We were invited to go to Della's reunion in Idaho and we went. We stopped at the City of Rocks with Ryan and Megan before getting to see any of the Idaho family. It's so beautiful there. I made Lullaby a flower crown, but Cora wanted to try it on too.
We stopped at a cemetery with the mums that Della had brought, cleaned off the gravesites and placed the new flowers there.
The reunion was mostly held at a Senior Center with a school playground across the street. It was a perfect spot and most of the kids got busy there and only came into the center for food occasionally.
Paul took the kids camping with Ryan and his family, and Aidan and Mason. I stayed in the only hotel in town, alone. It was awesome, although I couldn't get the tv to work, so they came to fix it, and kept me up too late to say I got any good sleep. Oh well.
Another cemetery with Della, this time she ran into an old friend, visiting his wife's grave. All of Idaho feels like a small town.
We got the tour again and got more pictures of the house that has gold buried somewhere in the yard... One day I want to buy that house and find it!
Baylee and I got to work on this crazy hard black and white picture puzzle. It looks us hours, spread over multiple days.
At one point, all the Brackenbury kids (Della is the youngest), or their kids, got up to tell stories. It was so fun. Everyone there was lovely.
Lullaby met one of her 4th cousins, twice removed, who was her exact same age. So fun.
More playground fun with cousins, and a finished puzzle!
Paul and Ryan tested out his starling and saw what would work up in the woods where they camped. And although it was June, there was still snow on the ground!
The last night before we left, Paul, Aidan, and Barry took the kids on a ghost hunt at Della's old elementary school, which has now been named one of the country's most haunted buildings. They heard voices, and footsteps, saw a bird fly out of what was a closed building, and mannequins in windows seem to move. Lullaby and I stayed back at the hotel. Solace went and was scared to the point of crying. Scary isn't for him. This was the only picture the got.
May in my backyard is my favorite. I love this flowering tree.
Matix wanted to show me some basketball tricks for Paul, while he was in Hawaii for work.
Hawken made up a joke and had me send this to Paul. So funny.
Out to lunch with my friend Mandy. It had been a long time and it was nice to catch up.
Lullaby's friend Sophia came over for dinner on a night that Hawken made breakfast for dinner. He was so excited to share it with her.
Solace got to play MarioKart at the end of his activity days while he and his friends waited for all the parents to pick them up. Very few of his friends had played before, so he got to teach everyone, which he loved.
Sometimes I get random pictures on my phone that I love. Here's one.
Hawken and Solace thought they really looked just like the guy in the advertisement at the store.
I caught Swishy snoring. This is why he doesn't sleep in our bedroom at night anymore. Ha ha ha.
Matix's friend brought him to a new track in the middle of a farmer's field (that they knew), and he loved it. Then when he tried to get back there again, he couldn't remember just where it was, so it took a little time, but we found it.
Ashley and Ranger had their baby, more than a week late, but little baby Brooke was finally born. She's happy and healthy and perfect.
Paul went to Hawaii for work, but his friend Matt, who also works a lot online, went out too to enjoy a boys trip just the two of them. So fun!
Date night with Hawken brought us to the smoothie shop and then to get some Lego minifigures. We sat on the floor and felt each bag trying to find Hawk's favorite figures. I love hanging out with my kids one on one.
I grind my teeth sometimes, and can't seem to control it. A couple times Paul tried to build a pillow wall between us to muffle my late night stirrings. I hated it, but it seemed to work for a bit. Ha haha.
Snuggles with Pumpkin, always.
Snow Baby doesn't always come for a cuddle, so when she does, I want a picture.
Pumpkin found a sunny spot on my bed and stayed there until the sun moved. Then Whiskey jumped up, and they don't always get along, but after some stare downs, they both curled up near each other, but of course, not touching.
Picnic outside means Whiskey wants to join. She's almost always outside, and loves when we come visit her, in HER yard.
Homeschool sports group ran through so many different sports in May! They did baseball, basketball, cricket, flag football, and kickball. It's so fun to see them trying new things. Plus then they always get to play on the playground after, or tag in the field.
After a few weeks, Lullaby was allowed to take off her brace. She took it off only for showers before that. Her muscles did atrophy a little, which was surprising to me. She was so excited to be back in business.
For Mother's Day, Paul and the kids took me out to the local Hibachi Grill. I love it, and the kids had never been to one before. It was so much fun!
Then we went over to Great Grandma Berg's house for a bit. We got there just after her little fruit basket arrived, so fun!
Headband braid for Lullaby. This was a favorite hairstyle of mine when I was little and my mom would braid it for me. I think it looks so lovely on her.
Great Grandma Berg invited everyone over for Mother's Day dinner. Not everyone could come, but it was really nice to see all those that could.
I put on a thick layer of lip gloss and kissed Matix, he laughed, but how cute does he look with lipgloss? Ha haha.
One of the DUP meetings was at one of Grandma Berg's friend's houses. It was really nice and I heard a story there that I wanted to write down, so here it is, as I remember it. One family didn't have hardly any seeds to plant, and they were asked if they would mind being paid with a small bag of green pea seeds, instead of money or something more valuable. They were delighted and got them planted right away, then they turned their backs in time for their chicken to walk along and pluck out each and every seed and eat them! When they saw that, they made a fast choice to kill the chicken in order to save the peas. They replanted and that crop of peas ended up saving them through the winter. What a crazy story.
Views of the house that I love.
Swishy is really the sweetest thing. I'm so happy he is ours.
While I was on a call, trying to get the kids to leave me alone, (They only ever need me when I'm busy), Solace came in with a sign he made from Legos, "Can we have..." Then he pantomimed for video games. So funny.
More of Matix's new dirt bike track.
At a park with friends. Even the big kids will play, I love that about homeschooling. No one is telling them what is "cool" or what isn't, they just do what makes them happy.
The neighborhood just East of us had a huge yard sale. There were more that 20 houses that we stopped at. I gave the kids each $10 to see what we could find. It was so much fun. They bartered, which made some of them uncomfortable, but they learned a lot.
Hawken got a new sandwich grill from the sales, that makes perfect grilled cheese sandwiches and he uses it ALL the time. What a perfect find for him.
Lullaby got some costume jewelry and figured out in church that it makes a good mustache and beard. She had us cracking up!
Over to Great Grandma Berg's for Sunday dinner. We forgot to take our leftovers and she called us to come back for them. She's so lovely.
Can you tell these two are related, based on their style alone? I can.
More of the sports group, kickball that day.
Rough life for Paul. Taking a break from his online work at home, to take a shower and get a massage. It's not always like this for him, but sometimes it is, and that's so nice.
Out to eat with the kiddies.
We went up into the mountains to play in a river for the day, just because. It was a good day. Swishy even got into the water, which is always surprising.
On Memorial Day, we went to see Great Grandpa Berg's grave, clean it up and switch the flowers for new ones. We all miss him.
Back to Great Grandma's house for a game and some food.
We were invited to Izzy's college graduation party and so we of course had to stop at Little America for ice cream on the way there. It also snowed, which was scary because I had driven the Prius, because it was only the kids going with me, not Paul, and I wanted to save on gas. But the snow stayed off the roads, and we made it just fine.
We got to go with Izzy's family (who came in from all over the world to see her graduate) out to eat. I canNOT believe that this is the same little girl I babysat when I was at the same college she just graduated from!
Brittanie brought card games for the kids to play with Sage and Colton while we waited for food. The food was amazing, but the company was even better. I had never met several of Richard's sisters, but they were SO nice.
After the dinner we went back to Jolie's house where we were staying and the kids and Alexandra fell asleep watching a movie.
Right away in the morning, Jolie brought us to The Lyric for Saturday morning cartoons and a cereal bar.
Then to one of their favorite playgrounds, which was made from silos, plus there was a river right next to it too.
Izzy all dressed up at her party, I can't get over this beautiful woman she has become. She graduated with honors from CSU.
The kids beguiled the new aunties right away and had them sitting on the floor playing games with them all through the party.
Sully fell asleep at the party, and I started getting a headache. Little did I know, but we were all getting sick. Sweet Jolie took care of me and all the kids, and then after we left Colorado we found out one of Richard's sisters tested positive for Covid. I spread it to Jolie, but thankfully her kids stayed healthy and James could take them while Jolie healed. Poor Jolie had no one to take care of her though. Sorry Jojo!
We tried to see Chris, but he wasn't at his work again.
Avia didn't care that Solace had (what we thought was) a cold, and cuddled with him while she brushed his hair for the morning. He fell asleep while she did it, he loved it.
On our way back home to Utah and stopped for ice cream, of course.
As soon as we got home, I told Paul how I was feeling and we took Covid tests. His came back positive, but mine was negative...? So weird. We knew we were sick, whether or not it was Covid, we didn't know. Our friends, the Harmers, sent us pho to feel better. It was really really good, and so sweet of them. Everyone took a turn feeling sick, except Matix, and it lasted for one bad day, and two blah days.
We always stop at the neighborhood sales, so fun.
Our last sport group day was an end of the year party. Lots of kids came, and they played with water balloons, and red rover, and tag, then we all ate from the potluck. 2nd grade, 4th grade, 6th grade, and 7th grade is OVER! Woohoo!
We went for a little camping trip down to Goblin Valley. I had never seen it, and it was amazing!
We brought Swishy too, but the ground was too hot, so after about a mile, Lullaby, Matix and I turned back with Swishy, to get him to some shade and water. Paul, Hawk and Solace continued on to see the caves.
Then we scouted out a nice spot to camp. The kids played games and climbed the rocks tons.
Swishy stood guard protecting me while I was in the tent.
Matix spent a lot of time in the little nook, reading. He also slept there at night, earning himself a movie with Paul, who had bet him that he couldn't last all night.
At the end of May, we listed our house! It was a very exciting step toward moving. The real estate market shifted the day after our house was up, and interest rates shot up over a point in one day. So we got some interest in the house, but it drastically changed from the weeks before when we were still deciding on things.
When we had to be out of the house for showings, we went to the park. This time we took Swishy and Pumpkin. Usually, it was just Swishy, but Pumpkin was acting extra needy and we didn't want her to bother the prospective buyers.
I found Snow Baby tucked in with Lullaby's blankets one morning.
Paul and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary with a date night out to eat at The Melting Pot. I had never been there and it was awesome. We got dessert first, then out to a show. We saw three bands we had never heard of, and it was a great night.
After that, we dropped the kids off with Great Grandma Berg and headed to Bryce for a couple days in the cutest little cabin. It was so much fun. We ate out, and went hiking, and watched movies, and had the best time. I am so lucky to have picked Paul and have him pick me back. I love him.
Plus I found a stray cat that climbed in my lap for a snuggle, yes please.
We saw a double rainbow in Utah! It rains so infrequently there, that rainbows, even single ones, are hard to come by. But a double?!
We took the kids to get their passports. The older boys had passports when we lived in Dominica, but the younger two never had one. Plus they all needed new pictures.
