The day we hiked to the mine in April was really hot and Ellie was suffering from a headache so we didn't make it all the way to the top "Flag Rock". When we got home I looked up some info about the hike and found out that the hike is often done in remembrance of 911 because from 100N to the top is 1,353 feet which is the same height as the twin towers. So the kids and I read "I Survived the Attacks of September 11th" book and then planned a day to hike to Flag Rock. Today was a lovely overcast day and so right after Ellie's sewing lessons we left on our adventure. We had a great time and I felt like the time flew by (we had to be back for Andrew's violin lessons at 6pm or we may have stayed just enjoying the views a little longer). I'm glad we took the time to remember 911 and I also checked out the book Fall of Marigolds for the girls to read (another historical fiction around the events of September 11th).

We ran into another hiker who told us about Eagle Rock right behind the bench (we stopped at this bench last time and didn't notice the rock) but it amazingly looks just like an eagle.

We didn't know if we'd have time to stop at the mine/cave coming back, but the same guy we passed said they may be shutting down the mine so we decided we had to stop. We didn't  bring flashlights so we all pulled out our phones to use. I quickly snapped the picture below before my phone became a flashlight. When they came back out Steve had accidentally dropped his phone right into the water so he shut it down and we came home to let it dry out. Steve determined there must have been water in the headphone jack because sound wouldn't come out unless it was on speaker phone so he blew it out with his air compressor and it worked again -- whew.

We've still been doing bike rides together and Steve has been trying to teach me and the kids a few mountain biking techniques so now Marcus on occasion will stand up with "neutral pedals" and just ride behind Steve.

So it begins. I dropped my last kid off for his first day of school and it is my baby so it's my last first "first ever" day of school. We ran into our friend Thatcher from the neighborhood and we got a picture together. I asked Marcus if he wanted to take his mask off for the picture and he said no. Then she had this cute photo-booth setup and he of course picked a blue sign. :)

His teacher sent me this cute picture and said "He was so awesome today!"

We had a little rough transition coming home from school, but I think we'll get in a groove.

Last week his teacher had a little open house where we met her and did a little scavenger hunt in the classroom. It's also when I took his first day picture. When his teacher showed him his bin of new school supplies Marcus was so excited he was jumping up and down. He is really excited about school. Yesterday I kept teasing him that I would miss him too much and he couldn't go and he would reply, "Mom I'll come back so you have to let me go."

As for the first week of school, there were a few hiccups as it goes with any new year. It's kind of awkward that Ellie and Marcus go on opposite days. I signed Marcus up back in November for this preschool because I heard such great things and it was only 2 days a week for 3 hours so I could go to the temple once a week while he is in preschool (good intentions since the temples are now closed due to COVID). It will still be an amazing experience for him and to be honest it is a low risk setting because she is only doing this one class with 11 kids (one of which is her daughter) so I'm happy with our choice. We're working out routines at home, like I quickly learned it's best to stagger the kids computer time if possible so I can spend some one-on-one time doing our home curriculum The Good and The Beautiful with each of them. I bought this curriculum several years ago and amazingly it lines up with exactly the stages we need this year and it's great because it covers: writing, reading, literature, grammar and punctuation, spelling, art, and geography so I feel like we're covering a lot of information in a fun way. I may also start up our world history class again as we settle into our new routines, we'll see. Right now we're having fun learning in our new relaxed hybrid schedule!

We had a girls day camp with my YW. Since we couldn't sleep overnight somewhere we spent a week still doing camp like things. We had a camp kick-off fireside Sunday evening where the Bishop and I spoke (I was hoping not to speak but the Spirit was sending me lots of thoughts and I knew that was the Lord's way of telling me to speak). Then Mon - Thurs the YCLs (Youth Camp Leaders) delivered tuck-ins which are a little treat or gift with an uplifting thought known as a tuck-in at camp because we typically do it in the evening before retiring to bed but since we couldn't be together overnight they delivered them to homes during the day. The girls also did a secret sister exchange throughout the week which is a camp tradition. Then the day of we met and made journals, did sidewalk chalk art on neighbors driveways, had dinner, and a fireside with treats. It was a really fun evening and I am glad we did it and am so grateful for our camp directors who took on such an undertaking during crazy times.

Lila got to hang out with us in my backyard that day and met a girl in the neighborhood who would be starting 6th grade Chinese at Heritage this year. They got along really well so I decided to throw a last minute swim party for all the girls her age. Thank you to our wonderful neighbors the Paces for letting us swim there (their daughter Shaylee is Lila's age so it worked out). The girls had a great time: they raced, did synchronized diving, handstand game and just enjoyed each others company. Steve met us at 2:30 so Andrew and Lila could attend their virtual back to school event. Andrew sat on those couches and zoomed with his teacher and class for a bit. Lila chose not to join hers which I thought was fine, when we got home her teacher chose to have an evening session in teams so Lila got to attend that one for a bit. After the girls left we stayed and swam as a family for a bit it was fun!

Our next door neighbors just completed construction on a pool and invited us over the next day to swim. We smoked a turkey meatloaf and hung out talking while the kids swam. It was a nice relaxing evening after a first day of school. A little thunderstorm blew in which was probably a good thing to get the kids out of the pool and into bed or we probably would have sat out their way too long just enjoying their wonderful company!

Today poor Lila had 6 teeth pulled. She thought she was getting braces this month, but the orthodontist changed his mind at her last appointment and decided she was too crowded so he had her first pre-molars pulled. There was still one baby one he was hoping the dentist could get to the permanent one underneath after pulling the baby (which would have made 5 teeth pulled) sure enough the permanent tooth was up enough for him to get it and in the process another baby tooth came out (making the total 6). She was in her head a lot but got it done and I'm glad we don't have to go back. Now she's on a cold soft diet for a few days -- ahem, ice cream 🍦 (although she's still pretty numb right now so it's running down her chin a bit which reminds me when Jake and I got our wisdom teeth out we were laughing at the ice cream running down each other's chin without realizing we were each doing it -- haha).

This year continues to be unique. In July I signed Lila and Andrew up for the district's online school. With the pandemic they gave the option of doing that and keeping our spots in the Chinese Immersion program. They also give you the option at the start of each new term to enroll with your school. I felt like it was a good option for lots of reasons. For a while there they couldn't get a Chinese teacher for Andrew's class and Lila was going to have the same Chinese teacher for the 3rd time because they keep moving her around grades. Then Lila made a dance team that dances three times a week and she was worried about time so I talked with her about the online option and how it could give us a little more flexibility at home and with her time and she liked it so we moved ahead with that. Then a few weeks later the district announced that they would be doing a hybrid schedule. A-K would come to school Mon&Wed and L-Z would come to school Tues&Thurs. At that point I was glad I had signed the elementary kids up for the online school for some consistency. I talked about it with Ellie and she still wanted to attend Shoreline and to be honest the online did not offer the same variety in classes and she's good at keeping track and staying on top of things so I felt good about that too. We did call and make a few changes to her schedule. We asked for home release during shark time so she'll be coming home an hour earlier on the days she is at school and we asked to sign up for an online class. The counselor asked us if we were sure she wanted to do that on top of her schedule and I said, "Yes, she'll be home 3 days a week and I'm sure she can do it." So today the kids all started their school years. 

 
I haven't been too sad the start of this school year, probably because my kids will still be home most of the time but Steve says he'll believe it on Monday after I drop my baby off for his first official day of preschool (he has an open house tomorrow he's so excited for -- he's been wearing a backpack since Saturday when we started gathering back to school supplies for everyone).

At 10pm last night I realized I didn't buy donuts for our first day of school tradition so I got up and made donut dough (a recipe from a food blogger I follow I've been wanting to try all summer but it needs to rise in the fridge over night which it didn't really do and as I read the comments there were several that had that problem -- oh well we continued with the making process and they were ok). The kids were excited to have donuts and donut holes (and now they know how donut holes are made) then they got to dip them in the topping of their choice: glaze, chocolate frosting, or cinnamon sugar.

Ellie up and at em early -- she was off by 7:50. Stinker wouldn't smile in her face mask picture 😂

Once she was off, Steve and I took off for a quick run (we got 3 miles in). Then time for Lila to log on to her class meetings for the day. I told Lila yesterday that 6th grade is a stepping stone to Jr High and I wanted her to keep track of her meetings and assignments. She did really good this spring, but I wanted her to take it up a notch (I had to remind her of a few meetings etc). So she made herself calendar items that remind her of her meetings.

Then I got Marcus started on his Upstart (yay yesterday we finally could start -- they told us June then July then August 17 then finally we really got to start Aug 24). He loves it and when Andrew tries to watch he shoos him away and says, "This is for me." 😂

Then at 9:30 Andrew logged on to his meeting with his teacher. I sat next to him this morning so I could hear about expectations and kind of get a feel for things. To be completely honest, I'm a little disappointed. There are 43 kids in his 1st grade online class and it was a little crazy. Fingers crossed it settles in a bit or I may just try flat out homeschooling him (they'll be some extra home school curriculum any ways).

In preparation for school this year we sewed masks -- lots of masks. I read an article (which I try not to do often because there's lots of stuff out there that can be contradicting and overwhelming) any way, this article suggested that students have multiple masks in a baggy in their backpack in case something happens to the mask they are wearing. I thought it was a good suggestion so we took a whole day and sewed several masks. To be honest it was the first time I made us masks so it was a good thing and the kids all said, "this will make wearing masks so much more enjoyable" so yay for that. Ellie now has 7 masks which I thought was good since she is the one going to school and the others have 3. Here they are trying them out.

I also trimmed Lila's hair and attempted highlights in Ellie's hair (I think we were both nervous during this process as the cap thing it came with did not work for her length of hair, thankfully Mimi video chatted with us and stepped us through the foil process). It turned out nice as you can see above her first day of school pics.

Steve and I slept in a little today just still recovering from vacation mode. We found the temperature to still be slightly pleasant so we went for a short run. Right before we left we found Marcus asleep on the couch.

When we got back we started a late breakfast and were going to make breakfast sandwiches but Marcus wanted pancakes so I decided to make pancakes with a little syrup mixed in and then we could make breakfast sandwiches with those, kind of like a McGriddle (not gonna lie one of those for breakfast is definitely my guilty pleasure). It turned out well and just as we were cleaning up breakfast while Marcus was still eating he started to throw-up. Poor guy must not have been feeling well which explained him asleep on the couch he is never one to just sleep wherever, we can't even get him to stay in his bed asleep. So he's been quarantined in our room watching movies and relaxing.

I have been planning to do a bread cooks and books since the beginning of the summer and I needed to grind wheat and make bread so I decided to do it today. We started by looking at the different wheats: hard red wheat, hard white wheat, and soft white wheat. Then we googled them and read the difference. Hard red wheat has the most protein and has a nuttier taste which can also be known to be a bit bitter. Then hard white wheat is the next best with vitamins and protein, and soft white wheat has less protein which makes it good for baking things like cookies, quick breads, muffins etc. Then they each chose a bread to make. Ellie wanted to make cinnamon raisin bread. Andrew made garlic cheese bread with Steve's help, thank you Daddy because I didn't know how I was going to handle all this bread making. Lila was going to make a raspberry pecan bread out of a loaf of sandwich bread from my dough but I messed up our dough. . . I had planned to make two loaves but then started following the 4 loaf recipe which is the one that I normally do. Ellie said lesson learned not to have more than one recipe on a page. Eventually when I realized it wasn't raising I recognized my problem and added it back into the Bosch and added more water (which was really the only thing I did from the 2 loaf recipe) and it worked out but at that point Lila had lost interest in working with the bread again, I don't blame her so had I.

While the bread was baking Lila and Andrew worked on reading The Little Red Hen in Chinese which was fun.

Deliciousness! Ellie forgot to put the rolled part down in the pan so we had a little overflow and maybe she should have used a bigger pan, but now we know.

We had two trips get cancelled that were scheduled for the same week in August so we were desperate to get out of dodge for a while. I had begun researching some places, but nothing felt right then a friend mentioned Flaming Gorge and I remembered I had done some research about the area a couple of years before for a different reason and thought it would be fun. So I started looking for a place to stay and found this amazing cabin just north of Vernal. We had to adjust our dates just a little so we left the morning right after Ellie's graduation ceremony. We planned to go to the Dinosaur National Park before checking into the cabin so I printed the kids Jr Ranger books and they all worked on them for a couple of days before. They loved it and learned a lot about dinosaurs.

The day before we left we also did this fun madlib out of the Friend magazine that made us all chuckle.

Friday morning we loaded the van with our kayak, bikes, fishing poles, beach toys, and lots of food (along with our clothes of course). Then we hit the road.

We had talked about stopping in Park City to do a ride before finishing the drive to Vernal, but we slept in a little so decided against the stop and then just as we got on the I-80 our GPS told us to turn around and rerouted us through Orem because of the fire going through Parley's canyon the I-80 East was closed so we couldn't even get to Park City without some major detours.

We arrived at the Dinosaur Park right in time for our timed shuttle tickets out to the Dinosaur Quarry where we saw real dinosaur bones.

Then we decided to hike back to the visitors center so we could see more bones and stuff. It started out feeling not too hot then it got HOT! so we booked it at the end.

getting their jr ranger badges

Then we headed out to the cabin. Where the kids ran around in excitement checking out the rooms and the loft area with a foosball table and lots of board games (we even found a new family favorite game Blokus). At dinner Marcus was being really funny. Somehow we were talking about his counting (he can count to 100) and he started counting really fast 1 to 10 then said, "BOOM! Know it!" so that became a funny phrase all week, "BOOM! Know it!"

That evening we took our poles down to the creek by the cabin and tried fishing, we didn't catch anything -- it probably didn't help that Marcus was throwing rocks into the creek the whole time.

Saturday morning Steve and Ellie went out mountain biking. They did a trail called Milk and Cookies. They captured it all on their GoPro cameras (I bought Steve a GoPro right before the trip as a late Father's Day present).

The other three played upstairs.

When they got home we biked around the cabin area for a bit.

Then we went into Flaming Gorge to do a sunset hike. We did the Red Canyon hike as the sun was going down. Getting to the hike was a little confusing because there are different points you can start the hike. We thought we got there and started hiking but then realized we were at the starting point for the 9mile hike which we didn't have time for so we booked it back to the van and found the trail at a different point and started hiking. A little ways in we saw these Rams on the side of the trail in between that fallen log.

Then we hiked on to see these spectacular views.

Steve generously offered to jog back to the van while I continued on to the visitor's center area with the kids so we didn't have to walk back 1.5 miles. He got to the visitor's center about the same time we did and we all enjoyed a quick look around before heading back to the cabin. On the way we decided to do a quick stop in town for gas and I would run into the store for a gallon of ice cream to go with the brownies on Sunday (this is my first time walking into a store in 5 months -- crazy!).

Sunday we slept in since it was a late night before. Then we had our Come Follow Me lesson where we talked about arming ourselves with the armor of God and had a little activity where the boys dressed up in the armor of God and defended themselves against temptations and sins that we wrote on papers and threw at them.

We worked on a puzzle that was fun to do on the glass table because it had letters on the back of the pieces to identify what section it went in so the kids had fun taking turns under the table pointing out pieces to the sections we were working on -- hey it kept everyone involved. ;) Then we watched Prince Caspian since we had listened to the book on drive there - the movie was very different from the book but was still a fun thing to do as a family (we also finished Voyage of the Dawn Treader on this trip and the kids are looking forward to watching the movie at home).

Monday we packed a lunch and spent the day at Sunny Cove swimming, kayaking, and playing on the beach. It was a lovely day.

Tuesday we chose to stay closer to the cabin and went to explore Dry Flume. It was beautiful out there with lots of amazing rock formations. We tried biking the Dry Flume trail but it was pretty sandy and after 20 minutes our middle two gave up so I took them back to the van while Ellie and Steve continued on.

Where we parked was kind of in the middle of the trail so when Ellie and Steve got back there they decided they wanted to try biking down and I would drive the van down to the the other parking lot. So I drove down there and took Lila, Andrew, and Marcus out exploring that area while we waited for them. It was crazy because it looks like it was once a river bed but is now dried up. . .maybe that's why it's Dry Flume. Anyway, the kids had fun climbing around on the rocks.

Then we ran into Steve and Ellie who said the bottom half was way too rocky and Steve even tipped over and bruised up his knee.

Then we headed over to Mcconkie Ranch to see the Petroglyphs which Lila said was one of her favorite things so I'm glad we did it because she hadn't seemed really into anything yet (at the beach she just sat on the shore and only went out on the kayak when encouraged to and she seemed really frustrated with the mountain biking stuff).

That evening Steve took the girls out for a ride around the cabin again where they came across another pond. And the boys spent the evening exploring and "adventuring" as they called it.

Wednesday our last full day there and we had reserved a raft to float the Green River. We packed a lunch and headed back to Flaming Gorge. We got our raft checked out and on top of the van and then went to start the van and it wouldn't turn over. I got out the little battery jumper we have while Steve started to check things out. We finally got it going but decided we had better ask the rental company if they'd prefer to shuttle us than transport our van because of the battery issue and they said they would just jump it as long as we had a way to start it again when we got to it. So on we went. We got to the drop-in spot and unloaded our raft then Steve drove the van back to parking and hiked down to us.

I was a little worried because Marcus did not want to go anywhere today, but then he loved holding the raft in place and after hitting the first rapids he kept saying, "More big bumps!" and the girls kept trying to steer us towards the larger rapids.

The boys liked hanging their feet off in the water. At one point Andrew even got completely in the water, but it was pretty cold and an overcast day so he climbed right back in. And of course they had to have their turns with the oars just not during the rapid sections (wink wink). I think Steve preferred they had the oars too as I accidently hit him with the top of my oar as I was trying to hold it and get something for the kids -- oops.

So when you pick up the raft they give you a little map with instructions to "stay left at mother-in-law" and there was some indistinguishable hand drawing. Fortunately we noticed the sign mother-in-law rapids and saw a big rock in the middle so we stayed left, but too late we noticed another rock on the left and sure enough we hit it and got stuck. I was on the outside back part of the raft and my head hurt just a little so as the raft spun I felt like I was on a teacup ride at an amusement park so I grabbed the rope and leaned over the boat in case I chucked, but I didn't and then we began the adventure of getting off the rock. At one point I thought one of us might have to attempt getting out in the fast moving water to get us off, but we moved Lila off the front of the raft, Steve pushed with an oar and I bounced up and down and away we went. Andrew kept saying that it was awful and ruined the whole day and we had to keep pointing out all the fun we had and that even though we hit the rock it was an adventure we could talk about and laugh about for the rest of our lives.

Oh no, rock!

we're stuck and Lila is moving to sit by the boys to alleviate some weight off the rock

wahoo, we're finally free. goodbye rock!

Then when we were about 1/3 of mile from the pull out point a wind came up the canyon pushing us backwards. We were paddling hard but not making much progress. We finally made it to the correct side of the shore and the wind slowed and we made it. By some miracle we got it loaded back on top of the van and Steve did have to use the battery charger to start the van so we decided to head into town to grab a battery and since we were tired and hungry we ordered dinner for the kids to eat in the van while Steve changed the battery in the Walmart parking lot. On the way back to the cabin the kids in the back were laughing hysterically at something. It was a good day.

Thursday was our day of departure and no one wanted to leave. Marcus had asked earlier if we could stay forever and that morning he suggested we let someone else live in our home so we could stay there. I woke up and saw a mama and baby dear out my window by the time I grabbed my phone to take a picture I could only see the baby. It was amazing we saw rabbits, wild turkeys, hummingbirds that Steve lured in with a feeder and one hit the window twice -- poor bird we really worried for him, and of course the kids chased lizards.

After we were packed and ready to leave we just hung around relaxing for a bit enjoying the peacefulness of the place. The boys played a few rounds of horseshoes.

Then we decided to take the scenic way home through Manila. We did the Sheep Rock Geological loop and enjoyed the views. On the drive we also found signs to Andrew's wedding and teased Andrew that he was getting married without us knowing and we asked what kind of refreshments there would be. He did not find it humorous. 

We also stopped at the river in hopes to see the Salmon migrating to spawn but it hadn't started yet so homeward bound. Ellie asked if we could stop and get ice cream on the way because we were forced to watch TV with ads that week and she saw several blizzard ads. We didn't watch much but one evening Steve needed to go down to where he could connect to the internet to work (since we didn't get internet or cell service at the cabin which was actually part of the charm for us to disconnect from everything) and so I watched a few Last Man Standing episodes with the girls, always funny! Then the last night we managed to find Jurassic Park 3 on TV -- I had told the girls I wished I had thought about downloading the Jurassic movies for our trip after  going to the Dinosaur Park. We'll watch them the next couple of weeks in the theater room with a good sound system. Anyway, back to the ice cream there was no good place to get ice ream along the way which was a disappointment so we'll have to get ice cream some time this week. We pulled in about 4pm, unpacked (which wasn't too bad since I did manage to do a load of laundry Tuesday at the cabin), and Ellie and I will mow the lawn tonight. It was a great trip and I'm so glad we got to get out and explore and make memories together.