STILL AT YELLOW

That is Utah "pandemic talk" for the current status we are under--opening of more and more businesses with a variety of social distancing and cleaning requirements in place.  People can gather in groups of under 100. It is suggested that people wear masks in public, which we are, but most are not. Our ward will begin holding Church meetings in a modified format next week--45 minutes long, wear masks, and only 1/3 of the ward will attend each week.  We are in the first group--A-H.

This week I went to visit my dad for an in person/in house visit--first actual visit since the beginning of March (and for the record, with the help of my sister, Valerie, we learned something new about family search.)

On Saturday, Jessica and Elessia and their four kids came for a visit at our house.

First task was to clean up the play area which was covered from the spring debris from the surrounding trees.

Although we started off with a McDonalds picnic on the deck, the kids wanted to play with the toys inside first.

Zander played with this for a very long time.

Liam is getting into playing games.  He and I had a "rousing" game of Candyland which he won.  He was a very good winner.

Selfie with Carter----

 Alex, who mostly thinks she is four and can do anything her brothers do, copied Liam with building with the Angry Birds blocks.

While Liam and I were trying to explore playing "Fox and Geese" (that was a no-go), Carter discovered that the chess pieces fit on her fingers.....

and even better, on her toes!

Finally, we headed outside for some sandbox fun----

Zander and Alex playing in the sand

Carter's favorite is the swing--which is difficult to get a photo with it moving.  I grabbed it to get this picture, but she wanted to be swinging.  One cute moments was when I was holding Alex (to distract her from throwing rocks on the trampoline), and was helping Alex push Carter in the swing.  They both started giggling so much.  Carter clearly preferred her sister pushing than me.  I couldn't figure out a way to photograph it while it was happening, but we kept doing it because their laughter was so sweet.

Carter

 Zander and Alex were the only ones interested in the slides and climbing.

Zander as a "Yoho" pirate.

This is the stink eye I got from Alex when I locked the gate up to the deck.  She had been playing ball with the dogs up there, but they had gotten pretty excited so I decided they needed a break and brough Alex back to the play area of the yard.  When she headed back up the gate and found it locked, she looked back to give me this look and then turned her head when I took the photo.  Alex is very expressive!  (Not just with her stink-eye look either.)

If you have ever played in the sand with four little kids, you know what happened next--BATHTIME!  Liam loves my big bathtub and he was so excited about the bubbles.

 Impossible to get all four of them looking so here is one where NO ONE is looking!

Jessica and Elessia joined us for pizza dinner and visiting and then it was time to head home.  On the way from the house to the car, they had to climb the rock and check out the library.

Alex had to try it as well and succeeded, even in a dress.

Jena and Zander joined the "posing on the rock" crew.

And off they went---the opposite direction from the car!  Alex had been leading the crew but turned around and came back when she had "mechanical" problems (In my defense, I put her diaper on while she was standing up after her bath, because Carter wanted to be held and our space in front of the tub was a bit tight.

It was a great step in moving from "stay home, stay safe" to expand our interactions a bit wider.  Our house was certainly quieter when they left.  Fun times.