Hello Summer Break!

We are all thrilled to be finished with online school.  I'm so proud of all of the kids and how hard they worked.  It was not ideal and it was very frustrating at time, but they all worked hard and stuck with it until the end.

On Tuesday we went to Katie's so Caitlyn and Kiara could hang out.  They had fun shopping for a while and just hanging out and catching up.

I brought Hallee and Wyatt too so they could play with Kenzie and Boston.  The kids were really excited to swim. 

I had fun playing with the kids in the pool.

It was nice that I could visit with Katie while the kids played.

Hallee was so excited that she could jump off the diving board without a floaty. She does a great job getting around the pool.

Hallee laid on this floaty and said, "ah, this is the life."

They have so many fun toys for the water.  The kids had a blast and could have swam all day.

Kiara and Caitlyn got in the pool with us.  Caitlyn loves to play with Kenzie.

We were all laughing pretty hard while we made up new names for everyone.

Keith came over after work.  I wish I would have got a picture of him.  He brought pizza over and we all ate and swam for a few hours.  It was so fun!

On Friday Tiff was taking her older kids to swim.  We joined her and had another great day! These girls were so cute and had so much fun playing together. 

The girls would line up on the diving board and then two of them would jump off together.

The boys were doing funny poses off the diving board.  Tiff caught this great shot of Wyatt.

The boys had fun making up games, jumping and diving.

Wyatt had fun playing corn hole with Boston.  Katie's back yard is amazing.  I feel like we are on vacation when we are there.

The kids all go into the shed over and over and bring more pool toys out. 

The kids all decided to line up on the diving board and take turns pushing each other in.

It was funny to watch them push each other in. 

It was such a hot day so it was the perfect day for swimming.  I loved visiting with Katie and Tiff while the kids played.  It was so nice to be in the pool to avoid the heat.

Wyatt showed us some break dancing moves.

Ben grabbed dinner and then the kids swam again for a couple of hours.  I think they were in the pool for six hours and they still weren't ready to leave. I hope we have a lot more days like this during summer break!

Two dogs are better than one

Wyatt loved having Pepper stay with us.  He loves animals so much!

Hallee loved having Pepper here too.  She loved that Pepper would take a nap on her.

Last weekend Caitlyn went to her friend Emma's birthday party. They watched a movie outside and gave them a corona virus gift bag with wet wipes, roll of T.P. and a face mask.  Caitlyn loved seeing her friends from school.  This is the first time she has seen any of her friends since the quarantine.  It has been so hard for her to lose all of her social connections.  She tries to make the best out of everything, but this has been so tough.  I was so happy that she got to see some of her friends.

I snapped this picture of Wyatt coming out of his break dancing class.  He has been able to go in the studio the past couple of weeks.  It has been so good for him.  He comes out so happy.  His teacher texted me about summer classes and said that Wyatt should be in an intermediate class. She said, "he is very coordinated and quite strong." Wyatt was thrilled to hear that and can't wait to start his new class next week.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went to my parent's house Sunday Afternoon.  Most of us went to the cemetery to visit Jen's grave.  It is still just hard.  I've been thinking about Jen and really missing her lately.  I often find myself wishing I could talk to her about different things.

It was nice to talk about Jen and share memories while we were there together.

Julie and I agreed that Jonah looks like Gary.  I love when my kids get time with their aunts and uncles.  My kids look up to all of them and I'm so grateful that my kids have such wonderful people who love them and influence them for good in their lives.

Most of the cousins love to play scum.  There is usually a game going on when we are at grandma's house.

Caleb brought a game called Poop.  It was hilarious.  Tiff, Gary and I had fun playing with the boys. We all got a kick out of the potty humor.

Jonah stayed at my parents Sunday night so he could go on a hike with the family Monday morning.  He loved hiking with his cousins.

We drove back down on Monday afternoon.  Kyle brought his long board and everyone was having fun on it.  When we got there on Monday Jonah, Jacob and Rockwell were riding the long board and Jonah wanted me to come watch him and Jacob ride down devils hill.

I was not crazy about the idea of them riding down devils hill.  Rockwell was their lookout and would make sure no cars were coming.  They rode the long board down the hill and then coasted all of the way down the street and around the block back to my parents house.

We were torn on if we should let the boys do this or not. Gary decided they needed two lookouts so I would go to the end of the street and lookout for them.

It is so hard to say no to these cute boys!  Caitlyn wanted to go down on her rip stick and was not happy that I said no.  I can see why she thought that was unfair.  She handled it well and talked to me later about her frustrations.  Parenting is hard.  There are so many decisions that are hard to make.   Caitlyn has been hurt on the rip stick a few times and I think it is more dangerous, so that was my thought process.  I was proud of her for talking to me about it instead of letting it fester.

More games of scum on Monday. We had a delicious barbecue so much good food and homemade ice cream for dessert.

The kids loved having Gary play tag with them.

I loved just sitting back and watching the cousins have a blast together.

Grandpa took the kids for a ride in the truck.

Kyle and Paige decided to hop in too.

Jonah was watching Kyle and Paige dance and told them to dance again so he could learn from them.  Paige decided it would be better if he learned by dancing with her.  It was so funny to watch.

We all loved having Gary and Julie in town for the weekend.  At the last minute we decided to let Jonah ride home with them and stay for a week.  He was so excited and kept thanking me for letting him go.  He is having the time of his life up there.  I love hearing about all of the fun things he is doing.  I told him that he will have to do a post on here about his trip when he gets home.

House Guests

Gary and Julie decided to come to Utah over Memorial day weekend.  Ammon and Ashley drove up a few days early with Julie's parents and stayed with us.  We were all so excited!

Jonah and Wyatt both loved having Ammon here.

Caitlyn and Ashley had a great time together and they were always good about including Hallee.

I loved hearing the boys laugh about a funny part in a book.

Mel and Tiff came over Thursday morning.  Mel and her family are in Colorado this weekend visiting EJ.  They dropped off Pepper here and were able to see Ammon and Ashley before they left.

We took Ammon and Ashley for a ride on the river trail.

I wanted to be in one of the pictures.  Jonah said we looked like a scooter gang.

The kids had fun trying to skip rocks.

Caitlyn, Jonah and Ashley had fun climbing this tree.

The boys loved playing video games together, but they were great sports about doing other things when I asked them to.

We had fun playing games together, playing outside and just visiting and laughing together.

Gary and Julie got in last night.  Everyone came over to our house this afternoon.  It was so great to see everyone!

The adults went to lunch and the kids stayed at our house and played.

It was great to visit and laugh together over delicious food.  It was also exciting to eat in a restaurant again, it has been months since we have been able to do that.

After lunch we all went back to our house.  The adults visited while the kids played.  Hallee and Tessa loved having two dogs to play with.  I'm not sure Pepper loved the jeep ride though!  We are excited to see Gary and Julie and their family again tomorrow and Monday!