August 2020

We got to watch cute cousin Lilly get baptized via zoom.  Although we were sad we couldn't be there in person because of Covid, we were glad we got to watch.

We got to get one more trip in before school started back up.  My friend and roommate from BYU, Heidi Hart invited us up to spend the weekend at her house.  They live just outside Couer d'alene ID right on Hayden Lake and have a little apartment above their garage they rent out and it happened to be free one weekend so she invited us to come stay.  We had so much fun!  They live on this gorgeous lake and it's so beautiful up there.  They have 4 kids, 2 older than my kids and then a girl Siena and Aria's age and another girl Jaron's age.  They all played so well together and had a blast.  We played on their dock, watched a movie on their deck, ate outside every night, went on a hike/picnic lunch and when the kids were playing, Heidi and I were able to catch up.  They took us out on their boat one day.  My kids had never been on a ski boat before and they had so much fun.  We put them on the tube and they loved it and were smiling from ear to ear the whole time.

After we left their home we took an extra day and spent 1/2 a day in Glacier National Park.  We also stopped  at Kootenai Falls Suspension Bridge which was a fun short break. It was fun but a long drive for 1/2 a day.  We went on a few short walks and the one long hike we wanted to do was shut down due to bear activity.  We did see a mountain goat and funny prairie dog.

We were happy to find out this summer that school was going to open in the fall like normal.  After doing home school for 3 months we were all excited for that news.  Not knowing if it would last or we would have to do online school for part of the time, we decided to get the kids some desks.  

We took a Sunday drive up to Silver Lake at Brighton resort.  We used to go there a lot but hadn't been there in years so it was fun to go up there again, although it was super crowded.

And then just like that, it was time for school to start.  The governor mandated masks be worn in school all day long but the kids didn't care, they just wanted to be in school.  Our district decided to have early out every day to help the teachers with their online students (you could decided if you wanted to do in person or online school) And I've never seen 3 kids more excited to go to school, see friends and have a normal routine again.  And even though they get out an hour earlier every day, I was just as happy to have some time to clean my house and get some uninterrupted work done.

Aria had her first official violin recital.  She worked all summer getting her songs just right and did a great job.  We had it at our house with just us, her teacher Lauren and my parents.

Another big event this month was that we got to go back to church in person for the first time since church shut down in March.  Masks are required and only 99 people are allowed and everything feels different there and yet it was so good to be back and see people, feel the spirit and feel the familiarity of being at church.  We have and are still enjoying our home church Sundays but I don't think we'll ever take for granted going to church again.

We got in our last swims for the season and lucky for us Christy was up dropping off Eliza at BYU and so Emmy got to come swimming with us.

We got an updated picture of the JLO's, the cutest 3 boys there are born 2 weeks apart.

And the best news of all, Jaron graduated from his speech therapy!  He has been in speech therapy for almost 3 years.  When we got him evaluated 3 years ago he had 54 speech errors and was in the 3rd percentile.  It's no wonder why we couldn't understand him.  He's worked so hard to get all his sounds just right and is so excited he doesn't have to be pulled out of class any more.  Great job Jaron.

Kids think they are guinea pigs and so funny when actually they are just crazy.

Jaron turns 7

 Jaron turned 7.  He had another great birthday.  It's fun having a summer birthday because we are able to celebrate all day and have some great ideas for a birthday party. 

Since we got Jaron a bike for his birthday earlier this month, we had told him that was his big present.  But we still of course had to get him a few things.  We made him cinnamon rolls for his birthday and sang to him.

The one thing all the kids wanted to do this summer was go camping.  So we got a camp site reservation up American Fork Canyon at Granite Flats for that night.  Shane and I are not camper but the kids were so super excited.  We packed up all our stuff (which is a lot of stuff for just one night!) and headed up late in the afternoon.  We set up camp and as soon as we got out of the car the area smelled like skunk but soon went away.  The kids went exploring, we roasted hot dogs and tried a quesadilla since Jaron doesn't really like hot dogs right now and then of course had some smores.  We watched part of a movie in the tent and then the kids were tired so we took a final trip to the bathroom and on our way back we saw the skunk!  I was so freaked out but we made it to our tent and didn't get sprayed.  That night we kept smelling and hearing things right outside our tent and I'm sure that skunk lived right where we had our tent!  The kids slept the entire night and didn't move a muscle.  Shane and I on the other hand tossed and turned all night long.  Neither of us slept much at all but we were glad the kids slept.  That morning we had breakfast and packed up our stuff.  We then drove over to another area of the canyon and went on a hike called Scout Falls.  It was more up hill then I remember and Siena had a really rough time of it.  We were all tired but were glad when we made it.  It was a fun experience and the kids are already asking when we can go again.  Not sure when that will be.

The Monday after his birthday we had a birthday party.  Because of Covid-19 I didn't want to go anywhere for the party so we decided to rent a water bounce house.  The boys loved it and besides providing pizza and treats I didn't have to do much else, they entertained themselves and had a blast.  After the party we invited some neighbors and the Pace's to come over and pretty much had to pull everyone inside for dinner.  We definitely got some good use out of the bounce house.  Jaron has some fun friends and everyone had a good time.

We also got to celebrate all the July family birthday's together outside in Jennifer's backyard.  It was fun to see everyone since we don't get to see everyone very often right now.

Jaron is a good kid.  He is most often the one that will run and get something for me, compromise with his sisters when they're arguing over something and genuinely is a good kid.  He is smart and is ahead of most his class in math and reading and probably other subjects.  He loves school and loves his friends.  He has a good friend name Graham that he would play with all day everyday if he could.  He's had fun with him this summer and hopefully they'll be good friends for a long time.  He is always on the go and if he isn't playing with a friend he still wants me to throw the ball with him.  And yes he'll still snuggle with me from time to time and I cherish those times because I know they won't last.