Coronapocalypse Week 2

The governor just announced that school would be cancelled until May 1st!  Oh, man. Here we go.  We went to the cabin a couple times over the weekend.  We are so blessed to have that wonderful place.  There was still snow on the sledding hill, but we destroyed a tube by running it over sagebrush (a couple times).  We had hot dogs and smores in the fire, killed several 90%-dead wasps, and went on endless rides of the "yerf dog". 

Home school has been going slightly better.  I am not an educator, I don't have the patience to be an educator, I don't have the LOVE to be an educator!  If Dallin and I are still speaking to each other by May 1st, it will be a miracle.  It's also been hard to keep the littles entertained while I spend 3-4 hours a day with the older kids and their school work.  Ugh!  It's been really nice having Bevan home.  Yes, I do wish he was working, but this has actually been a blessing.  He's been super helpful and we've been doing a lot of tag-teaming with the kids.  I haven't got a call from my boss about coming back to work, but I'm sure that will come. 

It actually SNOWED a couple times this week!  I forced the kids to go play in it before it melted.  A few more neighbor kids have been staying home so it's been a little quieter around here.  Oh, I hope life gets back to normal soon!

Coronapocalypse Week 1

Major damper on our fabulous spring.  School has been cancelled for 2 weeks, Bevan is home too, Deer Valley is closed, everything is closed, it was a madhouse at the grocery store, no milk, no eggs, no bread (did I mention the kids are home for 2 weeks?!), and there's also a virus out there, I guess.  Booooo!

I knew it was bad when the kids came home last Friday with their school-issued iPads.  Macs?!  I don't know Macs?!  We haven't exactly been observing the self-inflicting quarantine... so we've had plenty of neighbor kids over to kill the time.  Let me also mention the baking.  There's been a LOT of baking:  cookies, cinnamon rolls, pizza, bread (thank you hoarders for taking all the bread!)

The first week of coronapocalypse ended with the graveside service of Aunt Earlene.  We were really sad when we learned that she had died.  I didn't realize she was going downhill.  I guess in her last days, she kept insisting that she didn't want a funeral.  Well, I guess she got her wish!  We gathered for the family prayer at the mortuary in Provo.  They closed the casket, said some final beautiful words and we all caravanned out to the cemetery.  It was nice to be with the Hawkins family again, even though we weren't supposed to hug or even congregate.  Then Aunt Loraine brought out cupcakes!  It was a wonderful service!  I was sad to drive up the canyon again, to start another week/ weeks of isolation and homeschooling.  I pray this goes away fast, everybody will be healed, and life can get back to normal.

Birthday Ski

One can NOT expect an exceptional birthday if it falls on a Sunday... but it ended up being better than I anticipated!  Sure, it was the first day of daylight savings and we had to wake up the kids when it was still dark, so it's not like we made it to church on time.  Then I had to teach the lesson at the last minute, followed by ministering interviews, and a presidency meeting and visits.  BUT, we did have an enjoyable dinner with Mom and Dad, followed by a makeshift birthday cake, Mom-style.  It was great.
Birthday got even better the next day.  I was able to secure a babysitter for 6 whole hours so Bevan and I could go ski with Nora and Vanessa.  Conditions were perfect!  It recently snowed so we did a little hiking for some fresh turns in Empire, cruised some groomers on Flagstaff, and slid half way down Bald.  Bevan used his Deer Valley gift card for lunch and we dined in style with turkey chili cheese fries, pizza, and carrot cake!  Skiing is always more sloppy after lunch with our full bellies, but it was about time to leave anyway.  It was truly a fantastic day!