We have been keeping busy the last two weeks. Me and the kids did try some hiking out at Antelope Island. There are some really beautiful places out there to see.
The kids are all on the trail, but Matthew's bright blue shirt is the only one you can see:
There were some HUGE dandelions along the way Josh blew out:
We made it to the end of this hike, but Daniel and Noah weren't with us. They ended up seeing some Nope Ropes aka Danger Noodles aka snakes--haha--along the way and decided they were done with that trail. They were only Garter snakes, although unpleasant, they are pretty much harmless. I tried to explain that do Daniel and Noah, but they were done nonetheless and immediately turned around to get back to the car to wait for the rest of us to finish the hike. The end view was pretty:
I did get this picture from our vantage point.
Online there was a local group asking for pretty scenic pictures from around Utah. I submitted my picture when someone else tagged me and showed me their picture which happened to be from almost the same vantage point, but in winter. It was pretty cool to see the two together! Here's the winter picture from the other person:
Driving to do another hike we drove right by an antelope just hanging out in the shade of a road sign. That was unexpected, but pretty cool!
We stopped by a place that had a telescope so you could see everything even further away. The kids all took turns looking.
Josh had some issues trying to look out the telescope, but he made do. I guess this is what you have to do when you are super tall--haha:
Hike number two:
Another pretty vantage point:
There were quite a few lizards around. I told Noah I would pay him $5 if he could catch one. He tried straight for 20 minutes without giving up. I finally told him we needed to get going and he was a bit disappointed he never was able to catch one, though.
We then went to the beach. This is the Great Salt Lake so it was pretty salty.
All the kids went out to see if they could skip rocks and catch some brine shrimp:
Matthew had absolutely no desire to go out into the water so he stayed nice and dry on the sandy beach and kept track of our belongings:
It was pretty cool because for almost the whole time we were there no one else was around.
We did catch some Brine Shrimp and it was cool to see them swim around in the bottle:
Noah had no issues with the water and ended up jumping all the way in and swimming around. He was soaking wet when it was time to leave. Poor guy I made him dress down to his underwear before he could get in the car and he even had to ride back home sitting on a towel. Don't worry no one was anywhere around us in the parking lot while that was going on--haha!
As our clothes dried you could see the salt line from the Salt Lake:
Unfortunately, Sarah's in person dance recital had to be cancelled this year due to Covid 19. Her teacher adapted and recorded all the different classes dances and put them together in to watch online. That was pretty cool! Here's one of Sarah's dances from the view of our family room TV:
Sarah had three dances she was in, but for some reason I only took a picture of one of them. They were all great, though!
Two weeks ago I was on my way to a meeting. As I was driving down a street next to our very suburban neighborhood I ended up seeing this:
No one was around so I stopped and just watched it run by. That was CRAZY and random!! No big deal--just a deer running around our neighborhood--haha!
Last week Josh went 'hammocking' with some friends at a local park. I think he found the tallest tree and tied his hammock up in the tree. This was the picture he texted me looking down from his hammock. I am glad he didn't hurt himself--haha!
Aaron and I hit our big 20th anniversary!! Wow 20 years! It is crazy to think we have been married 20 years! I am glad I took that karate class where I met Aaron for the first time at BYU 21 years ago. There is no one else I would rather be with! We have been through so many crazy adventures in those 20 years. I keep telling Aaron there is no one else I would rather have deliver a baby--besides a doctor--haha! Accidentally delivering Sarah at home is one of the biggest adventures we both would rather never relive again--haha!
Here's a few family pictures through the years:
2000
2000
2002
2003
2006
2009
2010
2013
2014
2017
2019
To celebrate Aaron and I went out to a really nice dinner Saturday afternoon. That wasn't our 'real' anniversary date, but it was the only time both of us could go together without kids so we went.
Monday afternoon which was our real anniversary, we took the kids out to a nicer dinner. It was at Slackwater Pub and Pizza in Ogden. Since we were such a large party and they were trying to follow social distancing rules, it took awhile to get seated. During that time we waited out on their outdoor patio. Good thing they had some outdoor fire pits to stand next to because it was pretty cold and rainy. However, I was super cold and was trying to get as warm as I could when I got too close to one of the fire pits and caught my hair on fire. Fun times--haha! Let me just say burned hair is quite stinky. Anyway it didn't get too singed--I was needing a haircut anyway--haha! When we finally got seated the kids all got to choose their own pizza and chose some interesting ones. I am glad my kids are adventurous eaters! Sarah's favorite was an avocado pizza with Green Goddess dressing which was one of the more interesting choices. Matthew chose an Alfredo chicken pizza. Josh chose a BBQ chicken pizza. As in Josh fashion he ate all of his pizza and 3/4 of mine. Seriously that kid eats SO MUCH FOOD!! Anyway, here we are celebrating 20 years!!
Speaking of Josh he finally got a job--YAY!! He has been looking for two months and jobs have been hard to come by. He is now working at Little Caesar's Pizza. It's not his favorite job, but it's a job nonetheless. You can tell when he gets home from his shift because he smells just like pizza--haha! We are glad he has a job so he can have his own money instead of asking us for some all the time. Here he leaving the house on his very first day on the new job:
Speaking of Josh he still has been baking things. This past week he made a Key Lime Pie which was pretty tasty. I even got him to try a recipe with some rhubarb. We have had a rhubarb patch in our garden pretty much since we moved in. We got the starts from G&G T's house in Highland way back when. It is very hardy plant and is a perennial so it's my kind of plant--hard to kill and comes back every year--haha! I grew up with a rhubarb patch at my house and my dad would always make rhubarb crisp. I remember liking it so I asked Josh to try and make some. Rhubarb is considered a vegetable with long stalks and has a stringy stalk consistency like celery. It is quite sour if you eat it raw. Anyway, good thing Rhubarb Crisp has lots of sugar to combat that sour taste. Josh made it and I really liked it. It tasted like what my dad would make. However, it must be an acquired taste because the rest of the family weren't huge fans. Oh well, what can you do? I think they just need to try it a few more times so they can learn how to like it. I will let you know how that goes--haha! If anyone wants to try some rhubarb we have plenty!! Here's what our rhubarb patch looks like:
In other things last Thursday was a day of meetings. Thank goodness for Zoom because I could wear comfy clothes and didn't have to leave my house to attend them! The first meeting was with Vocational Rehab for Matthew. It was his annual review to look at his old goals and set new ones. Since Matthew is still attending Vista, Vocational Rehab will wait to work with Vista and set up job opportunities as Matthew is ready for them--probably in a year or two. There were a few forms I need to sign so his counselor sent them to me electronically for me to sign and send back. Technology is great! The next visit was a Zoom meeting for Sarah and her Weber State Prep program. This program is a free STEM program for high achieving students in grades 6-8 that is held at Weber State University. Unfortunately, the kids won't be able to attend in person this year due to Covid 19, but they are still doing the program virtually. This Zoom meeting was to explain how the virtual program will be run and what to expect. Sarah is kind of bummed it won't be in person, but is looking forward to the occasional experiments in the parks where smaller groups will be able to gather to experiment and learn things in person. The program will keep her busy since they hold virtual classes 4 days a week in the mornings teaching about a wide variety of things. It should be fun and interesting. The last meeting of the day was for Matthew, me, Aaron, and his DSPD (Division of Services for People with Disabilities) Service Coordinator and his Summer and After school program. It was his annual review there, too. So we all met via Zoom to discuss Matthew's old goals and either update them or set new ones. We were very excited to hear that they are planning on starting up Matthew's summer program in July--Wahoo!! However, in order to participate Matthew will need to wear a mask while he is there. I am curious as to how well this will happen--Matthew doesn't really care for wearing a mask. Hopefully, everything will work out okay, though. I am glad Matthew will have something look forward to because living day to day without structure and routine has not been good for Matthew or any of us. We are all pretty excited. I think we should make a paper chain to count down the days until Summer program starts--haha! Anyway, I was super excited that we were able to have all three meetings via Zoom in the comfort of my own home. It was pretty awesome minus my stinker kids who thought it was fun to fight and argue and yell at each other in the background while these said meetings were going on. Fun times--haha! Good thing I have my mom glare down!
The Young Women are doing a family history challenge this month. One of the days the challenge was to recreate an old picture. This is the one they wanted to recreate from five years ago:
The 2020 recreations:
We had fun with it.
Serious faces like the original picture:
We tried up on a branch, but everyone had a hard time keeping their balance. That was a no go on that pose--haha!
Josh and Daniel started cross country team practice last week. Their first morning they had to get up at 6am to run. Josh and the experienced runners ran 8 miles and the newbies (Daniel) ran 6 miles. They both started the team practice at Jensen Park in Syracuse which is next to where G&G T live. During their runs they both happened to separately run in to G&G T randomly. Grandma T was out walking and Grandpa T was out fishing. That was fun! They had fun visiting with each other for a minute before they had to get back to practice. It must have been a tiring morning because when they both got home they immediately curled up on the couch and took a nap--hah!
Me and Sarah finally made it to the dentist for a check-up. With all the craziness this past year it has taken me almost a year to make an appointment and get in. Here's Sarah watching a movie with headphones and sunglasses waiting for her cleaning:
Here's her X-rays of her front two teeth root canals:
She fell and broke her teeth at school two years ago and they ended up getting infected so she had to get root canals done on both the front teeth. They both still look great, but the dentist did remind me that she will eventually need crowns or implants. Hopefully, we can wait on those until she is at least 18-20 years old! I am happy to say neither one of us had cavities so we are good to go!
Father's Day this year we are going to be busy on the actual Father's Day so I had the kids surprise Aaron with his morning breakfast in bed last Saturday. He definitely was surprised that he was getting breakfast in bed on a different morning than on the real Father's Day. However, he figured something was up when he heard the kids banging pots and pans and arguing with each other about who was making what at 6:30 am. Oh well, it all turned out okay in the end--haha! MMMMMM-bacon, sausage, toast, scrambled eggs and an Orange Cream Coke Zero!
I am glad the kids have an awesome Dad who is loves to be involved with his family and is a great example for them.
Daniel and Josh needed sport physicals to participate in Cross Country. Thankfully, their pediatrician had openings right away. I guess that is one plus in the middle of a pandemic--no one wants to go to the doctor so they had openings right away. Wahoo! In the past it would usually take up to 2 months to get in for a sports physical. We did all have to get our temperatures checked and wear masks, but that's no big deal. Here are the boys goofing off and waiting to be seen by the doctor:
They had a hard time measuring Josh's height. They had to guesstimate a bit because their 'ruler' didn't accurately go that high--haha! Josh is roughly 6' 5+" and Daniel is 5'4" and pretty excited about it. Daniel is measuring on the shorter side of things, and Josh is on the larger side of things but what can you do?! They are both growing and that's a good thing.
Josh was a lucky guy and got a booster for Meningitis for serogroups A, C, W, Y in one arm and was able to get the new Meningitis vaccine, MenB for meningitis serotype B, in the other arm. Josh did great. Daniel, however, had a hard time even watching Josh get the shots--haha!
They got cleared and are okay to participate in Cross country and track.
Me and the kids went on a an easy trail/hike near our house yesterday called the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve. Along the trail was some cattails. Josh was the only one next to me when we picked an end of a cattail so we decided to try and trick the other kids. When we caught up to them we told them that this is what a hot dog plant looks like. Noah was smart and said that hot dogs come from pigs. I then told him that this is the infamous vegan hot dog plant and it was almost ready to be eaten. Josh and I had them going for a while. In the end we told them we were kidding and then let them touch and play with the
vegan hotdog oh I mean cattail--haha!
In the middle of the trail is an observation tower. The wetlands are a place for migrating birds to stop for a bit to eat and nest during their migration. We were able to see lots of different birds throughout our walk. Here's a pheasant sticking it's head out of the grass to watch us:
We even scared out another two pheasants which surprised us. There were a few nests on the observation tower, too. I don't think Aaron would have enjoyed this trail since he HATES birds so much--haha!
It was cool to see the view from the top of the tower:
If you look hard you can see a little black spot on the trail. That was what Sarah looked like on the trail from the top of the tower:
It was a fun trip and beautiful place despite getting rained on.
After that we had a picnic at the park, but it was way too cold to stick around. It was only about 55 degrees, windy and raining which is really cold and crazy weather for June!! Good thing we all had sweatshirts/jackets!
Even though it was raining there was a car wash close by that was giving free carwashes so we decided to stop. It was a drive through car wash where you put your car in neutral and they pulled it through while you stayed in the car if that makes sense. They had different colors of soap and lights as you got pulled through. It was funny to see the 'hot lava' red:
And the 'I ran over a unicorn' multicolored soap as we worked our way through the carwash.
As soon as we got home from our morning adventure everyone fell asleep (including Sophie even though she didn't go with us) except for me and Daniel.
We got a new toy yesterday. We ordered a metal detector to see what it was like. The kids unboxed it today and tried it out. They wadded up some aluminum foil, got a penny, nickel, dime and quarter and then through them out in the grass to see if they could find them. They found 3 of the 5 items so I don't know if that is great or not....the jury is still out--haha! Here's Sarah trying her hand at it:
