Wishes

Last week we had chicken for dinner and saved the wishbone. 

Would you believe that Nick has never had a chance to break the wishbone?

Youngest child problems. 

But tonight he went head to head with Chris. 

He lost.

But it was a really exciting two seconds.

The school has figured out how to make the traditional panorama photo with the graduating 9th graders, even though they aren't in school.

They're splicing together individual photos. Pretty cool of them.

I'm really fortunate because Nick is very diligent about his schoolwork.

He cares about his grades and wants to do well on his assignments.

He's not perfect. 

Because a perfect kid would love to read (just kidding!)

AND he thinks To Kill a Mockingbird is boring, which blows my mind.

To Kill a Mockingbird has been my favorite book since 5th grade.

But even from a young age Nick preferred true stories.

I'm holding out hope that when he gets older he'll find all sorts of books he's interested in.

Maybe like biographies and business books and the kind of stuff Dan likes.

(I know there are books like that written for kids his age -- believe me, I've tried.)

But I'm so glad he's diligent about his homeschooling work and I don't have to supervise him

or worry that he's not doing what he's supposed to do.

He even does his practicing when I remind him.

Look how cute he is.

Reassignments Beginning

We got news of the first missionary reassignments today -- leaving May 5th.

That's a quick turnaround time and it's rattled Chris.

He's excited to go out, but we all assumed it would be June 1 at the earliest.

Well, here we go. 

He and Luke started working out together this week.

They were super nice to let me take a picture!

(Ha! They love posing and looking in the mirror -- they loved that I wanted to take a pic.)

We had a yard full of people today planting flowers and hanging bistro lights 

plus a couple of friends washing windows.

Plus a bunch of Chris' friends working on the skateboard ramp.

Honestly, it felt a little overwhelming. 

We haven't had this much activity in a couple of months.

But this evening was really nice reading a Peter Heller (The River) by the fire under the new lights.

Takeout Tuesday

Just as I was putting water on to boil and pulling chicken out of the freezer, 

Nick said Tuesday nights should be "Takeout Tuesday."

(Mainly because he works Wednesday - Saturday and wants and eat-out day.)

This is the drive-thru at Greek City Grill (wrapped around the whole parking lot), but actually, with no in-store customers, it went pretty darn fast.

Takeout Tuesdays sounds good to me too, as I'm always a little worn out after my afternoons with Clara. Don't even ask me why -- everything we do is in slow motion.

I think it's emotionally draining.

She somehow went through all six rolls of toilet paper I gave her last week!

Good thing Target has it now. I've got to stay on top of it!

When I came home Chris and friends plus two girl friends 

were all hanging out on the trampoline together.

Yesterday I told Nick he could have ONE friend come over (who wanted Nick to shave his head with Chris' clippers). Told them he could come if they stayed outside.

A pack of SIX kids came. I did let Nick walk to 7-11 with them, 

but then they all went to someone else's house and Nick came home. 

Getting teens to comply with social distancing is getting harder and harder.

Courtney called from her roof to see if her wifi worked up there. It did!

She and Michael go up to the roof to work out.

So glad they have some outside space to retreat to!

(They were somewhat shocked to see Chris and friends hanging out on the trampoline --

It's so different in New York City than it is here.)

It's like they're living in a war zone. Kind of. But I did get to hear all the city start clapping at 7:00 p.m. like they do every night for the medical workers.

Courtney said it's super inspirational.

She also has a really great view from her room that wasn't captured in this photo!

When we picked up our takout, we all ate our burgers and gyros outside,

which is our favorite thing about summer in our yard...

actually the pool... or the trees... or the shade... 

ONE of our favorite things to do in the summer in our backyard.

Meme of the day:

Monday

Beautiful colors on my walk today.

And in case we run out of toilet paper,

I found a whole field full of lambs ear.

For lunch Nick made a gourmet triple decker sandwich worth documenting:

And Marty was excited to introduce Lizzie to a Samoan sandwich:

Lightly boiled ramen (but it needs to retain its square shape),

mixed with eggs and ham (or spam if you have it), between two slices of bread.

Dan took the boys golfing at Cottonwood Club while I made dinner.

For FHE we played pickle ball. Used the chalk paint to paint lines.

Dan set up the work light on the balcony which provided the perfect lighting

for our driveway court!

And finally, everyone watched Hot Rod for even more laughs. 

Also, I worked on putting the scanned photos in a digital photo album today. 

It's so nice to have a project to work on that can be done without needing 

long stretches of quiet!

Disappointment and Joy

We are really getting good at at-home church now. 

Sacrament meeting AND Come Follow Me.

Honestly, its not longer than an hour, but as we were wrapping up,

when it came someone's turn to comment, they simply said, 

"I'm tapped out, could we please just wrap this up."

(I personally have loved going from 3 hour church plus FHE,

to 2 hour church plus Come Follow Me (which counts as FHE),

to the current at-home church: Sacrament/ComeFollowMe/FHE all wrapped into one hour.)

I seriously hope this kind of church lasts forever. 

But that's easy for me to say because my kids are basically raised

so I'm not relying on my church village as I used to.

Today is Courtney's 25th birthday! 

Because the mail is so slow with Coronavirus, she did not receive the birthday package I sent, neither the one Rhonda (Michael's mom) sent, nor the one Michael had shipped to her.

In spite of us all planning ahead! 

Good thing Michael is so creative and so is her roommate. 

Michael made a wall mural for Courtney's birthday decoration!

Yesterday she needed to vent a little about the disappointments she was feeling.

Her wedding won't be like she was imagining. 

It's easy to say, "It's ok! It will be great anyway!"

But there are quite a few details that when you really think about it, really stink.

Not to mention all the opinions of people who want to have an opinion

on how you should do your wedding.

She qualified everything with, "I know so many people have Corona concerns that are much worse..."

She's right. But that doesn't mean she's not allowed to be disappointed.

Not celebrating your wedding day with all your family and friends sucks.

And it's okay to say so.

Courtney's first New York Corona mask she made from a scarf.

Marty and Lizzie are super excited about their upcoming wedding on Saturday,

but, yeah, they have things they're really disappointed about too.

And in addition to wedding changes, Marty's internship got cancelled.

And Chris is working through his disappointment of not getting to go back to Mexico right away --

and the reality that he might never get to back there during his mission.

He really loved it. He loved the people and the language. He loved living in Sonora.

Nick is disappointed that I make him stay home when so many of his friends 

are hanging out and disregarding social distancing. 

And yet, these guys are making the most of their situations. 

Finding things that make them happy. Being grateful for what they have.

Trusting God will help make things better.

He can consecrate our disappointments so that we find joy even amidst them.

We took Marge Sunday dinner tonight and I visited with her for a minute and everyone else waved from the car. She's keeping a positive outlook in spite of being homebound.

Marge waving from the bottom corner of the window. Watching how good of a driver Nick is!

Tonight we watched Groundhog Day.

Perfect movie for this strange time!

As a family we talked about finding people to serve this week.

Making sandwiches for the Good Samaritan House or Food Bank.

How can we help ease the burdens of others? I'll let you know what we find.

Projects For Fun

The skateboard ramp is coming along! 

I'm going to enjoy seeing these boys for as long as I get to.

Nick wanted to get the Ethernet working in his loft. 

So he figured out which of the millions of cords needed to be plugged in 

(it was labelled, but credit to him for going to look and not giving up before he started).

Then he watched a YouTube video to see what parts and tools he needed to get it working.

Dan took him to Home Depot and waited in the car while Nick went in 

(wearing a mask, because of Coronavirus),

and bought what he needed.

28 Years! Happy Anniversary!

 After sleeping in (during Coronavirus, it seems every day is a sleep-in day),

we hiked from Mt. Olympus to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail South to Heughs Canyon

(then along Wasatch Blvd back to our car parked at Mt. Olympus).

I've been curious about that trail for a while but have never taken it.

It's always fun exploring something new with Dan.

The 1 mile up Mt. Olympus is tough, but once you veer off, the shoreline trail is 

an easy walk. Waterfall, river, then trees as you hit Heughs Canyon.

After we got back home and cleaned up,

we rode the Vespa over to Habit Burger to pick up take-out

(everything is take-out during Coronavirus),

and ate it in Sugarhouse Park.

The park was filled with joggers, bikers and picnickers.

(Basketball courts are open, but playgrounds are closed.)

We spread out a blanket for our picnic, then napped for a bit.

When we were ready to go, we first rode to Smashburger to pick up shakes and 

back to the edge of Sugarhouse Park and ate them sitting on the hill on 1700 East.

We got home after 6:00 and went to the Anniversary Suite

(the back guest bedroom)

to review "The Five Love Languages."

It was fun to take the quizzes and guess what each other put, then talk about our answers

and read what the book had to say about it.

Chris took Nick to work today and Marty and Lizzie picked him up so 

we could have our date uninterrupted.

Glad we found each other so many years ago and we're on this journey together!!

Good News and Bad News

First the good news:

I finished scanning the second/last box of photos!!! 

I did it!

Now the bad news:

You may not be able to tell, but this bug bite -- I'm guessing a spider bite? -- 

Has made my whole arm swollen and itchy.

Chris showed me his skate ramp today.

It's covered in tarps because its raining today.

And the wildflowers in the back were really colorful!

Helping Hands

I gave my last "care bag" to a homeless man yesterday.

He was walking down Wasatch Blvd with a backpack that had a note posted on the back:

"Hungry. Starvin' Marvin."

I did a quick u-turn, so glad to have something to share with him--and so glad my last bag was going to someone with such an entertaining sign. With my favorite slogan "Starvin' Marvin."

When I first made the care bags last December with Nick, I thought I'd 

hurry and give all ten away quickly. Then my young women wanted to make bags too and suddenly I had four or five more. I felt a little guilty for not getting them all out in December.

But then I realized the point wasn't to give them away as fast as I could.

But to have them on hand when I saw someone who needed help.

I plan to make more so I have them to give away all year round. 

The skate ramp is making progress:

And I finished the first box of photos for scanning. 

Clap! Clap! Clap!!!

And we had a big success for Young Women tonight.

On Sunday we called all the moms of the girls in our class to get their input 

on how their daughters were doing during quarantine.

And to see what insights they had for how we could help.

Most girls are just fine. Keeping in touch with friends via FaceTime or happily home bodies.

But some are lonely.

And NONE want to do a Zoom call. They're tired of having so much work via internet.

And a couple of girls had a lot of ideas for activities.

So I talked to the Class President and gave her an overview.

She was happy to delegate the planning to another of the girls.

The girl who was asked came up with the idea of a selfie scavenger hunt.

While out getting photos, we passed other girls in our class and got to wave and chat a bit.

It was a beautiful night for a walk around the neighborhood and we saw lots of 

neighbors and friends. Dan came with me and it was so so fun!

A perfect example of the leaders backing away and letting the girls plan the activity --

their creativity made a perfect outdoor activity that was something they wanted to do 

-- not on zoom -- 

and gave them an opportunity to be the planners and organizers and feel involved.

I read a thought today saying, 

"What will you take away from this quarantine time?"

Letting the girls lead will be one of them.

Too Much Talking

KT and I hiked Rattlesnake Gulch today with Kershaw.

I mailed Courtney a birthday package (the main thing she wanted was yeast #quarantinelife)

but I found a few other things to make the package fun to open.

Every grocery store and post office has plexiglass installed to protect the workers 

from being exposed to so many people and risk getting Coronavirus.

I wore my mask inside, like most people do.

I helped Clara pay some bills. She's getting super forgetful.

But has times of clarity too.

She needed toilet paper and Kleenex. Luckily I know they've got it at Target now.

The pickleball net arrived today and Nick and Chris set it up.

It's so much more fun than we ever knew. (Before Palm Springs.)

We even had racquets and lines on the sport court on Wander Lane 

and never played before. Not once.

I felt exhausted after getting home from Clara's. 

But Dan took Nick and Chris golfing and I was glad to have the chance to sit down

before dinner. After I made lasagna for tomorrow's dinner.

We decided to have them bring dinner home from the club tonight. 

My voice gets tired easily -- especially when I talked all last night, 

this morning hiking with KT and then in the afternoon with Clara.

And I wonder when my neck muscles will ever not be sore.

Be Still

The weird thing about Coronavirus quarantining is my life hasn't changed that much.

It's like summer -- we don't have to get up early 

to make breakfast and lunches and get Nick off to school.

No carpool.

I still go out and ride my bike or hike each day.

But I don't have YW presidency meetings, or jr high graduation planning,

or even wedding planning, for that matter. 

No monthly hair appointments, or waxing, or pedicures or massages.

I don't mind any of those things. But I love not having miscellaneous stuff in my life.

I like having my boys all home. 

How often have we said, "If only I could have one day with everyone home again."

I've said it. And now I've got it. And I'm really enjoying it.

Life is different, of course. I don't want to catch Covid-19. Or infect anyone.

It's pretty weird that everyone wears masks in public.

One month ago I would have never believed I'd go to Target looking like a bandit.

I miss seeing people. And hugging. 

But over the past couple of years, I've felt burned out from planning.

I've been trying to carve time for stillness.

And suddenly I've been given the perfect opportunity for healing.

To just be quiet. To sit back and watch. To listen.

To not worry so much. Or be given things to worry about (church).

And I've realized I'm kind of a home body.

I didn't think I wanted Chris released from being a missionary.

But I was in a panic trying to be a policeman.

And now I don't have to worry about if he spends his time doing spiritual missionary things.

I can just enjoy him being home.

He and his friends started building a skate ramp.

It takes a lot of math and working together.

They are NOT good about social distancing. 

But I think it's practically impossible with how social they are.

They don't go in each other's houses or don't drive in cars with more than one other.

So they're trying to respect the rules.

I love sitting down all together for dinner and no one being in a rush to get somewhere.

Or being rushed getting home from somewhere.

Probably for the first time ever.

It's so calm. So enjoyable. 

Everyone works together to clean up no one is hurrying to rush out the door.

Tonight we had Kristin and Duncan and family over for a 

social distanced bbq and swim party.

It was SO NICE seeing more people we love.

The boys (and Lizzie) played Spikeball and Categories in the pool.

We sat in the hot tub and talked. 

We didn't really distance, but we were in a pool, soaking in bleach essentially.

I know I'm lucky. Dan's business collected most of their rents this month. 

So they're in good shape for now.

We have job security and food storage. A beautiful home and surroundings.

We're not at-risk with health issues.

My children are happy, get along, and willing to help.

Nick and Marty like online school and Chris has always been good at staying busy.

Courtney and Michael are isolated, but have each other and are also creative enough to keep themselves entertained. And they like following rules. And achieving goals.

(If NYC is on lockdown, they can lockdown for as long as they need to!)

Technology keeps us connected.

So for now, I see the ways a do-er like me can benefit from slowing down.

And I'm going to embrace it.