Temple trip

The temples have been closed since March 2020, so we were excited for the opportunity to do some temple work the end of May this year.  They opened up in May for youth to do proxy baptisms, so we took some family names and went with two other families to the temple.  Alex and I will be able to go the end of September to do some other temple work.  We were glad to get to go again - we've been missing our monthly temple visits.  

 

Oklahoma visit

The day after school got out, we headed to OK to visit Alex's parents.  Nathan and I hadn't seen them since summer 2018.  Alex and the rest of the kids flew to see them in summer 2019, so it had been 2 and 3 years since we'd visited.  We had fun hanging out, playing Wii, Pac-Man, games, shooting guns, mowing, watching movies, playing Legos, and swimming in the creek.  Kai seemed happy to see Doggie again, and it might be the last time, since Doggie isn't doing very well.  I spent some time scanning old photos while I was there.    

We took a quick day trip to Stillwater to visit OSU.  We visited a few colleges on this trip, so that Nathan could see them (he's a SENIOR this year, so time to start thinking about college!).  We ate at Eskimo Joe's and Hideaway Pizza.  We also made a stop at Braum's for ice cream and visited our friend Betsy.  It was fun to see the campus, although it was a pretty hot day.  We even dropped in on one of Alex's friends on campus.  

We also visited the University of Kansas in Lawrence and Kansas State in Manhattan.  Nathan wanted a picture by Allen Field House at KU.  We ate lunch in Manhattan and stopped by the Dairy Bar for ice cream at KState.  (Owen and Weston didn't come with us that day; they stayed with Aunt Jane.  We visited her a few days.)  I think out of those 3 universities, Nathan is leaning towards KSU (not based on the campus, but on their programs and his interests).    

One of the places we visited with Jane was a little town in Missouri called Weston.  We have some ancestors that used to live there.  It was a cute little town.  We stopped to buy some gifts at a little country store.  We had a nice time visiting Jane - she always spoils us.      

We had the rare occasion of celebrating Fay's birthday with her.  I made french toast for breakfast, Alex helped me make Chinese food for dinner (sweet & sour chicken and Mongolian beef), and Jane sent the birthday cake with us.  Fay got a dinosaur Lego set for her birthday.  We also gave John a Lego set for Father's Day, so the kids had fun helping them put those sets together (although they didn't have time to finish John's set).      

For Father's Day, I made omelettes and bacon for breakfast, lasagna for dinner, and M&M cookies for dessert.  We also surprised Alex with a Lego set, although we left it at home.  I made a card for him, with a picture on the front of him backpacking with the kids.  Inside was a picture of the kids holding his new Lego set.  The card said, "What's almost as good as a backpacking trip with your kids?.... Your kids holding your new Lego set!"  It took him a minute to realize what was going on.  

We stayed in Cedar City, UT for a night on the way home.  We visited the grounds of the Cedar City Temple.  We're not able to attend temples outside of our area yet, so we didn't go inside, but it was fun to wander around the grounds.  That was Kai's first visit to a temple (at least the parking lot by it - we didn't take her on the grounds).  

Alex headed on to Nevada the next morning, where he spent the next 3 weeks for work.  The kids and I drove the last day home, but it wasn't too long of a day and Nathan and I took turns driving.  We made it...another cross country trip!  I never like the long drive, but I love seeing family.  

End of school year 2020-21

We made it through our year of home school!  We were starting to fizzle out by the end of the year.  We didn't keep up with typing, so we're working on that during the summer.  Savannah was ahead at least - she's on 3rd grade level language arts and math.  Owen and Weston completed their grade level for math, and they also finished their language arts with about a month left to improvise.  I had them writing paragraphs, answering a question of their choice from a list of things I came up with.  They all did pretty well on their online math, although it was a challenge for Weston at times.  Owen did well on everything except spelling.  I gave him a spelling test with 100 words (that he had missed several times) from the year.  He only got 68 correct.  For fun, I gave the same test to Alex, Nathan, and Jared (who aren't great at spelling either).  Alex got 84, Nathan got 81, and Jared got 79.  So they all missed a significant number of words.  Twelfth, handkerchief, cemetery, and bouquet were missed by all of them.  The last three of those can be tricky.      

We did a little celebration on the last couple of days, with bubbles, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate shakes, pizza, and pie.  We had to do 4 different kinds of pie to accommodate all the favorites:  key lime (Owen), chocolate (Savannah), cherry (Jared), and apple (Nathan and Weston). I made some certificates and diploma for Savannah, Weston, and Owen.  Owen graduated from elementary to junior high school this year.  He'll be a big 7th grader next year.  He missed out on a 6th grade graduation ceremony, so we did a mini ceremony at home.  Weston and Savannah completed 4th and 2nd grades.  I had them draw self portraits, which were pretty hilarious.  They also answered a few questions about their favorites and challenges this year, which I read aloud to everyone.   

Savannah:  Favorite subject - Math
                   Biggest Challenge - Independent Writing for Language Arts
                   Favorite memory - Finishing 2nd grade math and going on to 3rd grade math (in the middle of the year)

Weston:  Favorite subject - Science
               Biggest challenge - CTC Math
               Favorite memory - the first time he watched Animals Gone Wild and he got to watch "cute piggies and cute otters"

Owen:  Favorite subject - Science

             Biggest Challenge - "Paying attention in boring history"

             Favorite memory - the time we learned about baby mammals and watched videos with baby pigs and otters

We made it!  It wasn't as hard homeschooling as I imagined, but I'm ready to send them back to school for social interaction.  They are very eager to see their friends again.  They're all signed up to return to school in the fall.  Weston and Savannah will likely still have to wear a mask while indoors, but at least they'll be in-person full day and not on zooms.  If we have to return to home school, at least I know we can do it.      

             

Backyard Re-do

We did some (more) work on our backyard this year.  The pictures from earlier years don't look too bad because it used to be more green.  It's been really dry and dead the past few years, along with many gopher holes, so our yard was looking pretty bad.  I didn't like the old stone grill in the middle of the yard, and I also wanted a larger basketball court (which was just one small concrete square).  I had a vision for the yard a few years ago, but couldn't really get going.  I removed half of the chain link fence that extended all the way to the neighboring back fence (with dead branches attached) in August of 2019.  That was the first step.  Next, we needed to remove the grill, which the boys and I took down in May 2020.  (Alex wouldn't help with that because he wanted it to stay...I was stubborn and determined enough to take it down myself).  Finally in March of this year, we got a quote for the concrete.  I was amazed to find out it would cost about $25,000 for the project (and that was a pretty reasonable price)! We decided to do it.  They removed the base of the grill, the tree stump of what remained of the plum tree, a large bush, and all the existing cracked and old concrete.  In about 1 week, they did the demolition and pouring of the new concrete.  We opted for a stamped concrete for the area by the house, and they were supposed to make it look more like natural stone with some different colors in the mix.  They didn't do a very good job on the stamped and colored part, leaving some large red streaks on one area and some parts of the concrete already chipping.  We let it slide and didn't ask them to fix it, but it looks a lot better than it did before, and it's a much more functional space.  We're working on getting some new tables and chairs and outdoor furniture.  We got a large umbrella, a 10-person table, a grill, a fire pit and chairs so far.  We need to explore gazebos (and lighting) for over the seating area and find some new chairs for the large table.  We also need to try to grow grass again and make it nice and green.  I was going to wait to post pictures until it was just right, but it may take a while for that, so I'm just documenting as it is for now.        

The 2 extra "rooms" in the back might be about to fall apart, but at least we have new concrete in the back right...? 

Gardening 2021

 In April, I decided I wanted to make a flower bed in the empty space where we replaced the fence (and took out some ugly bushes).  Alex and I arranged some stones, put down wire to keep the gophers out, added dirt, and planted some seeds.  I probably didn't choose the prettiest flowers to go there, but the idea was to plant something that wouldn't require much maintenance.  I thought wildflowers would probably grow well.  I also like wildflowers and the idea that they aren't the prettiest flower out there, but they have a beauty all their own.  I sometimes think of myself as a wildflower, so I guess we have a little in common.  

Alex and Savannah also planted a vegetable garden.  They planted green beans, tomatoes, and zucchini.  

It was exciting to watch the little seedlings growing through the month of May.  We had to put a cage over the top because the dog was digging in there.  (I think she still gets in there now, but we can't keep a cage over it.)  The second picture below is what my flowers looked like when we left for Oklahoma in early June.  By the time we got back a few weeks later, the flowers had taken off and growing well (the 3rd picture).  The last picture is the most recent one, a few weeks after the 3rd picture.  It's fun to see the different varieties of flowers popping up.  Unfortunately, a large animal (likely the dog), has broken the flowers on one side of the flower bed, but it's fun to see some pretty flowers in the previously empty space.   

We have some other things in harvest season - apples, peaches, apricots, and avocadoes (in process).  When we got back from Oklahoma, there were rotten apricots and apples all over the ground.  Savannah and I counted 546 apples that we picked up off the ground and threw away.  I picked up about 415 rotten apricots.  Unfortunately, that was all the apricots on that tree (but I discovered another tree behind the trampoline that produced apricots a little later).  We had lots of green beans growing, but no tomatoes or zucchini yet.  We also have grapes growing, as well as lemons and tangerines.  

I gave away a whole box of apples to the local Food Bank.  Alex made pies and delivered some before we left for Oklahoma and one for our last day of school.  I also made 5 apple pies to give away, 2 pies for 4th of July, and 1 pie for Weston's birthday.  Savannah and I delivered 100 peaches to 10 friends, and we still have a lot of peaches growing.  We can't keep up!  We are winding down on the apples. We enjoyed some yummy pie from them.