Coronacation

It's been several years since I have updated this blog. I wasn't sure I would even be able to access it when the thought of updating it crossed my mind. Fortunately, it wasn't difficult. However, trying to fill in the years of missing information would be nearly impossible. That being said, my goal is to start here, today, and continue on for posterity. While life has been full of incredible things over the last several years including braces, teenagers, high school dances, graduations, HEFY trips, a mission, college and much more, it continues to be full of excitement and every day brings something new.

Today life is full of different. Different is the best way to explain our world right now. On March 11, our little family of five got on a plane and went to Hawaii for a long awaited vacation. Within seven days, our entire world turned upside down. And not just our world - the entire world. COVID-19 or the coronavirus is spreading faster than any virus known to any of us during our lives. In the first day or two of our vacation, we started hearing of grocery stores at home running out of toilet paper. Then we were getting pictures of empty shelves at the stores in our neighborhood with more than just t.p. being out of stock. Then the news of Donovan Mitchell came - he has the virus. The NBA is done for the season. Within a few more days, counties, cities and states were starting to close restaurants and calling for drive-up or delivery only and schools and employers moved to online. Our vacation quickly moved from "what should we do next" to "what is going on at home" and it was difficult to focus on relaxing. Josh is taking classes at SLCC and his classes went to online and right from the beginning it was announced they would be until the end of the semester. Erin was getting messages from the school district and from friends at home that school would be online for at least two weeks. Soon, we started hearing about airline changes and boarders being closed to travelers -anything to slow the virus from spreading. The last few days of our trip, we spent in our Airbnb playing card games while it rained in Oahu. Tuesday night (March 17) we started packing things up in preparation for our travel the next day. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11am on Wednesday.

At 3:20am on March 18, I woke to my watch vibrating my arm with multiple texts coming in. One right after another. My phone, sitting on the night stand next to me, couldn't keep up with the messages coming in. I sat up and started reading one text after another as fast as I could. "A light fell and broke," from my sister-in-law in Mapleton, Utah. Then as I quickly skimmed through the rest of the texts, I saw "5.7 earthquake" and "Magna" and other words like "glass falling" and "gas leak" and other horrible things. I shook Jer awake and told him the news. We decided to get the kids moving and get to the airport as quickly as possible. As much as we had initially considered extending our vacation, now it seemed like there was no choice but to do whatever we could to get home as soon as possible. What was happening? A worldwide pandemic and now an earthquake in our hometown? It didn't seem real. Our kids weren't going to believe us. It couldn't be real. But it was. And as the morning went on, the texts kept coming from home. Family, coworkers, ward members, friends and neighbors were updating us by the minute. As much as we were trying to check on them, they were worried about us. There was severe damage done to the tower at the SL International Airport which meant long delays for us. Friends and family kept us in the loop all day and even though we flew home on a small (not so nice) plane, Delta got us home. And good friends and family checked on our house for us multiple times during the day as the aftershocks kept coming. We spent the next day finding cracks in the foundation of our home, broken flower pots that fell from the cabinets in the kitchen, drawers that were open as if they'd been rummaged through, games and movies that fell from shelves and a small t.v. that was damaged. But, in the end, it was minor.

We have now been home from Hawaii for two weeks. We are adjusting to what is a new norm. The world is adjusting and no one is sure how long it will last. Closures that were initially supposed to be for 14 days have been extended to May 1st. The kids do their schooling online with Chromebooks. Parents work from home. Those that are unable to work remotely are required to have a letter that they carry with them to and from work that states they are "essential" employees. Josh and Emma are both essential as they are both working as tellers at Credit Unions. Public parks are closed, salons are closed, restaurants are closed except for carry-out or delivery, stores and malls are closed, gasoline prices are down to $2.25 a gallon, there's no food on the shelves in the grocery stores (but you can only go there if it's an emergency anyway), and doctors offices are closed except for emergencies and you have to have a prescreening virtually first. We have church at home on Sunday's. I attend Ward Council virtually every Sunday morning and we try to have youth activities virtually once a week. The high school kids have seminary online twice a week.

This is the new norm.

We read about the statistics in the news every day. How many more have been infected? How many more died overnight? How old were they? What are the new protocols? Should we be wearing masks? Should Josh and Emma be going to work? But then, we put away the news and we enjoy each other. We work and we do homework. But, we play games. We do art together. We go on walks. We watch movies (because there's no sports). We stay caught up on laundry. We get excited about warm days so that we can go outside for a little while. We miss our friends, but we are finding that we are okay with being here with us.

The term "social distancing" is a term we mocked and laughed at a month ago when this all started. Now, it is an everyday reality. Unless you are immediate family, being less than six feet apart is not allowed. Grandparents are at risk so we can't hug them. My favorite way to show love for people is by baking for them and now I can't. How is a YW President supposed to love her young women if she can't make cookies for them? This new norm has definitely forced every one of us to think outside the box and pushed us to try a little harder to be a little better - in a lot of ways.

"Chalk Your Walk"

Erin and I took treats around to all the YW to tell them they are "loved from a distance." Ashlyn Harmon and Emma came with us for part of the time. Tammy Ricket took this picture of Erin. 

Costco is limiting the number of shoppers in the store at one time in order to reduce the spread of the virus. The line is outside and shoppers are to stand six feet apart. There are limits on many of the essential items in the store. 

While sitting at my work from home desk one afternoon, I took this picture of Erin as she sat on the couch doing her online classes. She is gorgeous. :)

This is what most of the shelves look like at the grocery stores. It is especially difficult to find rice, pasta, flour, sugar, beans, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies, etc. 

All public parks are closed. Jer and I went for a walk yesterday and this was posted at the park in our neighborhood. It's eerie how there are so few people out but the skies are blue and birds are chirping. 

This was one of the first signs we saw posted at a restaurant. We were still in Hawaii when we encountered this and at the time it seemed crazy. This is now just the way it is - no restaurant is open for dine-in.

Zoom has quickly become a popular platform for virtual meetings. I had never used it before being quarantined. We have used it a few times now for youth activites/firesides, the seminary uses it and the schools are using it for classes. The first time we used it with the youth, they loved it! It was so overwhelming to see how happy they were to see their friends again after a couple of weeks of quarantine. 

This is us after our first Home Centered Church (having the Sacrament at home). Every time I think about how inspired the leaders of the Church are to have moved us to a home centered church prior to the pandemic, it's hard for me to not be emotional. I sustain and support President Nelson with my whole heart and am excited to hear the words of our prophet speak this weekend. 

And, the last picture of the craziness at stores. This was taken at Target about a month ago. I don't think there has been hand sanitizer in stores since the end of February.