I think I'm on track to be a chunk...
Here we are into May and we are all still in lockdown, although things are improving. People are still getting infected with Corona, however, in Utah we have not had a huge spike in cases, so that meant at the beginning of May, Utah was in the "orange" zone. That meant that you still couldn't eat in restaurants, you had to wear a mask if you went to essential stores, and you had to limit gatherings to 20 people. About the middle of May, Utah went into the "yellow" zone which means you can have groups of fewer than 50 people, you have to stay 6 feet apart in public, you wear face coverings, but all businesses are open and sports can start again, which means Caden can start baseball! We feel very lucky to live in Utah where we are given more of a guidance and asked to use our best judgement when going places. Other states have much stricter regulations and many people in places like New York and California are still in lock down. More and more people are feeling the effects of not having a job and the economy is going to take a long time to recover.
Do you want to know one of the saddest things? We were supposed to be in Disneyland the first week of May, but we had to cancel our vacation because Disneyland is closed. And we had so many fun concerts to attend this summer, but they are all getting postponed or cancelled one by one.
However things are starting to look up. Slowly we are starting to get somewhat back to normal, but with some differences. We have been back to the dentist, but they have to take your temperature before you enter. Makayla had an ortho appt and I wasn't able to go in with her, but I did manage to take a great selfie while I was waiting.
Even though we may never get back to normal fully as it was before, I am so grateful for the small things, like stores opening back up, and restaurants being open.
We are taking every chance we can to get out doors. We went on a fun hike through Butterfield Canyon.
I got my nails did.
We enjoy Otter pops and ice cream outside on nice days
I still find time to take a lot of selfies.
We had so much fun on our hike that we went back, but this time we took our bikes.
The kids are still plugging their way through distance online learning. They have figured out a lot of the technical parts of school and they are super fast at doing their assignments now, so that means they don't require much assistance from me. Caden earned a pizza party for doing so well in speech, so his teacher brought the pizza party to our house.
Caden wrote the cutest notes to his teachers.
*Dear Mrs. McPharlin. thank you for hellpeing me lurn and grow. Can't wate to eat the pizza. Love Caden.
*Dear Mrs. Vea. Thank you for 1, being my teacher. 2 helpeing me when ther are hard times. 3 hellpeing me to lurn.
Tyler and I have been watching a lot of tv at nights. We finished a documentary called Tiger King that has been so popular. I saw this meme and laughed.
We've done lots of birthday and mother's day drive by celebrations for Tyler's grandparents
How cute are these cousins hanging out at Cousin Cove?
Nice weather means we have been spending lots of time on the swings.
Brynnli has been asking for her training wheels to be off her bike, so we did. Caden is so sweet and got her all ready to go with elbow and knee pads.
Tyler and I both thought it would be so hard to help Brynnli learn how to ride her bike without training wheels because, well, we had a hard time teaching the other two kids. But Brynnli was different. It was really anti climatic. She just got on her bike started peddling, and off she went. She got the hang of it just like that!
I think what helped Brynnli the most is that she had a balance bike, so learning how to balance on her big girl bike wasn't any different.
Hey, remember Haylie from last spring? She made her nest just outside our patio door and had 9 cute little ducklings hatch? Well guess what? She's back! In the same spot.
Tyler took this picture and it looks like she has 8 eggs so far.
Hopefully in a few weeks we will see her ducklings!
The kids have recently discovered their roller blades again. They have been having so much fun riding around the neighborhood.
Apparently they are having so much fun that they can't come inside even to go to the bathroom, so they go in the front yard!
Kids these days!
Great Grandpa Bill turned 90 years old this month. Both of Tyler's Grandparents are doing so well for their age. Hopefully Tyler inherited those same genes.
Brynnli told me she accidentally spilled a little tooth paste on the rug. Does this look like a little tooth paste to you? Me either.
Corona virus has really taken a toll on Brynnli. One day she's young and fun....
The next she's old and ornery.
Just kidding. Brynnli got to dress up for her virtual dance recital and the 100th day of preschool.
We went up to Hanna Land with all the Jones family and Terry and Craig for Memorial Day. It was so nice to be all together again. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but we had fun flying kites, going for 4 wheeler rides, and playing games.
This picture reminds me of peace during a tumultuous time.
Oh and the kids found a bird's nest in the play house with just born baby birds waiting for their mom to come back and feed them.
And just so I never forget this... Caden's permanent teeth are coming in and it's quite funny compared to his baby teeth right next to it.
Caden got to have a virtual luau for school. His teacher is so great to come up with fun activities even with online school.
The teachers did a parade through our neighborhood. The kids thought it was fun to see their teachers.
I accidentally put my mask on backwards, but it looks like the perfect smiley face.
Yay! Caden is back in baseball. We love being able to go cheer on our buddy. It brings a little bit of normalcy to this crazy world. Caden loves playing and he is really good! This year is the first year of kid pitch, so the game is a lot slower, but Caden has managed to get a hit every game and score a few runs for his team and he also plays second base and right field.
We bought a new pool for all these hot summer days ahead of us.
There were fireworks one night and Makayla was the only one awake, so we got to watch them from her bedroom window.
Oh and we got a new bar-b-q arbor so my grilling hubby can make us dinner every night.
A few things I want to remember about this crazy time...
At the end of may Utah had 9,797cases of Corona virus, 6,137 people recover and 113 deaths.
In the US there are currently 1.78 million cases of Corona virus and 104,000 deaths.
And if 2020 couldn't get any more strange, on May 25 a black man named George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minnesota. It sparked a massive worldwide outcry. There were protests against police officers, which led to non peaceful protests, looting, and pure chaos. In Salt Lake a police car was overturned and set on fire, people were smashing windows all over Salt Lake. That was minor in comparison to what was happening in other states. Police protests, setting things on fire, looting businesses (what does Nike have to do with police brutality?) The Black Lives Matter Movement became strong and apparently if you tried to argue that all lives matter, you are a racist. I don't even understand what is going on in our world. It is pure chaos. What ever happened to having values and treating every person you meet (regardless of their race, religion, gender, etc) with dignity and respect? What does looting a Target or setting a Wendy's on fire have to do with Black Lives Matter? Why are monuments being vandalized and torn down? I'm scared. I'm scared for the world we live in and our future. I'm scared for our kids. I have to have hope that God protects His people. I have faith that something good will come from all of this. I have to believe that all lives matter.
