Easter 2025

Miraculously we we were home this Easter! It was the first time in a very long time so we were excited. 

We all went to church and had a beautiful Easter Sunday Sacrament meeting. 

Then came home and took pictures in our backyard. 

Pepper was over the moon with so much attention! I believe we underestimate her modeling abilities! 

She truly is a grateful and kind dog with such a silly and fun personality. I know she was kind of thrown at us (let’s remember that forever--by Robert!!!) but she really is so special to us all. 

Our family selfies include fewer and fewer people but we love being together. 

And to make a point of the fact that we were home for Easter, we decided to host an Easter dinner! We invited the Cheevers who have just one kid left at home and the Wollstenhulmes who are empty nesters. 

It’s always a bit stressful for me to host a big dinner and I wish I had a talent for making these meals more extravagant. Ultimately, we were happy to have friends over so they are not alone and we were not alone. 

Happy Easter! 

 

May-June Happenings

Right after New Zealand trip we had just a few days with Katya still around. One of the things we did was open our sealed envelope with the letters we wrote in Mar of 2020 when the whole world shut down. We were waiting till things are back to normal and that we were all together... It was pretty fascinating to read them again. 

For the Memorial Day, Robert and Mark flew to Denver, Colorado! Mark played an Indoor L4 tournament. 

The Alleys came over to watch Mark and it was super fun! 

The Alleys always wait for us to come visit CO and see them. 

On the way back, Mark and Robert stopped by the amazing Capital One lounge at the Denver Airport. It's always nice when you get amazing freebies with the credit cards. 

Mark finished 9th grade! All A's, speaking a whole lot more Spanish than he did the summer before. 

Mark also got his Driver's Permit! Now he has 9 months to complete his 60 hours of driving. We had to drive to Sanford super early in the morning to get in line to get the permit without an appointment. Mark passed the writing test...barely-hahaha.

Every year Mark plays in the Southern Closed, a tournament for just our Southern section. And every year he has to get a special permission to reschedule his finals as the tournament is held when our schools are still in session. For B16s, it is held in Little Rock, AR (thankful to have our Southwest Companion Certificate).

Mark didn't play as well as he hoped, so unfortunately, he did not go far in the tournament.

We tried to explore a bit of Little Rock, drove around downtown and walked along the river bank (that was nothing to write home about). We also went to the visitor's center that told the story of the Little Rock 9--a group of African American students who enrolled in the Little Rock Central High School and were initially not allowed to enter the classrooms. It was actually very interesting to learn about that. 

In the meantime, Alex and Robert decided to do an adventurous hike to Mount Mitchell. 

I am so grateful they like challenges and outdoor activities like this! Such good bonding time before Alex's mission. 

Robert is the one who has always encouraged our boys to do outdoorsy stuff like camping and hiking. I hope our boys do that with their kids someday! 

The beauty and peace of Western North Carolina...

And an update on Katya is that she left for BYU at the end of May, moved to Glenwood apartments, got a job at the MTC and started school during the summer term. She had to fly back home right as the term ended because we were all traveling to Romania in August! But that's another post. 

Alex’s Life at BYU

 This will be the most wordless post ever. Because truly I am just trying to capture pretty much all the pictures that Alex sent me while enjoying his Freshman year at BYU.

Alex made a TON of great friends. He especially enjoyed going to the BYU football games.

And yes, that is Alex and his roommate Chris (to the left).

Rand into James and Michelle one time. 

Alex and the former NC missionaries. 

Alex also got to go to the Conference in SLC.

I will be honest, I am not sure who these kids are. 

Double date.

Alex went on a few trips with his buddies. 

Another date, throwing pots.

Christopher Spiesman and Alex roomed together, who would have ever thought that these childhood friends would reunite for the most epic year ever! 

I am not sure if this is the whole group of friends, but here they are. Crazy kids doing crazy adventures.

Finally! Alex got invited by my friend, Katie Jeppsen, who used to be MY young women’s leader in Orem when I joined the church, for dinner! This is pretty funny and crazy! Alex’s friend is her nephew, somehow they connected the dots-hahaha. They are such an amazing (and tall:)) family! 

And that, my friends, is all the info I have about Alex’s first year-hahaha. 

Ukrainian Christmas-2023

Z Rizdvom!!! 

A year ago we decided that since now our kids are only home when college/school is not in session, it would make sense to celebrate the Ukrainian Christmas on Dec 24th. For now, this is a wonderful tradition that we are trying to upkeep, no matter how much work it is. 

Alex got home from BYU after acing his finals. It was so great to have him home for the holidays. 

Here is our traditional Ukrainian Christmas picture, missing Katya.  

Always grateful for Robert willing to go along with our cooking intensive tradition. 

Mama (that is me) and Mark. 

And Mama with Alex. 

My Ukrainian lads. 

This year we invited the Roylances to come be part of our celebration. We, of course, have enough Ukrainian shirts to around to get them all dressed up as well. 

Mark, Alex, Emma, Addie and Ethan (we don't know Ethan as well as he is all grown and lives in UT). 

We loved having friends over to help us eat all the 12 dishes we made for Christmas. 

Can’t wait for next year! 

Lyana.

Thanksgiving in Colorado

Today's post brought to you by Mark:

We wanted to go somewhere for Thanksgiving so we went to visit the Alley's in Colorado (and we had a Delta companion certificate to use with a first class upgrade....and Alex could fly from SLC to see us too). 

These are the pies that we had. My favorite was the key lime pie, it was gas. 

This is us during Thanksgiving dinner. It was very very delicious. My favorite was the mac and cheese. It was lit. 

                                                                     

                                                                                

Picture of the food before we devoured it.

I don't remember when we had the charcuterie board. Might've been the first day we were there. The grapes were pretty good. All the kids are on the stumble grind.

Alex and his pomegranate.

This is skull king, it's a pretty fire game. 

We like to eat lots of snacks. I still don't remember when this was, maybe the day of the charcuturie board. Also, we kept calling it a SHARKuturie board. I don't remember why. I also don't know how to spell charcuturie. 

Tato is a pro at disc golf so he wanted to bring us to a course and it was fun. And it was cold. I think Tato lost though. 

This is us the night before we left. Cousin Abe also hung out with us the whole time it was lit. Abe is a g. 

We are playing table hockey with books, TP, and a bottle cap. All you need to play is books, TP, and a bottle cap. And a table. 

***Mark wanted me to leave this picture without a caption but it ain't going to happen! This is Emma and Mark. Emma is Mark's friend, although they don't remember each other from all the years in Japan or England as they were tiny.

This is the tortilla slap game. Pretty simple rules just slap the person with the tortilla and don't laugh. 

This is us chillin playing the homemade party games. 

 ***Intermission by Lyana. One of the afternoons I scheduled a meeting with my good friend Linnea who lives in Colorado Springs. It's pretty crazy but when I left Parker, where the Alleys live, the weather looked great! By the time I drove south to Colorado Springs, it started to snow and the roads got covered with a good layer of powder! I hadn't driven in the snow for a decade! 

I made it to Linnea's neighborhood slipping and sliding by the stop sign, but it was fine. It was wonderful to see her first time since 2016 when we left England! She is a fantastic friend! And I wish she lived closer. Lyana-Linnea... everyone always confused us when we lived at RAF Alconbury. 

Back to Mark's narration:

Me and alex, laying on a couch. 

This is us after church. 

Tato and bishop alley.

Me flying home with mama. I am super tired. We had to fly through the night, but at least it was in business class.

Mark.