Lucy gets baptized

Thanks to Covid Lucy got her own private baptism. We were thrilled when we moved here to find out our stake center shared a parking lot with the Meridian temple. What a blessing. Lucy was so excited to be baptized and we were so happy that both sets of grandparents could be here and her great grandparents.

We love this special girl of ours and are so grateful her siblings can feel the Spirit of how important baptisms and making covenants are. Mallie teared up as she was being confirmed as she remembered her own baptism day. I love that we can feel Heaven so near on these special days.

 

First day

 Nothing worse than sending kids to school in masks. Okay, I lied. It'd be far worse if the kids had to keep homeschooling. I was not cut out for that. So here we go to the 2020 school year and thank goodness schools are at least semi-open. Other places in the country are fully shut down as far as schools go. Our middle school kids are on a hybrid schedule for now. We'll see how the rest of the year goes. The little ones are excited because friends are easy in elementary school. Bug and Hannah are a little more nervous! 

Lucy turns 8

 Lucy turned 8 pretty quickly after we moved to Meridian. We were so happy that her great Nana and Pops invited us to go boating that day! We woke up and she opened her presents and then we headed to the Lake! We drove through the Taco Bell drive thru (her fav) on the way home and then did an ice cream party when we got home at 8pm. Lucy is smiley and happy and a peacemaker. She loves to nurture and love the little girls especially Sophie. We love her so much and are so excited she gets to be baptized soon!

Mallie turns 10

 Mallie always seems older than she is. She's 10 and feels like she's been older for ages. She loves to bake and organize. She is always so helpful in the kitchen. Lucy is her little BFF and I caught them playing UNO in her hammock chair that she bought herself. She is motivated and I would trust her to basically do anything because she is determined and responsible. We love this girl!!

Hattie turns 3

 Hattie turned 3 right after we moved here. This little girl is more talkative at three than any of our other kids. She used to be so sneaky and would get into everything. She is getting a little less mischievous but thank goodness she still has her giant personality. She loves to chat and laugh and has the best smile. We love this little girl so much! 

Getting ready to leave MN

As we were packing up and getting ready to leave MN we had to say goodbye to a lot of our favorite people and places.

One of our last nights with the Barnes family. Bethany and I hooked up pretty quickly when we got there and swapped babysitting weekly. It was the best!

The Lam kids from across the street moved in when we had about a year to go and our kids played outside together daily. They made chalk towns on driveways and drew roads across the street to link them together. They were the best neighbors.

David didn't get a formal graduation because of covid but he and the fellow residents had a little park send off with the faculty. He got to work with some pretty amazing coresidents for the last two years!

We went to Nelsons to celebrate since we couldn't do anything really official at a restaurant. Man we love Nelsons and their supersize cups of ice cream for so CHEAP.

I had to throw this one in there. One day the three big girls were wearing overalls and they just looked so cute together. Harmony my best friend from MN had gifted us two pairs. She kept us in a steady supply of hand me downs from her girls and we were so grateful1 Oh Minnesota we will miss you!!

 

The drive

One of the kids' favorite things about moving is the drive across the country and staying at hotels. We usually try to add in some fun stops to stretch our legs. Our first stop was the Badlands national forest. We had never been before and it was beautiful. We wished we had more than an hour to hike around.

I still get nervous every time the kids hike that high without me.

Then back to Mount Rushmore. We were so happy to have one more day there. We think it's one of the coolest places in the U.S.

Then we went to Bear World! You get to drive through a Bear enclosure and it is SUPER cool.

Thank goodness the weather was perfect and in the middle of all the Covid madness we could be outside.

Never gets old lining them up all like this.

Then even more driving. Can you believe this girl's "blankey" is a king sized quilt? We have trucked it across the country in a car seat. I also never want to forget how she sucks her two middle fingers.

On to Idaho!!!