Life at home during the stay home stay safe order continues to be a blessing. Our county and other surrounding counties are actually moving into phase 2 this week.
Monday, June 1st
The kids built a fort this morning. They even figured out a way to play Mario kart while in the fort. lol
Can’t forget new hairstyle Monday. Emily picked mini French braids with the rest of her hair down. Ashley picked a waterfall braids on both sides that meet together in the back and combine into a braid.
Tuesday, June 2nd
This was the only picture I took today, and I took it to send to Jose. The kids were watching Aladdin which is Jose’s favorite Disney movie. However, this time they were watching it in Español. Sometimes when I don’t have the chance or time to do the kids’ Spanish lesson, we just end our homeschool day by watching a movie or TV show in Spanish. Oh, and the baskets of laundry in the background are clean laundry! Tuesday is my folding day. After the kids go to bed, I fold all the laundry for the week.
Wednesday, June 3rd
Emily and David had their first primary zoom meeting today. They sang songs and played a game. They were a little shy, but they both spoke up and and answered questions when it was their turn.
Afterward, we finished up our schoolwork, had a snack and piled in the car. I had to get some blood work done and I have not found a new doctor where we moved to yet, so we had to drive back to our old stomping grounds. It was perfect timing because we wanted to surprise Jose and take him to dinner before work to celebrate his recent promotion. Here we are waiting in the car for our food. Jose was kind enough to bring his new Nintendo switch lite for David to try out while we were in the car. David was super excited to try it out!
Not the best picture, but it is what we got! The sun was shinning bright on us and Emily couldn’t keep her eyes open. I could barely keep my eyes open as well. None the less, this pic is another memory in the book. 🙂
After Jose went to work, we drove past our old house and then stopped at Carlos’ old work. Terry, his old boss happened to be standing outside so we were able to pull over and talk to him from inside the car for a little while. He had a huge smile when we pulled up. It was good to see him.
Our dear friends Lacey & Bene bought a house recently and they had invited us to stop by the next time we happened to be in town. We stopped over at their place and it was so cute. It is the perfect house for their family.
The best part was of course just seeing them! My eyes teared up when I hugged my dear old friend Lacey. The house that her and Bene bought just happened to be across the street from some old friends from church, the Hirschi’s. We stopped over for a quick visit and talked with them in their yard before heading out of town. I was surprised at how happy everyone was to see us today. I have really missed visiting like this.
Back at home we had family scripture study and then watched the movie, Hidden Figures. It is such a good movie. The kids and I have already watched it, but Carlos hadn’t seen it yet. During the movie, David fell asleep snuggle up with me. I’ve noticed that these moments are becoming fewer and farther between lately, so I took a quick pic of him sleeping with me.
Thursday, June 4th
Sometime within the last month I said to Carlos, “What if this is the last time David comes and gets in bed with us?” Well, it wasn’t becuause he did come and get in bed with us tonight. I know this is another one of the fewer and far between moments….so I took another picture! Just in case this is the last time David comes and sleeps in bed with us. Luckily Carlos and I were still awake watching an episode of Heartland, when David came down.
Friday, June 5th
10 years ago on this day, my sweet little boys were baptized. Elder Juarez was 10 and Jose was 9 at the time. Elder Juarez posted this today:
Ashley and David got out the old wooden train track this evening to put together and play with, while Emily was able to video chat with her friend Aubrey.
Saturday, June 6th
Happy birthday to my dad! We were able to video chat with him and Elena (his new wife of 6 months) today and sing him happy birthday. 🙂
Here are some pictures that Elder Juarez and his new companion, Elder Smith took today. Not sure if I mentioned it already, but Elder Juarez was transferred to Williams, AZ during the last transfer. He said hadn’t had to wear his jacket in a long time and that the weather is a little cooler up north than it is down in Phoenix. He is excited for this next adventure and hoping they might be able to see the grand canyon on one of their P days.
Elder Smith & Elder Juarez
While making dinner this evening, Jose texted me this picture of him and Belle eating ice cream in the car. When I saw where the ice cream was from, I knew they were out of town and not too far from us. Knowing that they were close by, I was hoping for a surprise visit.
I got my wish! It is always good to see my boy!!!!! I haven’t seen Belle since pre – covid19. It was good to see her too. Afterall, this was supposed to be her high school graduation weekend….and we were supossed to be down visiting her. Belle did say the school district is doing a small socially distanced graduation ceremony on Monday evening. It will just be for graduates and the family members that they live with though.
Sunday, June 7th
Today we had church at home and then ate lunch. The kids ended up picking cherries from our tree afterward. It is so hard for them to wait for the cherries ripen. lol
Ashley ended up straining her neck while trying to reach up and pull cherries off the tree. She ended up inside in tears. I gave her an ibuprofen and told her about the times that I have strained my neck in the past and gave her some tips. Later that evening, I found this sweet little video on Carlos’ phone.
Before dinner, Carlos and the kids watched the first few episodes of Avatar: The Last Air Bender. When Jose came up to visit yesterday, be had bought Carlos the complete series on DVD. This was a favorite pastime of Carlos, Jose and Elder Juarez. They loved watching avatar in 2010 and 2011. It was thoughtful for him to buy it for Carlos.
It turns out, David is just like his dad and brothers. He likes avatar too! After this we had Mexican chicken skewers for dinner. They were pretty good. After dinner, Carlos was able to video chat with his family. This time the 4 way video chat was with his 2 sisters and mom, who are all in Mexico. The kids and I were able to say hi too. We finished up our night with some dessert and a couple rounds of Uno.
Under normal circumstances, these kiddos would not be staying up until after 10 pm on a Sunday evening playing games. I feel like we are so blessed to have this extra time together due to covid19. So much changed for us in 2019. First, Elder Juarez left on his mission, Carlos got a new job to which he had a long commute, Jose graduated high school and we moved! At that time, I didn’t realize that Elder Juarez leaving was just the beginning of lots of big changes. So, after a busy, fast paced year full of big changes, I’m grateful that in 2020 we have been allowed the opportunity to soak up more time together like this and to slow down a bit. We are so blessed!
I didn’t think your family could get any better looking or sweeter but they do! Thank you so much for sharing. Means a lot to me during these times of social distancing. Love to you all.
We love you too Grandma. Can’t wait to see you again.