Donna and John's Senior Photos

Easter Week

Out of the blue, I decided to potty train Ezra. I mean, we're already quarantined and can't go anywhere so what better timing? It made sense in my head. HORRIBLE, horrible idea!! There was peeing everywhere and Ezra never told me when he needed to go. The hose attachment on the shampooer broke so I couldn't sufficiently clean anything up. Ugh, I was madder than a hornet and taking all my frustrations out on the kids. I decided to give it one more day and if it was still awful then I'd wait a few more months because this frustration just wasn't worth it. I quit after the first accident of the second day, it just wasn't worth losing my sanity over and I didn't HAVE to potty train Ezra right that minute. It's ok for him to be in diapers still. In the end, my kids need a happy and sane mom.

Our wonderful neighbors gave us a few of their old bikes, it was so nice of them and they wouldn't let us pay for them. Since there's construction on our street we went to the church parking lot where the kids could ride as long as they wanted. Cora did AWESOME gaining confidence and speed with the training wheels. She even tried the two-wheeled scooter and did great, I was so stinking proud of her. That's a big fear of hers. Kimball thought the parking lot wasn't as exciting as our street since it didn't have any hills to gain speed. But we soaked up the sun and enjoyed the lovely spring weather.

 First marshmallow roasting of the year!

Our bunny project, haha!

 We made bird nest cookies with thank you cards to give to our neighbors, thanking them for giving us the bikes.

On Good Friday as we fasted I told Lance I wanted to start a new tradition by taking a family trip to a (any) cemetery and teach the kids about Christ's death and resurrection. We pulled out a picnic blanket in this Catholic cemetery and had a great discussion about it. Being around the graves and seeing the sculpted stone scenes of Christ's final few days really sunk in for the kids. It was good for them to see other people visiting graves, it sparked excellent questions, we talked about what it means for baby Emily and her family, it was such a reverent and spirit-filled discussion. It also brought up questions about Daddy's job that the kids were able to more fully comprehend. This particular cemetery is at the base of a hill so we hiked up the hill to see more sculptures and graves. It was pretty and a beautiful spring day for it.

 Easter egg hunt!

 Their loot.

Life In Quarantine & Creative Activities

The weekend before everything closed due to COVID-19 we made an impromptu trip across the border to...Hayden? I can't remember which little town it's in, but we went to the Triple Play water park. Because of the virus there was only us and two other families there which was nice, we didn't have to wait in any lines. Kimball of course loved the water park best of all and went down all the big slides with us. Cora refused to even go on the toddler slides, I did make her go down one time and she hated it and was content playing in the baby splash area with Ezra. She eventually got brave to do the wave pool. We had a pizza dinner right there and stayed in the hotel as well. Since we stayed in the hotel the tickets to the water park were super cheap, like $10. It was a really great evening! We were going to play games at the rest of the arcade area (bowling, mini golf, arcade games, go carts, etc.) but that morning the owners had closed the place down. So we were the last customers and even though we didn't get to play mini golf like we promised Cora, we still had a great time! On the way home we stopped at a gas station for a wonderfully healthy lunch of chips and a slushy, haha.

The second week of quarantine it snowed and was COLD. It was sooooooo miserable all week long! That week was tough.

Quarantine life isn't horrible but it isn't wonderful either. We try to get outside at least once a day  walking, biking, scooting, hiking, or doing yard work. If outside time doesn't happen then we're all a little stir crazy and grumpy.

One of the first things we did was take Ezra out of the crib and put the boys in the bunk beds. That took all night to set up but Ezra has done a really great job staying in bed, easiest transition out of all the kids.

This hike was right by Felts Field on the South side of the river across from Beacon Hill. It was steep getting down to the water but we eventually found an easement and had apples and threw rocks into the water.

 Drawing with Mo Willems

 Our project for this day was letting the kids decorate their own cakes which were slowly eaten over the next several days.

 Glow in the dark bath time!

This hike is Antoine Peak and gave us a beautiful view of the valley. I didn't realize until we got there how cold and windy it was so it was quite miserable to say the least.

Ezra hates wind, sun, water, and anything else in his eyes so he wasn't very happy. We found a big rock to rest and take a break for apple slices and let the kids explore a little bit. Brrrrrr!!! It was so cold! On the way back down Ezra just cried and refused to let me carry him on my back so I had to hold him in my arms on my hip. We got down the hill quicker but the next day my back had super bad spasms and I had to go in for pain killers and muscle relaxers.

 For this activity we made homemade play dough out of corn starch and conditioner. It is the softest stuff ever! It was messy though but the kids loved it.

 Kimball sculpted a wave.

On one of the cold days it was too cold to hike so we took a drive up to Mt. Spokane. They still have snow up there and the drive was absolutely beautiful! Little did I know it's only about 25 minutes from our house so I'm anxious to go back some time when the parks are open. We found this poor little guy on the side of the road, he'd been picked through pretty good.

 Hmmm, pretty sure you're supposed to sit ON the piano bench and not IN it.

Cora was playing "teacher" and reading books to her stuffies.

 This activity was drawing random lines with hot glue and coloring in the different shapes. It turned out cool.

 This area is in our neighborhood, right behind a row of houses. It's more of a walk than a hike but there were lots of rocks to climb and was more leisurely. So pretty.

Finally, general conference time!! I whipped up homemade scones (Donna's recipe) with honey butter and we feasted on deliciousness and the spirit. I was so thankful to hear our prophets and apostles especially during this time when the rest of the world is in uncertainty. I felt peace and reassurance that Heavenly Father is very aware of us.  It was lovely to participate in the Hosanna shout and to hear the Restoration Proclamation. President Nelson asked for another worldwide fast on Good Friday which we all participated in including Kimball. It was a really neat experience.