Quarantine Week 4

We enjoyed watching General Conference over the weekend. Attendance at each session was limited to the first presidency, and the people who were speaking or praying during that session. Each of them sat 6 feet apart to observe social distancing protocols. The choir performances were previous recordings from past sessions. Everything about life is just so different right now. President Nelson read a new proclamation, called The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They had filmed him reading it while standing in the Sacred Grove, since it has been 200 years since the First Vision where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith. President Nelson also led us in the Hosanna Shout. He also announced a new logo for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, one that focuses more on Christ and our belief in His resurrection. There was an earthquake a couple weeks ago, which caused Moroni's trumpet to fall off from the top of the Salt Lake temple. The meme that came out about the logo change the next day was hilarious!

The earthquake was a 5.6 magnitude and the epicenter was in Magna. I woke up to our bed and the furniture in our room shaking, and just couldn't believe that we were having an earthquake along with everything else going on right now. The kids felt the shaking, but Paul was getting ready in our bathroom and didn't feel a thing. What we felt at our house was nothing compared to what our families and friends felt in West Jordan, Taylorsville, and West Haven. Luckily everyone checked in through text pretty quickly so we knew everyone was okay. They continued to feel aftershocks for days and days after that though, and I imagine every one was very unnerving. I was on the phone with my mom that morning, and could hear the frames and furniture shaking in her house during one of the large aftershocks. The whole thing added another level of weirdness to our lives at this point.

Sunday night Paul made such a delicious and beautiful dinner that I took a picture. :) Skewers with chicken, pineapple, and peppers with quinoa rice on the side and pina coladas to drink. Yum!! Food is something that brings me joy during this whole quarantine life.

The ACM awards were scheduled for that night, but were of course postponed. Instead, the country music artists performed songs from their homes. The duos and groups did it through FaceTime calls. Again, weird times. But that was something I really enjoyed watching. A lot of them chose one of their songs that have an uplifting message, so it was really fun to watch. It certainly wasn't the Little Big Town concert, but it was fun to hear some of my favorite artists sing some of my favorite songs. 

Shiree left some flowers from her yard on our porch to let us know she was thinking about us. We all appreciated the thoughts and the beauty.

This week has been our Spring Break, so we haven't done a single bit of school work. We have relaxed and played all week long. Paul has done a lot of yard work and made our yard look great! Poor Tessa had a couple days where she didn't feel well. Damon got sick a few weeks ago. His eyes were really watery/crusty for a couple days, and then he had a fever one evening. He went to bed and woke up 2 hours later absolutely drenched. He had sweat the fever out, but then had a cough for a while. He never seemed to feel bad, but would cough a lot whenever he was active. I must have caught it too because I started coughing a couple weeks after that. I was very grateful for my phlegm and lack of fever, because everything I read about the Rona made me feel confident it was not that. :) I did have a couple days where I felt bad though, and Tessa seemed to have all the same symptoms that I did. So she did a lot of resting this week while the boys and I tried to be outside as much as we could. 

Rockwell and Damon spent a lot of time in the hot tub one day.

Another day we played soccer and baseball and rode bikes in the front yard.

I took Rockwell and Damon on a hike. We went to the trailhead for Battlecreek Falls in Pleasant Grove, but the trail was packed with people. I noticed a narrow trail heading in another direction, so we explored that trail and didn't pass anyone.

It was fun to try a new trail, and to see the beautiful views and enjoy the sunshine!

The boys loved finding and collecting all the bullet shells in this open space.

Tessa did go out in the hot tub a couple times this week. She wasn't 100% though, and spent a lot of time just sitting on my lap.

We played Suspend one night, and Damon would do this crazy evil-sounding laugh after every one of his turns. We were all laughing so hard!

The kids wanted homemade pizzas again, and this time Damon wanted to help make them. He even ate a piece of it too. He didn't love it, but at least he ate a piece. We were happy about that.

We finished another puzzle.

My uncle Ron arranged a Hawkins Family zoom meeting Saturday night. There were a lot of people who joined! It took a while at the beginning to get all the aunts connected and comfortable on there. :) Matt sent out a meme on the family text thread during that time that was pretty funny.

It was really fun to see everyone in their homes, and hear memories of when Grandma and Grandpa were raising their kids. It was also interesting to hear how everyone is handling our new way of life. It was just good to see everyone and visit with family.