Omicron and 2022 or 2020 Too

After the boys got their second vaccination, Andrew asked if they could stop wearing their masks to school. He's been a trooper wearing a KN95 all school year. I told him it takes two weeks after the last shot before your fully vaccinated and that would be 3 days before Christmas break so let's wear it through the end of 2021 then we would discuss it for 2022. Well then Omicron came. We continued to wear our masks and everyone upgraded to a KN95 mask. I like to wear a mask to protect us but mostly so if we end up getting sick I feel like I did something to slow the spread because you're contagious 2-3 days before you start showing symptoms.

Ellie has still been recovering a little from the cold she got over Christmas break. She came home Thursday, Jan 6th and said her lungs hurt a little which made me worry about COVID and I had just scheduled her and Lila to get booster shots that evening. I told Steve I didn't want to take her to get the booster if she had COVID but I was running Andrew to violin lessons. While driving I thought let's drive by the testing site and see how busy it is because we've heard the lines are crazy long right now. When we drove by there were only 5 cars so I called Steve who hopped in the car with Ellie and she registered on her phone while they drove. When they arrived 1 car was in front of them but they must not have registered so they had them pull to the side and Ellie got tested. They only had rapid tests, they were out of the PCRs. We typically like to do both, but this type we could only do the rapid. It came back negative so we went ahead with boosters. We stopped by Fiiz drive through to get a fun drink on our way. The pharmacy was slammed but we were able to get them both boosted and out within 30 minutes so I was happy. Lila was a trooper and didn't even fret or flinch this time.

January 8th, Saturday afternoon I got an email from Andrew's violin teacher that her and her daughter started feeling sick Friday morning. They got tested Saturday and one tested positive and one negative but she is assuming they both have it since symptoms are the same. Fortunately we wear our masks everywhere still and we had both worn KN95s on Thursday for his 30 minute lesson.

Tuesday morning, January 11th Lila wakes up and says her throat hurts. No fever, no headache, no cough, nothing else really. I just had a feeling so we pulled out one of the at home rapid kits I bought in November and tested her and it came back positive. She was very upset about it. I told her not to worry about it. It is literally everywhere right now and it was just a matter of time before we got it. It wasn't her fault we have all been cautious and wearing our masks and are up to date on our immunizations so we'll just get through it. She was bummed that it's the end of term and she won't get to see her friends or teachers in some of her classes again, but her grades are good so I told her just to think of it as a vacation she gets to stay home watch movies, read books, drink gatorades, and miss everything without any guilt.

Lila's positive at home test

 

This week has seen 10,000-13,000 of cases every day and guidelines have been ever changing. Just at the end of December they changed it so that if someone tests positive in your household and you are fully vaccinated you don't have to quarantine they just ask that you wear a mask for 10 days and watch for symptoms. The person who tested positive is supposed to isolate for 5 days then if they are fever free for 24 hours without meds they can start going back to school/work etc wearing a mask for 5 days. I support the change in the guidance with so many cases things are shutting back down because of ill workers and there are supply chain issues again. So our plans were to continue sending the other kids to school with masks and watch for symptoms. I did cancel extra curricular activities for all of the kids like birthday parties, tennis, sewing, and violin was online. I texted our elementary carpool friends and asked what they wanted to do and we made adjustments accordingly. I was really trying to do the right thing for all involved. And I know most people are trying to make the best decisions they can for their families and situations during this crazy time.

Wednesday I scheduled tests for the rest of us on January 13th, Thursday afternoon. They say if you don't have symptoms to wait a few days. At this point they also start saying if you're sick assume it's COVID and stay home. So I worried about continuing to send Ellie to school but her symptoms were almost gone and she had tested negative the week before and it was the end of the term so I continued to send her wearing a mask and told her to distance herself at lunch and to keep her mask up as much as possible.

Thursday the boys didn't feel like going to school. Every morning I check for a fever ask if their throat hurts or if they feel stuffed up and they say. "No". And to be honest this is the healthiest they have been in months which is a little tender mercy to give me confidence in our decision to continue to send them to school. But for some reason they just didn't want to go to school and I don't know how you make them when COVID is in your home and maybe they're feeling something and just don't know how to tell you. So they skipped school, it was an early out day anyways so I figured why not. 

The boys and I went at 2pm to get tested. The appointments are nice because the lines are not long. With the test shortages we were only allowed to pick one test. Previous times we've always done a rapid and PCR - rapid gives you an idea quickly and the PCR is more reliable. However when Ellie went to get tested last week they only had rapid available so she only had rapid done then. I chose PCR knowing that was the best option since we didn't have symptoms. Then we could choose a saliva test or nasal swab. I could not imagine getting the boys to spit in a vial and they think the nasal swab tickles so I chose that. The tester was nice and said that we would get our results back in 1-3 days which I thought was optimistic because I had heard that PCR results were taking 5 days to get back. 

By Thursday evening Lila was feeling a lot better. She got a little congested Tuesday afternoon while she was home and through Wednesday but Thursday that had cleared out and her throat just hurt a little. She never took one Advil or Tylenol and said, "I felt better during this than I did with my cold in November." We explained that that was due to the fact she was up to date on her vaccinations and healthy. We truly are grateful for modern medicine and that we only caught a minor case of COVID.

I received a text at 6:30am Friday morning with Andrew's results negative. And then Marcus and mine came back around 11:30am negative also. At this point I was feeling pretty good about things. Ellie and Steve went to get tested later in the afternoon so their results took longer and it wasn't until late Friday night we got their results and Ellie's came back positive. At this point with all the new information coming in I figured she probably did have COVID and the rapid test failed us the previous Thursday and the guidance to stay home if you are feeling ill didn't come out until a few days later when she was feeling better. All in all I felt a little bad we had been sending her to school, but we made our best decision with the information we had and she was wearing a mask at all times.

Amidst all of this, cases in schools have been skyrocketing and the local high school performed a test to stay with rumors that the junior high would have to do one next week. Unfortunately it revealed several positive cases which people had assumed to be colds. I know several young people experienced anxiety about getting tested and I heard that they were not very good about telling those that tested negative that they were cleared to go back to class. Thankfully we're coming up on a long weekend so we can all just chill and hopefully get back into a groove next week. Then late Thursday evening the governor sent out a letter pausing all test to stay programs because of the shortage in tests. He also allowed the schools flexibility in remote options for the next couple of weeks. So the school then sent out an email saying even if you tested positive today you are welcome back to school. Then an email was sent really late Thursday from the superintendent saying if you tested positive or opted out of the test you could not come to school on Friday but to wait until Wednesday, January 19th (there is no school Monday the 17th or Tuesday the 18th for end of term) so they would only really miss one day of school. Once again you just have to breathe and realize everyone is trying to do their best.

In a press conference Friday, January 14th the Governor also asked people not to get tested unless they were immuno-compromised or going to visit someone who is because of the lack in tests. So then I felt kind of bad that we had gone and got tested, but once again we were working off of previous info and doing our best. Knowing our results helped us know what we could do this weekend. Steve and I attended the 2nd hour of church wearing our KN95 masks to teach our primary classes. I did let the Steve take Ellie, Lila, and Andrew skiing Friday (Marcus didn't want to go because he can't miss school on Friday's it's when he has PE, Art, and STEM) which was the only thing we did inside Lila's isolation period, but they wore their thick gators over their faces and it wasn't busy so they were never on the lift or in the gondola with anyone else or even within 6ft really. We had wanted to go to Nordic on Saturday but postponed that until Monday then Lila would for sure be out of her isolation period. We spent the weekend doing fun things together. We made home made pizzas on our smoker so yummy and we're getting the hang of it. We rented Sing 2 and watched it 3 times over the long weekend. We got a few house projects done. We went skiing at Nordic Valley on Monday, January 17th. 

Then Tuesday, January 18th, as we were cleaning and preparing for school to start back up we got an email that Shoreline had hit their case limit and would be going to remote/online learning for the week, Wed Jan 19-21. I know online is more difficult for some students so I hope for the short week everyone will be able to adapt. Lila is ok with it. As a matter of fact on Friday when she was doing some homework she saw her Shark Time teacher had started a teams meeting so she logged on and her teacher was like, "oh great Lila has joined our meeting so we can show you how some of the features work." And Lila was like yeah this is how I did school last year so I know how to do this. So her and her Shark Time teacher did a little demo.

I also received an exposure email from Andrew's school teacher Tuesday evening. They're no longer doing contact tracing just sending exposure letters to whole classes. And the recommendation is if you're not vaccinated to quarantine for 5 days. And the whole class should be wearing masks because of the exposure but of course they can't "enforce" it. I wonder how many kids are actually going to be at school.

It is a crazy crazy time again. I'm hoping 2022 is getting it all out of it's system now and then we're done with this! It's so hard because you adapt and think ok we know what we're doing now we can do this and make 2022 great and BAM! There are a lot of funny memes out there about 2022. I think I'll post a few here just to reward all of you who have read this long post. I felt like it was important to document this last week and all the feelings and changes that have been happening. Most importantly I want to testify of the peace I have felt this week. I know that the Lord is in control and I know that as a family we have done everything we can to protect ourselves and slow the spread (vaccinations and mask wearing). 

Stitches

Last Wednesday, January 5th I dropped Lila off at school early to do some work with her science teacher to get her grade up a little (remember it's late start Wednesday so early was 9:15) then I left on a walk with a friend. At 9:40 I got a call from the elementary school. I answered and was told Marcus had a cut on his head they would like me to come look at. So my friend and I turned around and started heading home. I called Steve and he jumped in the car and headed to the school. I told him that Marcus would probably want to come home no matter what and that was fine. It was about 10:30 when Steve brought him home and I called the doctor to see if we could get in that day because I didn't want to go to urgent care with record amounts of COVID cases going around. Steve wasn't too worried but I was pretty certain his eyebrow was split open and the skin was swelling out of the opening (which the doc confirmed while she was working on him. she was like, see all this, this is fat tissue swelling out of the cut).

 

Our pediatrician was out of the office but I was able to get Marcus in with a pediatric nurse practitioner at 11:30. She was great and did such a great job with Marcus. She checked him for a concussion and any other possible injuries with hitting your head. She put a numbing cream on his head and bandaged it up. My brother sent us a Rambo GIF after I sent them the picture, totally great!

Then she took us to the surgical room with a fancy chair, lights etc and she began cleaning the wound. Marcus was wincing and said it hurt so she did end up giving him some lidocaine shots but he handled it well then he couldn't feel the 3 stitches at all. I had been up holding his hands and comforting him, but once she was done with the stitches I felt a little warm so I took a quick break and sat down. It was weird because I wasn't queezy or anything. Then we headed home. I told him we could buy a special treat but he insisted on going home and making cookies because he was going to put everything he wanted to in them. We made a quick stop at the store to get some hydrogen peroxide so I could clean the stitches the next day and he saw a big bag of high chews so we bought them. ;) Then we went home to eat lunch and make cookies. He did put everything in them, 3 types of sprinkles, butterfinger pieces, m&ms, chocolate chips, and he wanted marshmallows but I explained the bag wasn't opened and he was fine with that. He now calls them super cookies.

A neighbor and friend brought banana bread and a note which made his day. Another friend brought a note by later that week. So thoughtful and made him feel so special. I'm not gonna lie that kid has had me on edge this past week, he has so much energy and I was afraid he was going to hit his head again. I'm trying to teach him how to control his energy a little, I know how futile it may be on a 5 year old but I'm hoping we can make some progress.

We went in today to get the stitches out and he did really well. On the way out he wanted to stop at the mirror and check it out. 😂

Yesterday in kindergarten Q&U had a wedding. I happened to be going in to volunteer just as it was starting and took some pictures of the procession and the wedding cake dessert.

New Year Blessings

We moved to 9am church this year which I really like. The rest of the family is a little more hesitant. I feel like with noon church no matter how well you prepare you still spend all morning getting "ready" for church with lessons, showers, etc. Now we have more time to play games, go for walks, delegate other things. For example, I've decided the girls are in charge of Sunday dinners. There are no other activities to interfere so it's a great time for them to learn some cooking skills. The boys are are going to help me vacuum and mop Saturday. I usually like cleaning during the week and have little chores for the kids to do, but it just hasn't worked out so far this school year with everyone's schedules so we're making some adjustments. I've also decided that we will take turns preparing the Come Follow me lessons for the family. When I told the kids this they felt like since they had already received other assignments that this should be Dad's assignment. Andrew started chanting, "Come Follow Dad!" I told them we would each be taking turns. 

Since it is the first Sunday of the New Year Steve gave everyone blessings which is always so special and we encouraged the kids to pull out their goals for the Children and Youth Program and evaluate them and make new ones as needed.

group hug after blessings

the cleaning dynamic duo

 

The next Sunday we were able to play Harry Potter codenames that Mimi and Grandpa gave us and it was really fun. It was a cooperative version of codenames and we really enjoyed playing. I think we'll have to do that again and make butterbeer to enjoy.

Christmas Break

Ellie started working at the greenhouse the week before Christmas break. They told her she could work however many hours she wanted over the break. I knew she had a lot of school work to do (after the breakdown before skiing) and we wanted to spend some family time together so we talked about it and she chose to work 1.5 days the first week of break and 2 full days the second week of break. However, Wednesday morning she woke up and was not feeling well. She was running a low grade fever and was congested. We did a COVID test which came back negative. So she rested and relaxed for a couple of days missing one day of work. We were supposed to go skiing Wednesday, but Steve had a busy day of work (testing always gets pushed to the end and it's crisis mode) and there wasn't much more snow so we decided to skip skiing, Steve could work, and I played some games with the boys while Lila read and relaxed.

We let the boys open an early present of Just Dance 2022 for the Switch. You can have 6 players on that game which will be fun to have our whole family do.

Steve helped the boys put this puzzle together while I cooked on Christmas Eve. I swear I spend more time cooking that day than Thanksgiving (probably because I also prep a few things for Christmas so I don't have to do much cooking that day).

 

We had a wonderful dinner of ham, smoked pineapple, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and a salad. We talked about our favorite Christmas traditions. The girls said they like doing the 12 days of Christmas, Andrew says he likes getting a new ornament for the tree each year, Marcus likes the nightly chocolate and Christmas reading we do, Steve said spending extra time with the family, and I like the special Christmas Eve dinner where we talk about Christ and recite The Living Christ that we've worked on memorizing. We have made a chocolate cake for Jesus' birthday since Ellie was little. This year we changed our recipe a little to be a peppermint chocolate chip bundt cake and it was so yummy (which was bad for me because I ate way more than I have in years past).

We then let the boys sleep downstairs because we had a surprise present for their rooms we needed to set up. Marcus had started coughing on Christmas Eve so I was worried about letting him sleep downstairs but they did great. Steve and I were up later than usual setting up the surprise in their room. Boy was I grateful I had wrapped presents earlier this year so I didn't have to do that too. Finally Christmas morning was here.

The last present of the morning was some new night lights for the boys and on the box it said take them up to your room to try them. As the boys opened the door to their room Andrew squealed, "What?! Where did the bunk beds come from?" We explained we spent all night putting them up for them. They love the new beds and even slept in until 9am the next morning. They will say, "let's go play in our room". I'm so so happy they liked it. Marcus declared it the best Christmas ever.

 

We spent the rest of the day playing with new toys, building legos, and hanging out. I was pretty happy that we didn't get any really techy gifts (other than the Switch).

We took it easy the next week. Steve started to not feel great on Monday and I started coughing like Marcus. So we hunkered down and just took it easy. We decided to go skiing at Nordic Valley on Thursday, Dec 30th because we've wanted to try their new lift and Lila still skis for free there so tickets were quite reasonable for a last minute purchase. We packed lunches, put dinner in the slow cooker, loaded up gear and headed out. We were a little worried about the drive because there had been snow the night before but the drive went well and when we arrived the weather was nice with just a light snow. Just as we were getting in line for the lift the power went out. Such a bummer. We didn't get to do any runs. The kids hiked up a little ways and skied down. We ate lunch in the van hoping the power would come back on and then we decided to leave. They didn't get the power on until 4pm and from what it sounded like Snowbasin and Powder Mountain were on wind hold with 30 mph wind gusts. So we picked the right resort just a bummer for everyone the power went out. So it will be the new year before we get out skiing. On the way home we stopped and let Steve and Ellie try on new ski boots both of them need some new boots. So maybe they'll get to tryout new boots when we actually hit the slopes.

New Year's Eve I was fighting I pretty bad headache but the kids were so excited for our usual balloon popping party. Steve was a trooper helping me set it up and making a lot of yummy pretzel bites to have for dinner.

The boys made personal brownie pies for dessert.

Steve printed little things with the 3d printer for the kids.

Then the balloon popping began. We even put $1 bills in a few balloons. Somehow they each managed to get $1 each. I asked if they were looking in the balloons and they said no.

 

Some of our favorite jokes from the night:
 

*What did the science book say to the math book?

-You've got problems.

 

*Why don't scientists trust atoms?

-They make up everything.

*Why did the scarecrow get an award?

-Because he was out-standing in his field.

 

We watched a fun countdown with a music matchup on YouTube and did our poppers then watched the London fireworks while the boys brushed their teeth.

Overall our break was good. We got to relax, play games, and hangout with each other. I tried my hand at making sourdough and made it twice over the break (yep I know I'm late to the party and that was all the rage last year, but I had yeast and never got into it then). Would we liked to have skied more, yes! Felt better so we could spend time with friends and family, yes! But we made the best of it and now we're preparing to start our regular routines and I'm a little sad. I cannot believe how big the kids are getting and how fast time is going. Each year is so precious and I'm looking forward to 2022 and the adventures we will have together. Happy New Year!

2021 Dreams

What another roller coaster of a year. I don't think 2021 quite lived up to our dreams but hey you feel kind of bad for the year, we all had hopes and expectations after 2020 and well they all weren't attainable. Things continue to be ever changing and we hope to be able to do our best to adapt and keep going. One of our big changes this fall was we went from having one child (Ellie) attending in person school to 4 kids attending this year and each of their schedules is a little different -- good times says the chauffeur Mom.

*Ellie is in 10th grade and officially in high school attending NUAMES. She took the ACT last week so she can start attending early college classes next year. She is also taking yearbook and making some good friends in the class. It has also been good for her because it encourages her to go to school events to take pictures.

 

*Lila did WSU Prep this summer and really enjoyed it. It was good preparation for Jr High which she started this fall as a 7th grader. She is doing really well and is a trooper as she rides her bike to school every day without complaint. She continues to dance and read several hours a week. And she always amazes me with her insightful observations.

 

*Andrew is in 2nd grade and has decided he likes basketball, a lot. I missed the sign-ups for the recreation league (what can I say he's my first boy and the first one to show any interest in basketball). So we put up a new basketball hoop for him so he can practice all he wants and he's out there 3-5 times a week. He also continues to amaze me with his desire and ability to play the violin.

 

*Marcus is in kindergarten and loving it. He has some great friends and is becoming quite a little reader. He also started piano with a cousin down the street and at first was disappointed he wasn't learning the cello or drums but the kid loves music and enjoys playing the piano. One night as we were discussing whether he and Andrew were on the naughty or nice list and would be getting coal or presents he said, "What do medium list kids get? I'm pretty sure that's where I am, a little nice and naughty." Got to give the kid credit for his honesty.

All in all it's been a good year and we are grateful for all of the opportunities we have had. We continue to dream of better days when there is peace and love a plenty. We are grateful to know of our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose life was the perfect example of compassion and goodwill.

We wish you all the sweetest dreams this Christmas season and in the New Year!

Dreams of Bethlehem

Love,

Steve, Britney, Ellie, Lila, Andrew, & Marcus

Anniversary Fun

Steve and the kids have been dieing to go skiing. We need more snow (for more than recreation). The conditions are not great and there was really only one run down from the top of the mountain but they wanted to go try it out. I was not feeling up to it. I have been fighting a sinus infection for a couple of weeks and the cold and altitude did not sound fun to me. It took them a little bit to get out the door as we were double checking gear and Ellie had a little break down saying she is a little stressed with all she needs to get done over the break so we had a little chat. Then they forgot their passes so they had to wait in line to get them printed for the season. Steve said the kids had fun playing in the snow while he waited in line. Eventually they got out on the snow and had a good time. Marcus wanted a break after a couple of runs (we need to work on his endurance). So Steve took a snack break with him while the other three rode up the Gondola. They were supposed to head straight back down the mountain but they went the wrong way and had to get in the huge line for the new middle bowl express lift. So they got to ride the new lift without Steve.

I rode the indoor bike for a little workout, made cinnamon rolls for them when they returned, and then decided to go buy a new smoker with a pizza stone for our anniversary. When they got home we had cinnamon rolls and then set up the smoker to do pizzas for dinner. The pizzas turned out so yummy. I'm really excited about the smoker but also feeling a little buyers remorse. . .😝

 

Steve and I have an appointment to do sealings at the temple on Tuesday which I'm excited for. We always try to do sealings close to our anniversary as part of our celebration but it's been almost 2 years since we've been able to with COVID so we are both looking forward to it.

Hot Cocoa Bombs

Earlier this year I attended Lila's young women's activity where they made hot cocoa bombs. It was fun and a little chaotic with a dozen 12-13 year olds. I looked at ordering some molds but never pulled the trigger. This year at Sam's club I saw a fun kit and bought it. Saturday we spent the day making hot cocoa bombs for friends and carpool buddies. It was a lot of fun. We made almost 30 in a variety of flavors: chocolate chocolate, mexican hot cocoa (my favorite), white chocolate with pumpkin spice, and a cookies and cream which was a white chocolate shell, chocolate hot cocoa mix and crushed up oreos (the kids are saving those for a special day). Then Sunday Ellie drove us around delivering them. Monday I drove the kids to school and when the the carpool friends got in Marcus said, "How did you enjoy your cocoa bombs?" I thought it was so cute. I laughed and said they probably having eaten them yet and the girls admitted they hadn't yet. Then when I was picking up the kindergartners I told Marcus that Max's Mom had told me he drank his on Sunday so Marcus got close to Max and said, "How did you like the cocoa bomb?" And Max said it was really yummy and the marshmallows surprised me. It's true, it's kind of fun to see the marshmallows come floating to the top as the chocolate melts. I had so much fun making them I decided to make some more on Monday for my pickle ball friends. We will definitely be making more.

Ellie had her first snow driving experience. She was home Friday morning while it was snowing so I told Steve to take her driving. They went to the church parking lot and practiced. He said she may have bumped into the curb a couple of times, but that's part of the learning curve.

 

She also went to her first formal dance. She met some friends there and took almost 400 pictures for year book. We managed to find a nice dress at Ross and bonus she let me do her hair. Lila was in the background telling Ellie how to pose for pictures -- it was pretty funny and nice to see how they each have different gifts and can help each other.

 

This week the kids have some dress-up days for school. Monday was Grinch day at the elementary school and Marcus decided to wear one of the green holiday shirts I made the girls years ago (Andrew was not feeling good at the beginning of the week and missed the first two days).

 

One more story about funny Marcus. I managed to wrap most of the presents last Friday. He was having so much fun playing he didn't even notice me locked in my room. Steve was working downstairs so I told Marcus to keep playing while I quickly ran to pick up Lila from school. When we pulled up to the house he had the front blinds pulled all the way up and was standing on the windowsill waving excitedly. I wondered what was happening. As we pulled into the garage he came running to the door squealing, "There are presents under the tree! There are presents under the tree!" Even Steve could hear him all the way downstairs. Christmas excitement. :)

Today we woke up to 6 inches of snow and our poor trees did not fair well -- several branches broke.