Monday, March 30, 2020

Stay at Home Part I

With Govenor Little's "Stay at Home" order (now until April 15th), our adjustments include doing workouts at home instead of driving down to The Body Shop, but other than that our life looks the same. I'm grateful for Justin's job which remains stable. He's more busy now than usual because they need automation now more than ever. I've decided that what's best for me during this pandemic is to stay off the news and social media. I've just noticed that the more I "check in," the more anxious I feel about everything. This situation is completely out of my hands and all I can do is all I can do. So it doesn't do me any good to fret over what is/is not happening. And watching the arguments over the decisions our leaders are making certainly doesn't do me any good either. I told Justin, "If it's important, I'll find out about it." So - that's my strategy for coping with the next month of social distancing and who knows what else.

It's been COLD here! I force the kids outside each day but some days are harder than others (with the wind especially) and we just have to punt. Hart and Jory swung by on their way home from Rexburg and we chatted for about two minutes. It was good to see them, and we got to meet Brynn's boyfriend which was fun. I'm happy that Braden is home safe and sound! We wish we could be there tonight for his drive-by homecoming parade.

I made dinner for Mom and Dad Friday. I wanted to do something because Dad had his surgery earlier that week. Dropping off food seemed like a good balance of doing something nice/staying away. It's weird not being able to interact with them at all. I miss walking with Mom and the kids have been asking to go to Granny's house. On Sunday I borrowed a big pot to cook a 15-pound roast in, and since the weather was semi-nice we got to chat for a bit on the back patio while the kids played in the fort. That filled my cup.  

We decided to get a pizza last week to support the local businesses. We watched the season finale of This is Us and I am still enjoying Survivor every Wednesday night. Top Chef has started up again so I have a few shows to look forward to watching. I also read six books in March bringing my 2020 count to 19 books. 

Justin and I joined our faith with everyone else this weekend for the worldwide fasting for relief from the virus. It felt really good to be intentional about our fasting efforts, and to know that when we prayed, our prayers joined with millions of others all across the world. 

Sunday night Justin and I made a posterboard and mapped out our garden plans. Laura got us a ton of seeds for Christmas and Mom bought us seeds last week as well, so when it's time...we will be ready! We decided we're going to use the stimulus money to buy a riding lawnmower and other garden/yard type things. 

On Monday I took the kids down to the track with me. They played with their dump trucks in the jumping pits while I did my workout. They found the pirate ship parked behind the shed and were in total awe. We read a pirate book every night at bedtime so they were all about it.
 Grandma and Grandpa Rose sent the boys a goodie box. They got some new shirts, chocolate, and dinosaur/Easter eggs. 










Emmett found the jar of peanut butter...and decided to smear it all over himself? I never know with this kid.
I got the kids rain boots and they have been the best thing for playing out in the dirt/mud.





Emmett has taken a nap pretty much every other day this last week. He's totally pooped around 2:00 or 3:00. I try to keep him awake but sometimes the quiet is too hard to resist.

Trisha got me the CORRECT recipe for Travis's cookies and Emmett helped me make them. I've been using a different recipe I thought was his all along....nope! These are much better.


The kids like to pretend they're walruses.












Backstory behind this picture: after I put Emmett to bed he's allowed to stay in his room and play or read books if he's not ready to sleep, but he has to stay in his room (or else). But he's figured out if he sits in this corner while I'm sitting on the couch watching T.V, I don't see him, and he can manage to watch what I'm watching. So the other night when we went to bed ourselves we found him in the corner passed out! So funny.








Home-centered, church-supported gospel learning with these two. We taught the boys all about Enos and made a list of who we can pray for this week in our family prayers. Now when we ask the boys "who wants to say it?" they'll say, "Enos!" 🤣

Sunday naps





Garden plans - every 1" on the poster equates to 3.5 ft out in the garden. The extra white space that isn't labeled will mostly be corn. The X's mark the East edge of the garden which is closest to the house and I think I'll do a row of flowers for fun. Maybe Zinnias?


Sunday, March 22, 2020

Happy Birthday

Like I said in my last blog - we got totally dumped on last week! It snowed something crazy Friday night, at least 6" probably more. It mostly melted off, but then snowed again Saturday night and it was more like 8" come Sunday morning, then off and on all day. The power kept going in and out all day.

Butter chicken - it's a favorite over here.



Saturday morning









Saturday afternoon

Sunday morning


I love that they're making the same face here



Jesus wants me for a Sun....BEAM!

BEAM! Logan nails it every time











"Idaho is basically one giant park" - Ben Wyatt
Yes indeed Ben, yes indeed

Well, social distancing in Arco is par for the course. It's life per usual over here, with Emmett's preschool being cancelled as the only change. Luckily, I've been practicing grocery shopping by the month for three months now, so I'm feeling prepared and like we really won't need to go to the store (except for milk and produce) until May. I'm praying that all these measures will amount to some progress by then. I tend to see life glass-half-full, so I'm thinking...over the curve by the end of May? Pretty please? Because we live out here, I'm able to stay ultra-chill about everything. I watch the news minimally and have stayed off social media for the most part. I'm watching what the church has to say and Dave Ramsey 🤣 unfortunately, Dave is also an optimist, so we both could be wrong.

Monday was the last day of school for Butte and the last day of track practice until April 13th. I send my track kids track workouts they can do on their own if they are feeling ambitious. With no track meets, I'm creating lifting workouts for them to do too. We'll see who cares enough to do any of it.🤣 Monday I also got my hair done and I'm loving it!












goin' for a bike ride with the necklaces they made (Okay...I made Logan's, clearly)







Friday was my birthday and Justin had a surprise for me each day of the week for my birthday week. Monday it was roses (I LOVE getting flowers), Tuesday it was a Snickers (this man knows me), Wednesday I got a new shirt and Thursday a new dress. Friday Mom brought me funeral potatoes and chocolate cake. I saved some busy work around the house for me to do to have a fulfilling and productive day - including giving all my boys haircuts with new clippers. I finaly got the point-tip cutting down and man, I've never done a better job. I even got to go for a walk with Mom - and we stayed 6ft away from each other 💪 I watched Divergent (AKA, Hunger Games 2.0) and while I was watching, a mouse ran under the coffee table! Oh HECK to the NO!! I called Justin in and we worked together to kill it. He managed to run under the piano, back under the coffee table, into a closet, and almost got away from the closet before Justin hockey-shot him across the room and into a wall. I thought he was dead but it must've only knocked him out because I brought Hobbs in to eat him and he suddenly sprang awake and made another dash for it. After a few choice swear words I finally killed him for good. Happy birthday to me!


birthday breakfast - French toast with strawberries and whipped cream

new hair 💗 more blonde and shorter in the back but still mostly the same


the kids built a train - it entertained all morning!







Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were really nice days. Almost all the snow is gone. We spent a lot of time outside with the kids. I love reading from my phone while they play and I just look up every once to make sure they're both within eyesight. I'M SO GRATEFUL for the room they have to roam free, explore and play. THIS is what I wanted for my kids when we decided to move and I'm feeling so so so so grateful. God Bless Idaho! We used the fair weather on Saturday to clear out the shed. Today was also lovely. We went for a walk in the morning before starting our home-centered church. In the afternoon the kids spent more time playing on the back porch.



Justin made green eggs and ham for us this morning (we're on the color unit in the preschool currirulum I use at home).


Logan reading with Justin


Justin built an obstacle course for the kids