Wallace Family: 2020

Nov. 1, 2020

Mason's Favorites

Favorite song: Yorktown: The World Turned Upside Down (from the musical Hamilton)
Favorite movie: Hamilton
Favorite Book: Axel and Beast
Favorite thing to do: go the the Falcon’s house and go to Pojo’s
Favorite toy: Legos and Bakugan
Favorite color: Red
Favorite subject: Reading
Goals: read scriptures every day

Ethan's Favorites

Favorite song: My Shot (from the musical Hamilton)
Favorite Movie: Big Hero 6
Favorite Book: Axel and Beast
Favorite thing to do: Go to Pojos
Favorite toy: Bakugan
Favorite color: Gold
Favorite Subject:
Goals:

2020 Review

Ethan’s Rainbow Cake

Ethan loves making rainbow things. So far this year he has made rainbow cookies, popsicles, and icecream. This time he wanted to learn how to make rainbow cake. He picked the YouTube video he wanted to try and follow and I helped him know what to do but he did most of it himself! Logan helped a little too. It took quite a while to do the decorating and getting the layers together, but it was a lot of fun and the cake was delicious! Then is going to be a great chef!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year! Mason was a storm trooper from Star Wars, Ethan was Captain America, and Logan was a fireman. Chad was a hiker. I didn’t dress up this year. This was the first year I haven’t dressed up in about 13 years at least. It just seemed like the month was crazy and Halloween really snuck up.

We made Frankenstein and paper jack o’ lantern decorations with the Falcons, went trunk or treating at our ward party, went to the Falcon’s fun Halloween party, and then went trick or treating with them and the LInares’s too. We also made jack o’ lantern pizza for lunch and jack o’ lantern pancakes for breakfast.

Ethan did an amazing job of decorating our front porch for Fall. He did this all on his own, even doing the hay bale scarecrow decorations from scratch. He really has an eye for how to design things and is very creative. He loved doing it and was very excited. Mason came and helped at the end and also did really well.

We carved pumpkins with Cara and grandma and grandpa Buckner. Mason carved an Ironman, Ethan carved a scary face, and I carved a Haunted House. Logan just stabbed his. Our pumpkins rotted terribly in just a few days though. We should have waited until later in the month to carve them so we did it again Halloween week. This time we just drilled holes of different sizes in the pumpkin. It was pretty fun. Logan especially really loved it! He loves getting to use Daddy’s power tools.

Logan also decorated some fun Halloween cookies and Ethan made a super cute pumpkin with a story to go with it at speech. Here is his story:

Jack saw a ghost and it drank a green potion. The potion will Mae Jack invisible. The ghost said, “ha, ha, ha!” I stole the candy treats with my broom. Jack said, “I’ll use my green potion to get the candy treats back.”

Funny pics

These are just some funny pics we took with the filters on my phone. It was fun!

Falcon’s Move Back

Our best friends, the Falcons (Amber, Andrew, Abby, and Alex) lived here in Mountain Home when we first moved here, but then moved back East a few years ago. They moved back here at the beginning of September and it’s been so much fun to have them back! Amber and I love going on walks with Ollie and Logan every day and the kids get together and play almost daily. We’ve been doing fun projects together, holidays together, taking turns watching kids, etc. Amber has been a lifesaver to me lately. She takes the kids so often - when I take Ethan to speech every Mon. And Wed. And we frequently trade kids in the afternoon so we can take turns having a break and time to get stuff done. We had fun bowling with them this weekend!

L’s lego tower and working with Dad

Logan has been having a lot of fun lately building lego towers as high as they can go. He also loves to help Chad with all his projects and use power tools or hammer and nails any chance he gets!

Soccer pics

Spring soccer was cancelled this year because of COVID, but the boys were able to play Fall soccer. Ethan didn’t want to sign up at first because he was afraid he wasn’t going to be good enough because he didn’t know how to play. He finally decided to try even though he knew it might be hard. I am proud of his courage. He ended up loving it so much and did an excellent job! He scored 2 goals this year! Mason had a great season too and is getting a lot better. He really has a passion for soccer and does great! He did a great job teaching Ethan some skills too.

McCall trip/Chad’s race

Chad did another IMTUF 100 mile race in McCall this year. We had a lot of fun going up there as a family and with Dennis, Linda, and Andrew and bike riding, playing at the beach, hiking, hot-tubing, etc. Chad did an amazing job on his race. The course was different this year due to covid and then normal start/finish place (Burgdorf Hot Springs) being shut down. The course was quite a bit more difficult. Chad made it 87 miles and then had to stop but we are still proud of how well he did!

Skatepark

Mountain Home opened up a new skate park this summer. The boys enjoyed going a few times when none of the big kids were there.

Ollie

(writing this on Dec 20th)

We got a new puppy at the very beginning of June. We decided with school closed down early and all of us home together and COVID keeping us home more often that it would be a great time to get and train a puppy. I had really been wanting a mini goldendoodle for a long time. We wanted a dog that wouldn't shed and was really good with kids and that seemed like the perfect breed. We were aiming for a puppy no more than 25 lbs. in April I found an ad for mini goldendoodles that were going to be between 15 and 25 lbs full grown. They were adorable and had been genetically screened (something felt was necessary after doing research) and were already being trained and socialized. I called the lady selling them and she had 1/10 left but had a few other people interested. I asked her if she could hold one for me if I got in the car right then to come see it. She lived in Ogden about 4 hours away. She said yes so my mom, Ethan, and I hopped in the car 15 min. later and drove to Ogden to see the puppy. I wanted to see it first, see the mom, see the environment, etc. We loved the cute little puppy and everything seemed good so we paid the deposit and drove back home. 6 weeks later were were able to go pick up our new puppy. Chad, Mason, Ethan, and I went to get him. We were surprised how much he had already grown. He had been 3 lbs when we saw him 6 weeks earlier but was already around 6! We all really loved him and the boys loved his kennel too and even fought over who would get to sleep in it before Ollie got there (no one slept in it). lol.

We've really enjoyed having a dog, but it's been a lot more work and stress than I thought it would be. I. was worried about the first couple nights and the lack of sleep I heard about but Ollie did great. He whined in his crate for a few min. when it was time for bed but then just went to sleep and only woke up once a night to pee. It only took a few nights and he was sleeping through the night and not whining. Potty training was easier than I expected too. He had his fair share of accidents in the house of course but it wasn't too bad. The hardest part has just been training him to be obedient. He is a great dog and has done a really good job, but the training takes a lot of time. I did most of it. I read a book about it and watched a ton of youtube videos. At one point about a month in or so Ollie had started to get really aggressive toward the kids and a little fierce. It was kind of scary for a little bit. He was biting and doing a more ferocious snap at them. I was really worried we were going to have to get rid of him. We changed some things like not letting the kids be around him alone, putting him in the other room for naps to make sure he got good sleep, having the kids give him treats before they touched him, etc. and he started to do a lot better. We also paid for a personal trainer to come to our house once a week for 6 weeks. It was pretty expensive but I think it was worth it. We learned a lot from him and I really want a well trained dog.

He is doing great now. He has pretty much mastered sit, stay, down, and heel and "leave it" with a treat in front of his nose. We are still working on leave it for things we don't want him to take like food and the kids toys. He's pretty obedient though. He does like to chew on underwear and steal food off the table though so we are still working on that. He really loves to play too so he gets really excited when people come over and tries to jump on them. He's getting better at going to his bed when someone knocks on the door and staying.

He loves to go on walks and runs with Chad. Chad took him on an 8 mile run the other day and he did great! When Chad is getting ready for a run Ollie won't leave his side because he's afraid Chad will leave him and. he wants to go so badly. Ollie also loves to be outside - especially when the weather is nice - he prefers it out there. We just build him an insulated dog house so he can be out there when it's colder too. Ollie loves to play chase in the backyard and play tug of war. He is pretty good at just relaxing in the house and not being too much of a bother unless we are eating. he also likes to snuggle up.

He is over 30 lbs now! It's been a while since I weighed him. He was supposed to be 15-25 full grown but the growth chart is showing he will be about 49 lbs full grown - WAY bigger than we expected or wanted, but we love him and wouldn't trade him!

These pictures are from right when we got home with Ollie:

These are pics of when we met him for the first time. I can't believe how tiny he is!

These are when he's a little bigger and home with us:

Logan likes to pretend to be a puppy all the time - so this is him licking the spilled cereal off the floor with Ollie - gross I know!

All 3 of them with their own water bowls here. lol.

One of Ollie's favorite places to sleep:

He LOVES playing with stuffed animals. He did great with them for the first couple months but now his teeth are too strong and he rips them to shreds in seconds.

One of Ollie's first baths - I had to get in there with him because he was scared.

Sometimes Ollie sleeps in really funny positions!

These are some more from when he first came home:

I'll have to find some more pics. of how big he is now and post them.

Swimming in backyard

Mason's Birthday:

This year Mason wanted an Avatar: The Last Airbender themed birthday! He had a lot of fun with his friends doing a party at our house.

Mason’s baptism

Mason's baptism was a little different than expected this year because of COVID. He was only allowed to have immediate family and grandparents there and was not aloud to have a "program". They did make an exception for Cara to be able to come since she was living with my parents at the time. Linda and Dennis were able to come too and Brian and Brand's families watched through facetime which was cool. We went to the relief society room, had an opening prayer, Chad baptized him , he got dressed, confirmed, and then we said closing prayer. We did have a little family celebration for him at our house afterwards and had a discussion on baptism and the Holy Ghost at our house beforehand. Chad liked the simplicity of it. I did like how quick it was, especially with Logan (the primary president had to take him out to the hallway because he wouldn't stop yelling that he wanted to go swimming. lol.) I missed the music and the spirit that brings though. We are so proud of Mason and the decision he made to be baptized and what a good boy he is and a good example he is to his younger brothers.

2020 Projects:

Here are a couple of projects we (but mostly Chad) did this year:

We built a new big sandbox with a storage contained, Chad built lego tables for the boys, a white bookshelf. forthe front room, put. adoor on the bplayset and we all built a huge pallet fort in the backyard.

This bed is actually from Last Dec - my parents, Brandt, Chad, and I built it for Logan (but mostly my dad)

Shoofly Oolite

We went with my parents to this cool place with awesome rock formations left behind by Lake Idaho 12 million years ago! We all had tons of fun exploring.

Alexander Hamilton

We watched the Hamilton Musical this year. We all really liked it but Mason fell in LOVE. He cannot get enough Hamilton. He has 18 of the songs memorized and is working on memorizing them all. He listens to the music pretty much non-stop and knows a ton about Alexander Hamilton and the history surrounding him. He has read all kind of books about Hamilton and the revolutionary war period too and has learned a ton. IT has been fun to see him get so passionate about something and to see how much he is learning. One day he wanted Chad and I to dress up like red coats and he and Ethan dressed up in "blue coats" and Mason had us act out the final battle of the revolutionary war under his direction. It was pretty cool.

Boys Art

This is some art work Mason and EThan have been doing!

Camping

We went camping with my parents and Cara (and Ollie!) this summer. We had a lot of fun hiking, four wheeling, exploring the creek, making s'mores, and relaxing in the hammocks. Mason got into a little stinging nettle but luckily we got it washed off almost right away and the pain and itchiness didn't last too long. Logan ended up sleeping with Chad in a sleeping bag because he got too cold do neither one of them slept too well, but we still had a super fun trip! We went swimming at the lake on the way home which was a lot of fun too.

Fun with Grammie and Grandpa

Logan's Tubes

Logan had to get tubes put in his ears this year. He was a champ! He got to decorate his mask for the anesthesia with stickers and good smelling chap stick. He really liked that.

McCall Feb 2020

We stayed at a cabin in McCall back in February with my parents and brand't family. We had a lot of fun - especially in the snow. It was SO deep!

Here are some. pics from sledding last winter too! Mason and Ethan's friend Ocean had a sledding birthday party at a place where they take you up the hill on a hayride and then you slide back down. I was pretty fun!

Here are some misc photos from this year (and some that should have gone in the sections above)

PlayGym on base

We saw TONS of deer in McCall. in Feb. They would get really close to us and one time came up to my dad at the car window

Fun at the Sand dunes with Brandt's family:

Watching Grandpa, Brandt, Cara, Nate, MIchelle, and Chad shooting

I ordered the whole series of Billy and the Mini Monsters. Ethan, Mason, and I read the first one together and were so excited to read the next ones. The box came when the kids were outside riding bikes. Ethan immediately got off his bike and asked if we could read ALL of the books right there and then. We got through one and half before I had to go make dinner. I loved sitting in the sunshine and reading with him and loved his excitement for reading! #ubamthankful

Hiking at Rattlesnake Pass

Logan LOVES the sandbox - part of why we bulit that bigger one

Playing at the new little park downtown

Mason and Ethan wanted to try a lemonade stand. We didn't get many customers (or see many people at all) but we sold a few so they were happy! I'm grateful for the people who drove by and stopped just to make their day!

Chad, and I and Cara and some of her friends went white water rafting with Brandon Johns. It was so much fun! It's one of my favorite things to do!

Logan was really proud of how tall this Lego tower was

Logan and Ethan love to cook - and clearly Logan loves to lick (literally) the bowl

When we were helping my parents pick fruit off the ground in their backyard Logan climbed the tree and his pants got stuck on a part sticking out of the branch. He couldn't reach the ground and hung there for a minute or so until someone realized what had happened.