Tera and Erik and Jacob and Megan took advantage of new non-stop flights from the Provo airport into Nashville and spent spring break on the Wadi Rum goat farm in Dixon, Tennessee. With Emily and Jonathan. We got see a bit into their life of work and school and farming, and helped with all the farm chores, including milking goats, feeding baby goats, collecting duck eggs, letting the chickens and ducks in and out each morning and evening, with a bit of food to boot.  Plus we put up some fence, built some goat shelters. A couple of baby goats were born while we there as well.
 
Highlights:

• Playing with new baby goats
• Building the milker and teaching the babies an better method
• Going to the Grand Ole Opry
• Lending and hand to Jonathan and Emily to ease the burden of the farm
• Tour of Vanderbilt University

We went on our 2nd dive trip with our wonderful friends the Winters.  In 2022 we had gone to Turks and Caicos together, and this year, we were headed to Curacao.  There is a tremendous amount of beach diving to be had, but we’re old, and we like the ease of boat diving, so we found a dive center close to our Airbnb near Jan Thiel beach.  Our standard has become travelling on Wednesday, diving on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and going to church then flying home on Sunday.  Our dive days start around 9:00 and end around 1:00.  Then we go back to the hotel for a light lunch, and some napping and working.  We go out to eat together each evening.  Curacao did not disappoint, there was great diving to be had, and we even snuck in a hike one afternoon, and another shore dive on another afternoon from the lagoon of the dive resort, and a dinner with the sister missionaries there on the island.
 
Highlights: 

• Diving with sharks, turtles, eels, and all the beautiful reef fish
• A nice dinner out with the Sister Missionaries
• Learning about some of the culture and language of Curacao

The winter of 2023 brought an enormous amount of snow to the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, and we were joyful participants.  We did at least 3 hikes with sleds, and Tera went snowshowing with her hiking buddies, and we skied both at Sundance and Powder Mountain (for the first time).
 
Highlights:

• Incredible Skiing at Sundance
• Skiing at Powder Mountain with Nikki and Rodrigo
• Hiking and Sledding in Rock Canyon with Martins and Nikki and Rodrigo

So this isn’t much a travel entry, but definitely worth the words.  Just a week after we returned home from our semester abroad, we joyfully celebrated the wedding of Nathan and Rachel Madsen. As with Emily, we were gone for most of the wedding planning, and we just got to be there for the food!  Both Nathan and Rachel are pianists, and so a big part of the wedding week was a recital of Nathan and friends in the Assembly Hall and Temple Square, and then another recital at the actual reception.  We adore Rachel, we’re glad she’s part of our family!
 
Highlights:

• Assembly Hall Concert
• Wedding Reception in the Provo Library
• Wedding Breakfast and meeting Rachel’s Family
• Sealing in the Provo City Center Temple
• Adding a new daughter to our growing family