Saturday, December 18, 2021

October Break






Grammy treated us on a trip to Oceanside!
Lucky ducks we were to be spoiled this way.
No greater gift than family time and memories. 
 We loved every second of it.

Logistics before hand is always a tricky thing.
Especially while trying to find a place big enough for 45 people.
And beach front non-the-less.

I think Stephanie and I spent 5 solid days trying to figure it.
And with divine (and Papa) intervention, we did it.
We found 3 houses.
 Right next door to each other.
 That all had availability the days we wanted.
In an area that had decent beach during the day.

And honestly, I thought it was the perfect set up!
6.5 kitchens, 19 bedrooms, 18 bathrooms, and 2 hot tubs (give or take).


We all arrived and didn't waste anytime playing our hearts out!




Our family was in the middle house with Stephanie and Justin.
Here is a view of our backyards.

We had the flat grassy yard.
 You hopped over the fence to the left to the
triplex units the Ellingsons, Hathcocks and Heywoods stayed in. 




To the right where the blue chairs are lined up housed the rest of the Goodmans!
It was super easy to bounce back and forth all day long. 






We did skit night.
Grammy doing sing a long songs with the kids.



Conference Sunday.
I brought a bunch of coloring stuff for the kids.



And bracelet making for the teenagers and littles. 


Sunday dinner with pork tacos Justin smoked for us before hand.
We usually all gathered in our house because it had the biggest kitchen.






Lots of October birthdays to sing to.



Including Della!




We snuck out with the girls and got donuts one morning.
In Florida I was bummed I never made it to a popular donut shop, Parlor doughnuts.
Come to find out, they had just opened one in Oceanside! Yippee!
Gimme all the cronuts!




Kids and grownups in the water at all times.







Family pictures!








We all went to Mary's for breakfast!


















Adult dinner at LTH!




We walked to Buccaneers for breakfast.




I think this little order through the window across the beach place has become my favorite spot!
Their acai bowls, avocado toast, and hot chocolate is money.





We had 2 afternoons where we pulled most of the group for a big baseball game!
The Goodmans are competitive! 
Which makes it more fun.
 But I was sure sweating when it was my turn to bat, lol!






 We had numerous adult game nights, some rain,
but most of all SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!

Thursday, December 16, 2021




We made it to the lake with just our family! And Grammy!
We love taking friends, but sometimes it's nice to be together.






One morning I started getting text messages from Austin, who is a Mesa Police officer
 telling me there was a bomb threat at Mesa High.
 Normally it's a hoax, but they were
starting to think this was a real deal.
Not going to lie, I had a good hour of panic while things were unfolding. 

Lane was in his first hour in the main building.
He wasn't responding to my texts.
Austin said not to worry because they made the students evacuate and had to 
leave all backpacks behind. He may have been rushed and not had time to grab his phone. 

It didn't help that the school had not sent ANY information to the parents.
I was relying on everything Austin was updating me on.

Word started getting out and I guess it was a mad house of parents rushing to the school.

They evacuated everyone to the football stadiums.
Even though it was September, it was still a hot day!

Then they decided to bus them to Mt. View High school.

I took screen shots of the fb live.

Any by now I had heard from Lane, so my fears eased.




Snipers and all.


It took Lane 2 hours to make it on a bus.

Once they arrived at Mt. View they put them in either the gymnasium or auditorium.
Lane was in the gymnasium.
They had plenty of water but he only got 1 uncrustable to eat the whole time he was there.

Hours kept ticking by with the most vague updates from the school, basically saying
DO NOT come get your kids. They are not allowed to leave.

They dismissed the Mt. View kids to go home but Mesa kids had to stay. 
Lets just say frustration levels were high with kids and parents.

Oh, and apparently FBI agents came in the gymnasium 3 different times to arrest random
students. Thanks to phones, and teenagers,
of course there were videos on social media left and right of it!
One kid who got arrested was sitting right next to one of Lanes friends!
It was wild.

It was now 4pm well after school normally should have ended.
Parents decided to go to the school anyway,
and they were starting to let them get checked
out to go home. Que mass chaos. 
I got stuck in the longest line a couple of miles away to the entrance of the parking lot.
My friend text saying she was at the front of the line and would get Lane for me and to 
turn around and go home.
Not 1 minute later they shut down the line and said they were not releasing anymore students.
Lane made it out in the nick of time!!

I felt terrible for the ones still stuck inside!
It was now 9 hours from when this all started.
To make it worse, they announced they were loading them back on the buses and taking
them back to Mesa High.
Whaaa????
The poor parents had to get back in their cars, fight insane traffic when their child
was right there. 

My friend didn't get her daughter until 8pm. 8pm!
And they were not allowed to get backpacks.

What a day.
I haven't heard recent updates, but apparently the bomb threat came from
another state. The description of the campus was spot on, so it was an old employee or student.


Miss Olive got baptized!



The girls and their tiny water cup creations were all over my house.


And helps wash down Taco Bell!



I went paddle boarding down the river one morning with my friends!



A couple of my friends sent me pictures of Lane from the sports assembly at the school.
Go golf team!






Rusty got to do baptisms for the dead for the first time!
Only a year after he got his recommend. 
My friend invited him to come with them.
The thought never crossed my mind to set up an appointment for him. Oops.

Grateful for people who are way more on the ball than me!





I was leaving my parents and was on 24th street turning on to Southern.
Hey, that guy on the tractor looks like Casey.
Oh wait, it IS Casey!!
LOL!



Only in Gilbert...



Aaron our neighbor got married.
The girls were SO excited for the reception.
They danced their hearts out.




We FINALLY were able to get the Evans to the lake with us.
We tried a couple of times but rain squashed our plans.


 

Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Extension of Summer



Even though the kids went back to school, the weather permitted
water activities well into the Fall months!

After preschool we would go to swim lessons with Ms. Kim.
August is my favorite month of lessons.
They have been in the water all Summer and are super confident
and strong in their abilities .


Casey smoked pizzas for the neighborhood!




Lake day with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa!







My favorite scene after a long day at the lake.
Freshly bathed kiddos with sun kissed faces all tuckered out.




Lane started to the golf team so our backyard turned into a practice putting green!



Grandma Ann had a rough bought with getting old.
I don't know how else to put it, lol!

She went to an assisted living facility for a month.
I went to visit a couple of times and cut her hair for her!




I love the stuffed animal tucked in tightly and deep concentration. 



Saturdays are my long run days.
I wake up early to beat the heat and try to get 10 miles in.
The morning sunrises are on point.





We love having Ruby over to play!
These 2 are twins a couple of years apart.




Nothing like going back to your old high school
 for parent night for your own child who is in the same  high school!




We had an adult only day at the lake.
Let me just say, it was AWESOME!!
No whining and fighting... can't beat it.



Sunsets on the water are sure beautiful.



Lane has a ton of friends in my parents neck of the woods.
Kind of fun to see your grandparents at their ward party!