Oauchita Lake State Park, Arkansas

 First time camping in AR. Some fall color emerging, hikes, swimming, s'mores, games, reading, leeches, Hot Springs National Park, wasps, deer, tarantulas.

Beautiful weather, lake, and colors. Nice hikes 3, Rhys got a leech attached to his ankle while swimming. First time we'd all seen a real leech. No tears. Too cold for adults to swim-again, wasps galore swooping around on the top deck of the tower for sight seeing--very adventurous! Three tarantulas walked through the campground, only one through our site. More daddy-long-legs than you can count on all our family's toes and fingers combined. Beautiful stars at night.

Staged picture

Mating stick bugs are hilarious because of their lack of balance in the act

Quartz was everywhere

 

 

Made with Love

You know Rhys' heart belongs to Lego! He has been really branching out and creating his own builds. He has made a Lego Campground and National Park, a superhero base, and is currently working on a space base. Somewhere in the middle of that he put together his tree house set he saved up for--over 3000 pieces. He is all about the details and it is great to see what his mind comes up with and how he troubleshoots to make it all happen.

Sophie, though not completely smitten with beekeeping, loves those bees. If one gets crushed between the boxes she is upset for it. She is even learning how to smoke them better (shown is her old technique) to disrupt them less and keep them out of harms way when we put boxes back on. By the way we recently added yet another super--an 8 frame box this time (grey), to give them more room and something to do. Build comb.

I, too, have been creating something with love! It's taken a long time and a couple new skills but I have completed my sister's quilt. I cannot wait to surprise her with it when I visit. The new skills I learned were sashing and creating piecing beyond squares and rectangles.

My "helpers"

Neal, doesn't get a lot of time to make things but he is the biggest blessing in building this family and keeping is strong. He protects us in many ways. He serves us. He cares for us. His relationship to me, his wife, and to his children are certainly made with love. He is a great husband and father.

Rhys' Take a Pandemic Year

 Our leaders over the Primary children (ages 3-11) asked Rhys if he would share his take on this year given the unique circumstances of COVID-19. It will be entered into the congregations history. Below is what he shared.

I'm in sixth grade but was in 5th grade when COVID-19 started. I didn't go back to school after the Spring Break and our camping trips and road trip got cancelled. We were going to go to Yellowstone but that got pushed to next year. For my birthday, at the end of the school year, my friends surprised me with a parade in front of my house! They brought me treats and some Lego!

 I have been going to school virtually because my dad is in the high risk group for COVID-19. Do you know how hard it is to learn trombone like that?! The thing I miss the most is not seeing my friends much. I see them on screen and I got to go to an outdoor Primary activity with my mom. 

Once we knew what to do to stay safe, we started doing more family outings. We went out to where it was really dark to see a comet, hiked, biked, went on driving tours, and swam in Oma and Opa's pool. I helped plant some bushes and flowers for our backyard bees.

On Sundays, we dress for church and have sacrament meeting in our living room. We learned to put our curious cat out in the backyard so he wouldn't play with the white cover for the sacrament. Sometimes, I help give talks and bear my testimony. On most Sundays, we go to cemeteries to take pictures of gravestones for BillionGraves.org. Our parents take the pictures and we brush off the stones. We've finished one and a half cemeteries so far.

At home, we've been gardening, taking care of our pets, and building Lego creations. I love making videos about them and sending them to Grandma in Washington. I saved up and got a Lego tree house which has 3036 pieces and is m biggest set yet.

We also went to Virginia to visit my aunt and uncle. We got there in 16 hours without stopping at a hotel. We hiked a lot, played games, and played with their ferrets. I hiked to the very top of some falls. Only my aunt and I went all the way to the top. 

We hope to go to Virginia again for Thanksgiving. Also, the state parks have opened up distanced spots so we are getting to camp again. I like to swim, hike, and eat s'mores. So even though things are different and I miss some things, it is not so terrible.

Rhys van der Upwich

Allen 3rd Ward, Allen Texas Stake

Rhys picked up a bummer of a habit during the last month or so. He pushed his bangs to the side one night at dinner and I was stunned to see that much of his hair at his part was missing. He had been pulling it to the side and tugging at it while in school, leisurely reading a book,... breathing...and removed a good portion--right before school pictures! So we worked with it and then after pictures, chopped it short so he wouldn't pull on it. Asked him a few key questions because hair pulling often being a symptom of psychological issues, and given the pandemic and the changes, we wanted to be sure but it appears to be just a bad habit picked up.

First Family Camping Trip of the Year!

 Tyler State Park--waaay to friendly raccoons, hiking, fungi, snake, swimming, s'mores, games.

Coral Snake spotted by Neal

Bee Business

 We had to test for mites on the bees again. We did it SO MUCH BETTER this time! We totally can get a 1/2 cup of bees in a jar with little trouble thanks to a specific YouTube video from a local commercial beekeeper. We just shook them off the frame and onto a newspaper and funneled the correct amount in to the jar. We know the powder sugar test disrupts them but it sure is fun to see the little, white ghost bees!

Also, we were gifted some money from a friend who wanted to help the bees. She wanted to assist us in getting our bee garden going. We did our research and bought Texas sage, "a shrubbery!" and cat mint.  We got them all planted and now we have the daunting task of keeping them alive. Wish us luck! By the way my sweet 16-year-old cat, loves to roll around in the cat mint so the outcome for 2 of the six plants is iffy.

"Green Thumb"

Hair

 Just look at those pandemic locks!  He makes my heart pitter-patter! 

 

Elephant Trumping

 6th Grade Band is the equivalent of having an elephant in the house trumping.  Rhys is taking trombone via virtual band class. It's a crazy endeavor but he's moving along with the other at home kiddos. He is pretty pleased with himself.  All joking aside, I love hearing it...from the other side of the house...with is bedroom door closed.

This was the first week, just trying to get everyone to hold it correctly

First Bee Sting!

 August 19th, a bee flew up my pants and I sensed it so I carefully walked away from the hive without bending that leg and tried to figure out if there was one in there. I didn't see or feel one so I started to walk back to the hive, and as I bent my knee a bee pressed between the fabric and knee took aim. I dropped trou so fast and scrapped that stinger out like a pro! Sophie kept an eye on me but no dangerous reaction. My maternal grandfather, an entomologist, was allergic. I remember him quickly coming in from the back porch of his cabin and filling a syringe and giving himself a shot. When I asked mom about it she told me that he was deathly allergic to bee stings. My welt lasted a week.

One week later, I felt a bee up my pant leg AGAIN! I did my stiff legged walk away from the hive and prayed I wouldn't be stung on top of the other sting. I untied my pants at the waistband and took a searching look down my drawers and leg. I could see it and thankfully it simply found it's way up the pants and out the waist as I held it open for it. Whew! I tuck my pants into my boots now.

Here is Jolene, our queen bee, marked with blue and named for my sister who is an amazing human being. She is one of the strongest women I know and that because life has not been easy but she has continued to do her best and hold tight to her relationship with her Savior to get through it. Also, she is funny. Humor is always a big plus. So, Queen Jolene!

Barn Quilt Tour

 What do you do when you're social distancing from others and the Texas heat is 104 degrees? You take your family barn quilt hunting in your air conditioned car.  We headed up to Honey Grove, TX to see if we could find them all. We nearly did!

There are two horses in that barn. You may be able to see the miniature one.

Back to School

 It's back to school COVID19 style! Neal provided them with a father's blessing to help communicate Heavenly Father's love and will for them this year. With the kids help, I prepared The Kissing Hand cupcakes since the traditional hand print cutout cookie didn't excite any of us anymore. After reading the book, we ate our cholocate peanut butter cupcakes.

Instead of the usual photo at the door, we kept it real and although I didn't get to have my mother's rejoicing party, I did meet up for a porch visit with friends to vent about the frustrations we, our children, and, I have no doubt, teachers had today.

Don't Buy Yourself A Mattress

 Whatever you do, don't buy yourself a mattress. If you do, you will have a plumbing problem, your daughter will need minor surgery on her toe, your cat will need to visit the vet, your vacuum will break, your car will need work done, your freezer will stop working and all the food will spoil, and your son will need you to get him a trombone for 6th grade band. All true for us this past month. Despite that we are sleeping surprisingly well because through all of it we've recognized our blessings, and oh, yeah, a new mattress.

Jammin'

 Thanks to a failing freezer, Neal felt very motivated to get his jam on and canned 24 pints total which included the old standbys of strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry. He experimented and also made watermelon lemon and blueberry lemon thyme. The blueberry lemon thyme is my favorite. We will use it on toast, PB&J, and in plain yogurt!