Stay at Home

Last night, the governor announced a stay-at-home order for all of Colorado until April 11. The nationwide death toll is over 1000 now. We have had 4 COVID-19 deaths in our county. We don't expect the kids to go back to school this school year, but nothing has been official on that front yet. The teachers at our local elementary school all got together and did a teacher parade last night. Even though none of my kids go there anymore, we saw a lot of their teachers. It was so sweet of them to do that! And perfect timing as this stay at home order means leaving the house for only grocery essentials and medical needs. PC has an official letter saying he is mission essential for work. But they have cut back on workers coming in and will be only on call for the next 11 days. We are excited to have him home. We can, of course, leave the house for exercise as long as we keep socially distant, at least six feet away. The kids and I had been making boxes for the sister missionaries to use to deliver small things for those they teach. I'm not sure if we can get them to them now. We are signed up to deliver them dinner on the first, so I think that will still be okay and can drop them off then.

Our new norm

 Today I got to video chat one of my young women who moved away. She is so special. She's in Relief Society now. It was a fun time to see and talk to her. She sure brightens my day!

 One of the hardest things for me with everyone home, is how messy the house feels all the time. Rosie plays with more stuff with the other kids and then gets distracted and never wants to put anything away. I'm glad they are having fun together though.

 On Sunday, we did a couple puzzles.

 My friend posted on Facebook an idea she got from another friend of quarantine charts. So we adjusted hers and put up our own on the fridge. The kids like doing it and it gives them ideas of good things to do. They are separated into the four categories in the youth program--physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual.

Memes

One thing that has kept us laughing throughout this time of being home, is memes. I've saved a ton that made me laugh out loud. Here they are:

Utah had an earthquake on Thursday morning. It knocked the trumpet out of the Angel Moroni's hand on top of the Salt Lake City temple, so tons of memes came out about that!

COVID-19 and CORAD-20

So a new virus popped up in the world a few months ago. The fatality rate was higher than most viruses and China got hit pretty hard. It spread to other countries, with Italy taking a high toll as well. It entered the U.S. a few weeks ago and things have changed quite drastically in the past two weeks. First, the Church announced that they would not be having leadership meetings during General Conference so that leaders from other countries wouldn't be coming into the country. Then, it was changed to a closed conference, meaning no one would be in the conference center. Today, it was changed to only the speakers for the actual session would meet together. Temples are only open for live ordinances and we are all doing church at home. BYU cancelled classes for last Friday and this past Monday and Tuesday and announced that the rest of the semester would be done through remote instruction. They encouraged them all to go home and finish the semester at home. Paul is leaving in the morning to pick up Tink. Our school district announced that it would be closed for 2 weeks, which didn't affect Bucko, but my other kids had to do school online this week. Yesterday, the governor announced that all schools in CO would be closed through April 17. And state testing had been cancelled. Gyms are closed. Our dentist and eye doctor are closed. People are panic buying like crazy. Toilet paper can't be found! The shelves at Sam's Club were all but empty this week. It is like the world has gone insane! But we have felt peace through it all. We know that President Nelsen knows what's going on. I'm grateful we have the food storage we do and have not suffered at all due to the panic going around. But everyone is encouraged to practice social distancing so we are all in our homes. It hasn't affected is a ton, other than activities being cancelled. Bucko was excited to go to the spring formal with his friend on Saturday, but that was cancelled. He was so bummed. Then a group put together a "I'm not scared of COVID-19" formal, but they ended up postponing that too because someone's parent was sick and they were going to go to a grandparents house and didn't want to get them sick! So, in the end, I guess they were scared of it. I've spent the week getting the room in the basement ready for Tink. It's funny that I started getting it ready a few weeks ago. I kept thinking at the time that I was starting too early because it was still months away from when she'd be coming home. When all this happened, I knew it had been the Spirit prompting me to get started. It was a pain to move all my craft stuff out of there. I have a lot of stuff! But I finally finished painting and getting all the furniture in there ready for her. We can't wait to see her!

I listen to this podcast called Out There Colorado. They also send me a newsletter with articles and news. One of the guys coined the phrase CORAD-20 because CO is ColoRADo and it's 2020, so #CORAD-20 came about to get us Coloradans outside during this time, still distancing ourselves from others, but capturing the beauty of the world around us. I hope to do this in the coming days. We got several inches of snow today, though, so it will have to wait until the sun comes out again because right now, it is cold!

Minnie turns 14!

 Minnie turned 14 on our first day of home church. It was such a special experience, watching Bucko bless and pass the sacrament for all of us. We studied the scriptures together and felt the Spirit.

 Minnie couldn't decide on what cake she wanted for her birthday and I just recently bought a new cookbook that has amazing recipes! (I heart Naptime) So she made mint brownies on Saturday, which is what we used for her candles, and then on Sunday she made cookies and cream cupcakes. Both were yummy!

 She got some new clothes, including dresses and skirts.

 I love that she still loves High School Musical so much! I found some books and she was so excited for them!

Her cupcakes! Happy Birthday!