June 2020

June 1 - The iris are looking really good.  Fun boat time at Jensen's Grove.

Randy's first day without his cast! Looks like he can still shoot his arrows pretty good.

Blake wanted to show us all the bird he found on the ground.  Randy, Jared and Blake went to Rupert to cut some branches from the trees in Nikelle's parents house, they were back home before noon.

Annie loves to play with my phone while we're waiting for our food at Texas Roadhouse.

Annie's playing with my phone again, this is what I see in my pictures Shen she's done. 

Molly and Ryder after their Tball game on June 15th.  Then it rained on the 16th and followed with a beautiful rainbow, then the 17th was so cold that the fireplace came on.

June 18 - Clark is 5! 

This was a fun bouncy house and water slide for the kids.  It wasn't a real hot day, but the kids loved it.

Hallie had fun on Brian's shoulders and on the little 4Wheeler with Grandpa.  The kids - and some adults warmed up in the hot tub.

And, just like that they are all 5 years old! What fun triplets they are.

A lot of people came to watch Ryder and Molly play Tball.  

Everyone had fun boating at Blacktail Reservoir.  

This is an Archery Shoot near Kilgore. There were a lot different animals to shoot. 

June 20 - Celebrating Brody! We painted rocks, and bags to put candles in, ate good food, played soccer, took a picture of all my grandkids.  Nikelle had some lanterns that float like a hot air balloons, and was trying to do them with a string, so they didn't float away, but it burned through the string and took off in the air.  Some of them followed the balloon and Courtney found it on a ditch bank.

June 21 - Father's Day - We had another Zoom conversation with my parents and siblings.  Blake went up to Brian's house for a bit, Hallie got more rides on the 4Wheeler.

More Tball! Can you see Ryder going to 1st, and Molly going to 2nd? Molly played in the dirt, can you see the residue on her face?

Lillies! They were magnificent!

Blake didn't get his yard work done like he wanted, so he was still doing it at 10:00 pm.  That's late for him!

June 29! Yep, cold enough for the fireplace to come on! 

More flowers! Ryder found some at a landscape store.

I've done some more digital paint by number.  We were still staying away from my parents and staying pretty close to home.  I love doing these paintings. 

May 2020

May 1 - Hallie and Molly got to come visit, so Ryder came too! Hallie needed her clothes to be changed, but didn't have a change with her, so we borrowed one from cousin James. She thought it was funny. We had to get some pictures in front of the tulips, and they had fun on the swing.

May 2 - Maden, Annie and Clark came for a visit! They enjoyed some hot tub time, and playing with Ryder.

I love tulips, they were really pretty this year.  Poor Randy had to have his hand in a cast due to an injury at work.  He didn't like it too much.

May 8 - So, we decided to play musical cars with Jared and Nikelle.  They bought my Ford Explorer and we bought a a new Ford Edge. It has been a great change and we are all liking our cars.  While we were waiting for the deals to get finished up, the kids had fun swinging. Hallie likes to read stories with Grandpa, and sit in Randy's truck.

May 9 - We celebrated Randy's 32nd birthday. (it was on the 7th) The kids had a fun basketball tournament.  I got a picture of all my Grandkids! They are growing so fast.

May 10 - Mother's Day - We were able to have a Zoom conversation with my parents and my brother (sorry I took the picture with your phone covering your face, Randy) and my sisters.  It was a great thing to do! My kids and Blake spoiled me with all these wonderful flowers and dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

May 13th - After 11 weeks, my nails were so bad! (I usually go 2!) They look so much better after I could go see Ariel!

May 14th - Blake and Maden are having fun with a ball, Annie, Brian and Randy are having fun playing basketball.  I'm sure Clark and Ryder are somewhere giggling.

May 15th - Blake and Randy had to fix a sprinkler line, so they rented this fancy, big machine.  They found an arrow in the grass by the trench.

May 16 - Molly and Hallie got to come visit again, Randy and Ryder came too, then Brian, Maden, Annie and Clark came.  Brian bought McDonalds for everyone.  Hallie thought she was really big to sit in the big girl car seat, then she went to sleep.

May 19 - Our first trip inside Texas Roadhouse since the stay at home order was put in place! Maden and Brian joined us. It was so nice to go eat inside the restaurant, and the food was great!

May 20 - We've had some really weird weather this spring.  We woke up to very foggy skies. Blake needed to repair this toilet, and Ryder was a big helper.

May 22 - Well, this day didn't turn out quite as planned.  Blake had to have surgery to remove a kidney stone, after he worked all day! He had been having some pain on a couple of days for a week.  He was really bad on the 21st, but went to work at MountainView early Friday, the 22nd. He was actually feeling better Friday.  Brian was aware of the problem and just seemed to be able to make things happen so he could cover Blake's room while Blake went to get a CT scan, then arranged for Blake's room to be covered so he could do the anesthesia for his dad.  We are so grateful for his anesthesia abilities, and also for taking care of things for Blake.  

May 23rd - Yes, that's right, snow on May 23rd! Crazy! Then, when it quit snowing, it rained hard!  Jared came and decided the rain gutters needed cleaning in a few places, so he got up on the roof and took care of it.

Well, another day that didn't go as planned.  It was Ryder's 5th birthday! They had planned a party in their backyard, but since it snowed and rained, we moved the party to our house.  The kids really liked the frosting from their cupcakes! Hallie really loves Brian, and Brian loves her and spoils her rotten!

We sure do love this 5 year old!

May 25 - Memorial Day - We all met at Brody's grave, Nikelle brought the bubble machine, it was a nice effect! Brian was the Hallie stager for the grandkid photo. 

The kids played on the little hill, Hallie got to ride on Brian's shoulders, Maden asked a lot of questions and learned about his ancestors from Blake.

Then, we all went over to Mark and Helen's graves.  Hallie thinks she is so cool to be like the big kids.

After the cemetery, we went to a garden shop and got some flowers to plant at Jared and Nikelle's house.  Then, we went to plant them.  Courtney gave Hallie a ride on the trike, then Ryder and Molly rode the bike and pushed the trike.  It was a nice day.

May 29 - we went to Texas Roadhouse again! Annie took pictures with my phone. Maden and I played a game of garbage with these huge cards, it was pretty funny!

The iris have bloomed! I love them too!

May 30 - More Iris!

First boat ride! Randy's hand was still in a cast, so Jared was the only one that got in the water.  Everyone else enjoyed the ride in the boat. Hallie really liked going fast.

After the boating, Brian came down and the kids all went to jump on Ryder's tramp with a sprinkler under it! Then, they all got in the hot tub, except Hallie, she just walked around, loving being outside.

I've still had a lot of downtime because of Covid.  I'm still not going to my parents, we are still not having church, and the temple is closed. So, I do a lot of these digital paint by number "oil paintings".  I love it and it's very relaxing.

April 2020

April has turned out to be more of what we were dealing with in March. The stay at home order was extended to April 30, so it was the whole month.  The virus didn't hit our area as bad as it was thought it would. We will never know if it was because of everyone staying to themselves, or just because.

Cindy and Ken decided they couldn't come on April 18th as they had planned, which made me sad, but I totally understand.  Brian, Randy and Jared have come a few times, but not usually at the same time.

The picture on the left was taken on April 1st, giving us hope of spring! Then the one on the right was April 2nd! Crazy! The silly snow stayed on the ground for a couple of days!

Easter, 2020.  Certainly a different Easter than usual, since there were no big group activities.  Molly and Hallie had their own little egg hunt.  Maden made a treasure/egg hunt for Annie and Clark, even giving his own money as the treasure!

I was feeling a little depressed and had little ambition to do much.  Cindy and my friend Billie's daughter, JoWayne reminded me that Billie would have been busy making masks. So, I got busy! First I made masks for all of my family, (which are pictured in the bottom middle) then I have made them to donate. As of April 30, I had made over 200.  It definitely gave me a purpose and something to do with my time.  My mother has helped by cutting a lot of them out, and sewing some.

This is why I made masks for my family.  We would have taken more family pictures while Cindy and Ken should have been here, and since that was not happening, we did these to remember this crazy year.  Thanks guys for being so willing to take these pictures.

Hallie really did not want to wear that mask! She must have known that children under 2 years old are not supposed to wear them.  I laugh every time I look at these failed attempts, especially the bottom one where she threw it down! 

My sister Lynne asked me to send her some masks for her family, then rewarded me with this cute picture of her family wearing them.

Just some randomness with my cute grandkids.  Brian was pushing Clark, Annie and Ryder really high on the swing, there was a lot of squealing and giggling.  Hallie was really happy to go visit her brother, and she loved riding on the lawn mower with Uncle Randy.

These kids love to be together, and they love being outside! Ryder and Clark make up all sorts of games to play and laugh and giggle.  Molly loves Annie, and they had a great time on the swing. And that Hallie girl just thinks she needs to be outside every second.

We all laughed at Hallie thinking she wanted to drink the mustard.  Ryder got Grandpa to the game "Trouble" with him instead of their usual Hide and Seek.  Hallie thought she was really a big girl to ride in the big car seat, facing forward. (She only went 1 mile) Ryder and Molly are always so thrilled to see each other!

The Archery Range has become a favorite place to go spend some time. The little kids like it too. Ryder and Clark really had a good time on this particular day, making up fun games with sticks while the dads and grandpa shoot their arrows.

And Jared even gets to go sometimes. Then Nikelle tried Maden's bow out in the front yard. Archery has definitely served as a good diversion from being on lockdown.

By the end of April, the tulips were beautiful! I love them! The only thing I wish is that they would last longer! But, they were so beautiful while they lasted!

April 29th was a beautiful warm day, so I took my chair and went over to my mother's back yard.  I sat 6 feet away and we had a nice in person visit! That was a highlight of the week, or month!

Another thing I've found that I enjoy is digital paint by number.  These are just a few of the "paintings" I've done.  I feel so talented! It is very relaxing and fulfilling.