Spirit Lake Cleanup

We went out to the lake to clean up our site.  The kids all got in the water.  They are absolutely crazy. It was freezing cold.  The water was much lower this year so our site wasn't swamping which made cleaning up much nicer. 

Liberty Lake Hike

Grammy, Garret, Katie, Mary Gubler, and I did the Liberty Lake Hike today.  It is about 8.5miles.  It was so beautiful.  There was lots of water running in the river so the waterfall was amazing.  Katie, Garret and Mary saw a moose and it was really close to them.  Grammy and I just heard it running and knew that it must be something big. It was a long hike and we were all tired by the time we were done.  

Katie and Kirt's Lunch

Katie went and did her homework at Kirt's office for a change of scenery.  She packed a lunch for her and Kirt and they had lunch together in the kitchen at Kirt's office. 

Puzzles

I did this fun puzzle that I borrowed from Michelle.

Quarentine Still Going On

We have now completed out 6th week of quarantine.  It really hasn't been bad at all. Actually there has been a lot of good things about it.  We get to have family dinner together every night because we don't have a million other places to be.  Durning dinner we have great discussions and laugh a lot. We have been doing an online finance class through the library as part of our dinner discussions and are learning a lot.  We are able to play lots of board games, tennis, and play volleyball most nights after dinner.  We have finished watching the Marvel movies in chronological order.  Tanner has been a great big brother and is keeping Garret entertained.  The kids are getting up most mornings and going to Kirt's office and playing basketball.  Tanner and Max Skidmore have been lifting weighted there too. (Kirt's office has been a huge blessing.  It has a basketball court and a fitness center.  No one else has been using it, so we have been taking advantage of it and using it most days.)  We miss our friends lots and are kind of bored of being in the house so much, but mostly it has been really a nice time to slow down and enjoy each other's company.  I feel blessed for the time we have had with Tanner.  He was planning on coming home from his mission in June and going straight to school, so I feel like this is some stolen time with him.

Garret Drinking

Garret was having a drink from his awesome drink hat that he got as a white elephant gift a few Christmases ago. 

Sunday Afternoon Hike at Newman Lake

Sunday afternoon we went hiking with Jon's family and Grammy at a trail around Newman Lake.

 Turtle Rock

Church at Home

I have really enjoyed having church at home.  We have been doing a Zoom Come Follow Me lesson with my parents and all of my siblings at 10am and then having the sacrament afterwards along with a lesson.  Katie gave the lesson last week. I really am able to feel the spirit so strongly.  

Tanner and Garret willingly get their Sunday clothes on for our Sunday meeting.  They might just put them over their comfy clothes.

 Katie gave us a lesson on love this week.  She said that since we have been locked up together for weeks that we need to work on loving each other. She read part of a EFY talk.  It had 5 points about how to love.  She made a sign for the fridge after her lesson so we could remember and think about it this week.  The boys quickly stole it and added their own touches.  

1. Speak loving words (Garret added not curse words)

2. Write loving notes (Garret added not ransom notes)

3. Give a hug (Tanner added huggles are also encouraged)

4. Act with love (Tanner added smoochie smoochie)

5. Smile (Tanner added the creepier the better)

 Tanner and Garret snuggling during the lesson

 Katie's loving reaction to Garret writing on her lesson poster.  Apparently her lesson really sunk in.

Happy Birthday Jessy

I sent Jessy flowers for her birthday.  The top picture is a picture of the flowers she got.  The bottom picture is the picture of the flowers from the order.  Not exactly the same.  A little frustrated, but at least Jessy was excited to get the flowers. 

Bike Ride at Saltese Uplands Trail

Kirt and Garret went for another mountain bike ride at the Saltese Uplands Trail.  They rode 7 miles!

Corbin Park

We met Jon and Michelle and the kids and Grammy and Pompa at Corbin Park in Post Falls for lunch today.  Garret was crazy and jumped in the freezing Spokane River two times.  

Painting the House

So I decided to have the house painted. It is not really something that we should technically do during the quarantine, but I really wanted to get it done, and I have Tanner home to help so I decided to do it anyway.  We started on Thursday April 16th and it was supposed to take 4 or 5 days.  It is not going well.  It is not April 26th and it is still not done.  They painted the very downstairs the first day and it looked ok.  Then they painted the family room and it looked terrible.  I made the repaint it the Monday (after putting all the furniture away Friday night after they finished). It looked better the with the 2nd coat, but not wonderful.  Then Wednesday they painted the kitchen and living room.  When they were done, it looked like a 7 year old had painted it.  I was so frustrated.  My dad came and looked at it and agreed that it looked terrible.  He said he thought that something was wrong with the paint.  So on Thursday April 23rd, the owner of the company, Gary, came out and looked.  He said he thought that the paint wasn't being put on thick enough and got into a screaming and swearing fight with one of his workers, Bob.  Bob got mad and quit and left.  Then Gary started painting himself and decided that maybe it was the paint that was bad.  He said he was going to see if the paint rep from Sherman Williams would come out and look at the paint.  The paint rep said he can't come into peoples homes because of the coronavirus so we are now at a stand still until he can come out.  What a mess.

Tanner Napping on the Couch

Tanner enjoying the opportunity to take a nap in the middle of the day.  (And look how huge he is!)

Katie and Ally Go Hiking

Katie and her friend Ally Mills went hiking at Dishman Hills.  It's still the only way to hang out with friends during the quarantine, so we keep doing lots of hiking.

Tanner's Mission Fireside

Tanner gave a mission fireside via Go To Webinar.  It was awesome to hear about his mission.  Since it was online he got to dress business on the top, and party on the bottom.

Here's a link to the fireside. (You'll need to register with your name and email and then it will take you to the video.)

Join Us for a 60-Minute Online Meeting w/ Elder Tanner Christensen, Returned From the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission

Easter 2020

For Easter we had our traditional photo on the stairs.  The kids did their Easter egg hunt around the house and got their presents.  They all got new swimsuits.  Tanner got AirPods, Katie got some leggings, and Garret got a new basketball.  We had a big breakfast of waffles.  Then we had a Come Follow Me Easter lesson with my siblings and parents.  We had a nice family sacrament, followed by some silly picture taking.  Grammy and Pompa came for a late Easter lunch.  It was a quiet but very nice Easter.