Graduation

Natali will always remember the drama of graduating in 2020.  When Covid cancled all graduation plans the school scheduled a Graduation for the begining of July.  Lots of Natali's friends were going to be gone by then and I worried that even then we wouldn't be able to have the traditional graduation they were planning.  I emailed and suggested a "drive through" graduation.  They decided to do both- a drive thru on the original date of graduation and the traditional one later.  We decorated our Van with balloons and a 2020 sign (sadly we didn't get a picture). The kids held small posters out the window saying things like, "Natali 2020" and "BYU here we come".  Then we drove through a line of up of simple things like a picture stand, moving the tassel, and then a long walk accross the football bleachers while they called her name.  

After all her effort to plan everything out she still managed to forget her Valedictorian medal on the big day.  It was sort of anticlimactic but a lot shorter and managable for the littles then a traditional graduation.  We managed to be in line right by her friend and future roommate, Anna.  

Grandma Nani sent this awesome sign, the money lei and a bunch of decorations to help make the day special inspite of her not being able to be there.

Harry Potter themed hat - shocker.  We held a little party with Wildfords and Grandparents.  We decorated grandma's house in Vikes colors, had graduation themed treats, a pasta bar (per Natali's request) the kids swam, we watched a slide show of pics the ward had put together of Natali, and played Encore.  We had a lot of fun - not the big party she had imagined back in February but all things considered she handled all the changes to her life like a pro.

They held a seminary graduation but only one parent could go and since I was in Florida I just let it go but she did finish seminary - yeah!

Then time approched for the traditional graduation.  Natali considered not participating but was asked to give the speech for the Valedictorians.  The was such and honor.  She got excited and spent a lot of time on her speech. Then just days before they cancled it due to a staff member contracting Covid.  Tears were shed this time.  She had been indifferent about it till they asked her to speak.  A few parents worked hard and threw together an outdoor graduaction in a neighborhood common area.  Natali wasn't too excited about it but it did let her give her wonderful, humorous, inspiring speech, wear her medal, ropes, and the candy lei some poor mother slaved over, and a cupcake.  Sadly, not many kids came and only one of Natali's friends but I think it was good for her to give her speech.   It was such a tough way to end this phase of her life but I am so proud of the girl she has become.  She is kind, resilient, observant, inclusive, determined, smart, funny, energetic, driven, practical, hard working, sensitive, loyal, an amazing big sister, baker, friend, and daughter.  What a gift to be her mother.  I sometimes can't believe how lucky I am to have her in my life.  She inspires me to be better.  When this year gave her lemons over and over she just got up and figured out a new way to get where she wanted to go.  I know that no matter what the rest of 2020 and beyond throws her she is going  to handle it with confidence and faith.  Love her so much. 

Summer Moments

Isaac came just after school ended to paint Grandma's house.  He and Mack spent three weeks painting and earned a tidy tax free sum.  Mack loved spending time with Isaac and was bummed when Isaac headed home and he had to start work at Woodgrain where the pay, hours, and silver mint bars weren't quite as generous as Grandma.

While Isaac was here he spent a few nights at our house - here the big kids are enjoying take out in the Olive Garden parking lot.

How is it that those slippers fit Mack and Lily?

They dressed up in color theme - black, purple, blue.

Mack got to play a few soccer games in June.  The season didn't last long but Mack loved being out there again.

Emily's love for her kitty just grew and grew over quarantine.  It is quite normal to find her carring Perdita around the house like a baby or just laying next to her somewhere.  When she is sad she seeks out Perdita.  It truly makes me love that cat so much more when I see how much joy she brings Emily.

One of the hardest parts of the summer was that Mack came home from work one evening and didn't feel well.  He had stomach pain and felt light headed whenever he moved.  We hoped it was just some bug but after a couple days with no change we took him in to see a doc.  They had no good ideas but took some blood just in case, told him to super hydrate and see what happened.  A week later no change and back to the doctor.  That was the pattern for several weeks.  See a doc, take some meds, hydrate, no change.  He had a solid 4 weeks where he didn't touch a soccer ball.  That shows you how sick he was; usually that ball is moving around our house constantly.  Greg and I eventually pushed him out side to at least pass the ball around, then he started shooting, but he still couldn't do much.  We tried to get him to run a lap without much success.  He was still drinking piles of Gatorade daily and started to take salt tablets to help with absorption.  The day of soccer tryouts came and he decided to go - just to show coach he was committed.  He did some warm ups and felt okay.  At the evening practice he did a little more and the next day he ran a couple miles and did it faster than Andrew- and he felt fine (other than way out of shape).  He played his heart out and about killed the poor body that had been totally inactive for 6 weeks.  His body hurt so bad but his head was fine.  No lightheadedness.  No more slow shuffle around the house; he was back to normal.  I don't know what finally shifted and he is still being really mindful about hydration but I can only thank Heavenly Father for healing him in time for soccer.  He got a blessing early on that said he would be able to return to health and enjoy the things he loves and it happened - just in time.  I'm so glad this is over.  It was a horrible 6 weeks of worry and disappointment but now we are full of gratitude.

Mesquite

After a night or two at home I loaded up the van with little girls and hit the road again - headed to Mesquite this time to play with cousins and grandma.  Parkinsons, Yorgasons, Easton twins and London created quite a party.

As a Father's Day gift for Greg the girls acted out some of their favorite stories from their parent's childhood.  Here we have Emily sneaking around pretending to be Greg stealing the last slice of applesauce Jello.

And Dahlia dressed as Grandma Nani telling the boys not to blow up Barbies with firecrackers.

It wouldn't be a trip to Grandma's without a glorious tea party complete with: pinapple ice cream, chocolate covered popcorn, root beer floats, vienna sausages, cheese curds, yummy potatoes, lots and lots of lemonade, frozen sugared grapes, donuts with raspberries, twix cookies, milano cookies, cucumber sandwiches...seriously Nani doesn't do anything half way.

Kate spent the week between Yellowstone and Mesquite at London's house and while there London cleaned out her toys and sent a bunch home for Lily and Emily.  Here Lily shows off her new treasure.

Emily, Cecily, and Hazel made themselves comfortable by taking the mattress off the hide-a-way bed and camping on the floor.  They spent hours together in the front room creating a store, laughing, crafting and just enjoying each other's company.  It was so fun to be there with so many cousins.

Hiawatha Trail: Take 1

To take a break from painting the house Grandpa invited Isaac and Mack to fly with him to Coeur d'Alene then drive to the Hiawatha Trail on the boarder of Montana.  It is a 15 mile bike trail down and old railroad line.  As Natali was walking out the door that morning they invited her too.  They had such a blast.  Natali asked a million questions about the plane and flying.  That inspired Grandpa to start figuring out how to get her a pilots license (we will see😳).

 

The bridges and tunnels were so amazing and the scenery gorgeous.  However, the wet tunnels and the speed of the bikes led to lots of mud splattered all over the kids legs and backs.  But all worth it.

Natali couldn't resist taking a picture of the way Grandpa had misspelled Isaac's name on the reservation.  You see where I get it???

Florida

I left home around 6:45 am,  put on my mask at the airport and didn't take it off again (other than eating and drinking) until walked into Spencer's house at about 9:30 pm my time.  Over 12 hours with a mask was a bit weird but I got used to it.  Sadly, because of Covid -19 the rules for Spencer and Keeley going and coming from the hospital were very strange and none of the rest of us could see the baby at all.  Once Keeley left the hospital she couldn't return either.  It was pretty lame.  So they stayed at the hospital as long as possible and I just enjoyed the girls.

We took lots of walks, played games, cleaned, baked, made crowns and super hero headbands and danced.  

I was reminded of how exahusting it can be to care for littles.  I loved it but I'm glad that is not my phase of life any more.  After a few days Keeley came home.  She had some rough moments hearing news about the baby from Spencer and I had one 4:00 am wake up call so I could drive Keeley to the hospital becuse they weren't sure Winston would make it through the night.  She ended up staying through the weekend, even after the crisis past just to hold him a little longer before saying goodbye again.

Unfortunately, my last minute trip to Florida meant that I missed Mack finally getting his drivers license.  Yeah Mack!!!

As I write this Winston is almost 3 months old.  Keeley can now go and come.  He is slowly developing, growing stronger all the time but he still has a long road. What a miracle.

Yellowstone with Easton's

We pulled into the garage from McCall, unpacked and then started packing for Yellowstone.  We left bright and early the next morning.  It was really fun for the kids to meet up with Nani, Randy, Kya, Parkinsons, Beth and her kiddos, and Brad to share this place that we love so much.  

There were lots of animal sightings but for those details you will have to reference Greg's journal.  I remember watching the cousins get excited about waking up early in the morning in order to catch better animal viewing.  They got sucked right into Andrew and Greg's passion.

Much to Natali's pleasure, we stopped at lots of geothermal sites and enjoyed their beauty and mystery inspite of their lack of wildlife.  It rained intermittently the whole first day we were there and we got absolutely soaked walking around the paint pots; minutes later there wasn't a drop of rain.  Our rain coats came in handy but with that much rain we were all pretty drippy getting back into the car.

We took a 6 mile hike with all of us sans Nani and Randy who dropped us off and then drove around to pick us up on at the end of the trail.  The hike was fabulous, although a little too sunny (I carried a burn on the back of my neck for the next full week).  Brad caught a snake.  It bit him and wouldn't let go.  He had to use a stick to pry it off.  Yikes!  The kids were pretty good sports but we were really grateful they had each other to dissipate the whining.  Towards the end of the hike we found this deep crack.  It was amazingly deep.  We dropped large sticks down and listened as they fell and fell and fell.  The kids named it "Nature's Butt Crack". It really was pretty cool.

There were bears on the road not half a mile from where we ended the hike - good thing we were hiking in  such a huge loud group.  We gave the bears plenty of warning.

We all stayed at Greg's favorite hotel in Gardner.  It was a perfect spot.  Nani took the kids to climb on the Yellowstone gate and they also played at multiple playgrounds in town.

One early morning trip to Lamar Valley payed off with a wolf running across the road not far in front of us.  We got to watch it walk around for at least 20 minutes.  So incredible.  Moments like that remind me of how exciting it can be to see animals in the wild.

Returning from that morning drive, my phone went crazy with texts.  Keeley (who had been in the hospital for a week and who they thought was stable) had gone into labor and had baby Winston at 24 weeks along.  We went out for the afternoon but I skipped the evening drive to make phone calls, read, and bathe.  Spencer asked me to come to Florida and help with the girls for a week.  So I started making plans for when I got home from Yellowstone.

Not surprisingly, Brad became the pied piper and had the kids following him around - especially Lily.  She could find him anywhere and was right beside him.  We spent one evening with Brad in our van rocking out to all of our favorite tunes - everyone took turns picking.  It was a simple but fun memory of all of us singing together.  The kids loved all the time talking on walkie talkies, hiking, teasing, and just enjoing beauty together.  We had a simple but special Sacrament Meeting with the Parkinsons and Beth before hitting the road Sunday morning.  I got home and was on an airplane to Florida in less than 12 hours.