Little Ava Big Texas: April 2026- A Visit From the Cowleys and a Trip to Oregon

April was such a fun month with Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit us, and Brent and I got to go on a solo trip to Oregon.

First- I found this is Kai's crib one morning- he's a professional paper shredder!

Something I want to remember- Kai likes to use our sewer covers as his stage. They are particularly his favorite for singing "Ring Around the Rosie."

Kai and our next door neighbor- we share a driveway and playing space, so they're growing up together :)

Brent helped plan the URC which stands for Undergraduate Research Conference. Here he is with some of his students that presented at it. He moderated a panel based on Disney research that his students did during Fall semester. Two of his students won first and third place for their research papers.

Brent, Prof. Campbell, and their graduating seniors. This is Brent's senior seminar class he taught.

We went to our friend's the Phams for dinner. Kai let Tuan hold him!

Kai still sleeps with his bum in the air like a little baby and I think it's the cutest thing ever.

Laie had an Easter egg hunt! The weather held up for the kids to run around this field and get their eggs. They finished the egg hunt in time for all of us to go back home and watch the second session of General Conference.

A walk at the beach to enjoy the sunshine!

Conference starts at 6am here, and the second session is at 10am. We usually try to watch it live. If I sleep in a little too much, then I go back afterwards and watch what I missed. But we really prefer to watch it live and in order. Here we are, all piled in our bed listening/ tickling Kai.

Easter morning- Kai started to get the hang of putting things in his basket.

We had the sister missionaries over to watch the second session and eat breakfast with us. That helped the kids behave better!

Coen had his first orchestra concert, combined with the BYUH orchestra. Before the concert, his teacher told me she is so glad I signed him up for orchestra because he is doing sooo well on the violin. I said, "Oh really? I wouldn't know, because I cannot get him to practice at ALL." Then she said, "Oh really?? I thought you must have put him in private lessons because he is doing so well!" Haha!

Here's Coen's little orchestra. They meet as a before school activity, at 6:45am. Bless the teacher! Coen's reclining in the center of the photo.

Ava enjoyed the Navy coming to her school to do a performance and promote joining the armed forces.

I went to a lunch to celebrate Brent graduating from colloquium with his cohort. This is a semester long class you usually take in your second year at BYUH to learn how to improve your teaching.

At church- our Primary class kids sure love Kai. Kai goes barefoot to church which is totally normal as you can see.

This is my wild Audrey girl just climbing a palm tree.

We went to our next door neighbor's daughter's wedding in Kaneohe. Bob and Tammy got here that day and babysat the little ones so we only took Ava and Coen. We had such a nice time at the beautiful location that overlooks the bay.

The cute couple:

The ring ceremony was down in a lower garden, and then we all walked up a hill to the pavilion for a dinner and program. Our neighbor's brother (uncle of the bride) is Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco. The kids were particularly excited to be walking up the hill right behind him and his wife, haha. We did not talk to him- we just admired him from afar!

Brendon sang the song for the newly wed's couple's first dance, and it was sooo amazing! I know he's a professional and sings for his job and all, but wow. The bride performed the hula for her new husband, and he performed the haka for her (his dad is from New Zealand).

Kai's giggles- we all love them!

Kai really loves his Grandpa! He kept wanting Grandpa.

Kai just living his best life. If it involves water, he's HAPPY. This is our next door neighbor's backyard- they are one of the four of us that share a driveway, so our kids play and play.

Grandpa got to go with the girls to their Thursday night baptisms at the temple.

I snuck a picture of Brent letting them into the baptistry, because how cute is he?

Friday was graduation and Grandma and Grandpa walked over with me and Kai and got to enjoy a cultural experience!

Many of the graduates had their meeting spot with their families that included posters of the graduate, music, and a tent.

Brent with one of his graduating students. All the professors wear their graduation garb from the different universities where they received their PhDs.

We met our neighbors at the beach and Grandma & Grandpa got to see Kai in action in the waves.

We had another wedding, this time we all went to it. Brent's student's reception was in the Aloha ballroom on campus. It was quite the cultural experience with lots of dancing and cultural food. We all danced on the dance floor and had so much fun!

There were many performances- here's one by the bride and her bridesmaids.

Here's the newlywed couple after she changed into her Tongan clothes to do a performance.

We went to the zoo with Grandma & Grandpa in Honolulu.

We stopped for a view at the nearby lighthouse.

CUTE!

Another day, Grandma & Grandpa took Ava to her orthodontist appointment for us. It's 45 minutes away, so that's super helpful. They stopped at the Byodo-In Temple and fed the birds- everyone fed them!

My neighbors were cutting their bushes and I took one of the branches and put it in water. Later that afternoon a flower blossomed! But also, in this picture, see if you can find the super tiny lizard on Ava's water bottle straw. Grandpa took it outside to live out there instead.

We had a gorgeous sunset!

And happy play time outside.

Brent left for his conference in Portland, and I joined him a few days later. He went to the Goonies house and the film museum in Astoria for his research on cultural shrines of filming locations This research was for his presentation coming up in Ireland in June. But in Portland, he presented at the What is Research Conference that he has participated in since 2017, with his good friend and mentor, Janet Wasko (a prominent Disney scholar). His presentation was titled, "When Archives Say No: Trace Historiography as Method)." This was based on his amazing work he did on his dissertation where BYU would not let him access their archive and he had to trace the history through various other methods.

I joined Brent a few days later, and Grandma & Grandpa stayed home watching our 4 kids. It had been almost 5 years since Brent and I left our kids overnight, so this was a treat! I joined Brent for a dinner honoring those graduates of the U of O, and then I worked on different to-dos, like researching and buying flights for our travels, on the last day of his conference.

We stayed with Seth's parents in Vancouver WA, and they were the sweetest people ever. On Saturday we drove down to Eugene and went straight to the temple open house! The temple was announced when we lived in Eugene, and we cheered. We attended the groundbreaking, and watched the temple in its early stages of being built. So we were excited to be able to go to the open house. We saw so many people from our ward there that night! It was so fun.

Afterward we went to one of our favorites that we only discovered right before we moved away, Dos Amigos Hacienda. Being on one long multi-day date was so fun- thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Back at home on Saturday the kids had their History Day competition, which Brent and I were sad to miss. Our neighbor sent us lots of updates and photos, so that's good. Coen's documentary was titled, "From Shadows to Scissors: German Expressionism's Revolution and the Tim Burton Style" and he got first place in State for the Youth age group.

Our friend said Coen was killing it in his interview!

Ava did her documentary with Aspen, and theirs was titled, "Ink, Imagination and Inequality: The Revolution of Women in Animation." They got 2nd place in State, which meant they get to go to Washington DC in June. Grandma & Grandpa drove down with the younger two and watched them win their awards.

Back home that night Ava had a choir performance. It was a busy weekend for us to miss, but I'm thankful for friends sending me pictures!

In Eugene Brent and I stayed with Seth & Tiffany. Seth is a professor at the U of O and active LDS. He was such a wonderful mentor to Brent when we lived there, and still is. Whenever decisions would come up about Brent's schooling, dissertation, and applying for jobs, I would always say to Brent, "What does Seth say? ... Do that then." We had so much fun staying with Seth & Tiffany- we stayed up too late laughing and talking each night, including with their kids.

On Sunday we went to our old ward. Being in Eugene was a lot more emotional and nostalgic than I realized it was going to be. I kept saying things like, "Awww, that's where I took Ava to preschool." Or "Awww, that's the restaurant where we went to after we found out Audrey was a girl." Going back to our ward felt like going back home and we gave so many people hugs. I only have a couple pictures though:

Tammy, who was my counselor in the Primary Presidency and who came to read to my kids each Tuesday, "Tammy Tuesday." She became a surrogate grandma to my kids which is so important to have when you live far from home. She went to Coen's basketball games and cheered for him, and to my kids' fun run when I was out of town. Awwww, see? Nostalgia! We loved so many people in Eugene and I told Brent, "I'm not sad, I'm just really happy that we were so happy here."

After dinner our good friends, the Kohlers invited us over to dinner. We always have so much fun chatting with them, and they are so good to watch over our house, which is just down the street from them.

On Monday Brent and I went to our house to organize and clean out some of our storage room. It's a bedroom where we put everything in that we didn't want to take to Hawaii. I found some goodies, like this note from Ava: "I love you Mom. You make me happy wen I am sad. You are a good mom. You mack the best sofe (stuff). I like to play with you. We have the best aventurers mom."

Going through all of his pins from Disney World. By the way, Eugene felt so cold to us! Luckily I found a warmer coat in storage there that I used the rest of the trip.

On Monday evening we went to family night at the Freeman's house. We used to do this sometimes when we lived there and it was perfect timing to see some of our friends there!

This is the Lewis' house where we stayed- it's over 100 years old and pink! They live right by campus.

Since we were on our multi-day date, we went to one of my favorite places ever, Hendricks Park. The rhododendrons were blooming!!

Favorite place + favorite person= Happy Jen

We stopped on campus so Brent could see his advisor, and we also got to see Brother Crook, our beloved institute teacher. He is one of the kindest men you will ever meet.

Back at home, Grandma & Grandpa were holding down the fort. They said that Ava helped a lot with Kai- she actually got in his crib with him to put him to bed! They went out to dinner at Seven Brothers:

And they went to the temple grounds

Brent and I flew home from Eugene and I had some awesome views of Crater Lake in Oregon, and Diamond Head in Hawaii.

Grandma & Grandpa picked us up at the airport and we went straight to Aulani, the Disney resort, to look for some characters. Here's Kai and Audrey in front of a fish pond. Kai was happy to see us!