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.