Since we moved into the orange phase at the beginning of the month, we started #momhike back up again. 


It was heaven to be reunited. Even if we drove our own cars to the trailheads and kept 6 ft between us while hiking and drank our sodas at separate tables.  It felt amazing to do something normal again. 


And luckily momhike did start up again, because Kacie and I only got one hike in during the month of May!


We also got to do other normal things with the move to orange (and then yellow in the middle of may) …

Like go to the zoo.

and I felt like the zoo did an amazing job of keeping the numbers low and making sure people were social distancing.  


Kids went to the dentist.


Things were of course a little different, but just glad we could get in and get some cavities filled.  
We even went to the movies! 

Our local community theatre was showing all the Harry Potters.  We decided to brave the crowds and see the 4th one.  It was amazing.  There was maybe 12 people total in a theatre and no one was in a 20 ft radius of us.  

We met up with the Rensinks for the first time and took a scooter ride through the canyon.  


It was the first time they’d played together since March, so it was a very exciting afternoon.  


Julianne and I walked far, far behind them reminiscing of the early scooter gang days where they’d get hit by long boarders and cause crashes and it was just pure chaos.  

They have grown up, even if they are a bit wild still.  and they rode those scooters 5 miles without complaint (except for Ruby).  

Mother’s Day was amazing and I do not think I will ever be able to go back to attending church on Mother’s Day.  It was such a relaxing day and one of my best yet.  


We hiked .7 miles to a new spot along the creek off the Big Springs Trail, where we just played and ate and relaxed all afternoon.  

And no other people in sight.  


BYU did a drive up Cougar Tail Day.  Genius move on their part. 


We then took our Cougar Tails and chocolate milk on campus to eat. 

We then of course scootered all around campus, which has become our favorite quarantine activity.  



Come mid May I let the kids loose in the neighborhood.  Our neighborhood alliance decided that we were ok with outside play, but no kids allowed in houses. 

These kids were just so happy to be reunited, that they didn’t even fight for the first few weeks. 

Most days you could look out the window and find kids from the ages of 3-12 all playing together.  

And I was so happy to have this sight out my back window and extra happy no one was bugging me to come play inside.  

The Miners also opened up their pool and become the hottest hang out on the block.

Fang has probably been missing the constant stream of visitors and kids more than most, so he has been especially happy (and tired) to have all the neighbor kids back.

an over the fence greeting during quarantine.

There was still lots of sibling time, my favorite moments are when they are actually friends and playing together nicely. 

And endless bike trick practicing. 


Crew and Sawyer have also mastered the outside playdate and couldn’t of been happier to be reunited.


And since school was wrapped up and my table was once again free, Macey and I got to do our Hostess Puzzle.

Which we of course celebrated it’s completion by buying a bunch of hostess treats at the gas station.  

We got together with Michelle and kids to hike to Battle Creek. 

It’s crazy to think that just a few years ago just the thought taking these 8 kids hiking alone would of made us laugh hysterically.  

 And now here we were doing it.  It’s not so bad that kids actually grow up, sometimes.   

We fit in 2 more camping trips.  In a normal May 3 trips in the month would of sent me over the edge, but this time it was just what we needed.  

Cherry with the Johnson’s

This was probably one of our easiest trips yet because Ruby was entertained the whole time and not constantly whining at us.  

Plus, all these little best friends have just been missing each other and were just loving getting to finally hang out.  

And Capitol Reef, where we left Ruby behind with Holly. This trip also marked off our last Utah National Park to visit!  

We never get pictures with the park signs because the lines are always so long.  So, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity when we kept driving by and there was never anyone there.  

National Parks never disappoint.  It was beautiful.  And made better because the campground in the park was still closed, along with all visitor centers, so it was very empty.  We of course missed getting to do the Jr. Ranger program, but I guess that means we will just have to go back.  

The only down side was the No Seeums (aka biting flies).  They mostly just bugged Crew.  He had 42 bites from ear to ear.  Luckily they were only on 2 of the trails we did, but poor little Crew.  

It was awesome getting to go out on top of Cassidy Arch.  

And we had this whole section of the river to ourselves.  

Gerald is proving to be a very awesome addition to our family.  

Things are crazy and stressful and hard, but I am doing my best to enjoy life slowing down and realigning where my focus should actually be.  

Another bonus of Covid and Paul working from home…he has actually had time to teach the kids how to mow the lawn!!

It’s the little things.