The Best Three Months!

January-March 2026

One of my very favorite things this winter was having Parker home more often. He was doing an internship in Carlsbad, New Mexico from January through March. Because it was "only" two hours away, he decided to come home most weekends to do his laundry, rest, go to church, and just be with family. Often he only had Sundays off, but to him, the drive was worth it.

It made my mama heart so happy.

I loved getting to hug him so often. We would sometimes squeeze in a late-night walk together. He'd hang out with Tanner and Erin and snuggle and play with Kaide. He joined us for Sunday dinner, FHE, and our extended family Sunday night gatherings. Then around 9:00 p.m., he would head back to New Mexico to get ready for another long work week.

His major is Construction Management, and it was interesting hearing about the projects he was working on while interning for an oil company. It isn't where he wants to end up long term, but I think he appreciated both the experience and the paycheck.

One of the harder things about sending kids off to missions and college at 18 is realizing they don't really come back home in the same way again. We only see them a few times a year, and I know they are happy and exactly where they should be, which brings me so much peace. But I do wish we lived a bit closer to BYUI and BYU.

Having Parker home almost every weekend was such an unexpected gift. It was WONDERFUL. He is funny and smart and helpful, and he brings so much life into our home. I'm glad he is back at BYU–Idaho (and I know he is too), but I'll treasure this random little three-month season when we got to enjoy having him so close.

He used EVERY ONE of these eggs to make breakfast burritos For ONE WEEK to take back to his apartment. Crazy boy.

Temple trip in Lubbock

"Sunday Night" hula hoop battles. All of the cousin (age 32-6) are good, I mean really, really good hula hoopers because it was taught at their elementary school. See this blog post from 2013 However, Christian, age 6, beat everyone. It was impressive.

Tanner & Parker

Visiting Gram and Grandpa Vore