Chase's Senior Soccer Season

 Chase had his last basketball game on Friday and then went straight into the soccer season the next week. (March 8th).  He made the soccer team!  There were 6 seniors on the team:  Izzy, Gabe, Enoch, Keyjun, Josh and Chase.  Jesse E was the head coach.  It was a brutal season!  They lost every game!  Three games went into over time.  They just couldn't pull it off.  I was so proud of our boys for not giving up.  Chase played every game with all of his heart!  He fought so hard even when they were getting blown away.  I had a couple of parents comment on how even in the last three minutes when they're losing, Chase still gives it 100%.  This was a really tough season to keep their heads up.  Four out of the six schools in our region are in the top 10 in the state for 4A.  We have a really hard region.  I'm hoping that one day our school will be able to have a good program.  The other schools have 100 boys trying out for 30 spots.  We have 30 kids trying out and everyone makes it.  The other schools also play soccer year round and it's the only sport they focus on.  That makes it really hard to compete against.  But I was so proud of our boys and how hard they fought at every game.  Jesse did a great job of communicating with the seniors and valuing their input.  Chase has fought so hard to come back to sports after two torn ACL surgeries.  We didn't know if he'd every be able to play sports again.  We're so proud of his dedication.  We're so thankful that he was able to play basketball and soccer without any major injuries.  

Another fabulous cake!

 Cake by C posted a strawberry Biscoff cake.  It called to me because I finally broke down and decided to try to make it.  The cake was a Biscoff cake that you cut in half so you have four layers.  I did two layers of cookie butter/Biscoff frosting and then the middle layer was strawberry frosting with small pieces of strawberries.  The outside frosting was a strawberry buttercream that was amazing!  I thought it was too thick at first so I thinned it down.  But then when I frosted the cake it was too thin and wouldn't stay up in some places.  Then I crushed some Biscoff cookies for the top.  The cake was amazing!!  I shared some with Jen and she was impressed.  The cake was a lot of work but it was delicious!

Matt's Knee Scope

 Matt started having knee pain in his left knee.  It got to the point that he couldn't do any activity without the pain really bothering him.  He had a MRI which showed a meniscus tear.  Dr. Bitner did a knee scope at BR hospital to clear up the tear.  He scheduled it so he could recover during his week off.  He recovered really quickly.  His knee stayed swollen for awhile but Dr. Bitner said that's common.  Hopefully this will help Matt feel better.  

School Projects

 The second semester has ended.  Chase finished up his last art class.  He brought home some of his projects and showed them to us.  He did a great job on his projects.  I had no idea he is such a great artist.  He really has some talent.  

Tanner wrote his first Spanish paper.  "Me gusta pizza.  Me gusta casa.  No me gusta bananas."  He read it to me.  "I like pizza.  I like house. I don't like bananas."  He is loving the dual immersion program.  His teacher has been wonderful.  It was a rocky start but I feel like they're finally making some progress.  

Ardell and Charlene sweet moments

 Charlene's Alzheimer has been progressing steadily.  Her stoke unfortunately exacerbated the Alzheimer.  We've been trying to spend as much time with them as possible.  We invited them to come up and eat dinner with us.  After dinner, Matt and Chase asked Grandma and Grandpa A some questions about their childhood.  Matt recorded it.  It was such a sweet moment hearing about their childhoods.  Chase asked them how they met.  Matt took the sweetest picture of them sitting on the couch together.  Afterwards, Tanner brought in one of his books and read to Charlene.  She loves to listen to him read.  

Skiing at CP

 When we went skiing with the W's last time, I realized that I had lost my skis at CP when we went the first time.  I was giving Tanner a piggy back to the car and set my skis next to the van.  I totally forgot about them and drove off and didn't realize it until the next morning when we were at NV.  I called CP and they said that they didn't have them and most likely they were stolen.  I was so sad!!!  A couple of weeks later, we went back to CP and my skis were in the lost and found!!!  My prayers were answered!  

Our Saturdays have been so busy with games that the boys talked me into pulling them out of school again to go skiing.  I asked Nick's mom how she felt about Nick missing school to go with us.  She was great with it.  So Bridger invited his friend Nick to come with us.  Nick went with us one time last year and he was improved so much!  Bridger and Nick went off on the harder trails while Tanner and I skied together. We met up for lunch and ate our sandwiches in the car.  At lunch time, we took off half of our clothes off because we were sweating.  We stayed together after lunch because Tanner had improved so much.  He was able to stay on the blues.  We love having Nick with us.  He's such a great kid and a great friend to Bridger and Tanner.  The weather was beautiful.  It was a perfect day of spring skiing.  (The resorts could use more snow is my only complaint).  

Chase's Basketball Season

 It has been an honor and a privilege for Chase to be on the BRHS basketball team.  He worked so hard just to make the team and then continued to fight hard for playing time.  He continued working with Coach Jeff once a week.  He ate, slept and played basketball and managed to get incredible grades.  Chase gave every game 100%!  He was so dedicated to the team and the sport.  He pushed himself to be better with each game.  His highlight game was the Box Elder game.  He had the winning shot and had 17 points.  He ended the season as the top third scorer for their team (Kase 1st, and Jace 2nd).  They lost in the second round of play offs to Dixie High School.  He was invited to play on a region All Star team.   The season had some ups but some really low lows!  While we were in those moments, it was really challenging.  But I'm so grateful that Chase never gave up.  We appreciated the coaching staff and all that they did for Chase.  

Skiing with the W's

The W's were out of school on Tuesday also.  They couldn't go yesterday so they wanted to go on Tuesday.  I decided to pull Tanner and Bridger out of school and go skiing with the W's at NV.  I had a really scary experience driving up the Ben Lomond pass.  It was snowing really bad!!!  My van couldn't make it up the hill anymore.  There happened to be a pull out and no cars behind me right as my van gave out and started to slide backwards.  I have never been so scared of driving in my life.  I didn't know how I was going to get us back down the mountain because I was worried I would slide down.  I sat in the car and cried for a little bit.  I called Mylissa and told her to say a prayer for us.  Then we said a prayer.  We waited on the mountain about 45 minutes.  I told Heavenly Father the only way I could get back down was if a snow plow came by and I could follow it.  Within 5 minutes, a snow plow came down and there were no cars behind it or coming up the hill.  I was able to turn around and follow it down.  We were so grateful to be off that mountain pass.  I know that the Lord was watching over us and protected us.  He was definitely in the details of our life during that time!  

We drove up Trapper Mountain instead.  By the time we got there, it was three hours from when we had left our home.  But we finally made it.  We had such a fun time skiing with the W's.  Maddie even came with us!  We went down the bunny hill a couple of times.  Caleb was having a hard time so Mylissa just worked with him.  She was so patient with him!  Julie and Maddie came skiing with me and the boys.  We traded off with each other on the ski lift.  Maddie and Julie did great staying up with us.  We tried one black and it was really hard because there was over a foot of powder.  We stuck with blues and greens.  The kids giggled and joked.  For the last run of the day, we met up with Mylissa and Caleb.  Tanner stayed with Caleb and they talked the whole way down as they skied.  The weather was super cold, snowy and windy which made for a really cold day!!!  But we still had so much fun!  

Skiing on President's Day

 Chase is unable to go skiing because of basketball.  So I took Bridger and Tanner skiing.  We were worried about it being really busy at the big resorts because of the holiday, so we went CP.  It showed up about 15 minutes before the resort opened and we parked on the second row.  We never waited more than 5 minutes to get on the lift.  It snowed off and on all day long but the boys never complained until the last run.  We stayed almost until closing at 4:00.  I had to rent skis for Tanner.  Tanner only went one time last year but he picked it right up.  We went down the bunny hill one time and then he said he was ready for the big lift.  He even went down a black!  We skied mostly blues and some greens in the beginning.  Taner has caught on so quickly!  He needs a little help getting off of the lift but then he turns into a speed demon.  He doesn't like to turn so he goes straight down.  We had such a fun day being together! 

Happy Valentine's Day

 Valentine's was celebrated on Friday in school because it falls on a Sunday.  Tanner loves his Viking's jersey that he got for Christmas.  So for his Valentine's Day box, he wanted to do a Vikings Stadium theme.  He painted his box purple and then we printed off a picture of the stadium floor.  Tanner painted some tongue depressors and we turned them into goal posts.  He was very happy with how his box turned out.  

Bridger dressed up for school today because they were having a Valentine's dance.  Then Chase was dressed up also because the basketball team had a home basketball game.  They looked so handsome all dressed up.  

The boys got a little something for Valentine's Day.  Mom was always so sweet to make sure we opened a little gift on Valentine's Day.  Bridger and Chase got long sleeve t-shirts.  Tanner got a classic lego set.  Matt bought me some beautiful flowers.  They were pink roses.  The boys and Matt gave me sweet cards.  I gave Matt a box of Ding Dongs and some macadamia chocolate truffles.  

Chase MORP dance

 Chase was invited to MORP (sweet hearts dance) by Jenna Oxborrow.  She's a junior and a cheerleader.  She was darling.  For their day date, they went to "Smash it!"  They bought an old TV and geared up in protective wear.  Then they went crazy and smashed the TV with hammers.  He said it was a fun date activity.  Their group went to Kabuki's for dinner.  It's a Japanese Hibachi restaurant.  It was really fancy.  The chef came out and prepared and cooked their food in front of them.  It was expensive but Chase loved the food and the experience.  Chase had a really fun time at the dance.  He enjoyed the group he was in.  

Tanner's Basketball Season

 Tanner participated in the Junior Jazz basketball recreation program.  His games were Saturday mornings for 6 weeks.  His team struggled because Tanner and one other kid were the only ones that could dribble and make baskets.  So it was a rough season for him but he still loved it.  Tanner loved having his brothers come and watch him.  Matt and I each had to coach a game because the regular coach was out of town.  It made us appreciate these sweet parents that coach these crazy kids.  Tanner has been blessed with some athletic ability.  He loves to play basketball especially when it's with his older brothers.  

Beautiful Amaryllis

 Dad bought me an amaryllis in December.  He always gives one to Mom and Marilyn.  We have loved watching it grow.  We had about 6-8 flowers on it.  At first I kept it on my dinning room table but it wasn't getting enough sunshine so I moved it over by my family room windows.  It was very happy there because it started to really grow.  It's been fun to watch the process and see the beautiful flowers appear.  Dad and Mom are always doing such nice things for us.  Every time I see an amaryllis, I think of Dad.  

Sleepy Sophie

When I put Tanner to bed, I try to remember to turn my electric blanket on.  I love getting into a warm bed especially on a cold night.  I normally turn my electric blanket on high and then put my minky blanket on top.  By the time I come to bed, I can find Sophie sleeping on my minky blanket.  She loves my electric blanket and minky too.  She doesn't sleep on Matt's side because it's cold.  She likes the warm side.  She's such a smart dog.  It always makes me smile to find Sophie snuggled on my bed.  I know I'm crazy for letting my big, shedding dog on my bed!  

Watching Film

After every game, Chase pours over the basketball game film.  He watches the games several times to see how he can improve.  There was one time that I came into the family room to find this scene, Tanner was snuggled next to Chase and then Bridger was watching from behind.  Chase was pointing to something and was analyzing the film with his brothers.  It was such a sweet moment.  The whole family is supporting Chase.  I had to take the picture from behind so they didn't know I was spying on them.   

School Success

 The ground hog saw his shadow so since more weeks of winter.  Tanner filled out this paper at school saying that he wants six more weeks of winter so he can go skiing and go sledding.   Feb 3, 2021

Tanner was given an award for passing off all of his "Rainbow Words 1-60."  He told me that he was the last one to pass them off.  I was really puzzled because we've been working on these words at home and he's been passed off for a couple of months.  I emailed his teacher just to check on him and make sure he's not behind.  She said that she filled the papers out alphabetically and he was the first one and then she put it down and started a pile so he ended up on the bottom.  He thought he was behind because he was called last.  She said that she would clarify that with Tanner and let him know that he's doing a great job!  It gave us a little laugh.  Feb 4, 2021

Bridger's sweet Spanish Teacher, Señora Porras gave this certificate to him after one of his test.  I had the highest grade on the weather and time quiz.  He got 100% so she wanted to recognize him.  I thought it was really nice of her to go the extra mile to recognize Bridger on a job well done.  At the beginning of the school year, every person had to pick out a Spanish name and Bridger picked "Papi."  This sweet teacher has had to learn double the names.  We like to joke with him and call him Papi too.  Feb 5, 2021

Bridger tested positive

Bridger started feeling sick over the weekend.  At first he complained that his body just ached and he had a headache (no fever).  We just thought he was going into one of his PFAPA flareups.  He felt this way for a few days.  On Monday he started with a sore throat.  He had his typically cobble stones down the back of it.  This is what he does every couple of months.  On Wednesday, I picked him up from school and I could tell right away that he was sick. I could tell his lymph nodes were swollen because of his voice.  I cancelled his piano lesson for that afternoon.  We came home and I took a look in his throat.  It looked so much worse!  He still had the cobble stone road down his throat but now he had these canker ulcers all around his throat.  The cankers had a bloody ring around them and then he had tiny red dots along the roof of his mouth.  No wonder he couldn't swallow!  I was suspicious that it was strep throat.  He didn't have a fever or a cough so I didn't think it was COVID.  The next day we had a Telehealth visit.  She said she could tell his throat was red and swollen just from the video.  She ordered a strep test and a COVID test.  On Friday, the office called and said that his strep test came back negative.  Then I started worrying about COVID.   His test came back positive for COVID.  He was completely wiped out over the weekend.  He didn't get off the couch.  We quarantined him to the theater room.  On the few occasions that he came upstairs, he wore his mask and when we did Come Follow Me, all of us had masks on and we were socially distanced.  Bridger was such a good sport about it.  Chase had been around him since the previous weekend so we kept them separated and allowed Chase to still go to school.  We were really worried about him getting behind in his college classes.  Bridger struggled with his sore throat, headaches and body aches.  He never ran a fever, not even a low grade one.  It wasn't until the following Wednesday that he developed a cough. But luckily his other symptoms were improving by then.  We kept him home for 10 days.  We quarantined Tanner with him.  Luckily Tanner never got it.  I did an antibody test on him a couple of weeks later and he tested negative.  We were so shocked.  Tanner was glued to Bridger.  We thought for sure Tanner would be positive and just be an asymptomatic case.  Luckily I had been given both of my doses of the vaccine and Matt had received his first dose.  Bridger was the only one that got it.  We were very blessed because Bridger recovered from it with no complications.  

Reading Time

 I had asked Chase to help me put Tanner to bed.  Before I was running out the door, I came back to my bedroom to find this sweet picture of Chase reading to Tanner.  I had to capture it so I could remember this moment forever.  I love how Tanner is snuggled up to Chase.  

Happy New Year's Eve

On our way home from Chase's JD basketball tournament, we stopped by the A's and visited with them.  We ordered some Chinese food and ate dinner with them.  By the time we got home it was around 9:00.  We kept it a low key night.  Chase invited some friends over.  Bridger and Tanner played video games together.  At midnight, we busted out the the bubbly and celebrated the New Year.  Hopefully 2021 will be better than 2020.  There were some big challenges related to COVID but we also had some really great family time together during the quarantine.  

Tanner made some New Years Resolutions at school.  He made a darling picture of him holding his resolutions.  His resolutions are: "to be a better reader, be nice to my brothers, to be nice to everybody."  What great goals for the year.  

J D Basketball Tournament

 Chase and the basketball team had a 3 day tournament at JD down in D.  Bridger had a game in L on Tuesday so I took him to that game.  Matt picked up his parents and went to Chase's games.  Kip met Tiff at the tournament and took some great pictures for me.  Chase had a couple of rough games and then a couple of great games.  

We decided to stay in a hotel Tuesday night and play with the C's.  Because of COVID we only received 4 tickets so they couldn't go to Chase's game.  But they met us at our hotel after the game and we let the kids go swimming.  Then we went and grabbed some dinner together.  It was so fun to hang out with them and make some memories.  

Merry Christmas

 For Christmas Eve, Angie, Scott, Sammee and Ardell and Charlene came up to our house to celebrate.  We were planning on getting Dominos but when we went to order, we learned that they were closed.  Luckily Little Caesars was opened.  I love the simplicity of ordering pizza for Christmas Eve.  

The boys opened up their "one" present.  Tanner received Dinosaur pjs (the dinosaur is eating pizza).  Bridger and Chase received joggers.  Tanner really wanted to sleep with his brothers.  So Chase agreed to letting everyone sleep in his room.  We put two blow up mattresses in his room and then we read 'The Polar Express.'  

The boys were so happy with everything they received for Christmas.  We got a new ?? inch TV for our family room.  We're planning on putting the old one down stairs and use it as a gaming TV.  

We were nervous getting together with our families because of COVID.  But we decided to get together and try to be smart about it.  We required everyone to wear masks.  (Luckily everyone was healthy and no one got sick afterwards).  We headed down around 1:00 and went and spent a couple of hours with the A's.  Then we went over to the R's for dinner and more celebrating.  Shantelle made an incredible IP book for Mom and Dad, and Marilyn.  She always creates such an amazing book to cherish.  

Operation Nativity Drop

 Last December, Mike and Amy surprised us and put the old nativity set in our yard during one night.  We purposely kept the nativity set so we could get Mike and Amy back.  Chase had a game at R high school so we only had a few minutes to spare.  We snuck in their driveway, threw the nativity together on their front lawn and then drove off.  Amy was home the entire time but luckily we missed Mike by just a few minutes.  When he got home from work, he said "when did they drop off the nativity?'  Tanner helped us put the nativity out.  He thought it was so much fun.  It gave Amy and Mike and good laugh.  

The Nativity with the A's

 We carried on the tradition of setting up the nativity with the A's.  We had dinner beforehand and then Ardell read the nativity story out of the scriptures while Tanner and Bridger set up the nativity.  With Charlene's health problems, she's unable to do ornaments anymore and the rhyming card.  I bought ornaments for Charlene and Ardell to give the kids but then I forgot them.  It was still nice to be together and carry on the tradition.  

Happy St. Nicholas Day

 St. Nicholas remembered us again and stopped by for a quick visit.  He left us a few surprises.  Chase and Bridger got skinny floral ties.  Tanner got a jump rope and then a little lego set.  St. Nicholas also brought the boys cosmic brownies and Matt chocolate swill rolls.  

Bridger's Good Grades

 Bridger survived his first trimester at the middle school.  He worked hard and got all A's!!!  He was very proud of his exceptional grades.  He also got all H's for citizenship.   I didn't get a picture of Chase but he got one B and the rest were A's.  He's taking an anatomy and physiology college class that is very challenging!  He's worked his butt off and was happy to get a B in it.  I love how serious our boys take their grades.  I never have to check them and make sure they're on target.  They're very self motivated.  I'm so proud of their study habits.  

Chase's Basketball Pictures and Warm up Suit

Seeing Chase in the basketball team pictures, made it sink in that he really made the team!!  His pictures turned out awesome!!!  The seniors are:  Kace Jones, Josh Payne, Easton Lish, Jarett (Jug) Giles, Jace Jacobson and Chase.  

  

Chase didn't love the warm up suits that coach picked out but he was still happy to be wearing the team gear.  The boys joked that they looked like marshmallows. 

Tanner's Fall Art

 The first month of school, Tanner had to draw a self portrait and then write some things about himself.  I love his self portrait!!!!  He said he likes friends (frns).  He enjoys school (skool). His family loves him.  November 4, 2020

For Tanner's writing assignment, he was asked "What do you want to be when you grow up."  Tanner said that he wants to be a nurse anesthetist.  I loved the picture Tanner drew to go with it.  It's an operating room.  He drew someone on the OR table and he has a sad face.  November 25, 2020

The first grade teachers were reading the story of the Gingerbread Man so they encouraged everyone to create a gingerbread man.  I remembered the night before it was due and Tanner had already had gone to bed.  So I pulled out some crafty things and had Tanner design it before he went to school.  He did a great job!  He wanted his gingerbread man to have orange hair.  December 2, 2020

Tanner leaned about water color painting.  He painted s picture of Rudolf using water color painting.  He did a great job!  December 3, 2020

Chase's "sick" new basketball shoes

 Chase was so thrilled about making the basketball team.  We told him that we'd buy him a new pair of basketball shoes (within reason - some of his friends bought $300 shoes).  He picked out these shoes. They weren't what I would pick out but I'm old and out of style.  Chase LOVES them!! They came in two days so he was able to wear them in his first game.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving!  We were really torn about what to do for Thanksgiving because of COVID.  The CDC recommended that you only have it with your immediate family.  We threw that idea around but Mom said she'd rather die of cover than eat Thanksgiving without her family.  We decided to just have it with our family and not combine with the Steeds because it was our year with the "Taylors."  We invited everyone up to our house.  Everyone agreed to wear masks and we tried to spread the settings out on the table.  Unfortunately Wednesday night, Robby started feeling sick and he was running a fever.  The next morning he was still running a fever and felt sick.  As disappointing as it was, we agreed that it was for the best for the C's to not come just incase he was positive for COVID.  Any other year, we'd say "drug up and still come."  But we have to be so careful right now because you just never know how you're going to respond to COVID.  Everyone was so bummed about the C's not coming!!  We facetimed them at the end of dinner. Chase had to work from 7-1:00 that morning.  So we ate as soon as he came home.  The W's came, Marilyn, and then Grandpa and Grandma R came.  It was a very small Thanksgiving dinner but we were so grateful to be together.  Mom brought two turkey breast and cheese dips.  Marilyn did the green bean casserole and jello.  The W's brought the potatoes and then chocolate cream pie!!  Mom and Dad bought Neighborhood bakery rolls that ended up being a disaster.  They normally are the best, fluffiest rolls every, but these didn't rise!  They were hard rocks.  We later found out that the baker didn't follow the recipe.  I made the sweet potatoes with the yummy brown sugar crumble on the top.  

  Even though we missed Shan, we enjoyed being together.  The kids loved hanging out and especially playing in the sports court.  They played outside even though it was cold.  Mom, Dad and Marilyn left around 5:00.  Dinner didn't settle well with mom.  She's been having some gastrointestinal problems.  She just can't digest food most days.  We had just a great time visiting with the W's.  They stayed until 7:30.  It was a different Thanksgiving but with everything going on in the world, we felt very grateful for our many blessings and especially for family.  Hundreds of thousands of people have died from COVID and won't be having Thanksgiving with their families.  We were very grateful that everyone remained healthy after thanksgiving and no one caught COVID after.  

Chase made the Basketball Team!!!

Chase cut his hair really short because the basketball coach wants it above their ears.  So in order to look serious about making the team, he got his hair cut.  He looks really sharp!  Nov 4, 2020 

Winter sports were a little delayed because of COVID.  But the state finally announced that they'll allow high school winter sports.  Coach Shaw organized tryouts right before Thanksgiving.  Chase has been working so hard since the previous season ended to try to make the team again. He knows that Coach only wants to keep 5 seniors and there were 10 juniors last year.  Chase has spent hours in the sports court and with his personal coach, Jeff.  He drives over to Logan once a week to work with Jeff for an hour.  We joke that Jeff is the basketball whisperer.  Chase has been attending the open gyms 3 times a week.  Chase has improved so much since last year!!!  The Wegers sent a little good luck package to him.  Our families have been praying with us for Chase to make the team.  At the end of tryouts, Coach called Chase in and said that he only wanted to keep 5 seniors but he couldn't cut Chase.  He said that he's improved so much and deserves a spot on the team!!!!  We're so proud of the hard work Chase has done to accomplish this goal.  Chase is ecstatic that he made the team!  

Bridger's Project

 Bridger's really enjoyed his Construction Tech class.  His teacher Mr. Picket is awesome!  Bridger has learned how to use some wood working tools.  He made this awesome shelf!  He did a great job on it!  

Happy Halloween

 With COVID cases surging, Halloween changed a little.  The school had their Halloween parade outside and only one grade was allowed to go at a time.  I was able to still go in and help in Taner's class for his class party.  (Shantelle and Mylissa couldn't go into the schools for parties).  Tanner wanted to be Ironman again.  He was Ironman last year but the gloves were really big on him.  So he wanted to be it again and have the gloves fit better.  The costume fit him perfectly!  

We were busy laying Sod and wrapping up some yard projects on Saturday so I felt like the day flew by.  Tanner really wanted to carve pumpkins so Bridger quickly cleaned out two pumpkins.  Tanner drew the face on his pumpkin and then Bridger carved it out.  I had Tanner quickly go change into his costume.  The stake decided to cancel the Trunk or Treat at the church because of COVID.  Our neighborhood told people to park on our street so we could still go trick or treating.  We were one of the few people to wear masks but we wanted to stay safe.  Bridger stayed with the candy and handed it out.  The weather was perfect.  It was one of the warmest Halloweens I can remember.  Matt and I walked Tanner down one half of our street and then I took Tanner down the other half while Matt handed out the candy.  Bridger invited a few overs to hang out.  Chase was hanging out with Kyzer and Raden.  Tanner held my hand as we were walking back.  It was one of those magical moments where I wanted to freeze time.  Tanner came back and counted his candy.  He had 130 pieces of candy!  I would call that a successful night of trick or treating! 

Grandpa Taylor would love this!

 Our neighbors the S's, invited us over to ride their horses.  They know that we don't have animals and that Bridger and Tanner love animals.  After walked Bridger around on the horse Juke, they asked him if he wanted to try it by himself.  He said YES!  They worked with him in learning how to use the reigns to guide the horse.  Bridger really enjoyed it!  They put Tanner on their other horse.  Their son walked Tanner around for at least 15 minutes.  It's nice that we can enjoy our neighbors animals!  We have the best neighbors!

Oops!

 Matt was taking some sod down to his parents so he had the trailer hooked up to his truck.  He was parked in front of the trailer.  Last night he told Chase,  "just be careful backing up because I'm parked there.  Don't hit my truck!"  Well, Chase was in a hurry the next morning and backed into Matt's truck. He walked back into the house and said "I hit dad's truck!"  I took a few seconds to compose myself but I didn't swear at him.  He looked so upset.  I went over and gave him a big hug and said that I knew it was an accident.   Luckily it wasn't too bad.  It scratched Matt's truck front bumper.  Most of the damage was to Chase's car.  It broke his right back tail light and then made several scratches to his bumper and bent it a little.  We figured that if we fixed it, then someone would hit it in the high school parking lot.  So Chase will drive around with a few scratches.  

Bridger's New Hobby

 In Bridger's FACTS class, he had his sewing unit.  He made a drawstring bag.  His teacher asked him to grade it and he gave himself a B.  When the teacher looked at it she told him it was almost perfect.  She was very impressed with his sewing skills.  She gave him an A!  

More Grass!

 Matt has worked so hard getting the section just north of our house ready for grass.  We ran out of steam when we did grass two years ago.  Ardell needed some sod for his yard so it pushed Matt to finish this project.  We had 13 palettes of sod delivered on Thursday.  Matt and I started it that afternoon.  Friday we were busy with Bridger's basketball games.  Saturday morning at 9:00 we hit it!  Our sweet neighbors, the S and Candice S came over to help us and our neighbor Luke.  We were done within an hour!  What great neighbors.  Chase's friends Kyzer and Raden showed up just as we were finishing the sod.  But they were so sweet to help us even the grass up and collect all of the pallets.  The grass looks so good!!!  It's nice to have this finished!

Tanner and Mack

Tanner's little buddy, Mack broke his foot in a really bad place.  He has to be non-weight bearing for 6 weeks.  The school has a wheelchair that they let him use instead of his crutches while he's at school.  So every morning, I drop the boys off.  They go into the office and pick up the wheelchair.  Tanner has been so sweet to push Mack around and help him out.  I'm so grateful they're in the same class.  They're such good buddies.  I think it's been good for Tanner to show compassion and help Mack out.  

Halloween party at the R

 We were hesitant to have a family party because of COVID but at the last minute, we decided to have a family Halloween party at Mom's house.  We strongly encouraged everyone to wear masks.  Most of us wore masks.  Mom said she was going to keep it simple with just a potato bar.  But we had chili to go with it and a whole counter full of food.  The kids were so happy to be together.  We carried on the tradition and did the costume parade.  Shantelle started it off with being Princess Leia.  She came out and said "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope!"  We had the best laugh!  We love how Shan gets into Halloween.  The C's had a Star Wars theme.  Lily was BB8, Aliyah was Ray and Hazel was Chewy.  Robby held up a red solo cup and said he was "Han Solo."  Tanner came out in his Ironman costume.  Caleb was the Mandalorian.  Julie was piglet.  Bridger and Chase dressed up as moody teenagers.  

Chase's Halloween Dance

 Chase's friend Kelby invited him to go to the Halloween Dance.  Chase was really happy because his friends Kyzer and Raden were in his group.  They went to a Haunted House for the day activity.  On the day of the dance, his buddies came to our house and then the girls picked them up at our house.  Everyone in his group went as boxers.  Chase and his date were in Silver.  For dinner they went to Buffalo Wild Wings.  They waited for over 90 minutes!  They got to the dance and when the next song started, the principal stopped the song and turned on the lights and ended the dance.  Some students weren't abiding by the rules so they shut the whole thing down.  Chase was disappointed.  They went back to one of the girl's house and hung out til 12:30.  Chase said he had a fun time.  

Fall Break in BL

 See BL Journal for Fall break

Bridger's Soccer Season

Bridger's soccer season started off really rough.  They lost their first three games but then they were able to turn the corner.  They won their last five games and played really well as a team.  I'm so grateful he has his close friend Bentley on the team.  They are teased mercilessly at school for playing soccer.  But they stick together and love it!  

 Bridger had a game in K town so the Grandpa and Grandma R, Marilyn and the W's came to watch him.  They were so sweet to support him.  Just as the game began, the winds picked up.  It got super windy and really cold.  We ended up huddled together in my van.  Bridger really appreciated everyone coming to support him.  Aug 31, 

Bridger made the top CVE basketball team!!!

 Bridger decided that he wanted to play basketball again with CVE.  His awesome coach, Dallin has been coming over once a week since this summer to work with Bridger to improve his skills.  His shot is looking really good!  CVE had a two day tryout.  Bridger was thrilled when he learned that he made the top team (black team) again!  We were so relieved when his friend Kolton also made the team so that helps a ton with carpooling.  We know a few of the kids from last year but it looks like it's going to be a great group of young men.  We're thrilled that Dalln, coach Malm will be coaching this team again!  He's such great example for the boys and he's wonderful to build them up.  

Tanner's Fall Soccer Season

 Tanner loved playing soccer this fall.  His best friend Mack was on the team.  He had a couple of other friends on his team too.  His coaches were so great with the kids.  He tried to teach them offense and defense instead of all of the kids swarming around the balls.  They moved this age group up to the bigger goals so Tanner thought that was awesome.  He had games on Wednesday nights and Saturday morning during the month of September.  There was one game where Tanner wasn't playing very aggressive.  The other team was killing us.  We were down 1-5.  They did 6 quarters during a game to help trade off kids.  Right before the last quarter, Matt asked Tanner "do you know that you're losing?"  Tanner went out and score four goals.  His friend Boston got a goal and they were able to win the game.  It cracked us up how competitive Tanner is.  

Tanner loved having his older brothers come and watch him.  Grandpa and Grandma A were able to make it to a game.  

Bridger's CO2 Car

In Bridger's Construction Tech class, he made a CO2 car.  He worked on this car for a few weeks.  He had to design it, cut it out of wood, sand it, paint it, seal it and then put the wheels on.  They did a race day where his teacher set up a fancy track.  They attached CO2 cartridges to their cars and then raced them.  Bridger's car did really well.  

Bridger Student of the Month

 Bridger 's Language Arts teacher, Miss Norton, nominated him for Student of the Month for September.  She said "Bridger, you're always very polite to me and your classmates.  Keep up the good work! Ms Norton."   We were really proud of Bridger for this accomplishment.  Bridger is making such great choices.  It's nice when others recognize it.  

Mikayla's Home

 Mikayla finished her year of nannying a family in Paris, France.  We have missed her so much!!  We were able to see her and she brought back souvenirs for us.  She brought Matt and I some delicious macaroons.  She brought back some fancy socks for Chase and Bridger.  There's a tiny symbol of the Eiffel Tower on them.  She brought back Tanner the cutest Parisian shirt.  He wore it to school the next day.  It was so thoughtful of her to bring us back souvenirs.  We're so glad that she's home safely!  

Well Visit Checkups

 Bridger and Tanner had their well visit check ups with Dr. S.  We drive down to L for her but she is so worth the drive!  She's Mylissa's friend and pediatrician.  We've been going to her for about 3 years.  She's wonderful!  We love her.  Luckily, Bridger and Tanner are both healthy boys.  They are growing and developing in a healthy way.  

In height, Bridger measured 5'6" which puts him in the 65%.  In weight, he's 117 pounds with is in the 55%.  

In height, Tanner is 3'11" tall which puts him in the 54%.  He weighs 51 pounds which puts him in the 68%.  

We went and got Twisted Sugar cookies after our appointment.  The boys were so brave and got their flu shots.  I'm so grateful that they are healthy and happy!

Homecoming for Chase

 Chase asked Brynlee to Homecoming.  She answered with lots of Recess Peanut butter cuts.  It was really cute.  Chase was excited about the dance because he's going with his friends Kyzer and Raden.  They asked girls that are friends with each other so they had a blast.  

(Monday, September 7th) For their day activity they wanted to go to a fancy golfing place in South Salt Lake.  But in BC the girls asked them if they had a reservation.  They didn't, so they called the place and it was a 90-120 minute wait. They decided to go to Fat Cat's in O. They played one round of laser tag (which was really overpriced).  Then they went to Panda Express for some food.  Then they found some scooters and rode around Ogden.  Chase said they had a fun time.  

(Saturday, September 12). One of the girls in the group had her sister's wedding that day so they had to go a little bit later so she could come.  They picked up their dates at 6:00 and then they met for pictures in BC.  Their dance pictures turned out really pretty.  Chase's date looked beautiful and Chase looked very handsome.  They went to Maddox for dinner.  He joked that everyone got the turkey fried steak because it was on the cheaper side of things.  Then they went to the dance for about 30 minutes before it ended.  After the dance, they came back to our house and made a big bon fire.  Chase and his friends made it during the day so they had it all ready to go.  The fire was huge!!!  Next time we need to warn our neighbors.  We're lucky everyone stayed safe because some of the kids were being so stupid (jumping over the flames).  Some kids played inside and some hung out by the fire.  Chase said that they had a fun time.  

Peaches

 Everyone met at Mom and Dad's and we started the process.  Dad bought 5 boxes of peaches!! But with our factory, we were done with the peaches around 3:00.  We did 88 quarts of peaches!  Mom, Marilyn and I started on the peach jam. The jam ended up being really runny because Mom realized the next day that she forgot to drain the water from the peaches before she started to mash them up.  But the flavor is still really good.  We just doubled the batch and got 30 jars of mixed sizes.  

I love the picture of Mom and Marilyn mashing up the peaches.  Mom's back was killing her but she was so sweet to still help in whatever capacity she can.  I loved spending the day with my sisters, Mom, Mares and Dad.  Dad stayed out manning the processing station.  

Salsa with Jen

 Jen and I pulled our garden profits together and made a double batch of our salsa.  (We had to use some tomatoes from Sherri's garden too).  The salsa turned out delicious!  It was the perfect combination of tomato, spicy and sweet.  We made 51 pint jars of salsa.  I loved spending the day with Jen.  (Tiff had to substitute).  I don't love the clean up of salsa but I love eating it in the winter and I love visiting with Jen! 

First Day of School!!!

 With the uncertainty of COVID, we didn't know if we would be starting school in person.  We were very grateful when our school district decided to have in person learning!  For the first two weeks, the kids will go half days to adjust to the mask and hot temperatures.  (They can't have fans in the classrooms).  Chase is in 12th grade.  I hope he's able to have a senior year.  Bridger is in 8th grade.  Eight and ninth grade are at the middle school.  Bridger is able to catch a ride with Chase since their schools are across the street and Bridger's starts 10 minutes after Chase.  Tanner is in first grade!  It worked out really well doing half days for two weeks because it helped Tanner adjust to full days.  

Tanner started off in Miss Barnes class.  Two weeks into the school year, we got a phone call from the school.  There was an opening in the Spanish Dual Immersion program at our school.  At first, I was hesitant because I was nervous about moving classes.  I called Amy Jo.  She's a teacher at that school and I used to work with her in primary.  I got her opinion about the program.  Originally we really wanted Tanner to be in the program, but when he didn't get chosen (he was the third alternate) I took it as a sign that it wasn't meant to be.  After talking to Amy Jo and praying about it, we decided to switch him. He has Miss Day for his English time and then Señora Arias for Spanish time.  Tanner was super excited about being in the Spanish class.  Tanner was in his best friend Mack's class.  This was such a tender mercy from the Lord.  The Lord knew that they needed to be together.  Tanner adjusted really quickly.  He's loving both teachers. 

Our first cake!

Jen introduced me to Cakes by C.  So I've been obsessed with looking at her cakes.  Matt and the boys gave me some cake making tools for Mother's Day.  All summer, Bridger and I kept saying that we were going to make one of her cakes.  The day before school started, Bridger, Tanner and I made her Chocolate Salted Caramel cake.  The cake part wasn't hard.  I tried to make her homemade caramel sauce but I burnt it.  I cheated and used a jar of store bought caramel sauce and then added sea salt.  The frosting used two cubes of butter!  We did the first layer and then put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.  Then we took it out and traded off frosting it.  Bridger and I were so proud of our cake.  It turned out really delicious.  It was super rich.  I sent pictures to my family.  Luckily we saw them a couple of days later so I took them some leftovers.  Maddie said "why would they want to share with us when it's this good?"  You can only overdose on so much cake.  It made a lot!  

Rach's 43rd Birthday

 Matt was off the week of my birthday.  So I called Kaye and asked her if we could go to the cabin one last time before school started.  We invited Mom, Dad, and Marilyn to come up with us.  The C were already back in school.  Mylissa's family was quarantined because Maddie tested positive for COVID.  We played games, went for lots of walks and ate yummy food.  

 See Cabin Journal 

Corn!!

 Tanner's friend Mack brought us a dozen ears of corn.  They went to their Great Grandpa's (Lee Summers) field and picked us some sweet corn.  It was so delicious to have fresh corn on the cob!  

Bridger's Friend Party

 Bridger has been asking to have a friend party all summer long.  The summer is quickly wrapping up so we picked a day.  It was our anniversary but it was the only night we had.  Bridger invited four boys and five girls.  He didn't want it to be a birthday party so he wouldn't let me tell his friends.  The kids played in the sports court.  Layne and Tiff brought down their 9 square.  The kids had so much fun playing that!  That's a great game to get everyone involved.  We ordered pizza for them.  The kids were being self conscious because everyone ate only one piece.  Normally the boys eat at least 3 pieces so we had tons of leftover pizza. Afterwards they played night games.  Originally we told Bridger the party needed to end at 10:00 but the kids were having so much fun that we pushed it back to 11:00.  

Bridger's Driving

 In Island Park, I let Bridger drive Grandma's buggy.   He's been asking for a couple of months if he can start driving home from church when he's 14.  That's when we started Chase.  So today after church, I let Bridger drive home.  He drove my van which he said was a lot harder than Grandma's buggy.  We waited until the parking lot was almost empty.  I let Bridger drive the long way home.  It was nerve racking but Bridger did a great job!!!  His smile made it all worth it.  

Primary Drive Through

 As a primary presidency, we decided we needed to do something to reach out to the children.  We came up with the idea to do a drive through "Back to School"activity.  Because of COVID, we had masks on and we asked the parents and children to stay in their cars so we could social distance.  We had five different stations where the kids received school supplies.  I was at the last station and I handed out popsicles.  The kids were great to stay in their cars.  It was so good to see some of our primary children.  Matt brought Tanner over on the four wheeler.  

The C's visit

 Shantelle said that they wanted to come up and spend a day with us before they go back to school.  They brought us Lehi Bakery donuts!!!  We devoured them.  They brought their dog Ivy with them.  Sophie and Ivy turned into best friends.  We walked back to the canal and let the dogs go swimming.  Sophie loves to swim.  Ivy wasn't so sure about it.  Shantelle had to push her in but then she caught right on.  As we were walking back, Ivy stopped and started barking at Lisa's horses.  Shantelle brought up her slip and slide.  The kids loved playing in the water.  I love watching the kids play together.  They get along so well.  We made slushy drinks. The kids played playmobil and played in the sports court.  We had a perfect day together! It was so sweet of Shantelle and her girls to come up and hang out with us.  I miss having Shan live 5 minutes away from me.  It makes my heart so happy to be with them.  We love them so much!

Bridger's 14th birthday

 Bridger's 14th birthday - see cabin journal

Chase's Four Wheel Accident

Chase and his friend Kyzer took the four wheelers out.  After a couple of hours, I started to get worried about them.  When they finally came home, Chase had a big gash in his left leg.  He was going over a mound of dirt and didn't realize it dropped off.  He did a nose dive and rolled the four wheeler.  Luckily he had a helmet on and the four wheeler didn't land on his chest or abdomen.  But it did land on his left leg.  Somehow a part on the four wheeler punctured his leg and made a really deep gash.  By some miracle, he didn't break his leg.  We know he was protected!!!  

  The minute I saw his wound, I knew he needed stitches.  So we went to the hospital for about 90 minutes.  The doctor wanted to do an x-ray of his leg just to make sure there wasn't any debris in it.  The x-ray came back clean.  So then the doctor stitched him up.  The gash was down to the bone.  He did five stitches on the deeper layer and then 10 stitches on the top layer.  Chase was very brave.  He has several abrasions and bruises on his leg.  I still can't believe he didn't break his leg.  He was very lucky!!1

Fishing with Grandpa R

Grandpa R took Chase, Bridger, Tanner, and Caleb up to the Uintas to go fishing.  We didn't have any time in Island Park so Dad really wanted to take the boys this summer.  I had to work a full shift the next day so we drove down on Sunday and had a nice dinner with Mom and Dad. Matt decided to come at the last minute.  We slept over and then the next morning, the boys got up by 6:00 and headed out.  They drove for a couple of hours before coming to a lake.  (They were trying to find a certain lake.  They drove 6 miles up this rickety, bumpy, worn down trail.  Finally they said that they were lost so they turned around.  When they got back down to the bottom, the sign said that the lake was 7 miles away.  They had a good laugh).  Unfortunately the day was a bust as Caleb called it.  They didn't catch any fish but they made lots of good memories.  

  Grandpa really wanted to make it up to the kids.  So we met at a stocked fishing pond in North Ogden.  It had three ponds with a small, medium, and big fish.  Most of the fish were trout.  Chase was the first one to catch a fish.  Maddie, Julie, Caleb and Rob came with us.  Everyone was able to catch 6-8 fish.  We kept about 13 fish and then threw the rest back.  Maddie wasn't trying that hard to catch a fish.  At one point, we handed her Caleb's kid fishing pole.  She was sitting by the side of the pond hoping to not catch a fish.  Suddenly her line jerked and she had a fish.  It gave us a good laugh.  After a couple of hours, Caleb and Tanner were catching fish all by themselves.  They were loving it!  The place cleans the fish for you for an extra $.50 a fish.  It's worth every penny.  Dad and the kids had the biggest smiles all morning. The kids had a great experience!!! 

  Afterwards, we went back to Grandpa's and cooked up the fish.  Marilyn met us there for our fish fry feast.   Mom was just heading out to get her hair cut and permed.  I was in charge of cooking the fish.  I was a little nervous but with enough butter, it turned out great.  The kids all tried it.  Maddie loves fish.  Chase and Bridger thought it was disgusting.  I was proud of the kids for trying it.  It was such a fun day!  

Bridger's Summer Basketball Tournament

Bridger's basketball team was split in half for this tournament.  Bridger played with kids that he's never played with.  The first game was really rough because they weren't playing as a team.  But with each game, their team improved.  They played four games.  They lost two and won two.  Their last game, they were playing for third place.  Bridger was a machine!  He had a new PR.  He scored 16 points!!!! He made 3 three pointers.  Coach Malm was so awesome with Bridger.  He called him on the way home and told him how proud he was of him.  Coach has made such a huge impact on Bridger.  They've been working so hard together.  Matt and I had to be at Hailee's wedding so we were unable to go to his last game.  Chase drove Bridger and Tanner down to Sandy.  They made a fun day of it.  It's so nice to have Chase's help!  

We stayed in a hotel Thursday night because he had a late game and then an early game the next morning. I decided by the time I paid all the gas, it was worth it to just stay in a hotel.  The boys went swimming.  It was a block away from the tournament so it was perfect.  It was a nice little getaway.  

Mini Prom

Chase originally asked a girl to Prom.  That night she said "Yes" on social media.  But then the next day, she said that she forgot that another guy had asked her.  I was fuming.  But Chase took it really well.  So when we got back from BL, Chase and a couple of his friends went to ask another girl.  She lived farther away than they thought so they were out past curfew.  Chase rolled through a stop sign and there happened to be a policeman monitoring the intersection.  He pulled Chase over and asked what he was doing out past curfew.  Chase was very polite and told the officer that we was asking a girl to prom.  The policeman asked if she said yes and Chase said "I sure hope so because the first girl said no."  Luckily the policeman had a good sense of humor and let him get off with a warning.  But we got a good laugh out of it.  On March 7th, Ellie answered Chase for Prom.  She said " I'd love to Roll to Prom with you."  Chase's group decided that they wanted to wear suits and not tuxedos.  We bought Chase a nice grey suit.  He looks so handsome!!!
  Because of COVID, Prom was cancelled.  His group ended up doing a "Mini Prom."  During COVID, one of Chase's friends broke up with his date and hooked up with Chase's date.  So Lexi, the original girl came back and said "I blew it the first time, will you go to Prom with me."  Chase is so easy going and very nice.  He agreed to take Lexi. Their group consisted of 10 couples.  They went to dinner at Maddox and then went back to a barn that Josh and Easton had cleaned out.  They danced for three hours.  Really the boys danced for one hour and the girls danced for three hours.  But Chase still had a fun time and was glad that he went.

Bridal Shower for Hailee

I hosted a bridal shower for Tiffani's daughter Hailee.  She's getting married July 4th.  I only had to focus on getting my house cleaned.  The Minnesota girls were awesome to step up and help me with food, especially Jen.  She brought 2 salads, and four desserts!!!  All of the Minnesota girls came and most of their daughters.  We were so happy to see each other!  It's been since February since we last saw each other so we've really missed each other.  (COVID has definitely made me appreciate friends and family.). Hailee was so appreciative!  She was so happy!  It made it all worth it.

Why not?!?!

Our entry table was looking really rough at the bottom of the legs. There were some really big scratches on the top. I decided to spray paint it a dark navy blue. Matt asked me “are you sure you can do this?” I said “why not! I have nothing to lose!”  The table is 18 years old so I figured if I messed it up really bad, I would toss it. I ended up putting about 6 coats on the table. It was a lot harder than I thought. As long as you don’t look too closely, I’m happy with how it turned out.

Cement

Matt and the boys have worked so hard on projects around the house.  Matt and the boys did the forms for a cement walk way from our driveway to the back steps in the back yard and then two strips for a tractor driveway.  Layne was so sweet to come down and help too.  Matt hired a friend to pour the cement and then make it look nice.  It turned out great!!  It's going to be so nice to have a pathway so Sophie's paws hopefully don't get so muddy.  I worked that day but before I left, I asked Matt if he would do a hand print of the boys. He put it at the bottom of a strip but it has the boys hand  prints and the year so we can always remember this.  I loved the one we had in American Fork of Chase's little footprint.  Good memories.

School's Out!

Our last day of school work was May 20th but our official last day of school was May 29th.  I looked outside and say Tanner and Bridger jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler.  They were soaking up!  But they were giggling and having so much fun.  I sat on the back porch and just watched them.  They looked so happy.  I thought "it's officially summer!"  It's small moments like this that make me happy.  The simple joys of life.  I love that Bridger will still play with Tanner like this.  What a good big brother!  (Chase has his own special connection with Tanner and finds ways to spend time with him).

Maddie Graduated!

It has not been the ending of the school year that Maddie had anticipated but she's made the best of it.  One third of her senior year was spent in quarantine.  All of the festivities that go with celebrating your graduation were cancelled.  Her school did an online graduation ceremony and then showed a picture of every senior.  She had an appointment to get her cap and gown.  Luckily a handful of her friends coordinated it to be there at the same time.  So she was able to get some graduation pictures with her friends.  They also did appointments to have your picture taken with the principal while he handed her her graduation diploma.  We're so proud of Maddie for making the most of this crazy experience.  She's made so many wonderful memories during her high school years.  We can't wait to see the amazing things she continues to accomplish.

Mom's Birthday and Maddie's Graduation

Mylissa generously invited us to her house to celebrate Mom's birthday and to celebrate Maddie's graduation.  We wanted to made a big deal out of Maddie's graduation since it's been a big bummer not having the normal festivities because of COVID.  I made Mom and lemon poppyseed bundt cake!!  Mom always jokes that things cannot be too lemony but she admitted that this cake was a little too strong.  But it was still good.

Maddie came out in her cap and gown.  Shantelle had the graduation music playing.  We cheered for Maddie.  She joked that she was the valedictorian of her class (since she was the only one at her house).  Maddie showed us her prom dress.  Her group was doing a mini prom.  She looks beautiful in her dress.  Maddie joked that she was also prom queen. We told her why not! Celebrate it up!

It was a great day being together.  I bought several shirts for Dad to give mom.  At first mom was really surprised but then Dad gave it away that I had helped.  It gave us a good laugh.  Dad also surprised mom (with my help) and gave mom some really nice AirPods.

BB gun shooting

Bridger got out his BB gun and set up some target practicing.  He helped Tanner with the BB gun.

Tanner's Treasure Hunt and Drive Through Graduation

The sweet kindergarten teachers made a treasure box for every student.  It was their mini -drive through graduation.  There were lots of cute things inside, like a few books, a new pencil, Oreos.  She had saved all of their art projects and put them in a cute book.  Mrs. B has been an amazing teacher.  She's so loving!  She makes Tanner feel so special.  When Tanner gave her a gift, she got a little choked up and said how COVID has been so hard on them.  She talked about how much she has missed her students.  They did a great job of teaching things online and keeping the kids on track.  We're so lucky Tanner had Mrs.  B.

More Yard Work

On Saturday, we stopped by J&J's (along with half of Davis County).  We bought 2 Dawyack Beech Trees for our backyard.  We wanted a little bit bigger tree so we forked out the bucks and paid $200/tree!  But they are beautiful trees!  They're 7-8 feet tall.  We put one just right off the porch to hopefully provide a little shade and then one to the right of our bedroom.  We also put one Skinny Jeans Oak tree on the left side of our bedroom, in front of our bathroom window.  I like the contrast of the green tree with the red beech tree.  A week ago, I bought a bunch of stuff and filled in our rock walls in the back yard.  I planted some spirea, euonymus, Stella O day Lillies, Rose of Sharon, mini forsythia, boomerang lilac bush, and some daisies.  I hope they survive.  It looks so much better!!!

We also planted a bakerii pine tree out in our island out front.  Then we added some perennials to fill it in.  We put some mini butterfly bushes, more lilies, dianthus, dwarf nine bark.  I love how it's all coming together.  It makes such a difference.

Teacher Parade

Our awesome school did a drive by teacher and staff parade.  They drove through all of the boundaries of the school.  They even came out to our neighborhood.  Tanner was so excited to see his teachers!!  We made lots of noise and cheered loudly for them.  Tanner saw his teacher for a split second but it brought a big smile to his face.  We really appreciated their effort.  What a bunch of great staff!  We love our G Elementary.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day weekend was great!  On Friday, Matt ran over to Logan to go on some "errands."  He came back with a Crumbl cookie box that said "Happy Mother's Day."  Cookies are much better than flowers!  He also got me a new iPhone.  I haven't been able to make any phone calls on my phone for the last two weeks.  I can only text on mine.  So I just use the boys when I need to make a phone call. Matt was very sweet and got me a new phone.
  I think we're all going a little crazy from being so cooped up so we spent some time with our families over the weekend.  On Saturday, we went down to the A's.  We had a BBQ and then planted lots of flowers for Grandma.  She was thrilled with them!
  Sunday morning, Matt and the boys made me a yummy breakfast.  They made me cinnamon muffins and scrambled eggs.  We didn't have church because it's still on hold for COVID.  Later that afternoon, we headed down to the R's to celebrate with everyone.  It's the first time the cousins have seen each other since Christmas!  Everyone was so happy to see each other.  I gave Mom and Marilyn Shutterfly books for our Moab trip.  I'm so grateful for the wonderful "mothers" I've had in my life.  My mom is an amazing example of love and selflessness.  Marilyn has taught me to be strong and to make the best out of life.  Charlene is full of love for her family and God.
 

Butterflies

Angie sent us a fun butterfly project.  10 caterpillars were delivered in the mail.  Over the next three weeks we watched the catepillars grow, turn into chrysalis and then transform into butterflies.  Then we released them!  It was so fun to watch them change over the weeks.

  

Tanner's 6th Birthday

On Saturday night, Tanner said he wanted to go to the place where Chase went for his birthday and get a corn dog.  (Maddox)  While we were driving there, Shantelle called me.  I told her what we were doing and she said "Maddox doesn't have corn dogs."  I thought she was mistaken.  But sure enough, when we went to order the server said they don't have corn dogs.  Tanner started to cry.  I felt like I had ruined his birthday.  So we made a really big deal out of their fries.  I promised that we would get him a corn dog next week.  He loves corn dogs!!!
  We invited our parents and Mares and Angie to come up for dinner and celebrate Tanner's birthday. He requested crepes for breakfast with the special sauce (buttermilk syrup).  He requested "white sauce" (alredo) with fettuccini noodles for his dinner.  He also wanted a chocolate Oreo ice cream cake.   The main thing Tanner wanted for his birthday was remote control cars.  He ended up getting three because Mom gave him one too.  He got a little mini one, an outdoor one that climbs on rocks and then a fast yellow fancy car.  He was thrilled!!! He got lots of lego Star Wars.  Matt and I got him a new bike.  I thought he was going to be so happy.  He seemed happy when we brought it out but the next day he told me he didn't want it.  He said that he wanted Caleb's hand me down Captain America bike.  Well, ok!!  Maybe next year he'll want a new bike.
  Tanner loves to play outside whether it's riding bikes, playing "golf" with his brothers, jumping on the tramp, or playing on the swing set.  He's such a happy guy.  He loves to play with friends.  He likes to play with cars (hot wheels and Disney), marbles and legos.  He loves basketball and soccer just like his older brothers. He likes to play board games.  His brothers taught him how to play chess.  He's learning how to read and is really improving. I love to hear him read!!  It's amazing how much he's learning in less than a year.  He's getting a little better at trying new things.  His favorite movie is End Game (that's embarrassing!  You can tell he has older brothers).  He's learning to play the piano.  I'm teaching him.  We try to do two lessons a month.  He loves watching Tom and Jerry cartoons!!!  He still loves his minky blankets.  He likes to sleep in just his underwear at night.  I'll put him to bed in his pajamas.  But when I go to check on him before I got to bed, he's taken off his pajamas and they're on the floor.  Tanner doesn't like spiders.  But he likes to hold rolley polleys.  He loves to eat cereal specifically cocoa crispies, and cinnamon toast crunch cereal.  He's discovered brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts.  He still loves Costco chocolate milk.  He loves his Donovan Mitchel Jazz jersey!  He would wear it everyday if I let him.  He'll take a nap about 1-2 times a week especially if he's been staying up late.  He likes to play with bouncy balls.  Tanner is into telling jokes.  He makes them up and then we laugh regardless of what he says.  He cracks himself up!  (I remember Chase and Bridger going through the same phase).  We're so grateful Tanner is in our family.  We love him so much!

Matt's 49th Birthday

For Matt's birthday we watched conference!! His parents came up in-between sessions and dropped off a card.  They stayed in their car and rolled down their window.  We stayed back and visited with them for a half an hour.  It's so hard to not be together.  It's hard not to invite them in and have dinner together.  I made Matt 6 new scrub hats for his birthday.  Then I had the boys pick out which ones they wanted to give him. Matt got a new Uno Attack game since ours finally broke.  I surprised Matt and gave him apple AirPods (the really nice ones).  He was super happy with them.  I made a chocolate bundt cake for Matt. (No rocks this time.  I'll never live that cake down.)
  We're so grateful for all that Matt does for our family.  He's such a hard worker.  He's willing to take on a project.  He's so good to help me vacuum the house.  He does an amazing job of providing for us.

City of R

  Instead of catching some waves and going to Disneyland, we did lots of yard work.  We drove 2 hour and went to City of R.  It was deserted.  We only say one other car there.  We loved hiking around the different trails.  The boys loved climbing on the rocks.  We brought Sophie with us and she acted like the happiest dog on earth.  March 31st.

Chase's 17th Birthday

Instead of being in California for Chase's birthday, we celebrated it the best way that we could considering all things.  It was a quiet day.  Chase requested that I make crepes for his breakfast with the special syrup.  It was a quiet day for Chase.  We couldn't go anywhere for an activity.  Chase wanted to go to M's drive through for dinner.  He loves their chicken basket dinner.  Tanner had the idea to make things fun for Chase, he wanted to hide his presents.  So Chase had to play hot and cold to find his presents.  Tanner was giggling the whole time.  Chase got some clothes, a new comforter since his old comforter was over 20 years old.  Chase got a nice chess set.  Chase got a new grey suit for his birthday.  It was supposed to be for Prom, but that was cancelled.  Chase wanted an Oreo ice cream cake for his cake. It wasn't the way he thought we would be celebrating but it was still a good, low key birthday.
  Chase is an amazing young man.  He loves anything that is related to sports.  He likes to play video games, specifically Apex.  He'll play Mine Craft with Tanner.  He's so sweet to play games and hang out with his younger brothers.  Chase normally hates to read, but during COVID, Chase has been reading!!!! He's rereading The Michael Vey series.  He likes fashionable clothes.  He likes to have a lot of cool shoes.  He's sweet to go to young men's activities and missionary preparation.  Basketball is his favorite sport to play.  If it wasn't for his knee issue, he'd play football.  Chase has a funny sense of humor.  Chase is incredible on the piano!!  He's able to learn and memorize a song so quickly when he applies himself.  He's great to help out around the house.  He's the first to grab the vacuum Saturday mornings and hit the basement.  He loves to go cliff jumping with Kael despite his parents objections.  Chase loves to eat Walmart tangy fruit snacks.  That's his favorite thing to grab from the pantry (crazy).  His favorite treats are: otter pops, a slushy drink or mint Oreos.  He's not much of a chocolate fan.  He likes rap music.

Dad's Toes.....

I was staying at mom and dad's because I was waiting to hear if my work needed me.  Dad happened to have his slippers off and I looked at his toes.  They looked horrible.  It looked like pus was coming out of his toes.  He said that he had ingrown toe nails.  I told him he needed to get these taken care of.  So we ended up going to Logan and having the podiatrist that Matt works with, his NP saw dad.  She completely removed two nails because of the ingrown toe nails.  She said that one of the toes had two sets of nails digging in.
  The next day I looked at his toes and was very concerned.  The tips on a couple of his toes were turning purple.  His big toe had turned purple! His toes were cold, his capillary refill was > 3 and I could only feel one pulse on his foot and it was diminished.  I could tell that something wasn't right.  So I texted my friend BreAwn that is a NP for our vascular doctors.  (She used to be a TICU nurse).  Originally we were going to have to wait until the end of April for an appointment.  So BreAwn called the office and squeezed him in with Dr. M on March 23.  On Monday, Mom sent me pictures of Dad's toes.  They looked even worse.  So I sent the picture to BreAwn.  She said that he needed to be seen a lot sooner.  Thursday morning, I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep.  I just had a feeling that something was wrong with Dad.  I ended up getting up and exercising and getting ready for the day.  BreAwn texted me at 9:00 and said they were fitting Dad in this afternoon.  Dr. M was extremely concerned with Dad's leg.  He had NO blood flood in his toes and very limited blood flow to his foot. Only his capillaries were getting blood to his foot.  Dad started taking things seriously when Dr. M said "I'm not worried about your toes being amputated.  I'm worried about you losing your leg!"  He said Dad needed emergent surgery tomorrow (Friday) to restore the blood flow to his leg.  (In hind sight, we shouldn't have had his toe nails removed because we didn't know how severe his vascular problem was.  But it made us aware of his problem so he didn't lose his leg)
  Because of COVID restrictions, we were only supposed to have one visitor but Dr. M said we could have two.  Luckily it was before they started getting really strict.  Originally Dr. M was hoping to do an angiogram and look at his blood flow and just open things up.  But after a couple of hours, things weren't going well.  He decided to do a femoral popliteal bypass graft.  Luckily my friend BreAwn was in the surgery so she sent us a couple of updates.  My stomach sank when she said they needed to do a bypass.  Dad stayed in surgery for another six more hours!  I was getting so worried.  They finally finished up around 11:00.  The surgery was very complicated.  They harvested the graft and attached it.  They went to flush it and there was still not blood flow.  So then they had to keep digging for the problem.  They finally figured it out that his femoral artery was completely occluded from the TVAR procedure.  When they closed it, the device snagged on the inner lining on his femoral artery partially occluding it.  With time, clots formed around the partial occlusion and eventually caused a complete closure.  Dr. M ended up doing a 4 inch femoral artery graft.  Dad is so lucky he didn't lose his leg!
  Dad went to my floor (TICU) after his surgery around 11:00.  My sweet friends allowed Mom and I to come back despite the no visitors rule.  Seeing Dad wake up from surgery was so hard!!  He wasn't responding really quickly and his arms and hand were posturing.  He was really slow to talk and look completely confused.  At first I was worried that Dad had stroked.  But luckily he started to wake up and become more appropriately responsive.  We ended up staying an hour with him.  Before we left, he said "what the hell happened?"  That made us laugh!  Mom and I finally went home around 12:15.
  The next morning, mom stayed home and I went to the hospital.  We knew with the COVID restrictions they wouldn't let both of us in.  When I got there, I had to talk to the nurse on the phone.  They weren't going to let me in.  After talking to her for 15 minutes on the phone in the waiting room I said "are you really not going to let me back to see my Dad?"  They bent the rule and let me come back.  When I walked in my unit, Dad was walked around the unit with the physical therapist.  At first they said I could only stay for 15 minutes.  They relaxed once I was back there and let me stay a couple of hours.  They said to wear my name tag and say that I'm doing education hours if anyone asked.  My unit is the best!! They were so sweet to bend the rules for me.  Dad looked so much better!!!  He was back to talking the nurse's ear off!! (and anyone else that came in the room)
  Dad was doing so well that he was transferred to the floor on Saturday.  Visitors were not allowed on the floor but they told the floor nurse the situation and she said I could come and get Dad settled.  Dad had a great nurse on the floor.  Luckily she was relaxed and was so sweet with letting me stay.  I stayed with Dad another couple of hours.  We planned for Dad to go home the next day.  Dad only had his docker pants and I knew that would be uncomfortable.  I talked with his nurse and she said I could run to Costco and buy him some sweat pants and then just run them back up to the room.  So that's exactly what I did.
  The next morning (Sunday), Mom drove to the hospital.  She called Dad to tell him she was here.  The nurse brought him down to the car.  This COVID thing is making things so strange!!!!
  Dad did really well at first.  But after about 5 days, the scabs on his toes went black and looked really bad.  His lower extremity had 3-4+ pitting edema.  He got a big seroma on his upper thigh.  I texted BreAwn and told her about it.  She put him on STRICT bedrest!!  She said that it was crucial for him to keep his leg elevated.  That was really hard for Dad!! By Monday, March 30, the seroma was the size of a softball and was very painful for him.  I texted BreAwn again...she said that they would squeeze Dad in and have someone try to drain it.  I took Dad in at 10:30 and Brad, NP drained it.  He said that it could take up to a year to drain it.  That was discouraging for Dad. But it felt a little better being drained.
  On April 20th Dad went to see a wound specialist for his toes because they weren't getting better.  The wound doctor was wonderful.  He's a vascular doctor so he knew all about Dad's surgery.  He said "if anything could have gone wrong, it did with your situation!"  He cut off all of the black scabs.  That was so painful for Dad.  He lined up home health to come in three times a week to do dressing changes.  He told Dad that if he wanted any chance of keeping his toes, he needed to keep his foot elevated.  "No yard work!!"  Dad was really discouraged.  He said that Dad was one week away from having the wound get to the bone.  They would have had to amputate his toe tips if that would have happened.  Luckily Dad's toes responded really well to the dressing changes and improved.  After a few weeks, he switched Dad to daily dressing changes that Mom did.   After 8 weeks, Dad was finally discharged from the wound specialist.  His toes look 100% better.  At Dad's vascular follow up appointment, he asked BreAwn why he feels so tired.  She said "you got the wind completely knocked out of your sails!"  She told Dad that this was a major surgery and that it's normal to feel this way and that it's going to take 6-12 months to fully recover.  This has been quite the ordeal.  It's hard to see Dad so weak and frail.  I hate it!  He's always been so strong and energetic.  It's been good to rally around him and help him with some yard work.
  BreAwn has been a lifesaver through all of this!  She's been a tender mercy sent from Heavenly Father.  I'm so grateful for the wonderful people I work with and how they've helped me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The leprechauns visited us and left us a few surprises.  They left green candying gold coins hidden around our house.  Tanner loves St. Patrick's day!  He's been counting down for a couple of weeks.

 

COVID....projects

The governor addressed the state on Friday, March 13th.  He announced that starting on Monday, March 16th, schools would be closed for a two week period. All non essential businesses will close.  He issued a "Stay Home, Stay Safe" order.  On Thursday before the order, I went to Walmart.  It was surreal!!!  I've never seen the shelves so empty!  It looks like a zombie apocalypse is coming.  The only thing we were short on was paper towels.  Luckily Marilyn had some extra.  Going through this has made me appreciate the counsel we've been given to have a good food storage. It's made me realize what I need to stock up on to be even more prepared.   People are going nuts at the grocery store stocking up.  They're stock piling things.  Grocery stores are putting limits on how much you can buy (if you can even find it).
  On March 16, the hospitals shut down all non emergent cases.  So Matt has been home a lot!  Because of COVID, all of our travel plans have been cancelled.  We went from having the best travel year to the worst.  Our spring break, Hawaii conference, Alaska cruise, church camps, and Chase's HEFY have been cancelled.  We've been so disappointed about these cancellations.  But there is nothing that we can do about it.  Chase and Maddie were devastated about their HEFY trip being cancelled.  When we found out that our cruise was officially cancelled, Mom booked a cabin in Island Park for the same time. So at least we have something to look forward to.  Hopefully everyone will stay healthy.

 We called the trampoline store on Monday and ordered a new trampoline.  Luckily we did it early enough that they still had some available.  As COVID has progressed, trampolines have turned into a hot commodity.  I'm glad we were able to get one.
  There have been many positive aspects of COVID.  I feel like we went from a crazy busy schedule to nothing at all.  But I've loved slowing down and having more family time.  The boys have been so sweet together.  We've gotten into puzzles.  Mylissa sent us a puzzle that had all of the temples in the world.  It was really hard.  Bridger and Tanner have played lots of Star Wars legos.  They set up battle  scenes that take up two to three tables.  We've played lots of board games together.  We tried to fly a kite and that was a flop.

  On March 18th, school was transitioned to "home school."  The teachers had to set up everything online.  Tanner's teacher made packets to supplement the computer modules.  Tanner's homeschool took 1-3 hours a day, depending on how focused his was.  Somedays it seemed like it would take all day.  Some days he would fight everything we went to do.  I finally said "I'm going to take a picture of you and send it to Mrs.  Barnett.  You don't act like this at school and treat Mrs. Barnett like this so why do you treat me this way."  I started making a check list for him and that seemed to help a little.  Once we got into a routine after a couple of weeks, it got better.  

Bridger and Chase were awesome with their home schooling.  I didn't have to worry about them.  They were so responsible and figured out what needed to be done.  They did a great job of staying on top of everything.  Chase had a really hard USU psychology class.  The teacher only had slide shows for them and two test.  He worked so hard but ended up with an A- so stupid COVID ruined his 4.0!  Luckily class work ended on May 20.  Chase had to take the AP History test online from home.  It was only one question and they had 45 minutes to complete it.

  Bridger and Chase tried to fix Bridger's electric scooter but after three attempts, we gave up.  I tried ordering two different parts but they didn't work.  

  Matt and the boys made shelves along the back wall in our garage.  They turned out awesome!!!  It took them about a week to clean out the garage, make the shelves and then put it all back together.  It's so nice to organize everything and have more storage.

  I've learned how to make masks.  I've made about 25 masks. I also learned how to make fancy scrub hats for me to wear in COVID rooms.

  I did a major overhaul with the fridge and cleaned out the entire thing.  It ended up being a four hour project!  But it looked so good afterwards!

  All sports were cancelled.  So the boys' spring sports like soccer were cancelled.  All professional and college sports were cancelled.  They've cancelled the Olympics for this summer.
 Disneyland and Disney World closed.

 All movie theaters were closed.
 All malls and shopping stores were closed like Farmington S.
 Restaurants were closed for their dinning in but you could still go through their drive throughs.
My Little Red 100 Mile Bike Ride was cancelled.
  

Matt and the boys made a box around our water pump. 

We've gone for lots of bike rides.  We're borrowing Caleb's tandem bike attachment.  Tanner loves it!  He wants to go for a bike ride every day. 

  We planted bushes and flowers in our front island and around the two rock walls in the back yard.  We also bought three beautiful trees from J&J nursery.  We put the Bakeri pine tree in the island.  We planted the two Dawayk beech trees in the back yard.  I hope they make it here!!  I've had about a 1/4 of my perennials die that I planted last year. 

  We've watched lots of movies.  Matt and the boys started off with all of the Star Wars movies.  Once that was finished, they started on all of the Marvel super hero movies.  That took a little longer but eventually they finished it. 

  We've had NO FAMILY parties.  So we've learned to do "zoom" parties with our families and lots of FaceTime.  It's a way that we can see everyone and visit with each other.  I've loved this!!! It helps to still feel connected.

On May 8th, the government lightened restrictions and said that it was ok to be in a group of 20 people or less.  (The previous recommendation was nothing larger than 5 people for a group.) We've spent 8 weeks in lock down with pretty much our immediate family.  We eased the restrictions a few weeks ago and let the boys hang out with Nicholas and Thomas.  

Shantelle's Birthday

For Shantelle's birthday, we got together at Mom's.  We ate greek food.  Then Shantelle bought a bundt cake that was so delicious!!!  It was so fun to be together.  We haven't seen each other since Christmas.  After we ate lunch, we watched the governor address the state.  He announced that starting on Monday, schools would be closed for a two week period. All non essential businesses were close.  He issued a "Stay Home, Stay Safe" order.  We talked about how people were going nuts at the grocery store stocking up.  Shantelle said she couldn't find toilet paper.  So mom gave her some of hers.  Shantelle said she'll always remember this birthday because it was a first time that she was excited to get toilet paper for her birthday.