Moments

I'm not the picture taker I once was, but here are a few things we've been up to. 

^^McKay went to Young Mens camp with the ward and had such a blast.

They stayed in the Smoky Mountains and hiked Mt. LeCounte (11 miles!!), tubed the Little River, and explored the Tuckaleechee caves.

Macey had all the girl fun with McKay gone.  

Lots of playdates, birthday parties and hangouts with all her friends.

^^their summer chores include catching all the Japanese beetles from our oak tree and drowning them in soapy water.

^^One of my favorite things is having my lawn enjoyed. 

It's a lot of work to keep it green and weed, grub + disease free, but I'm up for the challenge! 

I contribute this year's success to mowing the grass high and all the Scott's products.

^^Sam's niece got married three hours from us so he spent the night with us and Rich drove him.

 Apparently the duo stopped at Buc-ees, too, hah!

^^Game night + Sound of Music with Mitch and Asha

Rich's nephew + wife are in Knoxville for a summer internship- we are all obsessed with them.

^^This brave rising 6th grader tried out for the Middle School summer basketball team. 

She didn't make it, but she was in good spirits and knows there is a lot of talent + hard workers on the team.

Tillman

In St. Louis, we connected with some of our very favorite people from college! Together, we explored the zoo, Forest Park and the Gateway Arch. 

Us four adults hadn’t been together in nearly six years so it was wonderful to reconnect in person instead of Marco Polo ;) and we finally had a chance to meet their youngest. 

Rich and Sam became friends at BYU in 2005, me and Alyson were added in 2010 and 2012. Babies starting coming in 2013 and now look at us in 2026!

 

Nauvoo

 We met my older brother, his family and my dad + Sherry in Nauvoo over Memorial weekend. 

We took McKay and Macey in 2018, but it was so wonderful to go back and even better to be with cousins. There was so much to tour, experience and see. Our time there will be deeply treasured.

Jack, Brooke and McKay completed over 40 family names in the Nauvoo Temple baptistery. My dad was able to baptize each of them and Jack baptized Rich and Chief! Katie and I were witnesses and Bryan took it all in. We were able to spend time in the artifact hallway and see the very first temple clothing, a sword of Joseph Smith, original paintings and the first keys to the Temple doors. 

I participated in the same ordinance over two decades ago as a youth and still remember the font (the largest one in any temple).  Growing up,  my parents took me and my brothers to the ground breaking, open house and we participated in the dedication in 2002. Bryan and Katie were married in this temple in and we all have special memories of that time. What precious moments to bring our next generation to such a meaningful House of the Lord. 

Two full days were spent in Historic Nauvoo. In our time at all the little town had to offer, we learned so much! Hands on experiences left us with such an increased knowledge and appreciation. The group learned and participated in making ropes, bricks, candles, barrels, horseshoes, newspaper, mail, guns and more. We rode on a horse drawn carriage, then on a wagon and a team of oxen slllooowwwy pulled us around too. Tours were routinely offered everywhere and the dedication to the restoration of the sites was incredible. I especially loved visiting Jospeh and Emma’s homes and seeing their graves.  The missionary performances were such a highlight and our favorite way to end both days.

^^Visiting Carthage Jail.

We loved hearing how those murdered here were in high spirits and knew they were doing God’s work. 

That we can find comfort in our hardest days by looking to our Savior. 

Sunset on the Mississippi River.

According to my amateur research, me and my kids are decedents of over 25 Nauvoo Pioneers who crossed in this same spot in 1846. 

At the end of the Trail of Hope, the missionaries encouraged us to think about this embankment when we have unknown seasons in our life and to trust in God, just as has been done before. 

—

Our time in Nauvoo was wonderful. 

Our cups were filled with family and the Spirit. 

Watching the budding testimonies of our youth grow over the weekend was worth everything. 

We can do hard things and those Nauvoo Saints will always be our inspiration. 

Shower upgrade

When we bought our home, they advertised our master shower as "doorless" and promised the water would stay where it should and that we wouldn't get cold. Lies. We bought a curtain within 24 hours of moving in. Since then we've dealt with it, but coming home from spring break I couldn't handle the fact that every place we stayed had a better shower than we did. Rich completely agreed, which is no small feat, but he was content waiting for a remodel. Content and Erica are not often used in the same sentence. 'Make it happen' is how I prefer to be known. We talked to my dad, brother, some friends and a few contractors and decided we would hire out the job. Perhaps the biggest kick in the pants was that we could have chosen (and paid for) an upgraded shower when we built the house- lesson learned.

Before:

After:

 Even though we didn't do any of the physical work, we were mentally exhausted from the process. 

On demo day, Rich's amigos told him they couldn't reuse our shower pan like we had planned. They said it wasn't capable of sealing with our tile. This meant we needed to order a new pan (and wait + be postponed for a week before it arrived) or spend more money and find tile that night to have the shower floor tiled. Rich and I live a very low stress life, so that day and those decisions took us for a wild ride. In the end, we decided to go on all in and have the floor tiled. This also gave us the opportunity to make the shower about six inches deeper and to use the cutest white hexagon tiles. 

The other hiccup was running out of product. Our contractor said we ordered more than enough tile but apparently because of our 1/3 brick pattern we were on track to run out. Unfortunately, the tile needed to be shipped and wasn’t available locally so that extended the project. Annnnnd once it arrived, all of the tiles in one of the two boxes was completely shattered. Oh yeah, and then our glass door was delayed a week for delivery. 

Said tile was the same 12x24" porcelain tiles from our floors. We decided to use it on the shower walls to create a cohesive and spacious look. We were lucky enough to be able to find those same tiles still in stock. Apparently tile is often retired and discontinued within two years. I was able to choose the placing of our niche and I'm so grateful it's hidden to help with my visual clutter aversion. We updated the shower facet and handle as well.  Rich didn't want a rainfall head, but I loved the look so we settled on a six inch square nozzle and it looks awesome. While my cabinet pulls and towel hooks are champagne bronze, our door handles, hinges, fans, and sink hardware is all brushed nickel- we decided on the latter for the shower finishes.

Our frameless glass door couldn't be ordered until the tile walls were placed so we purchased as soon as we could, but again we had to wait for it to arrive and be installed.

The father/son crew were at our home for nine hours every day for eight days.  I laid out cinnamon rolls the first day and they asked for more daily. I figured if I could convince them to do a good job on our shower fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls would do the trick, right? Our garage was transformed into their garage with all their materials that we could barely fit to park in it overnight. They humored me and covered all the affected flooring with a protective layer but my bathroom was completely covered in dust. I could hardly handle the mess, I had to leave the house when they were there. But my favorite was when I'd see on the Ring camera that they were taking their lunch break on our rocking chairs- everyone's favorite place. Rich's favorite was when they shared their authentic Honduran lunch with him! They also left plenty of Christian reminders on our thinset.

We love our shower so much, it brings a lot of joy and we are no longer disappointed when we shower at home. It’s not a bold or flashy renovation, and we didn’t want it to be. 

 Perhaps our favorite part of this whole remodel is how we funded it. When we received Rich's April paycheck, the amount was higher than normal. We assumed it was due to a conference reimbursement or something along those lines. When Rich went into work the next week, he learned he was granted a surprise raise. What the! In the four National Labs he's worked at, that has never happened. Turns out, his group leader was given more funding and he fought to have it distributed to his top researchers. It wasn't until Rich was able to log into the system to see the full raise amount and learn that it was in fact, within dollars of the remodel cost (the initial quote anyway ;) Every time we use our shower, we feel the love of our angel mothers and know the blessings of tithing.

Our shower is Heavenly 

and

God is good.

Schools Out!

 We completed another school year!

Sixth grade has been so good to McKay and Macey finished elementary school strong.

Can't wait to enjoy and celebrate our way through summer.

The tree, I mean the kids, have grown so much since last year’s picture ;)

Moments

Young Women's activity (notice Macey, the tagalong) at the lakefront property of another leader. 

No one ever wanted to leave.

^^Fifth grade field day! The event ended with the fire department hosing them down.

^^full circle moment when our realtor and I were chaperones on the same field trip at the mini storefront of the Lab that brought us into each other's life. 

Dr. Messerly was missed. 

^^pretty sure this is the excited look of a trumpet player who plans to quit band after the concert. 

^^May the Fourth at the library

^^our favorite 6th grade graduate at his "Pineapple Palooza" field day. 

His teachers loved him, and would track me down whenever I subbed to let me know how much they enjoyed our boy.  He was one of two students, in the whole grade to earn the "SOAR" award for exceptional perseverance.

Mother’s Day

I vividly remember carrying a screaming Macey in one arm and a crying McKay in the other arm, to the point of tears myself, out of the Provo Rec center nearly 11 years ago. 

Here’s proof I can still carry both those babies in my arms. And here’s also proof that life gets better. 

Motherhood continues on your good days but also on you bad. It continues through job changes and moves across the country. When your mom dies, you are still a mom to your own. Those kids can be your number one fans and then hate your guts because you don’t allow sleepovers. They constantly interrupt you and then don’t pay attention to a word you say. You miss them when they are at school but can’t wait to send them back each morning. 

Motherhood is a lot of things, and easy is not one of them. 

In every prayer and every fast, I plead to be a better mom with disappointing results. 

But I am so grateful I get to try. I get to try and fail over and over again, day after day. Me, McKay and Macey we’re all in this together. We have learned so much from each other since those early days and it truly keeps getting better. 

Thanks for letting me be your mom. 

I love you two.

Moments

^^Macey's AAU, Emerald Force, traveling tournament league basketball team.

^^The ORNL Isotope Reactor.

The "strongest reactor-based neutron source in the country."

And apparently the only place where the Element Californium is created in the (western) World. Rich guessed it would have been in California, go figure.

The lab has been loving Dr. Messerly and his successes lately.

^^Fifth grade music concert

^^tie-tying, shirt buttoning assembly line.

^^I found this note that McKay's science teacher gave him before standardize testing.

She has over 100 students and I'm nearly certain she wrote a personalized thought to each of them.

We love our middle school so much.

^^Her business has begun!

^^baby ducks by our new neighborhood pond

^^turtle on run #1

^^turtle on run #2

^^turtle #3

We were on the way to church and Rich just had to pull over and move the guy to safety.

Chief!

Chief came to visit!

And only picture I got of him was pruning our oak tree, fitting.

Two weeks ago I got a message from my dad asking if we had any plans for the following Tuesday. I told him what we had going on and he asked if he could come spend the afternoon with us! He had a work commitment in Nashville but was willing to extend his trip and drive out to Knoxville.

I didn’t tell Rich or the kids he was coming and it was fun to surprise them all separately. Chief walked through our front door as Rich was working and he was scared to death of the intruder. When I got Macey from school I said I had a surprise for her and she instantly thought we got a puppy. Chief was a good replacement and she went running into his arms. McKay’s name was called for check out and he was convinced he forgot to turn in an assignment but when he saw Chief waiting at the car he had a huge smile.

A single afternoon wasn’t near enough time with one of our very favorite people. We were all fighting for his attention and wanted to show him all the things as our time slipped away. 

The kids brought him to the woods and refined their hatchet skills. I got his stamp of approval on our shower remodel. Rich got a good laugh at Chief foraging his own path to the creek. We had southern biscuits and gravy for dinner and then sent him on his way. 

Thanks for coming dad, it truly meant a lot! We love you. 

Moments

^^a turtle wondered into our yard and was everyone’s favorite distraction for the day.

^^taking Bert the turtle back to the neighborhood creek

^^the pothos in the living room has grown so quickly, I decided to added one in our room as well. Puts a smile on my face every time I walk by. 

^^what’s better than a popsicle, reading a good book on the front porch rocking chair?

^^The anchor of Mill Creek's morning news- every day!

^^Macey got her friends real good with her April Fools (AI generated) joke of adopting new puppies!

^^This 4x100 relay team is so fun to watch!

^^ McKay had his best game yet! He pulled two flags and ran the ball. We celebrated in the sidelines with a pretzels from a friend’s food truck. 

^love our Haw Ridge trail so much.