Hsiao House Happenings 蕭家事: July 2024

On July 1st we had the annual cousins at Lagoon day! Oh how we will miss all being together next summer!

Brian wanted to try to hanging challenge. He was pretty good at it and won a prize!

Timmy wanted to try too, but didn't last as long as Brian.

We got new windows! It has been needed for years! Here are the old windows.

Here are the new! I love the new windows and I really love the automatic blinds that open and close with the rising and setting of the sun. Absolutely worth the money!

I don't remember why I took this picture. I think Brian was taking care of the bill at our favoirte Thai restaurant to practice for going on dates or something. How is he so old?

The guy cousins went on a pretty wild one night backpacking trip straight up the mountain. They hiked a long way, maybe got a little lost in the dark and ended up camping on the ridge. I think Timmy vomited, but overall it was a pretty great adventure for them. I am glad they're safe.

Cousin boat race at the Ranch is still a thing no matter the age of these kids.

Then the 4th of July arrived!

Home. This was before we got the blinds installed. So much light coming out those windows! It lit the whole street!

Another picture of Brian. He did the BYU ACT Test Prep for a few days in July. I think that is what his lanyard is from.

Mark's sourdough bread is always photo worthy. It's the best in the world!

Family trip to the Taylorsville temple to do baptisms. I love my boys and the temple!

The kids found some sparklers and spent several nights messing around with them.

Timmy became a Yakitori grill master.

More sparkler craziness!

And lots of yard cleanup.

They finally kind of got the tree cleaned up from last month.

To the ranch again. This time to say goodbye to to both Elder Smiths. Brigham and Isaac had completed their MTC training from home in Texas and are now back to attend the Provo MTC at the same time. Isaac is headed to Cambodia and Brigham to Brazil.

One of my other projects for the summer was to clean and photograph our beloved Scamp trailer. It was time to sell it and say goodbye. We had other plans that did not include this trailer that had served us so well. As far as camping trailers go, Scamps are the best!

In July we packed up for a trip we had been planning for over 6 months. We were headed with my Dad to Peru and we were so excited!! I lived in Peru for a whole summer when I was 19. It was truly a life changing experience, and I was really looking forward to going back!

The night before we left, I checked us in on the Delta app and we were ready to head out the next morning, July 19! Morning came and I went to double check our flight. However, the app wouldn't even open anything. I looked on the Delta website and the same thing. Everything was broken. I tried calling Delta. Nothing. I started searching online about Delta Website being down and things started to come to light. The Global IT outage caused by CrowdStrike occurred early that morning while we were sleeping thinking all was ready for our trip. We could not figure out what was happening with our flights. We were all ready and my dad was on his way to meet us at the airport from Oakley. I could not get in touch with anyone from Delta. I had been on hold for hours already. I decided to go to the airport to try to find information. I ended up waiting in line for 5 hours before finally speaking with someone at the desk. All our flights were cancelled. The next thing she could get us on was about 5 days later. All our itinerary in Peru would have to be cancelled anyway. No one knew when things would be back up and running. Mark had to be in town within 8 days for important work events. So we made the decision to cancel the trip all together. It was super sad for us.

Mark had the time off work so we decided to head out into the Uinta mountains on a backpacking trip together as a family. It was a great time. We still have not made it back to Peru and may not in the future. But I am glad we got to go on a backpacking trip. We hiked past Ruth lake to some other lakes and camped off the beaten path. We have only done one night trips before, so it was a fun experience to stay for several nights on this trip.