Ellis Bear Lake

My parents took my kids up to the lake a couple weeks ago.  It was a cold week, but my kids are always up for the lake no matter how cold.  Evelyn loves her cousin Kat and says that she's going to name her daughter Kat.  Ada loved spending time with Ellen.

The boys had a sand war.

Ada loved being Thea's buddy.

My mom said that Seth spent hours in "his hole".

And Evelyn always does Evelyn with style.

Burying is a must.  I don't know how Michelle felt about it, but everyone else looks pleased with themselves.

fires

We have had two major fires this week.  One up behind Draper and one across the lake at Saratoga Springs.  Both were terrible, and neither of them burned any houses.  I have friends in both areas and they have all said what a miracle it was.  The 60 mile an hour wind suddenly shifting to the opposite direction, the melting of a fence and nothing else, hotels providing emergency sheltering because local schools and church are unavailable because of COVID-19 laws.... I love God's mercy for my brothers and sisters!  Besides smoky air, it made for a really pretty sunset for us.  

                                                  

Ada saw pictures on pinterest using hair to make shapes.  She wanted to play.... so we did.

Sam coaxed Lucy to lay down on Ada's hair and pin her to the ground.  It was pretty funny.

I was on my way inside and saw these cute people swinging and talking together.  I love it.

Weekend backpacking up Rock Canyon

I am so dang proud of these kids.  They set a goal of backpacking with Dad as he prepared his stuff for overnight TERT hours.  They both would fill up their bags and walk on the treadmill on an incline so that they were in shape to do it.  They both said it was hard, and both said they would do it again.  Especially Sam.  He came back beaming.  They went up Rock Canyon to where Jer had scouted out a camp site, but when they got there Ada started exploring and found another path that led away from the main path.  They followed it and ended up in this gorgeous spot that was much quieter than people walking through your camp at 5 am.  Someone had made a giant lean to and the kids had a blast with that.  They were supposed to go on Sam's birthday, but it ended up being rainy.  When they went ended up being in the mid 80s.  And now it's in the 70s.... They managed to pick the hottest two days of the month, and they still came back smiling.  I used to like backpacking.  Now I'm old and decrepit.  Between my heart, my hip, and my foot... hiking and sleeping on the ground are not a great combination.

Sam got so many comments on his Perry the Platypus shirt.  You'd think that we live in nerd land or something.... oh wait, we do.

These guys have my heart.  I love them dearly.

The rest of what's been going on

So our dishwasher died about a week ago.  Jer has replaced the pump and repaired a pump on this one.... so we called it officially dead. We ordered a new one, but it was just after the Memorial Day sale and everyone was out of most models in the color we needed.  It's going to be to us hopefully by June 30th, but until then we are hand washing dishes.  Two of these weeks I'm going to start daycare again, so..... dishes for 14.  That's okay.  It's boring, but it's not hard.  I told the kids that they need to wash what they use right after they're done with it.  That's cut down on dishes a little.  Instead of 2 hours a night, it's closer to half an hour.  Jer's been really good about doing dishes.  He knows how much I hate handwashing.  Bless that man.

We also have done something that I really have enjoyed over the last month.  We had both sets of Grandparents speak at our sacrament meetings and tell us their personal conversion stories.  I've loved every single one of them.  I think personal testimonies are beautiful things.  

Ada and Sam both made some progress with their youth goals.  They both set running as their physical goals.  Ada wanted to run a 5k and Sam wanted to do a 10k.  Jer remined them to go running occasionally and one day this last week they challenged each other to finish their races.  And they did.  I love that they did that for each other.  

The rest of the week

Before leaving for Wyoming to meet the Grandparents, Emma and Stephen brought Peter over for dinner and games.  It was fun to see Emma in her new role as Mom.  They are super cute parents.  Peter's recovered from his surgery and Emma dealt with Covid isolation and surgery like a champ.  I think that everything going on is actually helping her with her anxiety.  She seems so calm and collected.  It was fun to see them.  I enjoy their company and "my" great nephew is pretty cute.  He stares at Stephen no matter who's holding him.  He's a Daddy's boy already and he's only 8 weeks old.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures while they were here.  But it was fun to see them. 

Wed this week we went on a bike ride with my parents.  They found this awesome 50 year old tandem bike on KSL for $50.  It's fun to drive, but you definitely have to have a wider turning radius than your used to on a bike.  I have a We-ride on my bike that the kids have all taken turns using.  It's easier to turn than with the tandem and I've only crashed once with a kid on the back in the 10 years that we've used it.  I rode the tandem with Seth on the back this time. It's more stable and not as wobbly, but I wasn't used to how it turns and crashed halfway through our ride.  I was able to half catch myself so that no one got really hurt.  I slowed down the fall and Seth jumped out of the way without getting hurt.  I scratched my leg and twisted my knee and back, but nothing that won't go away in a couple days.  My parent's house has lots of fun paths around the lake and through birding areas.

Evelyn forgot to bring shoes down, luckily Jer was able to drop some off for us, but Jer's team just did a release that day and he had to be working instead of biking with us.

Jordan's baptism

My nephew, Jordan, got baptized this last week. It was really neat.  He was worried that they wouldn't be able to do the baptism and that my parents wouldn't be able to make it out to Virginia for it, because Virginia's still on lock down.  Their family ended up coming out to stay with my parents because my brother was working from home anyways and at least here they can leave the house.  They couldn't even leave their apartment out there.  Jordan had his birthday and they approved having his baptism here.  ALL of us got to be part.  That was fun.  

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After the baptism in the morning, I went a school board meeting and Ada decorated Sam's cake.  She had all these plans to make it fancy and Sam said no... nothing but Oreos.... so that's what she did.  Then we sang to him and had birthday cake at Grandma's since the cousins were still together after the baptism.

I can't believe this kid is 11.  In some ways he's so mature and in others he's not.  He can't wait to be able to attend the temple next year.  He's really disappointed that he has to wait another 6 months.  He, Ada and Dad were supposed to go on a backpacking trip for his birthday but it rained so they rescheduled it for this next weekend.  They're actually leaving later today.  I hope he has fun.  He really likes doing things.  He hates boredom.