Around the House in 8 Photos

Since we're all home and trying to do school and work, we've had to make a few modifications to our living space. At first, we had Scotty's "office" set up in the kitchen. We took the leaf out of our table and turned the table the opposite direction so Scotty could set up a small table in the bay window for his computer. 

When the kids started using laptops for their schoolwork, we needed to put the leaf back in the table so they would have more space. Today, Scotty moved to the (still unfinished) basement because it was too hard for us to maneuver around the table and his "office." But the basement is where my kids do piano lessons via FaceTime on Mondays. So Scotty's office was taken over during his shift. 

We're just being very adaptable and figuring it out as we go. 

Today I was looking around my house at all the signs that we have been trapped here for a while. Here are some of them:

We have some Forkies on the shelf and some leftover shamrocks from when we celebrated St. Patrick's Day.

The sidewalk and driveway are covered in chalk. We are on our third box of sidewalk chalk since school was dismissed. 

One night, Zoe invited us all to a pajama party in her room. She decorated in snowflakes and letters that spelled "Parte."

All of the rooms in our house now have numbers, thanks to Eva and Zoe. They are pretending we are staying in a hotel (I'm still waiting for the housekeeper to make my bed). 

There is artwork. Everywhere. 

EVERYWHERE!!!

We have a pandemic board. It's main purpose it to keep the kids from asking me "what are we doing today" and "what's for breakfast/lunch/dinner?" 

The thing that makes me laugh the most, though, is this:

The collection of empty toilet paper rolls (for art projects) being stored under the sign that says, "It is so good to be home" (interestingly, the only thing that fell off the wall during the earthquake). 

April Fools' Fun

April Fools' is this week. 

I'm not a big fan of pranks or being made a fool of, but I'm all for fun and good memories. Especially when we are cooped up and trying to maintain a safe and positive environment for our children. So today, I thought I'd share our April Fools' tradition because it's simple and fun and something you can scrounge together quickly if you want to do something with your family for April Fools'.

I've always thought mystery menu dinners were super fun. We did a few of them with my church group when I was growing up, and it was always one of my favorite activities. I know a lot of people do mystery menus around Halloween, but our Halloween season is so packed with parties and activities, that I've never felt like I could squeeze in a mystery menu dinner at Halloween time. So I decided to make it an April Fools' tradition instead. It was a great solution because A) we get to have a mystery menu dinner, B) we get to do it at a time of year that isn't already overly scheduled, and C) the food doesn't have to be centered around a holiday theme.

Here is our mystery menu from last year:

If you're not familiar with mystery menu dinners, all you have to do is make up silly names for foods, create a menu, and then have your dinner guests select food items in "courses." I typically do nine menu items and serve three courses, thus having my kids pick three items for each course. 

I use what we have on hand already. I can't remember what everything on the menu was last year, but "triangle delight" was quesadillas, "wedgies" were Mandarin oranges, "mouse poop" was a scoop of chocolate chips, etc. When the kids are older, I'll probably add more to the menu to make it sillier - they might have to order their fork or a butter pat, therefore, ending up with everything served at the wrong time. But for right now, all the menu items are just food (the littlest ones wouldn't understand and would just be frustrated by the more intricate silly menu). 

In our current circumstances, this will definitely be the highlight of our week!

Another fun April Fools' dinner idea (that's even easier!) is to serve dinner on silly dishes. Instead of using the usual plates, cups, and forks, you can serve your meal in frying pans, pie tins, pyrex etc, drink out of measuring cups, and eat with giant serving spoons or tongs. We haven't done this, but a friend of mine told me that her family did this when she was growing up, and I think it would be a lot of fun. Plus... easy peasy! I'm all for simplicity!

Coronavirus Coping

It's another melatonin night in the Brittish household. While I'm waiting for things to kick in (if they kick in - I'm still not sure if melatonin works on me), I want to write. The problem is, the coronavirus is occupying my mind so heavily that it blocks out everything else. And I don't want to write about the coronavirus right now!

So I will just say these few things:

Overall, I feel like my family and I are handling things very well.

BUT... I have been in a constant fog for the past two and a half weeks. My mind is a jumbled mess. I can't focus. Half the time, I don't even know when someone is talking to me. I've also had a headache for weeks. It's not a really bad one, but it's always there. I rub peppermint oil on my temples pretty regularly right now. I keep trying to read, but it's pretty pointless.

I can't read.

I am 70 days soda sober, and everyday I have to remind myself that I've made it this far, and I shouldn't give up. Deep down, I just want to guzzle all the caffeinated soda on the face of the earth. But even deeper down, I know it wouldn't be worth it. I've been here, like, 87 times before. I know what happens if I drink a soda.

I can't read, and I can't drink soda. 

Today I cried, but it wasn't coronavirus crying. It was "other stuff" crying. I was hoping that it would transition to coronavirus crying, but it hasn't happened yet. I feel like I need to be alone and cry like a baby for ten minutes for coronavirus purposes. I have gotten teary eyed twice in the past two weeks, but it wasn't enough. Nothing flowed. I need tears to flow. I need to shake for a little while and get all puffy-eyed and snotty. But it just isn't happening. At some point, I need to break down. It would be healthy.

I can't read, I can't drink soda, and I can't cry.

In other news... I ordered another board game. If my usual coping mechanisms aren't seeing me through, I might as well dabble in some new ones. I'll try to keep my board game purchases to one per week.  

Board Game Education

We were supposed to have Game Night with our friends tonight, but coronavirus... Carlie and I are in a state of mourning.

As I mentioned the other day, one of my quarantine goals is to learn some new board games. Sometimes we buy new games and never take the time to learn to play them (as much as I love strategy board games, I don't enjoy the process of learning them. It hurts my brain), so I'm trying to get caught up on our game supply. I currently have three left on the shelf that I need to learn: Swashbuckled, Castles of Burgundy, and Terraforming Mars.

Another game-related goal I have during this time of social distancing is to teach my kids some new games. My kids may not emerge from this pandemic having mastered common core math, but gosh darnnit! They will have board game skills! A few years ago I wrote about some of the life skills that can be practiced by playing board games. I'm such a believer in this! And as I've been teaching new games to my kids, I feel even more enthusiasm about it. And it's not just life skills, but all sorts of miscellaneous education.

This week I taught Nick and Daisy how to play Pandemic, and it was a great way for them to increase their understanding of what is happening in the world right now. I have such a love/hate relationship with Pandemic. We play it in its simplest form and hardly ever win.

I also taught Daisy how to play Wingspan this week (Nicky has known for a while).

The cards in this game feature bird types. Each card has the name of the bird, a map of where the bird may be found, and the bird's habitat, diet, and wingspan.

We are becoming ornithologists quite by accident. I've never been a bird enthusiast, yet, now, I find myself almost caring about birds. I never would have expected this!

Last week Scotty and I taught the kids how to play Dead Man's Draw. 

This is a great game for practicing risk-taking and process of elimination. Another great game for practicing process of elimination is Love Letter.

An additional perk of Love Letter is that it's one of the easiest games to learn! As you can see, it features a busty princess. If you don't like that, there are other editions of the game (The Hobbit, for example) with less cleavage. 

This morning I taught Nicky and Daisy how to play Settlers of Catan. Nicky has played Catan Jr - which is pretty great - but this was his first time learning the original Catan game. 

(Sidenote: I decided that for a post-pandemic goal, I need to invest in a new Catan game. We have the original game from when it was first released - when it was titled Settlers of Catan rather than just Catan. We kind of stole it from my mom and step-dad. But they're divorced now, and I decided as a child of divorced parents, I get to keep Catan as consolation. Our expansion sets are newer versions with updated artwork, so its all mis-matchy. Our rule book is also gone, and even though you can look at the PDF online, it's a royal pain in the tuchus).

Please don't assume that all goes well during these times of board game learning. Nicky was infuriated all through Catan and Pandemic and now claims he hates them both. Daisy is usually too distracted to understand the games, but she still wants to learn how to play (Pandemic is way beyond her skill level, but I knew it would be). The more we play, though, the better they get, and they understand more each time. My first time playing Wingspan with Daisy, I wanted to claw my eyes out. The second time, she did immensely better, and I could see that some things were starting to click. 

We'll see which game is next and whether Nicky ever gives Catan or Pandemic another chance. I probably need to work sportsmanship into my homeschooling curriculum. 

Currently [Pandemic Palooza Edition]

Reading:

I have a lot of books in progress, but I'm having a really hard time focusing. 

Listening to: a "Best of Frozen" playlist that Nicky is blasting on the Echo with Eva's TV show (Booba) in the background. There's a lot of noise around here these days.

Watching: I'm still about 11 minutes into Star Wars. Other than that, I'm not really watching anything right now.

Eating: hot dogs (which I grilled with rain dripping on my head since the grill is positioned right at the edge of the patio awning).

I also made a double batch of cookies.

Enjoying: preparing meals for my family. It's something I genuinely like doing, and since we aren't rushing off to activities all day and night, we eat three meals together every day. I'm also baking a lot (not sure I'm getting any better at it). As a result, we do about three loads of dishes a day (many by hand since the dishwasher is often full and running).

Buying: mostly essentials. I go to the store only when we need milk, and it's a new adventure every time. I never know what's going to be out of stock with each visit. The other day I tried to buy 3 gallons of milk from Walmart, and they would only let me buy one. The cashier took away two. And I was nice about it because... how bad would it suck to be the Milk Enforcer? It's not his fault. Yet, he told me he gets yelled at and threatened all day long. The next day I went to a different Walmart, and I was allowed to buy however many I wanted.

On Monday I felt like I hit the jackpot because I got a bag of rice! It was on the very bottom shelf in the back. When I checked out, the cashier said, "Whoa! Where did you find this?" and I was like, "God sent it to me."

Ya'll, I'm not lying. It was the only bag, and it was the exact kind I was looking for.

Other than that, I'm not buying much. But in the past 24 hours, I've made a couple of frivolous Amazon orders (as you will read below).

Craving: all things Thai and Chinese. We might have to order some Thai food for dinner tonight to support a local small business. I'm anticipating that we will be in lockdown soon, so I want to spread some economic love while we can.

If that doesn't work out, I just ordered 4 cans of Massaman curry paste from Amazon, so we can (hopefully) have some Massaman soon with our God-sent jasmine rice.

Playing: 7 Wonders Duel, which I bought with my birthday money. Scotty and I just broke it out and learned how to play yesterday.

We taught Nicky and Daisy how to play Dead Man's Draw on Sunday, and they really like it. I ordered Terraforming Mars from Amazon yesterday, and we have two games on our shelf that we've had for a while and haven't yet played. 

So we have work to do! 

Corona goal: learn the games!

Wearing: a Hamilton t-shirt, jeans, and slippers.

Feeling: pretty tired. I haven't been sleeping well due to pandemics and earthquakes. I wake up several times in the night because I think every noise and every movement is an aftershock. At the end of each day when we put the kids to bed, I feel absolutely exhausted.

Trying: to stay positive.

Missing: normal grocery store trips. Morning walks with KoriAnn and Julie. The library. Cafe Rio lunches with Christie. Watching TV without feeling weird about fictional characters being closer than 6'. Game night.

Loving: having church at home. It's been really nice to make our own decisions regarding our Sunday worship and to have some time to reset our testimonies at home. I feel like the Lord trusts us, and I'm grateful for that.

Laughing at: the way I've been making our bed lately.

Scotty and I have different bedding preferences, so the other day, I folded each of our comforters in half and made our bed with his & hers sides. I've continued making it that way so we don't have to sort bedding at night. 

Procrastinating: getting Eva a sippy cup of milk. She's been sitting next to me asking for milk the entire time I've been writing this.

Looking forward to: General Conference.

Grateful for: my house, my family, food, feelings of safety and peace, my testimony, my friends, technology, medicine, essential workers who are keeping everything going, sunshine, clouds, science, music, warmth, revelation, and eggs.

Yes, eggs. I feel like eggs will keep us going.

Sam I Am.

Our oldest hen.

Spring Break 2020

Today is the last day of Spring Break for my kids. Spring Break wasn't what we originally planned, but we did our best with the circumstances.

How we were going to spend Spring Break: 

vacationing to Canyonlands, Goblin Valley, and Capital Reef. 

How we actually spent Spring Break:

Playing hide-n-seek

Where is Scotty?

Roasting hot dogs

Robin Hooding

Doing art projects

Splashing in puddles

 Doodling with Mo Willems

We are still having aftershocks from the earthquake. They could go on for quite some time. Sometimes they make my heart race. Other times they just feel normal. Every time we feel one, we get on our phones and wait for the Richter scale rating. It feels a little like we are waiting for a test score. Yesterday we had a 4.1 turned 4.0 turned 3.9 (I guess "they" had a hard time deciding?) It's kind of disappointing when "they" downgrade it. It feels like losing points.

On Saturday we drove down Magna Main Street to see how things were looking after the earthquake. Several historic brick buildings were damaged.

Colossimo's where I buy bratwursts

Even though it was devastating to cancel our Spring Break plans, we've still had a nice time together as a family. 

If you would have told me back in January what life was going to be like in March, I would have had a full-on panic attack. Yet, here we are, and somehow we're getting through it. And I'm okay! (January Britt never would have thought she could deal with this). 

The other day, I almost got teary-eyed while I was looking through my Instagram photos for the year. The pictures of people standing close together made my heart ache. But I know that all is not lost. There is still a lot of good happening. It just looks different right now. 

Something Beautiful

outside.

Right now, I'm especially grateful for outside.

Horseshoe Springs

Something Interesting

Utah history.

I'm not a huge history buff. My problem with history is retention. I can study something historical with great interest, and then three weeks later, not remember it. It's like the part of my brain that files history doesn't work. History frustrates me because I have to keep learning the same things over and over.

I just want perfect recall. Is that so much to ask?

Anyway, despite my inability to remember historical information, I enjoy learning little tidbits about Utah's history. The best way to do this is to go out and experience it!

Two weeks ago we went exploring near the Great Salt Lake.

Salty Earth

Then last week we checked out the mines in Sunshine Canyon.

Note my shadow laying on the grate

This week we went to the Iosepa cemetery. 

Iosepa Settlement Cemetery

Mormon Church converts from Polynesia settled in

Skull Valley in 1889-1917 for the Church-owned

Iosepa Agriculture and Stock Company...

Their settlement located 1/2 mile to the southwest

and named Iosepa (Joseph) after Joseph F. Smith, then

president of the Church, flourished until 1917

when a Hawaiian temple was constructed. Most

of the islanders returned to their homeland...

many who succumbed to the hardship 

of the land are buried in this cemetery. 

The cemetery is all that remains of Iosepa. The reasons for the settlement are a little sad - discrimination played a role. But I love the reasons the emigrants came to Utah - they wanted to be near the temple!

Centennial monument dedicated by Presiden Gordon B. Hinckley

Most of the graves in the cemetery are from the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of them are unmarked. There are quite a few infant graves. 

There are also a handful of recent graves. 

This is probably the coolest grave marker I've ever seen:

The guitar enthusiast was the most recent burial - August 2019. 

Some descendants of the Iosepans gather at the cemetery in celebration of Memorial Day each year. There is a pavilion with a makeshift basketball court, several picnic tables (which a young man did for his Eagle project), and a stage. One thing I know about Polynesians... they know how to party! And they truly honor their ancestors. 

Another unique feature of the cemetery is that it has a playground - the old, awesome, dangerous to modern-day children kind (our favorite kind)! We've been following the advisement to not take children to playgrounds right now, so it was a real treat to find one in the middle of the desert. 

All the Blessings that Come with Challenges

I started these gratitude prompts two weeks ago. TWO WEEKS.  That's it. It's amazing to think that two weeks ago, I had no idea that my life (and your lives) would be completely different by the time I made it to prompt #8. I didn't know how much I was going to need GRATITUDE. By turning my focus to gratitude two weeks ago, I unknowingly prepped myself to handle so much of what is going on right now.

I'm not grateful for the coronavirus. I'm not grateful for the earthquakes. I'm not grateful for the challenges.

But I can't deny the blessings, and I am grateful for what comes from the challenges. Here are some of the things I have been thankful for:

Blessing #1: Shopping Spree

At the end of February, I got some cash rewards from Sam's Club. I decided I was going to use the money to stock up on food and other household supplies in hopes of cushioning our budget later.

When I got home, I was carrying all the stuff inside, and that's when the spring on the garage broke. I immediately started kicking myself for spending all that money at Sam's Club. Now we needed an expensive repair! I wasn't going to return a trunk full of groceries to pay for a garage spring, but if the spring had broken first I wouldn't have spent the money the way I did.

Because of that shopping trip, I had several items in my house that would be hard to find for a while.

Blessing #2: Toilet Paper

I didn't buy toilet paper on that Sam's Club trip because we didn't need any. But on my next Sam's Club visit (which was Pandemic Palooza minus 3 days), there were just a few packages of TP left on the pallet, so I bought one.

Blessing #3: Car Trouble

When is car trouble ever a blessing? When it happens before a pandemic and an earthquake, so you're not scrambling in chaos to find car repair services.

Blessing #4: Home

No matter how terrifying it gets out there, I find such comfort in "home." I keep talking to my kids about this when they feel scared. I say to them, "I know it's really scary right now, and there's a lot we don't know, but I want you to remember what it feels like to be home with your family." They all agree that home feels safe. I'm so grateful that Scotty and I can provide that feeling for our kids. Home can feel safe. Home can feel normal.

Zoe with her puzzle

And as you already know, I am overwhelmingly thankful that we were all home when the earthquake hit. Of all the blessings I have experienced in the past week, this is the greatest.

Blessing #5: Technology

Of course technology has been a wonderful blessing to have. Not only is it keeping us connected with friends and family, it's also providing my children's education and allowing Scotty to work from home.

I'm so thankful that we were able to get in touch with loved ones quickly during the earthquake.

Blessing #6: Teachers and Faculty of the School

The school staff have been incredible. They have been in constant contact with us as we have transitioned to distance learning. Zoe's teacher called each student individually. Our principal has done regular Facebook Live sessions to give information to parents. After the earthquake, our principal sent out a video with words of reassurance. He was very emotional, and I was touched by his love for his students. As Zoe and I sat at the computer on Wednesday to get started on school, we watched a video from her teacher, Miss V. It was recorded pre-earthquake, and we watched it after the earthquake. I got teary eyed listening to the message and hearing Miss V speak reassurance to her students. She didn't know that they would be watching her video after one of the scariest experiences of their little lives!

Blessing #7: Savings

We are saving quite a bit of money by going NOWHERE!

Blessing #8: Simplicity

One thing I am embracing about our current situation is how simple my life has become. Our calendar has been stripped of all non-essentials - something I would normally fear. But it has been wonderful! I'm making a lot of realizations about the kind of life I want to have.

Our plan for Thursday

Blessing #9: Creativity

I feel like I've had a lot of opportunities to be creative and think outside the box, and it's kind of a good feeling.

Blessing #10: Stewardship

The past week has given me the chance to consider my stewardship over what I have. I am being more thoughtful about what we use in our home. I want to go to the store as little as possible, so we are using this time to strategically use what’s on hand. This makes me feel deeper gratitude for what I have.

Blessing #11: Chickens

I'm very grateful to have chickens right now. The last couple of times I've been to the store, there have been no eggs. We live right by an egg company, and the line to get eggs has been so bad that they have had to have police come direct the traffic. Our chickens just started laying again (we let them take a break in the winter). Good timing, girls!

Blessing #12: Time to Grow

I feel like this phase of isolation as a family is giving us time to grow. We are doing things we normally don't make time for. I've decided to use this time to become a better baker. If this madness ever ends, and I come out of it without baking skills, I will retire for life. In the meantime, I'm going to practice. Unless I run out of flour. Which could happen.

Blurry cinnamon rolls

(my phone's camera is on the fritz)

We also have time to work on unfinished projects around the house. Basement, garden, and more!

I even sat down and started watching Star Wars. Maybe I'll see it through from start to finish. I've made it 11 minutes so far.

Blessing #13: Peaceful Feelings

I have continually felt peace. I don't know what more to say about it other than there is an underlying sense of calm in my soul.

-----

I have to acknowledge that many people are not in as fortunate circumstances as I am. Things that bless me might not be blessings for others. Right now I am so grateful to be able to stay home. There are people who can't do that. There are children home while their moms and dads continue to work. That has to be very stressful for the parents, especially with the responsibility for school and the looming worry of illness. There are people whose employment is severely affected by what is going on. Many are experiencing heightened anxiety and worry.

I will try my best to be a light and do what I can for others. I apologize to my friends, family, and neighbors for the hardships I cannot see. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to ease your burdens. This is not easy, but there is comfort in knowing that we are all in it together.

How About an Earthquake?

If you need a distraction from the coronavirus outbreak, I highly recommend an earthquake.

An earthquake will make you nearly forget that that most of the world is on lock down. You'll be so preoccupied with managing the physiological side effects of the adrenaline rush and trying to keep your kids from having mental breakdowns that you won't even have time to look at COVID-19 stats.

I speak from experience - since yesterday morning, we were greeted with a 5.7 magnitude quake followed by over 90 aftershocks (and possibly more to come).

The first 9 minutes

I'm a little nervous to blog about it because things have been changing so fast in the past few days that what I'm writing now could be completely outdated by the time you read it.

We could all be dead!

(Am I being morbid? My apologies. But I'm just sayin).

(Also, I often schedule my blog posts, so never assume that I'm alive because I posted. I might have scheduled it ahead of time. You might read my words after my death someday).

(Oh shoot, I'm being morbid again).

Anyway, I've been afraid of earthquakes since childhood. Here in Utah, we've been told for decades that we are due for a "big one." I've basically imagined my own death via earthquake regularly for my entire life. This was not the "big one." This was a practice round. They won't let us count this one. It seems unfair. I think we should get the next five decades off. I'm selfish like that.

I had been awake from 5:00-6:30 in the morning, and then I went back to sleep. I was having nightmares about going to prom with a guy from high school. He was wearing a red silk shirt, and it clashed horribly with my dress when suddenly, there was noise and everything was shaking. Scotty and I both flew out of bed. Scotty ran down the stairs and back up the stairs and back down the stairs (exactly what you're not supposed to to) whilst repeatedly yelling “Holy shit! Holy shit!"

(It is what it is. I'm sure we get a free pass for profanities hollered during earthquakes).

The shaking seemed endless. My calves seized up, my heart raced, and I shook for hours afterward. When the quaking was done, I had everyone get shoes on and gather in the living room. We put the TV on the floor and and rearranged some things in the house for safety to get ready for aftershocks.

A few items fell, but nothing broke. There are a lot of things we put into place years ago in case of an earthquake, including 2x4's across the front of our storage room shelves to keep our food from falling off. It worked! We would have had quite the mess otherwise.

Some of the TP got away

We had several aftershocks right away, and then many more throughout the day. A quick 4.6 hit in the afternoon, and we ran for cover. That was the worst of the aftershocks.

Take cover... bring sippy

The epicenter of the earthquake was in my hometown about 3.5 miles away. The closer my family lives to Magna, the more damage they experienced. We were fortunate to still have power, but many streets around us had outages.

I've always felt like God does the best He can to get people where they need to be even in times of trial. Over the weekend I had the thought that this is the best time for an earthquake because everyone is home. When the earthquake jolted me out of bed, my first thought was, "Oh shit! I didn't mean it!"

(There was a lot of "Oh shit!" Let's be honest).

But here's the thing - I am so incredibly grateful that everyone was home. On a normal day, I could have had kids in school. Scotty could have been in a 28 story office building downtown (no one there was harmed, thank heavens). I can't even imagine what that would be like.

I may never let anyone leave the house again.

We were all on edge for most of the day. During the first hours, all I could do was pace and text people. I didn't even want to eat! (Don't worry, I forced it, and then I stress ate for the rest of the day). Every time we felt an aftershock, we had to assess whether we needed to take cover. Our hearts would start racing all over again.

One observation: It is absolutely necessary to have junk food on-hand in an emergency. I was dying for some chocolate and some baked goods. Luckily I had the good sense to put chocolate chips in some banana bread the day before. I also had a bag of Cadbury mini eggs that I'd purchased on my Monday grocery store trip "just in case." I don't normally keep candy in the house unless it has a designated purpose. It was so intuitive of me to buy the mini eggs! Plus... there was nothing else available in the store, so I shrugged and said, "Guess I have no choice but to buy these two giant boxes of Lucky Charms and this bag of Easter candy." What can you do?

At the end of the day (while still texting family - "Did anyone feel that?"), I was so overwhelmed with gratitude. Even in hard times, there is so much to be thankful for. There are so many ways this could have been worse. We still have to face the unknown right now, but I have seen numerous miracles and blessings in it all. I want to make sure I get them written down. That was actually my intent before the earthquake - to start writing down all of the tender mercies I was seeing with the coronavirus outbreak. Now I have even more work to do!

Good Weather Days

The weather has been really great lately. I've been trying to get the kids outside as much as possible to help them stay active through Pandemic Palooza. Plus, there is always a possibility of snow around the corner in a Utah March, so we need to soak up the good weather every chance we get!

On Monday we did a lot of sidewalk chalking. I think the kids went outside three different times to color on the driveway. 

Nicky cleaned out the chicken coop. We played on the backyard swings and rode scooters around the block. Nicky hit golf balls on the lawn. Popsicles were devoured, and everything felt "spring"-y and joyous. 

Yesterday we had some St. Patrick's Day fun with a scavenger hunt to find breakfast. 

Lucky Charms!

In the washer?

How silly. 

We had to pop into the school for a bit to get some things to take home. It was weird seeing everyone. In just a few short days, I've become wary of talking to people. There's just this sense of "we're not supposed to be near each other right now," and it makes for some socially awkward exchanges. It's kind of weird to see other humans and want so badly to connect with them but also respect their coronavirus boundaries. Each person is following a different set of rules, depending on what they believe about the outbreak, so I feel like I am now sizing everyone up to determine their guidelines. Are they okay with eye contact? I just don't know anymore! Sorry, random guy walking a dog that I said hello to yesterday. I don't know if that was okay!

Later in the day we packed a picnic and ate lunch near the community pond. We fed corn to the resident fowl and saw some ducks engaging in mating rituals that were not consensual. Nicky climbed the tree, and the girls found pine cones and used sticks to try and catch fish. 

We took a walk around the canals, which were drained really low. Daisy was up to her usual antics of throwing herself on the ground in fits. 

Nicky, my scavenger, had to pull everything out of the water that he could find. I had to repeatedly say, "No, you can't bring that home." 

He pulled three bikes out of the canal.

THREE!!!

Plus a laptop, a hardhat, a shirt, a dead fish, and a Hershey's kiss (which I did not allow him to eat). 

There were a few humans in the area, but we were properly distanced at all times. 

With the coronavirus pandemic, I think I have experienced every possible emotion. I have felt despair and worry. But I have also felt peace, joy, capability, and a sense of "you got this." I've had moments of great problem-solving and creativity. I have also felt incredibly blessed. 

More on that tomorrow.