What the second half of July looked like

What's up with this nutella???

I didn't know there was a special one for seniors...

Shelley mentioned on facebook that her family loves

playing Hamilton karaoke, where they try to do the 

songs WITHOUT LOOKING at the words.

Sounded like a fun challenge!

The girls did awesome.

I was OK on a couple songs.

Andrew doesn't listen to the soundtrack enough. :)

Day trip: Conservator's Center

 This one was Whitney's choice.

Caroline and I had gone once before,

a couple of years ago with KK,

but Whit had never been.

We found this super cute painted hedgehog rock

while we were waiting for our tour to start.

You were supposed to take it and hide it somewhere new.

We hid it in a crepe myrtle tree by Adams Farm Lake.

We need to walk back by and see if anyone has taken it yet. :)

The Conservator's Center only does guided tours.

The guides are super knowledgeable and friendly.

They do a great job.

Very educational.

It is NOT a hands-on experience,

just a "look with your eyes" tour.

We went on an 11 o'clock tour, which is too late in

the day in July. It was hot and humid. We were so

sweaty by the end, especially since we had to 

wear our masks the whole time. 

Wolves

Leopard

Lion

The keepers got the lions to "talk" while we were there.

Impressive!

Tiger

Arctic Fox

Serval

Evening walk

Beautiful sunset

Care Bear learned a couple songs on the ukulele

You are my sunshine

I bought a bunch of peaches from the farmer's market

and wanted to try out Grandma Sweat's yummy

peach dessert recipe. 

This step, where you have to spread a pasty mixture

on top of crushed vanilla? Impossible!

But the end result was DELICIOUS.

We did another science experiment this month

involving baking soda, food coloring, and vinegar.

Colorful and fun!

We made these baking soda "rocks" with food coloring and froze them overnight
then poured vinegar over the top. Cheap and easy. We liked it.

Whitney stretched her cooking skills this week.

She made veggie burrito bowl and homemade tortillas.

Honing her inner latina.

The burrito bowl turned out amazing.

The tortillas could use some more practice.

That could be because we ran out of our

regular all-purpose flour and had to use

SELF-RISING flour, which was the only thing

that Wal-Mart had in stock for a while during

COVID quarantine...

I hope she'll try again when we're back to regular flour.

Day Trip: Lower Cascade Falls at Hanging Rock

We'd already gone here last month for my birthday,

but this time we knew to wear our swimsuits. Yes!

Plus, we got there early so that it wouldn't be crowded.

We got there at the PERFECT time.

We passed two people who were on their way out.

And we had the place to ourselves for about 15-20 

minutes before the next people got there.

LOVED IT!

So peaceful.

Whitney was super excited to swim.

The water was chilly,

but not as cold as I expected.

Super fun and quick day trip.

Caroline is growing out of all of her clothes.

She grew two inches during quarantine

and is 5'2" now. We had to do some shopping for her

and came across this shirt that totally reminded us of

something B would wear.

I REACHED MY GOAL!

I wanted to add 150 names to our family tree and I did it!

Almost all of them are on the Hiatt side.

That's the easiest side to research because

they've been in the US for so long!

But my dad did help me add three names to my mom's

side of the family tree as well. Hooray!

Also, one of the women I was able to add passed away on July 22 of THIS YEAR.

I can't believe her Find-a-Grave was already published!

Crazy!

Our first time in a health care facility since COVID started.

The girls got their teeth cleaned.

Whitney needs some "preventative fillings"...

I need to ask some more questions about that...

We did a family scavenger hunt around Downtown Greensboro.

I loved it.

Andrew was a good sport.

The girls had fun while it lasted, but were 

so ready to be done when we stopped.

Some of the cool things we got to find:

Fountain

9/11 memorial

Musician's mural

Another fountain

This MLK statue says that he was supposed

to be in Greensboro speaking at a church on

the day he was assassinated. I had no idea.

Toto and the ruby slippers

I miss you so much

rainbow staircase

Skyline bench

Rolex lamppost

Metal hanging flowers

Footsteps where the Greensboro four

started the sit-in movements

to help end segregation.

I cleaned out my closet and

came across some sweet memories.

On one of our neighborhood walks,

we came across the world's tiniest frog.

He was adorable!

We also came across this...

Ewwwwww....

Gross!


Thanks to plastic bag donations from several friends,
Whitney and I were able to make THREE MORE
plastic bag mats and donate them to Open Door Ministries
in High Point.

There is a comet called NEOWISE that is supposedly visible in the night sky right now. We went out to Adams Farm Park one night, but couldn't see anything. I decided I needed to get away from city lights. I drove out to the boonies. But it was cloudy and I had no view. Boo. Then Andrew and I tried to go watch a movie at a drive-in theater in Eden, NC. But it was sold out. But Eden is out in the boonies, so we decided to wait until it was dark enough to try to see it.

We ate the treats we had bought for the movie and listened

to a podcast together while we waited for it to get dark enough.

We were PRETTY sure we could see where it was.

But it was not very spectacular.

We even had a little pair of binoculars,

but couldn't be sure if we were seeing the right thing.

So....the next night, I took Care Bear out with me and 

took my GOOD camera to see if I could capture it.

And we did!

It still wasn't as spectacular as I expected.

But we saw it!

And documented evidence!

It won't be back for another 6,800 years, so

I'm glad we caught a glimpse of it when we could. 

Tennis is back in season for me!

Hooray!

My first season back didn't go so great.

I went 2-3 in my 3.5 doubles team. Oops.

The next shortened season has me playing 

both singles and mixed doubles with Andrew.

The bad news: My first singles match got rained

out when I was winning 5-1. (We'll reschedule

and pick up where we left off.)

The good news: There was a beautiful rainbow at the courts!

And it was still out when I got home.

It was one of the most vivid rainbows I've ever seen.

As part of the phased approach for returning to church,

the youth can have up to two meetings a month

outdoors with masks and social distancing.

This month, the church put out a virtual worldwide

music celebration. The Greenwoods hosted 

both the YM and YW and projected the broadcast

like a movie in their yard.

So cool! The girls had a GREAT time being

back with their church friends for the first time in MONTHS.

Celeste had us download the Marco Polo app and we've had so much fun chatting back and forth with video clips. One of the things that Celeste and Care Bear have been talking about is getting unicycles. What???

We decided it sounded like fun...

And a way to get Bear away from her video games.

She has only had it a few days so far, but is spending time

every day practicing!

Celeste even sent her this super cute unicycle shirt!

And by her second day of practice,

you could already see an improvement!

Woo hoo!

Day Trip: Mount Mitchell

This one was my choice.

I really wanted to conquer the highest peak in NC! (And we learned at the top that it's the highest east of the Mississippi!) There are different ways to get to the summit. You can actually drive almost all the way to the top, with a quick 10 minute walk to the summit. (Too easy.) Or you can do an 11 mile hike from the bottom. (Too hard.) OR you can do a scenic 4 mile loop to the summit. (Yes, please!)   

I forgot how much cooler it would be up there. The girls ended up taking our picnic blanket from the back of the van and using it as a makeshift jacket most of the time. 😆 When we got there, we were inside a cloud. There was NO view. I was afraid we were going to be stuck in it the whole time, but the clouds came and went and we had some gorgeous vistas along the way.

They have good signage to help you figure out which trail you're on. 

Important for this girl who has gotten us lost on trails before. Ha!

The trail is HARD. Completely uneven. Lots of boulders and roots. But it was gorgeous and magical, too. Felt like it was out of a fairy tale at times. 

This tree was so cool!

Found this colorful millipede along the way.

Pretty wildflowers

Part of the trail was an old road.

We enjoyed the wide, flat trail while it lasted.

It was a great time to play

"I'm thinking of an animal"

while we weren't out of breath or 

concentrating too hard on our footing.

There's a tiny little waterfall about halfway.

Even with the good signage,

we ended up off the trail at one point.

Totally just bushwhacking through some

rough terrain.

It was kinda hilarious.

I thought "How are we going to go back

down here without slipping and falling down 

the steep trail?" Luckily, we took THE 

REAL TRAIL on the way back down. Ha!

Isn't this the craziest plant?

It's called Ghost Pipe or Indian Pipe.

We'd never seen it before.

It reminded me of jellyfish or fairies or angels.

We made it to the top!

My phone died soon after I took these pics, so I don't have any of the way down. We got to forage some delicious wild raspberries along the way. I fell in the mud towards the end. Luckily mud makes for a soft landing. I'm not sad that we don't have photographic evidence of that. Ha!

The cloud that engulfed us at the beginning was gone

when we got back to the parking lot.

Gorgeous view!

I was proud of both of my girls for finishing this hike with me.

It was not easy. And poor Whitney had gotten eaten up by 

mosquitos at the outdoor YW activity and she was SUPER

itchy. She hung in there like a champ.

Love exploring this beautiful world with my girls!

What the First Half of July Looked Like

Brandon turned 19 this month.

It was lame to not be with him on his birthday.

But when we chatted with him,

we found out that he has a girlfriend, Allie.

They met at the chocolate factory and have been 

friends since the fall. Not sure exactly when it 

turned to "more than friends."

Two days after we found out about Allie,

Andrew's mom sent me this pic of B and Allie who had

driven up to Salt Lake (to buy sugar gliders for Allie's sister!)

and had made a surprise visit at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Fun!

(Last time we talked to B, he said they weren't dating anymore...

Didn't have enough in common. He said he has to find a girl

who climbs and/or listens to rap so they have shared interests.)

For FHE one night this month, we went to a nearby cemetery

to take pictures of gravestones.

It's a service that can help people find their relatives online. 

 

It was a fun way to spend some time on a pleasant evening.

C and W had "Girls Camp in a Box" this month.

It was FANTASTIC.

Each of the girls got a box with five manila envelopes,

along with some other supplies.

(Smores ingredients, cake mix, frosting,

a cute little jar, sidewalk chalk)

The envelopes were labeled for each day of the week.

There was a theme, activities you could do,

journal prompts.

There were Zoom firesides two nights.

And a virtual talent show one night.

On Friday, the girls from our ward were able to 

gather with Bishop and the camp leaders

to roast their smores and have a testimony meeting.

Both girls really had a good experience.

So grateful for all the work that went into

this unique camp experience.

Whitney's cupcakes:

Spaghetti with a meatball and salad.

Caroline's flower cupcake.

Journals

The theme was service one day.

The girls were supposed to write inspiring messages 

for their neighbors. 

We went down to the walking trail at the end of our

street and decorated.

So fun!

One of Caroline's besties, Ryleigh,

has already moved twice in the last three years,

to Nebraska and then closer to us, down in SC.

Now they are moving back to UT.

We met up in Davidson NC to say good-bye.

We had a picnic lunch at a park.

So fun to visit.

Then we stopped for frozen custard at Whit's.

Yum!

While we were in the area,

we decided to stop at Lazy 5 Ranch. Yes! 

Oh my gosh. Every time we go, it's a different experience.

This time I was terrified that a longhorn was going

to gouge the side of the van!

They get so close!

Luckily, there was no damage...

just lots of drool left on our windows. Ewwww....

Emus. are. so. creepy!

DISCLAIMER:

I think I am the worst videographer that I know.

It is laughably bad.

Be warned. :)

The bisons are intimidating

I thought that mountain goat (?) looked so regal sitting up there.

Care Bear LOVED feeding the llamas!

I had lots of big animal noses in my face!

I couldn't believe how BIG the ostrich was!

He's GIGANTIC.

Like, he towered over my van.

This guy had the coolest horns!

Flexing the X

Everybody wants a water buffalo...

This baby llama was the CUTEST.

So was the baby zebra.

Please stay away from my van!

Oh, these little piglets were cuties, too.

So much fun.

It was exciting and scary and cool.

Caroline and I loved it.

I was talking with Destiny about how much O loves

the series Fablehaven. Both Whit and O have read it

multiple times. This is what our volume two looks like.

Whoa...

It rained four times in the first two weeks of July.

And we happen to be out walking THREE of the four times.

What is up with that????

Usually, we were just walking around the neighborhood,

so it was no big deal. We'd just head home.

But this evening, we were out on one of our longer walks.

And got stranded out in the rain.

It was hilarious.

Fishing at April and Ben's lake!

Andrew caught one!

Andrew and I had the best time playing Pandemic Legacy.

It is a different version of the Pandemic game we play at lunch

every day. It is WAY more complicated, but also more exciting.

You play it through a year, starting with Jan and going through Dec.

There are plot twists! In a board game! Who knew?

We had to tear cards up. (Gasp!)

Your characters could die.

One of the disease strains mutated and turned

people into "Faded Figures". (kinda like zombies.)

It took a lot of brain power to keep up with all the

twists and turns, but in the end, we LOVED playing this game.

You can only play through the year once because

 you've made so many changes to the board and cards.

We ended up with a grand total score of 720,

"Disaster Averted." That's the second highest outcome.

We were SO CLOSE to Legendary Achievement!

We returned to church this month!

After worshiping at home since mid-March, our stake

was approved to begin a phased approach to meeting

together again. The girls and I attended, but Andrew

wasn't able to.

I LOVED being back with my ward family.

Or at least the few of those who have returned.

Our attendance is capped at 99,

but we had less than 45 people there.

The girls didn't love it.

Whitney said it felt very stiff and formal

with all of us wearing our masks and social

distancing. Caroline missed the social aspect

of church. It was weird not being able to talk

and hang out with your friends. She also didn't

realize that we would only have a shortened

sacrament meeting, no Young Women's or

Sunday School classes. After church, we discussed

our experience and decided that we would attend

church every other week and then continue to

worship at home every other week.

I think it will be a great compromise.

Brandon's other big news from this month:

He bought a car!

Grandpa Sweat helped him scope out used cars in SLC

and they found a STEAL on this VW Passat.

B LOVES it and is so excited.

We're thrilled for him that he will have more

mobility and freedom now.

(Also more bills...he was shocked at the

$200 price tag to register it...)

I thought it was SO cute to get this photo

from him in a text. Since he has only had a BIKE

for the last year, he could only grocery shop

for what would fit IN HIS BACKPACK.

He was EXCITED that he could use a SHOPPING

CART. And buy an ENTIRE GALLON of milk.

Wow, the things I take for granted...

We've kept up our new tradition of having

the girls each cook a meal every week.

Caroline branched out and made us 

Beef and Broccoli one day.

It was DELICIOUS.

But she didn't like it...

Last month, some critter ATE all my

lily blossoms and I was SO sad.

This month, I finally got some beautiful blooms.

They make me happy every time I walk out

the front door.