JJ (9): One of his first accomplishments was learning how to tie a tie in January, thanks to the coaching of biggest brother, Jake.
Before the lockdown, JJ was in 2nd grade being taught by wonderful teachers at a brand-new school, River Bend Elementary. He was having a really good experience and doing well. Once school went online, however, he was mostly compliant, until about the end of April, and then he began picking and choosing what he wanted to do and outright refused to do the rest. He would eventually do math or science, but language arts and social studies were not negotiable. *sigh* Fortunately, JJ’s homeroom teacher (who teaches the latter subjects) was incredibly patient, understanding, and compassionate! She told us not to stress it so we didn’t. JJ finished his spring baseball season during the deep heat of summer and only got heatstroke once. It wasn’t his favorite season though because it was “kid pitch,” not machine pitch and because of his August birthday (before school starts) he was the youngest and smallest player, lumped in with the big kids. He was tempted to quit, so we’re proud of him for seeing it through to the end.
JJ’s temperament has definitely shifted a little this year. Hard to say if he was doing the normal downward turn that takes place with our children after they’re baptized, or if it was a result of the lockdown or both. But more often than not, JJ is a sweet boy with a big heart who likes to help others. JJ has learned how to do some hand sewing as well as indexing records for family history during the shelter-in-place order.
He started 3rd grade on-site in August, and while he hates masks, he will wear neck gaiters, thankfully. His teachers report that he is so polite and respectful at school, for which we are grateful. He’s being challenged a bit more in this transitional grade, especially with the "covid catch-up," but he’s still doing well. He is a wonderful speller and loves to construct stories with pictures. He is still trying to find the books that will hook him, so reading isn’t one of his favorite things to do. Yet. But he does enjoy the Wings of Fire graphic novels. If you need JJ after school, you will find him outside, regardless of the temperature or weather. He loves being outdoors and playing a variety of activities with the kids on our street. He and Calvin did some major turtle catching during the lockdown in the water ditch near our house and he was always running around barefoot.
JJ may be the youngest in the family, but he held his own during our family nerf gun battles. And even won a couple!
He has discovered Yu-Gi-Oh cards with his buddies and still spends some time with Bey Blades. In September, JJ convinced me to watch season 1 of The Mandalorian so we would be ready to watch season 2 together.
He got a lot of compliments on his covid mullet but didn’t like that it was high maintenance. Haha! JJ has perfected his chocolate chip pancake-making skills. He can also make spaghetti on his own (topped with plain tomato sauce straight from a can), and will only eat an occasional high-protein source once every couple of weeks. Not surprisingly, he is on the scrawny side for a third-grader. We are still looking for that nutritious meal or food item that he will willingly eat. And even though the school district is providing free breakfasts and lunches to all kids age 1-18, JJ won’t eat them. Of course.
KARCYN (14): did the almost impossible and earned her Young Womanhood Recognition medallion after less than two years. This same award took me six years to get. She worked super-duper hard and we’re very proud that she earned it before the program was discontinued. She now holds that honor with me and her Aunt Kelly.
COOPER (18)--In February, Cooper participated in a doubles tennis tournament (after switching from choir to tennis again at semester). It was the one and only tournament he went to and won first place in the JV Boys doubles.
In March, he got to participate in zoom call with Richard Paul Evans (author of Michael Vey series) and 60-100 other youth. He was able to ask him a couple questions and toss out his opinions.
This has been an interesting year for Cooper--ending his junior year and starting his senior year with covid. The spring semester (Jan-May 2020) won’t count toward his GPA. We also learned he doesn’t have to take college entrance exams either (to get into BYU), which is good because he tried three different times to take the ACT and it kept getting canceled. He was asked to sing a solo for seminary graduation, which was prerecorded and then shared via Zoom, and he did a great job.
Cooper missed bowling…a lot! We caught him periodically practicing his approach and release in our dining room and entry hall.
When Prom was canceled in May, I told Cooper we would host his date, Lauren Arnold, and the other couple for a special Prom in June at our house. He was very grateful and they had a good time.
Cooper became ‘jobless’ in the spring when his employer, Grand Station, had to close during the lockdown. It didn’t open its doors again for three more months and even then, Cooper didn’t get scheduled right away. He was grateful when he did start working, but there was a manager change and he wasn’t scheduled regularly. As such, he decided to be proactive and got a second job at Whataburger. They were really good with his schedule and paid $1 more an hour than Grand Station, so in September, Cooper decided to give his notice with the bowling alley and just work for Whataburger. He’s a serious fryer and has also worked front counter and drive-thru. In June, he and Jared joined Jared's brother and his son for a fishing trip in Minnesota. They were supposed to go into Canada, but with the borders closed, they at least got to the same body of water, only 2 miles away on the US side. They had a blast!
At the end of July, we learned that Cooper has been struggling with long-standing depression—even before we moved to Texas six years ago. The diagnosis was a relief in many ways, but was still a bit of a blow. As his parents, we are really impressed and give him props for pushing through his struggles and doing as well as he did in school and for not turning to outside influences that could harm him in order to find an escape. He started feeling much better after getting on medication, though his sleep wasn't improving. He’s had difficulties getting to sleep at night and then if he manages to get to sleep, it’s not for very long or he can’t be easily awakened in the morning. He's missed several things because of it, including first period at school and a sleep study is in the works. Even still, Cooper is excelling at pre-calculus, physics, and English. Like Jake, this is the first year he actually likes English. Audio/Visual Production takes up his first two periods. It’s his favorite and he is so good at it. He has made a few short films ranging from funny to extremely heavy and has even filmed the live streaming of the high school football games. His teacher commented that he is very skilled at filming football—not an easy task, because you have to have a steady hand and anticipate how to follow the ball. Cooper and a couple classmates made a short film called “2084,” for a one-week film competition with rival school, Consol, which had to include specific lighting (purple and magenta) and a specific line (“Hasta la vista, Baby.”) The teacher said his film was very well-made and he doesn’t readily give out compliments. The judges, from both schools, awarded his group with 1st Place. He even got to be in front of the cameras for a promo video that A&M made for their extension classes. Cooper was voted in as president of the German Club, and promptly impeached a few months later when he wasn't able to make the meetings because of his sleep issues. We got a laugh over that one. Cooper continues to make refried bean and Tapitio quesadillas his main diet. When he isn’t in school or working, Cooper is bowling. He now owns six balls, soon to be seven. In September, he was finally able to participate in the Pepsi Tournament that had been rescheduled due to the lockdown in March. He broke 200 on one of his six games and had vastly improved from Pepsi the year before when we were excited that he broke 100! He even designed his own bowling shirt.
In October, he competed in a JBT (Junior Bowlers Tour) tournament that was on a sport shot (difficult) oil pattern in Lubbuck. Of the twenty-two young adults competing, he ranked 12 and missed the cut to advance to the next round by 14 pins. But he bowled great (his high game was 266) and held his own among a group mostly composed of twenty-year-olds. He wants to bowl in a PBA tournament before he leaves for his mission…with a hopeful report date around September 1, 2021. He had a red-letter 18th birthday—he had a dentist appointment, so while we were out, we took him to vote in his very first presidential election and then we took him out to lunch before heading back to school.
On Christmas Day, we went to see an illusionist and Cooper had the special and unique opportunity to be called up on stage. Turns out, during this particular act the volunteer sticks their head in a vice and a table saw is pushed across their neck. It was slightly unnerving for me to see this, even though, deep down, I knew it would be okay.
However, Calvin and JJ were stunned. Calvin cried he was so scared for his brother. It was a special bonding moment for these two, who often beat heads together. A Christmas memory for the books!
JAKE (21): Jake reported on his experiences as a young missionary at the end of January, closing that chapter of his life. He then vacillated between working here in Texas while taking a couple classes online and going out to Utah to get established and start school on campus in April. He finally chose the latter and while we would miss him greatly, we wanted him to get on with his life outside of Texas. He bought his first car, a red Honda CRV, all cash, the beginning of February and named her Veronica. After a series of unfortunate events, he decided to part ways with her a month later something a bit more reliable.
For a belated birthday gift, Jake and I flew out to Utah in February to welcome his MTC sisters home from Hungary and had a wonderful trip visiting friends and temples all up and down the Wasatch Front. This also included Jake snowboarding with his cousins and playing the piano at the homecomings for two of his sisters.
At the beginning of March, Jake and I drove out to Utah to get him set up and settled for spring term at BYU. The drive was great and we made an unscheduled and awesome stop at Arches National Park.
I left Jake in Utah on his own the day before the pandemic. It was a big blow to our young adult who was eager to move on with his life. But he had to continue to make adaptions and changes. My parents, who had been serving in Iceland, were sent home a couple months early the week after the pandemic was announced. Since Jake’s classes were online anyway and his housing was free, he made the decision to move in with Grandma and Grandpa Lee in St. George at the beginning of April. It was a monumental blessing as he suffered some more concerning health issues that didn’t seem related to his narcolepsy. He was only a couple weeks away from visiting the Mayo Clinic in Arizona when he diagnosed himself with POTS (confirmed by a cardiologist and tilt test at Jake’s request). We suspect that POTS has been around since his collapse during cross-country in high school. It just isn’t an obvious cardiac test to run. His health issues and quality of life have vastly improved since he’s received treatment for POTS and is seeing a spinal chiropractor. We are so grateful for modern medicine! In order to keep his heart working the way it needs to, he has to drink a ton of water and ingest 6 grams of sodium a day. It’s crazy and very hard to do. He still has to follow a pretty strict sleep schedule (which gets tricky in college), but he’s managed to go on several dates. Jake decided to double major (neuroscience and biophysics—brain science!), and while he has had a couple jobs since arriving in Utah, he did not work during the fall semester. He felt prompted to just focus on school, but he does hope to work part-time if he can find the right fit regarding physical demand/schedule. He joined a research team in the neuroscience field. It’s not currently a paid gig, but he does get 1 credit hour for it and it’s a good experience. He pulled off a 3.5 GPA spring term and a 3.7 GPA for the fall term. We are SUPER proud of his incredible hard work and sacrifices. He was an awesome student before, but having to relearn how to study and cope with a disease and a syndrome that messes with your energy, pain, and sleep levels is incredibly difficult. He lives right next door to his twin cousins, Cole and Connor, and his roommate is a young man from our stake. Spencer isn’t home much, but they have fun when they are together. Jake has enjoyed getting together with his Ohio mission companion, Gabe Brown, usually to go mountain biking. When they go to St. George, Gabe provides the bikes and Jake provides the lodging (thanks to his grandparents 😊). Jake decompresses from school in several ways, but he is enjoying watching “Criminal Minds.” Even though it is a TV show, the psychology behind the profiling is fascinating to Jake. He spent a little time serving on the Activities Committee in his ward and was then called to be one of four students who rotate playing the organ. Which is both funny and cool since Jake has never really been taught how to play the organ. Dating strangers during Covid is tricky. Since there aren’t a ton of opportunities to meet girls during a pandemic with social distancing, Jake has actually connected with a handful of young women through the Church dating app called Mutual. He even drove 2 ½ hours one way in Texas to go out with a “local girl.” Haha! Living in Utah is a lot different than living in southern Texas and Jake has been working on his feelings about snow. He decided that the snow that sticks is the sweet spot. Anything colder than that is a no-go. He's also said, "Every day is a miracle. And every day I wake up, I smile." We loved starting the year with him and ending the year with him from Thanksgiving through the New Year, including his 21st birthday. We look forward to our next opportunity with him in the summer before Cooper leaves on his mission.
JARED (47): He started out the year thinking he dodged a bullet, not having to work in the rural town of Normangee doing geriatrics where he had been moved to unexpectedly and finally getting transferred to the Bryan Urgent Care. The bonus is that this clinic doesn't start seeing patients until noon on Sundays, so he would be able to attend all but the last thirty minutes of church with us. It was a tremendous blessing to be sure. It was all well and good for about six weeks when the hospital decided mid-March to shut BUC down and move that staff to the CS urgent care where the two full crews of medical staff would rotate shifts to create two respiratory clinics for diagnosing covid-19, with a smaller urgent care. It probably goes without saying that Jared’s been a little anxious for most of the year. First, he had to tell his mom we couldn't be around her indefinitely. We didn’t see her for months. Second, he was always worried about getting me and the kids sick. I was always startled when he’d walk through the kitchen door in his underwear and socks and then I chuckled when I realized he had just stripped in the garage and left his scrubs there. Things got really dicey when, at the end of September, one of the physicians he works with was hospitalized with covid. He took a turn for the worse and was put on a ventilator. And then the hospital was calling for the wife (who was also covid positive) to say her goodbyes. This doctor is only about six years older than Jared and was training for a marathon. We prayed that his life would be spared. If they lost one of their own, I can't begin to describe the crushing effect it would have on Jared and his coworkers. The morale was already down the tube and it got to the point where Jared and I had a very solemn conversation about the life insurance policies we have and his specific recommendations for what I should do with the money. Even still, Jared continued to go back to that clinic day after day. Fortunately and miraculously, a month or so later, this doctor slowly recovered and was eventually transferred to a rehab facility. While we are grateful that our salary remained intact without any cutbacks, it was a grim and trying year for Jared. Though it almost didn't happen on three different occasions, Jared was able to take Cooper on a long-awaited fishing trip--not to Canada like they hoped--but to the Canadian border. They had a wonderful week fishing with a guide who cooked all their meals. It was a trip they both needed. Sleep, eat, fish, eat, fish, eat, fish, sleep, repeat.
The couple’s getaway to Florida was also
a highlight! 😊 He continues to serve as the 1st Counselor in the Caldwell Branch Presidency and lost around 20 lbs. on keto--after begging me to do it with him. Cause you know, misery loves company. After having a concrete slab in the corner of the backyard
for four years, Jared finally got his shed. Jared's favorite Father's Day gift from me--this T-shirt.
THE FAMILY:
*We started out the year on Jan. 10th hunkered in our pantry during a tornado warning, including Jake's buddy, Will.
*We began at-home church in the middle of March.
*At the request of Jared’s clinic manager, we enjoyed making special headbands in April to prevent ear irritation from the earloops on face masks.
*We had lots of fun family brain breaks (nerf gun wars, ping pong tournaments, sing-a-longs to the Easy Listening channel on Pandora, hula hooping, helping Cooper make videos for school, water balloon fights, “just dance” competitions, “try not to laugh” competitions, and watching the Andy Griffeth and Carol Burnett Shows).
*We got to witness our trampoline go flying through the air to a backyard, several houses away during a very strong storm. We also learned how to sing the song “As I Have Loved You” with sign language and shared it at a safe distance on the doorsteps of a few friends.
*We went on a long-awaited family camping trip to Beaver Lake in Arkansas. On the way, our car topper lid flipped open and scattered our belongings all over the highway ten minutes from home. We managed to retrieve everything undamaged except for the fishing rods--and considered ourselves blessed. We had an amazing day on the lake and then got stuck in a severe storm later that night, so we bagged it and went home. Par for the 2020 course!
*We were able to resume church at the church building in Caldwell the end of July and it felt great to be back.
*Thanksgiving together!!
*CHRISTMAS together!!
*We had a fabulous trip in Branson for Christmas, and even sent Jake and Cooper ahead a few days for a Bro-cation.
We went to two new shows—Dolly Parton’s Stampede. (The front row seats were epic, until afterwards when Jake started having an allergic reaction. We forgot he was allergic to horses! Whoops!) And "REZA—The Edge of Illusion" was absolutely mind-blowing! The kids want to go back, if for no other reason than to go backstage with him.
ROLO: This sweet boy joined our family on Dec. 28th when he was five months old. He is a pomeranian puppy. We had considered getting a dog for
many months. However, trying to adopt a rescue was proving to be very difficult. But
the stars aligned and we are thrilled to make him ours. So far,
he seems to enjoy being here with us…there are many laps to snuggle in and lots of love
to go around--maybe too much?
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