May 2020
Yes, we are still in quarantine for the COVID-19 virus. Many establishments are starting to look at opening up, mostly because of the loss of revenue. It will be interesting to see what the next few weeks bring.
Tiny Baby update from Skylar
5/2/2020 Me and Tay got to hold her sweet hands and feet today. I also got to feed her some of my milk through her feeding tube and change her Itty bitty diaper. She's a true miracle and I can't even believe how precious she is. Every day we have her is a true blessing. Last night she had a grade 3-4 brain bleed which is pretty scary and we're praying they don't get worse but are just trying to stay positive right now..
You have too many people that love you so much baby girl hang in there.
The next day, Little Harper left her body behind as she journeyed back to heaven. Such a hard and very sad situation! Honestly, she would have had to fight very hard throughout life with long hospital stays and very probable brain damage, however, I can't imagine the pain of her family as they said goodbye. Such a sad, sad situation.
One day as I was sitting at the computer there was a loud knock on the door. Since COVID started, we very rarely have visitors so I was more than curious to see who was knocking. I opened the door and just stared in surprise - Ms. Maddie Parrish and her friend Emily were standing there!
My very first thought was, "why are they here without masks?" But then I finally recovered and joyously gave her to the biggest hug I could! I haven't seen her since before she left on her mission almost two years ago. When she was released in March, she went to Texas with her family.
It was so great to see her. I guess that with the COVID lockdown Mitch and Jess were able to drive out to Utah to visit Jess's parents who had been sent home from their mission. Maddie and Marshall drove out with them.
We had a wonderful, long visit. I am so proud of the wonderful work she accomplished on her mission. She is one of my favorite people in the world! I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful relationship with her, and I wish her only great things for the future.
Maddie and Emily have been friends forever and I wondered if their relationship would be strained since Emily got married while Maddie was on her mission. It was nice to visit with her also and to see that their friendship is still as strong as ever. It was the most wonderful surprise!
Little Miss got a fun new bike and helmet. It is nice in that it will grow with her. Right now we can push it, she can rest her feet or she can put them on the pedals. The handles won't let her steer, but eventually we can let her steer. She absolutely LOVES it. Every day she says, "ride bike? helmet?" and she races to put the helmet on. She loves to go for walks around the neighborhood saying Hi and waving to anyone she sees, looking for birds, and smelling flowers.
Mother's Day was a little strange this year since we still cannot go to church. I have always had a love/hate relationship with Mother's Day because I have never felt that I have measured up to other mothers, but this year the feeling wasn't so bad. My girls got me a Foot Spa to help me relax, isn't that great? The only problem is that the first time I used it, I actually stayed in too long and bruised my feet so bad on the relaxing agitating stone that I had a hard time walking for days!
I told Kim that the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was french toast. When the kids were young the brought me french toast breakfast in bed every Mother's Day and I miss it. He agreed and got me bacon too. It was YUMMY!
Mitch and Jess Parrish spent some time with Jess's parents here because they returned home from their mission temporarily during COVID. Mitch was not able to do his clinical rotations because of the virus and Jess was working from home, so they drove here to visit. While they were here they had a "drive-by" baby shower. It was so fun! They set up a tent next to her parent's circular driveway and guests stayed in the car. We maintained a proper 6-feet distance. Jess looks so cute with her baby bump! They found out that they are going to have a little boy. It was so fun to visit with them.
Marshall & Kalel had a fun visit when Marshall stopped by before he a Maddie flew home. Even though Marshall is five years older than Kalel, he has always treated Kalel as a good friend and Kalel has always looked up to him. Kalel misses him terribly since Marshall moved to Texas. It was fun to see them together again. Marshall was more than surprised when he saw that Kalel was as tall as he was!
Little Miss loves being outside more than anything in the world. This day she managed to smear dirt all over her face!
San Diego
Little Miss loves being outside more than anything in the world. This day she managed to smear dirt all over her face!
San Diego
Since our trip to Las Vegas was canceled due to COVID we decided to go to San Diego instead. We miss Tasha, Zane, and Ish so much! Shandra didn't feel comfortable going because of the risk of infection and I didn't blame her. I knew we would be safe at Tasha's house because they are staying at home, but the airports and flights posed infection risks. We did wear masks the entire trip (a total of 5 hours each way because we had layovers) and the airlines didn't book the center seat so we could maintain some distance. The airlines didn't serve any drinks or snacks to prevent infection. At the beginning of one of the flights a man near us refused to wear a mask. It was unnerving when the flight attendant asked him to put on a mask and he refused. The attendant ultimately told him that she was going have security escort him off the plane if he wouldn't wear a mask, I guess he finally put it on because we soon took off.
Kalel was very dismayed to learn that our rental car was a Jeep. Honestly, I liked it, but Kalel thought it was ugly and uncool, so he complained about it (in fun) the whole trip.
We had such a marvelous visit! Ish is so darn cute! He has learned to sing many new songs and loves to draw on the whiteboard. Several times a day he gets the peanut butter out of the pantry to make himself a sandwich. Every morning he would sneak into our room and then jump on to the bed and yell, "it's time to wake up grandma and Bobble!" He and Kalel had a great time playing together. In fact he insisted that Kalel read him a story when it was time for a nap. They all went on a walk down the "path of peril" a fun walking trail near their home. Kalel and Ish picked flowers to put in my hair. They are so sweet! One night for dinner we grilled burgers. Zane cut up sirloin steaks and helped Kalel grind them into patties. They were SO good!
Tasha had a huge cookie order that she needed to work on, so we spent a lot of time just talking and laughing while she was in production mode.
Tasha had a huge cookie order that she needed to work on, so we spent a lot of time just talking and laughing while she was in production. The guys played many games of frisbee golf and had a blast. They were short one frisbee so Kim used a plastic shovel, we were all amazed at his skill with it!
Of course, we played tons of games. Our new favorite is called "Superfight : Card Game of Absurd Arguments". It is an absolutely crazy game where you try to convince the judges that your superhero with absurd characteristics would win over your opponents. The website describes it like this: SUPERHEROES IN SUPER FIGHTS. Who would win: Abraham Lincoln with laser eyes or a velociraptor that can use the force? SUPERFIGHT is a classic party game where you argue with your friends over RIDICULOUS fights between RIDICULOUS characters armed with RIDICULOUS attributes. It is up to the players to argue and plead their cases about why their fighters would beat the other! We laughed and laughed as we seriously tried to convince the judges that the Staypuff Marshmellow man who could heal immediately would win over a hundred-foot tall dinosaur that could throw glitter (or something like that!) At one point Zane's character was an octopus who had one arm that was a Musketeer, one that was a bull, one that was a cheetah and one that was a bodybuilder. The funniest part was to see how serious each one of us got as we were describing our winning tactics. I can't wait to play again!.
Recently the Hunzekers had taken a trip to a strawberry field in Carlsbad and had such a good time they wanted to take us there. I was a little worried about COVID, but it was so big and set up so well that we never even came close to the other people there. For $10 we each got a bucket to fill with whatever strawberries we chose. Any that we chose to eat while picking were free. They were honestly the biggest and sweetest strawberries we have ever eaten. I'm sure that each of us ate as many as we put in the buckets. There were rows and rows and rows of berries and we could choose anyone we wanted to pick our berries. The place was huge! I'll bet there were at least 200 people there and yet it pretty much felt like we were the only ones there. We brought them home and made yummy strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream. It was AMAZING!
Back to school - kind of
My school decided to slowly start opening starting with labs. Administration felt that it was important that the students be able to have as much hands-on practice as possible, so they divided the labs into small groups and had an hour in between for good cleaning. My first day back to the school was on May 27. The lab started at 7:30 a.m. I got up at 4:00 and arrived at the school before 6 so that I could have time to prep before the students arrived. In the past, I have prepped for lab the day before, but since I haven't been to school since March, I was really nervous about getting everything ready in time. The schedule was exhausting! Getting to school at 6 to prep, lab from 7:30 to 9:30, an hour to clean and prep, lab from 10:30 to 12:30, cleaning then racing home to get something to eat and be ready for class from 2:00 - 6:00. Very long day! But it worked. Our newest faculty member, Erikka, has been assigned to help me with labs which is very nice, but she has had virtually no OB training, so I have to train her at the same time. However, she is very willing to learn and help where I need her. I like her a lot. The worst part has been wearing the masks. I appreciate the fact that everyone is wearing them to help stop the spread, but I can't believe how hot I get when I do a lot of talking and the hot air from my breath stays on my face! Also, it seems as though I run out of breath so easily! Even talking in the mask makes me short of breath. But, I will do it! Everyone who comes to the campus has to complete a questionnaire asking if they have had any symptoms or been exposed as well as having their temperature taken. It is a strange world right now!
Kim's Birthday was very anti-climatic this year. We literally did nothing. It is hard to celebrate when there is a pandemic going on. The next day was Cyn's birthday and she invited Kim to go to Maddox to celebrate, but he didn' want to go. Things have slowly been opening up, restaurants are allowing people into the dining rooms again, but it is common to see everyone with masks. The staff all have to wear gloves and masks and have as little contact with the food and customers as possible. Cyn brought April and I brought Tammy to celebrate Cyn's birthday and just have some time outside of our homes. I totally forgot to wear a mask and I felt awful for forgetting. None of our groups wore masks and it felt like we were doing something wrong! However, the food was terrific and the company even better. I really needed that time away. We made plans to have Cyn come up to my house and make chimichangas for my birthday next month, I can't wait!
On May 25, a black man in Minneapolis named George Floyd killed by police. It was a sad situation, and it appeared as if the police were too aggressive, however, George Floyd was in the middle of a criminal act. People all over the country have started rioting in protest of police brutality and advocating for the rights of blacks. It has become crazy! Riots have broken out everywhere, including here in Utah, where rioters have become violent, overturning and burning cars, blocking traffic, looting, and spraying graffiti. People have been carrying signs and chanting BLM which stands for Black Lives Matter. The funeral for George Floyd was broadcast on national television. Of course, none of the protestors or funeral attendees practiced social distancing or wore masks. Protesters started movements calling for the debunking of police forces all over the country. It is hard to turn on the news and hear all of the evil going on. Everywhere you turn there are stories and debates over police, BLM, masks, and human rights. It is ugly.
Ashley has decided that Sunday nights would be family dinner night and this week she invited our family to join them. We grilled steaks and just talked for hours. It was a lot of fun. It is nice to see Mark feeling so much better. They are even talking about letting him go back to work soon!
Ashley has decided that Sunday nights would be family dinner night and this week she invited our family to join them. We grilled steaks and just talked for hours. It was a lot of fun. It is nice to see Mark feeling so much better. They are even talking about letting him go back to work soon!
Kim got a new swing for Little Miss and she literally spends hours each day "swinging in the tree". She never says just swinging, it is always swinging in the tree! Many times she will close her eyes and just enjoy the movement and wind in her hair. She is such a joy (most of the time!)
Kim's Memes
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