Our Covid Summer

 There has been a dearth of pictures this summer because we've mostly been at home. But this summer we were saved from insanity by swimming with some co-op friends. I should have taken a picture of them at the pool! We'd meet there every week and stay for 3 or 4 hours. It was great. We also went twice to their house, once to see the goats and once to see the slab for their house get poured. We were really grateful for someone to hang out with. 

After much deliberation, we also decided to take a trip to Utah and Idaho. We wanted to be careful not to take any covid germs to the grandparents. So we stayed home, completely cut off from the outside world. It was horrible! Don't make me do that ever again! We barely survived. And our reward was getting to see people and have some good times. Originally we had planned to leave on a Monday. But on Friday afternoon we were eating lunch, and I said, "We could leave this afternoon." And we could! So we did! We drove from 4-midnight on Friday and then arrived in Bountiful the next day around 7 or 8 pm. Breaking it up that way was nice. I always thought it would be horrible to do the long day of driving on the second day, but it wasn't bad at all. And somehow it felt like a day and a half of driving instead of two days of driving. 

Aaron's parents are doing a kitchen remodel. So they put him to work on that. It has been exciting to see their progress. 

We headed up the canyon for a campfire one evening we were there. The kids climbed mountains and streams and saw an owl and a snake. Both kids reported talking to Aunt Angela as one of the funnest parts of the trip. We also had fun doing loads of puzzles and playing Splendor. 

And we got to see the newest grandchild/cousin. So much fun!

Up in Idaho we crossed paths with Andrew and his family for about 12 hours. It has been two years I think since I've seen him. I brought my Dear Evan Hansen book, and we got to jam out a bit. It was fun. Oh, we also had an outdoor lunch with Felicia and Abbie before we went up to Idaho. Hot tub! I had a very nice chat with Spencer who's four. What a cutie!

Grandma and Grandpa McCombs are the best gardeners! Here is a cabbage compared to Annie's hand. There were seven others just like it!

Scotty and Aiden were strangely faithful about putting these hats on their heads every time they walked through Grandma and Grandpa's front door. 

Scotty wanted a picture in the apple tree. 

It was so nice to see family and to be somewhere other than our own house for a while. 

On our way home, we took a wrong turn. It was frustrating. But then we saw a sign for Goblin Valley. So instead of turning around we went there. It's where I fell in love with Aaron:) It was a bajillion degrees, and we were the only people there, but we had a good time.

We thought this one looked like a robot. 

So we are still surviving this very strange year. It has been a doozy. I think at the beginning, it was like, oh wow, this is new and I'm learning so much from this experience. Now we're all just kind of tired of it, right? Looks like we'll have to dig a little deeper and build some more character. And we are getting back to normal a little bit more. We'll be doing a nature journaling/gardening co-op this year. I think it'll be great!