Inner Monologue: March 2020....When Life Got Really Weird

When we left California on March 1st and flew home to Utah, we had no idea the enormous changes that were ahead of us. At the time we had heard of the dreaded corona virus, but it seemed to be a problem for "other countries", and other than some extra sanitation on the plane, we didn't think too much about it. Returning home from vacation is always a little tough, but we all jumped back into school and work and it felt a little nice to be back to our routine.

On March 5th Brycen and I went to see the play Dear Evan Hansen at the Eccles Theater. I bought the tickets several months ago and have been super excited to see the play. Tim and I had been planning to go together, but at the last minute I asked if he would mind if I took Brycen instead. There were so many teenagers at the play, and I loved seeing it with someone who could really relate with the main characters. It was especially fun to watch Brycen experience the music and story. After the play ended, we stood out on the third floor balcony and talked about the play, and just life in general. I distinctly remember the first time I heard the soundtrack for the musical - I was on a beach in Mexico and someone mentioned the music in an Instagram post. All it took was hearing the opening song and I was hooked. The experience of seeing it all come together on stage was even better than I expected and was by far the total highlight of the month.

As we were getting ready to leave California, m mom got a phone call that her brother Gary had passed away. She knew that he had really been declining, but I know it made her so sad that she didn't make it home to say goodbye. The funeral was on Saturday and the service was really amazing. My mom and Marlene spoke together and it was so fun to hear all of their stories of growing up together. The rest of the talks really made me realize, or remember, what a great family my Grandpa and Grandma Childs created and raised - we are super lucky to be a part of their legacy.

We spent most of the weekend together with a lot of family, and somehow the only picture I took was this one of me, Ada and Jessica. I feel bad that we didn't make the time to document anyone else, but man I just love these two girls so much!

Meanwhile, back and the fairy tea party....I had purchased tickets for the fairy tea party about six weeks earlier and unfortunately, it ended up being at almost the exact time as the funeral. Ruby was so disappointed to think that we we wouldn't be able to go together. Luckily, Miss Nikki stepped in to safe the day and took Ruby, Juniper and Brexley. I made it there for the very last part and was able to see and hear about all of the fun that they had.

The rest of the week was pretty normal...

Walks by the lake,

After school donuts,

And tulips that signaled the fact that winter really might be coming to an end.

And then life started to get weird...the Corona Virus, Covid 19, or just the dreaded Rona, started to be the topic of nearly every discussion. It felt like every hour there was a new updates, and it was tough to even keep track of what was happening, but it was clear that the virus had settled firmly in the United States. We knew it was serious, but tried to make light of the situation with silly family group texts and plenty of funny memes.

Despite all of the doomsday news stories, we honestly had no idea how big of an impact the disruption would be from Covid 19. Within a very short time, it felt like our entire world was turned upside down. Church was officially canceled and moved to "home church", Disneyland closed, and then, on Friday the 13th, life was about to really be disrupted. The day started off pretty normal..the kids got out of school early and we went to the dentist so Luke could have his first cavity filled. We then went to Deseret Book to look for scriptures for Luke, and ended up buying a few little items to help get ready for his baptism. As we were leaving I got an alert that the Governor of Utah had canceled school for the next two weeks due to the Corona. I immediately went into panic mode and took the kids to the library to stock up on books and videos. It seemed a little strange at the time, but it was a good thing I did since the library ended up closing a few days later and still has not re-opened. The next day we were all feeling antsy and anxious and just needed to get away from real life for awhile. When Jarin and Jami invited us to go with them to the desert to ride four wheelers and motorcycles and it was the perfect distraction. The day was cold, but the sun was shining and we had the best time leaving the world behind for awhile.

On Sunday we tried to keep up the pretense that everything was normal, and celebrated my dad's 73rd birthday with our traditional Sunday dinner. Little did we know it would be our last family dinner for almost two months.

Monday morning the kids slept in and enjoyed the feeling of a holiday. Their teachers were all scrambling and trying to put together homework packets, but for the first few days, Luke and Ruby had a lot of play time. When Luke found out that school was canceled for two weeks, his immediate concern was the leprechaun trap that he and Sonny had been building in class. He was so worried about not being able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day together. Luckily, Sonny's mom was willing to get him over here at 9:00 a.m. Luke and Ruby left the trap downstairs and waited until Sonny arrived so they could go look at the trap together. Despite their best efforts, Leo the sneaky leprechaun escaped again,but he did leave plenty of loot for the kids to share.

And then life it got really weird! Even with all the closures, we all stayed in a fantasy land for a little while - I honestly thought that we would shut down the world for two weeks, and then life would quickly pick up where left off. But instead, the restrictions got tighter and tighter, and our world pretty much shrunk to life in our little cul de sac. I knew it was likely coming, but once the gym shut down, everything suddenly seemed very bleak. I've never been so grateful to have a treadmill in our house, but worried about getting injured if I had to run every day. Luckily Tim understands how important it is to me to get a good daily workout, so he helped find a stationary bike to purchase. We decided to call it an early birthday present and it may be the best gift I have ever received. Through all of these strange times, being able to have a good sweat session in my basement has helped provide a lot of stability.

And I'm not the only one to benefit from the bike...Tim used the ping pong table as a makeshift desk for the kids, and then rode and supervised homework from the bike. Genius!

Corona began to bleed into every aspect of our lives,

Even Ruby's babies got the virus

One afternoon we escaped to the park where we seemed to be the only people outside. It felt great to do something so normal, and the kids were just happy to have somewhere to be that wasn't our house.

We all agreed that Sunday dinners would need to be canceled, but no one was happy about it. My mom and dad have tried to get creative and make sure that they are staying connected with all of us. On one of the first Sundays, my mom made her famous grandma rolls and set up a delivery route. We set up some lawn chairs and sat and visited for awhile in the front yard. It wasn't quite their house with all of the family, but it was better than nothing. It felt so strange, and sad, not to hug them, but we didn't want to take any chances of getting them sick.

Jami got us all set up on the Marco Polo app which has really helped all of keep in touch. The younger kids seem to really love it. Ruby, Juniper and Sadie especially love having an audience and have taken full advantage of the platform. But it's not just the kids...somehow we got grandpa and grandma in on the action and their messages are awesome.

Medical care in the time of the Corona has been interesting. Luke's teeth have not come in yet and one morning they looked really bruised and he said they were sore. Luckily the dentist was at the office when I called so he had me send over pictures. They weren't able to see patients unless it was an emergency - and this wasn't. Once he saw the photos he reassured us that the bruising is just part of the teeth getting ready to break through.

Luke also developed a bad rash on his hands that appeared to be eczema. I wanted him to be seen, but it wasn't worth the exposure of going to a doctor's office. So, tele-health to the rescue. Luke was able to see the pediatrician through video conferencing and she confirmed that it was exzema and called in a prescription.

I don't even know where to start with how weird grocery shopping has become. I took this picture the night that I had to stand in line for 45 minutes before checking out. Many of the shelves were bare which definitely brought on a little bit of panic for everyone. I never thought I would spend so much time talking about supply chains, and wondering if we would be able to buy what we need.

The last time we went to church was March 8th, since then it has been a small congregation of 8 attending our at home church. It has definitely been strange, but we have actually really enjoyed it. We haven't figured out a formal schedule, and can't bring ourselves to dress up, but it has been fun to learn with the kids and be a part of all of the important lessons they are learning.

Since we aren't going to Santaquin on Sundays, our new tradition has been to go on family bike rides. It's is a lot of fun...we tour the neighborhood and wave to all of our friends. Mostly it just feels great to be out of the house.

All of the time together hasn't lessened their love one bit!

We were able to sneak away to Salt Air to have the kids pictures taken. More on that story later, but the bonus was that Erika was able to meet us and hang out for a bit.

We have done a lot of projects around the house - mostly cleaning and organizing - and Luke decided he wanted in on the action. He really wanted to rearrange his room and had several ideas about the perfect set-up. His room is small, so coming up with a good layout was a little tough, but now that it is done, he loves it! He is such a sweet/funny kid. It was really important to him that I like how his room look and to be honest, it took me a bit to get used to. But now that a few weeks have passed, I actually love his redesign.

Making an overnight switch to at home learning has been tough for everyone involved. The kids have missed being at school with their teachers and friends - especially Luke. But they have worked so hard on their classes and projects even when it wasn't clear if the homework would even count. It makes me so happy to see their love of knowledge and learning.

Luke finished Wings of Fire and did a book report, and drew this dragon for his project. He then passed the book to me to read. Fantasy is not my favorite, but I really liked this book.