QW7

Well. . . not much "new news" to report on. I worked my Monday and Tuesday shifts. Ben started back full-time at the surgery center; it was a pretty typical case-load for the week, so that was interesting and good. Ben was also on-call at the hospital this weekend and has already been called in twice - the first time he's been called in during this pandemic. There is talk about our hospital not being able to recover their losses (basically shut-down their only money-making side of things - surgery - for a "surge" that never came) and going under. I can't imagine the hospital being abandoned, but possibly bought-out? Luckily Ben works full-time at the surgery center! We are blessed, indeed. In fact at the hospital cases today, Ben saw such a lack of measures being taken and precautions in place it was actually a joke. I mean, I get blasted from the hospital to wear a mask (which I only do at work), yet they don't have their staff wear the appropriate mask for one of the greatest risk procedures related to coronavirus (intubation, which is an aerosolizing procedure, which means it's a high-risk when dealing with covid-patients . . . ). This whole pandemic is so weird and just so full of so many inconsistencies and ironies. 

So, anyways, the kids are up to the normal stuff - although we have done some increased "outdoor gatherings" with friends. Maintaining a number of 10 (or close enough) and under. The girls and I met up with a friend and her kids (two of which are some of my girls' closest friends) at the bike path and rode to a park - where we had a picnic, played on hammocks, the girls went on a little "hiking adventure," etc. The friends came over and played outside at our house for a while afterwards. It was much needed for us all! Jonas went running and biking with Aiden a few times. Both boys and Aiden went on a great bike ride this afternoon (Saturday).

Pictures from Quarantine Week Seven:

My sister organized a church meeting for my parents, her family, and my family. It was awesome. The kids all gave talks. Miles probably needs the most help in writing/giving talks . . . (We didn't help any of our kids, but after listening to them all, I realized Miles needs to practice a whole lot more . . . :) )

Lucy's "first" talk in "sacrament meeting." She spoke on families and did a good job.

Bella fell asleep during our "Come Follow Me" study-time. Silly girl.

Monday was our 18th wedding anniversary! Yay! We celebrated by . . . working. :) We did meet up on our way home from work and rode home together. We also ordered some yummy Indian food from Guru's for our dinner and our whole family loved it. Emmy made us her delicious chocolate lava cakes. Yum. I had made a Kahoot (on online game) for the kids all about Ben and myself - it was fun! Miles took 1st, Jonas 2nd, Emmy 3rd, and Lucy 4th. We told Lucy she was last because she's lived the shortest with us! I had some fun questions that the kids had no idea. Such as, "Ben's first job after he and mom got married was . . . " Answer choices: Working at St. Mary's hospital, Working at Big-O Tires, Selling shaved-ice, Working at BYU's Auto Shop. The correct answer? Big-O tires. I don't think any kid got that one, ha.

We "helped" a lady in our ward pack her U-haul as she's moving to St. George. But, truthfully, it was 99% done when I finally got off work and so all we did was take her practically new, but not fitting in the U-haul, patio furniture. My kids, girls especially, love it. Emmy and Lucy did their school work the next morning out on it. :)

Lucy's doing her screen time tonight out there . . .

They ate dinner that very night on it. (I was participating in a ZOOM meeting - in which our stake girls camp got canceled, boohoo.)

Ben built the pergola recently and we added the lights. So fun.

Miles' doodling that he made in to a card for one of his HS classes.

I dyed Emmy's hair on Friday night! I think it turned out okay! Emmy loves it and so that's good. It really looks better in real-life.

Not too much going on. . .

QW6

Six weeks . . . wow. That's a long time. But another long time - 5 months. That's how long "school break" will be - as long as they start back in the fall at their scheduled start date. Sure, they have "remote learning." But it's not the same - frankly, not even close to the same. It's just sad. But we've been doing well and are enjoying life as much as you can during this time.

My pictures are all randomized - which is frustrating and I am unsure why my computer does that? But I am too lazy right now to fix it. So here we go:

 Lucy's school had a "Spirit Week." Monday - Thursday was a different day and you were to take a picture and send it to one of the staff. She, then, compiled the photos and made a video from each day. It was cute (and actually I had sent the school the idea . . . yep, pat my back). This day with "Northside Pride day."

 How Jonas does church.

 The chickens are doing well and are venturing out of their coop more and more. As you can see, it's great entertainment for Brigham and Bella. Bella goes nuts and tries to eat them through the chicken wire. Brigham just intensely stares.

 My sister rocks! She sent me this adorable hat! It makes me so happy! What a fun surprise from an awesome sis.

 The girls still do their gymnastics . . .

 Pet Day for Spirit Week.

 Nice form Emmy!

 Whatcha Reading Spirit Day.

 (Dark picture, sorry) One evening Ben and I were dropping off dinner at a ward family's home and the boys were out mowing, so I had asked the girls to get dinner ready. It was a simple one, luckily, and one they love: Frank & Beans with cornbread. Lucy was in charge of the cornbread and Emmy the F & Bs. It turned out great and was a delicious dinner!

 How the dogs spend their time when the chicks come out.

 The sister missionaries (from the branch) asked to host our YW virtual activity for the week. What cute sisters we have!

 Jump-roping time!

The girls had fun with "photography" -

As Ben begins a more regular/full-time schedule this Monday, I thought we should do one more adventurous activity. I had heard about this mountain biking area and friends had told me it was cool. So, even though it's a 2 1/2 drive from our home (what else are we doing anyway?!), I decided we would do it. Everyone but Jonas had a great time! The boys rode together and I went with the girls. Apparently Jonas complained the whole time and made some statement along the lines of "Only people who want to die do this." He's ridiculous, to put it nicely (which I usually don't).

 We started off doing the 8-mile Boggy Draw loop. The boys kept having to wait for the girls, so I just told Ben to go off with them. No need to make them drive for 5+ hours and then have to putt around on their bikes. So off they went and off we went. Boggy Draw was great - a fun rolling ride.

 It was a perfect day for the outdoors!

 We met up with the boys as they were finishing up from their break after Boggy Draw and were heading out on another loop. They did part of the Maverick and Italian Canyon loop. Awesome. (Jonas' smile is fake I tell you!)

 Our plans changed a bit as it was a little tough for the girls (mainly Lucy). We made it out to a view point and then headed back (instead of doing a longer loop). As we went back, I realized how it had been a good and steady incline pretty much the whole time - so my girls had been troopers for sure! The going back was much easier . . .

Then we splurged and drove to Cortez for a Sonic dinner! I have never eaten there! Ben maybe? Miles had a milkshake once. Everyone else, nope. So it was quite exciting. We weren't the only ones with the idea of eating at Sonic. . .  but we chilled in the car, ate our food, then ordered fun drinks/shakes and headed back home. We had left at 11:15 that day (we would have gone earlier, but Miles didn't want to miss his seminary's Zoom at 10) and got home at about 9:15. So it was a good escape from our house for a day!

QW5

Well nothing will probably top QW4 . . . Sigh.  So this week was another week. I worked my two days; Ben worked his two days. Although it does look like the hospital, and thus surgical center, will start electives sooner than most were anticipating. Looks like after losing 12 million dollars, the hospital can't do without the electives. Especially as our hospital has been practically empty! Crazy stuff.

I have thought about writing all my thoughts on COVID 19, but I am not sure if I ever will or not. I thought of a lot of essays on my 10-mile run today (yay for long runs!), but we'll see. Many of us have different views - which is all fine and dandy. Until you start mocking those who differ from you and claim your intellect is far superior, etc. Then it's not all fine and dandy. And, due to Facebook, I see too much of that. Anyhow, nothing too exciting this week. The kids did start their more-official online/remote schooling. I have a lump right under my ear - not sure what that's all about? I did have one of the radiation oncologists check it out one day at work a couple of weeks ago and he wasn't too concerned. But it's still here and worries me. I did make an appointment with an ENT - but they aren't seeing patients until May and so the earliest I can be seen is May 11th. Which isn't too bad.

The kids had pretty decent weeks. I did let the boys go mountain biking with a friend this morning. I randomly ran in to friends (on bike rides or coming back from a run) and that was delightful to visit with them! Oh, a neighbor and fellow ward-member came over on Thursday for me to teach him how to make "Whole wheat sandwich bread" as he called it. Luckily it turned out great and his 5 year-old, who is a tough pleaser, gave the thumbs-up to it. :)

Here are the pictures from this week (including last Saturday's Easter Bunny day, etc.):

Some of my favorite of the dyed eggs we did on Good Friday.

The Easter Bunny came on Saturday and brought lots of candy - plus socks for Miles, a Stranger Things sweatshirt for Jonas, watches and origami kits for the girls.

Emmy and Miles needed some help in finding their baskets, but finally did . . . :)

Lucy's primary sent her a Flat Nephi (similar to Flat Stanley if you're familiar with him). Lucy was to take a picture with him and then post it to the Primary's Facebook page. Finally, she was to mail off Flat Nephi to someone on her list. Cute idea!

Lucy peace-ing out after her FaceTime piano lesson.

The girls dolled-up Bella - a bow and a pedicure. Ha.

Our YW activity (plus a few extra boys) for the week was doing a "real" telephone game. I had a  phrase and would call the next person on my list, tell them the phrase,  and then hang-up. It got passed down through all 13 of us. We did three rounds of it with different phrases each time. The phrases were never what they started out to be . . . of course. We then Zoomed afterwards. I think everyone had a fun time.

Another mountain biking trip to the top! Yay! 

Some slack-line fun, too. The girls were pirates and made scars on their faces, had swords, etc. Cool.

 A quick Saturday morning mountain bike ride.

Jonas, Miles, and Aiden.

Okay, now for the ugly photos of the week. The girls found the "face switch" thingy on Instagram and it was pretty funny.

Ben and Emmy.

Lucy and Miles.

Emmy and Jonas - we decided they are practically twins. They don't look too different with switched faces . . . :)

Lucy and Jonas.

My girls all switched up.

Crazy stuff here.

Spring Break at Coyote Gulch (QW4)

Well we were probably one of the few that got to do what we had planned for Spring Break. That's the beauty of picking something that is naturally socially-distant, I guess. :)

Of course, we were nervous daily about our trails getting closed, etc. But it lined up nicely and we were able to go on our backpack trip.  We called the ranger station at least three times and were given the green-light to come (even knowing we were from Colorado). I'm so glad - it was such a nice and beautiful break from these crazy times!

The kids were super excited and enjoyed it, too. Except for those last maybe 3 miles . . . Man, those were sooooo tough! We had already hiked about 23 miles and those last miles were in the hot, dry, desert. Our feet hurt. All of us except the boys didn't eat the gross dinner from the night before. We were tired. And the trail kept going and going and going . . . Jonas was a dork and got ahead of us and then didn't wait at a junction - so we weren't sure if he had chosen the right path. Not cool. Luckily he did - but he certainly received a lecture from Ben. Lucy ended up crying for the last 30 minutes. Her feet were hurting her so badly (they had gotten wet and wrinkly and just sore, oh, and 2 blisters, too). She really did amazing - crying at the end and all. I mean, 26 miles in three days is quite a feat for anyone - especially a 9 year-old. Miles and Jonas actually weren't struggling much in the end. But the rest of us were.

But, all those other miles were full of amazing sites and fun adventures! :)

Okay, on to oodles and oodles and pictures:

 The start of our adventure - the Hurricane Wash/Coyote Gulch trailhead. We drove 7 hours on Monday, leaving at 5:15am. We began hiking at 1:15.

 Ha, do you see Ben?! He cut his long hair . . . and then did his beard the next day . . . leaving just his mustache . . . haha. I couldn't help but laugh when I looked at him. He might have been slightly offended. But then he saw pictures of himself and laughed. So there. :) (He shaved it when we got home . . .but now is missing it . . .)

Cute backpacker Lucy.

 Miles loved the "hanging gardens" we saw. This was the first and smallest of many.

 This was still in Hurricane Wash. We hadn't met up with Coyote Gulch. The water was refreshing and cool!

 Cute.

 It was beautiful - to bad pictures don't do it justice at all.

 Girls on a log.

 Look at those massive walls! By now we were in Coyote Gulch and the water was bigger and we had a lot of fun water-crossings.

 We made it to Jacob Hamblin arch - so cool!

 We went a little further up and found a nice campsite. Jonas slept in his hammock.

 The rest of the kids slept here and Ben and I had our own tent.

 What a cool campsite. So in trying to save money, I decided we should eat some of our food-storage food. We had bought these freeze-dried meal packages over 10 years ago . . . They were way cheaper than the backpack meals you buy at the store. But so disgusting! Ha! We managed to force down Monday's "Chicken Alfredo." But Tuesday's version of Beefaroni was awful.

 We played "This is the game of Concentration" in the kids' tent for a while that night. Then we had a lovely night - we all slept pretty great for camping!

 Jonas dug holes and became as tall as Lucy.

 Miles - the climber/Tree Hugger.

 Here we are on Tuesday at Swiss Cheese falls. Awesome.

 Beautiful.

 Cool.

 I was trying to take a selfie because 1. I never do and 2. I suck at them. Miles got in it, so I guess it turned out not to be a selfie. Ha.

 Such a cool spot! (Ben and I ended up swimming through it - it was maybe 4-feet deep - on our way back. Check out the video at the end!)

 Lucy drinking her water through a bamboo grass straw. When in nature, do it naturally . . .

 This was Coyote Bridge - so cool!

 Quick sand was fun - and quick!

 This was a little side-trail to The Black Lagoon. The water was super reflective and it's hard to tell what you're looking at in this picture! Lucy and I, who were in the front, came upon a young man getting out of the water who had no clothes on . . . Ha. We saw his lovely white backside. Then we stayed and chatted with him and his friend.

 The log to The Black Lagoon was creepy to cross because the water was so yucky and black!

 Boys on a log.

 More awesome water, rocks, and girls.

 Another waterfall!

  See what a cool spot we were hiking in?!

 Pretty!

 Neat! I took this picture for Miles - water was dripping from up above and formed this creation down below. Super cool.

 Haha Ben and his mustache. The kids kept calling him "Ranger Ben." He's still super-cute, though, mustache and all!

 This was the "end of the road," so to say. The trail pretty much ended here - 13 miles from the beginning. On Monday we had hiked in about 8+ miles and camped. Then on Tuesday we hiked about 2 1/2 more miles and dropped our packs. We then hike 2 1/2 more miles to this ending point. Then we went back to our campsite. Another 8 miles about. It was long but awesome!

 Miles' feet were so wet and wrinkly and sore - and blistered. But he was a champ about it. Although, on the way back (on Wednesday) he and Jonas stayed out of the water - using their hiking sticks as pole sticks to jump over the water.

 The girls setting up their tent on Tuesday night.

 The campsite on Tuesday was cool! But that night was definitely colder - maybe because we were closer to the water?

 More of the campsite - with the parents' tent and Jonas' hammock to the left.

 Dinner was a bust on Tuesday night, but luckily homemade oatmeal never fails to taste yummy and give us good energy for the day!

 Trekking through the bamboo-forest. The bamboo grass there was crazy!

 Three girls backpacking in the wild.

 BRRRRRRR. I wanted to swim through this and convinced Ben to join me. I have literally never felt colder water in my life! But it was fun . . . :)

 A cute girl in a tree-chair.

 Another cute girl in a tree-chair.

Finally, all done! We hiked out over 10 miles on Wednesday. It was either stop hiking at like 2pm on Wednesday with only 4 miles to go. That would have meant just hanging out at the campsite for hours until bedtime. Plus, in would also mean eating another disgusting food-storage dinner. Or we could just continue to hike the last 4 miles and drive home that night. We all agreed to just finish it all on Wednesday (which was not our original plan). Had I known how hot and long those last 4 miles were, I am not sure I would have done it again. . . But we did and it was a super fantastic adventure!

It was so nice to escape the crazy COVID-times we are living in . . .

Okay, two fun videos: