Quarantine (April 2020)

"Shelter in Place."  That was the order for the month of April, meaning we were pretty much stuck to the confines of our home & neighborhood other than for groceries.  Having everyone home 24/7 gave me a lot of time to ponder about how COVID19 was affecting our lives and how we spend our time.  I asked myself, "When this is all over, what will I wish I had done? Spent more time with my hubby & the kids?  Finished projects?  Watched more sunsets?"  And although we had our ups and downs and varying levels of motivation, I did try to be purposeful about each day to combat the omnipresent anxiety, stress, and feel of impending doom lurking in the world outside. So, here is a smattering of how we spent our time: 

. . . there were a lot more family walks along the golf course.  (We may have walked the entire route.)

We discovered the first green flower we had ever seen.

Loved looking at the turtles!

. . . we learned some new tricks on our bikes and Kate & Chris learned how to Rip Stick.

. . . Kate & Kylie helped Chris sand, stain, & refurbish our windchimes.

. . . there were some Just Dance parties.

. . . we did some upkeep on the house.  Stacy arranged for the house to get power washed, Chris fixed the sprinkling system, and Kate engineered a way to dust the really hard to get spots.

. . . virtual school continued, with Chris finishing up his final papers and the girls chugging along with their various subjects.  Meanwhile, Stacy wrote and submitted a couple articles to the Ensign.  (Not sure if they will ever get published, but it was just something to mark off the bucket list!)

Kylie's Self Portrait as an explorer.

Lise's Seminary Class on Zoom

. . . Kate and Kylie discovered how to play Minecraft with friends online . . . 

. . . Chris got some new workout equipment for the garage.  (And is happy to share with the rest of us. 😉)

. . . the time came for a self haircut,

. . . and then a fuzzy creature scurried away when we were done!

. . . Stacy learned to make a slew of new recipes, including lots of salads, main dishes, and even baking bread!

Mango, Black Bean, Quinoa salsa

One-pan chicken, red potato, broccoli bake

Artisan Loaf

Potato Bread

Honey Wheat Bread

. . . we even ventured out a few times for Pounder's Hawaiian Grill takeout and DQ icecream - even though the line was super long!

. . . we did a few puzzles, watched some movies, and had another fire out on the back porch.  The weather was amazing!  We have had the mildest Florida spring since I've lived here.

 It was super nice to have the opportunity to slow down for a few weeks and set our own schedule - Scripture study in the morning, time to exercise, work in the yard, play family games & watch nature shows on Sunday, take walks, have everyone together at dinner, work on projects around the house, try new things.  It was also nice to have Chris around.  He and I haven't had this much consistent time together since we were newlyweds.  And it was wonderful, having him here all day, to realize that he is still my best friend and the person I want to spend forever with.  What a blessing it has been to have him with us for the past month.  It was also great to see him playing with the kids and the kids playing with each other, instead of asking for playdates all the time.   Obviously, we can not continue on like this indefinitely (and frankly, we wouldn't want to),  but for our family, it has been a nice break from what feels like our normal "survival mode" of rushing between the next deployment, the next command, the next move, the next practice, the next recital, the next game, etc.  For a moment, it was nice to just be us and enjoy being together.