Back to School (and Some Things That Led Up To It)

Our kids started school last week.  It was definitely the strangest first day of school we have ever had.  I felt so weird dropping Grant off!  The vibe was not like it has been in other years.  The kids were spaced apart. There wasn't too much excitement in the air.  The teachers weren't as interactive with the parents or kids.  It almost felt heavy!  However, Grant got home very excited and I think that the actual school day was much more happy than it had felt during drop off.  The other kids all had a happy day, too.  There is just so much uncertainty right now!  We are thankful to be able to go back at all!  And we hope it will last!

 Maren had a home game for volleyball on her first day of high school (10th grade!), so she had to wear a dress to school, which she wasn't too happy about.

 High School for these two!

 Last first day of school for this one.  Avery is a SENIOR!!!  What???

 8th grade for Ryan.

 Last first day of elementary for Grant! (6th grade)

Avery is an National Honor Society officer.

 Maren made the volleyball team for the high school!

 Leading up to going back to school was filled with so many fun things! (And, even more mundane kitchen things, but that's ok!)

We resurrected the backyard dam.

 Avery spent a few days in St. George with friends.

 The Cragun's came and helped with our kitchen and yard (Matt on kitchen duty, Nicole weeded my flower beds).  So nice!

 We demoed our half wall in preparation for a railing.

 We painted.  A lot.

  We drilled and cut some stuff.

 I made a shiplap wall.

 Dustin did dry wall.

 We finished our basement shower.

 I sanded dry wall.  A lot.

 We cleaned our brand new floors after all that dry wall goop.

 We had our ceiling textured to match the living room (it's not dry in this picture).

 Cabinets started coming in.  I say started because they are still not done.  Our cabinet door paint didn't work to the standard that the cabinet company would have liked, so we waited another week or so for new doors.  We are still waiting on some glass front cabinet doors.  And the counter top company got shut down due to Covid-19, so we are still waiting on counter tops and sink.  It has not been a fast process!  But they did send some fake counter tops and a small sink, so we can at least function better in our space!  And, our appliances did get installed, so I have a fridge upstairs and a dishwasher that works!!  Yay!

 We got some new windows.

We had some sports physicals (and Avery got licked by a giraffe).

 We met Nicole at Brighton Loop and hiked for the day.  We got rained on a little bit and we even saw Moose!  It was a great escape from 100 degree heat!

 Ryan has been saving all summer for a new bike, and he finally saved enough and found one he wanted.  This was better than Christmas for him!  Of course, something broke on it the next day and it took a few days for the part to come in, but now it is finally ready and he has loved it! 

 We played soccer in the backyard (work zone, apparently.) and look at that cool soccer goal!

I had Preschool Back to School Night this week, as well, so we are really back to school!  It just doesn't really feel like it with those 3 days doing at home work.  I keep having to remind my kids that no, we can't have a late night with friends, and yes, we do need to go to bed on time, even if they don't have to be up at 6 A.M. for school the next day (which is actually really nice for a few days a week).

We Took A Break From Remodeling

Since we are kitchen-less, and all of the stuff that was being done by contractors was in a waiting period, we decided to find someone who had a working kitchen and took a trip to the Midwest to see Monica and her family!  We got up early on a Wednesday morning and drove from 6:00 A.M. until midnight, but we stopped a couple of times along the way to see some new things.

State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska 

University of Nebraska.  A funny thing happened here.  We were driving around the campus (which, like everything else, was incredibly deserted) and Dustin took a route that somehow that led us right onto a sidewalk in the middle of campus!  The kids were mortified!  It was very funny for Dustin and I, though.

Another strange and funny thing that happened that night was that we passed a huge funeral procession on the freeway.  Funerals are not actually funny, but this one was so awkward for us because we weren't sure what to do.  They were going slower than the speed limit, but no one was passing them, so we weren't sure on protocol for this type of thing.  After searching google (thank you internet!) we decided we could pass them, but we did feel a little insensitive for laughing, especially as we passed the hearse.  Just to clarify, we weren't laughing at death, we were laughing at how incredibly awkward it felt to pass people who were mourning (plus, it was nearly midnight and we had been driving for almost 18 hours, so we were a little slaphappy). 

 After a quick night's rest in St. Joseph, Missouri, we started toward St. Louis to meet up with Monica and Nicole and families (Nicole was also visiting Monica).  We stopped at the Chief's and Royal's stadiums, and then because we were only a few minutes away, we made a quick stop in Independence, Missouri.  We couldn't take much of a tour, but there were missionaries there and they were more than happy to do a quick "walking" tour, which actually consisted of us standing in the shade while they told us some of the history of the area.  It was so hot outside! 

Later that afternoon we met everyone in St. Louis!  One of the benefits of the pandemic is that there was hardly anyone in the city!  Our group probably tripled the amount of people that were out and about.  We walked to the arch that night and had yummy St. Louis BBQ while we sat underneath.

 

 

 

 

The next morning Avery, Monica and Dustin did an early morning run and then we all went to the St. Louis Zoo.  The zoo was also much nicer to navigate without thousands of people.  The last time we went to a zoo in a big city, there were so many people that it was hard to see the animals.  Not so this time!

 

We finished out the day by visiting the Cahokia Indian Mounds and then driving on to Monica's house.  These are burial mounds for ancient American Indians.  They had a museum and you could walk up to the top of the largest mound.

 In the museum they had a sign showing how the Indians had a spiritual awakening during 150 B.C.- A.D. 300, which we thought was cool because it coincided perfectly with things happening in the Book of Mormon in preparation for the Savior coming to America.

The next day the kids swam at Monica's friend's house, and we relaxed and enjoyed Monica and James' new home.

The boys in mischief.

 Sunday was church at the Noonan's and then a nice walk around Lake of the Woods park, near their house.

 Nicole's family had spent the weekend in Chicago with Matt's brother, so Monday we drove up and met them there.  We met on the outskirts, near Lake Michigan (people from Utah weren't allowed in the city without a 2 week quarantine.  Do you ever feel like you are living in a science fiction movie?).  We rented surrey's for a couple of hours and rode around the lake until we found a spot where the kids could jump in and cool off--in their clothes, because it wasn't really a scheduled cool down.  We actually really lucked out with the weather.  We had perfect weather for what we were doing each day and it was as high as 105 degrees back home in Utah!  Ha ha!

Earlier that day I had contacted our friend, Aneta, about coming to see her and her family.  Aneta and her daughter, Natalia, had come to stay with us a few years ago when their Polish dance team came to dance at Bountiful Summer Fest.  Aneta came to America when she was 21, and at the time when they stayed with us, was living in Chicago in a Polish community.  She spoke some English, but she banked, shopped, schooled and went to church in her Polish community.  She told us that when she stayed with us, that was the most English she had ever spoken!  Since then, they have moved to a suburb of Chicago, and so they are a little more involved in the English speaking part of Chicago.  She invited us over and surprised us with a huge meal!  We stayed for dinner (I was SO glad we hadn't eaten right before coming) and it was so fun to visit and get reacquainted.  She has such a kind family!  

This was a coyote we saw right by Aneta's house as we left!

That night we met the rest of our group at our hotel.  Chad had flown to Minnesota to stay with Khalina and her family, so they came down to say hi.  The next day they met us at the beach in Kanosha, Minnesota and we spent the day together.  That was so fun!  Lake Michigan is so big, it is like an ocean!  The kids played in the sand and water, the adults got eaten by biting flies and visited.  It was great!

 

The ice cream truck guy probably thought he'd hit the jackpot when he pulled up next to us!

 More ice cream that night at Culver's.

The next couple of days were spent at Monica's house, playing with cousins, taking walks, riding bikes, swimming, designing (Dustin and James) and planting plants (mostly Dustin and James).  We spent an afternoon buying donuts at Curtis Orchard and lots of bulk candy at an Amish store called Beachy's, and overall, just having a lovely time with family.  But, real life was calling (and especially my undone kitchen) and we had to start our journey home after a week of having fun with cousins.

 

 We started out early again and made it 14 hours to Denver, where we stayed with Dustin's dad for a day and relaxed before finishing our journey home Sunday.  It was fun to see Rod for that day, do puzzles, eat yummy food, walk the trail by his house and prune (Dustin).  What a great vacation and break from our kitchen chaos!  We love family!

 This little snake slithered under our van and then promptly died.  Not sure why?  Maybe it was too hot for it on the road?  But that didn't stop the kids from touching it.