We started at Target where Gma and Papa bought all the grandkids a little toy. Nolan and Camden chose a lightsaber, but Jonas wanted some new Legos. (He hasn't quite caught the Star Wars fever.) After toys were purchased, we went to Smart Cookie to grab a cookie treat to celebrate Kate's half-birthday (yes...I know...the Shumways are a little birthday obsessed, but why only celebrate once a year?!). Finally, we drove the kids to a park to run off their sugar high before meeting up with EVERYONE at Brick Oven for dinner.
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| Jeff let Danny drive the Bel-Air to the restaurant. Danny was in heaven! |
The next day (Sunday, March 8th) was Adaline's blessing. She is so perfect! She has started to smile and it just melts my heart! I'm glad that Krystle finally got a little girl...and those 3 rowdy boys adore her! Jordan's family (obviously) joined in the blessing as well as Krystle and Jordan's mission president, Bishop Waddell (currently serving in the presiding bishopric of the Church). Bishop Waddell and his wife had just returned from touring the Caribbean islands. Dallin was able to meet them while they were in the DR. It was fun to talk with him about their experience meeting all the missionaries in Dallin's mission and what an amazing mission it is.
After the blessing, we stayed to have dinner, play games, and just hang out. Have I mentioned how grateful I am for my family? Jonas was just grateful I left him there for a sleepover! He had been waiting for it all week!
The following day (Monday, March 9th), I headed back to Krystle's where we all ventured out to the Museum of Ancient Life (aka the dinosaur museum) at Thanksgiving Point. The little boys were so excited to show Gma and Papa all the big dinosaurs! Jonas and I stayed most of the morning and into the early afternoon before heading home.
On Tuesday (10th), Gma, Papa, and Kate finally moved down to Payson to stay for the rest of the week. We met up just before it was time to take Jonas to his ice skating lessons. Everyone (including Danny and Jeff met up with us later) came with us. After Jonas's lessons, we grabbed a quick dinner at Chick-fil-A before returning to the ice arena for public skate time. This time, Kate, Danny, and Jeff joined Jonas on the ice. This is a skill I have yet to acquire or desire to acquire, but it was fun to watch them.
Wednesday (11th) got to be a Kate day. Jeff took Jonas for the day so Kate and I could go do a few things she wanted to do...without any little boys! We started at Olson's Garden Shoppe. Kate has started her own little box gardens at home and wanted to find some little gnomes or other fun creatures to decorate her garden. She loved looking at all the fun gardening items there!
Next, we headed to Apollo Burger for lunch. She LOVES ancient Greek and Roman mythology (mostly Greek). To be honest, if it wasn't for the name "Apollo", I'm not sure she would love this place. She didn't even get any of the Greek food items on the menu. Instead, she settled for a burger, but she loved it just the same.
After lunch, we went to Cake Creation Studios. I stumbled upon this fun idea on Instagram. Basically, you make a reservation and decide between cupcakes or a cake. Then you show up, pick out different fondant, buttercream frosting, sprinkles, and more, and ultimately, get to create your own cake masterpiece! Kate chose to do a cake with blue fondant icing to start with. From there, she created flowers to adorn the sides of the cake and start to shoot across the milky way on top. The owner even came out to help show Kate how to pipe the buttercream. It was so much fun!
Finally that evening, Jeff took Kate and Jonas to pick out some new chicks (when I asked Kate at the end of the week what her favorite activities were she said the garden store and getting the chickens! She is easy to please!) while Gma, Papa, and I attended Danny's spring orchestra concert.
Thursday (12th) was spent mostly at home. Kate just wanted to see the cows, play in the yard, and do some art projects...and Jonas just did whatever Kate did. That afternoon, Scott, Kaia, and Danny joined us for snow tubing at Soldier Hollow. It was a BLAST! I had heard mixed reviews about the experience, but it was something that I figured Kate would enjoy (since snow is limited where she lives...haha!) so I got tickets. I guess because it's the "spring" tubing, there weren't many people there and we never had to wait to go down. Kate, Danny, and Kaia grouped together down most runs and Scott joined Jonas and me. We were hauling down the hill! There were a couple times we barely stopped before the barrier at the bottom. Everyone enjoyed it!
Friday (13th) was Gma, Papa, and Kate's last day in Utah. The week got progressively crazier as a global pandemic was declared and communities were taking steps (including canceling school and church and encouraging social distancing) to slow the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). This virus started in China and has spread all over the world in a matter of weeks. It's more potent than the flu and there is currently no vaccine. It can be lethal, but most people are able to recover. Stores have run out of paper products and even some food items (milk, eggs, meat, canned goods, pastas, etc.) There is mass hysteria as political leaders, health authorities, and the media portray the terrifying facts and the difficult-to-follow recommendations to slow the spread of this pandemic. Thankfully, Jeff and I have always felt a need to be prepared and already had a large portion of what we felt we would need in the event of a lockdown or quarantine, but while we felt we were doing good, this situation has made us realize we could do better. In fact, when we sat down on Sunday (15th) morning to discuss how to honor the Sabbath day, we felt that we have already established good Sunday habits, but...we could do better. If nothing else, this unprecedented global crisis has allowed me to reflect on my faith and my priorities. I feel God, through His prophets on the earth today, has guided us and encouraged us to be prepared and to not fear. It has confirmed my faith in His leadership on earth today. It has strengthened my faith in the power of prayer and the peace He can offer. It has chastened me a little as I realized that I have allowed myself to be a little too casual in certain areas (e.g., being temporally and spiritually prepared). It has made me desire to have my family all the more close to me - if not geographically at least emotionally. Life is going to go on. This too shall pass...but for right now, it's a crazy world out there (and I have to figure out how to entertain a little boy and a teenager for the next two weeks at home...all the time!). In any case, we spent the day at the house. Krystle and her family drove down to join us, and we got to celebrate Lincoln's birthday (his real birthday is next Saturday). He opened presents and had cake (although he just couldn't bring himself to blow out the candle! Haha!). The rest of the time we just hung out together. All the little boys ran around and made messes while Kate, Kaia and Danny just laughed. After dinner, Krystle's family said their good-byes and went back to their house. Danny, Kaia, Kate and Jonas played some games and eventually convinced Jeff (although it wasn't hard to do) to start a fire in the backyard to make mini-s'mores (I only had mini marshmallows). It was a calm way to end a busy, crazy week.
The next morning (Saturday, 14th), Gma, Papa, and Kate flew home...but the fun didn't stop there! Jeff loaded up the snowmobiles again and off we went! Scott, Kaia, Kaia's friend, Sunni, Danny, Jonas, Jeff and I headed back to Fairview to buzz around for a few hours. I am still very new to snowmobiling and it can be a little intimidating, but I'm getting better at it. Kaia was initially very hesitant too, but after a few runs, she was racing Danny and Sunni across the field. Jonas even unearthed his inner speed demon. Jeff drove with him and said that Jonas was always willing to hold the throttle down to full speed. We all had a blast! But wait....there's more...
We couldn't end the day with out celebrating "Pi"! That's right. Today was 3.14 or the numerical equivalent of pi (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter). We honored the day by having pizza "pi" for dinner and razzleberry "pi" for dessert. It has been such a fun week! Now I simply pray we survive the next few as this corona craziness ensues!
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