First Day of School

My boys went back to school yesterday.  They are lucky enough to be able to attend in person and they were so ready to go back.  I know this is a controversial issue, but I think most parents know that it has been really hard on our kids to be out of school so long, so I am happy for them that the wait is finally over, and they get to regain a small amount of normalcy in their lives.

Tad is in third grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Tanner.  This is her first year as a teacher, but Tad says she is really nice and "doesn't seem like she will be a yeller.", so that is good.  This will be his last year at the Elementary school with his dad as the principal.  I think it will be harder on Jeremy when Tad leaves next year than it will on Tad.  He has loved having his kids attend his school and he has always had at least one there since he became the principal, seven years ago.

Drake is in 5th grade.  His teacher is Mr. Whiting.  Jack also had him for fifth grade and he is still Jack's all time favorite teacher.  That is saying a lot because Jack has truly had the best teachers, and he has loved all of them.  Drake came home from school glowing yesterday, so I am sure he will have a great year in Mr. Whiting's class too.

Jack is in 7th grade and started at the Junior High.  I have been nervous about this change for Jack since it is always a big adjustment moving from a self-contained classroom with one teacher to having to keep track of a bunch of teachers, classes, and assignments.  On top of that, he is still working on overcoming his knee and leg injuries, so he has to hobble around the campus as best he can.  In any case, he said he had a good day yesterday and is optimistic about this year.

Thomas is a Freshman and he moved up to the high school.  It is always nerve-wracking to change schools, but I know he is happy to be moving on from the Junior High.  He said he had a good day yesterday.  He likes his teachers so far, and has lots of friends in his classes.

 
Dallin is a sophomore this year.  He is so happy to be back at the high school with his friends and classmates.  He also had a good day yesterday.  He (and I) are looking forward to him getting his drivers license at the end of the month, so he can get himself and Thomas to the high school, which is at the far side of Snowflake.

I, of course, had to include a picture of them all masked-up.  I know so many people who are opposed to sending their kids to school in masks, but my kids all said they didn't care as long as they got to go back to school.  Yesterday, when I picked them all up, I asked them how it was wearing the masks all day.  They all said it wasn't bad. 

2020 has definitely been a rough year.  We are all crossing our fingers that this new school year will be a fresh start to something better.

Summer 2020

Well, I think we can agree that 2020 has been pretty much a crapstorm, but we have managed to sneak a little bit of fun in this summer.

Well, first for the not so fun part - - Jack was just recovering from his quad tendon repair surgery when he said he felt his leg suddenly give out and he fell to the floor.  When we took him to the doctor they discovered a crack in his femur.  Luckily his tendon repair was fine, so he didn't need additional surgery, but he went into a full leg cast for six weeks.

While Jack was recovering the rest of us did a little cherry picking.

Jeremy, Dallin, and Thomas went camping with some friends.

We had a mini Hatch reunion and the kids had a ball kayaking, swimming, and playing together.

Drake and Tad had some fun doing a bunch of art journal projects on the back porch.

In July, Jack got his cast off and went back into the brace just in time to head to Utah. We were supposed to go to Kentucky to show my kids where I served my mission, and then on to meet my family in Nauvoo for a family reunion, but COVID obviously threw a wrench in those plans, so we headed up to Utah and stopped at the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park.  We really loved this section of Canyonlands.  None of us had been before.  We basically had the whole park to ourselves.  We only saw maybe two other families the whole time we were there.

It was interesting and very pretty.  Definitely worth the time to see it.

We then stopped at Arches.  Drake's Every Kid in a Park pass definitely came in handy.
This park was a little more crowded, but still not bad.  I'm not sure if that was because we went in the evening or if COVID kept people away, but it was nice.

We even did a couple of hikes.  I was concerned about Jack making this one because the sand was so deep, but he was determined.  We loved it and would like to come back another time when Jack is  a little more mobile.

We went up to Orem for a few days and then my whole family spent three days at a rental house and property near Preston Idaho.

It was a fun place right on the Cub River with outdoor games, swings, firepits, and a swimming pool.  My kids had the best time with their cousins.

Since we were so near Preston, a bunch of the cousins took a trip out to see the Napolean Dynamite house.  I wonder if the owners ever get tired of weirdos like us stopping to take pictures in front of it?

We took a fun hike one morning with Dallin, Thomas, Tad, my dad and some of the cousins.  Drake stayed and played in the pool with some of his cousins, and of course, Jack wasn't up for hiking.

The whole gang.  That is quite a group!

We headed home after the reunion and life has been a little quieter.  Dallin did play some 6v6 soccer.  It was fun to see him play again.  I didn't get any pictures of him playing, but here is a blurry video of one of his goals.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that school will start next week, but no official word yet.   We are ready for this never-ending summer break to be over.

Nine!

My little Tad had a birthday and turned nine back in June!  Nine!  It is always hard on me to have my boys turn another year older, but the baby is always the hardest.  Nine just seems so much older than eight and I was not quite ready for that.  At least I have one more year before he hits the double digits.  

We surprised him with this cute Happy Birthday in our yard when he woke up.  He loved it!

Since COVID-19 was raging in Arizona at the time we just had a simple birthday at home with our family.  He had his favorite breakfast, dinner, and cupcakes and, or course, a few fun presents.

We love Tad so much and we are so happy that he is part of our family!

Catching Up

Well, once again, it has been awhile.  This time it is because Covid-19 has kept us from our normal busy schedule that gives me things to share here, but also because with five kids all doing online school, I have not had many opportunities to touch any sort of computer.  Well, today, I am taking advantage of a quick break in the computer schedule to give a short update on some of the things that we have been doing since I last posted way back in January.

 Our stake did a Pinewood Derby for the Activity Day boys.  Drake decided he wanted to go for show this year, since he had taken first in speed the last two years and he did it!  He took first in show in our ward.  Tad took third in speed this year.  He took second last year, but there was some serious competition this year and Jeremy kind of ran out of time, so they were gluing wheels on the morning of the race.  Not bad boys!  Drake's car was a piano, and Tad's was a skateboard.

Since Drake took first in show in our ward he got to go to the Stake competition.  He took second there and was very excited!

Before school was closed, Jack was recognized for reading over 1 million words this year!  Good job Jack!!

I also got to go help Tad make a special treat in his class for Dr. Seuss day.  That is one of the things I love about not having to work outside my home - - I love being free to go and be part of these types of things for my kids. When Tad got home that day he said, "Mom, I wish you could come to my class every day.  That was so fun!"  I had fun too buddy!  #blessed

You can kind of see here that the kids got to wear their pajamas to school and bring a favorite stuffed animal.  Tad's teacher was so great this year.  It was a shame he only got to be in her classroom for three quarters.  Dang Coronavirus!

Dallin played his last season of city league basketball this year.  His team won the championship the night before the stay at home order.  He had fun being on such a good team this season.

Jeremy and I took a quick trip to Phoenix with the little boys a couple of weeks before the stay at home order.  We stopped at Culver's and the boys finally were able to cash in their scoopie tokens that they had been saving for some fun prizes!

My boys have kept busy at home with their school work and a few other fun things like this chalk art.

Jeremy had a birthday and his staff "forked out lawn to celebrate!

They also TP'ed us quarantine style.  Jeremy's staff is truly the best!!

For Easter, Tad was tired of worrying about the big brothers finding most of the eggs, so we came up with a plan that each boy would be assigned a color and they could only find eggs that were their color.  Tad made a chart, so there would be no confusion.

Worked like a charm!

My boys were good sports and posed for a picture after our at-home church on Easter.

A few days later, Jack ended up needing surgery because he tore his quadrilateral tendon on his right knee.  He has been a real trooper and we are hopeful that he can begin physical therapy after his next visit with the doctor.  Fingers crossed!!

That is all for now.

Birthdays

We had a couple of birthdays at our house in January.

First, Jack turned 12!  I can't believe how much he has grown up this past year!  There is not a trace of little boy left and we are headed full-speed ahead toward the teenage years.

It was an exciting birthday for him.  He was very glad to finally be able to advance from Primary to deacon's quorum.  His grandparents were here for his birthday.  They came down from Utah because he, Thomas, and Dallin were all being ordained to different offices in the Aaronic Priesthood, and they wanted to be here for that.  It was a bonus that they got to be here for some of the birthday celebration!

Just over a week later, Thomas turned 14!  He is taller than me now, by a couple of inches, and is sailing through Junior High like it is no trouble at all, which makes my life as a mom with a kid at the junior high much happier!

Lately I have been looking at my boys and I can't believe that they are so tall, and grown-up.  I don't know quite how that happened so fast.  I was thinking the other day about how so many moms complain about certain phases of life with their kids, but I can honestly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed every phase that my boys have gone through.  I never wished any part of their growing up years away.  I am so grateful for that!  I only have about 10 years left before all of my boys are out of the house and it makes me just want to appreciate these years so much more.  I know how fast 10 years goes!!

I am so grateful that I have been blessed to be the mom of such great boys! Happy Birthday Jack and Thomas!!

Update

 Popping in to share a little update on some of our doings over the past couple of months.

Jack went out in the forest with his dad and found these two sheds.  Pretty cool!

I reupholstered my old brown chairs.  I am much happier with them now.  This is kind of a look at the before and after.

Thomas was selected to be part of the regional junior high honor choir.  It was a fun day for him and it was fun for me to go see them perform that night.

Dallin was awarded All-Region Honorable Mention in soccer.  That was pretty exciting for him as a freshman.  He was also voted the most improved offensive player on his team by his teammates.  That is probably true.  He went from playing city league against 11-year olds, to hanging with the varsity high school players.  It was a good season for him.  We had so much fun watching him play.

Jack participated in the 6th grade science fair.  His project was selected to represent the school at the regional science fair this spring.  Good job Jack!!

We had fun decorating the house for Christmas.  I'll share just a few pictures...

We also had fun with some of our usual traditions including decorating sugar cone Christmas trees. Unfortunately this is the only activity where I got the camera out.  Oh well.

I'm glad my older boys will still participate in these old traditions.  Dallin was there too, but I didn't get a good picture of him.

We spent a Monday evening filling food bags for 3E snacks.  They are a community program that provides food for needy kids over the weekends and holidays.  It was a good experience for our whole family to help fill these bags to be sent home with kids for the Christmas break.

All of my boys had Christmas concerts. I only got this picture of Tad's at the elementary school, but they all did such a good job.  Dallin was part of the high school Christmas concert.  Thomas sang at the Junior High concert.  Jack sang at the Intermediate school concert, as well as with the sixth grade at the Intermediate school Christmas spectacular.  Drake sang with the fourth grade at the Christmas spectacular and even had a solo!  He did a great job!!  I love going to all of my boys performances and games.  To me, it is one of the greatest parts of being a mother.

I couldn't take a picture of my boys, but they all participated in our ward's Christmas program too.  Drake was asked to sing a solo with the ward choir.  He, Tad, and Jack all sang with the primary.  Dallin and Thomas sang a song with the youth and Thomas played a piano duet with his friend, Sam.  They all did so well.  It was such a nice program and such a good day.

It has been a good couple of months.