Flyover

There was a flyover to honor all the health care workers in Utah.  I was at work but we all went outside to watch it and it was really cool.  Bryan took Courtney to Dixie rock to watch but there were a ton of people (no social distancing happening there) and they didn't have as good a view as we did.

Honor Cords

Ethan went to DSU to get his honor cords.  They also gave him his certificate and pin for Sterling Scholar and for Honor Society.  It is a weird end to his educational career at Success.

The braid on the left is for graduating with honors, the silver cord indicates that he has 25 credits at DSU, the gold indicates he has 50 credits at DSU (I think), the medal was Sterling Scholar (but he forgot to wear that to graduation), the paper is the Deseret News with all the Sterling Scholars in it, and the black band is a bracelet.

Here is his cap and gown:

Soccer

Courtney was having a really hard time with quarantine.  Ethan was going to his friend's house to hang out but Courtney was staying home.  For a social kid, that was really hard for her.  One day I couldn't stand it any longer so I texted her best friend's mom and asked: "Would you be okay if the girls social distanced together at the park and played soccer? They can kick to each other from 6 feet away."  She was thrilled to have that happen so Courtney and Sammie got together and played soccer.  Sammie's mom sent me a picture of them outside chatting.

 
I also called Courtney's old Galaxy coach asking if she would consider doing personal training for Courtney.  She was happy to and so Courtney started going to personal soccer training 2 times per week and then practicing with Sammie 2 times per week.  It is amazing what getting out and playing soccer will do for Courtney's mental health.  She was happier and able to deal with online Math and quarantine. ;)

Courtney's hair

Ethan is a pretty chill kid but there is one thing that absolutely drives him NUTS and that is having Courtney's hair on him.   She sheds all over the place and it drives him nuts.  Here is one of his rants when he found a hair wrapped around his toe (I believe).

Graduation Announcement

Ethan's original DSU graduation was May 1st and his Success Academy graduation was May 5th.  But neither one of those happened.  I still wanted to let everyone know that he was graduating and give them some info about his future plans.  I thought they turned out pretty cute.

We mailed the ones for people out of town and we delivered those in our Ward.

Cute Courtney

While Ethan was having his mission pictures taken, Courtney and I were goofing.

Ethan's mission pictures

Ethan wanted mission pictures in front of the temple construction.  One of the counselors who I work with has a daughter who takes great pictures.  She needed some work so I asked if she would take Ethan's pictures.  She did a great job and they turned out really cute. And they will be historical and show what is happening in the world at this time.

Teasing

The amount of teasing in our house has multiplied 1000 times!  One night the kids got into a water fight.  I think that Courtney probably started it but I can't remember for sure.  But it ended with Ethan being covered in water, dousing Courtney with water, and then Courtney upset and crying. 

After Courtney got Ethan wet, she hid in the bathroom.  Ethan filled a cup with water and hid next to the bathroom.  I refused to get involved so Courtney was on her own.  When she came out of the bathroom, Ethan threw the water on her.  She had changed clothes so she wouldn't get something wet that she didn't want to get wet, but she was still mad.

Being quarantined together is not good when the teasing begins.

This was Ethan's proof that Courtney started it.

Dyeing Eggs

I wanted to do something kind of normal for Easter so I bought a kit to dye eggs.  The kids and I had fun and then I tried to make a color rainbow with the extra water.  It didn't work out too well but it was fun to do something.

Ethan promptly ate 6 boiled eggs.  He must have needed some protein.

New Normal, for now

Things have been so crazy with the pandemic.  There has been a run on toilet paper (it's so hard to find and many places are limiting customers to one package per household), hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and food. 

We can't eat inside restaurants but we have been trying to help the economy and people working in restaurants by eating out 3 times per week.  We order take out and pick it up to eat at home.  The kids are loving this part of the pandemic.

Bryan has been working from home which has saved a ton in gas money.  He actually feels more efficient when he is working from home because he has the commute time taken out and he doesn't have people popping into his office to chat.

Ethan and Courtney are doing school from home.  Courtney hasn't had too hard a time although  Math has been giving her fits.  But it will toughen her up. ;)  Ethan's creative writing teacher went nuts for a while and was giving a ton of assignments.  But he soon realized, when they stopped turning them in, that he was giving too many and backed off.  And the photography class Ethan had wasn't too hard. 

I'm still going in to work every day.  Besides the fact that we have been really busy helping parents and students get things worked out online, it hasn't been much different from when the students are in the building...minus the students.  I have had time to get things done, like the file audits, that I didn't have time for before.  And I'm super happy that testing was cancelled!!

Masks are worn by people when they go out and some stores are requiring masks or you can't go in.  I avoid those stores because the CDC and the Southern Utah Health Department have both said that only those who are sick should be wearing masks. 

Utah went from Orange (stay home, stay safe) to Yellow on May 1st.  That means that some restrictions can be eased.  Restaurants can have dine-in but everyone has to be 6 feet apart.  Things have eased a bit and it has been nice.  Since Utah opened, Southern Utah has been flooded with people from other states who want to get out.  Hopefully we can go to Green soon which will be back to (mostly) normal.

But for now, people wear masks, people wear gloves (cross contamination, anyone?), and we go on with life as best we can.

Quarantine Hijinxs

I woke up to this...

And this...

I think the isolation is getting to the kids.

Sterling Scholar

Ethan was supposed to have his Sterling Scholar interview on April 2nd at DSU and then we were going to a banquet and awards ceremony that evening.  However, it was all cancelled and Ethan had his interview via technology.

We were nervous about our internet connection (we had been having problems with it since Bryan had been working from home) so Ethan was able to go to DSU to a special room set up for the interviews.  They asked him questions such as "Who is your favorite news reporter", etc.  He said he felt like he did well.

Ethan borrowed a tweed jacket from a neighbor.  He wanted to look as "academic" as he could so the judges would believe he was the best candidate for English.  There are large scholarships for the winners so it's a great opportunity for these students.  Ethan worked really hard to prepare his huge portfolio and to get things ready for the competition.

This is the group of Success Academy Sterling Scholars.  Ethan is the back row on the right.

On April 7th, the awards were presented via a youtube broadcast.

If you want to watch it, here it is.  Ethan's category starts at about minute 8:35.

He didn't win but we were super excited for him and impressed with all his hard work!

Soccer in the backyard

Courtney has joined a new club soccer team.  After the SCHS soccer season, the girls were supposed to go back to their club teams but Courtney didn't want to go back to hers.  We weren't happy with the coaching and she wanted to try to keep her skills up, which we didn't think would happen with her previous club team.  During basketball season I called around to find out about other teams and found a team I was excited about.  Bryan talked to the coach and he said that, if his team was full, Courtney could still come and practice with them to keep her skills up.  He is a state ranked coach and has a really good reputation so I was excited to have her get the opportunity to at least practice with him.

I paid the fees, Courtney went to 3 practices with the team, we bought the uniform, and the game was coming up when....everything shut down and the season was cancelled!  Ugh.  So Courtney spent quarantine practicing soccer in the backyard.

Class of 2020

There has been a lot of talk about how hard COVID-19 changes are hitting the seniors - the class of 2020.  Here are some memes that reflect what people are saying: