I made it through March and then didn't blog again in 2021. 🙈 So here's the rest of our year.
April
Rog got his second dose of the COVID vaccine. He wasn't too sick, but did take a good long nap one day to recover.
We celebrated Easter and enjoyed a wonderful General Conference weekend.
We went to the Dinosaur exhibit at OMSI with the Hobbs.
Act 1 Dance Competition.
Woodburn Tulip Festival.
I got my first dose of the COVID vaccine.
I ran the Eugene Virtual Half Marathon.
Coolest finisher's medal ever (made from the stairs of the Historic Hayward Field)!
Fly Dance Competition.
Celebrated Peyton's birthday with a pizza pajama movie night with friends.
Shared a cake with her cousin birthday twin.
Birthday breakfast (and then off to school and 4 hours of dance that night)!
The highlight of her birthday was getting her guinea pig, Harold G. Pig (who we later found out was actually Hermione 😂).
Rog and I celebrated 14 years of marriage. I'll be your Jessie if you'll be my Buzz. 💛
Continued Peyton's birthday celebrations with free donuts from Pip's.
And a little celebration at dance. (I was the team "birthday mom" this year, so I did these celebrations for all the girls.)
May
We were invited to Crew's baby blessing (at the Yates' house) and Roger was invited to stand in the circle. We had a good laugh over how short he is compared to Brenton's brothers and dad.
Roger coached Logan's tee ball team.
I helped with Staff Appreciation week. We served them a fiesta lunch for Cinco de Mayo.
I picked up and put tags on a whole bunch of bundtlets from Nothing Bundt Cakes for them.
We were caught unprepared for a very rainy tee ball game!
Outdoor dance pictures.
Mother's Day.
I got an air fryer that has been the best addition to our kitchen!
I got my second dose of the COVID vaccine. Just in time for the stores to start saying you didn't have to wear a mask if you were fully vaccinated (for a few glorious months).
Corbyn got glasses!
Peyton got another guinea pig to keep Harold (Hermione) company. We named him Hank the Tank because he was bigger than Harold.
Fathers and Sons campout for Rog and the big boys.
Salt and Straw for the girls and Easton.
Corbyn had 2 teeth extracted under anesthesia. Our good friend and neighbor, Kellen, took good care of him.
The kids helped Rog stain the deck.
It really needed it!
We kicked off our 100 miles of hiking with a 5 mile hike at Silver Falls State Park. (I'll be doing a separate blog post with all of our hikes, so I won't list them all here.)
June
We helped take down the flags at the Willamette National Cemetery the day after Memorial Day.
National Donut Day. 🍩
Unsuccessfully tried leaving Easton in Nursery. (He didn't go by himself until Halloween.)
Celebrated the June birthdays with the Hobbs with a Cotton Candy Cake Diana and I decorated together.
Survived the weirdest school year ever! Celebrated with one final reverse parade.
Mrs. Taylor
Ms. H-C
Ms. Jacobi
Last day of elementary school!
Corbyn turned 11! Kringle for breakfast.
Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Fluffernutter Cake.
Chicken Pot Pie for dinner (the next day).
Studio One Dance Academy outdoor recital. I was in charge of assembling a balloon arch for the entryway.
3 shows and Peyton was in them all, so we were outside all day. I missed some spots on the sunscreen application and got so sunburnt!
Only 2 spectators were allowed per dancer, so the Hobbs watched the boys. Easton took his nap on Corbyn.
Father's Day cinnamon rolls.
Roast and potatoes for dinner.
We love this dad!
Tie dyed some shirts for Make Something Monday (practice for YW camp).
Got Corbyn's free birthday dozen from Pip's.
Time to Read Tuesday. Add snacks and regular reading time becomes a party!
Celebrated Corbyn's birthday with friends. Pizza.
A giant cookie cake.
And Games at Dave and Buster's.
Survived 3 days of record-breaking heat in Portland.
We went to the coast on the first day of the heat wave and it was the first time we didn't need sweaters there. The water was still cold though!
The Hobbs joined us. Cousin pyramid!
Splash pad fun for Wet and Wild Wednesday.
July
The 4th of July was on a Sunday, so we got to celebrate for a few days before. Patriotic High.
4th of July breakfast parade.
Played with the Hobbs at Timothy Lake.
BBQed with the Yates and Sullivans.
Happy 4th of July!
Fireworks were banned (or highly discouraged depending on the city/county) due to the dry conditions, so we settled for sparklers in our backyard.
Water beads on the tramp for Wet and Wild Wednesday.
Took the Martyns to the BIG slide for Take a Picnic Thursday.
Survived a week at YW camp as the craft specialist. Tourist night.
I made this quilt for the camp director.
Kristen was my partner in crime.
My parents came to help with the kids while I was at camp, so we got to celebrate my dad's 63rd birthday with him. A Malt Cake for the Whopper lover.
Finally got to go back to the temple!
Celebrated Easton's birthday with a Camp Mickey party with friends.
Diana was doing a triathlon down in Salem, so we had Blake and Skyler for most of Easton's birthday and for a sleepover that night.
And then we had Sunday dinner and cake with the Hobbs the next day when they came to pick them up.
August
Roger ran a Spartan race with Diana and Jason.
A week of camps. YM camp for Rog.
Golf camp for Corbyn.
And Activity Days camp for these 2.
Saw Boss Baby 2 for Something Fun Friday. First time watching a movie in a theater since March 17, 2020!
We went on an epic camping trip. We had planned a completely different trip, but had to change our plans due to wildfires in California. We didn't have camping reservations for a few of the nights which added to the adventure!
Day 1 was Mt. Rainier National Park. We got a campsite at the Ohanapecosh Campground and hiked to Silver Falls.
Day 2 we drove to Olympic National Park. We were unsuccessful at getting a campsite at Fairholme Campground, so we ended up at a slightly ghetto RV Park. We enjoyed beautiful Lake Crescent.
Day 3 we hiked to the Devil's Punch Bowl in Lake Crescent and we all ended up getting in even though we hadn't come prepared for swimming.
Then we hiked Hurricane Ridge. This was something we missed doing when we visited Olympic National Park in 2018 and it did not disappoint!
Day 4 we had planned to go to North Cascades National Park, but decided we'd make a pit stop at home instead.
Day 5 we drove to Bend, hiked Tumalo Falls, grilled hot dogs in the parking lot, and then drove to our campsite at Paulina Lake.
Day 6 we woke up to 43 degree weather. We were supposed to do the Paulina Creek Natural Water Slides, but it was too cold for that, so we drove down to Medford and went bowling.
We had dinner at In-N-Out and stopped at the Medford Temple.
We stayed at a hotel for the night, so we could wake up and watch church on Zoom.
Day 7 we drove down to the Redwoods. We hiked Fern Canyon, drove through the Klamath Tour Thru Tree, and explored the Trees of Mystery.
We stayed at the Mill Creek Campground which was the only campground from our original reservations. It was also the only campground we were able to have a fire.
Day 8 we did a couple quick hikes in Redwoods National Park and then drove home.
Rog had planned one more day off of work, so we went to Trillium Lake.
He worked one day and then it was time to run Hood to Coast! We had the best time with the Yates, Lindsey Sullivan, and Chris Ogden in our van. I was able to run two of my legs at a sub 7:00 pace and my third at a 7:11 pace which felt amazing. Rog was a trooper and ran the hardest set of legs (#9) in van 2. (I had already run them and I'm trying to do all of them.)
September
The last weekend of summer we hosted our friends for an outdoor movie night. We watched The Sandlot.
Back to FULL DAY school! Finally!
Corbyn started middle school!
Had our BYU football friends over for an outdoor viewing of the BYU vs. Utah game. (BYU won for the first time since Corbyn was born!)
We went to Utah for McKae and Stephen's sealing. In addition to seeing lots of family and friends, I got to go to Garden of Quilts at Thanksgiving Point and take a class from one of my favorite Instagram quilters (Alli Jensen of Woodberry Way).
We also got to go to a BYU football game. (We didn't sit with McKae and Stephen, but we visited them at half time.)
October
Discovered Harold G. Pig was actually Hermione when she had three babies on October 12th.
Corbyn ran cross country on his middle school team.
We visited the pumpkin patch.
Got carpet in our living room!
Logan played soccer with his friend, Everett.
Corbyn played soccer with his 5th grade friends.
Peyton was selected as student of the month for responsibility.
Dressed up as fairy tale characters for Halloween. Rog was the Big Bad Wolf and Peyton was Little Red Riding Hood. Corbyn was a knight and Logan was a dragon. I was Goldilocks and Easton was Baby Bear.
November
Rog added some storage space and turned the closet under the stairs into a TV room for the kids. (He started this project while I was at YW camp in July. I was grateful the construction zone was out of sight for all of that time.)
We call it the Cougar Den. (I helped decorate it with BYU football decorations.)
We had Hank neutered.
The kids got their first dose of the COVID vaccine.
We started leaving the kids home with Corbyn (and Peyton) babysitting and got to start going on dates with friends instead of doing date night swaps.
Logan lost his first tooth.
We celebrated Mickey's birthday.
Logan was selected as student of the month for perseverance.
I got to design the shirts that the PTO gave to all the students and teachers.
We ran a virtual Friendsgiving run the day before Thanksgiving.
My parents came for Thanksgiving and we hosted dinner at our house.
We went to see Encanto in the theater after dinner.
We went with the Yates to pick out our tree.
December
Kicked off our advent calendar with matching Christmas pajamas.
Rog got his COVID booster and the kids got their second dose of the COVID vaccine.
I got my COVID booster.
We did so many fun Christmas activities as a family.
Christmas Bingo.
Krispy Kreme Donuts.
Gingerbread Houses.
Giant Snowflakes.
Christmas Nailed It!
Cookie Party.
(Plus so many more!)
I made and froze cookie dough balls to deliver to all our friends and neighbors.
Christmas Sunday. I didn't go to the effort to get everyone matching Christmas Sunday outfits this year, but Rog and I were looking Christmasy, so we had one of the kids snap a picture.
Peyton and I went to the Nutcracker with Diana and Skyler.
I made wood slice ornaments for my homemade Christmas gifts for our family this year. I got them mailed out before Christmas, but they didn't arrive until after.
Christmas Eve High. Peyton came with me as a Christmas gift to me from her.
We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of egg rolls and fried rice with the Hobbs.
And I made this pretty Citrus Cranberry Cake for Christ's birthday cake.
Rog was a trooper and put together the new trampoline from Santa in the cold and rain while I set up everything inside. He had taken our old trampoline down a few weeks earlier and told the kids he was making that area into a place for the fire pit he was getting for Christmas. We just waited for the kids to notice the trampoline in the morning and it was a fun moment when they did!
We had a nice Christmas morning.
Corbyn got a Gabb phone and Peyton got a Gabb watch. (After a couple weeks we decided Corbyn wasn't quite ready for a phone, so we swapped it out for a watch and that has been a better fit for him for now.)
Grandma Dixie got all the kids these bean bag chairs for the Cougar Den.
I was pretty proud of this shirt I found for Rog. A TMNT Los Angeles Lakers shirt - two of his favorite things combined!
A Kringle has become our traditional Christmas breakfast and I love how easy and delicious it is! (You have to make sure you grab one at the beginning of December from Trader Joe's and freeze it because they sell out early!)
We had a nice dinner at the Hobbs' house and had fun playing with some of their new toys. Diana got a Ms. Pac-Man arcade game.
But the best part of the day was when the kids were in bed and everything was done and I could finally sit down and enjoy my Pippi Post Christmas puzzle!
We had a couple days of snow during winter break.
We went on our final hike to finish our 100 miles on December 29th!
We celebrated the next day with a visit to the North Clackamas Aquatic Park, a National Treasure movie marathon, and pizza.
Rang in the New Year with games and Crumbl Cookies. Rog had to help chaperone the regional youth dance our stake was hosting, so it was just me and the kids.
And that was our 2021!
