March 2020

March was a weird month.

There were the first 12 days of March filled with all the "regular life" stuff such as...

The Tueller showcase.

They did such a great job performing all of their competitive routines!

Who would have guessed that this would be their last performance of the year.

Take a good look at those $90/dance costumes... hahaha  Cost per wear was HIGH!

(One of Lydia's dances isn't pictures here because we were waiting for her costume to get here. Maybe that one can be salvaged for next year?)

Jadyn was killing it at school... could there be a better award????

So proud of you Jady!!

Our weekly trips to the Temple for Baptisms were still happening.

Kenna's 2nd cheer year came to an end.

She was spending lots of time tending Jane.

Golf season started... Kenna played in a couple of matches and was doing so great!

There was a fun weekend in St. George with the GCHS golf team for a tournament.

(Wow... Can we all appreciate that leg muscle of Kenna's,)

Saige was loving life in Orlando.

Loving her roommates.

Loving her job.

Loving Disney.

Loving living her best life!

And then she got word that it was all over and she had to come home...

It was so sad...

We had one last celebration with Paige and Buck to find out their baby is a GIRL...

And then life changed...

The coronavirus changed everything.

Friday the 13th was the last normal day we experienced.

Saturday March 14th changed everything.

School started to look like this...

 and this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

There was a lot more of this...

And working out in the basement instead of the Sports Academy.

There was a lot more baking...

I started and "almost" finished 3 quilts those last two weeks of March.

 (two are still at my friends house being "quilted".)

This cutie sewed too..

Every stitch of this darling blanket.

There were lots of movies.

Lots of family games.

Family dinners EVERY night.

More time for scripture study and Come Follow Me discussions.

The start of Home Church.

Lots of laughs.

Definitely some tears.

Late nights and sleeping in.

This whole experience is so surreal.

On one hand it's so sad.

The girls have missed so much...

Dance, soccer, golf seasons.  The cheer banquet. School events. Friends.  School Dances. etc. etc.

On the other hand...

Honestly... it's my dream come true.

Nothing on the calendar.

No where to go.

Uninterrupted time with my sweet girls.

Organization projects.

"De-junking"

Feeling self-sufficient that I had food/supplies prepared for something like this.

etc. etc.

The girls have been INCREDIBLE...

There has been very little complaining... and they definitely have things to complain about.

They've all done great with home schooling and make it so easy on me since they do it themselves.

Saige finished up her online Spring quarter @ USU almost 4 weeks early.

Obviously she wasn't too excited about doing online school while in Florida but she was SOOO glad she'd done it when she had to come home... cuz she had a lot of free time on her hands!

I've learned a lot.

A lot of things that I don't want to ever forget.

Since this is a journal for my family I want to explain MY feelings about this whole experience.

I know it's not popular opinion.

But it's my opinion.

I know this situation is hard in so many different ways for different people.
I also know that I haven't experienced the same thing that many have.

But...

I'm grateful.

Grateful for the opportunity to be with my family.

Grateful that this hasn't disrupted Shane's work much.

Grateful for our health.

Grateful for technology that makes it possible for education to continue.

Grateful for amazon.

Grateful for curbside restaurants

Grateful for curbside grocery shopping.

Grateful for President Nelson and our other church leaders.
Grateful for General Conference and the messages that were shared.
Grateful for social media and the incredible messages I've read there.

Grateful for the opportunity to serve... and be served.

Grateful for the opportunity to fast and pray.

I believe with my whole heart that we have been blessed.

All of us...

I remember the first time that President Nelson asked us to fast...

I told myself that whatever happened I would NOT let myself follow the masses who were worrying about the numbers...  that I would be grateful.
And that I would recognize the Lord's hand.

It was inevitable.

No one would be happy or satisfied.

...if the numbers weren't high enough... then we shouldn't have quarantined.

...If they're too high... we should have quarantined sooner.

But either way... both sides would blame the government etc. etc.

What do we learn that way?

Unfortunately, that's what we see everywhere now.

And honestly, I don't understand...

What about prayer?

What about fasting?

What about God?

The numbers are lower than projected.

Shouldn't we be grateful for that?

Can we give some credit to our Heavenly Father who undoubtedly wanted us to learn something...

To refocus our lives...

Can we give some credit to the fact that people put their lives on hold to protect others?
Why discount that?

For me this whole experience has been super spiritual.

It's given me time to slow down...

to think about what is most important in this experience we call life.

And really... it's not all the activities we've missed.

It's about families... relationships with people... serving others...  looking outside ourselves...  growing... improving.

That's pretty much it.

When we look back on 2020 and Covid-19... maybe some will say it was dumb of us to do all of this.

But I won't.

Maybe... it depends more on what we LEARNED from this experience... than what we MISSED from this experience.

I'm choosing to be grateful for the "growing" opportunity that this disrupted life experience has brought.

All in all March 2020 was the greatest month I've ever experienced.
My girls agree... that's not to say that April didn't get to be old... but March, we LOVED March!