Brayden turns 11

My little man turns 11. His favorite breakfast is pancakes. He was thrilled to have a plate with 11 of them ready for him to eat. 

Last one..... I wasn't sure if he would be able to eat all 11. I usually make them dollar size but he asked that they be a little bigger this year. 

Brayden loves to fish! Grandpa Christensen was able to take him out on the boat last week. He loved every second of it. He was the 1st to catch a fish and he caught more than everyone else. 

He was happy! Brayden likes being in the kitchen. So his sisters gave him some pre packaged desserts that he can do all by himself. We've been watching the Jurassic Park movies, he loves them! So we gave him Jurassic Park lego's. This kids still loves lego's and is always creating something.  

Brayden wanted an ice cream cake also. 

So yummy! 

Happy Birthday my handsome man. 

Here's to being 11. 

Easter 2020

Easter this year was a little different. We didn't have any large family or friend gatherings. There were no community egg hunts, Maddie helped the kid's dye Easter eggs when I was at work. Although it was different we still had a great week. The Sunday before we talked about what Christ was doing a week before he was crucified. Each night at dinner this week we continued with where and what Christ was doing. As my kids are getting older its an amazing experience to witness their ah ha moments, to see a thought really take root and have some pretty awesome discussions. 

I neglected taking pictures until Sunday morning. 

The 3 oldest hid the eggs for the 2 youngest. 

I am going to miss having my littles. I just don't understand why my older 3 no longer have the desire to go hunt some candy filled eggs. 

This year the Easter Bunny brought everyone a new swim suit, new sandals and book/puzzle. 

Thanks to Covid, despite plenty of delivery time the Easter Bunny had, Maddie's new swim suit didn't arrive on time.  Soon like probably tomorrow it will be here. 

School Will Not Re-open

Well it's happened. School will not be re-opening this school year. From now until May 21st school will be finished online. We definitely have some mixed emotions. Brayden and Kylie really don't mind. They both enjoy school and they both have liked being home to do school too. 

Most of Kylies work is done with a paper packet. When she's done with the packet we take pictures and send it to her teacher. Her and I can usually get her work done in 30min to an hour.

Brayden's work is all done online. He's had to do a few google slide projects, read for 30 min. and his favorite to play prodigy for 20min each day. He can usually be done in an hour or two.

 Emily's classes vary day to day. Sometimes she's done in just a few hours while other days it can take a bit longer. She does have a handful of classes that gives her a packet to do on Monday that is then due on Friday. We love these. She can finish the packet in just a day or two and then not have any more work in that class for the rest of the week.

Maddie seems to have the most work. She spends several hours a day on school work. But then she's in some hard classes to. She's in Chemistry with an amazing teacher but he also expects a lot of work and memorization out of these kids. At the beginning of the year he had his classes memorize the first 100 elements in the Periodic Table. They needed to know the name, abbreviation and number. It wasn't easy. She is also taking a concurrent enrollment class Medical Technology. She's doing great and maintaining her straight A's.

Hunter's classes hasn't been to bad. He is also in Chemistry and has the same teacher as Maddie. His other classes have been relatively easy for him. He's taking a food and nutrition class right now and so has to prepare a meal for the family once a week. It's been great!

Although we are doing pretty good with this online stuff the kids are missing some things. Maddie and Hunter miss the study groups before school that their Chemistry and Math teachers offer when they need help. Maddie took the book part of drivers ed but can't take the driving part. She turns 16 in 2 months and won't be able to get her license without it. The DMV is also closed so the kids that have turned 15 can't get their permit. Brayden was looking forward to a upcoming field trip. Brayden was suppose to do a science project with a group of friends at school. That won't be happening anymore. Hunter asked his girl friend, Dani to Prom. Prom has been cancelled. There are no more school events, no ball games. Kylie misses her friends. She misses being in her math group. She has become quite the little social butterfly this year.

It's the last month or 2 of school that has all the fun stuff. The field trips, the parties, the assemblies, the activities that reward the kids for all their hard work through out the year. I feel bad they are missing the fun stuff.

Our family is still doing pretty good but we are missing the social interaction with others. Work for me slowed way down and my contract through April 15th (normal tax day), ended yesterday. I will continue to work but just on Mondays and only if I have clients until July 15th. 

Tortoise Conservatory

Sunday was a bit cold and windy, so we decided to stay home and not go on our weekly family hike. 

Today everyone was done with their school work early and we wanted to get out of the house. Kory and Hunter were working and so it was just us. I was told there was a tortoise conservatory close by so that's where we headed. It's always fun walking along the virgin river. 

The conservatory is just a section that is roped off with barbed wire and chicken fencing. We are in the season that the tortoise's are just now coming out of their hibernation. This was the only turtle we saw. 

We live in a beautiful place. 

I'm so glad these guys enjoy hiking with me. 

It was still a little cold when we started but warmed up on our way back. 

Being outside in the fresh air, under the sun is good for us all. 

Hunter turns 17

Hunter is 17. He's so close to being an adult. He is learning more and more what that means. He works full time with his Dad but he also works part time for a friends Dad, framing. Today was a day that he was framing. He got picked up at 5:45a.m. He was gone all day long! For fun the kids and I decorated Hunter's car. Until Maddie turns 16 and then they will share it.    

He didn't get home until after 5pm. I had his favorite dinner ready! He wanted drunken noodles from our local Tai restaurant. Luckily they are open and doing take out only. 

 After dinner he opened his gifts. Beside junk food he wanted "riding clothes" for him to wear on his motor bike.  

For dessert he asked for a homemade ice cream cake. 

And then he left again. His best birthday present was letting him go riding tonight with friends. We are still suppose to be practicing social distancing, staying 6ft away from others, wear a mask and wash your hands often.  I figure since all these young men drive themselves, ride their own bikes and wear a helmet he is social distancing.

And he's taller than me! I sure love this young man. 

He is such a hard worker, willing to help around the house and an awesome big brother. It's fun to hear about his dreams and what he wants to do with his life. One more year and he will be leaving the nest. It makes me sad. 

Babylon Arch

We took the kids to Babylon Arch. We never actually made it to the arch, we took a wrong turn but what we saw was surely just as amazing!

It's beautiful!

Girls being silly. 

Mom and Kylie 

Brayden was a little goat and climbed to the upper crevices. 

While the rest of us stayed lower to the ground, Hunter and Dad took to higher ground. 

Reminds me a labyrinth.

We walked down inside the maze. Emily decided to climb up one of the many hills. 

Kory and Dad working their way back down to the rest of us.  

They made it!

We decided to hike out a different way. We came to a spot we all had to jump down from. Kory went first and saw what looked like a natural slide the kids could go down. Emily tried first and got her bum stuck. Dad had to pull her out. We were all laughing!

I love these memories we are making.