April Activities

We had a lot of stuff going on in April. The kids had spring break the first week, followed by Easter. The second weekend was Brad Wilcox events - one night for the young single adults (18-35) and the next night for the youth (11-18).  I helped plan and advertise the YSA night, since part of my job involves that age group.  I made several cookies to contribute towards dessert for both nights.  I helped with clean up on both nights, picking up tiny pieces of popped balloons from the youth dance that followed the devotional.  Alex and Owen put up and took down all the lights for the dance.

Brad Wilcox is a religion professor at BYU and a well-known motivational speaker for our church. He was also in the Young Men's General presidency for 2 years (2023-2025).  Nathan took one of his classes last semester and loved it.  I loved his messages about grace, merits, and mercy (same message both nights).  He also was very personable - he greeted and talked to as many people as possible.  Owen was the chorister for the youth night.  After the closing song, Owen headed over to give Brother Wilcox a hug.  It was the biggest bear hug I've seen.  He grabbed Owen and held on tight!  This was the weekend that Weston was in New Orleans, so he missed out.

We had swimming, volleyball, and track meets (later posts). I also had my first Activity Days night, which involves activities twice a month for girls 8-11 years old.  I got called as an Activity Days leader in March, but I didn't have my first activity until April because of track and Spring Break. (I'm also still a youth Sunday School teacher - doubling up on callings.)  It was a little bit of a rough introduction. I thought our activity was already planned and organized - a pinewood derby.  They had made cars at a previous activity.  I checked in with the other girl's activity day leader the day before the pinewood derby to see if there was anything I could help with.  She said, "I'm not in charge of it. Check with the Primary president."  When I did that, I got the same response, except it was "I'm not in charge of it. Check with the other activity days leaders."  There are 4 leaders - 2 for the boys and 2 for the girls.  When I mentioned that I had already checked in with an activity day leader and directed to her, she sent out a group chat, asking how everything was going for the pinewood derby.  No one had done ANYTHING except announce that it was happening (with dinner before the pinewood derby).  No one arranged for the cars track to be set up, for the computer program to be organized, for tables and chairs to be set up, for plates and utensils, etc.  It was the day before and no one had organized anything.  When I asked about awards, I got the response, "Good idea!"   Oh boy... what's a race without any prizes or awards?  Guess who made awards??  I put together some certificates that I could fill in and attached Kit Kat bars to them.  I found some printable paper ribbons online that I could make to attach to some soda bottles.  I had things that day before all the way until 9:30pm, so I didn't get started until about 9:45pm on making the awards.  Owen and I helped set up the track, tables, and chairs after volleyball that night with one of the boys' leaders.  Luckily, it was a potluck dinner, so everyone brought food to share.  The other girl's activity leader took care of the tablecloths, plates, and utensils. It actually turned out to be a successful activity, but I wasn't sure if we were going to pull it off. 

Guess what stopped working in March and April?  The used washer and used fridge that we bought back in September last year... The dryer still worked, but we couldn't get an installment for a new washer without also replacing the dryer, so we bought a new set at Home Depot.  The fridge also wasn't working well, so we bought a new fridge too.  Sigh... We got through 6 months on the cheap used appliances.  The fridge is nothing fancy, because we were limited to options due to the space. We do have functional appliances again. 

There were lots of baby showers in April and May.  I made it to 4 of the 5 baby showers. One of the pregnant moms was not in this photo of 4 moms (the one in the pink dress in another photo).  She actually had her baby 3 days after this photo was taken of the other ladies.  Four baby girls and 1 baby boy on the way!  Savannah came with me to 2 of the showers to see all the cute stuff. 

Just some other random photos - a nice walk one evening, Kai, a date night, the temple, Savannah biking during her spring break since she was bored, Savannah's friends, and a youth activity.  They did a fun night where the youth chatted and got to know the older folks in our ward.  They only had a couple minutes with each person and then moved to the next seat, until they had chatted with everyone.

I don't have any pictures, but Alex, Savannah, and Weston went to a service project - an annual project packing meals that go to Ecuador and Uganda.

The fourth weekend in April, we got a visit from Nathan!  He was in between terms, so he and his roommate made the drive home.  His roommate Devan stayed with us a couple nights and then joined his family later in the week when they got into town.  Most of us were still busy with work, school, and all the normal stuff, so we didn't get to hang out with Nathan very much.  We did watch Owen's volleyball game, played 4-person volleyball, went out to eat, played some games, watched a Thunder basketball game on TV, had some good food and apple pie, watched a movie, planned Jared's BYU classes for the fall, went to an event to celebrate our friend Julie, and went to church. Nathan sang in our ward choir without having practiced (we were short on singers).  He also replaced our broken screen doors while he was here.  He visited me at work a couple days (coming for "waffle Wednesday"), did a little shopping on his own, took the dog for a walk, and went to the beach. Hopefully he had a decent week.  The highlight may have been playing Ticket to Ride Asia, which is played in teams. Nathan and Weston finally beat Owen and me (previously unbeaten in our team Asia games).  They had a depressing first game but then had sweet redemption when they smoked us in the second game!  Savannah and Alex are usually teammates for this game and should have won the first game, if not for one mistake at the end.  It's a pretty fun game, but the challenge is you can't communicate with your teammate during the game.  Some people (ahem... Weston!) are not the most observant players as to what's going on!  Ha ha.  They still won by a lot the second round.

September Misc

 Alex went on a couple of work trips in September.  

Weston had a fun friend birthday party, which was steam punk murder mystery.  Weston had to go in costume as a steam punk adventurer. 

I cut my own hair the beginning of September and then cut it shorter again the next month.  I didn't really want a short hair cut unless I could maintain it on my own.  I didn't want to keep paying for maintenance cuts every few months.  Savannah looked cute for her school picture day.  She did a new painting of Kai.  She loves the dog!

A highlight for the month was having the missionaries over for dinner.  Elder Parks had just started his mission, with his home ward being my sister's ward in TX where her husband is the Bishop.  I got to show him the video Audrey had recently posted of the choir singing.  He recognized the soloist and got a little piece of home.  Owen's seminary class had fun making a pyramid one morning.  We discovered Weston's plastic spoon collection (from school), which he was carrying around in his backpack.  So weird.  It was pretty cool to see the dew drops on the spider webs.  It wasn't cool walking head on into one of those webs another day (when I didn't see the web).  When I discovered that I also had the giant SPIDER from the web on my hat, I flung my hat off pretty quick!  Blah. 

About the middle of September, our clothes washer broke.  We did some loads by hand before we got a new used washer.  The dryer still works.  Shortly after the washer broke, our fridge also stopped working, so we also had to buy a new used fridge.  We're not sure how long these used appliances will last, but we didn't really have money to buy anything (with our Utah housing woes). It was funny that we immediately covered the whole fridge with chore charts, reading charts, and magnets again - also a little weird.  

Anyway, Weston's mini fridge came in handy during the transition.  This was a little amusing, because we picked up the mini fridge a couple months earlier off the side of the road.  It said "free" and even though I said we didn't need it, Weston insisted that he needed it and wanted to bring it home and put it in his room.  I guess it turns out we did need that mini fridge for a bit - another of Weston's "prophecies."  He's had a few other times when he said or had some random little prophecy.  He asked for toilet paper for Christmas 2019 (right before the 2020 toilet paper shortage).  He said he wanted to visit Ukraine "while it still lasts".  A couple months later, Russia invaded Ukraine.  He wanted to buy Ford stock with his "Covid money" but Alex didn't let him.  And then Ford's stock prices went way up (should have listened to Weston on that one).  We say he has the gift of prophecy, but it just comes out at random times.  He can't predict the future or the stock market, but sometimes he says or does something that has us marveling.  

I did a lot of yard work, cleaning, organizing, and decluttering in September.  I made a lot of progress, but it also felt like I was just doing manual labor all month - which was tiring.

September wasn't a great month, but I also enjoyed Owen practicing singing for his solo for his choir class.  He doesn't like the way he sounds, but I enjoyed hearing him practice. 

July-Aug Misc

After we got back from Utah, I re-organized Weston's room.  Nathan had roomed with him this summer, so we needed to get everything back together.  We did bring back a nice dresser from Utah that hopefully Weston will use instead of piling stuff on the bed.  We found a free mini fridge this summer and Weston wanted it in his room.  

Savannah wanted to re-organize her room as well (which we started before we went to Utah).  She didn't want the queen-sized guest bed in her room anymore because she wanted space to put her art desk.  So we got a twin-sized bed for her and moved things around a bit.  (That also meant I had to re-organize the garage too in order to store the other bed.  That was a pretty big project too.)

We said "good-bye" to two friends going on missions. Both mornings were an early start, around 4:45-5:30am send-offs.  Hi'ilei headed off to Argentina in July.  Jack left for a mission to Guyana in August.  We'll see them in 18 months to 2 years!  Owen and Jack may not see each other for 4 years, if Owen leaves on his mission before Jack gets back.  

The other random picture is the kids getting smoothies the day before school started.  They can't say they didn't do anything fun this summer...at least one outing. 😄

Utah House

 The end of July, we bought a house in Provo to be used as a rental for college students.  The process has been a roller coaster.  We first went to look at houses the 1st weekend in June.  There wasn't much to look at in our price range and location.  The house we originally intended to make an offer on was already pending by the time we looked at it.  It had sloped floors though, so it likely had foundation issues anyway.  We did end up making a low offer on a 4 bed 2 bath house that we had looked at and really liked.  We offered 40k less than asking so they didn't take our offer.  During our trip to Italy and Georgia, we were doing video house tours with our realtor.  We then decided to put an offer on a 3 bed 1 bath house within our price range, and our offer was accepted.  We were pretty excited about that, although we knew that we wanted to put a 2nd bathroom in to make it a 3-2.  So we were a little worried if we would have time to get that finished.  However, after the inspection there were some important things we wanted to get fixed before we bought it.  The seller wouldn't fix anything, so then we backed out of that one.  It was the 1st week of July at that point, so we weren't sure if buying a house was going to happen.  As a last resort, we put a low offer ($21k less than the list price) on a 3 bed 2 bath house, not expecting it to be accepted.  However, they did take the offer without even a counter offer.  By the 2nd weekend of July, we had completed the inspection and everything looked good.  We were excited because although it was listed as a 3-2, there was another space that could be used as a 4th bedroom.  It doesn't have windows or a closet, so it couldn't technically be a 4th bedroom.  Our plan was to put Nathan in that bedroom and rent out the other 3 bedrooms.  We could comfortably fit 5 more guys in there with Nathan.  The house was just over a mile from campus.  Everything was moving forward smoothly.  

The last couple weeks of July, I started buying used things and furniture to furnish the house.  We got a couple of nice mattresses for free, along with a dresser.  I fixed up a couple of nightstands that I found for $2 each.  I got quite a few kitchen and house items for really cheap from Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Estate Sales.  The first week of August, we drove to Utah with a trailer and truck full of stuff.  We basically had one week to clean and get the house ready, furnish the place, build an extra area for parking, and set up a bank account for the place.  We had a pretty good start with the small items, but we needed to find 4 more beds (and 2 more frames), kitchen table and chairs, 5 more dressers, nightstands, and at least 2 couches, along with several other items.  

The boys got to work on the parking area.  We had one narrow driveway with the place, which can fit a couple cars, but you would have to move the last car to get the first car out.  So it's not too efficient of a space.  The back yard is a decent size, so our plan was to use some of the back yard for 3 more parking spaces.  It wasn't too hard to get the chain link fence out, but then it turned into a bigger project than expected due to the sprinkler system.  Alex and the boys had to dig up the yard to find the pipes and cap some of them off.  Once that was complete, then came leveling it off and bringing gravel in.  We thought about doing concrete, but it was too expensive.  Our realtor had connections to get us a good deal on gravel, haul it over, and help dump it out, so that was a good option for us.  Then they had to distribute the gravel, rent a machine to help pack it in, and re-install the fence (along with a gate).  Owen and Weston really worked hard on that project with Alex.  There was one trip to Home Depot where the boys fell asleep on the way over (in just 10 minutes).  That's how tired they were. Plus it was really hot, so it wasn't a fun week for them.  The boys also put together two bathroom storage shelves and a standing closet organizer for the 4th bedroom.

Savannah and I worked on the interior of the house, cleaning and organizing.  We shopped for furniture, which Alex and the boys then had to go collect with the trailer.  We also patched up the chipped fireplace and painted it, along with re-touching any other spots in the house. The other project that we started was the front porch.  There was ivy growing up underneath the old carpet on the front porch.  We thought it would be nice to rip that carpet off and paint the porch.  Well... the carpet didn't come up easily.  The edges came up, but then we were stuck with most of it that wouldn't come off.  I spent at least 3-4 hours one morning trying to get that carpet off.  Eventually the carpet was off, but the glue underneath was still there.  It turned out to be the project that we couldn't get done in that week we were there, so that one we left for Nathan to finish.  By the way, Nathan was already working his campus job that week, so he missed out on most of the manual labor.  He did install new window blinds, do some small maintenance, and help haul a little bit of the furniture.  The hardest thing to move was a 2nd refrigerator, which we put downstairs in the laundry room area.  I had planned on a freezer going down there but didn't realize that Alex would come back with another refrigerator.  They had to take off a hand rail to maneuver it downstairs.  A couple of the dressers and the sofa sectional were pretty tough to get downstairs as well.

I can't believe we actually got everything done in a week.  We found our last furniture item the night before we left.  We were able to complete the parking area, fence, and furnish the entire house for about $4500. We spent about $3000 for all the house stuff and about $1500 for the parking, fence, and porch items.  For my own documentation, here is my list of things purchased / collected (some free):  

Kitchen - fruit basket, oven mitts, can opener, plates, bowls, pots, cooking utensils, toaster, trash can, silverware tray, muffin pan, pans / cookie sheets, paper towel holder, mixing bowls, large tupperware bowl, sugar and flour containers, strainer, ice cream scoop, salt shakers, casserole dishes, measuring cups, silverware, cutting board, utensils container, cups, knives and kitchen scissors, pasta containers, kitchen washcloths and towels, microwave cover, apron, egg pan, hot pads, crock pot, bread box, skillet, rice cooker, blender, and microwave

Cleaning / Laundry - supplies bucket, broom, mop, cleaning supplies, vacuum, laundry basket

Preparedness - fire blanket, first aid kit, flashlight, smoke / carbon monoxide detectors, car kit

Bathroom - bath mats, shower caddy, shower curtains, 2 over-the-toilet storage, toilet brush, toilet plunger, trash cans

Yard / Tools - rake, shovel, lawn mower, gas can, tool kit

Furniture / Appliances - kitchen table and chairs, refrigerator, standing closet, 2 desks, coffee table, living room rug, 2 desk chairs, 6 dressers, 6 mattresses and bed frames, 1 sofa, 1 sectional couch, TV stand, 3 nightstands

Misc - lamp, step stool, TV, printer, clocks, wall art, wall hooks, mattress covers, iron, ironing board, router, door mat

By the end of the week, we had the parking finished and the house furnished.  We even had 5 renters lined up.  It seemed that everything had fallen into place. We had the contracts sent out a couple days later.  As they were getting ready to sign the lease, one of the renters asked if we were okay with having more than 3 renters.  These 5 friends had just gotten kicked out of a house that had 11 guys living there and wondered if we also had restrictions.  We weren't aware of any, but as we looked into it, it turns out we were required to have a rental license.  We thought it wouldn't be hard to get the license, so we started the application process (and held off on signing the leases).  We found out it would take up to 2 weeks to get the license.  We also discovered a city code for our area that restricted our occupancy for unrelated people to THREE.  And as part of the rental license, they would come inspect the house to see if it was up to health and safety codes.  We have to put a larger window and well in the bedroom in the basement.  We can't ever use the 4th room that doesn't have a window for a bedroom (and we can't put one in), and we have to re-do the front porch steps where one of them isn't the correct height.  We're looking at a minimum of $9,000 in getting the house up to code.  We also lost those 5 renters pretty quickly because of the occupancy restrictions.  We're down to signing on 2 paid renters, which will never approach our mortgage payment.  Basically everything fell apart when we attempted to rent through the correct process.  It's been 3 weeks and they still haven't completed the license or even inspected the house.  We'll see if they find anything besides the steps and the basement windows.  We just can't believe the situation we're in now.  This was one of those situations where we were "almost good at that."  

We do have a couple of renters lined up for the year, as of a couple days ago.  We don't know what to do or how we'll make it financially yet.  We've got ourselves in a tight spot and don't know how to resolve it.  But we now own a nice little house in Provo for Nathan to live in.  It may be pretty quiet living down in the basement by himself...     

We did manage to go to the Provo City Center Temple early one morning when we were there.  That was a nice break from our work.  We also got to spend Sunday evening with Alison and Micah (I didn't take any pictures with them).  We had dessert with Carrie at the BYU Creamery on Monday.  She happened to be there for the week doing an organ camp.  We had dessert with Jaden on Friday evening.  We planned on dinner with him but then had to go pick up furniture.  Nathan had dinner with him and we met them later for dessert.  Kai went with us on this trip and got to hang out in the house and yard.  

Utah trip

Savannah, Alex, and I took a quick weekend trip to Utah at the last minute.  We drove there on the Friday after Savannah got done with school.  (Owen and Weston still had school and Nathan was already working, so we went without them.)  We stayed with Alison and Micah.  My parents happened to also be there that weekend, so we got to see them too.  Savannah hung out with her cousins on Saturday while Alex and I went house hunting.  We were looking to buy a house in Provo for our college kids.  Since Nathan and Jared are already going to BYU, we have at least 6 years of kids living in Provo.  Our other kids want to go there too, so it could be a good investment.  We came away from the weekend a little depressed, not having found much of what we were looking for.  We did figure out what general area we liked around BYU, so it helped our online searching.

We went to church with Alison and Micah on Sunday and hung out the rest of the day.  We had some yummy food!  We also enjoyed meeting their new puppy Poppi.  

We drove home on Monday, so it was a quick trip.

The list

I always look forward to our new summer list, although the kids aren't excited about it.  I like to add something new every year or change things up a bit.  We were consistent about running 3 mornings a week throughout the school year, so we continued with that routine.  I also wanted to stick with our scripture and reading routine.  It's unfortunate that I have to include things on the list such as showering, brushing teeth, and meals, but they forget to do those if it's not on the list.  We weren't consistent during the school year with typing or piano, so I put those on the summer list for Owen, Weston, and Savannah.  Savannah and Owen have been interested in piano, but we can't seem to find consistency with lessons.  Weston didn't want to do piano, but I'm paying him off to do it, hoping that getting started will spark an interest in continuing with it.  It's extra incentive for Owen and Savannah too, as I made the same deal with them.  Chores isn't a new thing, but I decided to choose the work they're doing this year and only do them two days a week.  In the past, I've let them choose a chore or do a service for each other, but they were choosing things like "make the bed" for their sibling.  That's nice, but not so helpful in getting other chores done or something they should be doing on their own.  This summer, they've done yard work for me, washing the windows, picking up rotten fruit, or whatever needed done that week.  

The new thing we hadn't done before was indexing, which I added for Nathan, Jared, and Owen.  I took on the task as well, since I was asking them to do it, so I've been getting some good things done too.  We sometimes help each other when we need help deciphering what's on the census records.  It's easier for me to read the cursive than the boys, since they didn't have to learn how to write it.  That's one downfall of eliminating cursive in the school curriculum - they don't know how to read it either.  I've currently been working on Virginia marriage records, which has been pretty time consuming.  The boys have been grateful for the easier and shorter records from Liberia, since they have to complete a batch.  

Nathan has also been working for someone independently the last few weeks, doing an inventory, sorting, and beginning to sell or clean out things from the home of an elderly woman who passed away earlier this year.  The family is paying Nathan to help them go through all her things.  It's been good for him to have a job.  He applied to a few different places, like the grocery store and movie theater, yet despite all the hiring signs, no one has given him a call back for a job.  Maybe they don't want to hire teenagers?  Anyway, this job he's been doing is perfect, because it's flexible, he doesn't have to wear a mask, and can work independently.             

 

Coronavirus Quarantine

On March 12, on a rainy Thursday evening, Alex and I drove to the temple to get our monthly visit in for March.  Things were just starting to get crazy with the coronavirus, so we knew it wouldn't be long before they shut down the temples for a while.  Two days later (on Saturday) was the last time anyone was able to do work at the temple.  We didn't realize how long it would be before we could return, but we didn't want to miss out on a month we could go.  Temples are still closed for proxy work - we don't know when they'll be open again.  We missed April and May so far, but there wasn't anything we could do about that.  

Things happened really fast that week.  Church was cancelled that weekend - March 15th - so we began our home church.  School was on a 3 week break at the time, starting on March 16th (one of the earliest states in the country to shut down).  NBA, NCAA, and all sports were cancelled.  Disneyland and many places shut down, as well as a massive amount of events.  People started panicking and running to the grocery store.  People started buying out all the toilet paper, bleach, hand sanitizer, and emptying the shelves of all the non-perishable food, like rice, pasta and spaghetti sauce, as well as the fresh fruits and veggies.  Milk and eggs were scarce for a while.  It was so odd to see empty shelves.  I was glad we were semi-prepared.  We have some food storage, so we weren't too stressed about not having food.  We didn't have any extra toilet paper stored though.  Milk, eggs, and toilet paper were on our list to find.  People must have been hoarding toilet paper, because we weren't able to find it for a while.  A kind lady from our church bought some for us during senior hour at Costco one morning.  We hadn't gotten desperate, but our supply was dwindling quickly with everyone at home all day.  I even tried one evening to run and get some when I saw a post on FaceBook that said that Costco had toilet paper.  It was gone by the time I got there, except that I just barely missed it.  It seemed like everyone in the store had a package in their cart, and some people even had two, despite the limit of one per customer.  It was pretty frustrating.    

The stores eventually required masks, so I sewed a couple of basic cloth masks.  We had twenty N-95 masks in our emergency kits, but early on the hospitals were desperate for masks, so I donated all of them.  It has been odd wearing masks and seeing all the lines and arrows on the floor and the plastic barriers at check-out.  We're not allowed to bring our own bags anymore and we have to maintain distance from other shoppers.  

With the food shortages, we decided to take advantage of the free school lunches offered for the kids.  They were basically begging people to come pick up lunch anyway (we were helping keep food service workers employed), and we weren't finding milk and bread for a little while.  Things got better with the food at the grocery store, but we continued to do the free lunches.  Nathan also got to practice driving a little bit every day.  The kids looked forward to lunch every day - it was pretty good!  

It wasn't long before the 3 week temporary shut down turned into an indefinite shut down.  We adjusted to the new normal.  School was all remote learning.  We had to figure out a daily schedule for everyone and try to figure out how not to overload the Wifi.  We were able to check out a chromebook for each of the kids, so they could do their daily Zoom meetings and homework.  It was a learning curve at first trying to figure out how to get on the meetings, navigating the devices and google docs, and turning in homework online.  The kids adjusted and quickly figured out how to be fairly independent.  They could sign on to their meetings on their own, with a little reminder of when to get on their meeting, and they learned to do most of their work without help.  Savannah figured out how to "write" on her screen, using one finger to hold the button and the other to write.  Weston was probably the most frustrated with the writing assignments, because he's in 3rd grade and was expected to type his daily writing work.  He doesn't know how to type, so finding every single letter on the keyboard was a challenge.  He needed the most help on his assignments, but he got better as time went on.   

Alex soon had to work from home as well, so I had to know when his meetings were and when to keep the kids from bothering him.  His first meeting (that he was leading) didn't go so well, because I was at the store and Savannah ran into his meeting crying about something. 

Nathan's seminary class began doing Zoom meetings as well so they could continue their gospel study.  He had those at 7:30am M-F, so he started getting up at 6:15am to run 3.5 miles on Tuesday and Thursday with Jared and Alex (and the dog).  Owen, Weston, and Savannah have been running 2 miles on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 7:30am.  This week they went 3.5 miles up to mine and Alex's normal running spot.  

We have been playing kickball as family on Fridays on the school field.  It's a little challenging with only 3 people on a team, so we have had to adjust the rules a little bit (such as no bunts and being able to throw the ball to home plate and get the runner out if the ball gets there before them).  There have been tears almost every single time because Weston doesn't like to lose.  But we're doing it for him because that is what he's missing most about school and one of his favorite things to do.        

As mentioned, we started doing church at home.  We were given permission to do the sacrament at home, so that has been a pretty special experience.  We have a deacon, teacher, and priest (all the ones involved in preparing, blessing, and passing the sacrament on Sundays), so we have Jared prepare it, Nathan and Alex bless the bread and water, and Owen passes it to us.  It was a special feeling our very first home church meeting.  I got a little emotional as we started singing and as we said the opening prayer to begin our family meeting.  That first Sunday at home, we watched a video about the church members in Ghana that weren't able to meet at church for about 1.5 years.  They held meetings in their homes during that time.  We have now been doing the same thing - hopefully for a shorter time, but it has been a blessing to study the gospel and take the sacrament in our homes.  We have been rotating giving talks as well, so everyone is getting a chance to ponder a topic and share thoughts.  I think our home church has been one of my favorite parts about staying at home.  I miss the fellowship with other church friends, but we have had some good experiences learning and teaching at home.  We were introduced to a home-centered study program in January of 2019, so the prophet was inspired to get us ready for home-centered church at HOME over a year before this pandemic started.  

We have been doing some new things, like the drive by birthday celebrations with the signs and balloons.  It's nothing like having a party with friends, but it's an interesting way to recognize someone on their birthday.  The primary presidency also sponsored a drive by ice cream shop, which was fun for Weston and Savannah.  We got to drive up and pick what kind of ice cream treat they wanted.  

We also did a drive by funeral/memorial, which was a really sad thing to participate in.  One of our friends from church passed away, so we drove by to pay our respects to her family.  (It wasn't coronavirus, just other health issues).  I started crying as soon as I saw her family, so it was hard to say anything, but we needed to be there and pass along condolences.  I will miss singing in the choir with her, and we did a special musical number together with a small group a few years back.  She taught Nathan and Jared for a couple years for primary and Sunday School.  They sat in front of us at church most Sundays, so it will be odd not seeing her there when we return to church.     

We haven't been hanging out with any friends, but we have talked to some friends on our doorstep.  We have delivered some treats and been given some treats.  We had to say good-bye to some friends that moved and take a social distancing selfie with them (it was hard not giving hugs).  We'll miss them.    

We have been playing games, playing on the trampoline, watching movies and episodes of Poldark, Durrells in Corfu, and Agent Carter.  The kids have been building forts, mud holes in the back yard, playing with the dog, and lots of time with Legos.  Owen and Savannah started piano lessons (a lesson in patience for me...) and Nathan and Jared are doing some cooking.  Alex planted a garden and now harvesting lots of green beans.  The apple tree is producing lots of apples, so Alex started making apple pie again.  

I gave everyone haircuts (nothing new there), but this time I let Nathan practice giving Weston a hair cut.  Perhaps he shouldn't have started with the moving target!  Savannah cut her own bangs one day - a little short, in my opinion, so I tried to fix it by blending a little more bangs in with her new self haircut.  

We haven't been out much, but we did a short hike one day.  We also walked to the beach and played around there for a bit one day.  We are lucky to live in such a beautiful place with nice weather.  We also went backpacking.  I'll do another post on that.  

I have been doing some home improvement projects.  Weston, Owen, and I demolished the old brick grill in the backyard (much to Alex's dismay).  Alex wanted to keep it, but we've been talking about taking it out to make room for a basketball "court".  I'm not sure when we'll get to putting in the concrete for the court, but the chain link fence and the grill won't be standing in the way anymore.  We've done some yardwork and I took out the yucky carpet on the front porch (hoping to do some tile there soon).  We did a couple other projects that needed to be done in the living room (a metal bar left over from a wall partition we took out when we moved in 8 years ago... it was about time to get that out...and touching up an area where we took out a curtain rod).  We'll be working on the backyard fence soon and re-finishing our dining table.  

I have been working on some other projects - a 20th anniversary book, recipe book, and transcribing Alex's mission journal (349 pages of barely legible writing!).  I actually can read most of his writing pretty well, so I wanted to type it up so someone else could read it later on.  Typed 102 pages from his mission journal. 

We have been doing pretty well at home.  Most of us are home bodies anyway, so we don't care too much about not getting out and doing the social events.  We don't go out to eat very often anyway, and we have still been able to order take out a few times.  It's been a little hard being around each other all day every day - we have our good days and bad days - but we still like each other and get along most of the time. 

It's been an interesting time though, with only "essential" businesses open.  We're entering a forced recession and on the brink of economic collapse.  We're glad that Alex still has a job, although he wasn't able to get summer salary this year and will be taking a 10% pay cut.  We feel bad for all those who have lost their job or took a significant pay cut.  There have been a lot of mixed opinions about this pandemic.  Some doctors say we are harming our immune systems by extended lock down and need to develop herd immunity, while others are still advocating isolation.  It appears to be a highly contagious and widespread virus, but luckily those most affected are the elderly with underlying conditions.  The death rate for under age 20 is close to 0.  About 23% of deaths are aged 40-65 and about 75% are 65+.  It seems like we should continue to isolate the elderly and high risk and get most people back to work since the elderly are mostly retired anyway. Re-opening the economy is such a controversial issue right now.  

One of the thoughts I had during this crisis is that so many people are sacrificing their jobs for the health of others.  The unemployment rate is skyrocketing.  What are we willing to sacrifice for our own health?  If underlying conditions present problems with the virus, one defense is to work on those underlying issues so we're stronger against the virus.  

Anyway, this pandemic has been very divisive for our country.  We'll see what happens and how we get through this crisis.  

I was asking the kids and Alex what their favorite part about quarantine has been.  I got some really varied responses.  Alex's favorite thing was our family backpacking trip.  Nathan liked getting to sleep in (which means instead of waking up at 5:15am, he has been waking up at 6:15am and now 7:00am now that seminary is over).  Jared said he liked missing some of the tests and big assignments that he would have had during regular school.  Owen said he liked getting to practice passing the sacrament.  Weston said his favorite thing was not going to school.  Savannah said she likes watching movies and playing on the trampoline.  I think my favorite part has been home church - listening to my kids share their thoughts and sharing my thoughts with them.  I like being at home with my family (maybe not 24/7), but family and home time is a favorite.  I love that we haven't had all the other activities, distractions, and the busy schedule.  This new normal isn't so bad for us - of course we still have a job.                   

Some pretend play - Savannah was the princess, I was the queen, and Kai was a dragon.  Kai did a pretty good dragon in the last photo!  Ha ha. 

Fashion show, with Owen working the "lights"

Summer fun

Our summer is going by fast!  We have stayed busy enough to not get bored or go crazy.  We established a similar system to last year with the boys having to earn afternoon screen time by playing outside in the morning.  This year there was a 2.5 hour max per afternoon they could earn, and they had an I-pad shift (since we only have two I-pads for sharing).   

It didn't matter what they did outside.  Most of the time they were active, running around, sword fighting, or riding bikes.  Some mornings they were just sitting around playing Pokemon.  Whatever.  Works for me.  

We also have been playing a lot of board games, watching movies, bowling, library reading program & shows, and other outings.  

I have taken the kids bowling at least once a week.  They get 2 games per day for free.  I went ahead and bought $20 bowling shoes online - seemed like a good investment since they should be able to wear these shoes for a while hand-me-down.  Otherwise, we still had to pay $4 each for shoes - no thanks.

Weston only bowled a little bit.  He and Savannah were pretty bored, until I thought of taking the I-pad for them to watch videos on.  That worked pretty well.  The older kids bowled while the younger ones watched "Dora the Explorer".

Alex spent time in the garden and also made several jars of peach and plum jam.  

A hike was in order the weekend after school got out.  Unfortunately, I think this was the only hike so far this summer.

Stay tuned for more summer activities...

pretty things in the yard

 flowers

 

our apple tree

lemon tree

Savannah