Who Would Have Thought? A Pandemic!?

In January, we started hearing about this new virus circulating in China.  It's called COVID-19 or Corona Virus.  This disease is crazy!  For some reason, it has a very high mortality rate in the elderly, and kids are mostly unaffected.  People can have it and not even know.  But, others get it, and it kills them reasonably quickly.  Some end up on ventilators and have a 40% chance of living, while many just get a small cold.  It's VERY contagious and has a 2 weeks incubation period.  It spreads rapidly without any sign.  Until it's too late...

But, I wasn't too worried about this disease because it was in China.  We'd had a few scares over the last 15 years or so, but they have always managed to stop the illnesses from getting into the US population.  But, this time, mistakes were made, and it is here.  In Fact, it's everywhere.

So much has happened in the last 6 weeks, and I want to put some of it here for a record.  COVID popped up in Washington in a nursing home.  Then it spread to New York and California.  Once we had heard that, we knew there was no avoiding it.  It had to be everywhere.

I will never forget Thursday, March 12, and the entire week after.  Things got very real, very fast.  First, President Nelson canceled church and gathering for General Conference.  Nobody would gather at the conference center.  Every national Athletic Association and then college athletics canceled events until further notice.  Schools all over the nation began to get canceled and announced that online school would begin until further notice.  Eventually, the governor ordered us to shelter in place, which means we need to stay home unless we had an essential job.

I made three trips to different stores to be sure I'd have what we needed and some extra to get through this.  I think I spent around $1000 on food.  Thankfully, I had saved some money because we were supposed to be going to Palmyra, New York, on March 25.  Everyone seemed to have the same idea as me. Only they bought toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and every cleaning supply you could find, and I didn't think of that, so we don't have much of that.  But we've been ok.  The stores are finally starting to catch up with the demand.  All stores, pretty much are taking online or phone orders and bringing them to your car.  Life is just so strange right now.

It's hard to explain all of the emotions I felt.  Fear, uncertainty, unease, shock, and I just kept asking myself if this was really happening.  This doesn't happen in the US in our day.  For many mornings I'd wake up, and a few minutes later, it would dawn on me that we were in this crazy situation.  I am now my children's teacher with the help of the online school, and we are stuck at home.

Almost 6 weeks later, it's almost hard to remember what life was like before.  We don't really see anyone, and if we do, we are supposed to stand 6 feet from each other.  It feels weird.  If I see someone who isn't following the rules, I instantly judge them.  I know this is horrible, but it's just so odd to have these kinds of feelings.

I found this post on Facebook and took a screenshot because it perfectly described how things have gone.

I love the end of it because it says, we have so much!  Be Thankful, Be grateful.  Be kind to each other-love one another-support everyone.  We are all one.

It begins to talk about the silver linings I've seen.  This post is getting long, so I'll post next about the blessings we've seen through all of this.

March 29, 2020

April 19, 2020

Conrad Turned 14

Three weeks into quarantine and Conrad had his 14th birthday.  He was somewhat bummed because he had planned on going to the warehouse hot-tubbing and watching a movie with his friends.
Instead, he just got us.  But, we made the most of it, and I love having all of us together, so it was good with me.
:)

We went to the hot tub in the afternoon, played in the batting cage, and watched the new Onward movie, which hit Disney Plus that day.  All in all, it was a great day.  He also got out of chores, and Bo smoked a delicious brisket. He wanted smoked ribs, but we smoked that since we aren't going to the store right now.  It was delicious.  He also requested potato salad to go with it.

Bo also took Conrad and Jackson fishing for his birthday the next week. 

Here are some highlights from the day!

At 14 Conrad loves;

Baseball and looking at stats
Fishing
Hunting
motorbiking
snowmobiling
RZR riding
Freddie Freeman from the Braves

We love that:

He's our peacemaker
He's helpful
He likes to cook, especially treats
He's respectful
He loves making people laugh
He is learning the piano

Conrad, you are such a great older brother to all these brothers of yours!  I love it when you and Hailey spend time together.  We love spending time with you too.  Thank you for always helping when we need it and seeing times where you can help when we don't even ask.  You are a great kid and a great example to the kids.  Other than getting the little boys to call me old. ;)  We love you and are so blessed to have you in our family.

Caleb Turned 7!

While we were in Boise for All-State, Caleb had his birthday.  We haven't done an away from home birthday for a really long time.  It was fun!  Caleb chose to eat at Pizza Pie Cafe, and after All-State, he got to open his presents.

The kids were able to visit Great Grandma Helen, who was 11 days from turning 103.  It was a special visit, and they really enjoyed all the stories she told them.

Caleb, you are such a perfect final addition to our family!  We love your patient, kind, loving personality.  We also love that you get along with everyone in the family and keep our home neat.  Even at age 7, I still think you have all of your siblings wrapped around your finger.  We loved celebrating with you and can't wait to see what this year brings!  Happy Birthday, Buddy!  We love you.

At 7 Caleb loves:

Walks while catching Wiffle balls hit by Conrad or Dad
Baseball
Riding his bike
Spending time with our family
His new water bottle
Fishing
Camping
Pretty much anything outside
He can't wait until he's old enough to hunt and get to go with the boys.  

Idaho All-State Chior

Back at the beginning of the school year, when Hailey told me she wanted to try out for All-State, I hadn't ever heard of it.  I found out it's like going to state for a choir.  They basically have twenty-five kids from Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass groups and form a choir.  To try out, they sing from a required song and scale to their choir teachers.  The teachers record it and send it to the judges.  Then they pick.

I figured that since she's a freshman, it would be hard to make it, but I thought it would be great practice to try out.  Well, she made it and looked forward to it for months!  It was in Nampa at NNU.  She was in heaven as she sang all day and got to listen to others perform.  She really loved it!

It sounded terrific, and hopefully, I'll get a recording to post.

Here are some highlights.

Snowmobiling

We've gone snowmobiling a couple of times this winter.  The first time we went was up at Mesa Falls.  Hailey didn't make it, but everyone else did.  It was a perfect day.  The weather was great, and the kids LOVED it.  Conrad and Jack had fun learning how to drive too.

We also went out to Kelly's, had a fire, and went sledding.  It was all fun and games until Hailey got about 15 feet of air and crashed!  She laid on the ground for about 20 minutes, and we pulled her back in a sled.  Hays was on crutches for about two weeks until we found out she had a torn MCL.  She is now in a brace and physical therapy until April.  

This is a colossal sledding hill the kids went on.

Hailey made this rose in the snow.