2020, May 25-31

We started the week honoring fallen military personnel and ended it celebrating the resurgence of American ingenuity in space flight. We also watched violence at the hands of law enforcement result in peaceful protests that turned into violent riots near home. As the US COVID-19 death toll passed 100,000, these are troubling times in the midst of laudable accomplishments. 

Apparently we didn't take many photos this first week of summer. The kids were to busy playing. 

The kids both had gymnastics on Memorial Day. While the kids were at practice Mike and Hallie went to her parent's house to help unload a ping pong table and put it into their basement. Well, the ping pong table became quite an ordeal when Hallie's dad tore some ligaments when trying to lift his side of the table and fell to the ground. We were able to get him inside and grandma found some men from church to help Mike get it in to the house. 

Landon received a gift for his graduation from elementary school. Hallie ordered a candy box with lots of different kinds of candy that he likes and he quickly shared it and ate it with friends. Landon also received money so he could open his first bank account.

On Wednesday Hallie had Lily and we tagged along with Eliza to horseback riding lessons. The last time we showed Lily horses she was quite scared of them. This time Lily did amazing and Hallie left her phone in the car so no pictures yet of her petting the horses and seeing a 700 lb pig that is due to have 8 or 9 babies within the next month. Eliza did great on Rihanna and is progressing nicely in her lessons.

Hallie and Eliza went to the school Hallie will be working at in the fall to see the classroom and to learn new things from the lead teacher. While Hallie learned Eliza played on a swing, jumped on a trampoline and played with magnets. We think Eliza will like visiting more often and Hallie was slightly overwhelmed.

One of Mike's college roommates from Brittany Apartment #8, Brian, has recently moved back to Utah. The two of them got together for In-N-Out Burgers and had a great time catching up on the close to 20 years that have passed since last they saw each other, back when we lived in Simi. Mike was blessed to have some amazing friends in college, good young men who have all gone on to be good middle-aged men. 

For our Friday family time, we went to the food trucks in Spanish Fork. No one seems concerned about social distancing, apparently, except Mike, who seemed to be the only one wearing a mask. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to get some delicious milanesa sandwiches and loaded carne asada fries from Asado Argentinian Grill and Cafe. The owner made Eliza a custom plate of fries for free after she had gone to other trucks looking for something with carne asada and found the other trucks lacking. We've enjoyed the food we have had at their Orem restaurant and will definitely be back. 

On Saturday, we watched the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon Rocket launch. We were on pins and needles and are astounded at the hard work and skill it took to get Bob and Doug (and the toy dino) into space. We also watched live as the protests in downtown Salt Lake City about a mile from where we used to live over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday turned into a car-burning riot. Marco Rubio aptly noted on his Twitter feed that there are "3 groups of people at protests: 1. Peaceful protestors angry at the murder of Mr. Floyd but who have even protected police officers at protests; 2. Locals who see the opportunity for wilding; 3. Domestic extremists taking advantage of lawful protests to advance their own agenda." Overall, it was a day of strong emotions. 

By the weekend, the warm weather had returned in earnest. This is good for Mom's garden, which is putting out new fruit of the vine. Landon hung out with Sonny and his older brother after Mike and Landon rode down to Sonny's house. Our part of town is very bike accessible, which we appreciate. 

2020, May 18-24

We started the week with Hallie's birthday and ended it learning about friendship. School ended in the meantime. 

We celebrated Hallie's birthday with cake and ice cream a safe distance apart from the other well-wishers. There was quite a wind so our awesome neighbor moved her car and we partied in her garage.

Earlier in the day, her friend from work brought her a crocheted Baby Yoda. So cute!

 

On Wednesday, Landon's teacher came by to bid him farewell on his way to junior high school.

 

Eliza said goodbye to her teachers at the school as she dropped off her Chromebook and got her desk items. It was funny to see what she had in her desk that she had brought from home. Eliza is very funny. The school set up different days for different grades to return things and to see their teachers. What a different time of life we are in! It will be interesting to see how things will change come the fall.

We still managed to get some learning in by making parachutes and dropping them to see which dropped more slowly. We have given up on trying to keep the kids off of the jungle gym. 

 

Hallie had to get surgery on her tongue, so she got some laughing gas. Towards the end of February Hallie thought she had a canker sore on her tongue that would never go away. When she finished her dentist in March he told her that it was not a canker sore and he referred her to an oral surgeon. With covid raging on Hallie could not see the surgeon until elective surgeries opened back, which happened to be May 5. May 21, Hallie had her tongue biopsied and had 4 stitches put in. Talking is funny and it hurts to eat and talk. But, besides that we just wait for the results.

She and our neighbor Alicia went up to Gardner Village to window shop and get some treats from the Neighborhood Bakery and the Chocolate Covered Wagon. It happened to be the start of the Woodland Fairies time at the Village. We had to take a few fun pictures. Flowers were in bloom and the ladies enjoyed a beautiful day out. 

On the weekend, Landon and his friend Sonny went with Mike on a bike ride along the Spanish Fork River Trail. It's been a while since Landon's had a chance to hang out with his former teammate. 

The boy wasn't particularly keen on getting photos taken. 

2020, May 4-17

Early- to mid-May has us well into the whole school from home thing. Our state moved into the orange phase and so gymnastics decided to start having the kids go back to gym! The change has been both welcome and challenging in that the kids get to go back and train but we have to make sure to get school done early, or it gets left to the end of a long day, which is not good for any of us. Also, Coronavirus and social distancing concerns. Anyway, on to the photos! 

Fergus is ever the photogenic beastie. He's getting lots of late Spring naps and attention from Eliza. 

Mike is going full bore with learning Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, using his and others' coats of arms to develop his techniques. Maybe there's a (limited) sideline in graphic design in his future. 

Some of his online friends pointed him to a website that moshes up photos. 

He had fun with it. 

Also, he got a rubber stamp in the mail for making seals and stamps. Because, why not? 

As his skills continue to develop, he's moved from copying and pasting things found online to making his own drawings. Still very much the amateur, but getting better. 

Hallie, Hallie, quite the gal(-ie), how does your garden grow? With wee tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini, cucumbers, and Brussels sprouts all in four rows! First tomato flowers! Woo hoo!

Eliza has always had eclectic food tastes. Here she is eating tomato basil soup for breakfast (and dinner that day, as it turns out). 

We got Mother's Day dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu, salad, and chocolate cake from Magelby's Fresh in Provo. We saved the cake for breakfast one day the following week. 

One of our neighbors hosted a Porch Party that had cotton candy. The fun company that did the yummy treats is called Lollipuffs and does amazing stuff!

As you can see above, Lily has once again become a welcome renewed presence in our home. She keeps the kids entertained (or is it the other way around?). A fun light saber battle ended in a tie.

Making rock pets with sharpies and water colors was quite successful to keep both girls entertained.

It was a beautiful day out and we had fun coloring on the driveway and playing hopscotch.

Eliza found her way onto Mom's phone and photomoshed herself. 

We loved the cotton candy so much that we found another Porch Party to attend and it was yummy the second time. We even had our friend Jessie Lundberg pop in with us. Her kids loved their treat.

2020, April 27-May 3

We got news that (in Utah at least) some restrictions on getting out and about would be lifted as of Friday, and that the kids would be going back to gym in small groups by Monday, May 4. While we look forward to the kids getting some well-needed physical activity and an opportunity to blow off some steam, we remain aware of the health risks posed by COVID-19. The dilemma is real.

Part of getting the kids back to the gym is looking at their backpacks and making sure they are cleaned out. Landon had not yet cleaned out his backpack, and he had a trove of scholarly treasures to share.

It took Hallie a second to remember that three of them took a selfie to send to Diamond and Caleb. They don't use social media and so we decided to send them a picture.

With the help of Alicia and Mike who were willing to get their hands dirty Hallie started the garden for this year. We have 5 tomato plants, brussel sprouts, cucumbers and different bell peppers. Over the weekend Hallie along with our neighbor Shelly we acquired more cages to help in the growing of several of the vegetables. We haven't had a lot of great luck in the growing of vegetables over the years and so Hallie has a bit of nerves as she spear heads this little project.

Recently two teachers at Westside Elementary School put together a video for all of the students from the teachers and staff. Hallie worried over what to put on a sign and this is what she came up with. Hallie has loved her time at Westside and misses the kids she has worked with.

The star indicates all of Eliza's success in her resource class. Below is a self portrait Eliza did at the beginning of the year in her resource class. Thank you for all of your hard work this year Mrs. Beckham on behalf of Eliza!

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Below is Hallie's self portrait that she hung on the wall in the resource room this year.

On Thursday evening in spite of a thunderstorm we took porch pictures with Coach Alison as a fundraiser for AirTime. You would think the kids had never seen rain or the outdoors before. We had fun with Coach Allison and drove their parents nuts.

Friday was teacher appreciation day and many kids came out and chalked the sidewalk outside of the school to greet the teachers as they came to the school.

Mike has a cozy little alcove in the upstairs bedroom for work.

Hallie saw a news story a couple of weeks back about a series Steve Hartman from CBS Evening News had done recently online called Kindness 101. We've watched a couple of episodes on Sundays. This week we watched one on empathy. We wanted to show our appreciation for those people working with the public while many people are on lockdown. Both kids chose to thank our neighbor/Pediatric Nurse Julie. Thank You!