Thursday, April 30, 2020

California wedding 2019

It was really a lovely venue. And the kids did not stop exploring, even after the wedding. 

This is the Jen Hatmaker quote I shared. I love her and I love this. 



This cute nephew of mine played hard to get, but he loves him some Auntie Shell. 

The sunset was absolutely beautiful. If it weren’t for those dumb power lines it would be a perfect picture. 

And then Tom took a few with his nice camera. This is now, incidentally, my fb profile pic. 

This is a story of our marriage. He makes me laugh and annoys me, but we’re in it. I choose him. And his lame dad jokes I guess. 

Frankie and Joseph. These cousins get me every time. 



The cupcake dessert station was cute and delicious. So super delicious. 

It got a little chilly after the sun went down. But that didn’t stop our intrepid explorers. 

We danced the night away. 

The look alike cousins. D on the left, Brady on the right.

All the kids loved dancing, especially D. 

It was a lot of fun. 

During weddings we do what we have to to survive. 

D and Melanie cut it up. 

Serious dancing queen. 



Melanie is a fav. She’s seriously so funny. 

Sometimes everyone needs a tv break. 



Day #46

I can’t remember if I shared a pic of the adorable bunnies Delaney made for Addie and Frankie for Easter. She came up with this all by herself.

My favorite part it the tail. She cut some old church socks and glued it on. She’s still a baby genius. 

Another rainy rainy day. I’ve noticed I haven’t taken many pictures lately, so I took some of our mundane tasks. Petticoats with robe on top was Delaney’s outfit for the morn. 

Rotating through their daily tasks. Frankie is perfecting Hedwig’sTheme. 

These girls are getting pretty good at online school. 

We got lunch in the pouring rain. I thought there might be less people there, but there were still lots. I guess a lot of people look forward to picking up lunch. Frankie worked through her headache to tutor. As a frivolous side note , I so wish we’d gotten our upstairs carpet replaced before this mess. Who knows when we’ll be able to do it now now. 

It’s National Oatmeal Cookie Day, so this sweet chef hook e us up. 

We’re working on the Aina’s HP puzzle and it’s a toughie. 

Around sunset the rain stopped and it was beautiful. One of our neighbors shared this. It’s always beautiful after the rain. 

Bubba brought us home a ton of shrimp so I made a creamy sauce for it and the non shrimpers (A&D) ate the leftover baked potatoes. I’ve tried to stop writing about food; but it’s so important to me. 🤷‍♀️

We read about Zeniff and his mistakes and then his humility and how he prepared his people and then they had the power of the Lord. I have been thinking about the beginnings of quarantine, those first weeks of March. We’d received instructions from our stake leadership about preparing for what might be coming. Bishop Darrow asked Tim and I to share with our organizations in whatever way we felt best. Tim and I decided to read the directions word for word. It talked about possible closures and encouraged members to prepare with medications, food, etc. At the time, it felt very alarmist and maybe even scary. After, I was asked by several people to share online what I’d read in Relief Society. It felt presumptuous to take the lead on this, but I felt like the ward should be prepared. I talked to Bishop and he said if I felt like I should share it, to go for it. I posted on fb and also thought I should email it. And then I questioned myself a million times. Was I overreacting? I’ve been known to do that. Everything was still very uncertain, maybe things wouldn’t close down at all. I shared it anyway, followed the recommendations myself, and here we are. 46 days later and things are still uncertain. But if we are prepared we shall not fear. 

Matt and Christian changed the grinder pump today. It exploded with water at one point, but they both assured me it was clean water, and now it’s fixed. I so hope and pray they are right. Also, the jolly green started on its own today. If throngs would stop breaking down we could make some progress for some fun things. 

We watched a few funny vids and put the little girls to bed. 

My fav moment of the day - the Finlayson’s took us up on our Tik Tok challenge and it was everything. 

And another “So we don’t forget...”

Today is Thursday, April 30, 2020.

- We are at 47 days of social isolation.

- Schools have been closed since mid March and are teaching remotely online. This will continue for the rest of the school year. (Except in Maryland they’ll let us know by May 15)

- Non-essential stores have been closed since late March.

- There are lines/tape inside the stores to keep people 6 feet apart.

- Bars and restaurants are only open for home delivery and pick-up.

- Parks, beaches, and walk-in places are not accessible to the public at this time.

- All sports competitions have been cancelled.

- All festivals and entertainment events have been banned.

- Many weddings, family celebrations, and birthdays have been cancelled. Funerals limited to 10-20 people.

-Zoom, which was a business application, is being widely used by everyone to gather groups of people virtually. Socializing, funerals, weddings, and religious activities are being scheduled on Zoom.

- People are doing drive-by parades to celebrate birthdays!🎉

- Young kids can’t understand why they can only see grandparents and other extended family and friends on a screen or thru a window if someone visits in person.  

- Hugs and kisses are not given.

-Airplanes are flying, but the majority of flights are canceled and there are only a handful of people per flight. 

- The churches are closed or online.

- We have to stay away from each other with a recommended 6-feet between us.

- There is a shortage of masks and gloves in hospitals.

- There are fewer ventilators than there should be.

- People are wearing masks and some places even REQUIRE that you wear them to enter. People are making their own masks for sale or donation to medical facilities!

- Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes, and anything Lysol or Clorox is in short supply and limited per person...IF you can even find them.

- Flour and yeast are also nearly impossible to find.

- Stores are closing early to disinfect everything.  (24 hour stores are even closing by 9pm)

- Store check outs, pharmacies, and fast food drive-thru windows have added plexiglass between the employee and customer. You have to reach around or under to pay!

- You can't find isopropyl alcohol easily...supply per person is limited.

- Australia, USA, and Europe have closed their borders.

- Western Australia has been divided into 9 territories and an instant $1,500 fine is issued for crossing the border without a valid reason. (Transport workers, Essential services, etc)
  
- No one is traveling for leisure. Airports are empty. Tourism has the worst crisis in history.

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

More California 2019

The many hi jinx of cousin time. 

Almost ready...

And done!

Just Dance cousin time. 

The next day was wedding setup. The venue was beautiful. A farm on a bill, so rustic and quaint. 

We all had our jobs given to us and I was event manager. I don’t mind telling people what to do so it worked. 

And when I say everyone had a job, I mean everyone. Even grumpy old men. 

Again, the kids were living their best lives. Hills to run and explore and climb. Kid paradise. 

And these cousins! 😭 Joseph is a few weeks younger than Addie, and Oliver is 3. 

More cousin cuteness because come on. 

That night we had a super wild bachelorette party. We got a nice hotel in Menlo Park, played games, ate, and talked. Things get real crazy at 40 year old bachelorette parties. 

At some point it was mani/pedi time, which I would literally kill for right now. My pics are all jumbled so who knows what comes next. 

Amy treated us to airbrush makeup and i felt just like a kardashian. That stuff was caked on and it covered everything. At one point she said “you don’t get your makeup done very often do you?” I guess I’m not like a kardashian after all. 

More cousin dance parties. 

These girls are so lucky their auntie does hair. 

Alli did all the littles hair. Plus she fixed both Amy and sandy’s hair after their stylist didn’t quite get it right. 

We did all our wedding day jobs, and we did them well. 

It was pretty hot, but they provided parasols that helped with some shade. Amy had reached out to all the sisters and we provided the something old, new, borrowed, and blue for Sandy. Then sandy reached out and asked me to speak at the wedding. It was very sweet that they both worked to make things nice for each other. I shared that and a Jen Hatmaker quote about love. I turned both of them in to Jen and it was perfect, short and sweet, just like everyone wants at a hot wedding ceremony.