March 2020- Week 4- Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt, Kate and Henry's Baptism, Lego Temples, Snow, Hair Braiding, Seeing the House Last Time, RJ's wedding.

Sunday morning I worked on preparing a talk and helped Ben prepare a talk as well.  We got into a routine of having home Sacrament meeting around 11.  Dan still has some meetings in the morning.  Grandma was supposed to teach in Relief Society that day at church, so instead, she played a game she made with us that was part of that lesson.  It was all about covenants and staying on the path and different ways to keep those covenants.  I spoke about repentance and being clean.  Ben spoke about the 10 Lepers.  We had grilled cheese for lunch and watched Book of Mormon videos and Relative Race.  We also went on a walk and did a scavenger hunt which Sarah Moulton prepared.  There were 16 items to find and we missed 2 so we had to go back around the neighborhood a second time.  It was great to stop and chat with some neighbors we saw like Mike Smith, the Moultons, and the Pugsleys.  Grandma made a roast for dinner and then we started building a "Brick 'em Young" Bountiful Temple.  After kids were in bed we felt a 4.0 aftershock and working on unpacking my special things to go in the hutch in the piano room.  

Final family picture in front of the old house.  

Monday I woke up with a bad head ache and felt a cold coming on.  Not fun when I kept having anxiety that it was Covid.  We had the appraisal at our old house.  My ministering sister, Autumn Cundick asked a couple times during quarantine if she could pick anything up for me at the store.  She bought me eggs and fruit snacks.  Such a nice gesture!  McKenna helped a lot with laundry that day. After dinner, we watched cousin Kate's baptism over Zoom since gatherings of more than 10 people are not allowed!  We worked more on Lego temples (grandma and grandpa were building the Salt Lake temple).  We also found out that schools will be closed until at least May 1st.  :(  McKenna was quite sad about it.  Ben and Anna were "meh" about it.  I felt ok only because it's what everyone in the world is doing!  I don't have "FOMO" anymore!  (Fear of missing out.)

Tuesday I exercised and we did homework.  Dan picked up school lunches.  My breathing was fine during my morning treadmill run, but by mid morning I had lost my voice and my throat was really hurting which made it feel kind of hard to breath, but not really.  Anna had dance on Zoom but we had a bad connection.  We had a bad connection for Let's Play Music also.  So frustrating.  We wrote letters to cousin Hailey to mail. We also got word that our appraisal came in at $407! So thankful for that!   

Wednesday my throat felt a little better but I still had no voice.  We did homework and Bethany had dance on Zoom and Ben had piano over FaceTime. We got out our Easter decorations and I cleaned the entryway a bit.  We had spaghetti night (with Adam and Mia, a new tradition we're a part of now) and bath night.  We were able to get some things from the old house now that there weren't anymore showings, so the girls got there sheets back on their beds.  We finished the Bountiful Lego Temple! We also got word that Mickelle picked up her new dog, Sadie!  

Thursday we woke up to quite a lot of snow! The kids went out to play in it and Anna had her first Zoom meeting with her class.  I shoveled and it was a little hard to breath with my sore throat.  Homework was normal and Anna had LPM over Zoom.  After kids were in bed, Dan and I talked through the basement layout.  *During this time I have loved having Marco Polo as a way to stay connected with friends!  My kids have been Marco Polo-ing with more friends and cousins as well.

Friday I exercised and McKenna spent a lot of time reading Harry Potter.  Dan went to the office in Murray, and on his way home he stopped at the old house to collect more of our stuff.  After pizza dinner we watched "Space Jam" in the theater room.  Adam and Mia were also over and they helped finish the Lego Salt Lake Temple!  McKenna also got a lot of practice french braiding her hair, as well as the little girls' and my hair.  Seeing her do it made me so happy to think this was how she wanted to spend her time.  It was a nice was to bond.  I realized with our normal paced life, before Coronavirus, I probably would have been irritated about taking the time sit still and let her practicing on me.  However, this was one example of slowing down and enjoying the little things in life.   

Anna had several writing assignments we took pictures of to send to her teacher.  Ms. Vasher said she wanted to see their faces, so we happily did so. :) 

Saturday I ran 2 miles and it felt good!  After breakfast we watched cousin Henry Stewart's baptism over Zoom.  Dan also conducted Asher Cundick's and Kirk Pugsley's baptisms.  Grandpa spent a lot of the morning packing up the kitchen.

McKenna got some awesome dress-up pictures.  Dan assembled a moving crew of ward friends who offered to help (Tim Hayford, Brigham Hollingshaus, Curtis Marsh, Jordan Jensen, and Dan Bramall).  I did lots of laundry and helped Dan's parents wrap up their master bedroom set since they were going to sleep on ours now.  I picked up groceries and Dan went to the Twitchell's because Grant Lynn passed away.  We did baths and showers and had Cafe Rio for dinner.  We watched "Emma" Dan had a lot of texts and emails due to the new guidelines from the Area Presidency.

Sunday was a world wide fast with our church for relief from this Pandemic.  I totally felt the Spirit as Dan prayed and opened our fast the night before.  We had our 11 am church (Adam and Mia came too) and the girls helped grandma lead the music.  Everyone Ben and older shared their testimonies.  We also watched other ward members' testimonies who recorded theirs and sent it to Dan.  McKenna had funny bug eyes through her water bottle. :)  We watched Relative Race and then went to say goodbye to the old house.  I totally cried in the kitchen, baby room, and master bedroom.  So many memories over 9 years!  McKenna also cried.  Grandma made delicious soup and peasant bread for dinner.  Then we played a fun quiz game with all the Webster's where we guessed who's silhouette was on the screen.  We traced them earlier in the day.  This was another example of how life has been different/better being in quarantine.  On a normal Sunday, I would have never taken the TIME to trace my kids face shadows, but now we have more TIME for fun stuff like this. After kids were in bed, we did paperwork with Dan's parents to get ready to close on the purchase of their home.

Monday I cleaned around the house.  I also tidied and organized the office/Lego room to get boxes out of there and get the Legos off the floor.  Dan helped his Dad take a load to the storage unit.  After lunch McKenna set up a "creative writing lab" for her siblings.  They're so nice to go along with her plans.  After lunch, Dan and I drove to Farmington for the closing on the sale of our home!  We ran a couple more errands after that.  It was nice to be out and about.  Dan's parents took a look at the Antry home for the second time.  :)  After kids were in bed, we worked on cleaning out cupboards and unpacking all of OUR kitchen stuff.  

The kids wanted to take these adorable pictures similar to pictures Dan has with his siblings.

Tuesday I exercised and finished unpacking the kitchen!  The kids played Legos a bunch.  After lunch, Dan left for Alpine for RJ's wedding!  RJ and Savannah were going to be sealed, but when temples began to close due to the virus, they decided not to put it off.  What a memorable wedding during this pandemic.  Also, Savannah is big into horse riding so her horse (Winston) was all dolled up.  They had about 200 people watching over Zoom.  The kids then played outside while I read my book club book.  On the way home, Dan stopped to donate blood and ended up not feeling too well the rest of the night.

March 2020 Videos Part 2-

Ben’s Annie Assembly performance, Alice on Tramp (“ch-lamp”), Ben chopping board and playing Alice, McKenna talking with Alice, Sledding, McKenna testimony.

  

March 2020- Week 3- At-Home Church, Dentist, St. Patrick's Day, EARTHQUAKE, Yard Work,

Sunday was our first Sunday of "at-home church".  I did a primary lesson with the kids in the morning using the primary Come Follow Me lesson manual.  We watched some of the new Book of Mormon videos.  Dan still had a lot of meetings which he did over Zoom.  After lunch we had our family sacrament meeting.  I led the music and Grandpa and McKenna gave talks.  I loved the Spirit that I felt and I was excited to do it more!  Dan had more appointments after that.  We watched "17 Miracles" and I snuggled Ben.  That evening Dan's mom's cold just wasn't improving and because of their recent travel to Europe, they took her to get tested for Covid.  After dinner, we went for a walk and played Skyjo.

(Kids and their funny selfies.)

Monday was St. Patrick's Day!  We had dentist appointments for all but Alice.  And because we didn't want to have to reschedule more appointments for later, Anna got sealants on her 6 year molars and Ben got a tooth pulled!  I had asked about that tooth 6 months earlier, and because no progress had been made, he just pulled it right then!  Ben was quite nervous at first, but the gas made him feel nice and calm!  Dan began working from home which we love, but it's always hard to leave him alone.  And we're so thankful we have an actual office for him to be in!  After lunch, the kids worked on some home schooling stuff but we didn't have official instructions from teachers yet.  We also laminated some Coronavirus checklists.  I worked on a bunch of things on my to-do list like Bethany's kindergarten paper work and changing our address with several businesses.  Ben did a fun paper folding activity with Grandma Kelly via Skype.  After dinner and GREEN donuts, Uncle David came to meet with Grandpa to talk work stuff since hotels took a hard hit with no one traveling during the virus.  We also did our normal laundry.  

Tuesday I exercised and after breakfast we started on homework.  I showered and helped kids some more.  After lunch I napped with Alice and the kids watched Minions in the theater room.  I caught up on Marco Polos and we played outside.  After dinner Dan had a bunch of emails and I blogged.

Two adorable pictures of Alice.  One snuggling Bethany when she was sad, and one with her belly out, hand in her diaper, chugging her milk! 

Wednesday morning was not fun!  Dan's alarm went off at 7am, he climbed back in bed, and at 7:10 we woke up to an EARTHQUAKE!!  It was a 5.7 magnitude centered in Magna.  I heard it first.  I thought there was a big storm outside (rail, wind, or hail) or something and then I felt the bed and room shaking.  Dan and I just grabbed onto each other and kept saying, "It's an earthquake! It's an earthquake!"  Alice slept through it.  We jumped out of bed once it stopped and ran to the girls' room to see if they were ok.  We found Bethany still in bed (she also slept through it), and Anna and McKenna hugging each other in Kenna's bed.  As soon as we came out of the bedrooms to head upstairs, we found Ben running down stairs and he grabbed Dan so tight!  We met Dan's parents at the top of the stairs.  We all confirmed we were ok and began texting everyone in the family.  Then we turned on the news and felt a few aftershocks.  After an hour or so, grandpa made french toast with green bread and the kids started their homework.  No one really wanted to be in a room alone that day.  We all had a little PTSD about the quake.  I felt like it took forever for my heart rate to calm down.  Dan took a drive around the ward to make sure everything was in order.  Adam and Mia also came over.  Grandma was nice enough to paint their nails.  After lunch I played with Alice on the tramp and kids did more HW.  Dan helped his dad at the storage unit.  We felt a fairly strong aftershock after lunch.  We had a Come Follow Me lesson before bed about not letting our faith be "shaken!"  All three big girls slept in McKenna's bed that night so they would feel safer.  I Skyped my parents to check in with them as well.  As Dan and I were going to bed and processing the events of the day, he asked me, "What do you KNOW?"  At this time of so much uncertainty, I KNOW that Dan loves me, my kids are safe and healthy, our extended family is safe and healthy.  And IF something tragic were to happen, I KNOW there is heaven and God and Jesus.

My dad made this graph of all the aftershocks during the day. In the following weeks, there were HUNDREDS!

Thursday I exercised and the kids exercised too.  Dan took a picture of us doing Come Follow Me with Grandma socially distancing at the other end of the table.  McKenna led the kids in some exercising.  There was homework and I showered after breakfast.  Dan and I talked with Dan and Cari about house stuff.  I picked up a preschool packet for Bethany.  After lunch we did FaceTime piano lessons.  Dan stopped by his office in Murray to get another computer monitor since his laptop is quite small.  Anna also had her Let's Play Music and dance over Zoom.  We got Nielsen's for dinner and played Racko afterwards.  Ben had a hard time sleeping.  Dan and I watched "Jumani 2" with his parents.  

Friday I tried hard to start kids earlier on homework.  We talked more with Cari Moss about the house (about the inspection and appraisal).  I worked a lot with Ben and Anna on school.  McKenna had her first Zoom chat with her class.  We had grilled chicken for dinner and then watched the new movie "Onward" in the theater room.  

Saturday I worked on unpacking some dishes in the kitchen.  Dan ran some errands with grandpa.  I did some yard work as well.  We ate lunch in the car and then got free Ugurt since Adam needed to clean out the machines and they still had product in them.  I did more yard work after that and kids played outside a bunch.  We went on a walk and had pizza and did baths.  We finally found out, almost a week later, that Grandma's Covid test came back negative!  Sadly, we also found out cousin Abby was headed to the hospital with labored breathing a fever.  Turns out she has a pneumonia type virus UNrelated to Coronavirus.

Weeding before and after pictures, cause I'm a nerd! ;) 

Alice had the funniest conversation with McKenna one night.  She repeated it over and over! 
A: Kenna doin'? M: I'm coloring. A: Oh.  E'weryone asleep? M: Yeah.  A:Oh.

• Alice also started getting on Bethany's back for prayers since she saw Anna and Ben constantly getting on mine and Dan's backs.  
• Freshly bathed babies huddled around the iPad.
• Ben playing with Alice sliding puppy down the banister and making her laugh a lot..  
• Free Ugurt. 
• Ben sitting on stacked up pillows doing his homeschooling.  

March 2020- Week 2- Sunday Fort, Anna "Character Can" Report, Ben "Annie" Assembly, Alice Trampoline, Everything Closing Down, Help Mickelle, Anna Static Activity,

Sunday I went to ward choir and we were on time for church.  During primary we sang songs that all applied to the 4 principles in the 4th Article of Faith.  After church there was a potluck linger longer.  It was fun to socialize and visit with friends and neighbors!  The kids built an epic fort after church using the basketball hoop thing and ping pong table!  That night McKenna and Ben had a hard time going to bed, and after our home being on the market for two days, Cari called to tell us we had two awesome offers!  Both above asking price!

Monday we were woken up by Ben because we accidentally forgot to set alarms.  After kids were gone, I caught up on Marco Polos and then had to turn on lights at the old house for more showings.  I worked on folding laundry and drove carpool and helped with homework.  The girls also played with boxes.  After dinner, Cari Moss called us with an awesome third offer on the house!  After kids were in bed, Dan and I worked on organizing the laundry room and we went under contract with the lady that made the FIRST offer, and because of an escalation clause, our final offer was for $407 which was $27 thousand OVER our asking price!!

Tuesday I exercised for the first time in a while and it felt so good!  After kids left, I caught up on Marco Polo again and Rachel Pugsley came over to play with Bethany.  I blogged while they played.  During preschool, Bethany had a field trip to a pet grooming store.  I started reading my next book club book, which was unfortunately not available on Audible. After school I helped Anna finish her character can (box) book report about the Scaredy Squirrel book.  

Wednesday I was able to attend Ben's Annie assembly performance.  They sang three songs from the play, but Ben was only in one of them.  They did so well and I totally teared up.  I went straight from there to a ministering visit to Janel.  Amanda was unfortunately sick.  The girls played outside a bit when we got home, then Bethany left for preschool.  We had our afternoon of running around and Ben and Anna did some homework in the car.  I braided McKenna's hair for Backstage and Anna had dance.  After dinner, Dan had church meetings and McKenna had YW at a park where they cleaned up garbage and played.  I also helped Ben with his book report.  This was also the day that things started to get crazy here in America concerning the Coronavirus! They announced that the NBA season and March Madness would be cancelled because there was a Jazz player diagnosed with the virus.  We found out President Trump issued a travel ban on people coming to America from Europe, so Dan's parents had to book an earlier flight to get home just in case.  The Church also announced that General Conference would be broadcast only and no one would attend live in the Conference Center.  *I went to bed trying to wrap my head around what the future will look like.  There was already so much unknown and Dan and I talked about moving forward with faith and not fear.  We also talked about how this will be a time to prioritize what matters most in life.  

Thursday Arlee came over to play with Bethany and they made friendship bracelets.  I worked on getting a grocery order together.  They said there was a 2nd Jazz player to be diagnosed with the virus.  Murray was the first school district to close down, there were crazy lines and fist fights at Costco because everyone was panic shopping and buying way more than they needed and others couldn't get what they needed.  City Creek Mall closed down.  BYU Women's Conference was cancelled. U of U moved to online classes only, so that left Adam with hardly any employees for Ugurt. Governor Herbert announced gatherings of people more than 100 is not ok.  We also found out that because of that, Ben's play, as well as Katie and Truman's school play, were put on hold even though their performances were the NEXT week!  Tons of other major sporting events cancelled and all church meetings were cancelled.  Such another crazy day!  Bethany still had ballet and Alice and I played on the trampoline, which Alice calls the "ch-lamp."  I attended music with Anna and Oliver since Swa was out of town.  After kids were in bed, Dan had a virtual meeting with Allie, Paul, and his counselors about church stuff.  

Friday I exercised.  Things continued to shut down.  All cruises suspended, Disneyland even closed! President Trump declared a state of emergency which opened up more funds people would need.  We also found out school was closed for two weeks, and one week for Spring Break.  Dan's parents made it home that afternoon and quarantined themselves in their room as much as possible since they were worried they could have picked up the virus during their travel.  I got pictures from Ms. Vasher showing a static electricity activity they did.  After school I took Anna shopping for a BD present for Desi and grocery pick up at Walmart took 1 hour waiting because so many people were again panic shopping.  Ben and McKenna also went to a birthday party that evening for Jett at a karate studio.  McKenna got invited as well since Jett's sister, Aliza, is McKenna's good friend.  After dinner, I FaceTimed my parents to process all this.  Today felt a little easier to accept closures and cancellations.  However, Dan and I both felt stressed and talked it out. 

Saturday we worked on organizing the pantry because Dan's parents had a hard time sleeping and cleared a ton of stuff out at 4am.  The kids played nice together most of the morning.  McKenna and Ben wanted to paint and the little girls played Barbies and jumped on the tramp.  Dan also helped his dad take a load to the storage unit.  We had tacos for lunch and then I took McKenna, Anna, Bethany to Mickelle's basement apartment to help her organize!  We watched The Greatest Showman and I worked mostly on sorting earrings.  McKenna sorted lipstick and FunkoPop dolls.  After we got home it was dinner, baths, and bedtime.

March 2020- Week 1- Alice's BD, Be There, Anna Lost a Tooth, Ben and Alice check-ups, Anna to Gymnastics, Anna's Dance Competition, Dan Utah Basketball Game

Sunday we fasted and we were on time for church even with some snow coming down.  We taught the song "We Are Different" in Primary.  Mickelle came by after church and played games with the kids.  Grandma had a cold that was giving her some breathing episodes which is always scary.  Dan was able to give her a blessing.  Adam and Mia came over for dinner and we played Skyjo.  After kids were in bed, we unpacked and organized some office stuff in the kitchen desk area.  

Monday started a carline week at school for us.  After kids left for school I played Cover Your Assets with Bethany.  I volunteered in Ben's class later on and had a normal laundry day.  Dan packed up a few more things from the old house and we had baked potatoes for dinner.  After kids were in bed, we brought up boxes of Dan's parents from the basement for them to go through.  

Tuesday was Alice's 2nd Birthday!  I wanted to start by making note of some funny things she says.  Gonkey=Donkey.  Book of Mornin'= Book for Mormon. Neighburt=Daniel Tiger.  To get the Frozen 2 soundtrack to play she says "Frozen 2 track" to our Alexa.  She calls meat "protein" because she's been listening to me teach the kids about variety and food groups.  She loves nursery at church and can repeat almost anything now!
We started the day (after kids were off to school) by Bethany and I singing to her!  I had to run down to the old house to let in a drywall repair guy.  We had a normal day after that... When kids got home from school, Brittana, Desi, and Lizzie came over to play.  Bethany had music and I picked up Ben and Grace from rehearsal.  After dinner, we gave Alice some presents and we had ice cream to celebrate Alice!  Dan had church appointments and I went to book club at the Pugsley's to discuss "Pollyanna" and "We are All Paralyzed."  My take away from both books was to always focus on the positive and that God is in charge.

Wednesday morning Dan's parents left for Europe with their itinerary slightly changed due to a new virus that was spreading across the world called Covid-19, or new Coronavirus.  They were planning to visit all the temples in in the cities of London, Paris, Rome and Lisbon, but they took Italy off the travel plans entirely.  A few days after they left, temples around the world started closing due to the virus.  I went to the Toyota dealership for an emissions test on the van.  When I got back, Meghan Johnson was nice enough to babysit while I took advantage of the nice weather and did yard work at the old house (mostly raking and blowing).  I didn't finish, but I got home in time for lunch and then Meghan babysat Alice again while I went to a "Be There" activity with Bethany at preschool.  When I got home, the big kids were home because of early out, so we snuggled and then took Ben to piano.  McKenna did not go to the temple this week because Sophia wasn't available.  Anna had dance and McKenna had Backstage.  On the way to dance, Alice was mad that Anna was in her face and she waved her hands around, hit Anna's mouth, and accidentally knocked out Anna's other front tooth!  Ben and Henry Alexander babysat Bethany and Alice while Dan and I went to the old house to finish up the yard work.  McKenna had a spa night activity for YWs that night.  And boy, was I pooped!

Thursday morning Alice and Ben had their yearly doctor check-ups and were all healthy! 
Alice stats:
Height: 32in (.5in increase in 6 months) 10th%
Weight: 24lbs 8oz (1lb increase in 6 months) 23rd%
Head: 75th%

Ben Stats
Height: 50.7in (4in increase in 1 year) 23rd%
Weight: 55lbs (8lb increase in 1 year) 15th%

We took Ben to school late and then Bethany to dance.  She ended up having a really hard time and I had to pick her up early.  :(  We got the carpets cleaned at the old house and when I went to check on things, the CO detector was going off.  So I moved it out of the house and it stopped.  Something in the carpet cleaning chemicals... weird.  Clara came over for a bit before preschool.  After naps, I went to do reading in Anna's class.  Anna had music and McKenna had a hard time walking to piano.  We had a freezer dinner night and after kids were in bed, we did the final cleaning of the old house since the drywall repairs were done.

Friday the kids all put on matching uniforms and it was cute!  I worked on moving pictures to the hard drive.  Sadly, McKenna called before lunch not feeling well.  She had another episode where her eyes can't focus, she gets numb hands, a head ache, and feels nauseous.  She came home and napped and felt better.  She's had this two other times and we think it's related to being over tired.  I worked on a grocery order  and when kids got home from school we played outside.  I ran down to the old house to sign the listing agreement while Cari Moss was there to take the final staging pictures before listing the house for sale!  Anna went to a Utah gymnastics meet with Desi Alexander that night and had a blast! After dinner, we watched the Lego Movie in the theater room while Dan was at the Alexander's for a YM game night.

Saturday Anna had her first dance competition!  It was up in Ogden and Dan also took Ben to rehearsal.  McKenna went to an ice skating party at the rec center for Zoe.  I LOVED watching the dance competition and sat with Holley Searle for a bit and also Jake and Abril.  We had lunch with Anna's team at the Pie Pizzaria, then we went back for awards.  Anna's jazz routine won FIRST PLACE for their age group!  After the awards, they had a master class which Anna and I sat and watched for a bit, but she was super tired after being up late with Desi the night before.  Dan took Alice and Bethany to the Utah Basketball game with a bunch of ward members.  I took McKayla Searle home and picked up groceries and McKenna (from Aliza's) on the way home.  Later, Dan and I worked on unpacking the game closet and after kids were in bed I went down to the old house to film a final walk through video of the house for our family history.

 

March 2020 videos- Part 1

Alice’s 2nd BD, Alice Singing Frozen, Anna Dance Comp

Video- Our Old House 288 W. 3400 S.