Lazy Days of Summer

Since the kids missed out on end of school year parties (class, reading, and last day fun) we decided to let them do something they've been wanting to do for a couple of years - kayaking. Casey booked a kayak and took Kendal and Peter out on June second. They went from Centennial Park to Pillar Falls and back. They even got to play around on the rocks at the falls since the water level is low right now. They had a great time (even if the kids' rowing wasn't very helpful ; ).

That night we took the kids to the high school to watch the senior / graduation parade. It was good to get out and support the students and kids from our ward that are graduating.

My YW group did a glow stick dance activity where we made videos at home and then one of the parents put them all together for us to watch. I wanted to motivate my girls by going first, and Casey was sweet enough to join my crazy.

I had a good birthday! Casey made us pancakes for breakfast and I got to open cards from everyone. Casey also learned the happy birthday song on his Ukulele - so I got a couple of serenades that day. We ventured out to Mermaid Cove falls on the north side of the canyon later in the morning. It was a quick little hike, and we were lucky enough to miss the rain. We picked up some lunch on the way home to eat at home. That afternoon the kids ran off so Casey and I watched the latest Toy Story with Alice. When the kids came back Casey made home made Dole Whip. (Sooo Good!!) We ended the night with homemade pizza!

 

 We've had a very lazy week this past week. With sports cancelled and our days being hectic with school during lock down I'm welcoming a slower pace. I do have a reading and learning on the computer incentive going on with the kids this summer. They have to read everyday and can get extra tickets for doing writing and school stuff on the computer. The tickets go towards prizes (treat, Wii time, outing with mom / dad, etc.)  They spent their first weeks on treats and this past week they combined tickets to have a movie / treat. Kendal and Peter spend most afternoons off with friends while Alice naps or plays with us / Jemma (we have Jemma twice a week). Casey has open gym with basketball for the next month, so starting last Monday he's gone every night for a couple of hours. I got to have my first activity back with my Young Women group this past Wednesday. We had a pizza party (since we won the indexing competition with our ward youth), and we played volleyball. All our activities have to be outside for the next month so we'll see what we end up doing.
Friday evening we went over and had a cookout with the Welch's. Kendal and Peter had been there for a couple of hours and we joined after Jemma was picked up. Alice dressed up the whole time and we enjoyed chatting while the kids were playing around.

Memorial weekend / Schools out!!

We decided to break out of Kimberly and visit Logan for Memorial weekend. We went down Thursday morning; when we got there we picked up some lunch and went to Nana's. The kids enjoyed playing around with Emma and visiting with Nana. Casey went over to help David on his house and I left Kendal to play with Emma at Nana's for the afternoon. Alice, Peter, and I went to Grandma and Grandpa's to play!
Friday the kids did school work (Alice got lots of tablet time from Grandpa during our visit). That night we put on a nice dinner for Grandma and Grandpa's Anniversary. We ended the night with pinacolada's, caramel popcorn, and watching black beards ghost. Saturday we met up with Nana, Sally, Billie and their families to go out to Clarkston, then the Logan Cemeteries. Despite the blustery day we had a good time. Billie has put together a bunch of family history stories to go along with our ancestors which was neat and fun to look up extra people we haven't sought out much before.

Also on Saturday Peter was wiggling his tooth (as usual) and my Dad bet him $20 to pull it out by the end of the day. Peter sat with me on the couch wiggling away so I swatted his hand and out popped the tooth! He was so surprised and I didn't believe him initially that it worked. We all had a good laugh at it, and poor Grandpa had to fork over his 20!

Sunday we had a nice morning at my parents doing home church and relaxing. After lunch we went back up to the Logan cemetery with David and Anica. We found more graves and afterwards the kids played at the house for a bit. After dinner we went out to Nana's house for a visit. The kids played games with Tate. (Mom and Dad on their future "resting spot". ; )

We had a very full memorial day. We met up with Sally, Billie (plus their families), Mom, Katheirne, Andy, Campbell, Hailey, Tony, and Lisa to go to baby animal days. We followed social distancing as well as possible and enjoyed going around the farm seeing the animals, and lots of treats from Tony and Andy. Alice was afraid of most of them, but was willing to pet the chicks, duck and turtles. Kendal wanted to hold anything and everything. Peter did hold a chick, and baby turtle, and pet a few other animals. He liked feeding hay to the cow, horse, and camels.

After lunch we went on a little four wheeling ride up green canyon, part of it was closed so we ended early. The kids got to go ride at the shop afterwards!

We ended the day with a hot dog roast with Sally, Billie, Tony, Lisa, and their families. The kids had a blast playing and running around. It was a great evening spent with family we don't get to see often.

Tuesday morning we did some school work and then did a short time at the shop riding four wheeler's. After lunch we headed out to take ice cream to the boys and visit Nana. Peter got to help Dad / David at the job site while the girls and I visited Nana. After dinner we said so long and headed home.

Kendal had her spring recital on Thursday! It's been quite the year with the first part being taught by Nancy Hyde and the second by Christina Talbot. Kendal will continue lessons into summer. We had a little over a month of online lessons during the height of the pandemic. Kendal has worked hard this year and progressed a lot. Her teacher did a virtual recital where she had just the kids there and she did a live video of the recital for families to tune in to watch. Kendal did a wonderful job on her piece, we're proud of her hard work!

The last two weeks we trudged our way through the end of school. Peter was a hard to motivate during this whole distance learning, but he still did his work, persevered, and accomplished a lot! Kendal did a great job with distance learning and only gave us grief with how much time she spent messaging friends. She's sad it's over, and we're all hopeful school resumes fairly normal schedule in the fall. I'm very happy school is out - this Mama needs a mental break from home school and all of this crazy. Casey finished up his year and was amazing for all that he did with the middle school kids and online learning! We are so thankful for all of the work that the kids' teachers put in this past semester. They are amazing and will be missed by the kids.
We celebrated the last day of school Friday with some church friends. I took the kids over to the Dansies and we had a water field day with the Dansies, Binghams, Youngs, Midells, Welches, and Birks. Each mom did a water activity that the kids rotated through. The kids had so much fun spending time with friends they haven't seen in a while. Alice happily played a few games and ran around with the other little's. It was such a fun way to end the school year! That night we took the kids to Kiwi Loco to celebrate and enjoy a treat!

We didn't do our typical Saturday outing this past weekend. We did a short neighborhood walk in the morning before it got hot. Then we spent the rest of the day cleaning / organizing and doing a couple of small projects around the house.

Today we took the kids to pick up their things from school. Peter didn't get to see his teacher  Mrs. Williams. (luckily she did a zoom last week to say goodbye.) Kendal said so long to Mr. Zunino and got a trophy from Mrs. Grover for getting fifth place in the school for total reading points!! It was interesting going in with masks on saying our handful of goodbyes not knowing what this fall will bring.

. . . and just for smiles - Alice