Happy New Year's Eve! Corey and some kids are out celebrating with friends, and I'm home with a cough with a few sick kids. But it's ok - it's giving me a chance to review this past year, and it's been great. Here's some of the highlights for our family in 2021 - vacations and trips, ski and bike outings, kids birthdays, and lots of other family fun:
Kid group photo in April before Joseph and Hyrum left for Philly
...and the most exciting news of 2021 that we shared with the kids on Christmas Eve is that they are getting a little sister in May! We are looking forward to meeting her in 2022! We are also excited for 2022 because Melodie will be returning from her mission in March, and Ethan will come home from his mission at the end of June. We are looking forward to all the memories we will make together in this new year!
It's the first day of school! Abi did not know, when she left for Texas for two weeks in March, that that was her last day. She's glad to be back at Churchill. Lily started at Churchill this year too! Abi is a September birthday, so she's one of the older 7th graders, and as a June birthday, making her on the younger side of the new 6th graders. And Lily's always been little, and Abi's been sharing clothes with her college age sister and me for the past 2 years, so there's a pretty big different in their height.
One cool thing is that we don't have any jazz band this year, so Hyrum and Wesley don't need to leave for high school early, so they are going to take Abi and Lily most mornings! And they are going to pick them up after school too, so that means I don't need to drive any carpool! That's a first in years, ever since Joseph started at Churchill in 2012. The boys weren't thrilled at first to have to swing by Churchill or to have to wait after school for an extra 40 minutes, but I told them it's a fair exchange to save me time and for the privilege of having a car. But I took Abi and Lily today with the carpool kids, just for fun as a temporary farewell to carpooling, and so that I could take a picture of Abi and Lily.
Here is Hyrum and Wesley's photo before they pulled out at 6:50 this morning - They didn't really want their picture taken, so, this will have to do.
Natalie and Sophi off to school at 8:30. Say cheese!
Haha, j/k, let's do one without the masks, you don't need to put them on when we're outside.
It's going to be a year they will all remember I'm sure. Owen had his orientation today at 10:30. Waiting to see his teacher ~
He insisted on bringing his back pack. I'm crossing my fingers that he'll be okay waiting until Thursday to start. 3 days can be a long time when you've already waited months. A picture of him smiling with his teacher.
He's smiling, trust me. He was able to see her better when she was back at her table.
After they sat down she put on a clear face shield and a desk shield. On the way home, he said "I love my teacher!" So it was a great first day for everyone and I told Owen he can go in 3 days, and he seemed to understand and be okay with that.
Tonight, for a farewell tribute to Elder Wride, we played a game of ultimate frisbee with my brother and his family, who were so nice to come down from Layton to play with us. We went to Waterford. Everyone warmed up with a few rounds of spikeball. Corey, Joseph, Ethan and Hyrum on the left ring, Wesley, Conner, Mikey and Sam on the right.
I missed most of their sweet plays, but there's a couple of good ones in this video
I sat on the hill with the little kiddos and ate apples.
Then the game began. Our last two games with the Hibberts were family vs family (Game 1, Game 2) but during both of those matches, Neil had Grant's family that were able to join the Hibbert side so the sides were even. If this one was Hibberts vs. Wrides, they would have been outnumbered. Our power is in numbers! So some of the Wrides had to join the Hibbert side this time. Since Joseph and Ethan are both young and spry, Corey nominated them to be team captains and to choose their teammates. Ethan had first choice. He was trying to decided between choosing his Dad or Uncle Neil, cause the Hibberts won both of the past competitions. "On one hand, Neil has never lost.... On the other hand, it would be bad to loose to both Joseph and Dad...." He chose Neil. Joseph chose Corey, Ethan chose Hyrum, Joseph chose Conner. On it went. The teams were:
Ethan - Neil - Hyrum - Mikey - Amy - Lucy - Abigail
Joseph - Corey - Conner - Sam - Wesley - Mel
Let the game begin!
I joined Corey and Joseph's team a little bit when Peter let me. Natalie got a few pictures of him practicing his frisbee skills.
Cute kid.
I walked onto the field to get a video of Daniel, who was being quite entertained with a plastic bag from our apples, and a stick he found.
He was in his own little world, walking around the field. He miraculously remained un-trounced as he played with his bag and stick. Super cute.
So it was neck and neck, point and point, and tied 6-6 when Wesley made an amazing catch securing the win for Joseph's team. Ethan couldn't believe it. He just wanted to go away with a win! But this way we'll be sure he comes back home, cause he'll be itchin' for that rematch in 2 years.
Teaching Peter to throw. Peter will be ready to join the game in 2022. He'll be about as big as Daniel is now!
And that will be good, cause he'll probably be able to throw the frisbee forward by then!
After that, I rode Corey's bike home (he biked to the park from work) and they all stayed there for another hour playing spikeball and visiting. Back at home, I got dinner ready and we had root beer floats for our FHE treat. Then Ethan started to finish packing and we got the kids to bed for their second day of school tomorrow. Most of the kids went to bed at a decent time, but the older kids all stayed up goofing off. Joseph tried out the latest exercise gimick I've bought into - Jawzrcise!
Work that Jaw!
Hey, JAW is Joseph's initials! Joseph Ammon Wride! Joseph, that could make you an official spokesperson for the product! I don't think he's sold on the man binky, but it was funny. We stayed up too late for the early morning we're going to have tomorrow - the plan is to take Ethan to the airport at 3:45.
We went to Waterford tonight. I was excited to get a group pic of the kids at home, which is currently kids #5 through #13. And speaking of Wes and Baby K, look at this great photo I got!
K flying high looking like a baby ballerina with the moon above her head. I immediately shared it on Wride Nataion, and Mel said "This photo is sick" - which currently in 2023 means very cool or excellent! We took a slow mo video and then got that still shot. After Wesley's first two tosses in the air, Abi and Lily and I were coaching him: "HIGHER!!!" and then voilà, my pic of the year. The kids all promptly told me to text it to them and it is now on their cell phone lockscreens. Here are two of my favorites of the kid group pic - Lily and Wes holding Katharine's hands -
And everyone standing on their own two feet.
We got there with sunlight to spare. We set up on the hill, and right after I took this pic....
The sprinklers came on ON us! So we ran for the field, and were listening carefully for the sputters of the next system turning on. Thankfully it went westward next and did the parking strip. Enjoying time on the field. Kids played pass and catch with balls and frisbees.
Katharine liked the little yellow balls - she was holding all three of them and that was super cute. I missed getting a pic of it.
Today Katharine also got her daily fruit intake by finishing off one of my apples.
I get off the skin, and then she takes it from there. Showing the two little teeth that she works with.
She's actually got four on top too. They all practically came in at the same time in April. I liked how she was eating the apple like a cob of corn.
An apple a day keeps my kids regular. The only other exciting thing I did today was go to Costco. I had to go to get frozen berries. Natalie used the last of my berries at home, so I had to go. One of my daily meals is a big bowl of berries with rice milk and sometimes topped with a spoonful of chocolate plant protein powder. Berries and apples, I eat fruit everyday, not doing great on vegetables. Oh well. I'm keeping my eye on the flats of peaches. They are at Costco but they are still too hard, but they should be nice and juicy soon!
I went for a drive early this morning to try and watch the sunrise and the moon set.
Super cool.
I love watching the moon.
I watched it until it was all the way gone.
I wish the sky were a smidge darker so that the moon would be more visible.
I can still see it!
Maybe I'll have to come again tomorrow, I'll have to figure out if evening or morning will be the better time to see it close to the horizon. After last night, I thought I'd be able to see it better this morning since the mountains wouldn't be in the way, but I forgot about the bright sky. Oh well. It was good to get up early. (Strange that 7 am is "early" for me right now.)
Today there were two fun things that our wonderful neighbors did. First off, the Primary Presidency from our Church came by to each of the houses of the primary children and set up an easter egg hunt in each yard. Since we weren't able to do the annual hunt because of Corona, they delivered it to each house and hid 5 eggs/treats for each kid in the family in their front yard. (Past hunts in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015 in Brazil, 2013, 2011 in Chile) The note was taped on the front door. When I showed it to the kids, they got so excited and ran to find baskets/bags.
Abi helped the little kids hunt.
Lily found one that was in a hard spot! I called to her "Be careful! Don't fall! Or if you do, fall on your feet... it's better to break you leg than to crack your skull..."
She made it off the wall fine, phew. Daniel said "Look! Treats! For my birthday!"
Owen and Daniel each found five.
Natalie had the hardest time finding 5 treats. She only had 2 and still needed 3 more. We all were helping but we couldn't find anymore. Then we spotted one in a tricky place! She didn't want help getting it though. She was able to hit it down with her bag.
So that was fun. And after that was done, I let the kids know of another fun thing that some grandmas in the neighborhood had planned - a scavenger hunt! The ladies asked me if they could put the list in our yard, since we were kinda a central location between the two streets of our neighborhood. They had a list of 13 things to find in 8 different yards, and then at the last yard there would be an answer key and a treat. I told the kids that they had to finish their chores and music practice before we could go and they dutifully worked and we were on our way at 2.
It was a lovely day to go for a walk around the neighborhood. It was nice to say hi to neighbors and we did our best to obey social distance rules.
Back at home, there was more digging in the yard. I came across a sprinkler pipe in my hole, so I stopped and don't know if or where I'll dig next. Digging is hard, there are lots of roots and rocks in our dirt.
I let the little boys have free reign of their creativity and Owen had his shoes off and was dumping sand on his socks.
They were going to go straight into the tub when they were done. Daniel found a nice pile of muddy stuff in one of the watertables. Burying Buzz....
Owen helping him work. It was cute to see them, and it's good for them to be outside.
I locked the door so that they couldn't just come inside and run wherever. When they knocked, I picked them up and carried them straight to take baths. I washed feet and gave baths and started laundry a lot today. My hands are super chapped. Inside, Wes was reading...
And Peter came up to him to say hi, his cute little head there is barely able to clear the table.
And then Peter pushed the white board, which was just leaning against the window, and since he pushed it back all the way to the window, it teetered and started to fall toward him and Wes. Wes was there to protect Peter, but the loud SLAP of his hand against the board made Peter very very sad.
He cried just for a minute, and got hugs from me. He might not touch it anymore, we'll see how scarred he is. I got a picture of Peter this morning for his faceapp beard, ha. The beard doesn't put him into the "dope" or "sick" category, Peter is still just cute.
It was a warm evening again, so we went back to the field at Waterford where we went last night to see the moon. I left my phone at home but Ethan got some good pics...
I need him to send me the rest, but it was fun being there together - playing soccer and rolling down the hill. One good thing about all this corona stuff is that I have all my kids at home. I'm loving having everyone here and that we're able to spend so much time together.
