Hiking and Heartbreak
During the height of the pandemic (typing that as if we are so far removed from it,) it was interesting to feel so consumed by everything, constantly being on my phone checking for updates and feeling like the world was total chaos. Then I would go outside in the backyard, or go for a walk with the kids, and be a little removed from it, and things would feel better, things would feel normal again.
Now the pandemic is (hopefully) winding down, most things are returning to normal again, but now the internet has shifted focus. The things that have happened and are happening in the world are heavy and heartbreaking. Yet somehow, everything online feels more contentious than ever. Everything you say is wrong to someone and no matter what you do or post it isn't the right thing. I took a step back from the internet and I've not been posting this week. I do get on occasionally to read other's posts, but it is a lot to process. Although I have learned a lot, it is also overwhelming. I've had to take a break from social media because I can't stand that conflict, negativity and even hopelessness most of the posts made me feel. But again, when I step outside and leave the internet behind, things feel normal. I see my children of different skin colors holding hands and playing together and things feel okay.
The weather has been a little hotter than normal but still nice. We are so happy playgrounds are open again and we've been taking advantage of them.
One of my "pandemic purchases" a cute little dollhouse that I got for a steal on facebook marketplace.
Sweet little baby sleeping with his bum in the air, always.
Israel was sick (first time any of the kids have been sick in a long time thanks to social distancing) and he was so sad and cuddly.
Adele loves to help with her little brothers.
Esther lost another tooth!
We went to my parents house for Memorial Day weekend. We visited Fremont Indian State Park. It was interesting and educational. Despite living in Utah all my life I don't think I've ever seen petroglyphs before.
Everyday the girls pretend to grind "wheat" into flour to make bread. So it was fun and fitting that they had this corn grinding exhibit in the museum there.
These handprints were painted on the cave between 500-1000 years ago. It was crazy to see how much smaller their hands were back then! Only a little bigger than Esther's.
The trampoline is always a favorite at Grandma's!
Israel loves his little cousins "Book and Akay" His little hand placement, so cute.
We left the girls at my parent's house for a couple of days after our trip. They had a great time and Esther finally got to go fishing, her dream come true! She's been asking me to take her fishing everyday since.
Baby Boy is ten months old now. His permanency hearing is in July and it looks like he could be leaving us. My heart is just breaking thinking about it. I don't know how we will say goodbye to him. I know we signed up for this and I know it's what the goal has been this whole time. Still, it's so hard. I don't know how to be anything other than your Mama, Sweet Boy.
After Memorial Day, Uncle Alexander came to visit from Texas. Leland took the week off work and we took him on a hike. This is my favorite hike ever. I love all the pretty aspen trees.
SNOW! The kids were so excited. I guess to them, three months ago when we had snow feels like a lifetime ago. They were very reluctant to leave this old dirty pile.
This meadow is so pretty, when you come out of the trees it feels like you're in the sound of music. I was surprised the trees were still bare, so I told Leland we will just have to hike it again later this summer. HERE in this post you can see some pictures from the last time we did this hike. Also-Baby Israel 💔
This time there was a little pond here before coming to the lake. It was full of frogs and added to the beauty.
These four little hikers did pretty well. They are getting better and better and maybe sometime in the future we can do more than a mile or two in three hours time :)
I cut Israel's hair again. I always want to grow it out but I just can't. His handsome little face though. He is talking so much these days. I just love him.
The girls put up this umbrella and had a picnic all on their own.
 |
| Add caption |
These girls love dressing themselves. And swinging from trees.
Esther finally had her follow up from the surgery she had in February. I'm so happy she had it done in February before everything got crazy. We were supposed to have it at the end of March but they had opening before that. Such a blessing. At her follow up everything was good and she is healed and free of future appointments. We are so grateful!
These boys are obsessed with dinosaurs so we had to take them to Dinosaur Park as soon as it opened. Well the grounds were open but the museum and playground were closed. It was very hot but we had fun walking around anyways.
Then we found this little guy RIGHT by our car. It had zero fear of us. The kids loved it and Israel added "a-coon" to his growing vocabulary.
Little Piano Man
Today we did another "hike" the Lagoon Trail. I had never been and it was really pretty and fun. We forgot Adele's helmet and of course she fell off her scooter going down a big hill and bonked her head and got a big goose egg. 😢 She is okay, but man we felt like the worst parents on the planet. Other than that it was very nice. There were a lot of swimmers at Farmington Creek so we had to promise the girls we could go back and swim there sometime.
 |
| Add caption |
I dabbled into sourdough bread baking, as is all the rage these days.
Fawn + Fuzzy
Pandemic board games-Ticket to Ride Junior
One beautiful evening we stumbled upon this magical dandelion field.
Five Little Monkeys all ready for bed. They sure do look adorable all clean and sitting still. If only the picture could show all the hard work it is taking care of these guys. They're worth it though. 💛
Comments
Post a Comment