Quarantine Life

Two weeks in and we are still on lockdown. They have decided to "soft close" schools, gyms, churchs, everything until May 1, 2020. Utah seems to be doing a lot better than most states of staying home and our curve has flattened. It still doesn't feel hopeful- like this could go on for a while.

It has been REALLY nice (not going to lie) having a break from my calling. It's kind of like I don't have one. With such a large primary, we are limited on how we can connect with ALL the kids. Some primaries are doing Zoom meetings- with over 175 kids, that would never work for us. We posted a little message as a presidency on FB and have a treasure box on my porch with a conference bingo game. Sundays have been SO much smoother and less focused on my job and more about the Savior. Home church has been so so good. I have really enjoyed Mark passing the sacrament and having the kids more actively participate in our home "sacrament" program. I love that Kingston even said, "Mom, I love home church".

Quarantine Primary Presidency- loves these ladies. 

 Quarantine Tisha strikes again- reading hut. I HATE messes (obviously) so this was hard but the kids played in there for most of the day so, it stayed. The kids are making adjustments almost daily of what works for them and where they need a little more help. Mc got busted, thanks to an email from her teacher, that says she hasn't done any Math since 3/17- guess who gets to do 2 Math lessons a day over spring break? She also was spending way too much time chatting with her friends- chat has been turned off until further notice. We are just surviving. We made it through ALL the Harry Potter movies- we would eat dinner, get showered/jammies and then watch a movie. It was so nice to have everyone in the same place not running all over creation.

Reading Hut

Mc has taken up sewing little felt animals. 

Quarantine haircuts. Thankful Mark has clippers or these boys would look homeless.  

Baby Yoda

Mark has a pretty good "honey do" list- these shelves were free (we already had the wood from the basement) and took him no time at all. Finishes the basement nicely. "Top Notch"

COVID19- week one

We had been hearing rumblings for a few weeks of this Coronavirus in China. It was a virus. People were dying yes, but it didn't seem too threatening. Afterall, we had lived through SARs, swine flu and H1N1 without any disruption. It felt like it was really far away and something we would never have to deal with directly. That all came crashing down when NYC basically exploded with the virus. Hospitals were overloaded, so many were dying and it was spreading like wildfire. The kids went to school on Friday and by Monday, schools were shut down for at least two weeks, libraries, sports, movie theaters, gyms, and dine eat restaurants were eliminated. We were now on quarantine. It was issued as a P A N D E M I C.

People started hoarding toilet paper of all things. Luckily, I had just bought a large case from Target and found a random Amazon deal so we were good. Grocery stores were cleaned out of everything. I ended up going at 5 AM just to get bread and milk for the week and it was still full of people. Everyone seemed on edge. We were all worried about what that meant for jobs, leaving our homes and how it would affect the kids. Lots of states are on a "stay at home" order meaning that only "essential" employees are out. We weren't allowed to gather with more than 10 people and now, they are encouraging "social distancing"- 6 feet away from ANYONE that you don't live with.

I have never wanted to homeschool my kids- but here we are. We had two ramp up days before the teachers had to issue assignments and we could pick up laptops from the elementary.  By Wednesday, we were up and running and the kids adjusted pretty well.

Homeschool day one

Quarantine Tisha has been the best- she lets her kids do LOTS of things regular Tisha won't. First time EVER making salt dough. Don't they look happy!?!?

 Just when we thought the curve ball had come and gone, we woke up at 7 AM the day after St Patrick's day with a 5.7 magnitude earthquake rocking the Wasatch Front. I had a restless night anyway and was kind of in/out of wakefulness. I was surprised how quickly I was up/dressed/rushing the kids downstairs. It was scary and loud and we have all been on edge ever since. There have been TONS of aftershocks too which isn't fun for anyone.

Earthquake day Namaste

 We survived a whole week of our new "normal". The kids chatted with friends, we watched live Zoo animal videos, did Kids Art Hub and fell into a routine that seems to work for now.

Orlando day Four & 5

We knew we wanted to do a water park day. Volcano Bay was a two foot walk from our hotel door to the entrance. Thursday, it was going to be cloudy but 87 degrees so we decided it would be great. We got in an hour early and rode almost every waterslide before the park officially opened. It was a little chilly but not crowded and the water was heated. Mc could have stayed in the wave pool the whole day. We headed back to the hotel to have lunch and shower and decided to stay in the park late to watch the lights on Hogwart's at night. Mark had bought a drink cup that was refillable at the hotel- Mc got a hot chocolate and snuggled into bed one more night before we went home. 

Friday morning I woke up feeling horrible! I think it was because on Thursday, it was 87 degrees and overnight, it dropped to 65. It was super windy and chilly. We decided to head back into the park to gather our souvenirs  and spend the last few hours before we flew home. My sweet friend Alli from work had a $100 gift card she couldn't use- with a few creative customer service people we were able to use that. I was grateful to just sit in the sun as Mark and Mc rode the Mummy a few times. We had warm pretzels, one more frozen butter beer and got ready to head back to the snow. 

Mc and She-Ra

Orlando Day 3

Day three was our day of brave- Mc (albeit crying) rode the Hulk coaster and was so thrilled with herself (not enough to ride again).  We saw Transformers, had more butter beer and stayed later in the park. We rode almost every ride with the exception of the Rockin Coaster, all of Simpsons land, Seussland, and the wet rides. The Jurassic Park ride looked awesome but with an 80 foot drop AND 15 people dryers all full of soaking wet people, we opted out. I think that was a good choice. 

We spent more time just looking around Diagon Alley- they spared no expense on making this such a magical part of the park. Every store had "magic" happening- creatures, moving photos- all of it was so much like being in the book/movie. 

We came back to dinner at the hotel- the ala carte options were great and went to bed watching Live PD. Mc's choice. 

us and Bumble Bee

Mc and the Pygmy Puffs- her chosen souvenir. 

Jaws

Orlando Day 2

Two of my favorite ladies. 

Dragon on top of Gringott's 

Because we stayed at a Universal resort, we got into the park an hour early. Only a few of the Harry Potter rides were open but we knew we wanted to head to those first. We almost missed the entrance (you walk behind a false wall).  After figuring out the ticket/locker system, we rode Escape from Gringott's (twice), the Mummy, and started our day in the park. Once again, the weather was warm and awesome- still snowy in Utah. The park was in "slow" season so we hardly had to wait to ride anything. We got off and back on whatever we wanted. The Mummy, still an all time favorite. 

HOGWARTS

How I have missed those Voodoo doughnuts. 

 We had a delicious lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Mc had her first taste of frozen Butter Beer and fish and chips. Both of which she loved.

Platform 9 3/4

 We rode the Hogwart's Express between parks- so well done! We got our bearings pretty quickly and got excited about having a few days to experience everything. The most amazing ride of the day was the new Hagrid's Motorbike ride! We waited two hours to ride but it was SO worth it. So much fun.

Mc was living her best life- both parents 100% dedicated to her every whim and a vacation that was run exactly how she wanted it to be. 

Orlando- Day One

We finally made it to our Florida, 10 year old trip for Mckinley. We picked THE best time to go. We took the red eye out of Salt Lake and left in a blizzard. We got to FL at 5 AM, ubered to our hotel (let us never forget the song that was playing in the car that was SO disturbing). We went to the hotel and took a nap (three hours) only to wake up and find out that back home, school was canceled for a SNOW DAY. Mary Ann was home with the boys and I am sure that made a long day for her but the boys had a blast playing outside. Not nearly as much fun as we had sitting by the pool- they played music underwater) and lounging in the sun. It was sheer heaven. I needed some Vitamin D. We had a cafeteria in our hotel so we had some lunch and then took an Uber to downtown Disney to just walk around. 

Sunshine girl

STEM

In October, all the fifth grade teachers sent out a packet for "stress free" STEM project planning (not due until January 22) . It seemed like plenty of time. Mc picked a project, we started working and then I realized, this was no joke. She decided she wanted to do a drawing robot. We started researching and prototyping and STEM 2020 began. Mc worked really hard and Mark helped her with most of the disassembling and assembling. Her little robot worked! We did 3 prototypes, did the 20 page journal and she did the poster all by herself (which also took plenty of time). We finished two days early!

Our first prototype

Robot drawing

 They let all the parents come walk through and look at the projects and Mc did really well. They had high school kids come and judge them and decide who was going to district. Well, Mc made that too. We had to show up, set up and then come back for judging. She did such a great job, she is moving on to STATE! The coronavirus (more on that later) postponed the March day for state BUT we are so proud of you! What an amazing accomplishment. I am sure her strength was her interview. All her hard work paid off for sure.

Just feeling a little bit like we set the bar too high for Kingston and Enzo. Oops.

Mc at district. 

Mc moving on to state

Mimi and Papa came to your award ceremony and brought you a candy poster. Lucky girl!