Spring time/Quarantine

Spring of 2020 has been different than any other spring and that might be the understatement of the century.  Looking back on it, it seems like a lifetime ago.  Craig and I had been in Vegas and then I had  my surgery, things were going on as normal.  Brooklyn went to school on Friday March 13th and by Sunday evening we had received an email that the students wouldn't go back on Monday.  In a week it was supposed to be Spring Break anyway, so we thought that maybe they would just have a two week break and then get back at it.  Little did we know what was to come.  Idaho was then in a stay at home order for the last week of March and the entire month of April.  During April pretty much everything that the kids and I would do was shut down.  Craig's office stayed open but he only worked 3 days a week with limited hours.  We were also trying to be very careful around our families because of my Dad's illness and Craig's parents each have pre-existing conditions.  So we would only visit them outside.  We did our best to stay busy and enjoy our time together and luckily we got in a few activities with friends and family before everything shut down.  Luckily the weather in March and April was really nice so we were able to spend a lot of time outside.  We finally set our trampoline up, we went on a lot of bike rides and walks, we hiked in the foothills, did fires and s'mores, played on the swing set. played in Nana and Pops sand, played in the sand at Eagle Island, planted a mini garden and did a lot of yard work and went for drives in Craig's new Mustang.

movie night and sleepover

haircut at the end of quarentine

We made homemade butter with some left over whipping cream

The kids really missed their cousins and friends, but luckily they got along way better than I expected and played really well together.  I had a really hard time with the gym closed down.  Because of my shoulder surgery I was very limited on what I could do for exercise and we all know that exercise is my saving grace and without it I go a little crazy.  So I walked every day sometimes twice a day.  If Craig was at work I would walk up and down our street for miles, in the evening I would walk with a friend (yes we were 6 feet apart) and that really helped me stay sane.  Craig even got into running a little bit during quarantine, I was quite proud.  Luckily our friend Jon let us borrow a bike from his gym for a few weeks while it was shut down.  We have done church at home since March 15th, which actually has been very nice.  The Come, Follow Me curriculum has been amazing and we really enjoy our little Sunday services that we have at home.  As things started to slowly open back up we have enjoyed being able to be around family and friends again.  We stayed outside through May when we would be around others.  We had quite a few people over for fires and did some swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's and Nana and Pop's.  We started going to parks again.  It really was just so nice to have more human interaction again, I hope I never take that for granted. 

One fun thing that we did in March when Craig had a day off was drive to Twin Falls to see Shoshone Falls.  It was a beautiful day and the falls were gorgeous. We packed a picnic and brought the football and Frisbee.  As much as I hate this virus and what it has done to America and the economy, I did love the extra time we got with family.  By the time school was actually supposed to get out at the start of June, it felt like we were already half way done with summer.  Things were scary for awhile, as anything unknown is, especially how the media portrayed everything, but I knew/know that things will work out and my faith in our Savior has definitely been strengthened through this.

A few bigger things that happened in our family was that Brooklyn lost 2 teeth, making her total 8 and McKay threw away his binky.  I knew that once he threw away his binky he would be done with naps, but he was needing to drop those anyway so that he would go to bed at a decent hour.  The first night was a little rough, but he has done pretty good without it.  He has been waking up more frequently at night than he used to and I'm not sure if that is binky related or not.  We also experienced our first earthquake on March 31st.  The epicenter was by Challis Idaho and was a 6.5 magnitude and we easily felt it here in the valley.  We were eating dinner and all of the sudden our glasses started to shake and I told McKay to stop kicking the table because he was going to make our glasses spill, but he said he wasn't kicking and that is when we realized it was an earthquake.  Nothing fell off the walls or broke or anything like that but the kids did find it pretty exciting.  They keep asking when there will be another one.  There have been after shocks and other earthquakes but we haven't felt any of them.

Right before all the Covid craziness, Brooklyn had a 1st grade music program that she was able to do at school.  It was super cute.  They did singing and dancing and Brooklyn did a great job and I was so proud of myself because I was showered, ready and in regular clothes one week post-op ( but don't worry those three things didn't happen together again for quite sometime).

One thing that was really difficult during all of this was our close friend from Optometry school passed away from Pancreatic Cancer.  From diagnosis to the time he died was only 3 1/2 weeks.  I can only imagine the agony that the Rothisberger family went through during that time.  Having to fight the hospital to let his wife in with him and just the last few weeks he got to spend with his 4 sweet kids.  Both Jordan and Jen showed amazing spiritual strength through all of it and Jen continues to be a spiritual giant and I truly admire her testimony through all of this.  My heart breaks for them, but I am so glad that they have the knowledge of our Savior and eternal families.