​The boys have been studying really hard this semester, so it was a nice surprise when we got photos of them skiing over the weekend. I am so glad that they were able to sneak away from studying life to have a little bit of fun. Peter’s friend Julian drove them all to Park City to go skiing. Even though it was still February, the weather was quite warm which was nice but also meant that the snow was just ok. All in all, the boys still had a great time on the slopes together. 

​While I flew to Arizona and then Salt Lake City with Emma, Mike drove to Utah with Abby and Madeline for Thanksgiving. Mike spent most of the day on Saturday driving the rest of the way to Utah, unloading Peter’s 3D printer that we brought from home to his dorm room, shopping at the U bookstore, eating lunch with Andrew and then heading to the U of U game vs. Oregon with Peter. It was quite the game to be at and the boys had such a fun time in the muss section with all the other rowdy college kids. At the end of the game, they rushed the field and got to high five the football players. While those two were at the game, Andrew drove to the airport and picked me and Emma up and drove us back to his apartment where we hung out and ate a simple little dinner. Then I took the girls and we drove down to Orem to stay with my parents. Mike stayed the night with Andrew and all three of the boys went to church together. Peter’s ward put on their own “primary program” but with students from their ward. Mike said it was the coolest thing he had ever seen. I drove up to SLC and picked up all the boys and brought them back to the condo. We invited their cousins, Josh and Sam, over for dinner and had fun just talking and laughing with them until way too late. Then Mike drove the boys back to SLC since they had classes the next day.
 
On Monday morning, Mike and I geared up in all our winter biking gear and went out for a ride in the freezing cold. As soon as we got in the open sun on the Murdock trail, we warmed up pretty fast. Then we headed back and got ready to head back to SLC. We left Madeline at home with my parents and Peter met me and the girls on campus so that he could give them a tour. Andrew was supposed to come as well but he got food poisoning so we brought him some provisions before heading to the U campus to meet Peter. The girls were super impressed with the campus and listened to Peter give them advice about college life. Mike met with a realtor while we walked around campus. Then we all headed to dinner at the Copper Onion.
 
On Tuesday we all slept in which was pretty great. I met up with some of my college roommates (Becca and Melissa) for lunch and Mike met up with a missionary companion from his mission. It was so fun to catch up with each other’s lives. Then after we gathered back at the condo, we took Emma and Abby to the BYU campus to shop at the bookstore and roam around campus. We headed to the sports complex so that Emma could see all the XC boards and awards. She loves that. We made sure to stop by the Tanner Building and the JSB which is where Mike and I spent most of our days at BYU. 
 
On Wednesday I got up and ran with Becca on the trails behind her house. Then I spent most of my day making the pies with Emma and prepping for our Thanksgiving dinner. Mike headed back up to SLC to grab the boys since they were done with class for the week and brought them back down to Orem so they could have Thanksgiving with us.
 
Thanksgiving morning I headed out once again to go on a run with Becca and her friend. We ran an easy 3.20 miles on the Murdock trail and had fun talking and doing the challenges that someone had written on the trail. Then it was back to the condo to make the rolls and sweet potatoes, watch the parade and other fun movies. Thanksgiving is so much better when I don’t have to prepare the entire meal. I can’t remember the last time I had Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. It was a lot of fun to be able to have Thanksgiving with all my kids and my parents this year. There is much to be grateful for this year, but good health and the love of family is on the top of my list 
Everyone loved the dinner and the pies! 
 
On Friday morning, Mike got up and drove Peter to Delta, UT to spend the weekend with his cousins and grandpa. The rest of us just relaxed around the condo for most of the day. We headed to the mall in the afternoon so that we could participate in the Giving Machine. The Giving Machine is a way to help others around the world put on by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Each of the kids got to pick something to give. Between the kids and my parents, we bought six chickens, a goat, polio vaccines for 100 kids, art supplies, menstrual care kits, and take-home meals for children. It was truly a humbling experience. We ended our evening and our week long Thanksgiving break in Utah by being treated to a wonderful Indian dinner by my parents. 
 

​Driving the boys to college at the University of Utah was exciting, surreal, and a little bit sad.  We moved Peter into the dorms first. We made it to SLC right in time for him to check in and get his ID and COVID test done. Then it was off to the dorms where it was pouring rain. Luckily the U dorms do it right. The kids check out a cart and take their stuff to their rooms that way. That is genius! The dorm rooms are so spacious. We unpacked everything in record time. It helped to have 4 people helping. There are so many cool things about being a student at the University of Utah. One of those perks is that every student gets all the Adobe products for free since the founder of Adobe is a U of U alum. 
 
The next morning, we got up and moved Andrew into his studio apartment at Avia in downtown SLC. Luckily, he is right on the TRAX line so he can hop on for free with his student card and ride up to campus. It is only a 10-minute commute for him! It was fun helping him get set up in his apartment. His apartment complex has some nice perks like free rides on the green scooters and bikes downtown, discounts at some restaurants, a movie room and lounge area with kitchen plus weight room and super cool patio areas with lots of grilling opportunities. I hope he has fun living it up in such a cool place while the GI Bill helps to pay for it!

Later that night, we all went out to dinner at the Copper Onion and had the most delicious beef stroganoff. It was only a short walk from Andrew's apartment. It was a nice way to celebrate two successful days of unpacking the boys for college. The next day we toured campus with the boys and then said our goodbyes. We said goodbye to Peter first who left to participate in freshman orientation for the engineering students. Then Andrew took us around the rest of campus and showed us the buildings he would be having class in plus Peter's engineering building. We ended up running back into Peter after we finished up at the bookstore and then said goodbye to both boys. It was bitter sweet to say goodbye.

​JUNE 3
On Thursday night, the boys and I hoped on a plane to go check out Peter’s (and possibly Andrew’s) new school, the University of Utah and get the boy’s their new Utah licenses as they transition to being Utahns. As a BYU alumnus, some part of me still hurts that they picked the U, but it turns out this trip would sway my opinion. We arrived in Salt Lake City, and it was HOT. In fact, the whole west is hot these days, and dry, but it seemed brutally hot as we got in our pick-up truck and headed to the Marriott on the University of Utah campus. One nice thing about Salt Lake is that the airport isn’t 700 miles away from the city like it is in Denver, its actually quite accessible. The new airport in Salt Lake is also quite nice. It was fun to see the changes and we had some food before grabbing our car and heading to the hotel.
 
JUNE 4
Getting things done! Today was all about getting Peter and Andrew through the DMV process.  I have never been so prepared for anything in my life. Forms were printed out, double checked, triple checked. All the necessary paperwork from the VA, utilities, banks, etc was filled out and neatly bundled. We arrived at the DMV by the fairgrounds and got in line, got our number, and Andrew went first. Flawless. Everything went well and he took his test, passed, and got his photo taken. Peter came next. Paperwork was flawless. Forms filled to the line. Then came the vision test.  Peter didn’t have his glasses. He couldn’t pass the vision screen. Not at all. The guy behind the counter was dismayed at how bad he did. Failure! No license for you! What are we supposed to do now at eight o’clock in the morning at the Utah fairgrounds? Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and we went to a glasses shop in downtown Salt Lake. Right as it opened at nine o’clock the incredibly nice lady heard our situation and graciously gave Peter some sample contact lenses that were his prescription. Rushing back to the DMV, getting stuck behind a train, navigating the mystery back streets by the freeway, we were able to get back and Peter was able to pass the eye exam. He then took 6 months on the written portion because he was so scared to fail, but in the end, he passed. Mission accomplished.  
 
From there, we went back to the University of Utah and toured around. Wow!  What a cool campus. Lots of great buildings, resources, things to do! All close to downtown Salt Lake and nestled against the mountains. It was cool to see and experience. I had never been on the campus before, and it was a lot cooler than I thought. A lot of money and resources have been poured into that school over the last five years and it really shows.  
 
After that, we had to partake of some of the indulgences of Utah. We went to a soda shop, where we imbibed enough sugar for a year. Sugared up, we headed to the gun range and shot handguns, Ar-15s, and the boys even got to shoot a fully automatic rifle. We then went ax throwing, which was a lot of fun. I was the master of the one-handed throw and Peter the two-handed master.  After ax throwing, we had dinner at a cool little restaurant in the city where Andrew remarked that the salad was amazing. First time I have ever heard that!
 
Worn out from a day of fun and food and touring, we headed back to the hotel. Peter and I went running (well I ran, he hiked) up the Living Room to watch the sun set. The trail is right next to his dorm, and it was a great little hike. The view over the city was amazing and the breeze welcomed.  It was a great way to end the day.  
 
JUNE 5
On Saturday, we got up and headed for breakfast at a little breakfast shop in town. We then did one more quick tour of the University campus and got some stuff at the store. From there, we went to the zoo and enjoyed the sites of the zoo, the unusual people at the zoo, and even enjoyed a little train ride. Not the biggest zoo in the world, but still pretty cool. The highlight for Peter was getting to pet and feed a Rhino. It was staggering to see him next to such a large animal.  After the zoo, we grabbed some lunch and then headed up the canyon for a drive. It was a beautiful drive up the canyon and nice just to be out in the mountains. It’s amazing how close everything is in Utah. In Colorado, it would take 2 hours to get up somewhere in the mountains, but everything is more accessible here. From the canyon, we drove to the airport and headed home. A quick flight to Denver and then a long slog back to Colorado Springs.  A great trip.  Peter even got new contacts.  
​

​Madeline and I took a little 5-day vacation and headed to see grandma and grandpa in St. George over my birthday weekend. Our last trip back in November was so much fun that we decided we needed to do it again. Instead of flying into Las Vegas and driving 2 hrs. to St. George, we flew directly into St. George from Denver. It was amazing. When we got to my parents' house, my mom had tulips and chocolate waiting for me in my room as a birthday treat. My mom is always so thoughtful. Madeline was so happy to be able to spend time with her grandparents. She and my mom spent lots of time playing, going on walks around the neighborhood, working on her learning book, watching movies and dancing in her dress ups, swimming at the rec center, playing at the playground, and going on a bike ride. I was able to spend some time biking with both of my parents and pulling Madeline in the burley. It was a lot of fun biking with my dad to Sullivan’s Park and then meeting my mom and Madeline there. We attached the burley and headed all the way to Thunder Junction Park. We stopped at Jersey Mikes and picked up lunch and ate in on the way to the park. Madeline had the most fun on the twisty tube slides and riding the train around the park.
​ 
The next day I rode 60 miles with my dad up Snow Canyon, around Tuachan, through Kayenta and to Gunlock Reservoir. Then we headed back and met my mom and Madeline for lunch at this amazing burger place called the Ice Box. Then my dad and I climbed Snow Canyon one more time. It was the most epic bike ride I had ever been on. The views from Snow Canyon were incredible, and although I had climbed Snow Canyon before, it was just as amazing as the first time. We finished the ride at 60 miles and 4000ft of climbing. We picked up John from the airport that night and went to the Ironman Expo downtown. It was fun to be able to spend some time with him before I left to go back home the next day. I rode early on Friday morning with John and my dad back up to Snow Canyon for John’s shakeout ride before his race. My legs were a bit tired, but it was still a good time. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone that afternoon. I could have stayed in St. George for another week, and I would have been so happy!

​I was really glad that I was able to spend a few days with my parents after going to Don’s funeral. I really needed that time to just be with my parents without other distractions. Madeline loved spending time with each of them either playing with toys in the house or walking to the park and playing there. I was able to run once and bike twice with my dad. We took advantage of the gravel bikes and did Snow Canyon one day and then rode Turkey Farm road and went a little longer to connect with Snow Canyon. That was a really long bike ride but a lot of fun to do with my dad. I loved spending some quiet moments with my parents at home, eating good food and binge watching The Chosen. It was a trip I didn’t know I needed but realized after how much it helped me to heal and feel whole.

​It was a Sunday when I got the text saying that my Grandpa Don had passed away. He was the only grandpa I have ever known. Grandpa Don married my grandmother a little less than 50 years ago. He was 89 years old and lived such a full life. I have so many happy memories visiting Don and Grandma and doing things like riding the horses, driving up to the cabin, teasing the cats, going snowmobiling, riding on the boat, feeding the baby deer he was nurturing and many more moments during the time he worked for the Division of Wildlife in southern Utah. He was adventurous and caring. When my grandmother passed away in 1995, he was so lonely until he met JoJo who has taken such good care of him these last 20 years. The last time my older kids saw Don was 6 years ago. I just can’t believe it was that long ago. Madeline and I flew out to attend the funeral. Death is a hard conversation to have with a 4-year-old. As much as she didn’t understand what I told her about dying, she definitely understood that all JoJo needed was lots of love. My Madeline is such a sensitive soul. It warmed my heart to see her give JoJo the love she needed. Death is hard. But more than that is the regret of not having visited more these past 5-10 years. All we have when our loved ones leave are the memories we made together. I was really glad I was able to attend the funeral. 

One of the fun things about being around Sara’s parents is their love for biking. It’s great to have grandparents who are active and want to go out and do things. There are lots of great trails by their house like the Murdock trail, the Provo Canyon River Trail, and then long loops through the mountains to make sure that your legs will be burning and your lungs weeping. Sara, Franz, and Mike did the Alpine loop, which is a stunning, beautiful climb around Mount Timpanogos. The trees and scenery are stunning. Sara flew up the climb and proved that she is still Queen of the Mountain. Coming down, Franz went so fast it was a little unnerving to try to keep up. That man has no fear. It was a great ride. Another great ride we did with all the kids was biking up the Provo River trail to Vivian Park. It’s a great ride and just a beautiful river with great scenery. The kids did great. At the top of the trail, there was a park for Madeline to play at with her siblings. The best part, of course, was that the way back was all downhill. Downhill makes for happy kids. 

Any vacation wouldn’t be complete without some silly long hike. Mount Timpanogos seems like a straightforward hike, and for the most part it is, but it is a long, long hike. The waterfalls, wildflowers, and stunning views make it all worth it. Peter and Andrew basically raced up the mountain, proving that it's really annoying to go hiking with younger people with good lungs and springy legs, but we kept up with them pretty well. Emerald Lake was beautiful and there were mountain goats just hanging out alongside the trail.  Crossing the snowbanks was tough, but getting to the summit wasn’t too bad, especially since we’re pretty used to the altitude. The views from the top were perfect. It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains. The real beast was coming back down. It’s just a long, long way by the time you get back down. The entire hike was sixteen miles round trip. Sara ran down the last couple of miles and the boys spent time just enjoying all the waterfalls. Afterwards, it was a race to IN-N-OUT for everyone so we could refuel our bodies. It was such a great hike, but one we would pay for with sore legs for the next couple of days. 

​written by Mike

Deer Creek Reservoir is just up the road from Provo and is a pretty great body of water. The views from the shore are spectacular with Mount Timpanogos towering over the northwest shoreline and Park City to the northeast. The water was pretty temperate.  When we got there, we saw one of the giant inflatable obstacle courses like we did in Mexico, so we sent the older kids off to do that and got the rest of the kayaks and paddle boards set up.  We also rented a jet ski, which was a lot of fun.  We only crashed it once, but it was a lot of fun for Mike to go flying in the air with the girls and pretend they were seagulls.  Madeline loved the Jet Ski and went out multiple times.  We would have people paddle board out, trade out for the person on the jet ski and go off into the lake.  It’s crazy how fast those things go and just so much fun.  No wonder people like going to the lake!

One of my favorite things to do in life is go hiking.  So it was a great day to be able to get up early and hike with my best friend up Y mountain. Bonus fact, it was also the place of our first date. It was fun to hike up the switchbacks, take in the views and just sit and talk and look over the world. Plus, we did it all before anyone else really got up in the morning. There’s something great about being up in the mountains and watching the sun come up on the world. Makes you grateful that you were around for another year to take it all in. Later on that day, we had doughnuts and opened presents. I’m always happy when I get a surprise for my birthday. For years, I have been coveting a new Taylor guitar. It was pretty great to be surprised with a new guitar for my birthday, super fun to play with great sound and great action. Abby was a sport because her birthday got delayed until we got to Utah. I think it paid off for her in the end and it was worth the wait. Great food and good times. Birthdays are about being with family, laughing, and eating too much frosting.

written by Mike

Everybody knows that the best way to celebrate the birth of our country is to eat hamburgers, hot dogs and blow stuff up. And that’s what we did. Fortunately, in Utah, fireworks are fully legal in every insane permutation you can imagine. Being starved for entertainment, we decided to join the locals and go crazy with big fireworks. It was a lot of fun. Madeline had some sparklers, the girls did cherry bombs and spinners and the boys lit off the big displays. There were so many fireworks going off in the neighboring streets that it was like we had our own private show. It was quite the event and a whole lot of fun.  

​My mom and I planned a surprise baby shower for Ruby. We bought cute plates and table décor ahead of time and even had cute cupcakes and other treats that we brought with us. Ruby was so excited and surprised. She got some really cute things for baby Cali. It was so fun to be able to do this for her as her family. 

​After getting back from the lake we spent some time relaxing at the house before heading out again but this time to go horseback riding. Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz watched Madeline so Mike and I could take the big kids to go on a horseback riding adventure. John, Amy and Kyle came with us too. Abby was really nervous, so they spent a few minutes with her on her horse before everyone else got on their horse. Everyone aged 16 and under had to wear helmets. Peter wasn't that thrilled with wearing a helmet, but he did it anyways. The ride was through the most beautiful scenery. We rode through grassy meadows and then up through aspen trees and other dense tree areas. We even got to do a water crossing. It seemed like we were heading up for quite a while before reaching a plateau. We loved riding at the top of the plateau and some of us got excited with our horses and tried to pass each other. Some of the horses got really snippy with the horses in front of them. We all had to try and keep a decent distance between our horses. All in all, everyone had a great time riding horses through the wilderness and no one fell off or got hurt. We all rewarded ourselves with shakes afterwards. Some of us got the famous Bear Lake raspberry shakes and others opted for some sort of candy bar shake. You really couldn’t go wrong because they all tasted delicious!

​Bear Lake is a lot bigger than I had expected. We were so excited to spend the morning playing at the lake. We headed over first with our kids and got the sunshade set up, so we had a cool place to sit while the kids played in the water. We brought the three kayaks that were sitting in the garage of the big house and the kids all took turns going out exploring in them. Mike headed over with Peter and rented a jet ski and each of the kids took turns going for a ride. It was hilarious watching the girls bob up and down as Mike did donuts in the water. I wasn’t sure if they would love it or freak out. They love it and asked to go again and again. I must admit that I was a little freaked out when we got going above 40 miles/hour but boy was it a rush. Eventually everyone else from the house showed up at the lake for some fun. Everyone took turns on the kayaks but only our kids ended up wanting to go on the jet ski. 

It has been almost 6 years since the entire Kelsch/Wilhelm clan has gotten together. We spent a glorious 4 days together in Bear Lake at the coolest and most interesting house for my parent's 50th Anniversary. We called it the Big House. With three levels, 9 bedrooms, a theatre room, an indoor gym equipped with a trampoline, play set and half basketball court, an area on level 2 devoted solely to video gaming, and slides connecting each level inside the house and outside the house, it was a kids dream house.  We spent most of our time in the house just chilling and letting the kids roam and do whatever they wanted. Each one of adult couples took turns fixing dinner. We played games, watched movies, took naps, and explore the sites in and around Bear Lake. It was great catching up with everyone's families and bonding like old times. I sure hope it's not another 6 years before we do this again.

​We had family photos taken during our Kelsch/Wilhelm Family Reunion. I found and hired a photographer to do a big family photo shoot with the entire clan. We first went to a grassy meadow backdrop but that didn’t last long because Brandon kind of freaked out. We got a few big group shots and then some smaller family shots before heading over to the lake. The little kids seemed to do much better by the lake. Madeline did have a small melt down moment but in the end, we were able to get some good family photos of the big group and some with our smaller family. It was really great to not have the pressure to pose everyone for a big group shot. In hindsight, I think I could have done just as good of a job if not better than the photographer. Sometimes it is just nice giving the reigns to someone else. 

​Skin on! Today we got to ski with the cousins. Jake and Josh came with us up to Park City.  Mike was able to get them a military discount, so the lift tickets were more reasonable.  We cruised some blues at first, then Andrew, Peter, Jake and I headed up to the double blacks again. It was just as much fun this time as it was the first time.  Peter and I were a little more confident this time.  Mike, Josh, and the girls explored every run they could find on the mountain.  They had a ton of fun.  Their favorite run was definitely Assessment. It was long, flowy, and the snow was great.  The worst was Parley’s Park which was a total sheet of ice.  We all met up for lunch at Miner’s Cabin again. Everyone had sandwiches and of course a brownie which was really, really good.  Then off for an afternoon of hitting it hard.  I think the favorite run was the black run which was moguls, but just right (Sampson).  Too bad the lift that services it was so slow.  At the end of the day, Mike found these great hand made doughnuts that you dip in chocolate and then add your own toppings….they were possibly the best doughnuts of all time.  It might have been the best way to end a great day.  We were so grateful to be able to ski and to be together as a family.  Families that ski together, stay together…or at least meet at the bottom of the run at some point.

While Mike was busy doing his reserve duty in California, I took the kids to Utah so that we could spend the week with Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz in Orem. We spent the week chilling at the condo watching America's Got Talent and playing games, biking up the Murdock trail, trying our luck at an Escape Room at Getout games downtown Provo, running up Provo Canyon, attending a summer music concert at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, having fun at the nickel arcade, and taking a tour of the BYU campus with Andrew. It was a fun week of adventure, relaxing, and good times with the grandparents.