unfortunately that meant that Megan had to create a science fair board this week since at SARSEF they require a digital slideshow submission and at AzSEF they require a physical board (they really should coordinate better). She spent some time over spring break making the physical board and got to go to Tempe the Thursday following Spring Break, missing school for what she called her personal field trip, since she was the only one in the school that got to go.

To get her something nice to wear for AzSEF, we headed out shopping and found a fun head band (that we didn't get) and a cute outfit that she did get. 

Since she didn't make it to the SARSEF awards, she didn't get her trophy until later, but it sure was a cool trophy! Something to be proud of for sure!
The day of AzSEF we set up her board, then went out to lunch at Raising Cane's. It made for a good mother/daughter date.

It was pretty hot, so the goofball turned her pants into shorts.
Back at Sun Devil Stadium, Megan had to hang out with all the other kids while judges came around to interview them. Adults had to stay upstairs away from all the action. Megan took Annie's phone so she could communicate with me. It was a long 3 hours, and kind of boring, but also a little nerve wracking, having to talk to judges. She did fine, though, and was relieved when it was all over. 
She didn't win a prize at state, but we're super proud of her for making it that far, the only kid in our family to do so, and, as far as we know, maybe the first kid at her school to do so.

Megan also participated in Reflections this year and made it to State in both the photography and the film composition categories. I was the State Reflections Chair this year, so I was in charge of the state-wide showcase, which we did virtually. Since I'm stepping away from that role this coming year, that was the last big thing I had to do for that role and it was a relief to be done with it.
Since Megan had the inside scoop, when I stopped in to take pictures of the 5th grade winners, she didn't have her certificates (we left them at home) but was the only one wearing her shirt. Good job, Megan! 


Ryan's birthday

 Ryan is officially a teenager!! Ryan turned 13. We celebrated as a family with his favorite, coconut cake.


His big request was a game that was out of print, Forbidden Sky. Thank goodness for ebay. :)
Ryan also invited some friends over to celebrate his birthday with him. Davigo and Pico Park were the games of choice there. A fun time was had by all!
Because of allergies, we decided an oreo cake would be the most allergy friendly way to go. The boys liked it (though they may have eaten more veggies than cookies). 

Recently Ryan has started turning into a man. He's started growing taller, and I've even noticed his voice is becoming deeper. Welcome to the teenage years, Ryan!

Spring Break--Arizona

 It was a full and busy Spring Break! 

Spring break means the annual bedroom shuffle. Rachel moved to her own room which she will get to keep until she moves out for college, and Megan moved in with Annie. Rachel complicated things by deciding to paint her whole room. Chaos reigned in our house M-W as we did returning-from-vacation laundry, bedding and other laundry, and had two kids’ entire belongings filling all upstairs floor space in between moving out, painting, and moving in.
Adding to the fun, Tuesday Annie got her 6 wisdom teeth pulled for Ryan’s birthday. 🥳 4 official wisdom teeth and 2 “bonus” mini teeth mean Annie is officially a mutant. 😳
Ryan spent his week barely at home. Track season starts during 4th quarter, so he started his days early at 6:30 going to take care of animals he was pet sitting, then going to run with spring break training 7-9am, then going to tennis camp 9:30-12:30. Good thing the kid likes being active.



The kids did spend some time hanging out together, at least a little bit. Davigo is one of Ryan's favorites, and he roped the girls in to play with him, Ryan as the giant on the VR and the girls on the computer as the knights.
The last Saturday of Spring Break the youth went on a shooting activity. They had a fun time, I think, especially Ryan.






Spring Break--Utah

 Utah was lots of fun with lots of family time. Since Rachel is a junior, we did an official BYU tour as the deadline for adulting looms closer for her. She got some free swag, but we had to walk the whole tour since two groups had to be combined with one guide so we didn't fit in a golf cart. Still worth it.

The highlight of our visits to Utah is always cousin time. It's always particularly fun to see the littlest cousins, and of course the little cousins latch on to the fun older cousins to the point that they can hardly escape for "me time."

Megan and Sara got along really well. Even if Sara did hit Megan in the face multiple times. :)


Games and food are two staples of our visits.

We all went out to dinner at Red Robin, and took over the entire bar area. It took a LONG time for the food to come out, but in the end it was tasty and a fun time was had by all. Good thing the fries were bottomless, because we had our fair share, and then some!



After Red Robin, mall shenanigans ensued.

The Bean Museum, aka the Dead Animal Museum was a hit as always.


Megan has a stuffed animal she brought to Utah with us named Gunther. When we saw this van on a walk in the neighborhood she just had to bring Gunther to meet his van.
Rachel took advantage of having Mark around to have him teach her more of Jan's waltz, the song Grandpa wrote for Grandma.
The older cousins got in some game time a few times without the younger kids around (Megan was probably entertaining them.)

Wes and Brayden were "helpful" on the puzzle we were working on. Everyone would sit down for a while to work on it, then go off to some other activity, while others took a turn. We had to keep a close eye on the little ones so we didn't lose any pieces. 
Sunday walk down to the river!

All the Campbell-in-law ladies. I'm grateful I married into a good family.
Laughing and old family photos and videos of Mark's clan playing in the mud.



Andrew's clan took off school one day to go with us to the aquarium in Sandy. There were tons of cool things to see there.


Megan might as well be a penguin.

Rope bridge in the jungle.
Look! It's Ryan! Oh.... maybe that's a real sloth. ;)
Fish Face Rachel

Everyone loved touching the anemones, starfish and sea sponges, and petting the stingrays.
The shark tunnel is probably my favorite part of the aquarium. So cool to walk through and see the animals pretty close up.





After we finished inside, the kids got their wiggles out, running around playing sand monster and just climbing on the big playground outside before heading back to Grandma's house. 


Outside play time!

We snagged a picture with most of the siblings, but Lisa had already left for home, so we missed her!


Someone crazy chose this puzzle that I'm pretty sure we completed a few years ago. It was tough, but everyone pitched in and we actually got it done! 
Friday we were able to drive down to Fairview to visit Grandpa Campbell's grave and see the new headstone. It was pretty with the new snow, but thankfully the roads were clear and it wasn't as windy as it had been last year at Grandpa's funeral. 


With Ryan around, life is never dully. Snow ball fights, finding huge chunk of ice/snow, running through peoples' graves.
Afterwards we stopped for some ice cream since we were already frozen. 😃 Some opted for french fries instead.
Megan sure managed to get some quality time with Sara.
Of course no one wanted to leave to go back to Arizona. It was a fun visit and we loved our time with everyone.