The remainder of summer...

Here is a little mis-match of pictures from the rest of the summer. Some hightlights:

Snuggles with Benny. 

Playing in the pond while I read a good book. 

Look who is starting kindergarten! So fun finding this sign in our yard!!!

I have so many crazy pool hair pictures of this kid. 

The summer high lights in this kids hair!!!

He finally learned to ride a bike!! We worked really hard at this!! The other 2 kids tried for about 30 seconds and were off but not Benny. We practiced again and again and again. But he never stopped and it eventually happened and he's a pro now!!

Love getting picture text messages from this kid and his catch. 

Ivy had a beach day with Sophie and their friend Holland. 

Lakefront with the cuzzies.

Back to church!! The handsomest boys. 

Benny had a staggered start to school so we spent his extra day of summer at Wild Florida. 

Scalloping!

We couldn't let the summer end without a scalloping trip. It is one of my most favorite things to do. We drove up on a Thursday afternoon and spent all day Friday and all day Saturday on the water and came home Saturday night. The Pratt's joined up with us before we launched on Friday. The morning was great... the afternoon stormed!! Could have been worse but the rain drove us in a little earlier than we would have liked. The next day had no rain luckily. Overall it was super fun. Minus the worst sunburn of Jacksons life. I was just happy to have him swimming around without a swimshirt for once but the overcast weather tricked us and he was pretty pink. Unfortunately he came down with a bad case of the "pricklies" or what's known as "Hell's Itch". Not the greatest start to the new school year but he survived. And vowed to never get sunburned again. 

I don't know if this video will work but the Hell's Itch that happens to people after a sunburn is legit. It hit Jackson at the end of his first day of school. He came home miserable. It's an insatiable itch that is deep and so uncomfortable and relentless it drives you to insanity. The only thing that helped it was submerging into a tub full of ice. Poor kid. He slept with me and he'd hop in the tub. It would subside. He'd dry off, come climb into bed and not more than 20 minutes later I'd feel him twitching around and then eventually climb back in the tub. This lasted all night. All. Night. He was up every hour. I don't think he slept a wink. Needless to say he skipped the 2nd day of school but midway through that 2nd day the episodes were fewer and he was feeling much better by the evening. He hit the hay early and went to school the following day but poor kid. It was misery!!

Our Experience with the Coronavirus

After our lake day Daniel and Jackson went over to a friends house that evening to watch the UFC fight. They usually get home late when they go and this night was no exception. When Daniel crawled into bed near midnight he said to me he wasn't feeling very well, that he was achy and felt like he maybe had a fever. Well the next day (Sunday) he did not get out of bed. Body aches, headache, fever and chills. He felt pretty miserable all day Sunday. On Monday morning he woke up pretty sweaty, had broken his fever and was feeling markedly better. He made an appointment to get corona tested because he was anticipating going to work the next day. Well, after his rapid covid test that afternoon he called to say he was positive for the coronavirus!! He had it! I almost didn't know what to think!! We had to notify everyone we'd been in contact with the previous several days and then we started a strict 14 day quaratine! On Tuesday evening, Jackson said he was feeling a little achy and the next day he had a fever, too. By Thursday his fever was gone, though, and he felt completely normal by Friday. Ivy, Benny and I never fell sick. Those 14 days were some of the longest, yet greatest days of our lives. Daniel's health only continuted to improve so he was never extremely sick. We made a movie night chart and watched a family movie every night. Every. Night. 14 movies!! (all the Back to the Future movies, all the Johny English movies, Ms. Doubtfire, Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, 17 Miracles, and the Jurrassic Park movies). We went swimming, we read books, we repeatedly checked our chickens (they started laying eggs at this time), we just enjoyed being together because thats all we could do. We made a trip one Sunday to the temple, we worked on our Family History challenge. I really only have fond memories of our time in quaratine which makes me so happy. So many people brought us treats, popcorn, puzzles, etc...  We were well cared for and came out in good shape!! I mostly only have pictures of Benny since he was the hardest to entertain. 

About 2 weeks after Daniel's recovery, his parents fell ill with the coronavirus. Because we had all either had it or been exposed to it, we were the caretakers for them. Both required daily attention to monitor oxygen levels and take meds but overall they weren't too bad off either and after a few days seemed just fine themselves!! We beat the coronavirus!!

Lake Day

2 weeks after we returned from the Keys we had a super fun lake day. Tubing with all the cousins. It was the last we'd see of our friends and cousins for awhile... that night Daniel started feeling unwell and 2 days later had a confirmed case of the Coronavirus!! So it had finally happened to us!! Next post I'll tell you all about our quaratine and our experience with COVID-19

The 4th of July

We drove back from the Keys on the 4th of July. Luckily, the drive home was much less eventful. We unloaded ourselves, ordered some pizza and then cruised down the street to our neighborhood lakefront to enjoy a firework show. It was the perfect evening and ending to a wonderful vacation.