May 2020

 We finished up school on-line,

and we had some wonderful times.

The world is still weird and closed down.

But we try to smile more than we frown.

Akaydeh graduated in a different way.

And we tried to be grateful every day.

Akaydeh and Kinley made a FUN scavenger hunt, and we all had a blast!

Even though most things are shut down (including sports) we are so thankful for the Fishers and that we have dinners with them on the daily.

Online school was very rough, but we did the best we could.

Jeep and I went on a ride out west, and we saw an elk up close!

We love when cute Addie visits!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Koda!

Jeep's main project this month was improving our front yard. This is the BEFORE pic.

Doesn't it look great?! This is the AFTER pic.

On a couple of mountain outings, the Fishers took us repelling. They look so professional! Here is Tay. I'm proud of her for facing her fear of heights.

Kin looking good while repelling too.

Grandma Nedra and Mimi Shelley on Mother's Day Weekend at our cookout.

Happy Mother's Day to me! These wonderful kids made me breakfast in bed.

Jeep got me a reading scratch out poster. I'm so excited to read these books! 

Mom, me, Jeep, and Nedra. It was good to be gathered on Mother's Day.

I love these kids with my whole heart! I'm so thankful to be their mom.

Have I mentioned I missed track so much? On most days, I would do pretty well. We were healthy and happy with little complaints. Then, I would get a stab of how awesome our team would have been. For example, a website "scored" each team based on last year, and our boys and girls would have won Region.

I was also devastated for our seniors, including Akaydeh. I made a post about each and every one of them. They are amazing humans, and I know they'll do great things!

Kiana gave Trex a broken TV to tinker with, and he fixed it. Now he has a TV in his room!

Our family dinners are never boring, but on this night, the teenage girls performed a lip sync to a One Direction song. Gosh, I love them!

Sweet Adelaide Beth was blessed. We were able to participate through Zoom. We're so glad she joined our family.

We had a family graduation for Trex, Kiley, and Stockton since theirs were all cancelled.

My handsome graduates.

Me and Addie.

Akaydeh, and her awesome class, got to have a graduation. It looked different, but it was amazing. It was outside and streamed. Afterwards, there was a reverse parade, so we got to drive by the graduates and their parents. It was really neat and a great sendoff to this one-of-a-kind class.

We're going to miss her, but we're so proud of Akaydeh!

Here are Akaydeh, Mom, and Dad at the parade. Also, Akaydeh graduated with more team trophies than ever before; plus, she graduated with her Certificate of Completion. She will be attending UVU in the fall with an awesome scholarship.

Trex at kindergarten graduation and 6th grade graduation. He is growing so fast!

We got in a camping trip. On this one, Jeep, Koda, and Dad dug out a tree stump.

Cute kids on the camping hammock.

One of my favorite camping games is Speed Scramble, which we taught to Mandi this summer.

Dad burned all of his railroad stuff - rules, bags, etc. It was really freeing for him.

Camping people.

Jeep repelling like a pro!

He is awesome!

Mom and Dad stayed camping an extra day or two. They LOVE retirement!

Stockton had a little graduation from kindergarten after all. He will miss his teacher Mrs. Wiseman. We are so grateful for her and all she did for him!

We are so proud of him, and he is looking forward to 1st grade.

The left side is Tay at two months, and the right side is Addie at two months. I can't believe how much alike they look. Both beautiful girls!

A new project has started for Jeep. We got a home equity loan, and he plans on demoing the whole basement (besides the new bathroom), and then we will sheetrock and finish it up. Also, he added a room for Trex. Whoo hoo!

For Kin's birthday, many of her friends, leaders, teammates, relatives, and others sent her some wonderful messages.

We celebrated her birthday at Ponderosa in the Beaver Mountains. It was so much fun!

We played some fun volleyball games while we were there. The best part was chasing the ball before it fell into the creek. Good times!

Lots of loved ones came!

I can't believe our oldest child is 17! We love her so much and are so proud of the woman she's growing into in this life.

April 2020

This month has been the weirdest yet.

We adjusted and took what we could get.

We ate in the hills and had lots of good family times.

We even took some trips and saw some mines.

Each kid had a chance to stay at the SoJo Abode.

And we took everything in stride as we travelled this road. 

One of Stockton's school activities was spelling his name in play doh; he and Liv loved this!

Kin and Akaydeh still practiced for track in case we got to have more track meets.

Stockton turned SIX this month!

He received some fun presents!

I got this cute text from Jodi Willden. So cute!

We played some fun JackBox games, where I WON Murder Mystery!

Just a cute pic of Addie.

Liv came and stayed for a few days.

I found out that I can still peel and orange with ONE peel.

Tay had some great responses from friends and family!

With all our free time and the gyms closed, we had to shoot at the church. Go Tay!

This week we started a new tradition of eating the mountains every week. This quickly became one of my favorite things about quarantine! 

Jeep and Bart at Rock Corral. 

Ryker and Stockton at Rock Corral.

Kam and Brayden at Rock Corral.

Tay and Kiley at Rock Corral.

Dad at Rock Corral.

Jeep and the kids also did some hiking at Rock Corral. Good times!

Here they are from our view!

Easter Morning was a fun time!

HAPPY EASTER SUNDAY! We had a wonderful lesson, and it was all-around a good day!

Tay turned 14 this month!

She also got some cool presents.

One weekend we explored New House, which is where my grandpa's house came from.

There are only a couple of buildings still standing.

Mom and Dad were our hosts.

Akaydeh and Kinley crack us up.

Here we are at Mosco, where my grandpa was born.

Beautiful Addie was blessed. We all joined in on ZOOM.

With more spare time, and better weather, Jeep and Trex fixed up some bikes.

Stockton is so much fun. This is one of his ninja poses.

On another cookout, the kids shot 22s.

They had lots of fun!

Good times and good food.

Stockton also drew Jeep and me. So cute!

Tay got to meet Addie!

We came up with fun activities to do together.  On this day, Trex and I colored.

Kam is so glad whenever he gets to go fishing with Papa.

On another day, Trex, Stockton, and I watched a YouTube video on how to draw a dinosaur. Mine is the top one, Trex's is in the middle, and Stockton's is the bottom. I'm pretty impressed with us.

Another day, another cook out!

We ate delicious hobo dinners.

The kids loved the four-wheeler.

This is another outing; we tried to reach the top of Frisco Peak. However, there was too much snow about a half mile from the top. We still saw some gorgeous views and had fun spending time together.

Fun times!

Another great view!

What a fun group!

For another random activity, we had an egg toss contest. Kam and I were the winners!

Kin are I were having a great time.

At the end of the month, we had a ZOOM meeting for the girls basketball honor "banquet." It was fun to watch the highlight videos of them, and at the end, there was a fun scavenger hunt! So creative and fun. Good job to their coaches!