August 2020

August 10-14 Tammy & I took a much-needed trip to St. George. I had originally booked the condo for the annual Woodland trip to Tuacahn, however, Tuacahn was closed due to the virus. The Woodlands were trying to clean out their house in order to sell it so they couldn't go, but Tammy expressed interest. We decided that it was going to be a totally relaxing, do-nothing trip since we are still in the middle of social distancing. It was a really good break for me, even though I still worked every day. Just to get away for a few days and not have to worry about the kids, or the deck, or anything relating to home. Yes, I felt a tiny bit guilty, but I needed the respite. I was a teensy bit nervous about the long drive and Tammy's phobia of freeways, but even the drive was very enjoyable. There wasn't much traffic and we talked and talked so much that the time passed quickly. The condo was a new one, and we were in a presidential suite. It was very nice, and the master bath was HUGE! Bigger than my whole bedroom, I think.

The best part of the trip (besides relaxation) was that Kim and Toby joined us each evening and we just talked and laughed. Kim told us all about her divorce and the case against her ex-husband. Toby brought over pictures of when we were in college and we had a fantastic trip down memory lane. In fact, we even messaged Jody McMillan to help us with some of the memories. We had such wonderful visits! It was fun that Kim and Tammy knew each other from high school - in fact, we found out that she went to sixth grade with Tammy's husband and he had had a crush on her!

August 14 was a day of weddings! My nephew, Taylor Hadley, and Skylar got married in a beautiful venue in Wellsville and Kim's niece, Abby married Seth in Orem. Abby and Seth were actually married by the California Olsen's good friend, Greg! It was very nice. They videoed in and posted it on Facebook so we could watch the ceremony. They then had a small family gathering in Orem and then came up here to have a gathering with our family. Taylor and Skylar choose to have a hundred guests with no masks, so we made the difficult decision to not attend. Kim and Kalel went to Abby and Seth's party and I stayed home with Little Miss. Congratulations to both of these wonderful couples.

With Doug here for his daughter's wedding and graduation, all of Kim's siblings have spent time going through and cleaning out things at his mother's house. Unfortunately, there has been a ton of discord among the sisters. The brothers seem to be in agreement, but the fighting has affected everyone negatively. I pray daily for them to be able to put the anger aside and remember what a wonderful family they are a part of. It makes me so sad that they are not getting along.

The Parrishes drove to Utah to bring Maddie and Marshall's stuff because they are going to BYU Idaho this fall. Marshall hung out with Kalel all day (with masks of course!) and we got to go to dinner with Mont and Marilyn and then Maddie dropped by. It was great to see them as always. Mitch and Jess and their little Nolan are visiting with her parents, so we only got to spend one evening with Mont & Marilyn because they felt it was more important to visit with their new grandson. Of course, we totally understand the importance of that! Mitch and family will probably be moving a long way from home to take a new Physician Assistant job, so they want to get in as much visiting as possible before they move.

Kalel and I have spent many hours together this summer. One of our favorite things to do is to play board games. It makes me so happy that we enjoy this together! However, I have to admit, I'm getting a little tired of him winning all of the time! I really enjoy Kalel, but he sure has a quick temper! After trying several techniques to help him appropriately handle his anger, Shandra, Kim, and I decided to have him start seeing a counselor. I went with him to the first visit because his mother was working. I was impressed with the visit and I have high hopes that he will gain some techniques to handle his temper. And, perhaps the rest of us will learn something too!

August 19 - we actually arrived at the place where it was time to order the materials to build the deck! Hooray! Kim called and got the posts ordered and then called to order the pressure-treated wood for the framework. Of course, nothing ever seems to work out right . . . he was told that there was a shortage of the wood right now and they couldn't sell us enough to even do a portion of the deck! What a crazy world we live in! We could get some larger wood, but it would cost us almost $1,000 more! So, Kim and Mark decided to go on Saturday to every lumber yard within reason and pick up as much as they could from each place. However, that plan didn't work out because . . .

On Saturday, August 22, Kim woke me by saying that I better stay away from him because he didn't feel

well. He had been up since 3:00 a.m. with a fever and chills, a killer headache, and extreme muscle aches - all possible symptoms of the coronavirus. DANG! We got up and called the hotline who directed him to go to the testing facility for testing. We arrived close to 9 a.m. and there was already a line up of about 15 cars. Kim didn't even need to get out of the car for the testing, they just came to each car, dressed in full protective gear. The testing takes a while so we won't get the results for two more days. Until then we both are in quarantine, can't leave the house or have anyone come over. We are mostly worried because we have been around Shandra and kids a lot in the past few days. Kim has also spent a lot of time around his sister, Jody, as well as Dave, who is immunocompromised. Kim can't go back to work until he gets the results. I truly don't want to get the virus, everyone who has had it says it is awful! But it would be nice to not have to worry so much about it for a while.

We finally got the results on Monday, Kim is negative for Covid-19. Whew! That is a relief.

August 27 - Ish's Birthday! He is already 3 years old! We weren't able to celebrate with him, but we did spend some time face timing on the phone. We sent him a little "Blue's Clues" mailbox which he loved! He kept putting letters in the box and singing, "We just got a letter" song. It was so cute!

That night I attended Sarah's (Skyler Wilding's fiance's) reception. It was very small with only a few people invited. It was held outside where we could all social distance. It was fun to visit with Jodi Wilding, Julie Coleman, Janet Hagen, Carole Herzog and Jen Packer. It made me realize how much I miss hanging out with people during this pandemic. Sarah is so cute! She is a big fan of Disney Princesses and the theme of her shower (and her wedding) was Cinderella. She even wore a princess dress! She has spent the last year making all of her wedding decorations in the Cinderella theme. I can't wait to see how beautiful it turns out!

Skyler & Sarah
I stole this picture from Jodi's Facebook
because it is just like a fairytale.

August 28 - Shandra's birthday. It was a very low-key birthday for Shandra because of the virus. I ordered her gifts from Amazon and Kalel decided he wanted to bake her a cheesecake since it is her favorite dessert. She was very excited about the "Nightmare Before Christmas" pillow covers we got her. She loves everything about "Nightmare Before Christmas" so the pillow covers were a huge hit. We have never baked a cheesecake before, but Kalel searched and found the recipe that he wanted to use, and then he made it all by himself. I have to admit, it was absolutely delicious! It was perfect, and it even tasted like it was professionally made. I have great hopes for that kid's culinary skills!