We were still in quarantine when April came around but we still managed to have a lot of fun and got into a better system of online school and being together 24/7. Here are some pics from April:
Brennan's teacher left him a sweet message on our sidewalk. She has been such an incredible teacher for him! She does fun accents and activities and really helps engage with her students and was exactly the kind of teacher Brennan needed. So I was really bummed when they could no longer meet as a class but she still made sure to do special things for her students and engage with Brennan as much as she could.
We did another online paint class. This time we painted a cute little fox.
We still did a lot of walks and scooter rides as often as the weater permitted...
Becca came over one day to teach Aiden how to do family history. She helped him learn some of the basics and then helped direct him to find some family names that need temple work done. He really enjoyed it and I hope both of us can do more family history together.
I've missed my South Weber book club friends and so when they did a Zoom book club meeting I was able to join! It was so fun to chat with them face to face. We keep up pretty good on Marco Polo and I'm so grateful for all I learn from them and their deep questions that always help me think. My sweet friend Wendy even had cake bites delivered to my house so it felt like we were all together for book club. These women are always so thoughtful and I'm grateful for them!
Aiden did a zoom meeting to chat with friends on a few occasions.
We helped heart attacked Bishop Larsen's house because his son had to come home early from his mission because of Covid-19. The kids had a lot of fun helping decorate the hearts.
That same day we decided to fill Easter eggs with candy and deliver some eggs to some family members and friends. The kids had so much fun not only filling the eggs (and eating the extra candy) but also doorbell ditching people to deliver them.
Callie had a project for school that involved playing with play dough. She made a fun ocean scene with Graham's baby shark play dough.
The first weekend of April was General Conference. Because of the pandemic, General Conference was different this year. There was no congregation at the Conference Center and instead the church leaders sat "socially distant" in a small auditoruim. The MOTAB didn't sing, the leaders didn't shake hands, and a lot of the talks focused on hope and faith that things would return to normal. It was SO comforting to have the prophet and apostles help us feel at ease with all that was going on in the world. It couldn't have come at a better time.
We had some fun coloring during each of the talks.
Because the MOTAB couldn't sing during Conference, they played reruns of choir songs so it was fun to have my mom over at our house, watching herself sing :) It's her last time in the choir during Conference because she is retiring from it this year so it was neat to see a lot of recordings of her.
There's nothing better than watching Conference for two days on our couch all together as a family! I am so grateful for the knowledge and comfort the gospel brings!
One night we went on a walk from Art Dye to Highland Glen park. It was probably a 3 mile walk and it was fun to enjoy some time outdoors.
With the gyms closed because of Coronavirus, I had to get creative with working out at home. Luckily a bunch of group fitness instructors started doing online workouts on Instagram Live and other platforms so I was able to get some good workouts in each day. I also created this HIIT workout and it was intense! Even the kids started doing it with me and Nate joined too a few times.
One of my favorite group fitness classes is High Fitness and they started doing online workouts a few times a week and I convinved Nate to try it with me one day. He couldn't quite follow the choreography and when he got a phone call he was glad to give it up :) But I love it and it helps me not miss the gym so much.
Brennan got creative one afternoon and made an awesome city with all of our toys. One big benefit from quarantine time is the time for the kids to be creative and find things to do when they think they are "bored."
We have done a couple of family bike rides and it's one of my favorite family activities. I love that we live close to the Jordan River Parkway trail so we can follow a path either north or south and change up our ride each time.
The tramp has provided a lot of entertainment for the kids. The kids have done a lot of "shows" and tricks for us and have spent hours and hours jumping.
Callie finally pulled out her front tooth that was hanging on by a thread. Love her toothless smile!
We hiked the Y with my parents and Becca one evening and had a great time. That hike has steep switchbacks but the kids did awesome.
My mom turned 60! Originally my brothers were planning to fly out and surprise her and have a big birthday celebration, but because of coronavirus that wasn't possible. So my parents came over one night with cake and we celebrated my mom in a simple way. I can't believe both of my parents are 60 now!
With the weather warming up, we were spending more and more time outside and it was the best! It helped quarantine not be so hard. I love being outside with these cute kids!
One of the best things we did in April was out ticket system. Basically, for every "good deed" we caught the kids doing, they would get a ticket. And in return, those tickets could buy candy, popcorn, and soda for a big movie night on Friday night. Our house has never been cleaner! The kids were caught vacuuming without being asked, playing together happily for hours, finishing their school work without complaining, and even rushing to do dishes after dinner so they could earn a ticket. It may have been bribery but it was such a great week in our house with no fighting and lots of help and love. We had so much fun Friday night using those tickets and the kids went to town on the treats! We watched the Rocketeer and had a fun time finally using those tickets!
Brennan even made these cute treat containers that could hold all of the goodies.
We inherited this haircut cape from Diane and while it may look silly, it's awesome to catch all the hair from falling on the ground and makes clean up so much easier. Nate is awesome to cut the boys hair each month and I'm grateful he's willing to do it so I don't have to :)
We love living close to Grandma Tadje and we usually have her over at least once a week for dinner. One night, we decorated Easter eggs with her and did some egg tosses afterward and had a fun time.
Not sure why Brennan was flexing for a picture but wow that kid is strong! Pretty sure my 10-year-old is stronger than I am!
We had an incredible Easter as a family! The kids loved getting to look in their Easter baskets and doing an egg hunt in our yard. We did church at home and did a special Easter service all together.
Of course we took obligatory Easter pics :)
We went to Steve & Rayane's for Easter dinner and I made a yummy carrot cake for it. Thanks to Mel's Kitchen Cafe, my first carrot cake turned out delicious. Her recipes never disappoint.
Rayane always does an incredible job entertaining and she had the prettiest table setting for Easter. Steve and Rayane are amazing cooks and we ate like kings and queens that night. It was so fun to be with them again. Because of coronavirus, we hadn't done a family dinner in a while so we loved getting to spend time with them again.
The cousins were so happy to be reunited.
Grandma did a special Easter lesson and the kids each took turns helping her teach. It was a great spiritual experience to be there learning about Jesus Christ all together. My dad also recited the Living Christ memorized which was neat. I want to memorize that someday soon as well.
The kids and I did a fun art project one day of melting crayons into new molds. They loved unwrapping and breaking crayons.
We rearranged the loft upstairs and brough the couch from the basement up to add a nice little sitting area. I still need to decorate the loft but I like this little nook better than what we had before.
We had a picnic at a park with the Brewers. The parks have all been taped off so we can't play on the playground but we still can hang out on the grass. It was so nice to see friends again!
I worked a lot in the yard to help make it nicer! I love being out doing yard work and getting my hands dirty. Our yard here is pretty low maintenance right now but we're slowly improving it and making it our own. I planted strawberries and raspberries on the side of our house. I hope they do as well as our plants did in South Weber!
Here's a picture of our house before we did any work. We had three ugly plain plants in front of our porch and an aqua door and planter that we would change soon :) We also started working hard to make the grass greener and healthier. We did so much work on our South Weber home and made it look so much better so I was excited to beautify this yard too.
Here are some more pics of our yard before all of the work:
These still weren't blooming in April and gave no color to our yard.
I hadn't planted the majority of the garden when I took this picture but I had planted lettuce, beets, carrots, and onions. I hope my garden does as well as last year. I love gardening to eating produce from my yard.
I started taking pictures of the inside of our house as well but only took this first room and then forgot. I need to go back and take a picture of each of the rooms and how they are right now.
We've spent a lot of quarantine playing games! Especially Play Nine and 3 UP 3 DOWN. Graham especially begs to play all the time! We love our family game nights!
The teachers and staff at River Rock put on a little parade to wave to all of the students and we loved getting to see them! We all miss our normal routine of school and life and it was nice to see the school staff and also visit with some neighbors outside.
I took this picture to show how unpredictable spring weather is. Callie had short overalls and sandals on, but also a huge coat. Spring in Utah is always bipolar.
The weirdest feeling of all of this Covid stuff is going to the store and seeing so many people wearing masks and gloves. Costco now requires it. Nate and I spotted Spiderman in his full suit at Costco and thought it showed just how crazy all of this Covid fear is.
We hiked to Battlecreek one evening with Diane and had a really great time. I love that we get to spend a lot of time with her!
We hiked just a couple of days later to the Bells Canyon Reservoir. We've done a lot of hikes lately because we love hiking but also because everything else is closed so it's a good family activity during quarantine :) The Brewers went with us on this hike and we loved it up there. I want to hike on this trail and go a littel further to the waterfalls next time.
The kids were hyper one night and Brennan was trying to give both Callie and Graham a piggy back ride at the same time. It was pretty hilarious to watch them attempt it. We were all laughing pretty hard at them trying their hardest to hold on to Brennan.
Aiden woke up one morning with blood all over his face. He got a bloody nose in the middle of the night and didn't even know it! It was quite shocking to see him walk in our room like this one morning.
And then Callie fell into a rose bush on her bike one evening and got scraped up really bad.
50 bandaids definitely helped her feel better!
My Book Club had a fire circle up at Mandy's property and I drove up on night and it was so good to see these friends again! We had dinner and talked until 1am about everything and anything! I love this group of women so much and look up to them!
My AF/Buinco friends had a little wagon wheel girls night (socially distant of course!) the following week and it was so fun to catch up with them! I love this group of friends and am so grateful for good friends in my life! It was so good to see them again after quarantine has put Bunco nights on pause for a bit.
So I posted pics of what our yard looked like to begin with and in April I spent hours at the nursery buying new perennials to help beautify our yard. The plants are small right now but eventually they should all be a great size to give color and depth and variety to our front yard.
I'll keep up on posting pics on our yard as it transforms :)
And that sums up April. I didn't realize how many pictures I took in April but wow that was a long post!
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