Carsyn: Carsyn had kind of a whirlwind year with ups and downs and overcomes. Up #1 - he was on one of the fastest relay teams in the nation (top 20). Down - he got injured and so wasn't able to really have a complete track season. Overcome - Even after sitting out 6 weeks of the season he ended up placing 3rd in Region in an individual race and 1st at State with his relay team. And most importantly he realized the importance of focusing on what the Lord wants him to focus on. Up #2 - he left on his mission to South Africa! Down - he had plenty of obstacles such as Passport coming back wrong, which led to a very last minute reassignment. Then a delayed Covid test which led to a missed flight and a quick book out the next day. Overcome - Not really much to overcome per se, but once again he ackowledged the hand of God in his journey to South Africa Up #3 - Talking running scholarships with schools. This is really cool since running scholarships for men in college are few in number. Down - His injury did change the course of these talks to some degree. Overcome - Time to reevaluate what his mission in life is. Other highlights; dances, Seminary Council, graduation, almost "solo" 5 day trip in his little red car throughout much of Utah, working at the reservoir, hanging out at the reservoir, temple trips, hikes, and hanging out with friends. Brooklyn Brooklyn got back from her mission in February. She got a job at a dental office that was going through a transition and so it was a bit of an adventure. She now works as a receptionist at Revere Health so she doesn't have as much of a commute. She traveled to New York, Idaho, Hawaii, and many places in Utah this year. She went to BYU's home football games, because she is now attending BYU studying public health and Spanish as double majors. She keeps herself busy with school, work, Church, and friends. Ashly & Jesse Ashly continued working as a House Manager at Tuacahn. She also taught adult tap classes, and got several chances to dance for the college as well as for All American Cloggers. She had some pretty cool places where she got to perform ie Jenny Oakes Baker at Tuacahn, and Irish Christmas In America at the college. She was in her Junior year studying dance at DSU. Jesse finished his internship with Northwestern Mutual. He continues to teach piano and has put his musical talents to work with several projects this year, including a very cool one for 911. He also has been cruisin on his finance degree and should be done in the fall. They both have music callings in the Primary as well as being YSA Sunday School teachers. They also got a Sheep Dog named Barraclay - see pic below. Nicole I get to spend so much of my time teaching children. I teach the SEL (Social and Emotional Learning) lessons for grades K-9th grade at our school. They doubled the amount of time that I teach so I am pretty much teaching most of the day now. In primary I get to teach the Gospel using songs during Primary. I worked my last season at Tuacahn this year. It was a tough decision, because I do love it, but Eric and I want more flexibility and trying to coordinate around 3 jobs, and Church made us not super flexible. The rest of my year was busy supporting my kids. Eric Eric still works for the City Of St. George. He doesn't really do much with Scouts anymore - an occasional Eagle Board Of Review. He did get called into the Bishopric so he is pretty busy with that. Eric chose a great BYU football game for us to go and see in person. It was a wild nonstop game. Eric and I also got to go to a family reunion in Alpine, AZ in July. We had stops along the way on the way back and explored Flagstaff for a day, including a Gondola ride at the ski resort. At the reunion we got to see the potential start of a wildfire because lightning struck a tree super super close to where we were. Luckily we were there to report it and lucky too that it had been raining so everything was wet enough that the fire couldn't get out of control quickly. Eric and I also made a trip up to Bryce Canyon. As a family we got to pop down to Disneyland just before Carsyn left. We had a great time in the new Star Wars and Marvel lands. We are all Star Wars and Marvel fans so it was super fun to be immersed in something we really enjoy. We also got to all go to the temple with Carsyn! Know that God is real and He has a plan for each of us and He is aware of what we are doing and what we need. We love all of you and hope the best for you and your family this upcoming year!
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To say this year has been unexpected, challenging, and yes even frustrating would not be an exaggeration. However, upon reflection there are many many things to be grateful for (pics at the bottom):
Through this year and all of it's craziness, hardships, and disappointments we have fine tuned ourselves by looking for the blessings that have come in unexpected ways. Merry Christmas to you all and know for a surety that God is watching you and there is a prophet of God guiding us. All we need to do is stop and listen and then get to work. That is what our family has learned through this year and though we have a long way to go, we know where we are going. Love you all! Carsyn He had the most excitement for this month. He and some buddies decided to do a winter hike. They were prepared and even had things like a beacon. They headed out. On their second day one of the party ended up with severe altitude sickness. They knew that they needed to get him down off of the mountain. Unfortunately by this time it was dark, but they kept trying knowing it was important. They did get to where they had cell phone service and called. At this point it was determined that search and rescue needed to aide with the medical part. They were called at 10:00 pm. At midnight they found a spot to land the chopper and a couple of paramedics hiked the mile or so into them and at 2:00 am they reached them. At 6:00 am they started to extract them. The one with altitude sickness absolutely needed to get off of the mountain in a timely manner. The medical professionals said that 1/2 mile more is all his body would have been able to do. These young men used all of their Eagle Scout knowledge, as well as their adventuring knowledge, and they also turned to their Heavenly Father to help them with this unexpected turn of events. Their preparations helped them get through a big struggle. Through another turn of events, it ended up being a Black Hawk that extracted them one at a time to the trailhead - the sick one was rushed to the hospital. Once he got down, got some fluids, etc he bounced back quickly, because he is strong and healthy. You can see pics below. One interesting note is that Carsyn did say that his basket was spinning so fast as it was being raised he thought he might pass out. He, himself, wasn't in any danger. Anyway, other than that, his November was filled with school work, running, hiking, biking, mission prep, and applying to colleges. Brooklyn Brooklyn's November was pretty similar to her previous months. They added a couple of investigators. Things are still going well with the work. One super fun thing was that she was able to Zoom in on a baptism of one of her investigators from Argentina. So that was super cool for her. What a cool thing that she could still participate these months later. We live in a wonderful world where even when we are thrown a great big curve ball, that rocks our plans, if we are looking we see God's hand in our lives. Also, in November the Hallmark movie that she is an extra in premiered. She is in the last scene - see if you can spot her in the picture below (she is the short one on your left with the tan coat). She comes home the first of Feb. Ashly & Jesse Ashly's dance concert was filmed in November and will be on YouTube until Friday, December 11th. She is in the 2nd dance and the 2nd to last dance. Jesse started his internship with Northwestern Mutual. Overall their November was filled with work, and school. They did spend their Thanksgiving down in Henderson, NV with Jesse's uncle and family, and have been getting their Casita festive for Christmas. Nicole & Eric Our November was filled with work and with Christmas preparations both at our house and at my parent's house. Eric's siblings are also doing a special project for their parents so we also worked on that. We totally revamped our decorations since we totally revamped our house this year. See pics below. School has 2 more weeks to go for this semester. Almost 1/2way done with the school year and we are all holding our breath. It has been a great semester so far. Granted there have been plenty of hiccups, and indeed some frustrations, but we are so willing to get over those hiccups if it means we get to see the students in person. Eric's boss had a brain tumor, and in November he had surgery, so Eric was busier at work than normal. For Ashly, Jesse, and myself we were able to once again sing with the children for a couple of weeks. We did hold our Primary Program and it was so special. We only have about 12 kids so we spaced them all out on the stand and we all wore masks. For each song we had a couple of children at mics. (Especially since we have overflow clear into the cultural hall for social distancing purposes.) The power that those children bring to the songs is amazing. Testimonies that are heartfelt can shine through any darkness. These are the 4 songs that we did, along with short dialogue to introduce them. Carsyn
Carsyn finished a great Cross Country season! He finished 8th in Region and was the top SC runner at this meet and he placed 17th in State out of 140+ runners. His team was 3rd in Region and 4th in State (Last year they were 11th) and then they had a two week running break before they started track training. Here is a fun video with some excerpts from State. They also participated in the Hoka Postal Nationals and they were 23rd out of 358 teams in the nation and 5th in Utah. This was the majority of his October. He also finished the 1st quarter of the school year - I guess technically we are 33% done now with a 4.0. He and his friends had some Halloween fun for several days being bananas, yes bananas, see pics below. See pictures of them couch surfing as bananas. He decided to carve a pumpkin and a matching apple. Fun enough the apple lasted like 3 days. Brooklyn She is still going strong in CA. They have about 10 investigators and she got to live stream in on a baptism in Argentina. It was a baptism of one of the investigators that she was working with before they were pulled out. That was super cool! The air quality is better so they can do outside activities now. Ashly and Jesse They are still going strong on their activities. Ashly got to be part of a Halloween Gatsby Murder Mystery show with her tap class. It was so popular they had to add a matinee in. They also performed their tap numbers in another recital. They were Westley and Buttercup for Halloween and they looked great! Their pumpkins that represented were fantastic! We had fun with them on our outing up to Brian Head/Cedar Breaks during Fall Break. Nicole and Eric 33% done with this school year and it's still going well. Student Council cancelled our annual Halloween dance and held an escape room that ended up super popular so that kept me busy for a week. I've worked some fun concerts this month such as ABBA, Thriller, and BeeGees. Eric's boss had a brain tumor removed this month so it was a bit busier for him at work. We had so much fun during Fall break going to Brian Head/Cedar Breaks with Ashly and Jesse - see link for details. We also made 3 additional trips up to that area for Carsyn's meets in Oct. Eric did a Vader pumpkin and, in conjunction with Carsyn, they made a CA pumpkin for Brooklyn. We did ultimate trick or treating in our neighborhood - the houses also had an activity in their yards and it was super fun for our neighborhood kids. It was a super party atmosphere in the neighborhood/street, but also spread out so that there were only small groups together at a time. Our theme was Harry Potter. It has been a fun month. Remember God Is Watching Over Us and we have been prepared for this! Pics From Our Month and a couple of throw back pics! Carsyn August brought the first of many cross country meets. Carsyn's team is currently ranked top in the state for 4A schools and the coaching staff is one of the best around right now. Carsyn is one of the top 5 runners on the team and they brought home the first big meet cross country trophy for the school. They placed 3rd and the two teams that beat them were in higher divisions. They had a perfect score in the tri-meet last weekend. They have 1 more regular season meet and then Region and then State. We haven't been able to go to all of his meets because of Covid 19, but he is very grateful for this opportunity. His coaches did a great job of having an almost "complete" schedule - meaning they only didn't have a meet 1 week, but they took that chance to hold a fundraiser color run. Carsyn ordered his graduation paraphernalia a couple of weeks ago. He is 2 1/2 weeks away from the end of the first quarter. He has been attending classes on campus with 3 online classes just so that he can get a couple more credits out of the way. He attends the Special Needs Seminary class as a mentor, and is busy helping plan lunch activities with the seminary as part of Seminary Council, working on his new business adventure, hanging out at the reservoir, and picking up an occasional shift when it fits in with his meet and practice schedule. A week or so ago was Homecoming Week. Wednesday they had their Homecoming Parade and Powder Puff football game. Saturday was the Homecoming Dance which was held on the football field and got shut down soon after his group arrived because some of the other kids weren't following the Covid rules. He, and most of his group, got back from a cross country meet at 3:00 and then headed out for pictures, back to our house for pizza in the pizza oven, to the dance, and then to play a few games. Their day date happened Tuesday night where they went biking, to the sand dunes, and then played some games and ate ice cream. Like most people he is keeping the groups he is hanging out with to a more limited number of people. Brooklyn In the last month they have picked up 4 new investigators. I don't think any of them have been from a digital source. They did pick up one just on a random street conversation, and one from a member referral. They have also been stuck inside for several weeks recently because of wildfires. She said that with the most recent one she had ash falling from the sky when they were outside. There was also an earthquake nearby this past weekend but they all slept through it. There are 4 sisters in her apartment. She and her companion are serving Spanish speaking and the other two sisters aren't so that is a bit interesting because technically they are in different districts.They do get to get together as districts for Sacrament meeting and P-days. A member who owns Winchells feeds them every Monday. She said other members feed them too, but it is kind of random and they often get phone calls saying "we are on our way with your dinner" and they didn't even know that dinner was coming. They appreciate it for sure. One of the sisters in her apartment is an awesome cook so Brooklyn is trying to figure out how to room with her in college. Brooklyn is a sister training leader now and the car driver. In her apartment they are each taking a week to celebrate their "birthdays" so they are making sure to find joy and bring in some fun. They do get to go shopping and they have been going to the cultural hall on Pdays to play games such as chair soccer etc. Ashly & Jesse Jesse got a new job as a janitor as Dixie Applied Technology College. He still picks up a shift a month at Kay jewelers, teaches 5 piano lessons, and donates plasma. He is loving his new major of filmmaking. Ashly cleans my brother and sister in laws condo and it's been pretty solidly booked. She cleans about 3 times a week, teaches 2 adult dance classes for Southwest Dance Company, picks up a shift at the art gallery, and started back up at Tuacahn this week as Tuacahn has booked more concerts for the fall. She is working her way through her dance major and I think she is a Junior now - or will be at the end of this semester. Most of their classes are in person and on campus. In their spare time they go for hikes and hang out with friends - often at a park, or in our yard. They went to the Southern Utah Lantern Festival last weekend and in early August they went up North to celebrate their anniversary. They said the festival was beautiful/magical and the wind died down to make a perfect setting to launch into the reservoir the "balloons." If anyone is curious there are boats out in the reservoir that scoop up the balloons. Eric & Nicole The biggest thing is that I have been back in the school! Yeah! The faculty and the students are sooo excited and happy. The buzz and happiness is just brimming over and we are almost done with the first quarter of school. We have about 850 students on campus and about 150 with online or hybrid schedules. On the day I wrote this we are starting our 8th successful week of school! We do have protocols in place in case we have to modify the schedule, but right now we are happy to be together and I most definitely see a TON of smiles each day. Their eyes twinkle! And in case anyone wonders the kids, for the most part, are doing fine with the masks. It's really been a non-issue in the classrooms, and I teach grades K-8. They are also good at keeping things clean. Carsyn said it's the same in the High School. They are all just glad to be back and to get opportunities for clubs, dances, sports, etc. even though they look a bit different if you look at the big picture with the safety protocols including masks in place. We had a super fun activity Friday and I posted a thought about it here on my blog. (On days that I work Tuacahn I have my mask on for 13 hours - I'm a pretty good mask connoisseur now!) We are SUPER excited to finally be out of the triple digit heat. It's been a LONG time. We did have a reprieve one Sunday night a few weeks ago when the heavens opened and we got 1 inch of rain in 30 minutes. Literally there was nothing forecasted for that day, even in the morning forecast. We said someone sure prayed hard. The kids were all out in it trying to drive home. Ashly and Jesse's car literally started floating at one point and Carsyn had to back out and try a different route home. As he was backing out the police came to shut down that road. They had already shut down many other roads. Then our 30 degree drop in temperature this week in an hour hour time frame, but at least we didn't get near the wind that Northern Utah got. There are a couple of pictures below. Eric's boss found out he has a brain tumor so Eric has had to do a bit more at work. He spent 12 days going in every night at 3 am for 15 minutes because they had just started a new treatment. He is super glad that treatment is over. His Scout troop had a Court Of Honor and he worked hard to get all of the badges in order since this was the first one for this community troop. Eric and I started two new things these past 2 months:
Hope you are finding peace and joy even when things are tough and stressful and look a little bit different! Enjoy this song: God Is Watching Us! Enjoy The Pictures!
So once again here is an update from our crew with lots of pictures: As a family we got to go to Lagoon in June. It was certainly unexpected that we got to go on a family vacation with all of us during Brooklyn's 18 months as a missionary. We had a great time and those 8 feet separation dots were actually pretty cool, because it kept us together for much of the time. Although there was actually very little standing in line. However, there was a LOT of hand sanitizer. They had stations to hand sanitize before you got onto a ride and just after you got off of the ride. We were also in line a couple of times when they sprayed the whole ride down with sanitizer and sent it on a run empty. In addition, only 1/2 the seats on each ride were available. They also limit the park's capacity. You have to reserve a day and an arrival time, so it's pretty easy to social distance too. Masks, hand sanitizer, social distancing, family, and rides and all in all we had a super fun time. We also spent the month of June prepping our house for my dad's 80th birthday party. It probably isn't any big secret that we have spent much of our non-work hours since March working on our house. Well we pushed it into high gear to try to get as much finished as possible before the party. I told my family I don't want to paint anything for at least a month! We have gone through gallons and gallons of paint! Here is a link to a video tour and then there are also a few pictures at the bottom of this post. Don't expect too much more to happen on the house in the next month or two. I think we are going to spend some time hiking, watching movies, and Eric will probably put together puzzles and organize his garage more. My dad's 80th birthday party was great. It was super fun to have the family together again. I love my family! And yes, there were masks, hand sanitizer, and kind of social distancing. What else would you expect from 2020! (These are now what is standard with us in all of our activities for the next while, so I won't mention them anymore, but rest assured they are most definitely part of our activities/life. Those things and also digital meetings.) Carsyn: Carsyn continued running a lot. He and 7 buddies also planned a trip to Montana. They pretty much planned it all by themselves. For 6 of the 8 who were going, this was their Senior trip. They have had this road trip in mind for over a year. They did end up changing their destination and had to have more "set" plans than they initially had in mind. Last year they had visions of going on Route 66 and just stopping where they felt like they wanted to. But instead they headed north and hiked with the bears. I think we are all getting pretty good at changing/adapting plans and pivoting right now. Here is one "fun" story of the trip. They did take bear spray because they were in the Tetons, Yellowstone area, and Glacier, BUT no one actually took the non-expired one with them on their hikes! It was tucked away in a bag the WHOLE time and they did see a lot of wildlife, including bears! Oh well, I guess it's better than when Carsyn was 12 and put his bag of pretzels under his pillow only to discover the next morning that the chips were gone, he, and his sleeping bag, were several feet away from where he started out the night, and there were mountain lion tracks leading up to him. Yup, that's what I get to live with! He is also starting a business with a couple of friends - Zephyr Clothing Co. (Zephyr has something to do with running.) You can see a picture of him in their first batch of shirts that they are selling. Oh the things to keep busy. He also got hired to build some art storage shelves for a local framing store, and he has had colleges contacting him about his running, and he has had Seminary Council meetings, and he still has his job at Tropical Smoothie where he works a shift or two each week, and he has worked on a couple of art projects. Brooklyn: The week before she went back out on her mission she went up North to visit a few people and all of the sudden got a chance to be an extra in an upcoming Hallmark Christmas movie! It's called Christmas Music Store. So watch for that when it comes out this holiday season. Who knows if any of the shots she was in will make it into the actual movie, but she had fun nonetheless. She does have the potential to be spotted once or twice, but who knows. . . More on that to come. She also spent time doing virtual meetings with her new mission, along with language studies. She also spent time with friends and family that live here, including going on a date, or two. Another thing that she did was that she, Jesse, and a friend also put together a music video. The link to that video is here. Kind of a unique mission experience to say the least . . . She left Tuesday July 7th for the next part of her mission. For those who don't know she will be in Bakersfield CA for the next few months. For two years now she has not lived in the same place for more than 3 months. (This includes transfers, so by the time she gets back it will be 2 1/2 years.) She has settled into her first area which is Lancaster, CA. She thinks they are going to be a trio next week. She is having fun with her District, as they get to do an activity on PDays. She did have a hard time on her first PDay because of the coin shortage because they need coins to do their laundry, but we have since sent her a bunch of quarters so she should be set for awhile. Ashly & Jesse: They have both been excited to get to work at least some at their various jobs. Ashly was a HUGE help in finishing the list on the house and A LOT of the design is from her. Jesse did have a very very small possible exposure to Covid 19 and so he enjoyed the Casita to himself while Ashly bunked in here with us. After a few days the exposure was confirmed as not being a thing so all is well. I will say that we are feeling blessings from the work that we have done on our property because we did have a place for him to comfortably go and we also could spend time outside with him in our outdoor living space. We even had Sunday dinner during this period of time in high wind warnings outside. It was an adventure! But isn't life itself an adventure? I also said that we were connecting with Carsyn because they had high winds where he was camping as well. He was able to do some composing as well. Jesse started a new job which will give him more consistency on the amount of hours he works each week and they both still teach private lessons. We also started a new Primary song activity where their cute little car will become an ice cream truck to deliver ice cream to our Primary kiddos! They listen to the following songs 4 times each in order for the ice cream truck to come. These are GREAT songs that we would HIGHLY recommend to anyone of any age. They will give you a Spiritual Boost.
Eric & Nicole What can I say about Eric and myself. Lagoon and my dad's birthday party were super fun during the month of June. Other than that we have been doing our regular jobs - me from home - and work on the house. Eric has done some scouts and I have kept up on this blog, and we have helped our neighbor with her house, and that's pretty much it for the month of June. Eric went to Scout Camp in July, we did our main jobs, and we tinkered with house things. We are back to meeting all together for Sacrament meeting and that has been nice to see people in person. I wanted to pass on some information that was passed onto me. This is from a friend whose friend is a nurse in a CA hospital. The following isn't researched based, but it couldn't hurt to implement it because they are healthy things to do regardless and they are things that they currently do in her hospital. 1. at least 8 hours of sleep a day 2. 10 hours of sunshine; 10 - 15 minutes at a time 3. Vitamin D and C 4. Lot's of water 5. Meals served warm They also serve diets that include these foods: 1. Avocadoes 2. Raw Watercress - this is the best one 3. Green lemons 4. Yellow lemons - especially in warm water (no sugar so pucker up!) 5. Garlic 6. Oranges 7. Pineapple Again, this is NOT scientifically researched based, BUT throwing these into your diet would probably help most of us in our day to day healthy lifestyle quests. My family is teasing me because I am discovering many health benefits of lemons! Good thing my kitchen is all decked out in lemons! Another last thought to leave you all with is this thought from another missionary mother. This is also very helpful right now: Covid-19 is part of our life plan that was made before we were even born. It is not a surprise to Heavenly Father. We were chosen to experience this and events to come, just as some were chosen to experience various wars. He did not plan a regular two year mission for any of the missionaries who are serving now. He planned a faith growing, individualized adventure that will be told for generations. He did not plan a regular college experience for any of our young people in school right now. He did not plan normal weddings and births and other life events. We are living the life we were always meant to. God is in control, and He is merciful and good. And lastly one last brand new song link: I Will Go Love you all! Lot's Of Pictures At The Bottom! Carsyn: Carsyn started a new job at Tropical Smoothie. He also finished up his Jr. year corona style, with online classes. He did run a few time trials and even some races for track corona style. He raced as part of virtual track meets. During the beginning of the month they ran on the road by our house and had one person film, while the other person ran. Then towards the end of the month they got to go to the track. He just got the cross country meet schedule and they start training tomorrow. He is one of the team captains this year. He and some friends even held their own Sr. Ball in May. There wasn't really any dancing, but there was a whole lot of fun throughout the day, and some fancy decorations at their dinner on the back porch of one of his friend's houses, courtesy of Ashly. He also got called to be on the Seminary Council for next year. He has continued doing A LOT of hiking and enjoying his paddle board at the reservoir. Brooklyn: She got her reassignment for Bakersfield CA, and she leaves again in July. Her mission intermission will be done and it will be onto Act 2. She has spent a lot of time with family and friends. She worked a full 40 hours one week at a temp job and she has helped with projects around the house, but she is excited to get back out to work. Ashly & Jesse: They are helping with the decorative parts of the remodel of our living room. The 3 of us got to go toTJMax a couple of weeks ago! Yes! Jesse is still teaching piano lessons - mostly digitally. Ashly has been teaching private dance lessons, some digitally. They have both been cleaning my brother and sister in law's condo that is rented out to vacationers. We also started a Star Wars themed challenge with our Primary children to help them learn 3 new songs. They just went on a quick trip up North to Lagoon. Jesse spoke in church today as our Stake has started in person Sacrament meetings again this week. Eric: Work hasn't really changed for him. He has done A LOT on our house. We got the driveway poured, sheet rocking in the living room done, more of the edges around the roof of the casita done - 1 side to go, and a new window installed in the living room. We did have a great Anniversary night at the end of April. The kids planned a scavenger hunt around town for us and then a nice dinner was waiting for us at home. Me: I had lots of projects for work that kept me super busy. I also systematically went around the yard decluttering and weeding. Carsyn and Brooklyn helped me out with this. It feels great! I also have gone through our food storage a bit more. I still need to update the 72 hour kits. Not one of us would fit into any of the clothes! For my birthday we went INTO a restaurant to eat! Yes! We did! I went to a baptism for some kiddos from our Primary at the very end of May and next week we get to go to Church! (We are the 2nd part of the alphabet, so that's why we didn't go this past week.) Here's my final musings: President Nelson, Elder Holland, and Elder Andersen have all said this situation that we are in is temporary but here are some bullet points and self reflection questions that I have pondered on. Here is a list of "hopefullys" from Elder Andersen. These fit really good into our CFM discussion today where it talks about self reflection:
In my opinion EVERYTHING has been going at an expedited speed, and I truly don't think that speed will stop. (I feel like this last couple months was my "breather" and my time to regroup and reflect on my priorities.) We have been warned to take our vitamins because there is so much that needs to be done and we are in the "final days and hours." Hold on for the ride!
Like many of you we are stuck in a pattern. The movie Groundhog Day keeps coming to mind! We ask each other what are you doing today? and then say oh yeah the same things as yesterday! Here are some tidbits of a "Covoid 19 Day" from the Richins' house:
Carsyn:
Of course we have great faith in the words of President Nelson and Elder Holland that this is temporary. Here is my favorite video right now - Link List of "Celebrations" Done Differently:
Take Care!
Sunday April 12th will be her drive by homecoming to connect with all of the faces she has missed. (She is still following the guidelines she was given.) She will be out in front of our house from 6:30 -7 pm. She would love anyone that can to swing by and say hi from your car. Two clarification points:
So here's an update on us: Carsyn ran his first two track meets of the season 2 weeks ago. It very well may be the only meets of the season. He did run faster than lettering times so he was pretty happy with his first track performances. He did find out he doesn't run races well in the cold. A week ago Friday he had a race and it was sleeting and he literally couldn't make his arms move. He is still training, just on trails and on the roads instead of at the school. He went camping a week ago with a couple of people. He starts online school work on Wednesday. He did turn 17 this week. This is how his birthday went: Cornavirus, Earthquake up North, fire at dad's work during his birthday dinner - plague, earthquake, and fire made for a birthday to always be remembered. But we still had homemade pizza, ice cream cake and a couple of friends. Brooklyn is still in Argentina. She is in the Jujuy Province and she said it looks pretty much like here in St. George as far as climate and landscape. She has had a chance to be up close to llamas which she is super excited about. She is a trainer and is also kind of quarantined. It's a little bit like us right now, where they can come and go if needed and responsibly. However, they have put them in an apartment with another set of missionaries so that there are 4 of them. BUT this could all change overnight . . . just like here. And yes it is changing. In the upcoming weeks she will be leaving Argentina, probably for a reassignment - don't know anything beyond that at this time . . . Ashly and Jesse are still working somewhat, but 1/2 of their jobs they can't work right now. They just feel blessed that they have something, even it's just a little bit. They did get to go to Arizona just before all of the craziness started. They took Jesses' brother to Itzhak Perlman's concert. They had a fun trip and the concert was good. They also went hiking on the anniversary of their getting engaged. They will start online school work tomorrow :) Ashly also went to a dance convention for the college and got home a week ago. Again, just in time. Eric had this week off already so he kind of took it off, but with the expansion there were some meetings he had to go to and there was a small fire that he got called in for right during Carsyn's birthday dinner. He headed up some projects at home. See pics. We also went to Home Depot and got supplies to work on projects during the next few weeks. I had this week off because it's Spring Break and pretty much organized us so that we are ready to be in for a few weeks. I also helped Eric with some of the projects. I will start work again tomorrow with about 1/2 of my time in the building and 1/2 working from home. I will mainly focus on preparing schedules for next year, but I will also send out some Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum reminders for things that we learned this year. Our kids from my school start on line learning Wednesday. We have a couple of days to prep, but we also did a practice day with the kids the day before Spring Break. I also put together my Primary Singing Time lesson plans to share with our families and other Primary families in case they want singing time in their homes. Here is the link if you are looking for music ideas for Sundays. I know having these music videos on this morning brought a great peace to our home. (The plans are what we would be doing in our Primary with a few tweaks for home use. Our singing times are not your normal singing times, they are more of experiences with lot's of singing. For homes I have included music video links to almost all of the songs. The songs are wonderful for all ages.) We hope to find all of you well and please reach out to us if you need anything.
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AuthorWe are just a family sharing ideas and our family's experiences with our friends and family. Archives
January 2022
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