Stinkerbelle

This girl sent me a bunch of selfies and I was shocked at how grown up she is looking! I'm not ready for my little Stinkerbelle to be so grown up!!

Things in 2020

II was reading a book that had a timeline of the first 5 months of 2020. I realized that I hadn't written much about Covid and all the chaos that it caused around the world. I thought I should include it so that we can remember the things that happened..

• Eleven days after that first announcement, China reported its first death from the unknown infection. As I do the final review of this preface, about five months later, the number of people infected with the virus has passed ten million, and over five hundred thousand deaths have resulted from it. (By the time readers receive the printed book, the numbers will likely be much higher than that.) 
• It is estimated that about one-third of the world’s population (almost two billion people) are currently under some kind of quarantine or “stay-at-home” orders. 
• In March, the U.S. State Department issued a level four emergency—the highest possible—warning against travel of U.S. citizens to other countries, especially Europe. About this same time, the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended no gatherings of more than fifty people anywhere in the United States. Numerous countries immediately followed suit. 
• Around the world, literally millions of stores, businesses, churches, restaurants, schools, parks, medical facilities, daycare centers, and recreational areas were closed or tightly restricted the number of their visitors. 
• Major public events of all kinds were canceled or postponed, including all levels of athletic events, from high school to professional sports, and virtually all public and private schools were closed. Movie theaters, concert venues, conventions, corporate training seminars, national parks, cruise lines, and many other venues were shut down. 
• For the first time since World War II, the Olympic Games, scheduled to be held in Tokyo in the summer of 2020, were postponed for one year. 
• Along with coronavirus and COVID-19, “social distancing” became a new addition to the global vocabulary. 
• In compliance with governmental recommendations, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked that all general meetings of their members that involved more than six people moved to be held electronically or by families at home. This included all Sunday meetings, weekday activities, stake conferences, youth conferences, camps, leadership meetings, and general conference. 
• On February 14, France announced the first death caused by the virus in Europe. A short time later, the European Union asked all of its twenty-seven member states—more than five hundred million citizens—to close their borders to incoming visitors and be confined to their homes unless there were compelling reasons to go out. 
• Global stock and bond markets have seen the largest drop since the Great Depression in the 1930s. At this time, thirty million people in the United States had filed for unemployment benefits, the largest number since the Great Depresssion. 
• Tens of thousands of full-time missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were brought home for reassignment or were released early. Others were given the option to wait twelve to eighteen months and then decide whether to return to the mission field. Some are now returning on a limited basis. 
• With some countries threatening to close their airports and many airline flights being canceled, the Church chartered multiple 747 jumbo jets to evacuate missionaries safely back to the United States. All returning missionaries were asked to go into fourteen-day quarantine to minimize the risk of them being infected or of spreading infection. 
• All Missionary Training Centers around the world were closed, and the training of new missionaries went online. 
• Panic-buying began all across the United States and in many other places around the world. People lined up for blocks as stores limited the numbers who could be inside at one time and the number of key items that an individual could purchase. 
• With the virus threat rapidly increasing in the United States, by early April governors of virtually every state imposed some kind of lockdown or stay-in-place orders for their state’s populations.
• On March 18, in the midst of everything else, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck in the western part of the Salt Lake Valley. It was the strongest earthquake in the region since 1992. A few days later, a 6.5 earthquake struck in northern Idaho, the strongest in that area in fifty years. On May 15, 2020, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was the largest earthquake in that area in 65 years. Numerous minor aftershocks have been felt since. Though no deaths were reported, and the damage was serious but not catastrophic, it was one more thing for people to worry about. 
• In the Church, the restrictions affected the performance of sacred ordinances for many members. Sacrament meetings were canceled and home worship took their place, and bishops were instructed to ensure that all members had the opportunity to receive the sacrament at least once a month. It was recommended that baptisms be postponed if possible. If not, attendance at the service could not exceed four people. 
• For the first time in the history of the Church, all temples were closed until further notice, directly affecting temple sealings and ordinance work for the dead. 
• Other major religious services and observances have been affected around the world. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where many Christians believe Christ was buried, closed its doors to visitors for the first time in 800 years. The entire city of Bethlehem, site of the Savior’s birth, was closed to visitors and remains closed as of this writing. Easter services all around the world were canceled, broadcast via technology, or limited to some degree. Saudi Arabia asked the millions of pilgrims who normally come to Mecca in celebration of the birth of the prophet Mohammed to stay at home this year. Significant religious sites all around the world are closed. 
• The April 2020 general conference for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was held and broadcast around the world as scheduled. However, only those who were actually participating were invited to be physically in attendance. And they maintained the recommended “social distance” of six feet apart throughout the conference. 
• Nevertheless, the 190th conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrated a jubilee year, the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision. Three especially remarkable things took place during the conference. (1) An official proclamation on the Restoration was shared by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. It is only the sixth official proclamation in the history of the Church. (2) A Hosanna Shout honoring the bicentennial anniversary of the First Vision was led by President Russell M. Nelson. All members of the Church were invited to participate. Normally, the Hosanna Shout is given only during temple dedicatory services. (3) Along with seven other new temples, two temples were announced that were remarkable firsts. The first temple to be built in a country where there is Muslim majority in their population was announced to be built in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. A temple will also be built in Shanghai, in the People’s Republic of China. China has several congregations of native Chinese members of the Church. With this announcement, they will no longer be required to leave the country to receive their temple ordinances.

Covid Positive

It happened. We have covid in our house.

Shayne woke up with a "frog" in his throat. Just a bit scratchy. Since we had a lot of things coming up, he decided to take a test (kind of begrudgingly) and we were all SHOCKED when it came back POSITIVE!! SUPER-SHOCKED! The girls had a bit of a meltdown...ok A GIGANTIC MELTDOWN! There was LOTS of crying (although, who am I kidding, we have LOTS of crying all the time now...) They wanted Dad to stay in his room for the next two weeks, when I said that wasn't going to happen (they cried some more), and then they decided that THEY were going to stay in their room for two weeks. AND we ruined their lives by them not being able to go to school or work for two weeks. To two teenage girls, life was over...

However, the REST of the family seemed to feel fine, so it was just chilling at home. We decided to get all the rest of us tested...NEGATIVE.

So...Shayne was pretty sick for about 3-4 days (like having the flu), but since the rest of us were completely healthy, we baked EVERYTHING in the house, organized everything in the house, took walks and played outside everyday, and decided to do a Lord of the Rings Marathon (the kids have NEVER seen it before and they LOVED it!)

We did our quarantine time and at the end everyone AGAIN tested negative and we moved on with our lives...slowly getting back to school and work and being in public with other people.

We're so grateful that it was only like the flu for Shayne. I know that it seems to hit everyone different. We're also truly grateful that the rest of us didn't catch it (although I still hold to the idea that we all had Covid-except Shayne-back in Feb 2020 before they were even testing for it out here) because I know it has gone through many many families.

My new artwork

I'm excited! I commissioned Izzy to paint me a collage of cactuses and she's halfway done! I got them framed and up on my wall in my front room and I love them!! Just need three more...

Amazing Race

The girls had a really fun activity for Young Women's this week that I got to help with. It was an amazing race theme. They were in groups and had to race around Surprise Park doing different things. The station I manned was a Detour where their group had to either make butter or eat two sardines!! GROSS! I've eaten a lot of things in life, but sardines just gross me out..

Olivia was awesome for her team and she downed two sardines like it was nothing!! Their team also ended up winning the Amazing Race! Way to go!!

Another Doll

Olivia finished another doll!