Sister Willardson gets visitors!

Aaron’s brother John and cousin Ella (soon to be sister Willardson speaking Mandarin in Ontario) took a day trip from Utah to LA for a Dodgers game last week. They stopped into the LA visitors center and learned that Reese was working in the mission office next door, so they popped in and surprised her!  

They had a good visit and Ella got a little taste of missionary life. We talked to John tonight and said Reese was shocked and so happy to see family members. Thanks for checking in on our girl, John and Ella! 

Spring Break Pensacola: Buc-ees and the trek home

Oh Buc-ees. You’re such a weird place. 

This was a first time for most of the Willardsons, and they were pumped for candy and ice flavors galore, beaver nuggets, fudge, jerky, and teen-approved snacks 

It was Saturday, so a total madhouse and more crowded than universal studios. Upon entering, the big boys disappeared, and then the triplets darted in 3 different directions. It was as if one took all the aspected of a Meg willardson panic attack packaged up into an overstimulated inflatable with buc-ees beaver on it. Summary: the kids lived their best lives. I lived. Hahaha. 

We ate pulled pork and brisket and Philly steak burritos and cookie dough. Sloane crashed out hard in the aisle when she was sent to pick out dinner and returned with a rainbow scratch n sniff journal. She fell asleep on top of her sandwich in the car after taking 1 bite and we found it smashed up beneath her several hours later. 😂. Other highlights were the garlic teriyaki jerky farts from the back of the van and the jalapeños Cheeto puff dust that got into the air vents and caused an allergic reaction. 

We drove the full 11.5-12ish hours home yesterday. Aaron and I listened to Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson on Audible  for the first 4ish hours. 

I drove a 4 hour shift in the middle. Quincy was DJ and queued up music for me. The kids were great! Dinner at chick fil a, then Q moved to the back with the boys to watch march madness games, littles slept, and Aaron and I talked the home stretch. 

When we dropped off Ammon around 10:30pm, we unrolled the windows to holler “bye!” and the driver’s side window got stuck and wouldn’t roll back up. What the random? We drove home windows down from there. The better to air out the van, I suppose, right?

 Lol wrong. Aaron and I woke up at 3 am to a thunderstorm and were out in our drive way duct taping a plastic bag and umbrella over the open window in the downpour hahaha. At least it didn’t break until the last 20 minutes of the drive! 

Road trips are the best and the worst and the Willardsons are here for all of it. 

Spring Break Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum

The Naval Aviation Museum was very cool..especially for the Top Gun and armed forces enthusiasts in the family. 

A fun surprise was running into Quincy’s friend Brock W at the museum. Brock was vacationing with Tanner S, a friend from Quincy’s math class. The three of them had texted all week trying to scheme a way to get together at each other’s beach, but schedules hadn’t worked out. Coincidentally, we stopped at the museum on a whim Aaron had on our way to go shelling in Navarre (we never made it to Navarre lol) and there were Brock and Tucker S! Tanner had flown home that morning to Bentonville for drumline rehearsal so they missed each other, but they all laughed about their failed attempts to gather all week and then running into each other by chance. 

We got tickets to the TRex documentary on IMAX. Sloane was NOT about the large theater, but with a lot of courage, entered the room and sat on my lap. By halfway through the film she had her ears uncovered and sat independently. I’m proud of her for being brave. The movie was cool and captivating. 


The other adventure was the Max 360 flight simulator. Aaron bought a session for Quincy and Soren and one for the Lobster Boys. They went crazy and everyone in the queue died laughing over the muffled screams coming from inside their sim pod. 








Corbin was pretty nauseated after his simulator spin with Ammon 😂. Bear and Aaron did the less thrilling Blue Angels simulator. Bear said it reminded him of Star Tours at Disney. Sloane, Esme and I walked around and looked at the plane and spaceships on display. 

After the museum, we drove to a cheddars scratch kitchen for dinner and famous honey butter croissants. 

We spent the afternoon playing spikeball on our beach and ended the night with Wicked and a puzzle. The teen double feature was a cute movie on Netflix called the Life List (similar to the Ultimate Gift). Ammon served up nachos for everyone at Midnight and proved he really is a Willardson at heart. 

Spring Break Pensacola

When we weren’t playing at the beach, we were lounging around the beach house. We ate soooo many popsicles and ice cream treats. We had midnight circle K runs. We watched movies, did puzzles, played guitar and some games. I bought a $20 crock pot and made simple meals like soup with sister Schubert rolls, salsa chicken tacos, and mississippi pot roast with Bob Evans mashed potatoes. I did zero laundry at the beach house and am catching up now that we are home. Totally worth it to take the week off. It was just such a good and relaxing week. We watched so many basketball games and I cried actual tears after the hogs lost. 

Lobster Boys

“You take a bad boy. You put him out in the hot sun and make him dig holes all day. It turns him into a good boy” -Mr. Sir (Holes) 

Corbin and Ammon made a few giant holes. I don’t even have a photo of the finished product but you need help to get in and out of it because it’s so deep. Here’s a pic of them just getting started. Probably before their minimal sunscreen wore off. They claimed to have reapplied every time we sent them inside for more. Turns out, they did not. They went inside and drank sodas and came back outside with high hopes of beating the UV index and getting sick tans. 

Oh boys. 

Bear listened and reapplied. He is not sunburned. 

Quincy also spent the entire day baking in the sun, but faithfully reapplied heavy SPF every 60-90 minutes. She is bronze and complaint free. 

Ammon and Corbin are bellyaching constantly about their painful burns from their plans gone wrong. They are now referred to as Lobster Boys. They spent yesterday indoors or in the shade, weeping and reapplying aloe to one another. 

Corbin has been an independent teen most of this trip, but yesterday he was back to “Moooooommmmmm! I need you!” 

Bless it. Yes, son. You do. 

Spring Break Pensacola Days 2-3

I love the beach.

Duolingo doesn’t quit on vacation. 
We’ve played lots of volleyball, football, built sand castles, dug a bunch of big holes, read, napped, watched a bunch of movies, played cards and games, puzzled, eaten our weight in popsicles, been to Walmart too many times, been in the water (um it’s freezing), flown kites, listened to music, looked for shells, been on long long walks, sunbathed, napped more…that’s it really. It is very much a lazy vacation and I love it. The kids love it too!