March 2020

On March 4, 2020, Emily and Megan turned 9 3/4, so Emily wore her Harry Potter socks in honor of that.

We made a goal to read the Book of Mormon as a family.  We kept track of every day that we read 15 minutes and put a sticker for each day on our calendar.   After 30 stickers, we get to celebrate.  We decided to go to Leatherby's.  It was the kids' first time going to Leatherby's and they were NOT disappointed.

Darrell's (5 different types of ice cream) and mine (ice-cream pie)

Emily 

Tyler

Megan

Tyler's haircut

Our ward's 11-13 year old basketball team made it to the regional tournament.  Little did we know that this would be the last "normal activity" before corona virus would become our "new normal."

  

I went to Winco on March 12 to grab some milk and fresh fruit.  It was CrAzY!.  So many people were getting groceries.  It took me 1 1/2 hours to get through the store.

  

There were 2 lines to check out and both started at the back of the store.

  

The milk was pretty much gone

Yet, the ice cream was hardly touched.

At first I couldn't find any 1% milk, so I got whole and skim to mix

But then, I decided to go for the 1/2 gallon option--much better.

After being laid off 2 years and 2 months previously and having had some part-time jobs, Darrell finally found a full-time job with the Better Business Bureau.  We went to the Spaghetti Factory to celebrate.

More documentation of the weirdness of coronovirus at Costco.

  

Me stocking up on the very essentials. ;)

When we started doing home church, we used Emily's little doll cups (and a medicine cup) for the Sacrament cups.

I pulled out a puzzle to help with passing time. I love puzzles.  The kids helped a little, but mainly it was a way for me to escape the tedious lesson planning that accompanied distance learning.

Family bike ride around the nearby bike trails.

The kids found this "hide out" in the summer when it was covered in leaves.  It looked a little different in March.

On Friday, March 13, the governor ordered that schools be closed for a "soft closure" for the next 2 weeks.  On Monday, March 16, the teachers went into the school to have a dstanced faculty meeting an to plan for a week of digital learning.  (Our spring break took up part of the projected 2-week break.)

The kids made a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's Day.

Green clover pancakes for breakfast and green mashed potatoes for dinner.

Getting ready for distance learning.  It was a novelty to have the school Chromebooks at home.

On Wednesday, March 18, I was just waking the kids up to get ready for our first day of distance learning when a 5.7 earthquake hit 2-3 miles from our house.  I jumped on top of Emily who was still in her bed to "keep her safe."  Everything I'd learned about earthquake safety went out the window--I just thought about protecting the nearest child.  We could hear glass breaking downstairs during the shaking.  

Upon inspection we found the cupboard with our "good dishes" had opened up and things had fallen out.  That is what the breaking glass sound was that we heard. A few things fell out of our "linen/medicine" closet and several things fell off of dressers.

 

Many things fell off the shelves in our food storage.  Amazingly we only had a bottle of salsa and a bottle of jam break, although that was plenty of mess to clean up.

  

Emily and I had an appointment at the district's wellness center for asthma medication later that day.  We wanted to be prepared in case the corona virus hit her lungs.  There were a few aftershocks while we were at the wellness center.  Emily and I stopped by the school on the way home.  There was a little bit of damage there.  Here was a broken light cover.

Here is what the stem lab storage room looked like. A lot of the 5th grade chemicals fell off of the shelves.  The worst thing was the vinegar bottle that spilled and made everything smell yucky.

This was the extent of the damage in my classroom.

  

The ceiling tile moved and there was a lot of debris on all surfaces.

 

The rolling shelves moved a little under the counters and away from my desk.

 

This is what happend in my coworkers' rooms.

 

Some weird things to remember after the earthquake and during quarantine--WinCo was no longer a 24-hour store and Target had carts blocking the entrance to say they were closed.

  

We made homemade playdough to help pass the quaratining time.

We went out to a park in Magna for "PE" and passed by this building with the facade that had fallen down.

Darrell and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversay by getting take-our from Chili's.

 

I also tried on my wedding dress per tradition, although I can't do it up in back.

The kids had fun dressing up.  Emily with the tiara and Megan in my dress.

  

Megan in my dress and Tyler in his suit.

 

Emily and Tyler decided to zip themselves up in the wedding dress bag.

  

We celebrated Darrell's birthday two days after our anniversary. 

The kids sent him on a scavenger hunt to get his Build-a-Bear dog who is named Max, after a dog Darrell had as a child. 

  

We got take-out from Black Bear Diner

He had a puppy cake.

  

Even the stuffed animals got in on the action.  Silly Emily.

 

The kids got out and did some chalk art to pass the time.

Doggy Daycare

A couple last things to remember during the month--Zoom faculty meetings and signs at WinCo to instruct people how to distance from each other.