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Monday, September 14, 2026

Couples Christmas retreat

For Christmas, we took the groups of kids, on a fun little sleepover at a hotel.   We wanted to do a getaway with just the adults and I was checking on VRBO's that were close by.  Jamie reminded me that his friend Josh had a VRBO in Eden that was really nice and so he checked on it.  Josh was SO NICE!  He let us use it for just the price he pays his cleaners.  Since I had a couple thousand set aside for the VRBO, each couple got some money to do with as they pleased.  


I tended Jamie and Jordan's kids Friday afternoon-Saturday morning.  Jamie had so much to do, and had been out of town to visit her mom just a couple of weeks before and would be leaving town with Jordan for their anniversary next week,  that she didn't feel like she could be gone the whole weekend.  That made it possible for Mike and I to join the kids Saturday afternoon - Sunday morning.  We had such a great time.  We visited, played games, visited and went out to a yummy Mexican restaurant.  It's so fun to spend time with those you love! 

 

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

Saddest Day EVER!

My nephew Pierce passed away unexpectedly on August 26,2026 from a pulmonary embolism.  He was such a creative and amazing man.   In his short 40 years, he lived more than most of us will if we live to be 100.  He spent so much time on incredible vacations with his sweet family, his wife Stacy, daughter Adelaide 13 and son Jackson 10.  Just in the last few years, he took them to Australia,  spent 2 summers in Hawaii, one summer in New York, a trip to Europe in the spring, not to mention all the other adventures they went on.  Stacy, Pierce and Adelaide all said he was their best friend, as I think everyone who spoke at his Celebration of Life party did. It just shows what an amazing guy he was.


Pierce was on the actor Ryan Reynolds, Creative Art team and he wrote the nicest article about Pierce.  Here's a few of the things he said.   The Hollywood star described Pierce Thiot as a “shining light of creativity, kindness and hard work” and said it was “impossible to imagine the world, let alone our company” without him. Thiot had worked at Maximum Effort for almost five years and was involved in some of the company’s biggest creative projects during that time. “He was beloved,” Reynolds said. “We adored and admired Pierce. He was generous with his time and love. He gave the best hugs.” 
I love and agree with everything he said about Pierce. 
Pierce's favorite color was purple and he LOVED tie-dyed shirts.  Stacy requested that everyone who came to his "going away /celebration of life party wear one of those.  Josh had the idea to get together and make tie dyed shirts to wear. We had done it with Robynn's family when our kids were little at Big Bear park in Sandy, so that's where we did it.
 He invited our family, Tatia's family and Stacy's family and friends. 


 There ended up being 62 people! 


Tatia brought tie dye supplies


and Josh brought supplies for reverse tie dye.
Everyone had a great time being together and thinking about Pierce and what an amazing guy he was.


The shirts all turned out incredible and so different.  Here's a few of them.


Josh and Merijane made delicious S'more bars, Krista made yummy mint brownies and I brought otter pops.  It was such a special night.  Adelaide told Merijane, that her dad would have LOVED it.


We had to take a picture for old times sake by the bear.


Here's Josh's cute family in their shirts.


Just a few days before Pierce died, he was biking with his best buddy Andy, and he told him that when he died, he didn't want a sad funeral.  He wanted a party, and that's exactly what he got.  They did his going away/celebration of life party at the beautiful Timpanogos park. They put an invitation on Instagram and had over 700 people attend.  They had pizza, snow cones, giant pretzels, mini cheesecakes and fun sodas.  It was amazing.  Most of the venders were friends with Pierce and donated the food.  


Robynn had the idea to make Pierce Party Mix and between her, Lani, Tatia and I, we made about 500 bags of it to pass out that night. (Skyler made the cute tag for it)


One of their friends made Pierce tattoos that they passed out for everyone who wanted one.


Ricky and Jake were asked to speak along with some of Pierce's friends and coworkers as well as a comedian, (which Pierce told Andy he wanted)


Stacy, Adelaide and Jackson all gave a beautiful tribute to their dad and husband. 


There was a gorgeous sunset


that went from yellow to pink.


The weatherman had predicted rain, but it didn't start raining until shortly after the program was over.  It was an amazing event that I'm sure Pierce approved of.  He was such a great guy and we will be miss him so much.  The fact that there were probably at least 700 people shows how many lives he touched.