After being in Utah for about three weeks, we realized that if we stayed just a week longer, we'd be there for the 4th of July! I managed to convince Ryan to come meet us in Las Vegas for a few days to celebrate our 19th anniversary, then we went up to Orem on the 4th to set off fireworks and watch (from a distance) the big community display being put on by the Stadium of Fire people.
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| Hotel in Las Vegas |
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| Poster at the National Atomic Testing Museum |
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| I have this survey meter! |
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| Hiking near Charleston Peak |
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| We ate a lot of treats. |
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| Fireworks at the Murrays' House! |
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| The community display was farther away than we expected. |
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| Rootbeer Floats and Doughnuts! |
We spent part of the next day in Levan, then started home that evening. I believe Ryan drove all that night so he wouldn't miss work Monday morning, but we stayed in Las Vegas and got home the next day.
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| Primary Singing Time with Megan Harvey |
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| Me. I was feeling kinda sad. |
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| Grandma taught Elise a little about the Rhino engine. |
We got more pictures of our new puppy! Michelle told us that we would be getting a little black girl, which was exactly what I was hoping for!
Ryan's garden had been well tended by the Harveys while we were gone. The corn looked especially impressive!
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| Crazy Radish |
Random Mid-July Pictures:
All summer, I had been having recurring nightmares in which I had forgotten about someone or some animal that I was supposed to take care of. I'd wake up disoriented and convinced that someone was lost. It got so upsetting that I finally made a card to tape near my bed, to remind me that everyone was accounted for. Surprisingly, just doing that made the nightmares go away!
When the puppies were finally 12 weeks old, it was time to drive to the Bay Area! We spent 3-4 days there with the Palmers before going pick up baby Phoebe.
On the way out of town to get the puppy, we stopped and took photos of the houses where Ryan and his grandparents lived when he was a baby.
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| Ryan's Baby Home |
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| Nana and Al's Home |
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| Side View |
After Hayward, we drove out to Livermore, home of MTS Standard Poodles! We all got to come into the yard, where we were greeted by six crazy poodle puppies. Phoebe could be identified by the pink paint in her hair (her original name was "Pinky".) Michelle gave me some feeding instructions and some syringes for later shots, and we were off for home with our newest family member! Everyone was instantly in love.
After watching lots of Puppy Culture videos, we decided to set up a crate and pen with pee pads for the first few months. Phoebe consistently preferred to sleep on the cool wood floor rather than a bed, though.
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| We tore ourselves away from the puppy to go to the Dentist. |
Right around the same time, my mom was able to bring home her kitten Luna!
Our friends the Harveys left to travel the U.S. and stay at Air BnB's while they waited for visas to go to their teaching positions in China. Sadly, they eventually had to be released from their contracts, because China wouldn't allow people in. They ended up having a very interesting year just traveling around and homeschooling their kids.
I went to IKEA for the first time since COVID hit, and it was ridiculous. The line was 40 minutes long just to get into the building.
We tried to socialize Phoebe with other dogs as much as possible within the rules of social distancing. She tried to play with the Emmerson's old dog Buster, then had a more successful visit with Winnie, the Oka's mini golden doodle.
I had some concerns about what the COVID policies were going to be at school in the fall. Basically, we'd be in-person with no masks. I spent a lot of time agonizing about what to do with respect to my kids and my teaching.
Random end-of-July Photos:
COVID 19 Stats for July:
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