Tinfoil spoons for AJ's birthday

It's very strange planning a birthday when we didn't have a car to go anywhere, and we couldn't go anywhere anyway since most things are still closed!  So while my birthday was a quiet one, we still managed to have a pretty great evening.   We ended up all piling into Jeremy's tiny car, ordering some Indian food from Taj Mahal, and went to Waneka Lake Park for a picnic.  When we arrived we were first very excited that the picnic tables were actually open, and then panicked a little bit because we didn't have any utensils!  Luckily we had ordered naan so we taught the kids how to use the bread as their spoon.  That wasn't good enough for Cambrie though and she whipped up some spoons using tinfoil and sticks.  And while they were delicate, they still made life a lot easier for the boys.

  

After we had our fill the kids started climbing trees.  The boys liked these little guys.  

The girls liked the really big tree.  They realized too late that they were a bit stuck and needed Jeremy to rescue.  What a funny birthday picture with my crew!  Back at home we feasted on cheesecake and then went straight to bed.  It was a great evening.  Happy 35!

Chopsticks and a round-about

Jeremy and I desperately needed a date night.  With everything the way it is, life has been stressful and getting away felt so wonderful.  With all the restaurants still closed to dining room eating, we had to get take out.  We picked up some sushi from The Happy Sumo, and drove around trying to find the perfect place to eat it.  We settled on a round-about in the middle of the road with a great grassy place to sit.  People driving by may have thought we were strange, but hey, we were social distancing.  We turned on some quiet tunes and simply ate our sushi and enjoyed the sunset.  After relaxing for a bit we decided to get some dessert.  We drove down to Culver's to pick up some of their cement mixers.  We found another totally random neighborhood and ate our shakes while we walked and explored.  Remind me again why we don't do this more often?

Last day of school

Some things about the last day of school looked nothing the same.  In order to get all of the kids supplies from school we had to join a drive-line at a specific time.  When we got to the front of the line, we put on our masks, say the students' names, then receive a big black garbage bag with their stuff in it-everything from work books, to art projects, to locker supplies.  It felt like a very unceremonious way to end the very bizarre school year.  

Some things were the same though, we ended up with almost all of the neighbor kids here for a huge party in the afternoon.  It was completely spontaneous gathering.  I decided to play nice and bring cookies to all the new neighborhood friends.  (It only took a global pandemic to get these backyard neighbor kids to play together!)  

It took me awhile to figure out what they were playing, but it turned out to be steal the flag.  We had kids running circles around the house.  We were surrounded!  

Finally at the end of the day I made my kids pause long enough to snap one final end-of-the-year school picture.  They have all grown up so much this year.  It will be very, very interesting to see what next year brings.

May

Here's the May miscellaneous!

During quarantine, I've been practicing some baking.  Apparently I'm pretty good at croissants!

We recruited Cambrie's help to design a fun adventure garden over in our very boring rocks.  While we won't be able to implement all of it right now, I love her ideas.  She really should be in design.

Daxton's self-portrait. I was very impressed.

Kelton just wrapping up remote learning.  He was a champ through this whole process and never complained when it was time for school work.  Honestly, all of my kids were total rock stars.  I didn't even have to remind the girls to get their work done.  They quietly took care of everything.  I was incredibly lucky to have these smart kids.

I took down the boys art projects from our craft room.  They have made some super cute stuff this year.

This is the glass of mystery lemonade.  I filled it up, left for a moment, came back and it was gone.  I filled it up again, was called off to answer the door, came back and it was gone again! Three times I filled my lemonade glass and never actually got to drink it.

This is one of our many home improvement projects.  We poured a cement pad for our garbage cans to make them a little more accessible.  I wish the boys had been there that day to watch the truck, because it was pretty cool.

The YW leaders in the ward dropped off a Mother's Day package for the YW and their mom.  Cambrie and I had a little spa night where we used the face masks.  It was so great to have an excuse to just relax in her bed, watching "The Great British Baking Show."  She's growing up to be a lot of fun to hang out with.

While we haven't played quite as many games during quarantine as I thought we might, every now and then one of Kelton's school projects helps with that.  He is a little math smartie pants.

How is it that even though I have nowhere to go, I'm still crazy busy?  I realized one day that it was 2:00 in the afternoon and I never even had a chance to shower for the day.

Looking for small beautiful things right now is important.  Look how cool these clouds were one afternoon.

It's only taken 70 days, but my kids are finally to the point where I'm hearing, "I'm bored."  I normally expect to see this kind of behavior in August, after a very long summer vacation.  This is bad news that it's hitting in May!  Wish us luck.

Escape to South Jordan

After chilling up in Smithfield, we worked out way south to visit Bruce and Leesa.  It came with a lot of King time, which didn't disappoint the kids at all.  The boys love getting together with Stockton, and the girls can't get enough of Pipsqueak.  We spent one afternoon playing at their house where Daxton worked on getting over his fear of Cash.

  The kids drove around the neighborhood in style.  

And Cambrie helped by "changing the oil."  

Tying four kids together with a rope, what could go wrong?

Alysha was generous enough to make dinner for us all, and that included zucchini noodles, which were pretty cool.  

At the Rogers, the girls got busy working on their fairy garden.  Leesa brought some of it back from England, and they were anxious to get it all reinstalled.  

Cambrie made a new home basically out of toothpicks and it took her ages.  But she's most proud of the fact that you can really grow succulents in the garden beds.

Aunt Lynette's ward did a chalk art walk, and we decided that Uncle Jan did the best job.

I ended up leaving the boys in Utah while the girls and I drove home.  They got to spend an entire extra week being spoiled by their grandparents and hanging out with their cousins.  

They did a lot of hoverboard riding.  

They visited Grandma Pearce up in Morgan.  

They posed for plenty of pictures.  

They were able to spent Mother's Day out there too, which was an extra treat for Leesa.

  Dantley and Cydney stopped by that day to play games.  Kelton was super excited that they brought Oregon Trail.

Eventually Bruce and Leesa had to return them, so they came out to Colorado for a couple of days.  More chaotic cousin time that the kids simply couldn't get enough of.

Restaurant

Forts

Pizza

School

Snack time (he takes after me!)

They are all extra safe here.

Bruce took the time to teach the boys how to play baseball.  Guess I need to find a league that's still playing this season huh?