This was a hard week. Not because of the lack of things to do here at home, but missing family big time. My moms birthday was this week and we were not able to be with her. Made my heart sad and I miss kissing the top of her head and feeling her hugs. But we also know that we need to keep her safe and healthy in any way that we can. We made a yummy Pina colada cake, placed candles on it and facetimed my mom to sing to her. It was a delicious cake and I can't wait to share it with her soon. Then we zoom conferenced the rest of the Horton family and sang to her. It was so fun to be able to talk to everyone, a virtual family reunion. My niece Sarah returned home from her mission, since all the US missionaries are being sent home. So we got to speak to her too. Hopefully Ashlyn will be able to make it home safely soon too.
Then, Grandma O passed away the night of April 1st. I'll have a separate post reflecting our feelings for her. She was a huge part of our lives, and we will miss her terribly. I get sad thinking that we won't have a visit with her to look forward to when we return back to Utah. Michelle was unable to be with her when she passed since the health care facilities will not allow any visitors right now due to the Corona virus. And we were not able to attend her funeral, we had to be facetimed in. Never thought we would be virtually participating in Grandmas funeral. She deserved a huge celebration for all of her family to join. She loved her family so much and wanted so badly for her family to be together. Such an odd time right now. We decided to have our own celebration for her. We made had smores around the fire, ate brownies and silk pie (she loved chocolate) and shared our favorite grandma memories and sang her songs. I had some videos that we looked at of her and pictures as well. We love grandma O so much, we look forward to the time when we can be reunited with her again.
The quarantine has extended to May 1st. Schools have been closed for the rest of the year and we are still doing online schooling which is actually going a lot better. We have had lots of fun with eachother at home, playing games, exercising and getting creative. This whole quarantine thing is not ideal, but is definitely not the worst thing in the world for our family.
Conference was this weekend as well. The talks were comforting and hopeful. It helped to reassure us that life will go back to normal once again, we just need to have hope. We commemorated the bi-centennial celebration of the Restoration by doing the Hosana shout. It was so awesome to have lily join us in that. And we received a new proclamation from the prophet on the testimony of the truth of the restoration of Christ's church. It was a beautiful conference.
Week 5
We watched via facetime, Grandma O's funeral. No more then 10 people could be in the room for the funeral, and they all had to wear face masks. It was strange. We had already said our goodbyes, so this was more to participate with family.
Nothing much going on these days, just staying home as much as possible. We did some Easter stuff, like decorate cookies and deliver to a few friends houses, we made homemade peanut butter Easter eggs, and colored eggs on Saturday for Easter Sunday. Easter was odd, due to the traditions not fulfilled. No Easter egg hunts at the park , or Easter Bunny pictures. Grammy came to pick up a new dog with Auntie Clarice and deliver the kids their Easter gifts. We met them outside, no hugs, keep safe distance, it was weird and cold. But necessary right now, at least that is what we are being told. It was really sad to not have family with us this Easter. The kids had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard, we ate yummy prime rib for dinner and took a family photo in Sunday clothes outside. We Zoom conferenced the moms and had a church lesson. Sent a video of the kids doing an Easter egg hunt so the parents could see. I do enjoy the quiet Holiday's spent with just our little family of four. But that is when we are living our normal crazy life where we are constantly apart. This time, I actually missed the craziness of Holiday's with family members. Though it was still a nice Easter, close to my littles, I missed my mom a lot and it made my heart sad to think she was not celebrating with her kids. I miss her a lot right now. That is the only thing I miss right now. Otherwise, I'm loving this life close to my little family right now. Lets just add my mom to the mix, and it'd be perfect.
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| 'Mommy, I love you all in my heart.' I MELT! This boy has my heart! Freaking love him!!! Total Mama's boy, I weep for his future wife. lol |
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| My heart and my soul in one picture. Love these two so much, honestly it makes my insides ache. |
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| This means 'you're gonna get it' lol! Side note, behind him, we started a garden of tomatoes, peppers and a watermelon plant. as of now they are growing huge. Fingers crossed the heat won't kill them off and we will have some fruit! |
Weeks 6-7
Nothing much going on around here. Same old hanging around the house. Mark is enjoying his new job and doing well working from home. Lily is completing assignments from home and having daily live zoom chats with her class. Jacob and I are working on his letters and writing, it's a bit of a struggle. He gets easily distracted and I lack patience, so yeah.
As far as updates on the pandemic life, stores have initiated more social distancing rules. Less people allowed into the store at the same time. place markers on the ground to display 6ft distance when standing in line. People are wearing face masks and gloves to the store as suggested by the cdc. I do not, maybe I should, but I do not believe I have been exposed to the virus so would pose no threat to anyone. Sometimes I think people just get excited about the hype and don't use their own logic. When people are posting selfies of themselves in face masks, I'm thinking 'are you excited about all this?' We know what we need to do to stir clear of the virus, wrapping myself in plastic wrap in a ghetto hazmat suit will not change anything. Our state has issued a 'stay at home' order, so unless you are going somewhere essential (like the store) you need to stay home. Which we have, aside from Mark, who golfs every other day, but that is counted as an essential activity...so weird. My brother David had Covid-19, caught it from the guy whose working on his basement. David has since recovered. Got a high fever for a couple days, was tired and had some congestion, but it went away fast and he's good. Says he feel like a super hero now.
The weather has been perfect up until now, we are facing a heat wave, so it's in the 100's all this week which means we will stay inside and that really stinks. Hopefully we will have some cooler days in may, otherwise it'll be five months of heat! yikes.
We are being told by the CDC that Arizona will not hit it's peak in covid cases until end of May, maybe beginning of June. So stay at home restrictions may stay in place till August. They are just now allowing more testing for the virus, people who think they may have already been exposed are now able to be tested. It is also being told to us that anyone who has died of an upper respiratory issue is counted under the Covid-19 deaths, which means the numbers are totally skewed. This whole thing is just crazy. We are told that there have been about one million positive covid cases in the USA currently, with 54,000 deaths and over 100,000 recoveries. seems like we are doing a lot for a virus that kills less people then we'd anticipated? In some states, they are arresting people who violate these orders or being ticketed. Feels a lot like Tyranny to me. In my opinion, people should be given recommendations and then choose what they'd like to do to protect themselves and their families. I can go to mega stores like Wal-mart and Target, but I can't go to a small mom and pop shop to get tools? Doesn't seem right. All retail stores, theaters, gyms, places of entertainment, concerts, theme parks and beaches are closed. People have lost their jobs, parents are asked to work from home and make sure their children are keeping up with the at-home-school work, our economy is suffering, suicide rates have increased, graduation ceremonies have been canceled, birthday parties, family gatherings, funeral/memorial services have all been canceled and economic damages that may take years to come back from...will it have been worth it? I sure hope so.
As we came to the end of week 7, we are being told that states are being allowed to loosen the restrictions on the stay at home orders. Florida's beaches have re opened, small business are resuming in the south and NYC that was hit the hardest is now discussing plans to reopen the city. Our gym sent an email today with the new restrictions they will hold in place to comply with social distancing, it just all seems silly. Update: The Gov. Duecy announced restrictions will be in place until May 15th and then be re-evaluated. So the gym is still closed with at-home workouts posted and rental of equipment. All I can say, is Mark and I have realized even more how fortunate and blessed we are to be in our current situation. I do not have to worry about teaching the kids from home while having employment to worry about. Mark has a good job that allows him to work from home and he can do remotely from anywhere. We have a house, and not cooped up in a tiny apartment. We love and care deeply for one another and don't have to fear the place we live in. Lot's to be grateful for. I wish others did not have to worry about their current situations too.
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| A whole lot of Lego action going on at our house. Bought this kids a few lego tubs and sets to keep them busy, Jacobs new obsession. The other day Jacob said, 'you know what I miss the most mommy? Going to the store and looking at the toys.' Poor babes haven't been in a public location since Mid March! This is all so weird for them. |
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| 'Static hair, don't care.' They have their daily 'go play outside' for an hour time, they fight a lot, but are also playing together more then they ever have. |
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| The kids have been joining us for our workouts. They are working hard. |
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| Lily is looking a bit 'dude meets malone' latley |
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| While putting together a Lego set, Jacob missed placing a piece and said, 'I think Heavenly Father messed up my brain or something.' Mark is checking his brain for him in this picture. |
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| Lily is picking up the skill of Oragami. She is such an artistic beauty. |
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| Since it's been in the 100's lately, when the sun goes down, they jump with the sprinkler and I enjoy my book...awesome. |
The memes on Social Media get me through my 'I hate people' mood I get into every day. They are so great...
