On January 20, 2021 I awoke to find this mac and cheese bowl in the sink. Right now Peter is going through a phase where he likes mac and cheese (this preference comes and goes often). Anyway, on this particular day this scene was emotional for me.
In my minds eye it represents the facts that he is still a child and won't rinse out his dishes. I know that this time is so very fleeting. I can feel it in my bones. Soon he will be grown and won't be around to dirty my dishes anymore. I am trying to hold on to these days as tight as I can.
Brandon came down with Covid 19. He tested positive on Friday January 15th and sent me notification later that afternoon. My first reaction was total surprise. He had mentioned earlier that day he felt that he was coming down with a cold. Since the boys were to spend the entire weekend and Monday with him (for the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday) he figured he better go get tested just in case.
So......for the past 10 days we have been keeping to ourselves. In my grumpy and depressed moments I tell myself that I'm on total lockdown. However, not all of it has been bad. I've used the time to get more sleep. After all, what's the point of starting school at 9am when you have the entire day with nothing to do, no commitments, and no where you can be with people.
Luke made some a fun animation and Minecraft dragon this week. That was good for him.
We went the the Provo cemetery to visit family and friends.
We also went on a short hike to the dripping rocks (although it was pelting us with rain so we didn't actually see the dripping rock part). Luke found a cool animal house in the dirt while we were there.
There were many, many people who checked in on us regularly and I got really good at taking our daily temperatures. Here is the chart I made to keep track of them all. Pretty hilarious.
I have a feeling we are not done with Covid yet, so I want to take what I learned (try better to keep a schedule, don't sleep so much - it makes you depressed, clean more of the house, reorganize your bedroom closet) and do a better job at happily surviving next time.
One good thing that has come out of Covid quarantine was the motivation to start family scripture reading. We have been able to do it 7 days in a row. It's a record - not that we had much to go on. We've never had family scriptures or family prayers at our house.
I have discovered that the best time for us to do it is immediately after dinner. Sometimes I don't even finish the dinner dishes. It's adorable to see the kids reading their individual verses. We typically read half a page. Perhaps with time we will work up to reading an entire chapter.
I took the boys down to the Provo cemetery today. I thought it was a good day for them to meet Great-Grandpa Thomas.
Luke was utterly confused at how this person was related to him. Peter got it a little better and was interested in the picture of Grandpa that I brought with us.
Later, I discovered that the Come Follow Me lesson this week was all about Family History and Ancestors. Super cool.
We also found my friends Dad and visited him too. He isn't that far away from Gpa Thomas.
I am so thankful for faithful ancestors that give me courage and a hearty dose of perspective.
Luke stayed a sleep until 6:11am. This is unheard of for him. Maybe a sign of good things coming. Anyway, when he got up he wanted to make sure that I knew that
"With the power of sleep you can accomplish anything."
He was especially insistent that I write that down somewhere because he made it up. LOL. I think he was still mostly asleep when he said it. So funny!
One of my goals for the Christmas break was to go up Provo canyon and walk the trail to Bridal Veil Falls. Years ago, we had gone up during the winter and it was so beautiful. This year did not disappoint either. Luke was less than thrilled and after an extended rest period Peter and I went back to discover he was going pee in some bushes near the trail. More than a little embarrassing for me. It will be a funny memory in the years to come though.
The very next day the boys were gone to spend time with Brandon plus it was New Years' Eve. Thankfully, my friend Erica (whose daughter was also spending time with her Dad) came to spend the day with me. We also decided to go to Bridal Veil Falls. This time we spent an hour and a half up there and walked A LOT farther than I did with the boys. It was quiet and peaceful.
During the last part of our walk we were even walking with light snow was coming down. It was magical. It was a beautiful memory neither one of us will forget.
Tonight my 5:30pm class was a Golden Unicorn. That's a term Qkid teachers call a class that doesn't have any students scheduled to take. They are very rare. I think I've had two of them since starting for Qkids.
The class I had tonight was a one-on-one class. For whatever reason, the student canceled the class and the Qkids platform didn't bump me to a different class. Pretty sweet!
I must 10 minutes after the start of class. Then, I can log off and get paid my normal class completion rate. I am thrilled!
While I was waiting, I created this happy fruit/veggie doll. Some teachers are quite creative and I've even seen T-Rex dinosaurs and watermelon women gardening. We teachers can get pretty silly. This week I only taught 23 classes instead of my typical 27. It was necessary to take two mornings off and I feel so much better for being able to sleep in. Thank goodness for an understanding company that doesn't charge me money for taking time off like other ESL companies do.
