Spring 2021 (not counting Spring Break)

Arden turned 15! Crazy. But look how cute she is!  She is still happy to do the bunny pictures, so sweet:

 For her party she went to an escape room (again, but Arden loves escape rooms!). She invited the usual crew but her friend Grant tagged along and was a good sport about being the only dude along for the ride. They let me come in and help a little. They escaped!

For Christmas, Cora got tickets to go see Les Miserables at Hale Center, and she let me come with her.  It was still masks required back then.  The show was AMAZING.  I have seen Les Mis in London, and I would say this production was just as good. The three main guys were in the Gentri group, and especially the guy who did Jean Valjean was so good.  

During this time I was learning guitar, and I was using an app on my phone called Yousician. I accidentally took a screen shot once, and this is what the screen looked like, just for fun memories sake.

These next bunch of pictures are pretty random, but what can I say?  Life during this period was pretty random. I wasn't training for any races or anything since Covid still had things shut down, so I was enjoying slow hikes/trail runs. Here is a picture from up above Wild Rose:

I don't know what this picture is for, but Arden loves to read. She loves murder books and scary books, and these were some books she got from the library (it is hard to get Arden to use the library...for some reason she wants (me) to go and buy all the books she wants to read).  

Dax was (and still is) extremely averse to getting his picture taken, but I promise he was here. He does not really like to read. He was more into playing video games with his friends and loved Fortnite during this time. You could always tell when he was playing with his friends and the action was getting hot, because you could hear him yelling from everywhere in the house.

Here is Arden and Olive on a walk!  Random! But cute!

Cora was in (yet) another play!  This time she was Grace in Annie. She always does a great job of memorizing her lines and didn't miss a single one.

Again, with the looking all grown up and beautiful in her costumes!

Once Arden turned 15, she finally wore me down and I let her get SnapChat. She would sometimes surprise me by taking my picture with pretend gummy bears stuck to my face. But at least the filter puts makeup on for me :)

Here is the cute cat. No context, just cute.

Cora and Arden's friend talked Arden into being in a play too!  Arden and Cora were both in Newsies.  Cora had a few lines, and Arden was ensemble but she had to do some back handsprings for the dance numbers and stuff. Arden had fun, but not enough fun to do any more plays.  So, enjoy these pictures of Arden's first and possibly only theatrical experience, and Cora's like 8th of what will probably be hundreds:

Seize the day girls!

Cutest newsies ever!

Cora was also still doing competitive soccer, so her days were very busy. Soccer practice, play practice, voice lessons, young womens. Good thing she had a chauffeur and personal assistant (me).

Here is another cute picture of a Loki! 

Cora was also the next birthday-haver.  She is 12!  She wanted a cake with lots of sprinkles, so I did my best.  Thats a lot of candles for my baby!

And here are the obligatory bunny pictures, but Olive wanted to join in this time. 

Cora hadn't hit her growth spurt yet, so she was a pretty small 12-year-old. She was in 6th grade and was ready to move on from elementary school! (I think once she got there, she realized that elementary school wasn't so bad after all, at least they had recess!)

One day I heard a big THUNK on the front window, and went outside to find this little guy laying on the ground, but his eyes were open. I was worried he might have broken something, so I carefully picked him up. He perked up and sat on my hand, but he was pretty dazed. I enjoyed holding him as he hung out for a minute, but then he felt better and flew away. Yay!

Preston had his birthday next! He didn't take as many pictures as the girls, but I snapped this one of him at his birthday dinner (we went on the day between their birthdays I think) at good old Texas Roadhouse!  They weren't making anyone sit on the saddle because of COVID, but they still enjoyed their free ice cream and their YEEHAWs.

January and February 2021

 January and February 2021 was a long time ago now, and from my pictures, there either wasn't a lot going on, or I just didn't take pictures of stuff?  I apparently went on a few hikes, which were cold but pretty.  These are just from the old trusty Wild Rose Trail in our neighborhood, which is blissfully non-crowded in the wintertime:

This one was from a weekend in Bear Lake.  As the kids got older they got less enthused about going to the cabin for a weekend, but at this stage I could still drag them up there.  I love going up Fish Haven Canyon in the winter...there are still some snowmobiles, but too many.

By the end of February, the snow was melting and one morning I took Olive over to the little trail around the corner from our house and there were some leaves that had been un-snowed, and still had colors, but had frost all over them:

It was my Grandma's birthday!  Unfortunately, her center was still locked down for Covid, so we weren't allowed to go and visit her, but my mom sent me this picture of her on her special #96 birthday, isn't she adorable?

Cora continued her love of theater! She was Sara in "Thoroughly Modern Millie." (Sara is one of the girls that lived in the hotel will Millie and Miss Dorothy):

It was really cute, but it was kind of funny watching those little kids do Thoroughly Modern Millie things.

Cora loved it and made lots of new theater friends.

She had cute outfits and looked so grown up!

Then, for Valentines Day, we continued our super-fancy traditional dinner...of Papa Murphy's Heart Shaped Pizza!

I am not sure exactly what this picture is, but I found it on the camera roll, and I just wanted to remember these faces!  Sophie, Allie, Arden, Emily and Hannah:

The end!