Covid- Is it over?

 It's been over a year since the Covid-19 Pandemic shut down the world.  It has been a WEIRD last year.  Masks, schools being closed or happening over zoom, people working from home, movie theaters and other public places closed, hand sanitizer for days, toilet paper and clorox wipe shortages, close contact quarantines, people filled with fear and panic.  I don't want to downplay the seriousness of what this pandemic has caused.  Many people have died and lives have been changed forever because of it.  Jobs have been lost.  It's been a challenging and difficult time.  

Over the last few months things have finally started to look more normal.  After doing the first half the year school year bouncing between hybrid learning, online learning, and in-person learning, our kids finally went back to in-person school full time for the last few months.  It has been great!  The kids haven't particularly loved that they have to wear masks all the time but they've managed.  Three safe and effective covid vaccines were approved in record time and been distributed over the last few months.  There are a variety of side-effects people have experienced from these, but they are said to have a 97% effective rate.  Jon has been fully vaccinated for a couple months now and has been able to ditch his mask and I just had my second shot about a week and a half ago!  (They say it takes until 2 weeks after your second shot for full vaccine effectiveness.) 

Church has lifted the mask mandates (though it is still strongly encouraged) so Jon and the kids have gone mask free the last couple of times and I will join them when I hit my full 2 weeks!  Last week the CDC announced it was now considered safe for vaccinated people to meet in groups of any size inside or out (this seemed obvious but oh well) and then just this week the governor of Iowa signed a law that the schools can no longer mandate mask wearing and that the cities can't force businesses to require masks.  I had 3 very happy kids go to school Thursday with NO MASKS, the first time for the 2020-2021 school year!  It was Zach's first time ever going to school without a mask, since this was his first year of school, and he told me, "I can't believe my dream came true!"  

So then, is it over?  Is the Covid craziness finally coming to an end??

Well.....sort-of, a little bit, maybe, kind-of......

Numbers are definitely going down.  Numbers of Covid cases, covid hospitalizations, and covid deaths have all been dropping pretty steadily.  The vaccines have proven effective and more and more people are getting them.  New laws are opening things up more and pushing more towards normal, but what even is "normal" anymore.  Here's the thing: so many people are still afraid to go back to pre- covid "normal".  Each time the church or government has made a move to life restrictions, there has been blowback.  People don't think it's safe to take off masks yet, people are worried about the kids, what about the people who aren't vaccinated yet- etc., etc. etc.  The fear and super low-risk tolerance are crazy!  It's almost like people have forgotten that there are other sicknesses out there besides covid, and always have been.  Yes, there is still a risk to the kids- a small one- smaller than perhaps many other diseases that we are not taking measure for.  Yes it is still possible to get covid after being vaccinated, but it's highly unlikely.  It can be so frustrating for Jon and I to try and understand people's reasoning and logic these days.  

I texted a friends who I knew had been pretty cautious with covid, but who I also knew was starting to get out a little more, about meeting at a park for our kids to play.  She told me that she wasn't allowing her kids to "mix" with any kids who were in school full-time.  Another friend wouldn't meet us at a park because there were too many kids there.  The risk to kids is very small.  The risk of spreading and contracting covid outdoors is very small.  And yet, people still can't get over the "what ifs?"   After the governor said no more masks in school, some people still chose to have their kids wear masks, and then were upset because since most kids were NOT wearing masks, their kids felt uncomfortable.  So they want everyone to be wearing masks again so that the few who still feel they are necessary can feel more comfortable.  It's strange.   

I'm not sure what the new normal is going to be.  I'm not sure how long its going to take the majority of people to feel comfortable again.  I am grateful that vaccines are available.  I'm grateful that we've been kept healthy.  I'm grateful that schools and businesses are open and things seem to be trending towards "normal" again.  I guess we will have to continue just taking things one day at a time!   

Happy THREE Miss Madi!

 

Our sweet Madi turned 3 years old on Friday, May 14!  She was so excited for her birthday and had been talking about it for weeks.  She told me she wanted a pink and purple birthday and a pink cake!  I was happy to comply and made sure we had lots of pink and purple balloons and banners and we ordered a pretty sweet pink ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!  

Madi woke up on her birthday morning to a brand new big girl bike with training wheels!  She was pretty excited and spent her morning sitting on it while she watched her morning shows.  Madi was smiling almost the whole day on her birthday and made sure to tell everyone we saw it was her special day.  She kept telling me to sing her "Happy Birthday" until she got tired of it and then said, "Ok, that's enough singing."  That was her response to anyone who sang it to her the rest of the day.  

In the mid-morning we met some friends at the park to play and have donuts.  Madi loved the attention.  After getting Zach off to school and watching some princess song youtube videos- her latest obsession- she took a nap.  For dinner we had dominoes pizza and strawberries (the strawberries were a special request by Madi), and then the yummy pink ice cream cake for dessert!   After dinner we opened presents.  Madi got a pink kitty happy napper (so she won't steal Zach's anymore)- she loved it!, she got a doll, some wooden dress up dolls, a color wonder book, some dresses, a quillow from Grandma Day, and Zach even went through his toy box and wrapped up some of his old toys for her!   Colton made her a picture with some cardboard a picture of her princesses he had printed and Katie gave her a toy horse from the dollar store.  

Madi got to watch some Frozen 2 and facetime with Grandma to finish off the day.  At the end of the day she said, "I wish it could be my birthday EVERY day."   We can't imagine our lives without Madi!  We are so grateful to have her in our family!

Madi at 3:

Personality: Stubborn as can be.  Very independent and insistent on the things she does and does not want to do.  Has a very silly side and likes to try and tell jokes and be silly.  She is very expressive and dramatic.  She likes to make faces and play pretend a lot.  She loves to be held and snuggle with her family.  When Zach sits by her on the couch, she'll often put her arm around him and rub his head.  She talks quite a bit and is pretty easy to be understood for a 3 year old.  She can also be incredibly sweet and will often say, "Mom, I love you" or "Mom, you're my best friend".   She likes to be fancy and put on accessories and dress up.  

Favorite Food: Chicken nuggets, noodles of all kinds (except spaghetti- she does not like spaghetti!), and pizza

Favorite Colors: Pink and Purple

Favorite Shows: Muppet Babies, Vamperina, princess shows

Favorite Character: Disney Princesses

Favorite Princess: All of them, but not Gaston.  

Favorite Movie: Probably Frozen 2

Favorite Animal: Pigs, llamas, and kitties

Favorite Game: Old Maid

When she grows up:  She wants to be an animal.

Easter Fun 2021

 We had a lot of fun celebrating Easter this year!  The weekend before Easter, Mark and Jenna's family came down to visit and we had fun playing, making bunny masks, and having a big Easter Egg Hunt together in the yard.  The kids love playing with their cousins and it was great to get to share the holiday fun with them!  

Easter weekend we got to go have another Easter egg hunt with some more cousins (once removed 😀).  Jason and Kendra's family invited over for dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt Friday night and once again, the kids had a blast!  They all got way too much candy, but what can you do?  Mark and Jenna stayed at our house again Friday night, on their way back from TX, so we didn't do Easter baskets Saturday morning like we usually do.  We just played with cousins some more until they took off for home in MN.  

Sunday, Easter morning, was met with Easter baskets full of lots of goodies, hidden chicks, new Easter outfits, Easter pictures in Easter outfits, and General Conference.  The kids ate their treats and played on their writing tablets they all got in their baskets during conference.  Katie even made an impressive portrait of President Nelson!  I made some breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls and we all just enjoyed the relaxing day.  

It was a good Sunday with family and wonderful messages from conference.  We are so grateful for the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We are so grateful for the knowledge that we can be with our families forever after this life!

Spring Break 2021: Trip to Branson

We really wanted to do SOMETHING for Spring Break but timing with Jon's job, our own energy levels and schedules, we knew it needed to just be somewhere drivable for a couple of days.  We did some vrbo and airbnb surfing, looking for a place with a hot-tub, because I figured that if we at least had a hot tub then we'd have something to have fun with wherever we went.  We also decided to go South, hoping we'd get somewhere at least a few degrees warmer.  

We ended up finding a little cabin in Branson, MO!  I had heard good things about Branson but never been so we figured it should be a good time!  We just drove down Thursday of Spring break and came back Saturday so it was very short, especially considering the drive ending up being a lot longer than we anticipated.  The 6 hour drive (which was actually 6 1/2 but we had rounded down in our heads), plus 4 kids and food and bathroom breaks, plus pit stops, ended up being more like 9 hours and was very tiring!  Next time we will have to stay in Branson a couple more days to make it worth it!

On the way down we stopped at Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  It was slightly out of the way but we figured we might as well since it was so close!   Adam-Ondi-Ahman was revealed to be the place where Adam and Eve came to live after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden.  It is also the place where Saints are to gather around the 2nd coming of Christ.  It was basically a big empty valley and fields, but it was pretty and neat to be there!

Thursday night was pretty cold when we got to the cabin but everyone still wanted to get in the hot tub!  The kids had a blast playing around in it, even long after Jon and I decided it was too cold to be outside!  

Friday morning we went to a place called Top of the Rock for the Lost Canyon Cave and Nature Trail.  It was a 2 mile loop you go on on a golf cart that goes by a bunch of waterfalls and through a big cave with waterfalls.  It was really cool and gorgeous!  Only downside was that it was a bit chilly and about halfway through kids started needing to go to the bathroom and whining a bit, but overall it was definitely worth it!  I would go again for sure!

After grabbing some lunch, the kids spent the afternoon playing in the hot tub while Jon and I relaxed and read books.  Then we went out and walked through the cabin community- which appeared to be an old golf course, and explored some of the ponds and trails and played on the playground.  Colton found some tadpoles in the pond and was pretty excited about it, but also pretty bummed he couldn't catch one.  For dinner that night we opted to go to a local restaurant.  It was...not good.  Haha, I tried to stay positive, and I guess it was sort-of fun to be out at a restaurant with the family after the last year of being home all the time, but the food was not good.   After dinner we did another walk around the trails and played on the park some more.  After kids went to bed Jon and I watched a movie, and went out to enjoy some kid-free night time hot tubbing :)

Saturday we stopped by a Wild Animal Safari that had been recommended on the way home.  It was about an hour north of Branson so we opted to do it as a pit-stop on the way home.  In hindsight, it made the drive home REALLY long, so I probably wouldn't do it that way again.  

The safari was cool.  They had a "walk-about" and a drive-through portion.  The drive-through portion was pretty cool and felt legit enough.  The walk about was....interesting.  It felt a little to close to a Joe Exotic establishment (from Tiger King).  It seemed a bit run-down, the cages didn't seem totally up to code, there were monkeys in random cages in the corner of the gift shops and it reeked in there!  It was a little weird.  Hopefully it was all on the up and up!  The drive-through part was pretty fun.  Lot of animals to see and many came right up to the windows for the kids to pet!  Zach was ecstatic that he got to pet a zebra.  He said, "It's always be my dream to pet a Zebra!"  There were some pretty huge long horned cows that freaked us out trying to stick their heads in the window as well, and ended up slobbering all over the inside of the window.  Madi did not much care for the animals sticking their heads in the window.  She would lay all the way down on my lap to get away and shake her hands at them to go away.  She said her favorite were the piggies.  She really wanted to pet the piggies but unfortunately they were too short and we weren't allowed to get out of our car.  We saw ostriches, wild pigs, elk, caribou, bison, zebras, donkeys, something that looked like a mix between a donkey and zebra which we named a Zonkey, a bear, wolves, and much more!  (The more dangerous animals were fenced off.)  It was a pretty fun experience but got a little long in the end.

As I mentioned, the drive home felt REALLY long and we were pretty exhausted when we finally got there but overall, though not a rejuvenating trip, it was fun and nice to get out and do something different!  

ADAM ONDI-AHMAN

Jon told her to shush 😂

BRANSON