May 2020

Fri. 1st--We celebrated Calvin's 12th birthday. Usually this particular year is a big milestone where young boys who have been found worthy, receive the Aaronic Priesthood. Fortunately and gratefully, the age requirement was changed so that in January of the year that a young man turns 12, he may receive the Aaronic Priesthood--which he did. Because we are in the middle of a pandemic and just finished a "shelter-in-place" order we can really see the inspiration behind this specific change in the Church. Because of it, not only was Calvin able to attend the temple before they closed, he's been able to administer the Sacrament to our family each week in our home. Such a blessing!

Calvin wants to be a game warden when he grows up and really enjoys watching "Lone Star Law." Honestly, it would be a perfect career for him, one where he gets to boss people around, tell people what they're doing wrong, get in the last word, point out holes arguments, have "power," and implement a consequence. Haha. So one of the things we got him was a memoir about the career of a game warden in another state. It looks like a great book.

We didn't know it when we bought it, but the author signed it, too!

Calvin also got a new watch, a pair of Addidas slides and lots of gift cards and money that he was saving to buy a go-pro camera. He had just barely enough (thanks to Aunt Kelly--whose birthday is also May 1st).

Sadly, when he got the go-pro in the mail a week later, he realized it didn't come with a sim card. So he's got to save up another $25 to get that.

*Karcyn learned she likes sardines. (!)

*YUP!!!

Sun. 3rd--JJ decided it would be more fun to make a ramp for cars out of the hymnal and his scriptures than participate in our Sunday church discussion.

We were fortunate enough to have Jared's sister, Nicole in Arizona, join us for the zoom call that Jake set up for us.

*I really like this reminder.

Mon. 4th--This is what greeted us at the school when we went to pick up our lunches. They had Star Wars music playing as well. Super fun!!

Haha! This meme never gets old!!

*JJ had some money left from Christmas that he wanted to spend. I had to get some things from Walmart and because tensions were running a little high at home, I decided to bring JJ with me, even though I was a little nervous about doing so. I told him to keep his hands in his pockets the whole time. And he did. JJ ended up buying a nerf gun as big as him that has a super drum with a holding capacity of forty darts! Because you'd better believe that there was going to be another nerf battle later that day for Calvin's family activity.

Tues. 5th--

*Cooper was walking backwards in the kitchen and tripped on the dishwasher door that was down.

I am MOST grateful for his cat-like reflexes and that he caught himself, sparing damage to my beloved dishwasher. That kid is an ox. He would have torn the door right off.

*Later that night, for Karcyn's family activity, we played "Telestrations." Jared did or said something to make Cooper laugh again.

But he doesn't like us taking candid pictures of him.

*This was a funny round that the kids wanted to document. It began with Jared's drawing of the secret word he was given.

This was Karcyn's guess. :o (Oh my...)

This was JJ's drawing of her guess. Haha. Pretty accurate.

This was my guess of JJ's drawing.

This was Calvin's drawing.

This was Cooper's guess.

This was Jared's secret word. Haha! I thought he did a great drawing. Karcyn's guess cracked me up! One missed guess can make the round go south pretty fast. Though we didn't get off track too terribly.

Wed. 6th--We have new neighbors across the street, who moved in the week after spring break, so we really haven't had a chance to meet them beyond a smile and hello and a  loud "Welcome to the neighborhood" from our driveway. Morgane's mom, Tammy, lives in Caldwell, and grew up a member of the church, I later learned. She drove over to visit Morgane and the girls and when I was outside with Karcyn, I noticed Tammy looking under her car. She said the girls saw a snake going under the car and was trying to find it. So I enlisted my boys to help.

You worry about snakes getting up in your engine and causing problems. Especially in a Jaguar. But we weren't able to find a snake or the remnants of one. That's a risk you run sometimes, living in the country.

*Karcyn doing "the Floss" for one of her classes.

*Our anniversary was coming up and this was what we decided to do for our special "take out" dinner. Porter's steaks are usually $40 each so we figured this would be the closest we'd come to ever eating at (or rather from) Porters on our own dime.

Thurs. 7th--Jake decided he needed to go to Ohio to visit Moriah and get some "in person" time with her and her family since their relationship has only been long distance for five months. We were a little concerned about him traveling during the pandemic, especially because he'd be coming back to his grandparents' house. Technically, all three of them are in an at-risk population. Moriah's family was okay with him staying at their house and if my parents were okay with it, we counseled Jake to quarantine himself after getting back to Santa Clara so he wouldn't get my parents sick. That was what we were most worried about. Although my parents were more worried about his health than their's. Jake agreed to self-isolate in my parents' trailer when he got back. 

This amazing soul driving Jake is the beautiful, Elissa McCullough. I asked her if she would be willing to drive Jake to and from the SLC airport and and leave his car at her place so that he could save on long term parking costs. She did even better than that and offered him a place to sleep the night before so he wouldn't have to leave the St. George area at 2am in order to make his early flight. We are so grateful for her kindness and generosity--especially during these crazy times!

Jake said the airport was a ghost town.

*One of JJ's science assignments.

*Happy 23rd Anniversary to us! We picked up a bundlet for dessert and then headed to Porters to get our dinner. They brought it to our car and Jared wrote in a tip for $15. I about croaked! He totally miscalculated that one! And you better believe I razzed him about it several times.

*Jake and Moriah called us on FaceTime to let us know he got to Springfield without any problems and wished us a happy anniversary and of course, all the kids wanted to meet her, so we did a quick introduction before Jared and I headed upstairs to lock ourselves in the game room for our anniversary date.

*Our anniversary dinner and dessert while we watched the movie "Knives Out" on our super screen. Dinner was delicious, minus the glazed carrots. Those were not my favorite.

Fri. 8th--I got a package from Moriah. She said it was from her and Jake. She had read my blog post from February and learned I had lost my new favorite "bling pen." It had been the cause of security issues in the Austin airport and then I somehow misplaced it at the Hansen's when Jake and I were visiting. That's when she felt inspired to get me another pen and Jake said it was a great idea. I opened it up with the kids on FaceTime and we got a great laugh over it! I was truly touched by an incredibly thoughtful gift. Happy Early Mother's Day to me!

*I had a hankering to try a new recipe--crunchy French Toast sticks. They have an outer cornflake coating that is to die for. These were SOOO good! We had a few leftover and even though they are the best the day they are made, the leftovers were still delicious, just not as crunchy.

Sat. 9th--I helped Karcyn measure some fabric to cut out the pieces needed for more tote bags. The tote bag she makes doesn't come with a pattern you can pin to fabric and cut around, so it is tricky. Beyond that, we want to make sure we could squeeze every inch out of the material because it isn't cheap.

*This kind of blows my mind a little bit!

As does this...who would've thought we'd ever see advertisements for things like masks and how diverse they can be...masks for work, masks that match your outfit, masks for the outdoors, masks that you can decorate...

Sun. 10th--It was nice that Jared had our anniversary off because he worked the entire weekend of Mother's Day. Fortunately, little Jared did not disappoint. He came to me while I was still in bed and asked what I'd like for breakfast. There were a couple of French Toast sticks leftover, so I suggested something easy like that. He took my order, then went to the kitchen. The next thing I saw was this cute boy, all dressed up in his Sunday best (complete with a tie that he tied himself), bringing me breakfast in bed. Except, those are not yummy French Toast sticks. Those are the glazed carrots leftover from my anniversary dinner a few nights ago that I did not like. JJ was so proud of himself, bringing me breakfast without help or interference from his older siblings. I graciously took my cookie-sheet tray, gave him a big kiss and once he was gone, had a wonderful laugh! Seriously--the BEST Mother's Day breakfast in bed, ever!

*Sundays for us, with Jared working from 10-5pm every other week, without the benefit of leaving the house for church and being able to attend our own classes are pretty challenging and unpredictable in our home. I never know how it's going to be with sibling interactions. But the kids gave me a pretty great gift on Mother's Day. They played together nicely and I appreciated it very much.

*Cooper helped smoke a chicken for my dinner.

*Jared brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers the day before when he went to pick up some stuff for his mom.

*We had a lovely church meeting that evening with my parents, Karole, and Jake and Moriah in Ohio. We discussed a couple of the war chapters. When it was over, Jake and Moriah wanted to talk with me and Jared. They had pretty much decided they wanted to get married. So they picked our brains and asked us for some counsel as they looked to a December 2020 wedding. (Because Moriah was baptized in December 2019, she won't be able to receive her endowment--a necessary step before being eligible for a temple sealing--until the middle of December this year. And because Moriah is a convert to the church, none of her family could attend a temple wedding anyway, so it just made sense that they would do a civil ceremony first with the hopes of being sealed in January. Which would all depend on if the temples were open at that time. The church leaders are starting to open temples back up for live sealings only, but the temples would need to be at Phase 2 so Moriah could receive her endowment first.) There are lots of moving parts with added trickiness due to Jake and Moriah living in two different states. But they are smart and organized and they follow the Spirit. Some might argue that their decision to get married was super fast. Jared and I certainly hoped that Jake would get to BYU and be able to enjoy some of the college life experiences before choosing to get married. But college is shut down. Even if he wanted to have those experiences, they aren't possible right now. And while their relationship has been all long distance, the advances in technology have made it a whole lot different than when Jared and I were dating twenty years ago. They've had the advantage of "FaceTime" where you can actually see facial expressions and hear voice tones, etc. They've also written letters. They don't have to wait for 5 cent Sundays to talk on the phone. Yes, their dating experience has not been conventional, but we've learned a lot of what happens to Jake isn't conventional. Bottom line, we weren't going to interfere or do anything short of being happy for them and their choice. When they asked for counsel and feedback, we gave it. And I was really excited at the prospect of not only being a mother-in-law, but being Moriah's only mom on the earth and hopefully a really good friend. And I was truly happy for them. Happy that Jake found someone who made him want to be better and happy for Moriah, who has longed to be a part of a family and to have a forever family like ours one day.

Wed. 13th--JJ trying to get some heat relief since our neighborhood pool is closed. It usually opens up April 1st.

*Playing bocce ball for our family activity.

Thurs. 14th--And this is why, at 10am, I told the kids I would no longer be buying cereal for them until further notice. Look at this mess. Cereal on the floor, too. *eye rolling*

*I was working at the dining room table and just happened to look up and noticed these new water spots on the ceiling. Nooo!!! I know for certain they weren't there just a couple days ago. The boys' bathroom is right above this spot and we've had issues in there before. That bathroom is actually my least favorite room in this entire house. I called Marshall, our go-to plumber who has helped us before. He added caulking around the tub and floor where it looked to be leaking from the shower. Fingers crossed that does the trick.

*While I don't like paying the monthly fee, I'm grateful we have Lifelock, because someone was trying to use my social security number to make a big purchase. When they learned it wasn't me, Lifelock shut them down and then a fraud alert went out to all three credit bureaus. It'll stay there for a year so they will not run a credit check without contacting me first.

Fri. 15th--I needed new running shoes before the quarantine, but because it was really the only form of exercise I do, I kept jogging anyway and then started getting some really acute right hip pain. I was then forced to stop running and I tried to get the inflammation down with Motrin. But as soon as I could, I wanted to get those new shoes. I don't like running, but my body needs it. Jared and I went to get me some new kicks. While we were there, we saw this guy--Zephyr Seagraves--who Jake ran cross country with in high school and now runs for A&M. We got a picture and sent it to Jake.

*We swung by Karole's house to check in with her from a distance. On our way back to the car, I noticed something odd in her driveway. It looked like a dead animal on a piece of paper. It just didn't compute. When I got closer, I realized I was mostly right. It was a bird, on a sticky piece of paper, and it was alive. I guess it was a sticky mouse trap--mice are attracted to it, then get stuck and die? Karole has some in her garage. Little bugs were also stuck on it. The little bird, a young one, must have been trying to get to the bugs, too. Poor thing. So Jared worked at trying to carefully pry it from the adhesive.

His finger wasn't really working, so I suggested maybe a plastic knife...it was thinner and could get between the adhesive and delicate feathers better.

It took about five minutes of delicate and gentle prying to free the bird, but it worked! Unfortunately, the bird scurried and hopped to the nearby bushes. Hopefully it's wing isn't damaged or too gunked up from the sticky residue.

Gross.

Sun. 17th--Seminary Graduation 2020. Cooper wasn't graduating, but he was asked to pre-record himself singing a song that they could play at the virtual graduation. He did a great job. It was fun that we could all be there to watch the meeting from the comfort of our own home.

Calvin was our tech guy.

*President Sharp always has such wonderful and different insights, year after year.

Mon. 18th--Cooper has been going through major bowling withdrawal. We'll often catch him using our long "hallway" on the main floor to practice his bowling approach and techniques to keep himself on top of his game.

Tues. 19th--The Brazos County Tax Assessor has deemed our home at a value of $300,000. Yeah, no. Every year for the past four years, I have gone into their office with a list of comps from our neighborhood (even though our house is the only one of it's size/age in our subdivision, minus one) to show them it's not worth as much as they think. And we have been able to shave off $40-$50,000 in value. Thank goodness. I do not want to pay those taxes. This year, I couldn't go in to their office, so I was a little nervous how this online protest would work. But I made my case using a 2034 sq. ft. home that sat on the market for awhile and finally sold at $208,000. Our home is newer and about 700 sq. ft more, so I suggested it would be reasonable to believe we could sell it for $42,000 more at $250,000. And that was my offer. When I heard back from the county, they countered at $255,000 and I took it. Muuuuuch better than $300,000!

*Jake returned home from visiting Moriah in Ohio on the 17th and had been busting his booty trying to get a job or two so he could start saving for school costs and wedding needs. He sent me this text the evening of the 19th. "A job with Longevity!" (haha!)

Wed. 20th--Calvin was helping Karcyn take pictures of her physical activity for health class. We're almost back to "non-twin status" with Calvin's height. We're pretty sure he's the tallest 11/12 year old we've had thus far.

*My parents out for a hike in their southern Utah area.

*Soooo true!!!

 

*Jared and Cooper have been planning to go on a Canadian fishing trip (5/29 through 6/8) with Kevin and Garrett for two years now. Once covid hit, the country borders closed in March. So they waited, hoping that maybe by the end of May they’d open the borders back up. But they didn’t and won't so, after talking together and with their guide, the guys decided on an alternate trip in the same Boundary Waters, but on the Minnesota side. Literally just two miles from where they would have been in Canada. While mildly bummed about not being IN Canada, Cooper and his cousin Garrett said they definitely wanted to do that trip modification instead of waiting til next year. Unfortunately, on this particular day, a week before my guys would head north, Kevin called to tell Jared that Cole and Connor went to take the Sacrament to a sister in their branch on Sunday (three days prior) and since then, she has tested positive for covid. She had just gotten back from a trip visiting with her sister out of state. Which means the twins had to be tested as well and if they have the virus, that whole family has to quarantine and the time requirement for isolation would cut right into the departure time for their fishing trip. Cooper and Jared were understandably crushed at the possibility. I was really touched by Calvin's response when he observed, “Yeah, but it should be fine. They (Cole and Connor) were serving others.” I agreed with Calvin and tried to lift their spirits and increase their faith. Told them not to give up hope. To pray that the tests come back negative. My efforts were not well received. This was the second big jolt to their trip, coming down to the wire, and they just couldn't help being sad, upset, and frustrated. Understandably.

Thurs. 21st--Kevin called to let us know the twins were negative for having covid. The modified trip was back on! YAY!!!!! And the negative test was on their golden (21st) birthdays, too!!

Fri. 22nd--Technically on paper, the last day of school was Thursday the 28th. However, I asked my teacher friends if they were really going to require anything beyond the 22nd. We are all checked out. May was really hard. Stick a fork in us, we are DONE. JJ had quit the week or two before. It was like pulling teeth to get him to do anything. He did some assignments, but not the English (poetry writing) and sometimes not Social Studies. He managed Math and Science, barely. Karcyn rocked it. Cooper survived. Calvin finished (we think) by the skin of his teeth. He wasn’t as thorough in making sure everything had been done. His poor PE coach called three different times to make sure Calvin was doing PE (which he wasn’t initially, because we were told only the core subjects had assignments), which we appreciated the coach telling us. Nevertheless, it was annoying that he had to do something.

I had heard unofficially that the last "week" was just in place for students to use if they still have assignments to do. So my kids decided to have a party on what we deemed would be the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for our family. Hallelujah!

The best part about this party is that the kids worked together and planned it themselves. As they sat at the table together the week leading up to it, the kids would pause and ask questions while I worked in the other room like: Can we have pizza? Can we do water balloons? Can we play this game? Can we have streamers? And because I wasn't involved in the planning and we had much to celebrate, I answered all of their questions in the affirmative.

They were up really early--this picture was taken at 7:30am. And they had some good fun! (Yay...no more at-home learning!) And now...time for our "second summer" or "longest spring break ever".

*Cooper was getting ready to go on a trip and with Prom coming up (and as best man for his brother's wedding, and a mission!) he needed a new suit. His black pants fit, but not the coat. So we started looking at the mall, first at Macy's. I liked the color of this suit and so did Cooper, until he put it on and he said with disgust, "I look like dad in his scrubs." Haha. Even on sale, this suit was close to $300 and would have to be altered a bit. And after talking to Moriah and Jake, learned it wasn't the right color for the wedding and I'm all about a two or three-for-one.

We decided to head to JCPenney and see if they had any sales. As we walked, literally from one end of the mall to the other, beyond the halfway point and just past the food court, I happened to look up at one of the store names. And at that moment, it was "Suit Warehouse." My feet kept walking, but my brain, was like "Hold up a sec." I asked Cooper if we should take a look inside where racks and racks of suits hung and he said sure. We told the store employees, a nice middle-aged couple, that we were looking for a gray suit, not too light in color. They asked Cooper's pant size and then the female went over and grabbed a suit off a big rack in the perfect gray color. It was actually a three-piece suit and when I asked the lady how much it was she said, "$149." Whoa. He tried it on and loved it. We told them it was for Prom first and then a wedding and then a mission. We asked if it would go okay with an emerald/jade green tie. They said gray goes with everything. Not as formal as black. But a great color for business and pleasure. So we got it. And they even threw in a free pair of socks. They have suit sizes all the way down to 2T. I told Cooper we found where to come for wedding suits. They gave us the name for their go-to-guy who does their hemming for $14. And we were off. Yay! One suit purchased and done! I paid $162 after taxes.

Sat. 23rd--Jake found himself in a difficult position of deciding what to do about his future with Moriah. She had some doubts and while he understood and totally validated her concerns, they were hard for him to look past in regards to what was best for him and his future. He spent the better part of that day in prayer, he studied his scriptures, he prayed and talked to God. He reached out to his brother first for a listening ear, he contacted one of his newly married sisters from the MTC to find out what it felt like before they got married. He talked to Jared and later, he talked to me. Well into the night. He had gone to a bluff that overlooked the valley as he sorted through his thoughts and feelings. Even once he got home, he and I continued to text until after midnight. He came to his own conclusion about what needed to be done. And it broke his heart. And ours, too. :(

Tues. 26th--It was Karcyn's turn to go fishing with Jared. She had a blast! Our friends, Charley and Suzanne Todd from the local ward were kind enough to offer their personal dock for our family to use on a lake we used to have more access to.

Wed. 27th--Proof that the boys could get along for a few minutes while they looked for anoles (lizards). :)

*Around 2:30pm that afternoon, there was a storm building. It looked like it could be pretty big!

The radar wasn't indicating possible tornadoes, which was interesting, given the size and intensity of this storm.

I saw that Tony Upton was out by his garage watching the storm as well, so I jogged over to see things from his vantage point. A couple of the kids were with me. The wind was picking up. The clouds were rotating and looking a bit ominous. This picture was taken at 2:47pm.

Suddenly, the heavens opened and just DUMPED rain on us. The winds were crazy. We yelled goodbye to Tony as we ran for cover in our garage. I went straight upstairs to the game room to see the action from the second floor. This picture was taken at 2:49pm.

Calvin and JJ were watching the storm already with the blinds up. My storm loving heart was proud of my legacy and I took a picture. :) And I happened to notice in that instant, through the camera view finder, that the wind was starting to pick up our trampoline on the northside! So I just started snapping pictures.

Then we saw the trampoline being flipped on its side...

carried upside down over our fence,

flipped back on the narrow side and rolling or cartwheeling through the air...

And landing in the backyard that butts up to our nextdoor neighbor's. Whelp...that stinks. I sure hope no one's home or property were damaged. And I guess it was better that the wind took the trampoline and not our Traeger smoker!

We got LOTS of wind and rain.

This was the radar image less than 30 minutes later.

I was going to send a message on our subdivision media platform about our wandering trampoline, but someone beat me to it saying that someone's trampoline ended up in their yard. I let her know we were missing one and it was most likely ours! I apologized, but she was really understanding about it.

*Just an hour later, we were going through a line at River Bend Elementary, to return library books and receive a summer kit. JJ elbow bumped his awesome 2nd Grade teacher, Mrs. Agnello. He really got robbed from being with her as much as possible. She was awesome and we'll miss her very much.

These are the things that were in his summer activity kit. Tons of books and supplies. That Star Wars book alone cost $15. Wow! They had a lot of Title 1 money left over so they used it to create these kits for the kids. Truly amazing!

*On our way back from the school, I thought I should go find our traveling trampoline. After talking to the homeowner, I learned it was not in the house diagonal from us. It was one house further down from there. No one was home at the time, but I did spy, with my little eye, the final resting place for my traveling trampoline. I would need some help retrieving it. Tony already offered since Jared was working the next day and then leaving for their trip.

*We got another big wave of storms later that night, right about the time Jared was supposed to be coming home! He said he was waiting it out, until it let up a bit. It never really did let up though. Haha! We're talking more horizontal rain whipping into the side of the house, lots of thunder and lightning. The end of May can be really stormy.

Thurs. 28th--Before Jared left for his last day of work prior to leaving on his trip, he made sure that he and Cooper were all packed and ready to go (first to Kevin's and then on to Illinois and Minnesota) so they wouldn't have to do anything but load the car and take off Friday morning. Jared got that red Marvel mask for Cooper at work. It's a pretty cool one.

*Jared hadn't been gone for very long and texted me from work at 7:30am. “Kevin woke up feeling sick and he was the covid doctor last week. Don’t say anything to Cooper. Kevin's getting tested today.” Oh my goodness. Nooooo!!!This can't be happening! This is the THIRD time their fishing trip has been threatened and it's the DAY BEFORE they're supposed to leave! Argh!!!

As horribly frustrating as this was, even for me as I'm on this crazy ride, too, I’m grateful that if Kevin did have covid, the guys didn’t find out AFTER they were all together in a small RV only to turn around and come home early...not to mention the virus exposure for Jared and Cooper and our family, etc. Fortunately, the lab did a rush on Kevin’s test and the first one came back negative that night. But the standard of care for medical professionals is two tests, which meant he needed another one done 24 hours later, Friday morning at 10am. Dang. This presented Jared with some choices to make because the first leg of the trip was driving up to Kevin's house and it's a six hour drive. *sigh*

*The one REALLY great thing about big storms, is the drainage area teeming full of water and wildlife (as much as a drainage area can)! The boys found another turtle. Before 8am!

And put him back.

And they were off to see what they could see.

*Later that night, Tony and I went to dissemble my trampoline. Really, Tony did all the work. I provided the suburban and box and bag for the springs and mats. It's crazy how it landed upright. It's missing some leg supports that got left behind in our yard when it was picked up by the big wind gust. But all-in-all, it looks okay.

This is how CLOSE the trampoline was to this lady's house. :o And there was no damage!

*This is apparently what happens to bowling balls when they collect dust and sit for awhile. They crack! Cooper has lost a couple of bowling balls during quarantine, sadly. Fortunately, they were previously owned so he didn't lose a ton of money. But still. He uses them all.

*Just sayin'.

Fri. 29th--I had been noticing for awhile that our chest freezer door was not staying up when we opened it. You had to hold it up with one hand and use your other hand to get what you wanted. Not very efficient when you need two hands for searching and grabbing. And then, not much longer after that realization, the lid looked like it wasn't closing all the way. That is NOT good. Especially when it's full of food and in this kind of heat. I asked Tony if he would look at it for us. He did and realized that there was a layer of ice about 1-2 inches thick that had built up in between the inner lid and the outer lid (where the insulation is) and that sheet of ice (almost as big as the lid itself) was weighing the lid down and pushing against the inner lid, hence lifting it from the closed position. We looked online to see about parts. He said if we drained it and emptied it that he'd be happy to see about fixing it. I was a little worried we wouldn't have room for our food. We only have our indoor side-by-side freezer and the other top freezer in the garage that's got GF stuff in it already. But there were many things in the chest freezer that didn't have to be frozen (like some GF baking ingredients) and the whole bottom layer was honestly so old it all had to be pitched anyway! A new freezer is about $800. And I'm not ready to spend that on a new one, if I don't have to. And if Tony can't fix the freezer, we will likely need to get another one, but it won't be that big. Our kids are leaving the house, so we can definitely downgrade. Here's to hoping it can be repaired!

*Jared decided to be proactive and would head to Kevin’s with Cooper around 2pm with the hopes that Kevin's second covid test result would be negative that night and then their leg of the trip (CS to Snyder) would already be done.

*I emptied and cleaned out the freezer once Jared left. Tony said we could use their outside freezer if needed. I did pretty good at rehoming the frozen food except for the turkey and a couple loaves of bread. Then Tony helped me move the freezer outside so we could drain it. Once it was in place, he took the lid off so he could inspect it to see what parts we would need to order. As it turns out, his wife, Melanie, was also getting ready to leave town for the same amount of time, Jared and Cooper would be gone. So I knew the freezer would be on the back burner so to speak. But with my frozen food safely tucked away, I wasn't worried about it at all.

And it gave me a chance to clean out from behind the freezer. 5 1/2 years worth of mess.

*Another one of God's beautiful painted skies!

Sat. 30th--Unfortunately, Kevin's second covid test result took longer to get. It didn’t come in until the next day around 7am. But it was also negative!! So the modified trip was back on--AGAIN! Talk about a roller coaster ride!! I was super happy for our fishermen. Jared really needed this break. And I was excited for Cooper to make some memories on what has become a legacy trip for the Houghs.

These are some pictures Jared sent me:
*Cooper chillin' in the RV.

*Getting some last minute fishing gear at Bass Pro.

*Making some lunch sandwiches for himself and Jared.

*He's got a great smile when he uses it!

*Later that afternoon we watched history unfold as NASA and SpaceX launched astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station. This mission marks the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011 that humans will fly to the space station from U.S. soil. The mission's first launch attempt on Wednesday, May 27 was scrubbed due to weather conditions. 

*More history unfolding--Jared's first time behind the wheel of an RV. :)

Sun. 31st--Because the covid testing delayed them, the boys had to drive all through the night to get back on schedule. Including picking up their friend, Josh, and his friend from Peoria, IL around 2am! They finally got to Minnesota around 11am.

 *Getting the very important fishing license.

 *Pulling his weight at the dock.

*Getting a little bit of evening fishing in before the day was over.

*Our family has rekindled our love for playing dominoes. Mexican Train or Chicken Foot. On this Sunday, on the first round, JJ was able to use every single domino in his original train, except one! 

*LOVE!