March in Photos

 Started hiking again for the year. This day we just went down to the river to throw rocks, feed ducks, and happened to spot this bawled eagle at the top of the pine tree.

Hiking with Owen and Maddison on the trail by our houses.

This day was Julie's Grandma Birch's funeral. It was a lovely day and not too cold. I couldn't help but bring spring daffodils for her three younger siblings that passed away years earlier.

View of Spokane from the cemetery.

Lance was able to go home for a quick 3 days to attend Wally Ogden's funeral. He called it an inspired trip because he was able to talk with Donna and John about John's health scare. With his cancerous tumor being removed and the following complications with his blood, we never really got clear answers for Donna. So it was nice that he could talk with John and they had a great visit, even both of them crying at times talking about life and death.

Donut time!

First smores of the year

We hiked up the Dishman Hills area with Julie, it was lovely

Grandma Watson turned 91. She also made the difficult decision to sell her house and live in Debra's mother in law suite in her new house. I think the house became too much and she needs a little more help with day to day things. What a blessing Debra has been! And if I remember correctly, when they built their house they specifically added the mother in-law suite for Grandma.

February in Photos

In February, the state slowly started to open back up. I had been stocking all the sports websites waiting for announcements and as soon as sports opened up, I signed the kids up. They need more social interaction and just to get out of the house. Home school doesn't provide much socializing so I was excited for the kids to be with other kids and to learn new skills.

Kimball did a speed and agility class which was only 5 weeks long. They worked a lot on foot coordination, jumping high and far, "jaw/pocket" for speed, and getting those arms going. He really enjoyed it.

Daddy playing house with Cora. Within a few minutes, everyone was playing house. Daddy has the best sound affects and humor for that kind of thing.

Making Valentine cookies with his #1 girl.

In February Jeff and Penny announced their date for receiving their endowments and getting sealed to each other. We were so blessed when mom came to spend time with the kids so Lance and I could fly to Las Vegas. That night we left in a blizzard and arrived to clear skies and palm trees, it was a really nice transition.

It was HEAVENLY to be back in the temple after such a long absence!! I had a really neat spiritual experience there and was SOOO blessed to be invited to go. The temple allowed 16 people only to ensure safe social distancing and sanitizing protocols. Everybody in their ward asked them if they could go, haha. We were able to meet Courtney and her husband who have been teaching them the new member discussions (we've been joining those discussions via Zoom) and been instrumental in their retention. They had a lovely lunch after the sealing and had a special cake that was shared with everyone, including Penny's two girls and their families. What a special weekend! It was just so good to be in warmer weather, be around people, able to worship in the temple, visit and eat with friends, and have good gospel discussions. Thank you, Mom, for enabling us to go!

Love notes from Grandma we found after she left to go back home.

For Cora's sentences at school she wrote, "My favorite part of my grandma visiting is cuking together. I luv my grandma!"

At the end of February Cora started reading therapy twice a week, one through Zoom and one in person. It has helped her tremendously but we still have a lot of work to do! I'm thankful to sit in on the sessions because there are concepts I didn't recognize Cora wasn't getting. For example, they're working on auditory processing because she isn't able to hear every letter in a word, especially a word with two consonants together.  Like the word TRIP, she can't hear the R which makes it harder for her to read the word and even harder to spell the word. She also can't grasp rhyming and is still a bit confused on vowels. But this year I'll continue her speech and reading therapies through the summer so she can try to get caught up to her peers. I'm so thankful for her therapists!

Happy Sunday!

January in Photos

Ezra's toddler years are swiftly coming to an end so I have to take random photos to document how little he is. He's becoming a picky eater, refuses to eat much dinner, and is constantly running. He's a quick little runt.

Kimball was drawing blueprints of the funeral home and couldn't remember the word "crematory." I present, the "Humen Griller 2000."

Kimball had been working hard and saving up his own money to buy his own hamster. He really wants more responsibility and to grow up. He decided beforehand he was going to name him Wilson, but the pet place only had females. Welcome to the family, Mrs. Wilson! Kimball does a great job taking care of her and she lives in Kimball's room.

Grandpa Pettingill turned 90 years old!

Deer right across the street from our house.

After a long day at the office we went out to dinner together. Since WA is still closed down we drive over to Idaho where the restaurants are open.

Running down the sidewalks while waiting for Kimball to get done with piano lessons.

At the beginning of the year Dad sold the company to Joseph, Brad, and Tim. They'll do a great job running the company as Dad slowly prepares for retirement.