June 2026

 First summer Monday: I took all the kids to the outlets and bought whatever they needed. Got it all over with in one day. It was rough, but I survived. It's hard for me now that I can't just pick up what I see they need at Target or on Amazon. They have opinions! My opinion is that the mall is overstimulating. lol 

Jack's English teacher, "Cabby," invited him and a dozen other students to a writer's awards night. He treated them to pizza and said something genuinely nice and personal about each kid. He's a strange man, but a truly good teacher. Jack will probably have him for several more English classes through high school, so I'm glad he learns well with Cabby's teaching style. 

We all flew out to Utah to support Todd running the Utah Valley Marathon. But first, we went to Lagoon with a big crew of Bonners. We had Erika, Laura and Riley, Missy and Burke, Shaylee and Carli, Julena, Adam and Sophie for a big rollercoaster party day. It was the closest thing we're getting to a Bonner reunion this year, and I'd say it was pretty good! 

We slept at Missy's casa. Erika and Todd needed the early morning drop-off, so I woke up at 3:30 to take them. (Erika ran the half marathon.) Julena took Hazel and Jack with her around 5; they all ran the 10K. 

Todd ran most of the marathon with his old buddy, Jack Rose. However, Todd was only really trained well for a half-marathon. He lost steam near the end and Jack had to abandon him. Todd was frustrated with his finish and might have to run the same marathon again next year so he can keep training and track his progress. 

I was so proud of him, though. It took serious diligence to make time to train for the run in the midst of all Todd's demands on his time. He is so busy with his business, and super involved with the youth of the ward as bishop, and he has been nonstop this spring with big adventures like biking to Yosemite and hiking Half Dome. I loved seeing him be a runner again. I wish it were easier for him to prioritize his health and fit in a run on a regular basis. 

 

Ryan George surprised us by showing up at the race to cheer Todd (and his childhood best friend Spencer) on. It was super fun to have his support so unexpectedly. 

We flew home Saturday afternoon, and Monday morning, Hazel and Todd were both off for Grad Camp. For the second year in a row, our stake has offered a two-night getaway for thei girls who have aged out of girls' camp but haven't moved on to Relief Society yet. Hazel was in that group this year. We offered up our cabin as a location for the group, and Todd found himself attending as a host. It was hard for him to stay in the background and let the girls and women do their thing, but I think he was successful. The girls rode horses their first morning, played at our Bear Lake, spent all day Tuesday at Utica with the zipline and kayaks, and then rock climbed Wednesday morning before traveling home. 

I had a day and a half at home to myself and had big, glamorous plans, but first I went in for a mammogram, and guess what? I passed out in the middle of my exam! Literally sank to the floor and thankfully my technician got to me in time to protect my head as I went down. I blacked out, dreamed for a few seconds, and came to all disoriented. I hit my knee on the way down and it was bruised for weeks. After that, I had to call Katie George to come bring me home because I felt too lightheaded to drive, and once home, I was afraid I might faint again and hit my head on the tile floor and no one would be home to help me! So I spent most of my alone time resting on the couch. I took a massive nap and watched a movie. Pretty lame. 

Hazel came home and she and I had a quiet house to ourselves for the rest of the week. She studied hard for the ACT and took it for the second time that Saturday. We were all STOKED when she brought her score up three whole points, to a 30! 

Todd went straight from grad camp to boy's camp, meeting up with Jack and the other boys from our ward for some great bonding for the rest of the week. They were up at Lassen. They mountain biked, boated, hiked, and evidently Jack spent every last minute of downtime practicing the slackline because one of the adults said they would pay 20 bucks to the first boy who could make it all the way across ... who turned out to be Jack! 

Their hike ended up being memorable because the man leading it kept the whole group together at an excruciatingly slow pace, "slower than Mom!" Todd sneaked some of the boys off on the way down and they had a good time sledding down the snow on their butts, helping them come away from the hike with something good to say about it. 

Meanwhile, Gemma was the only Bonner at girls' camp, living her best life. In sooooo many of the pictures, she is wearing sunglasses, or a backwards cap, or is making a silly face. All reports show she had a fantastic time. She loved the rock wall, the craft area, and the waterfront. 

The next week, Hazel flew to Europe for a tour with her orchestra group from school. They were gone for ten days, and toured and performed in Prague, Budapest, and Vienna. 

We missed her a ton and really loved it when she found the time and the internet to be able to video call and catch us up on her adventures. 

A highlight of her trip was that Grammie and Poppa drove over from Germany to adventure with her in Vienna and come to her performance. They took Hazel and some of her friends out to a jazz bar, which was so much fun, and also a bit of a fiasco, because there was miscommunication with the chaperones about what time curfew was. But, as Hazel reported, there were "bigger fish to fry" and she wasn't in trouble for long, AND she would absolutely do it all again, even knowing she'd get in a little bit of trouble for it. 

She spent a lot of time with Lucas and Abel, Aarna and Kaitlyn, and Katherine and Rebecca. They rented scooters and buzzed around the cities. She had a really good time. She said Budapest was her favorite city, partly because it had green space in the city still. 

They played in some really beautiful venues. 

While Hazel was in Europe, Todd took the young men on a river rafting trip on the American River in Sacramento. Jack said it was tons of fun. Their campsite was right alongside a riverbank, so even when they weren't floating, they were playing in the water. It sounded nice. 

Todd forgot his water shoes, so he jimmy rigged his flip flops with tape. Sounds about right. 

And I took Gemma and Clara to the cabin for our annual summer getaway. The ladies had a blast, as usual. We spent a lot of time on the lake, we went for a nice walk or two, and we played lots of games. 

Then Jack went to FSY, Hazel came home from Europe, and Gemma was a counselor for primary day camp. I went tracting with the missionaries and had a sweet conversation with a lady from Vietnam about how good God is. Hazel had her senior photos taken, Gemma taught young women's and gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, and Hazel went camping at the beach with some girlfriends. Phew! June was busy! 

May 2026

We took a quick overnight to Yosemite. Todd, Hazel, and Jack joined several friends from the stake to climb Half Dome. Gemma and I brought our bikes and rode around the valley floor. Todd and the kids camped; Gemma and I joined last minute and stayed the night at the Ahwahnee Hotel. Everyone enjoyed the experience. 

The views from the top of Half Dome are spectacular, but they also reminded me quite a bit of Taft Point. I'm happy there's a way to see all that stunning scenery without the difficult hike. But it seems like the crew were especially satisfied because of the effort they put into getting there. 

Hazel had her final club volleyball tournament. Her team was triumphant - again. She had a really great experience playing with these girls and her coach. I'm glad we went the local club route. It was a good fit for what we hoped to find. Hazel got a lot of play time and improved a bunch, and it wasn't too burdonsome of a time commitment. She was able to keep her grades up in all her classes, and we hope she'll have success this fall in the school volleyball season, too. 

Jack and his middle school friends finally found a day that worked for all of them to go to Great America together. They skipped the 8th grade day and had a party at Brooklyn's house instead, and it's taken them a literal year to find another day to all go. It was a fun adventure for them all, and I love that they've all stayed friends through their first year of high school. 

We enjoyed the ridiculous deliciousness of Kaylin Larson's cinnamon rolls we ordered from our youth auction win. They were so good - we're going to have a hard time ordering anything different for our remaining 11 months of treats. 

I spoke in church on Mother's Day and split my time 50/50 between celebrating Heavenly Mother and sharing examples of how Jesus ministered and what we can learn from Him. 

We've been enjoying artichokes from our backyard - a batch every week all month long. Our plants grew so many this year! It's sad they only last a month, but man, we sure enjoy them! 

I took Hazel to get her second ear piercings. She's been wanting them for years, and she impressed me with the way she studied Church teachings and prayed about it, and respectfully asked for permission. Todd and I could see this was something she really wanted, and preferred supporting her in it over turning it into something she might feel rebellious about later on. We made a girls trip out of it and went out for lunch afterward. 

We came home and found Gemma hard at work at her desk, writing a story, her homework completely neglected. I love it so much when she gets in a writing mood. She dreams a lot about working in a library, or becoming a writer or an editor. 

That night, Hazel had her spring concert at the Bankhead Theater. As always, they sounded fantastic. She sways as she plays, and it just looks like she's so caught up in the music. I love to see that. 

Jack went to driver's ed classes Friday after school, and Saturday and Sunday mornings. Now all he needs is to reach his half-birthday, and we can take him to the DMV to take the written test and get his driver's permit. He is so excited about driving! 

I helped with our primary service activity. Among other projects, I supported our crayon sort. I picked up boxes of crayons from The Crayon Initiative in Danville, supervised kids and parents sorting crayons by color, and then returned the sorted crayons to the program headquarters a few days later. They recycle old crayons and melt and shape them into fresh ones. We also made cards for kids in hospital, tied blankets, and ran a toy drive. 

While I was at the service project, Todd and Gemma went to Brentwood to pick cherries and came home with - I'm dead serious - 40 pounds! They are so dang good, but I had to give away gallon bags to basically everyone who came by our house over the following week. I said, "Todd, that's like expecting all five of us to eat a pound of cherries each every day for eight days!" It was absurd. But I sure loved every single one I ate! 

The kids threw a 6-7 birthday party for Ray Dimas. He and Bryce came over and we had burgers and cake. Then we had the youth to our house later that night for a bishop's youth fireside. 

Hazel had her music awards night at McGrail Winery. 

We gave away Jack's yarn. Sadly, he hasn't made anything with it for a couple of years and thinks he's done with his knitting and crocheting phase of life. 

Jack made this incredibly cool Odyssey board game for his final English project. He spent tons of time on it and it turned out so fantastic. Todd, Jack, and I were able to really play it. I wish you could see the details he put into it. There was a lot of salt dough baking and painting going on! It reminded me of when Emily and I made Barbie furniture and food out of salt dough. 

Jack had his tennis banquet to celebrate a fun season. We're looking forward to him having another great year next spring. In the meantime, Todd's been working hard finding people for Jack to practice with and doing all he can to support Jack's growth in the sport. 

Jack and Hazel promised me their finals week would be light (and it was) so we let them skip a day of school and go to Magic Mountain with Pete and Ella Andrus. The plan was for them to leave after school on Thursday and get back home around midnight on Friday after a day of riding coasters. Then we were all going to head up to the cabin for Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, nobody planned on Pete's car breaking down on the drive. After spending an extra two hours on the side of the freeway figuring things out and waiting for a tow truck and a rescue from Pete's cousin, everyone got to bed and still had an amazing day at Magic Mountain. 

They got home a day later than planned, so Gemma, Todd, and I went up to the cabin without them on Saturday morning, got all the winter stuff put away and made sure it was set up well for the group that's going to come up and use it for Grad Camp in a couple of weeks. Gemma was a serious trooper, doing plenty of work with no complaining. We tried to keep it balanced and spent a few hours on the lake and played all her favorite games in the evening. We slept over, went to church in Murpheys on Sunday, and then drove back to Livermore to reunite with Hazel and Jack. 

Since we came home a day early, we all went to Manressa Beach on Monday with a big group from our stake. It was a fun beach day with perfect weather, and thankfully, normal traffic there and back. 

Thursday was everyone's last day of school. Hazel headed back to the beach with Noah's family and a few other friends to camp for a couple of nights. The rest of us preferred to stay home. Jack hosted a big summer kickoff party at our place and had nearly 20 kids over for games, pizza, and a movie. 

Gemma had her friends from church over for a summer celebration on Friday. Otherwise, we all kicked back, slept in, and enjoyed a slower few days at home. 

We had Vlad, Luna, and Erika over for dinner on Sunday and enjoyed spending time with them. We've recently acquired a used ping pong table and we've been having a blast with it. It's just the thing to spend our new free time on.