Date Night Out...

Corona Virus has been a total killer to date night. Merril has always been a huge proponent of date night, even when the kids were babies. This is our second date night out since lockdown. The first date night consisted of me asking Merril out and then I sneaked blankets, pillows, and candles into the back of the Expedition and we ordered take-out and drove up by the old airport in St. George. It was nice, and much needed. 

After that night, we realized that we were missing date night, bad! So the next weekend we got take out in Hurricane and drove up to the Canal Trailhead and Hurricane Overlook. It has been amazing!

Also, we have another little cousin who joined Justin and Rachel Campbell's family. His name is Iain Donald Campbell and is so sweet!

Speaking of birthdays, Merril's 42nd birthday just happened but it was just a small celebration at the house with our family. I made a cheesecake in the pressure cooker and it was SO GOOD! So completely smooth and creamy. I'm totally doing that again! It was Chocolate Caramel Pistachio!

Nights by the fire!

Look how exciting!

A fire!

And s'mores! Why are they called s'mores? Weird name but tasty invention. Daddy was gone and we wanted something to do. It feels like summer. But not actual summer because we're still remote learning. I can't wait for actual summer to start.

The Vortex...

There are a couple of hikes that Merril has hiked during a search call out but wanted to hike with the fam! The Vortex was one of them. It's kind of out by Diamond Valley. There were a lot of rock stacks here. They reminded me of the cemeteries in Japan with their little shrines.

The actual Vortex is this depression in the sandstone that catches water. The boys are way in the background closer to the water. The sandstone swirls downward and it's neat looking.

Ah, the blessings of being outside! Although, staying 6 feet away from people on the trail is annoying. Oh well, it's better than nothing.

Trying to stay sane at home....

We haven't been out to see anybody since Spring Break. No friends, no family, nothing. We've done some Zoom calls and Marco Polos to try to stay connected.

Some other things we've done are puzzles.

I made some strawberry freezer jam.

TV, of course, but we can only do so much of that before I worry that their brains are rotting.

We finished a puzzle!

On a crazy note, check out the price of gas! I haven't seen it this cheap in years! Dana, who moved to North Dakota to be closer to Carson and the oil fields, said that Corona Virus is killing the oil fields up there. So many workers have been laid off and people are moving out because there's no work with no prospect of work.

There are hardly any flights, no recreational travel, and telling everyone to stay home has cut gas consumption. I haven't put gas in my Expedition for a month! 

Easter!

Ready, set, GO!

Inside, outside, upside down.

I found some confetti eggs at the store and they were a surprise hit!

Merril looks dressed up because he is. He was off to a bishopric meeting.

We also had our annual TurkEaster feast! We had Dutch apple pie! The only good apple pie in my opinion. 

And R.O.L.L.S.

So yummy! 

I've been so thankful for home church! It's been a beautiful constancy in all the craziness. I'm thankful for my little family, how healthy we've been, and that our family has gotten along okay. Merril still had some work, although it's been slow. We were blessed/inspired to get a lot of invoices paid in January and February. It has provided a great cushion doing this slow time. We keep hanging in there, like everyone else and know everything will be okay. 

Jeep ride to Mesquite...

We've got invited by some Leavitts and other search and rescue buddies to take some dirt roads to Mesquite. We took the black Jeep. I have a smile on my face but I was pretty grumpy that day. I felt like the Jeep was too loud. Merril said he would turn around and drive us home but I decided to shut my mouth and put on a happy face.

Unfortunately, the Jeep didn't want to cooperate. It made a funny noise about halfway to Mesquite, and then made a big clunky noise when we stopped by a dirtbank. After that we couldn't get the front tires to spin. All the Leavitts jumped out and they started diagnosing the Jeep.

They thought if they could get the differential cover open they'd be able to see what was going on inside and hopefully make the Jeep drive. The bearings for the differential came spilling out. The Jeep wasn't going anywhere. We were able to call Austin Christian and he rescued us. Everyone else went on to Mesquite.

While we were waiting, we went for a walk. We found a horny toad! it's the first time I've ever seen one in the wild that wasn't caught by someone else.

We hiked through a barbed wire fence, and got to the top of a small hill. And then we hiked back.

Then all the kids wanted to take a picture by the differential bearings.

After the pictures, we cleaned up the bearings so we wouldn't litter. And a little while after that, Austin showed up and we got home. Not quite the adventure we were thinking of, but it was still fun. 

Rockets!

Since I'm the teacher around here, I decided we should do a science project! I remember making rockets in physics class and it was fun. We've also made rockets for Cub scouts, and I still have the rocket launcher that Merril and I made.

I made sure to buy the right kind of soda bottles and then we taped fins on them. They are ready to go!

We went to the park by Elim Valley. Some rockets soared better than others.

It was kind of cold. Colder than we thought it was going to be! It was fun to guess whose rocket would shoot the farthest. It was also nice to get out of the house and do something.

Crazy shopping

I have to line up to get into Walmart when they open. Walmart used to be open 24 hours, but now restricts the hours that it's open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. They clean the store and try their best to restock the shelves.

I've been trying not to go to Walmart at all and just staying home as much as possible. We were totally out of perishable foods and so I got up early to try and get the items we needed before they sold out. I had to line up, 6 ft apart and wait to be let in the store. They are only letting a certain amount of people in the store at a time. So surreal.

Going to the store makes me feel like a crazy person. I see people wearing masks and there's a panicky feeling, I hate it. The thing that bothers me the most is how the news changes day by day.

 Masks will keep you safe.

Now it doesn't matter if you wear a mask.

Don't hang out with anybody outside of your household.

We think Corona virus is transmitted by touch.

Now we think it's transmitted through the air.

You should sanitize your groceries when you get home.

No you probably don't have to worry about it.

All the back and forth makes it really frustrating to try and navigate day-to-day life. I just have to keep breathing, and not watching the news. 

My rock

I don't know what to say other than this guy is keeping me sane! And I'm having a really good hair day! Corona makes even crazier about germs than I normally am. I'm suspicious of Merril and whether he has washed his hands when he comes in the door. Yet, he's helping me relax and try not to worry about it. I know I'll make it through, and I'm glad that he supports me. 

Quarantine Rock climbing

During this annoying Coronavirus quarantine, we're still getting out and getting some exercise in nature. We went to some rock climbing that we found while hiking the La Verkin confluence trail the other day. It was really good rock climbing. I even led a climb and did pretty well! The rock formation was this interesting lava rock. Juliet, Jack, and Mark came to rock climb with me and Merril. We had a good time and got some fresh air and exercise.

Mark is getting better at climbing and made it to the top of two of the climbs. He wasn't scared when he got to the top and came right down!

Helping with stake baptisms

My calling is the stake primary music leader also involves me helping with stake baptisms. I think they're fun and I feel useful when I'm there. I filled in for another one of our leaders that had to go to a funeral. It was a unique baptism in that the chairs had to be 6 ft apart and very limited numbers of family watch were allowed the baptism because of the covid-19 restrictions on group sizes. We only had one baptism at a time and luckily there were only two for the whole stake. One ward met at 10:00 and the other ward met at 11:00. We normally have people meet in the chapel or a primary room or relief society room and then shuffle them into the font room for the baptism. Since only one ward was meeting we had them meet in the font room. The drain makes a funny gurgly sound, so we didn't have the last person in the font pull the drain. As everyone was leaving, Brother Evans tried to pull the drain chain with a golf club that he had. Brother Evans is in a wheelchair and was trying to do it himself. He dropped the golf club into the font and then tried to fish it out with a squeegee. After getting his golf club out he tried to pull the chain again but the chain came off the drain plug. So then we were trying to get the drain plug pulled with the golf club thing but I suggested that I could wade into the font with my skirt hiked up a little bit and get it with my toes. I could not figure out how to pull up the drain with my toes and so I ended up just reaching down with my arm and getting the drain pulled up. 

I got a little wet but the job got done. Brother Evans was so embarrassed and I felt bad for him. I assured him that this was nobody's fault and that we got the job done and that was the most important thing. I thought it was hilarious. I think the last time I was in a regular baptismal font, not a temple one, was when I was getting baptized! Mandy was there and snapped this picture for me.

Remote Learning...

After having a week and a half of spring break, we had to start learning from home. Oi. School is canceled until the 1st of May, although that is subject to change. I picked up packets of work for the little kids and the older three kids have assignments coming through their emails. 

Let me just say that I've never wanted to homeschool my kids. I still don't. This is turning into a bit of a challenge. The two little kids need help knowing what to do and what they need to get done during the day. The older kids are doing it by themselves but occasionally need some assistance. I feel like I'm trying to teach an 11th, 8th, 7th, 2nd grader and a kindergartner.

It's taken a couple of days but we are finding our groove. I preferred being quarantined with no school. We could do whatever we wanted. Most days we wrap up around lunch time. It's definitely shorter than a regular school day but I'm the one teaching. 

There are a couple things I'm glad about. I'm glad that I'm a stay-at-home parent and can help my children with this. I don't know how some moms are still working and making their kids write their ABC's and getting their trigonometry done. I'm also glad that Maxine is not a senior. I think this would be a really crappy way to end a senior year of high school. I'm also glad that my kids are generally pretty smart and can get a lot of the work done by themselves. Jack and I had a day where I had to watch the teacher lesson for 15 minutes before I could help him with his congruent triangles homework. We put our heads together and we got it done. Juliet likes that it only takes a few hours to finish her school work instead of spending all day at school. I was really excited for the weekend when it finally came.

Spring Break Hike!

We're not going to let Coronavirus keep us from enjoying Spring Break. We went to Springdale and ate dinner and hiked the Canyon Overlook. We ran into some girls from Australia and Maxine said that Mikayla loved a show that was filmed in there. The girls said, "H2O, the mermaid show!" They even impersonated one of the characters and got it spot on! They thought our family was cute and said we were #familygoals.

Mikayla said, "I love this tree. Can you take a picture of me in this tree?"

On the hike back, we were hiking close to a group of Japanese men and they were speaking Japanese. One of them commented on how Mikayla was dressed like a kitty. Merril responded, in Japanese, that she often pretends to be a kitty. They did that surprised Japanese sound and then they chatted the whole rest of the way back to the car. It was a little cold and there was a slight drizzle but we still had a good time.

Coronavirus...

At the beginning of the year, an unusual flu popped up in Wuhan, China. It's a respiratory infection, spreads easily, and affects older populations and infants hard. It's a new virus and because of that, fear is spreading. Personally, our family will be fine. Average people who contract it can be asymptomatic, or feel a little sick for a few days. It's been spreading steadily across all continents. A few weeks ago, the United States started in with the paranoia. Because of a quarantine fear, people have been buying up all the toilet paper (not quite sure about that one) and hand sanitizer. This is the hand soap and hand sanitizer shelves as of yesterday. Quite empty.  

Since then, store shelves have been emptying every day. Nothing is wrong with supply, it keeps coming every day but people are panicky and buy everything up. Everyone has gone berserk! We use way less toilet paper since we got the Toto Washlet. If need be, we could go without toilet paper at all! It has a dryer feature although I never use it. 

A few days ago, a Utah Jazz basketball player tested positive for the virus. The NBA cancelled the entire rest of the season! The church had been limiting church meetings and operating temples in China and Japan. Yesterday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints suspended all church meetings, including sacrament meetings. We are encouraged to continue with our Come, Follow Me curriculum. Home centered-church supported. Sounds like the leaders had inspiration, can I get an AMEN! 

All international travel from Europe and China has been suspended. The kids have Spring Break this week but the school district just announced that school will be closed the following week as well. We are awaiting instructions about how they are going to do online school. All gatherings in the state of Utah over 250 people have been postponed. We were going to go to S. California and hit Universal Studios over the break but it's been closed. Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal, it's all closed until April. This is blowing my mind.

We have a lot of food storage and a lot of soap and hand sanitizer and everything we could possibly need. I'm not worried. I'm tired of news stories of the fear mongering. But this is a crazy time and my kids are going to remember the Coronavirus of 2020 and how everyone was talking about it. I figured I better write about it.

Everything is going to be all right. This is going to pass and people are going to be fine. Perhaps it will show people that they could be a little more prepared. Maybe it will show them there was nothing to fear but fear itself. I'm reminded of the scripture in Doctrine & Covenants Section 38: "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." That is right. We pray for those that need comfort. Keep calm and carry on.