A few more things have happened in this semi-quarantine part of Covid-19. We are still VERY cautious as things have reopened because the virus is still raging in Texas! We try not to go inside very many places at all and still haven’t been in a store since March! We all wear masks when we go out which is a big deal for Riley, we wash our hands like crazy and are picky with the people we see. But we are seeing family and some friends now which is what we missed the most in quarantine and are trying to still have a great summer while being cautious. You know I am all about creating great memories together and I feel so blessed that we have still been able to do that!
Back at the beginning of June, one of the biggest and best things that has happened was that the girls finally got to perform the show we have all worked so hard on since November, Shrek Jr! Tech week for this DPAC show that both Keagan and Riley were in and that I was the stage manager for was right at the very first week of quarantine, so it was obviously canceled. Since March we have struggled to figure out if we could do anything to prevent having to cancel the show all together. So the two performances on two consecutive nights looked very different then expected but Mrs Shea was as amazing as ever and with a few social distanced rehearsals that were so fun cause the kids were SO happy to be back and very minimal costumes and sets, all the casts got to perform in a parking lot of a church in Tomball! It was hot, hot, hot and the sound was difficult to manage in an open parking lot but we had an absolute BLAST!
The kids and parents alike all loved that DPAC once again pulled off a miracle! Riley was the absolute cutest little Fairy Godmother I ever did see and Keagan had a bunch of smaller roles in this one (storyteller, 3 blind mice, Dulouc dancer, Freak Flag soloist) and they both totally rocked this show!! As always it’s the best thing in the world to perform with friends and have those you love support you! Big thanks to Kellie and Justin, Gramas and Coach and Taryn and Reagan for braving the heat to come see the show! I will never forget working on this show with both my girls together and I will also never forget when the sound completely went out during the first performance that Keagan and some friends sat in a circle and prayed together that Mrs Shea could fix it! Shrek Jr was definitely unforgettable and hopefully we will never have to do another show like it! But all the kids are very proud of what they accomplished as they should be! Riley is so proud that it is still difficult to get her to wear something besides her Shrek shirt which most of the cast signed after the last show!
I had a parenting low after the last Shrek performance and after we unloaded our car full of costumes and things back at the studio. We got home very late and we were all exhausted, hot and hungry- not good combos! For the life of me I could not get Riley’s door open in Rhonda the Honda because little did I know the gas tank was popped open and the van door locks. But instead of using one of the other working doors to get Riley out, I lost my mind and told Riley “well I guess you live in the car now!” And told Keagan to get back in the car because we were sleeping in it! I’m so ridiculous! Luckily my craziness didn’t last long and I opened the door so we slept in our beds!
We escaped Houston a few weeks ago to go visit the Texas Ginns in Austin! The three hour road trip was so much fun with my girls but the Buccees trip was seriously stressful because we hadn’t been inside anywhere in months! We survived and got our beloved Buccees gear though! We also saw the worlds largest squirrel on the side of the road that Riley would have nothing to do with, and Keagan and I had the following conversation. Keagan “mom if you could give me one piece of advice for middle school what would it be?” Me: launched into a passionate and eloquent speach about the fact that she gets her worth from her Heavenly Father and that will never change despite the fact that some people might never see it. Keagan: “soooooo......do you think I should use a locker?” Another parenting win!
Three days with Kari, Kirk, Kennedy and Campbell in gorgeous Austin at their beautiful house was absolutely amazing! For some reason we all slept in so good there, maybe because we had so much fun! But it was really 3 easy days being together and enjoying the time. When we got there Friday night we went toilet papering with some of Campbell’s friends to their Bishops house- classic Uncle Kirk! So fun! Saturday we went on a classic Austin adventure canoeing in Lady Bird lake. It was gorgeous and Keagan and Riley had the time of their life! I was absolutely terrified of rocking and tipping the canoe so I sat as awkwardly and as stiff as possible with white knuckles holding unto the side while my poor brother did 95% of the paddling as he patiently laughed behind me! Thankfully Keags and Rys were in with the pro Aunt Kari and Campbell, Kennedy and Obi the dog did great too! When it was all over I was glad we did it but glad it was over! Keagan especially loved it and got out of the canoe to swim around a little. But boy did she have blisters afterwards! They matched my ant bitten foot from my rookie mistake of stepping in an ant pile! After getting shave ice at Bahama Bucks we headed to the Ginns beautiful neighborhood pool where Keags, Rys and Campbell swam and played together for over 5 hours! Kari and I swam for a little while with them but after we all ate dinner pool side we just sat and had great conversations with Kirk while the girls swam til after 11pm!
Sunday was Fathers Day which was great to be with Kirk for. We had a big Pakka breakfast and then a great sacrament meeting together. Keags spent a serious amount of time riding Campbell’s hover board, Riley pet Obi, Kennedy and Kari introduced all of us to playing Mahjong, we had a great dinner with the sister missionaries and we had family movie night of “Mirror, Mirror.” Then for the second night in a row Keagan and Campbell stayed up til past 2am laughing and giggling in their makeshift side by side beds while Riley slept great next to me. On Monday we went back to the neighborhood pool before a delicious late lunch Kari made before driving back home. It was a full but easy 3 days that we will cherish with just the 7 of us. We missed Elder Ginn being there but we’re thrilled we got to see him on FaceTime on Sunday and tell him we love him!
Last week the girls had the blessing of attending Klein Stake virtual Girls Camp! I was crazy impressed with what their youth and adult leaders put together after having to change everything to a virtual camp because of dumb Corona! Keagan and Riley did get to do some of their things with their sweet friend Kaylee. The camp was an air force theme of “The Sky Never Was the Limit” based on the scripture Luke 18:27. It was 3 days of afternoon and then evening activities mostly over zoom. They received a large bag full of tons of snacks, activities, gifts, a T-shirt with the theme, etc. They had a fun camp song and daily devotionals plus two different great guest speakers of a man who climbed Mt Everest and the Candy Bomber, a yoga class, and a baking challenge. They created their own camp flag and squadron chant, had squadron youth leaders assigned to them and wrote to and received letters in the mail from their pen pal! They participated in a really great service project to collect supply kits for homeless veterans. The goal was to collect 150 total to celebrate 150 years of the Young Women’s program and they ended up collecting 250! Keagan and Riley received generous Venmo and cash donations from several friends and we bought 10 t-shirts, 24 pairs of good socks, 20 pieces of men’s underwear and 8 blankets to contribute! The girls also loved chalking one of the parking spots at the Stake Center and the final activity which was really cool. They received a clear balloon with a small blinking light inside of it earlier in the day and at the same time over zoom that night all the girls wrote something they wanted to let go of or give up in order to be closer to their Heavenly Father. And they all let them go at the same time and watched them fly away! It was a great 3 days of virtual camp but all three of us are really hoping next year it will be in person!
Our Fourth of July was definitely memorable! The night before we did fireworks with the Reeves in front of our house to celebrate which was a ton of fun! The girls loved the flowers and the mini bombs the most and were pretty independent in lighting them! Then on Independence Day we went to the Frenchs to watch Hamilton to Musical since the film just came out on Disney+. It was everything I remembered it to be and all three Kikuchi girls were completely captivated for the almost 3 hours! Now the music is on non-stop at our house and Keagan is pretty much obsessed. After that we started cooking dinner at the Frenchs and things got exciting. Miss Taryn’s Grill full on lighted on fire and it was quite an intense situation until her and I got it out. Well it was mostly her but I was ready and in position with a full plan to drag her into the grass and roll her until the fire was out! Yes that sounds really dramatic but it was a really dramatic 10 minutes where so was very close to calling 911! After that we counted our blessings and cooked the corn and hot dogs inside and had a great big classic American dinner. That was followed up by a really fantastic firework show that Tomball put on! We just happened to find the absolute perfect spot behind Target and we all got a phenomenal view- especially KeGan and Reagan who sat on top of Rhonda the Honda! We finished the night doing a few small fireworks of our own in the church parking lot and counted another holiday as celebrated well!
We have swam SO much this summer, more then any summer before. It’s outside and a much more safe activity to do in this Covid time so it has been a go to for us. The girls have been to several swim birthday parties, we have swam with the Reeves at their never crowded neighborhood pool and at the Coastas and Whitney’s houses. We have had several nights at the Whitney’s where we have stayed really late into the night talking, swimming and laughing! With all this swimming you should see how crazy tan Keagan is in her RAD swim swimming suit that she bought with her own money! Riley and I are still not so tan! Oh and we also finally went back to the beach just this week with Mrs Heather and Calli. I am happy to report that their were no baby crabs in our swimsuits this time but our brand new HUGE pineapple float that we just bought right near the beach popped and Keagan accidentally sliced her finger with the Swiss Army knife! But we had a blast, the girls collected tons and tons of shells this trip, they built a sandcastle, we swam and no one got sunburned!
Just today we thankfully borrowed the Whitney’s pool while they are out of town so we could actually hang out safely with 2 of the 3 Foster girls! Addie is in town visiting friends and we don’t get to see Kellie very often so we were dying to spend some time with them! We had so much fun swimming, jumping off the waterfall, eating pizza and bring together! It was really great! But we miss the other 3 Fosters soooooo much!
Hudson moved to his dads house so we miss him but it has been a fun girl party with the Frenchs! We have done Crumble taste tests, dance parties, TikToks, dinners including a fun pizza pocket night, and more. Keags has loved long bike rides with them, we helped Reagan do a crazy doll prank to the Jones’s where Taryn almost ran over several teenagers, the girls have baked a lemon cake for Keagan and Riley’s beehive activity and one day Reagan came over here and the 3 girls were paid to totally clean up the backyard which needed it and unsuccessfully power wash the driveway.
The girls had an awesome pizza date with their dad! He ordered them a pizza and then ate pizza over FaceTime with them with Auntie Kat and Grandma Debbie! I loved hearing them giggle thru it! Keagan and I had a date one afternoon to finally both get our hair cut and she was thrilled Miss Melissa straightened my hair! And Riley and I had a date to the dentist which was very nerve racking going into Texas Children’s but they were incredibly cautious, clean and efficient as I should have known.
We have cheered Miss Taryn on in her 5K, had heartache and hard conversations about racism in our country including me totally embarrassing Keagan by stopping the car and starting open conversations with unknown black neighbors to make sure they feel supported in our community. We have done tons of Young Women zooms and SO SO SO many chores! We’ve played with hairstyles, guitars, toys and eachother. The girls have watched too much kids YouTube. I have collected so many memes and Keagan has made SO many silly videos!
And SO SO SO thankfully we are all healthy, safe, happy and together! We will hope, pray and work to keep it that way too! We have BIG decisions to make about what to do for the coming school year that we are praying and fasting about and we have appropriate, cautious, and social distanced beach vacations that are coming up. So we will continue to do our very best to love eachother, laugh a lot and be safe!
Oh these two have my heart....
