Wed. 1st--Jared saw his second positive covid case.
*I taught Karcyn and Calvin how to play a word game. When I was about Calvin's age, my Uncle Richard (mom's brother) taught me how to play this when we were on a road trip. If it has a name, I don't remember it. Player 1 chooses a five letter word and makes five small lines on a piece of paper for each letter. Player 2 is trying to guess the word, but has to say other five letter words as their guess in order to find letters in the secret word. For example, if the secret word was P A P E R and the first guess was D R E A M, even though there is an E and an R in the secret word, they are not in the correct position to the secret word. Player 1 would write down the word "dream" and tell Player 2, "There is an R and E, but not in place" and would not record the R and E on the lines of the secret word. If the second guess was F A I T H, Player 1 would write down that word, and say, "You got an A" because that specific word guess and the secret word both have the letter A in the second position. Then Player 2 would continue to come up with additional five letter words in order to guess the correct positions of the remaining four letters to ultimately reveal the secret word. Then Player 2 gets to come up with a secret word and they switch roles. The idea is to see who can guess the secret words using as few words as possible. I really like this game because it's like an advanced game of hangman. You aren't just guessing letters, but words. And trying to think of five letter words with certain letter placements really gets you thinking. But honestly, it's just a fun way to keep the brain stimulated without worrying about a score.
*Poor Karcyn had gotten a cell phone for her birthday and but hadn't had a chance to go back to school so she was stuck with texting her parents and grandparents, Jake, and Aunt Kelly. She taught Jake how to play the word game and they did it through texting. :) Jake finally guessed the first word and in response, we sent him this picture.
And the bread was delicious. He did a good job and can now add "bread making" to his culinary repertoire.
*Karcyn making Pokemon chalk drawings on our back patio. I think drawing with a pencil or crayons is hard enough. But on concrete? That is not a medium I'd enjoy. I don't even like writing on a chalkboard and it gives me chills to think about this. But Karcyn really knocks it out of the park!
*I’m not one to celebrate April Fool’s Day, but an opportunity to get my kids good presented itself, so I had to at least try. There was a meme going around Facebook with a picture of Governor Abbott and a breaking news banner that said, “Texas Kids Must Repeat Grade.” Once Jared got home that night, I said, “Oh, hey, you guys! I just saw an announcement online.” And told them what the governor said. Cooper had his back to me, which was to my advantage because he wasn't able to scrutinize me and my facial expressions. Their reactions were priceless. Jared knew it wasn’t true but backed me up with his straight-face seriousness. That also helped. I was shocked that I had every.single.kid convinced that they would need to repeat their current school grade. JJ was sitting on the piano bench and didn’t say much. In true Calvin fashion, he threw his hands in the air and exclaimed, “Whatever! I don’t care!” Karcyn quietly clarified, “I gotta do 8th grade again?” And Cooper was stunned. Once it sunk in, though, he started ranting about repeating his junior year. “What?! That’s just not right!! Does this mean we can stop with the dumb online school assignments if we’re repeating anyway?! Wait--my letterman jacket has 2021 on it. I’ll have to get it changed! Nooooooo!!! This can’t be happening!!” No. No, it’s not. But it was a glorious three minutes. Best.April Fools Joke.Ever. The timing was just brilliant.
*This is what a mask looks like when I've sewn the elastic on each corner and turned it right side out.
Then I gather it into two folds and iron the fabric to help it keep its new shape and pin the folds in place and then sew all around the edges. Really quick and easy. Even for me, the equivalent of a caveman, when it comes to sewing! I'm super proud I taught myself how to do this.
..... April 2, 2020
Gas price at Sams - College Station is $1.62/gallon
School cancelled - yes cancelled
Self-distancing measures on the rise.
Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help distance shoppers (6ft) from each other.
Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors.
Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.
Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.
Entire sports seasons cancelled.
Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled.
Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled.
No masses, churches are closed.
No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 10 or less.
Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home.
Children's outdoor play parks are closed.
We are to distance from each other.
Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.
Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.
Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.
Shelves are bare.
Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE.
Government closes the border to all non-essential travel.
Fines are established for breaking the rules.
Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.
Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths.
Government incentives to stay home.
Barely anyone on the roads.
People wearing masks and gloves outside.
Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.
Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.
This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020. (copied from FB)
Fri. 3rd--Covid update from the county.
Sat. 4th--Our family was blessed with a unique opportunity to serve our medical community this weekend. Jared's urgent care manager asked him if our family would be willing to sew buttons on headbands to keep the elastic loops from irritating the area around the ears of the nurses and medical staff who constantly wear face masks. Of course we were more than happy--truly honored--to be personally called upon to help fill a need and ease a small burden from those who are constantly in harms way as they valiantly fight covid-19.
We loved being able to minister from home and everyone helped!! We started the Saturday of general conference, in between sessions, sorting out buttons and learning how to sew them on to fabric.
JJ practicing sewing on a button for the first time.
*On it!!!
*My favorite quote from general conference. It pierced my soul.
Sun. 5th--The requested general conference Sunday breakfast. French Toast Casserole. I didn't have french bread, but I did have a loaf of french toast bread in the freezer. So in the spirit of making do with what we had and shopping for essentials only, I used that instead and you couldn't tell a difference!
*This is how the finished headbands work.
We sure hope these help!
*#accurate
*Agreed!
"Have you ever taken an online class? How about six at once?
When you were a child or teenager? With spotty wi-fi? And Schoology crashing?
And needing to share a device with siblings? While being trapped at home?
Filled with anxiety about the future? Yeah, me neither. Let's cut these kids some slack."
*After a couple of doctor’s appointments, Jake decided to leave Cade’s house in Highland, Utah and stay with my parents in the St. George area permanently, not just for a visit, until things settle down with the coronavirus. His spring term classes (which begin the end of April at BYU) are now online so why not? Saves him money in housing and food and he can receive family support. Which is a great comfort to me. He’s not out of the woods yet with his health and since my parents are there now, I don’t want him to be alone, if he doesn't have to be. Plus, maybe they can help him find some form of employment. He needs a job. Big time.
Wed. 8th--This was one of Jared’s two days off during the week and we had felt prompted to make appointments to give blood at the local Red Cross to help our fellow men. However, we were not even allowed in the door. For one, they were at maximum capacity. Secondly, once they found out Jared works at the urgent care’s respiratory unit, he was denied. And I was too, as a secondary exposure to covid-19. Ugh. Dumb virus. So many people need blood. Jared’s the universal donor, too--O negative. I’m A+.
Thurs. 9th--Oh how we love ourselves a good 'ol thunderstorm. Watching them build is half the fun.
I learned what "BTHO" was after seeing it as a common prefix in hashtags before Texas A&M games. And that's the way we feel about covid. Every one of us fasted on Good Friday accepting the prophet's invitation. Even JJ, who finds it difficult to fast on Sundays and never wants to. He went all the way til 3:30pm without complaint. Well past his one meal goal. The rest of us realized that we each had great success with the worldwide fast. We were strengthened to complete it and we weren't at all hungry like we sometimes are. It was a really neat experience.
*The Easter turkey in the brine in preparation to be smoked in the morning. We really liked that this brine came with a humongous bag to put the bird and brine in.
Mon. 13th--I'm pretty sure this is the whitest I've seen our whiteboard schedule--especially during the school year.
JJ did really well! Especially up against Jared. He can make you laugh just by looking at you.
Karcyn and Jake going at it. Karcyn had to sit on her hands so as not to cover her face.
Because this was taking longer than we had expected, I relinquished my place (believe it or not, I was beating Cooper) so that Jared could take Cooper on. The things Jared did were hysterical. Dancing to “September 21st” and making funny noises. We were all dying. Including Jake and my mom who were watching from the poolside in Utah. Cooper lost. But it was super funny and we wished we had recorded Jared’s performance.
Jared trying to comfort Cooper on his loss.
*Playing Junior Scrabble.
JJ was super proud he spelled the mascot for CSHS and BYU.
Finished!
Tues. 14th--EXACTLY!!!
*Karcyn's completed tote bags.
*My parents called later that night to tell us that Jake was not doing any better, and in fact, seemed worse. What I didn't know is that he slept GREAT the first night in St. George, but since then (previous six nights) his sleep had been fragmented. And now some of his new symptoms were: nausea, dry heaving, horrible headache, clammy hands, can’t eat, can barely walk, has pain everywhere, and starting to shiver but isn’t cold. Jared and I reached out to Jake's sleep med doctor's answering service. First we learned Jake's coronavirus test was negative. So that was good. After chatting with a really nice doctor who shares call, but has no experience in this field, we put in a request to talk to the doctor the next day. We talked to Jake and told him to get a blessing from my dad that his symptoms would subside so he could sleep and make it through the night. And we begged the Lord in our prayers for the same thing. It was heartbreaking to hear his defeat and misery over the phone. But I was enormously grateful he had my parents with him. They were really worried about him. We tried to set their minds at ease as well and hoped for the best over the next twelve to twenty four hours. Jared was supposed to work on Wednesday, but he texted his manager to tell her that something came up with Jake's health and he had to be at home to conference in with his doctor. She told him to take as much time as he needed.
Wed. 15th--A rare moment when all three kids were playing so nicely together. And sweet little Maddie next door--whose only sibling is 9-10 years older than her, looking longingly across the fence, wishing she could play, too.
*Jake reached out and said he actually felt pretty good when he woke up that morning. And he forgot to take his nighttime med (Lunesta). Jared said you can totally build up a tolerance for Lunesta so we prayed that Dr. Ross would be able to help get Jake some different nighttime relief. We learned through Dr. Gowda in Austin that if you aren’t getting good sleep at night, it doesn’t matter what med/stimulant you’re on during the day, it won’t work.
*During the appointment with Dr. Ross, Jared was able to hear for himself that Jake’s narcolepsy doesn’t fit normal patterns for the disease. Like naps for example. Usually narcoleptics take a 20 minute nap--a couple times a day and they feel better and refreshed. Napping does nothing for Jake except make him feel worse, so he fights naps to the death. He will not succumb if he can help it. The doctor explained a couple other things that Jared said he could see where Dr. Ross is coming from. Ultimately, Dr. Ross said there’s something more to this than we can see. He said he would reach out to Dr. Call (Jake’s rheumatologist) and discuss what other tests they could do before Jake’s telemed appointment with Dr. Call on Friday. In the meantime, Dr. Ross said he would try putting Jake on a different med for sleeping at night, called temazepam. It’s a benzo drug, used to treat insomnia and anxiety. Dr. Ross acknowledged that due to current circumstances, there are a lot of people all over the world having trouble sleeping and that there could definitely be a mental component to some of the symptoms he’s experiencing. We were grateful for the new night med to try and that Dr. Ross wants to coordinate and discuss Jake’s health with Dr. Call so they can consult together about how to get to the bottom of what’s truly ailing him. That is quality healthcare. It’s crazy to think that maybe Jake doesn’t have narcolepsy in the classic sense. I tried googling diseases that could mimic narcolepsy but there are only a couple that I could find and he doesn’t have any of the other symptoms.
Jared trying to comfort Cooper on his loss.
Wed. 15th--A rare moment when all three kids were playing so nicely together. And sweet little Maddie next door--whose only sibling is 9-10 years older than her, looking longingly across the fence, wishing she could play, too.
*During the appointment with Dr. Ross, Jared was able to hear for himself that Jake’s narcolepsy doesn’t fit normal patterns for the disease. Like naps for example. Usually narcoleptics take a 20 minute nap--a couple times a day and they feel better and refreshed. Napping does nothing for Jake except make him feel worse, so he fights naps to the death. He will not succumb if he can help it. The doctor explained a couple other things that Jared said he could see where Dr. Ross is coming from. Ultimately, Dr. Ross said there’s something more to this than we can see. He said he would reach out to Dr. Call (Jake’s rheumatologist) and discuss what other tests they could do before Jake’s telemed appointment with Dr. Call on Friday. In the meantime, Dr. Ross said he would try putting Jake on a different med for sleeping at night, called temazepam. It’s a benzo drug, used to treat insomnia and anxiety. Dr. Ross acknowledged that due to current circumstances, there are a lot of people all over the world having trouble sleeping and that there could definitely be a mental component to some of the symptoms he’s experiencing. We were grateful for the new night med to try and that Dr. Ross wants to coordinate and discuss Jake’s health with Dr. Call so they can consult together about how to get to the bottom of what’s truly ailing him. That is quality healthcare. It’s crazy to think that maybe Jake doesn’t have narcolepsy in the classic sense. I tried googling diseases that could mimic narcolepsy but there are only a couple that I could find and he doesn’t have any of the other symptoms.
Thurs. 16th--Hahahaha!
Fri. 17th--It usually takes him all week (when it really could be done in a matter of a day or two) but JJ finally finished all his assignments. This was his science, which he enjoys.
Notice what he wrote about the "pupa" stage in the bottom left corner. His brother's helped influence him. ("The caterpillar's version of quarantine." Hahaha!)
*I think Calvin and JJ were born in the wrong time period. All they want to do is go to the drainage ditch and try to catch fish or turtles. I keep having visions of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. They run outside without shoes and socks. I don’t even know if they could locate their shoes at this point. They certainly don’t wear them when we go pick up lunches at the school or for “church” on Sundays and we haven’t been anywhere since bowling on March 13th. After getting their assignments done, the two boys left the house like they usually do and JJ came running in out of breath to tell us that they caught a HUGE turtle. So Jared and I went to go see. It was definitely a big one, not a baby like before. Looked like a “painted turtle” but I think they call it a “red tipped ear”. He was all tucked inside his shell when we saw him.
*Jake called after his virtual appointment with Dr. Call. His swallowing test that he did before going to St. George was normal. And agrees with Dr. Ross that we need to start looking at other things. Dr. Call is not totally convinced fibromyalgia is the answer either. That’s the “last resort” diagnosis when you don’t know what else to call the pain. Dr. Call mentioned systemic sclerosis or scleroderma. Which is what we thought it might be last May when his blood work came back with the autoimmune marker for scleroderma. But we were dismissed, rather rudely and unprofessionally, by the rheumatologist here in CS. Dr. Call also said POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome) might also be an option (only when Jake mentioned it because his friend, Summer, was recently diagnosed and the symptoms are similar). Here we are, almost a year after Jake came home from his mission, still trying to find answers. Dr. Call wants Jake to get an echocardiogram, a tilt test, and a pulmonary lung function test done within the next couple of weeks. Since Jake is in St. George, we’re hoping that he can just get a referral for the test and won’t have to establish or see any of these other doctors as he’s just temporarily in southern Utah.
*On the upside, Jake says the temazepam was working super good. He slept all night long, on Wednesday night. Didn’t wake up until 6:30am on Thursday morning. He said it’s probably the honeymoon effect of the drug--like all the others, we’ll know more for sure in 2-3 months. But we agreed we’ll take that response any day over the alternative! The second night was the same. He felt great in the morning, didn’t wake up during the night. Feeling “normalish” like at the beginning of the year. Not pre-May 2019, but pre-covid-19.
Sat. 18th--We had some time as a whole family to spend, so I printed off this "Candy Bar Game" that a friend of mine posted on Face Book. And line by line, we worked on it together. The kids were really good at it. We laughed at the clever clues and were stumped by a handful. Some of them were candies we've never heard of. All in all, we got 32/35 thanks to Jared, Cooper and Karcyn for pulling some of the answers out of thin air! We encouraged Jake to do it with my parents, but they were really struggling with it. That's when we realized they were only using candy bars. We told Jake that it's any candy, really. He came back with a super indignant response, pointing out, "But it says the candy BAR game!" Yes, we know. We love and appreciate your engineering brain, too. Most of the clues are for bars, however, some are not. :)
Mon. 20th--On our way to lunch pick-up at the school. The only way to get Cooper to come with us and get out of the house was to let him drive. :)
Tues. 21st--Calvin helping out in the kitchen again. What he's making, I haven't the foggiest. :)
Wed. 22nd--This was a hard day for the younger kids. Karcyn was emotional and spent the first hour of school resting in her room. JJ refused to work on school assignments and made a huge lego mess in his room out of spite. Calvin said he just wanted to go back to bed, so I told him he could and I didn’t push JJ. I have to believe that they will be fine academically and if they need catching up in the fall, they’ll get it. I’m not going to make this school-at-home experience any more stressful on them than this disruption already is. They need less stress. But they also had less tolerance and patience today. There was more yelling and defiance. Which is disheartening because the previous two days were really great. Cooper and Calvin were a big part of that, too. They were calm and kind. They pitched in and helped and were enjoyable to be around. So much less selfish. And it was really great.
*There was also a storm brewing outside as we went under a tornado watch late that morning.
*Hahaha! I sent this to Jared, Jake and Cooper because I know they reference "Ant Man" a lot. I don't know the context, but they thought it was funny!
Thurs. 23rd--Calvin eating breakfast at 10am. Nice hair, dude. "Covid hair, don't care."
*Our incredible neighbor, Tony Upton, hearing from the boys about their turtle hunting adventures, told Calvin and JJ he would build them a turtle trap. And he was true to his word!
Off they went to set it up.
Tony said he wanted to be the one to put the piece of raw chicken in as bait because the edge of the wires are sharp and he didn't want the boys to hurt themselves.
All set, ready to go.
They finally decided on a spot half way in the water, so as not to drown whatever animal they trap.
*Later that afternoon, the administration and staff from Karcyn's middle school did a drive-by parade through our neighborhood. We heard them honking before we saw them. Karcyn stood near the corner and most people who drove by knew and recognized her. They were yelling, “Hello, Karcyn!” “Hi, Karcyn” “Hey, Sweet Girl!” “Hey, Karcyn!” “I miss you!” “Good to see you, Karcyn!” It was really touching. Since she was the only one out there on our street, it was almost like a personal parade, just for her. I took pictures and waved and shouted thank you. She said her arm hurt from all that waving. :)
*Gas continued to drop. We were paying $1.62/gallon at the beginning of the month. The cruel irony is that while the gas is super low, but we have nowhere to go. Including Caldwell for church and other activities which is 66 miles each round trip.
Fri. 24th--Success!! The boys and Brother Upton trapped themselves a turtle!
And back into the drainage ditch he goes. The turtle, and JJ, too. :)
*This was Jared’s long week to work. He only had Wed/Thurs off but had an opportunity to pick up two extra paid shifts on those days at the Occ Med clinic so he grabbed them since he’s lost about eight extra shifts in three months time. That meant he would be working every day, Monday through Sunday. But he got off early on Friday, which was a nice surprise. Ironically, there aren’t many people coming into the urgent care for acute care or to be tested for coronavirus. However as long as Jared works over 4 hours, he gets paid for a full day, so it works for us!
Jared took me out to (pick up) dinner at Fazoli’s for a spontaneous date. We went to Bee Creek Park and ate at a picnic table. It was a pretty warm evening at the park and it was so nice to get away from the walls of our house--just the two of us...and an owl! I happened to glance up at the tree Jared was sitting under and saw this little owl sitting there. It wasn’t far from us so I looked at it for an extended period of time to determine if it was real or not. Maybe it was a decoy. It didn’t even flinch. But...it eventually closed its eyes. That was pretty cool to see.
Sat. 25th--Classic!
*The boys caught a small snake.
Everyone took a turn holding it.
*Oh my. Haha! But at the same time...we gotta get our economy back up and running. I believe, with caution, it can be done.
*We aren't a family that is always out and about doing things or shopping socially. If we're out, it's usually to get something we need or to go to an appointment and if I do have to shop, (which I also hate) I am really good about combining trips. The less I'm in the car and out spending money, the better. And even still...in these covid times, I go out and get things by myself because it just isn't necessary for anyone else to come along. I'm grateful my children are all old enough to leave at home so I can venture out alone and try and do our part.
Sat. 27th--JJ started attending the new elementary school that just opened up in August. He is a River Bend Bear. Mrs. Jones, our principal, uses this stuffed bear to hold the American and Texas flags so we can pledge allegiance to them each day. Recently, during her announcements, she asked us to submit suggestions to help name the bear. I asked Jared what "flag" was in Spanish. He said "bandera." So I submitted the Hough family name entry as: Bandera the Bear. There were a few other suggestions and in true Mrs. Jones style, she found a way to combine all the name suggestions so may I present to you the River Bend Bear mascot:
Winston Fuzzy Roscoe de la Bandera.
*Around 3pm, Sunday afternoon, we hopped in the car with Cooper driving and headed to Bryan. My friend, Kaylee Olsen (who is Jake’s age), just returned from her 18 month mission in Orem, Utah--Spanish speaking. She had to get her passport to go to the MTC in Mexico to serve her mission in Utah. Haha! She wouldn’t be getting any sort of traditional homecoming sadly, so some of her friends decided to do a surprise drive-by for her and told us to honk and make posters or whatever else to welcome her back. I made a poster that said “Welcome Home” in Spanish. Cooper enjoyed having permission to lay on the horn, several times. We drove by twice since her house was on the driver’s side when we first passed, and turned around so I could say hi. What I know of her, she's pretty amazing. She left on her mission, knowing that she would never see her mother again, who was stricken with cancer. Her mom died on Christmas Day two months later. And Kaylee stayed and served. Truly inspiring.
From there, we drove to Ruth Graham’s house. We stood back, probably 10 feet from the door and sang and signed "Love One Another" for her. She still remembered me so that was good. She loved our song and said we made her day! It was so nice to see her. I miss our visits so much. The nextdoor neighbor had been walking out to his car in the driveway and heard us and commented that we did a great job. :)
Then we drove down the road to Steve Courtright's house...he was our second Bishop when Bishop Sharp was called into the Stake Presidency and former 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric when we first moved here. He was the bishop I served with as RS president before being called to the stake Relief Society. He loves us, especially Jake and Cooper who he knows the best, and we love him. His family is moving to Iowa at the end of May so we knocked on their door and asked if we could share a message and we sang and signed "Love One Another" for them. We felt mildly silly, but in the end, I’m glad we found a creative way to minister and say goodbye.
*I went for a jog later that morning after my breakfast had settled. I don’t jog because I’m fast. I jog to celebrate what my body can do. And I made an apple pie for Jared’s weekly office treat. I wasn’t done getting ready until after 10am and then had to deliver the pie after that. So we kind of missed doing school stuff. But I didn’t really care.
We told them they needed to put the turtle back so we went to the other side of the drain across the street. Calvin eased into the water (gross!) and JJ brought the turtle to him.
Then Calvin set him gently in the water. The turtle didn’t move for a good minute or so. Then we saw bubbles and then his head slowly poked out when he thought it was safe to do so. And he slowly, but surely made his way back into the drain. These boys LOVE spending time at the ditch trying to fish or catch turtles. I love that they love being outside. But they’re also running the risk of getting hurt or bit by things like fire ants if nothing else. Hence boy life. They found a small dead snake in our driveway and were super proud of the fact that they used the snake on a hook to try and lure the turtle.
*On the upside, Jake says the temazepam was working super good. He slept all night long, on Wednesday night. Didn’t wake up until 6:30am on Thursday morning. He said it’s probably the honeymoon effect of the drug--like all the others, we’ll know more for sure in 2-3 months. But we agreed we’ll take that response any day over the alternative! The second night was the same. He felt great in the morning, didn’t wake up during the night. Feeling “normalish” like at the beginning of the year. Not pre-May 2019, but pre-covid-19.
*Before Jared, Cooper and Jake (remotely) watched their episode of Clone Wars together, Jake asked me to join Jared so he could tell us something. He said he’s been communicating with a young woman for a couple months and it was going well. He wanted to tell us about her because it was starting to get serious. She’s from Springfield, Ohio. He met her on his mission...the last day, the last few hours, in fact, that he was in Ohio before going home. She’s a convert to the Church. Just got baptized in December. Her name is Moriah. She’s 23 years old. We looked her up on facebook.
Her mom died about 7 years ago. She has an older and younger sister and she's working in customer service from home. Nice that she could still be employed! She and Jake have been communicating by text and mostly Face Time (my mom said they talk for hours each day) and while he never wanted a long distance relationship, he appreciates her friendship and sees a lot of potential for their future. I’m really glad she’s making him happy right now. After reading her posts on social media, I learned she is strong in her faith, creative, thoughtful, and just as beautiful on the inside as out.
And now to wait!
Jared took me out to (pick up) dinner at Fazoli’s for a spontaneous date. We went to Bee Creek Park and ate at a picnic table. It was a pretty warm evening at the park and it was so nice to get away from the walls of our house--just the two of us...and an owl! I happened to glance up at the tree Jared was sitting under and saw this little owl sitting there. It wasn’t far from us so I looked at it for an extended period of time to determine if it was real or not. Maybe it was a decoy. It didn’t even flinch. But...it eventually closed its eyes. That was pretty cool to see.
*Calvin was whittling a stick and liked what he saw.
Winston Fuzzy Roscoe de la Bandera.
*Our Sunday at home church meeting for 4/26 was based on the topic of charity. We asked Cooper to give a ten minute talk on the subject and then planned to have a discussion about it afterwards. During the week, I had the prompting that we should learn the song “Love One Another” in sign language. We’re trying to learn sign language together as a family, so I thought this would be a great activity for my "family activity" on Saturday and as a bonus we could do it during church on Sunday as our special musical number. So Saturday evening, after Jared got home from work, we learned the sign language for this song and we practiced a few times until we felt comfortable with it.
*Since she’s old enough now, Karcyn and I decided we wanted to watch “Ant Man” but realized we probably needed to watch the Marvel movies in order to understand them better. So we asked Jared if he’d guide us through the Marvel line up and he more than graciously agreed. On Saturday night, we started with “Captain America: First Avenger.” Karcyn liked it a lot. I had seen it once already, but it had been awhile. Jared and I were laughing at the jokes Tommy Lee Jones made about how skinny Steve Rogers was pre-transformation cause that’s how skinny Jake looks.
Sun. 26th--We were able to do church at 10am before Jared left for work at noon. It was just us with my parents and Jake. Karole did church with Kevin and Chris. We did the Sacrament and then called my parents on Messenger. Jared wanted to do the musical number first, so we did. My parents and Jake liked it a lot. Then Cooper gave his talk which was very well written. I had to laugh at one of his comments before church started. He said, “This is the first time I’ve worn socks in like three weeks.” After his talk we had a good discussion on charity and how following the spirit is key. The kids stuck around afterwards to talk to Grandma. Calvin and JJ didn’t stick around for long. I talked to her with Karcyn and then it was Cooper’s turn. Jake came into the conversation so I wanted to join in as well, but Cooper said I couldn’t. So Jake piped up and said, “It’s okay, Mom. Call me and we can talk.” So I did. We talked for over two hours! I couldn't believe it. We had lots of different things to catch up on.
From there, we drove to Ruth Graham’s house. We stood back, probably 10 feet from the door and sang and signed "Love One Another" for her. She still remembered me so that was good. She loved our song and said we made her day! It was so nice to see her. I miss our visits so much. The nextdoor neighbor had been walking out to his car in the driveway and heard us and commented that we did a great job. :)
Then we drove down the road to Steve Courtright's house...he was our second Bishop when Bishop Sharp was called into the Stake Presidency and former 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric when we first moved here. He was the bishop I served with as RS president before being called to the stake Relief Society. He loves us, especially Jake and Cooper who he knows the best, and we love him. His family is moving to Iowa at the end of May so we knocked on their door and asked if we could share a message and we sang and signed "Love One Another" for them. We felt mildly silly, but in the end, I’m glad we found a creative way to minister and say goodbye.
Wed. 29th--Happy 43rd Birthday to me! Yay!! I’m so grateful for another year of life. It truly is a gift. My day started around 4:00am when I woke up to a very loud storm outside. We knew it was coming. It was crazy though with the booming thunder and strong winds. And an itty-bitty part of me was kind of worried. We have a big bay window, facing our backyard in our bedroom, that my side of the bed is closest to. Part of me prayed that no flying debris would be sent our way. We have had neighbor trampolines fly out of their backyard over to the other side of the street! The storm passed through quickly and was gone around 5am.
At 7:15am, the three littles brought me breakfast in bed. Scrambled eggs, two pieces of toasted bread and a glass of milk on a cookie sheet. It was very sweet and really yummy even though I don’t eat breakfast these days.
*Calvin and I watched “Tuck Everlasting” during lunch. He saw it at school and wanted to see it again. I hadn’t seen it yet so we did that together. He also wanted Spaghetti-Os for lunch. A can opener was used to get the lid off.
And this is what the contents looked like inside. Ewwww! Gross!! What's weird is that it didn't smell rancid or anything. Just looked awful. Calvin just shrugged his shoulders and grabbed a new can for lunch. I would have totally lost my appetite.
*I noticed that our trampoline had come apart a bit in the storm. So the guys had to put it back together.
*Jared worked a 12 hour shift, but when he came home we did gifts. I got two hardcover journals and some nice gel pens, a small compact CD player, a new USB audio cord for the suburban, and some small gold, round earrings from the family. My friend, Kelli Kimber, brought me a gift of chocolate goodies, hand soap and some delicious eucalyptus/lavender hand soap that smells like a spa. It was divine. I could smell that stuff all day. Mom and Dad gave me a $50 gift card to Michaels (so I can hopefully frame the temple painting that the kids did for me back in October) and Karole sent me some money to do something fun--hopefully sooner rather than later. It was a nice laid back day. I got lots of texts and lots of well wishes on facebook.
Thurs. 30th--JJ finished his model of a plant for science. I love it! He did a great job collecting things from the house to represent each part of the plant which he described on another page.
*April 30th was also the day that the “shelter in place” order expired in Texas. I knew that Hobby Lobby (craft store) was opening up. I had some fabric that I ordered online to return and some more to get so Karcyn could keep making her tote bags. I didn’t head over there though until after school stuff and lunch was done. I arrived at 3:25pm and for some reason, I was surprised to see a line waiting outside. I learned the employees were only letting in ten people at a time, six feet apart. Fortunately, the line was in the shade. I waited for over an hour before I got inside. Crazy! I was a little nervous about returning fabric I ordered online, because I had never done it before. Fortunately, it was no problem. I got a credit and found some other fabric to stock up on, so I'm glad it wasn't a wasted trip.
I also noticed on social media that the Hullabaloo restaurant just up the road from us got hit by a really big down draft or small tornado. It got ripped up pretty good!
