The year has already ended, but I haven't had the time to document the past 6 months. Ugh - that makes me heart sad! This blog is one of my life's greatest accomplishments - 15 uninterrupted years of journaling! In order to keep up on our family record, I am going to do a quick (but, of course, inevitably lengthy) summary of the last half of 2020 in Christmas-letter-esque style! I hope it does this wonderful, weird, trying, unique year justice!
Top 10 of (the second half) of 2020
1. Fabulous Hikes! With nowhere to go for entertainment (no school, no church, no movie theaters, no restaurants, no zoo, no botanical gardens, no aquarium ... you get the picture!) we turned to nature for some wonderful, beautiful, straight-from-God refreshment to our souls! We discovered our new favorite hike, Las Conchas, with Shauna and her kids and my parents. I had remembered doing it as a teen, but hadn't been back since. The deep, shady canyon, bubbling brook, and many bridges make for a very fun hike for everyone. Las Conchas ends with a small waterfall and opportunity to continue walking along in the water! It was so fun! My kids loved walking with their cousins and grandparents. We especially loved bringing Poppy along on our adventures - she makes hiking so much more fun! Another weekend, we did the Crest hike with my parents and finally made it all the way to the house up top. During our New Years celebrations, we took Sethrina's famliy back to las Conchas, but this time during a very different season.
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| (9/16/2020) Our new favorite hike, Las Conchas! |
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| This little cutie LOVES hiking! |
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| What a neat canyon! |
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| Pride rock! |
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| Look how tiny Poppy was! |
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| Best buddies! |
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| We love all of the bridges on this hike |
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| Cute cousins! |
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| Don't fall! |
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| Sisters! I love this woman! She is so fun and kind! |
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| Snack time |
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| More snacking! |
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| Happy girls! |
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| Our wild adventure man! |
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| Mother and daughter |
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| I adore this girl! |
2 and 3. Virtual Learning and Homeschool! 2020 has been the most bizarre year on so many levels. This school year was to be my golden year - the year when 3/4 kids would all be attending the same elementary school (K, 2nd, and 5th), and Sofia and I would have 9am-4pm to play, nap, and get all sorts of things done!
Then came the announcement that students would do virtual learning until Labor Day. Okay--kind of weird--but we could handle that, right? Oh heck it was hard. What a learning curve. What a disaster. It made no sense at all for poor Beau and Hannah. Second grade on an iPad? Kindergarten on an iPad? Beau was loaded down with piles of worksheets, a stressed out teacher (who could blame her??), and multiple Google meetings each day. Hannah was asked to create Powerpoint presentations and watch itty bitty videos of her teacher tracing letters in the air. She would spin in her chair in boredom and be reprimanded by being booted out of the normal meeting and logged into a special meeting for distracted kids. Online P.E. was a total joke. I had to pull Hudson from a game of Badminton with his brother to sit in front of the Google Meet camera and balance a sock on his head.
I was left zooming around from child to child helping with technical difficulties, figuring out which worksheets needed to be done, and logging into over 50 Google Meets a week! It was insanity! It left little to no time for making lunch, paying any attention to Sofia, and even taking a bathroom break! To top it off, we had new little Poppy needing frequent bathroom breaks and walks.
And then there was a delay to the return of in-person school. And then another delay, and then some confusion, and then more delays until here we are still doing virtual learning February 2021. Late August, I knew virtual learning wasn't going to work for my littles, so with lots of thought, prayer, and fingers crossed, I pulled Beau and Hannah out of public school. I've been busier than ever serving as mom, learning coach for Hudson, Kindergarten teacher, 2nd grade teacher, dog trainer, lunch lady and more! I don't think I've ever felt so busy and time-strained in my life!
Keeping Hudson on top of his busy virtual schedule has been extremely challenging, but I've loved the extra one-on-one and ability to really see how he's doing. We've butted heads more than ever, but we've been able to communicate about lots of important and hard things that need to be learned: time management, organization, responsibility, and on and on! He's been particularly stressed and lonely this semester. Of all the kids, I think it's been hardest on Hudson.
I've setup a little school area for Beau and Hannah upstairs. We work on handwriting, writing, reading, and mathematics every day. We're studying the presidents for social studies and zoo animals for science. I've loved seeing my cute little students learn and grow! They are doing so well! Mama Dunlap reads with all three kids each week and does piano lessons with Hudson. It's been such a blessing having her spiritual, warm influence in our home. Last semester we made lots of library trips and would play with cousins (Tyler, Elise, and Brandon) on Wednesdays and friends (Eleanor and Evelyn) on Thursdays. Hannah did outdoor ballet for a semester with Abby Reed. And our sweet neighbor girl would come over every day at 10:30am for recess!
While it's been a draining and stressful school year, it's been very sweet. My kids have had more sibling time than ever before. We've come up with fun incentives (the busy bee store) to get the kids up and doing chores in the morning, and they have jumped in enthusiastically and have been very helpful. Sofia hasn't had the one-on-one she deserves (naps have been sporadic to non-existent and she watches WAY more T.V. than I'd like) but my mom's been picking her up a few days a week to help me out. She loves her special Grandma time!
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| (7/23/2020) Our favorite playgroup friends! |
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| (8/6/2020) Trying to keep in touch with friends, covid-style! |
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| (8/6/2020) Back when we did playdates ... we eventually stopped so we could be better at social distancing! We love these girls! |
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| (8/12/2020) Hannah's officially a kindergartener! |
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| (8/26/2020) Virtual school meant LOTS of time on the computers and iPads! (What gorgeous gals!) |
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| Beau had a particularly rough time trying to sort through all of his worksheets! |
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| But he sure looked cute doing it! Ha ha! |
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| It was fun having little Poppy nearby for company! |
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| Using the Chromebook APS loaned each student |
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| (8/27/2020) Doing some "math" |
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| (9/1/2020) Story time with Mommy! |
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| (9/23/2020) Doing a science lesson with my "class" |
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| (9/25/2020) Math with my silly girl |
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| (10/7/2020) Trying to keep Sofia engaged, too! |
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| (10/27/2020) A welcome "snow day" - woo hoo! No school! |
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| (11/2/2020) My winky gal working alongside her siblings |
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| (12/11/2020) Sofia learning her shapes ... |
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| ... While Hannah works on Math at our new, upstairs "school house" |
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| (1/28/2020) Beau learned how to tell time on an analog clock! |
4. More Hobbs Time! My entire family was in town this summer, and it was lovely having everyone together. We were able to take some beautiful family pictures thanks to Jenny and Shauna. Jared encouraged me to keep our dog (more on that later ...) and we took his family to the cool river spot we had discovered earlier this year.
Shauna and I organized a weekly playdate for our kiddos. Hannah and Elise are best of friends, and Beau and Tyler have really become close. I have gotten to know Shauna better than ever before and have really fallen in love with her. She is such a dear friend, so loving and kind. We also got together with their family for a few fun fall activities including Hudson's Harry Potter themed 10th birthday party and our scavenger hunt and indoor trick-or-treating party for Halloween.
Jared's family and Sam's family (minus Sam!) came to celebrate Christmas together mid-December. We all got Covid tested and gathered very last minute when results all came back negative (woo hoo!) My mom hosted a super fun Christmas dinner and program! We had a delicious, fancy dinner, enjoyed a goofy talent show, and did a secret Santa gift exchange. On a funny side note, we think it was during this Christmas dinner, with fancy candles on the table, that Beau singed the entire top of his head and started to go bald from his brittle hair falling out! I ended up just shaving his entire head this month. We also had Jacob and Shauna's family over for pasta making to kick off Christmas break.
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| (7/28/2020) Jared's family came to visit! |
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| (7/29/2020) Jared was so sweet with our dog! |
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| Poppy's first visit to the river |
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| The cousins had a blast in the Rio Grande! |
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| Look at Hannah's muddy face! |
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| Jenny bought the ladies these cute matching dresses! |
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(8/1/2020) We asked Beau to get dressed up for family pictures and he went all out! What a stud!
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| Aww! All together at last! |
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| The darling nieces! |
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| Some great shots of Poppy and I ... she was so tiny! |
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| Nice kisses! |
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| Best buddies! |
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| The ladies! |
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| The original Hobbs clan! |
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| (8/7/2020) Hudson requested a Harry Potter birthday party! |
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| We were sorted into houses, played Quidditch, ate Bertie Botts Beans, had butter beer, and did wand practice! |
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| Opening their broomstick party bags |
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| Hudson gave Joey his cobra! |
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| Ooh! What do we have here? |
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| The sorting hat! |
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| (10/8/2020) Beau getting ready for a very different, Covid Halloween! |
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| A plague doctor - very fitting for 2020 |
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| Cousins all ready fo Halloween! |
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| Harry Potter and a black plague doctor |
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| A death eater! |
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| Spiderman Brandon |
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| Getting ready for our neighborhood scavenger hunt |
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| Doll face! |
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| Oh those cheeks! |
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| Handing out our scavenger hunt lists |
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| We love Halloween! |
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| Cute kiddos! |
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| Many neighbors, including us, set up candy stations in their yards |
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| We also did spooky trick-or-treating down the hall! |
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| (12/12/2020) Mario and I celebrating Eli's birthday! |
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| This girl is so tenacious! |
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| Candy! Candy! Candy! |
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| Sam couldn't make it, and we really missed his presence! |
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| A meeting of the dog cousins! |
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| Hudson and Mario! |
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| Beautiful crowns from Jenny for the little girls |
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| Chloe is the happiest dog! |
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| Gorgeous table settings by Jenny |
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| All of the boy cousins (-Sam's next son, due in March!) |
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| My handsome big brother! |
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| Sweet little girls! |
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| Aww! Just missing Sam! |
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| The fancy siblings |
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| What a beautiful couple! |
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| Our princess! |
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| Our sweet family |
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| This year, I was assigned the rolls |
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| The meal was amaze-balls! |
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| Waiter Jacob! |
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| It was SUCH a fun meal having everything so fancy shmancy! |
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| Cool lighting! |
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| Extra fun in matching jammies! |
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| Me and my girlies |
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| I "trained" Hannah for the talent show |
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| A fun gift exchange! |
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| All the men! |
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| Super excited for our newest nephew! |
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| Singing Christmas hymns |
5. Miraculous Yard Project! 2020 was a year of yard projects! After recovering from the literally back-breaking backyard project this spring, we decided to tackle some of the front yard this fall. I wanted to pull a bunch of bushes out of our front yard and I knew my neighbors did as well. On a whim one morning, I texted the neighbors to see if they wanted to do the project that day and if so, I'd try to recruit some missionary helpers! I was able to get 8 missionary helpers and several neighbors came out to help as well! We were able to pull out several junipers, all of our Heavenly Bamboo, and a boxwood. It was heartwarming to see so many people come out to support us in our efforts! The star of the project was our down-the-street neighbor who volunteered his truck to yank out all of the stumps. It was incredible! We finished the project over the course of the next few weeks, planting pretty perennials, laying rock, and planting a Modesto Ash sapling. We can't wait to see the tree grow! In addition to the yard projects, we also painted the living room adobe and all the kids rooms! My mom is my biggest help when it comes to painting projects! She gets us motivated and gives us so much of her time and talents!
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| The vision I created in Illustrator included taking out some of the grass and bushes and adding a tree! |
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| I played around with rock, patio, and cement ideas |
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| (10/6/2020) I'm hoping these plants will eventually take off and get full! |
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| (10/10/2020) We decided on a Modesto Ash |
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| (12/21/2020) My mom helped me paint the living room adobe! What a huge job! |
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| (12/29/2020) We also tackled the kids bedrooms and made everything "Agreeable Grey" |
6. Red River Cousins Trip! We went on a really fun weekend trip with Jacob and Shauna's family to Red River, New Mexico. It's a really cute, touristy mountain town a few hours away. We rented a three-story condominium and let all seven kids share the bunkbeds and trundle bed on the top floor! The highlights of the trip included a ski lift ride up the mountain, a trip to a local candy store, playing Hogwarts Codenames in the evening, finding a cave, and just being together!
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| (9/29/2020) Driving to Red River! |
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| So excited to be vacationing together! |
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| Beautiful mountain city |
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| Ready to ride the tram |
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| Grateful the real seats weren't this scary! |
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| Here they go! |
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| I was scared Sofia would fall! |
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| Sofia wasn't scared a bit! |
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| Happy girls |
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| Exploring the mountainside |
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| Cool stick hut |
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| Always the adventure man |
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| Sweet thing! |
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| What a fun little mountain town! |
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| With spectacular views! |
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| We sure love these two! Jacob found us a really fun 3-story condo to share! |
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| Such a fun ride! |
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| We had matching Costco jammies! |
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| (9/30/2020) We spent the morning walking along the river and found a cool park in the evening |
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| And a cave!!! |
7. Grand Canyon and Sedona Cousins Trip! Near what would typically be fall break for the kids, we met up with Josh and Sethrina's family in Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. It was SUCH a fun weekend trip - I would recommend it to anyone living in Albuquerque. Just a six-hour drive to a beautiful wonder of the world! We walked along the south rim of the canyon in the cool of the morning, then spent the afternoon at a Bear preserve south of the canyon called Bearizona. It was neat to see so many bears gathered together so close to our car! The following day, we went hiking in Sedona. The red sand and the greenery were beautiful! A steep hike at the end of the trail rewarded us with breathtaking views. And a few of us were able to see a mountain lion very close by! Later that day, we descended into a steep ravine along a highway in the Coconino Wilderness to cool off in a beautiful little stream. It was super fun hopping from rock to rock, but the path in and out was dangerous! A highlight of the trip was seeing Hannah's athletic prowess in the hotel pool. Seb taught her how to float and kick, and within minutes she was swimming back and forth across the pool like a little Olympian!
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| (10/3/2020) Best buds |
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| What a great, big world! |
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| I love this boy! |
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| What a perfect morning! |
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| My sweetheart with his little sweetheart |
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| Let's go backpacking, Seb! |
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| Morning meditation |
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| Love is vast |
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| Don't fall, Josh! |
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| Check out that black bear! |
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| (10/4/2020) Check out that red dirt! Sedona was very beautiful! |
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| The kids loved making these rock sculptures! |
8. Thanksgiving in Ohio! With school and work all virtual, we decided to take advantage of our open schedules and spend a couple weeks in Ohio with Seb's twin's family. We spent the first week doing school/work together and the second week playing! Laura, as always, spoiled us with hot breakfasts every morning, delicious snacks throughout the day, and tasty dinners each night! She's a whiz in that kitchen! We actually drove to Ohio this time around, so we could bring Poppy, and boy was it a long drive! Seb was amazing! And the kids and dog were great travelers, too! I certainly didn't like having to take care of a dog on vacation, but for the most part she did pretty good having to be tied up all day! It was a little hard not having a fenced in yard for her to potty in, but luckily she never got permanently lost! Ha ha!
Seb and I celebrated our 14th anniversary in Ohio at a fancy steak house called Johnny Carlo's. Laura did my hair and make up for the big night out! The steak was probably the most delicious thing we've ever tasted! Other highlights of our trip included games and crafts downstairs in the basement (my dream space!), nightly ice cream binges, watching movies together, seeing kangaroos up close at the Cincinatti zoo, riding the train and seeing the lights at the zoo, driving through another light show, visiting a beautiful indoor garden, and seeing a recreation of Noah's Ark in Kentucky! Laura and I celebrated the boys missions with theme dinners. Laura made a yummy wheat and sausage meal that Noah made on his mission to Russia. We bought fancy cheeses to celebrate Seb's mission to Wisconsin. I also made wontons to celebrate my dad's mission to Japan! My favorite activity or all, though, was ice skating with all the cute cousins at an outdoor arena! I could do that every day!
Thanksgiving itself was also amazing. Laura took charge and made everything! And it was SO good! We did lots of fun crafts and activities. We made thankful turkeys, we made pilgrim and Indian costumes, we shot arrows, and we read a little about our Pilgrim ancestors. This was one of my very favorite Thanksgivings to date! My kids sure love their Ohio cousins. We are always so sad to leave! Our van must have sensed our sadness and didn't start the morning we were to leave! A quick battery change later, we were headed back home with hearts full of happy memories!
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| (11/15/2020) We got to spend a few days with Laura's sweet dad! |
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| (11/17/2020) Picking up apples and pies at a nearby orchard |
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| (11/18/2020) 14 years married to this sweetheart of mine! |
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| (11/19/2020) We spent the first week doing school each morning |
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| (11/21/2020) Breakfast overlooking the Ohio River |
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| What goons! |
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| Love Sofia's face in this one! |
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| These cousins love one another! |
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| Brothers 38 years young! |
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| We've always enjoyed vacationing together! |
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| Our sweet little niece! |
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| Sisters! (I love Laura SO much! She is an amazing woman!) |
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| Beautiful indoor gardens |
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| So weird having to wear masks everywhere - what a year! |
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| Can't get out of the foam pit! |
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| (11/23/2020) Fun at the Cincinnati zoo! |
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| Amazing walk-thru kangaroo exhibit! |
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| The lights were so beautiful! |
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| What a sweet family! |
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| (11/25/2020) My favorite activity was ice skating! |
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| (11/26/2020) Laura was incredible - she made ALL the food! |
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| My cute little pilgrim girl! |
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| And my cute little Indian girl! |
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| Beautiful place settings |
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| Dressing up made Thanksgiving SO much fun!!! |
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| This guy made some pretty stylish clothes! |
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| Cute! |
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| Ray of sunshine! |
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| Darling child! |
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| Esther borrowed my moccasins for a complete look! |
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| Love this gal's rainbow vest! |
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| Little stud muffin! |
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| Made my bonnet out of hot glue and fabric scraps! |
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| "Hunting" before the great feast! |
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Sweet uncle Noah
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| Fluffy wild lady |
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| Really getting into character! |
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| Sweet bead work on his vest |
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| Carving the bird |
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| Yum, yum! |
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| Whistler's mother |
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| (11/27/2020) The ark exhibit |
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| Our gratitude turkeys |
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| (11/28/2020) Tromping through the woods! |
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| Sweet Hannah |
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| Lovable Beau |
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| Getting all grown up! |
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| Little sweetheart! |
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| What a cutie! |
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| We're going to miss all the cousin fun! |
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| What a fun, good looking bunch of kids! |
9. Poppy! Sebastian and I had decided years ago that having a dog was something we wanted for our family. I wanted something the size of a cocker spaniel and Sebastian needed something that wouldn't bother his asthma. We dog sat a friend's cockapoo, and from then on I was convinced that a cockapoo was the dog for us! I had been searching for cockapoos online without luck - most cockapoos were in the northeastern United States. Then one night, I watched a video that had just been posted to Facebook by a family breeder called Mountain Puppies located near SLC. They had one puppy deposit left! I immediately got in touch with the breeder and placed our deposit that very night!
It's been a wild ride training a puppy. Her "puppiness" was a shock to my system! All the potty accidents, the stinky dog smells, the constant need for attention, the nippiness, the leash pulling, the sneaky vomiting, the toilet water drinking, and wild runs all over my furniture drove me insane! I was ready to throw the towel in almost every day ... for months! We were fortunate enough to have many dear family and friends walk us off the ledge a few times and teach us so many things about dogs.
I'm grateful we stuck it out, because Poppy is a real sweetheart. She is a complete lover and so gentle! For the bulk of the day, she follows me around and wants to be as close to her family as she can. She jumps up into bed with us when I'm reading to the kids. She plops down on my feet when I'm getting ready in the morning. We definitely go on more walks now than ever before. Poppy's favorite things are playing with her broom, eating human food, seeing my Dad, and seeing the neighbor's bulldog, Dozer. We love you, Poppy!
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| (7/18/2020) Meeting Poppy for the first time! She's so tiny! |
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| Hudson snuggles Poppy on the drive home |
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Our animal lover finally gets a dog!
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| The sweet darling was so sad! |
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| (7/19/2020) Little Popstar taking a rest after meeting Gus |
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| These two play rough! |
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| (7/21/2020) We kept the little sweetheart tied up in the kitchen - she seemed so sad! |
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| We love Poppy's floppy ears! |
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| Big stretches for a little girl! |
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I can't believe how tiny she was back then!
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| (7/24/2020) Snuggling Ms. Poppy Buns! |
10. Extra Family Time! The biggest blessing of 2020 was more family time! Besides Sebastian's work schedule and Hudson's school schedule, we had nothing else making demands on our time. No school schedule for Beau and Hannah, no extracurricular activities, no church activities, no play dates, no ... you name it! We've slept in more than ever, stayed up late more than ever, snuggled in bed more than ever, and have taken lots of walks! We have time in the mornings to get our chores done and time in the evenings to veg. It's been a real slowdown. I hope we don't take this extra family time for granted!
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| (7/11/2020) Morning snuggles with my girls! |
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| (8/19/2020) My goofy kids ready for night time prayers! |
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| (8/9/2020) Our daily morning visitor! |
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| (8/20/2020) My sweet angel! |
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| (9/1/2020) Sofia LOVES dolls and tucks them in for bed |
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| (10/11/2020) If we were doing regular school, Sofia would be alone all day! But this year, she had ALL of her siblings home! |
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| (11/6/2020) My mom and dad had us over to celebrate our birthdays and they always SPOIL us! |
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Giggles with my silly girl!
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| (11/9/2020) Love these moments |
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| (11/10/2020) These two on RARE occasions take naps together! So precious! |
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| (12/4/2020) Family movie nights on "movie bed" in matching pajamas was magical while it lasted! Movie bed popped after ONE movie! |
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| (12/11/2020) Morning walks with Poppy and Sofia |
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| I love this baby of mine! |
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| Her tiny ponytail just kills me! |
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| (12/15/2020) Snowman pancakes! Nice to have time in the morning for hot breakfasts once in a while! |
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| (12/15/2020) Walking her little Lisa |
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| (12/24/2020) Doing the nativity ... celebrating Christmas with just our family was a very rare occasion! |
Joseph and pregnant Mary!
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| Our lovely angel |
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| Our cute shepherd |
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| (12/26/2020) The scooters were a BIG hit for the girls! |
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| Scootering in the church gym |
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| (12/31/2020) Sharing a bed because we have Sethrina's family in town for New Year's |
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| (1/8/2021) We discovered that Beau burned his hair somehow ... we just don't know how! |
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| Poor thing! Had to buzz it all off! |
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| (1/12/2021) This little cutie helps let Poppy out in the mornings |
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| (1/21/2021) Found this baby surrounded by stuffies! |
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| (1/25/2021) Computer games and tv have my children's' hearts |
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| All in a row! |
1 comment:
What a fun-filled post!!! I love you and your sweet family Jess!
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