Quarantine Entertainment

I have to say that one of my favorite things to come out of this quarantine is that the kids are spending so much time together.  They are coming up with very creative ways to have fun.  Tonight Nash and Harlee choreographed dances for each other.  Harlee made up a dance to "Better Days" by Old Republic and taught it to Nash to perform.  Nash made up a dance for Har to perform to "Ophelia" by the Lumineers.  Once they were in costume I got to go outside and watch the show.  It was so fun!  They both were cracking up the whole time.  I love the time they are spending together and the memories that they are creating.  Takes me back to when I was their age and I would make up dances with my sisters.  So much fun!

Best Day

Ask any of my kids who my favorite singer is and they will all say Lori McKenna.  I have loved her music since Joey and I were first married.  We would often go to dinner and then to Borders to listen to music.  We bought her cd at Borders at the Gateway.  I fell in love with her music from the moment I heard her voice.  I later learned that she is a mom of five, four boys and one girl.  One of her sons has autism.  I joke that we are soul sisters.  A few weeks ago Joey bought us tickets to her online Shut In concert.  At the end of her concert she sang a song that I could not get out of my head.  Today she posted about a new song on Facebook and it was the song.  I made a comment on her post of how I had been searching for this song since her Shut In concert.  Later that afternoon I got a notification on FB that Lori McKenna liked my post.  I may or may not have run downstairs to tell Joey with tears in my eyes!  Now I just need to meet her and become best friends!  Such a fun moment to break up the quarantine monotony.

Insta Famous

I am not on Instagram but Jenna texted me this morning about a post she saw.  She sent me a text with pictures Harlee.  Her orthodontist has posted her before and after photos to show her beautiful smile transformation.  It was so fun to see the before and after pictures.  Harlee is beautiful and her smile is amazing.  So fun for her to have a moment on social media.

Sprinkler Weather

Joey got the sprinklers going today which is such a blessing for our dying grass!  The boys begged to run through the sprinklers.  I could not believe they wanted to run in the sprinklers since it was only 63 degrees outside.  They are crazy but they had so much fun.  This reminded me of when I was a freshman at BYU.  It was 60 degrees after an awful winter.  Some of my friends from the dorm went to the roof and laid out.  The sun comes out in Utah and it feels like summer!

Har the Hairstylist

Due to this crazy quarantine all of the hair cutting places are closed down.  The boys hair has gotten pretty bad.  While I was working today Harlee came and asked me if she could try cutting the boys hair?  She had watched a few Youtube tutorials and was ready.  She did a great job!  The boys all look a lot less quaratined.  If only Luke would let her do his hair!  I am so proud of Harlee.  She is such a doer.  If she makes her mind up to do something, she will not stop until she figures out how to do it.  Such an amazing quality to have.  Way to go Har!

Trying new things...

Over the last two days Tag has been such a good sport about trying new things.  Yesterday he ate and swallowed a chocolate chip.  As you can tell from his expression he did not love the experience but he did it!  Today he decided to try a plain M & M.  This did not turn out as well!  He ended up throwing up after swallowing the candy.  I so wish that I had such an aversion to chocolate!  So proud of this boy for trying new things.

School Parade

This has been such a weird time with everything closed down due to COVID.  School has been out for about 5 weeks.  The kids, the elementary school kids, miss their friends and their teachers a lot.  Today the teachers did a parade through all of the neighborhoods.  It was so neat.  They had the parade start with the main secretary Heather and the two Traverse Mountain Tigers.  She was followed by Lehi fire dept and the police department.  After that was all of the teachers.  It was so fun to see all of them.  We sat in chairs close enough to chat with them.  The kids made signs.  Tag's sign said "Help the Scoolls" with a little coronavirus in a no circle.  So cute!  This was such a special experience.  The lack of social interaction has heightened my emotions and I may have teared up watching the kids interact with their teachers.  Maybe I just miss their teachers teaching them now that they have a grumpy mom of five as their teacher?

Sunday Walk

We were all going a little stir crazy so most of us decided to go on a walk on this afternoon.  I think Ike was the most excited to get out of the house.  When we crossed the street, the kids saw the big hill and went running. They all took many turns rolling down the hill and I was loving their laughter.  What a fun moment!  I love watching these kids have fun together.  It was so nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air!

Porch Pictures

With the craziness of life right now, the shelter in place and all it's cancellations, this time is super interesting.  I don't know if we will ever have to go through something like this again in our lifetime.  A lot of people are doing "Porch Pictures" to have a memory of this unique time.  My sweet neighbor Alison offered to do porch pictures for some of our neighbors.  Joey and Luke were less than happy about this but they were such good sports and smiled for the camera.  I love how they turned out!  I especially love the expressions when we are all looking at each others.  Gray's expression is the best!  I am so grateful for my family.  I feel so blessed to spend these days surrounded by those that I love the most.  They make sheltering in place easy.  So grateful for these pictures to remind me of the time when we were forced to slow down and spend time focusing on what really matters-family!

Mustache Zoom

Today for Tag's class call on Zoom, his cute teacher dropped off mustaches for each of them to wear.  She is so fun and such a great teacher for Tag.  Each of the students wore their mustaches while talking to each other.  Such a fun idea!  Love this cute mustache boy!

Easter Egg Hunt

Since we had to miss out on the extended family egg hunts, we decided to have one of our own.  It was really cold so we did a main floor hunt.  There was about $50 in cash throughout the eggs and the kids had a lot of fun searching.  Nash was the big winner with finding the $20 egg.  I love watching the kids have fun!  We celebrated a successful search with some strawberry shortcake.  Perfect ending to a beautiful day.

Easter Sunday

With the COVID spreading we have been asked to shelter in place and stay home to help lessen the curve of those getting the virus.  We have been having our own church services at home each Sunday.  Today was the first time that we partook of the sacrament and we decided to wear our Sunday best for this special occasion.  After Tag's opening prayer, we sang I am a Child of God.  We then had the sacrament.  Such a spiritual experience.  After the sacrament, Joey gave a lesson on the Savior and His Resurrection.  We all felt the Spirit and shed some tears as we spoke of all of the blessings that we have because of His sacrifice.  I am so thankful for my Savior and for his example.  Because of Him I get to be with my favorite people forever.

First time blessing and passing the sacrament

Luke was ordained as a priest several weeks ago and Nash was ordained as a deacon.  They have not had the opportunity to help with the sacrament at church yet but today they had their first opportunity.  It was so amazing to watch them prepare the sacrament for each of us to partake of.  We even blessed a cheezit so Tag could take part in the full sacrament.  I am so proud of Luke and Nash.  They are such good boys and such examples to their younger siblings.  What a special moment.

Easter Morning

The kids slept in until 8:30am and then made their way downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had brought for them.  They were excited to see their piles of goodies!  The boys each got a new shirt, stance socks, and lots of candy.  Harlee got a new shirt, new sandals and candy.  I am so grateful for this tradition and love to see the joy on my cute kiddos faces.