Fun in the month of July

We've had a lot of fun this month and even though we've been home the whole time, with the exception of our 4th of July weekend in Mountain, we've had a great month. 
We've spent a lot of time working at the fixer upper house. But we also were able to squeeze in a few adventures and fun activities. 
While Dad was gone to Annual Training for the guard, the kids and I did tie-dye. This was much more work than I had anticipated, but it turned out great and the kids love their shirts. Benson calls his shirt his "hot lava"shirt and its adorable. Both Bailey and Tucker wanted to do an ombre shirt so that was much harder than the normal tie dye. Then Tanner made his own swirl shirt and I helped Benson. 

They look so cute in their shirts!

We also went to "Wishing Springs" with the Drake cousins. The kids had a blast. We were there for about 4 hours and they could have stayed longer. It was so fun. 

This kid is such a buster but he had a great time playing with his cousins. 

We also made some ice cream. We picked vanilla to go with our cherry pie and it was delicious! 
We ate it over pie one day and then in cones the next day. The kids can't get enough of our homemade ice cream. 

Ice cream cheers.

I love these ice cream lovers. 

We've also enjoyed many days at the pool. We started taking the kids running 3 days a week and then we go to the pool as soon as it opens at 9 am and let them cool off. It's been so nice and there's never anyone there at 9 am. The kids love it and we can usually play for a couple hours before anyone else shows up. 

I've also had some great snuggles with the kiddos after our pool time because between running and swimming they are often worn out by lunch time. Especially a certain 3 year old who refuses to nap these days. When he finally does pass out its too late in the afternoon and then he won't go to bed a night- so that's been fun to navigate. 

I really love having Chris work from home. He's been able to go to the pool a few times with us and it's just nice having him home so we can talk during the day. I love it. I know it's not easy for him but I have really enjoyed it. I know life is going to change eventually and hopefully things will get back to normal, but in the meantime- I'm doing my best to enjoy every second of having Daddy home each day. 

That's it for the month of July. We are headed to Oregon in a few days so we will have lots of adventures there and we are so excited. Stay tuned for Bailey's birthday party and then we are off to Oregon. 

4 months of COVID-19 Life

I've been trying to keep a record of this crazy pandemic, it's been insane to watch the statistics jump each and every day. So here are the stats as of today- 4 month mark.
The U.S. hit the latest bleak milestone in this historic pandemic: 4 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Experts agree the number of cases is actually much greater – potentially 10 times higher than what's been reported. More than 143,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S., which leads the world for most cases and deaths.
In the state of AR there are 31,114 total COVID-19 cases and 341 deaths. The state entered phase II of reopening and the cases are just increasing more and more. I don't know when we will reach out peak but we haven't yet.  Also the Governor pushed back the first day of school for the state to the week of August 24th. This also gave us an extension to figure out what type of schooling we are doing this year. We have to decide between virtual or blended. Blended means the kids start on campus and attend school in person until the schools close. Virtual means they do everything on their computers from home. We have decided to do virtual. Honestly, it wasn't really a choice for us once I talked to Tucker's doctor. Tucker has asthma and with his respiratory issues he shouldn't be attending in person classes. He also said that Tanner and Bailey should stay home too because they could just bring it home to him. So we are doing virtual. The kids weren't thrilled but they've warmed up to the idea. I'm still in mourning over my loss of freedom, but I'm warming up to the idea too. 

We've been working at our fixer upper house every spare minute we have. We are there every weekend and Chris goes over most nights to work after dinner. 

This means lots of hot days in the sun for the kids. They love sitting under the big tree in the front of the house while we work out front. 

    Chris also had to attend annual training this week. He just took over command of a company in Jonesboro, AR. We are so proud of him and this promotion, but it makes me nervous to have him attending such large gatherings. He assured me they were safe and took all the precautions possible. Meanwhile, the kids and I have just been surviving the best we can. We still aren't seeing friends. We've  been able to see our cousins but that's it. We are looking forward to visiting our family in Oregon next month.That's it for our covid-19 update. 

We are all just surviving the best we can. I made myself a new shirt with my new motto on it. 

                                                        

    I also started a 30-day yoga challenge that ended at the end of June. It was so nice. I really looked forward to my time to myself everyday. It was wonderful and I've been doing it almost daily since the challenge ended. It's such a great stress relief for me. 

Fourth of July Trip to Mountain Home

We just got home from Mountain Home and we had the best visit. It was one jammed packed week of fun and we loved it. It was so fun to have all the little cousins together and to see the Allreds again. We were just missing Uncle David and Aunt Michelle. 

We started off the weekend at Lakeview Cove Marina. We rented two boats and while the adults got the boats squared away, the kids fed the massive carp fish. These fish are so creepy with their outrageous mouths and long slimy bodies. The cousins loved it. It was so funny to watch them. 

As soon as we passed the "no wake" zone, Tanner and Bailey hopped on the tube and we took off. 

These two are getting so brave. I loved watching them tube together. It was so fun. Tanner was a wild man. He was even dancing on the tube at one point. We were all cracking up. 

After tubing for a while, we docked in a little cove and let the kids swim and play.
We also unrolled the aqua pad and the kids had so much playing on it. 

Then we went back out to tube some more.
Max and Tucker tried to tube together, but after it submerged the first time Max was done. Poor kid.
It didn't help that we saw a snake in the water right before. Poor boys were terrified. 

Tucker was willing to try the tube again with Aunt Laura by his side.
He had fun tubing and I was so proud of him for not giving up. 

This boy also tried to slide on the back of the boat and was so brave. He's getting so big and brave lately. We are so proud of him. 

Bailey didn't want to try skiing this time and although Tanner did give a shot, but wasn't able to get up. We will try again next year. I'm so proud of him for trying.

Bailey rode the tube back to the dock. 

While Benson didn't want to try to slide this year or tube, he had fun swimming and playing on the aqua pad. He also had fun helping Dad drive the boat.  Eventually the boat lulled him to sleep. Love that sweet buster boy. 

We had a great time playing at the lake and I'm so grateful for the fun family time.
We were all a little worn out after a big day on the water. But it was such a blast.  

Then on the fourth, we loaded up early and drove over to the river. Papa and Nanny stayed home this time and spent some quality time with Grant. We went canoeing and we had the best time on the river.
It was pretty crowded but we still had so much fun. The kids love canoeing and even though I was nervous to take Benson, he did great.  We ended up doing a pretty short float but between stopping to float and play in the river and unloading and reloading canoes- we were gone for a few hours. 

It was such a great canoe trip. 

While we dropped a car at our end point, I snapped this cute picture of the kids in their flag tees and cute swimsuits. I love them. 

We got everyone into their canoes and launched. It went very smoothly. No one tipped over and all the kids had a great time and were very well behaved.

This boy was so great. He had  a great time riding in the middle of the canoe with me and helped Bailey watch for rocks. He also spent some time in Dad's canoe. 

Benson started in Dad's canoe and then climbed into mine. He seriously did so good though. I was worried he would try to climb out or tip us over, but he did great. 

We had to get one picture of all the cute cousins together. These kids rocked the river together and it was so fun. 

Poor little Benson, his swimshorts kept falling off. We would turn around and his little bum would be showing again. It was pretty comical. 

Bailey and Hazel are the cutest sister-cousins. They had a blast playing in the river together. Their cute giggles and screams could be heard for miles. 

We took a break from canoeing to teach the kids about floating the river on their life jackets. This was a huge hit and even though the river was pretty cold, the kids loved it. 

Then Daddy and Uncle Johnny caught a crawdad. The kids flipped. He was a big guy and he was pretty gross. 

We eventually reached the end of our run and we beached all the canoes and then got them reloaded onto the trailer. As soon as we got back into our cars and pulled out to drive home it started to pour and thunder and lightening. It could not have been better timing. 

We drove home and the rain quit for a while. Then we ate lunch and the kids played in the basement while the exhausted adults rested. It started raining again and rained through dinner. It finally let up enough that we were able to do fireworks. 

Speaking of fireworks- these are my favorite little firecrackers. They had so much fun shooting off their little fireworks and doing sparklers. 

Tanner is such a great helper with fireworks. He put on a pretty great show for us. 

We love getting in the quality time with Aunt Laura. She's so beloved. 

 The cousins had so much fun together. I love this little crew. 

Then Papa helped the kids race their race car fireworks. Each kid got a car with their name written on it and they started at the starting line, lit the fuse and then wherever it stopped was it finishing point. They all competed to see who's firework car would go the furthest. It was pretty cute.
Here they are lined up by who's car went the furthest. Clark won and Max's poor car went backwards at the starting line. It was pretty fun to watch though. 

I love this shot of Tanner doing his roman candle. 

We had such a great fourth of July. It was a fun filled day with my favorite people. 

On Sunday Daddy left for Annual training and while I wasn't thrilled, I was happy to still be in Mountain Home with a little help.
We got ourselves ready and had sacrament meeting with Nanny and Papa. 

It was a nice relaxing Sunday. We recovered from two very fun filled days and played together. 

Monday morning, Papa and Nanny returned to work. While we were sad to have them go, we made the most of it with another fun day at the river.
We found this spot that was basically a hidden gem. Although the water was freezing, since it was coming out of the dam and from the bottom of the lake, the kids were brave and had so much fun. 

Tanner was the first to take the plunge and jump into the river from the little waterfall. 

It was a bit of cold shock for him when he landed but he recovered and did it again with Uncle Johnny. Tanner is such a rock star. Sadly, when Uncle Johnny jumped he landed on a sharp rock right on his tailbone and hurt himself.

Bailey was also super brave and jumped in. While she didn't get her hair wet, she did submerge up to her neck-which is pretty crazy because it was so cold. 

We packed a picnic lunch and hung out for a couple hours. 

We are so grateful for all these cute cousin friends. They have the best time together and all play so nicely. They are getting so big and its so fun to watch them develop such cute little friendships. 

We missed Daddy but we still had a great time. 

That night Papa took all the kids to Dairy Queen. During sacrament meeting on Sunday Papa had challenged the kids to do 3 acts of kindness that day and if they were observed doing three nice things for others then he would take them to Dairy Queen. Happily the kids all earned it. 

Benson fully enjoyed his ice cream cone. 

We sure love this Papa. 

Happily, Daddy's orders changed and he came back earlier than planned. We were so happy to have him home for a bit before he leaves again.

After Dairy Queen we took the kids home and got them into bed. Then us adults watched "Hamilton".
It was pretty great.
On Tuesday morning, the Allreds left to drive home. We were sad to see them go, but we are planning on seeing them in August so we have that to look forward to. 

Later that afternoon we pulled out the slip-n-slide and let the kids play. Slip-n-slide is one of my favorite 4th of July traditions.
Also- this girl was so cute in her red, white and blue. 

I love the shots of the kids laughing together. They had  a blast slipping and sliding all the way down the slide. 

 These actions shots of the cousins are my favorite. 

We had  so much fun in Mountain Home celebrating the 4th with the family. 

After getting dried off and eating dinner, we set up an outdoor movie night for the kids. 

It was our last hurrah before leaving. We rented "Trolls World Tour" and made candy necklaces for the kids to eat during the move. 

The kids each got a cup of Nanny's homemade popcorn and their candy necklace. They were all set for their movie and they looked adorable wearing their snacks. 

These sweet kids had so much fun watching their movie together. It was the perfect way to end our trip. 

Now we are home and back to real life, but maybe a little exhausted from all the fun.
Here's to another great weekend with the family!