History Made

Woke up at 5 on Saturday to the sound of thunder.  By 5:20 Bryant was in our room coaxing us to come see.  He'd been up and watching the storm on the back porch for awhile.  These are some of the pictures that James captured.

This one actually started a fire down along Columbia River Road.

Reilly Scribner took this one from her trampoline at sunrise when the sky was red.

Apparently, lightening killed 6 cows up on Birch road.  

During the middle of the day, we all gathered around the TV to watch the first ever independant company shuttle launch.  It was a go after they had to scrub the launch Wednesday due to weather.

The miracle of the day was this.  When Sariah and I went to milk Freeman’s goats this morning, she noticed that their dog Riley was nowhere to be seen.  I thought the lightening must have scared it and it was hiding somewhere.  This afternoon, Bryant went to mow Robison’s lawn.  He called and said that a dog had scared him, but that he thought it was Riley and when he called it by name, it calmed right down and came to him.  So, Sariah, Hyrum and I went up there with Freeman’s kennel and brought Riley back home the several miles she had gone having never left their property before.  The crazy thing is, Freeman’s put a collar on her two days ago.  It helped us to make sure it was her and to hold onto her so she didn’t take off.  The other crazy thing is that Bryant would be going to the very place the dog was hiding several miles away, the only place Bryant went all day.  No doubt, God was watching out in many different ways.

 The kids were having fun on the trampoline as the second storm approached in the afternoon.

Hyrum

Sariah

Rex

Lyle

Bryant and I were sitting on the back porch enjoying the storm feel and smell when all of a sudden the rain hit.  I told the kids that rain like that doesn't come too often to the Columbia Basin so we better go enjoy it.  It didn't take long for us to get soaked!

Zipline Intiation

We took a pizza picnic out to 351 to try out Papa's zipline on Friday night.  The kids zipped and zipped and zipped.

While we were there, Bryant had a zoom meeting for his National Honor Society Induction.  I have to hand it to some of the teachers for going above and beyond for the sake of the students.

And we found our two-seater stroller--they are a bit big for it now.

Projects

Sariah finished sewing 7 temple bags.  Unfortunately, they aren't as "water proof" as we thought they would be.  So, now they are cosmetic bags.

Vard was really hoping for his project.  James helped him go check it out but he lost out in the auction of Friday.  Rex and Lyle were disappointed too.  They were looking forward to a ride!

Hyrum and Rex planted 250 pumpkin seeds.  

The boys wanted to go down to the beach again, so I took the little guys down again on Thursdsay. 

It was a much hotter day.

Had some pretty hot boys when we got back!

Freemans are gone for the weekend so we get our first chance at milking goats.

Sariah is the first to volunteer to help.

Memorial Day 2020

We went out to visit Grandpa and Grandma on a Sunday night for the first time since COVID.  We made our annual visit to Countryview Cemetery and the amazing people who have given us such a great legacy.

We learned the appropriate way to raise the flag on Memorial Day and had a family flag ceremony.

Then we went to work on our annual garage cleaning day.  It only took about 4 hours with everyone's help and by the time we were finished we could park two cars in the garage!

Rex even cleaned some windows that may never have been cleaned since we moved in almost 6 years ago!

We decided to take an afternoon bike ride down to see the beach for the first time this year. 

Not much of a beach with the river so high, but they had fun skipping rocks.

And to finish out the day we initiated the firepit.

All of our kids can cook their own hotdogs now!

As the sun was setting, James caught these pictures of the light hitting the flag just perfect for Memorial Day.

Four Eyes

Lizza gave us a bag of costumes.  Just happened to have 4 sets of these.  Pretty funny!

"Reading" scriptures

Peeking out of the hammocks.

Jhett came to complete the foursome.

James found something in the costume bag to further his moustache joke.

Hammock tricks.

Loving the peonies!

One of the ways we have spiced up COVID time is a few swims at the Woodward's pool.  This is a pic of Bryant's exercise.

Rex and Lyle planting this year's pumpkins.

Out and About

We got approval from the Bishop and were able to have our first YW activity together.  We couldn't carpool and we were supposed to be less than a group of 10 and it worked out perfect!  A beautiful evening along the Columbia River.

Sariah insisted on trying out the new playground toy so I tried to ignore the signs, "Playground equipment closed until further notice."

Emma, Katherine, Reilly, Sariah, Addysin, and Sarah.

Katherine said this was the 5th time in her life she had been on a bike and two of the other times had been earlier in the week to practice for our activity.  I was so proud of her to come and ride with us!

Hammock Camp Stands the Test!

Trying out the birthday hammocks in the hammock camp.

6 hammocks strong!

Bryant's happy place is watching for lightning on the back porch.

Thanking Freemans for letting us borrow their chickens and tractor to help take care of our property.

The only mask we could find for James to wear to Costco!

Rex made this quiver from a box that blinds were delivered in and the brown suede curtains I bought at a garage sale years before he was born.  I knew it would come in handy and it has time and time again.  (It's also a Star Wars costume cloak that I made for Bryant.)

The first strawberries of the season!  There really is only one healthy row.  The others have some sort of fungus and we will have to take them out after this harvest.  They have itty bitty berries and sick foliage.