Kylee's 14th Birthday

 We hadn't really made any big plans for Kylee's birthday.  We were planning on doing something.  But then the whole world went into quarantine.  Not only were there no places to go out to eat, or to go to do something fun to celebrate, but we couldn't even have family or friends over.  Kylee started getting really bummed out about it.  Honestly, my original idea for her 14th birthday was to take her somewhere like Hawaii, which obviously couldn't happen.  I talked to her friends and family and asked them to try to help make it special.  The family all said they would do a drive-by, and talked about tossing candy out the window to her.  She had a long list of junk food she wanted.  They came through big time!  But they didn't toss it, they kind of hid it around the yard and then honked to get her to come outside.  The sign was a surprise for her too.  And people honked all day long.  The other kids were very jealous of all the junk food she got and decided they all wanted the same thing for their birthdays (this is where I insert an eye-roll emoji because I hear this same thing every birthday.  I had to remind Sadie how awesome her Harry Potter party was and how Kylee was jealous).  It wasn't a beach, but she was happy anyway (she didn't actually know that we had thought about a trip so she wasn't let down about that.)

We kept our distance!  No hugging.  Sad, but better to be safe!

I tried not to be offended that she wanted an ice cream cake instead of the many cakes I offered to bake for her.  She was very happy with it.  And I was happy ice cream was considered essential so Cold Stone was still open, lol.

April 2020

What do you do when everything is cancelled or closed, and you can't really play with friends?  Good question.  The kids were doing school at home every day.  There was no church, no sports or activities, no businesses open to get out.  It was bizarre.  Sadie decided to watch a movie with her friends which meant she was on a video chat with them and they all pressed play at the same time on a movie.  It works!

Some things I printed out for Kaden to work on while the other kids were working on school.  His preschool teacher was giving him assignments and sending videos too, but he was ready for harder stuff.

We were glad we purchased a Chromebook last year.  Kylee used the Chromebook.  Sadie used my laptop. And Dylan used the desktop computer.

General Conference wasn't much different for us, but for those that attended it was different!

There were only the people speaking in the room and they were all six feet apart.

We found other things to keep us busy.  Like finally putting together Dylan's Minecraft Lego set.  Which Kaden thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank goodness the weather was starting to turn warmer!!!

We made a looooong sidewalk chalk obstacle course that people walking by could do.  It was fun!

Easter went on like normal at least.  The Easter Bunny brought some entertainment type things.

Easter dinner along with a cake.  The grocery stores are still open and back in stock with most things.  Toilet paper and some canned goods and things are still hard to find.  But we've been baking a lot!  By "we" I mean Kylee and I.  Like a lot.

Fun with sidewalk chalk.  The kids didn't play with friends for a few weeks, but then we started letting them play outside.

And I got to start my garden.  Look how beautiful the blue skies and fresh tilled dirt!

More cake!  This time for my birthday.  Baking when you're bored is really fun.  This was carrot cake with cheesecake in the middle and cream cheese icing.  Oh my!  It was so good.

People were pretty funny with their masks.  This is a little hay creature I run past often.  They added a mask that says "2020".  Too funny.

We stayed away for awhile because we didn't want to risk spreading anything to Liza's tiny babies, but we finally got together and spent some good cuddle time with them!

Spent a lot of time outdoors.

Good news!  Our favorite sushi place started take out specials that were a steal!  We ate here quite a few times.  I'm starting to see why quarantine was not good for our health...

For the record, here are the reopening stages for Idaho.

Our Easter picture.  I told everyone to act like it wasn't freezing, but of course it was.  Windy and chilly, like most Idaho Easters.