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.

Quarantine Week 3

For our Come Follow Me lesson on Sunday, we were looking at the globe to see where Jesus lived his earthly life and where he appeared to the Nephites after His resurrection. Damon pointed to the equator and said it was a road that Jesus took. We moved on, and a couple minutes later Tessa raised her hand to make a comment. She said, "I'm glad Damon said that about the road, so he can learn from his mistake." Paul and I were laughing so hard. Then she taught Damon about what the equator is called and how it's not a road. She just could not move on without correcting Damon. :)

We had a few days of sun that week and the kids soaked it up!

Rockwell loved eating peanuts out in the sun. I only let him eat peanuts in their shells outside since they make such a mess, so he was happy for some nice weather. :)

Damon has been enjoying the activities that Mrs Roxi sends home for him.

 

Rockwell and Tessa hid the Easter eggs from his packet in the yard over and over again for him.

Tessa and Rockwell both had their first Google Hangout with their classes. They loved seeing their friends again!!

Rockwell's class did a MadLib with him, and he thought that was awesome. Paul ordered a book of MadLibs and we have been having so much fun with them. I love to hear Paul and Rockwell laughing their heads off doing them together. Rockwell sends Marco Polos to Wyatt reading his favorite ones, and he's currently on FaceTime with Wyatt filling some out.

Tessa enjoys seeing Mrs. Smith's videos every day. One day she read Click Clack Moo and Click Clack Quack to the kids, and Tessa got our copies and followed along.

I walked past the reading room one day and Damon was sitting in a chair flipping through Fablehaven. A few minutes later he found me in the kitchen and said, "Don't worry Mom, I did my reading. I read four pages." Ha! Sure ya did buddy! :)

Tessa's porcupine Prickles disappeared a few years ago. She has tried looking for him here and there over the years, but she's been really sad and crying about it a lot lately. We looked online to find one that looks as similar to the original Prickles as we could find. The new Prickles arrived this week, and she could not be happier about it!

Governor Herbert extended school closures until May 1st, at least. We're hanging in there. Paul has only gone into work once or twice a week, and that's been really great. I'm glad Todd and Ryan want to be at the school, so Paul only has to go in when they can't be there. The hardest part is still that we just miss our family and friends. I FaceTimed with my sisters one day, and that was really good for my soul. I'm glad my kids have each other to play with here at home, and that they generally have fun together. 

Quarantine Week 2

Quarantine is probably not the correct term to use, but it rolls off the tongue easier than social distancing, so I'm going to call it that. :)

We started off week 2 with a new video and picture from Fahima. Waking up to that email Sunday morning was such an uplift for me. We have been worried about her and her family, and praying extra hard for their health and that her dad can continue working. It was so fun to see her again, and to get updates on Instagram about what World Vision is doing in Bangladesh to teach about hygiene and social distancing. Isn't she just so cute?!

 

While Paul was at Sister Gerdy's house giving her the sacrament, I made the kids take some pictures. They looked so nice in their Sunday clothes, especially after so many days of nothing but pajamas. :) We definitely got some cute ones!

I think this one looks like it could be the album cover for a band. :)

When Paul got home, we had the sacrament and our Come Follow Me lesson. It was neat to do that at home, and have the kids up close and personal with the sacrament table.

The school week was still pretty strenuous for Rockwell, but he tried his hardest to be efficient and focused. There were a few assignments that he really enjoyed, and it was great to see him excited about learning again. He measured a lot of things around the house for math.

He made a rock classification kit for science and loved that! He wanted to make a bigger version for himself, and asked if we could go search for rocks somewhere. I took him and Tessa to Rock Canyon and hiked while looking for different kinds of rocks. It felt great to be away from the house! They each came home with quite an assortment of rocks.

Rockwell and Paul built a bigger version of his classification kit for all his new rocks. It was a great combination of the math and science that he's learning right now, since he had to figure out the measurements of the box too.

The state did a spirit week, but the only day my kids wanted to participate in was Pajama Day. :)

One day I was at the table helping Rockwell and Tessa, and Damon was listening to music on the computer. We heard him yell, "Yeah! Sing it!!" I went into the reading room, and he was dancing along to the ABC song. Apparently he was really feeling it. :) It was adorable.

The kids had fun playing outside for recess on the sunny days that week.

Along with all the school work, we tried to have some fun too. There were a few rough moments still, but that's to be expected with 5 people spending 24/7 at home together!!

We finished a 1,000-piece puzzle.

Damon and Tessa made some necklaces.

Rockwell chose to make steak tacos for his meal.

We made a fire and roasted marshmallows.

We had a few people drop things off on our porch. Al and Caitlyn came by to deliver some Dr Pepper Cream Soda and Rock Art for the kids.

Damon and Tessa had a lot of fun painting the rocks. And I enjoyed the Dr Pepper while they did that. :)

Marmie stopped by and dropped off the kids' Christmas presents since we weren't able to make it to the family party. They love their new tents, sleeping bags, and flow rings!!

We bought Onward on amazon prime, and the kids loved watching it in their new sleeping bags. It was a really cute movie.

We've all loved having Paul home so much more!

Our bishop and his wife brought around sidewalk chalk to everyone to Chalk the Block one day. Then when people go for walks around the neighborhood, we can see each other's drawings and quotes on the sidewalk. Tessa thought that was fun. She would get excited when she'd see neighbors looking at her drawings. :)

Rockwell has enjoyed playing games. He made some dice for his music class with notes and rests on them, and was supposed to use them in a board game. He has loved using them with Candyland. It makes the game last forever! But he thinks it's super fun, so we've played that a lot.