Last Sunday was a really beautiful day. Sarah and McKay and Grandma and Grandpa came over for sacrament meeting. We felt a strong spirit during the ordinance itself and then Bethany and McKay gave talks and Grandma and Grandpa bore testimonies. It was really nice. Later that day we took a long walk along the mountain, had a yummy dinner, and then played "the couch game"--which is super tricky and Ben out-thunk us all!

Ammon and Megan came back from California late Sunday night. They had a really fun trip and came back more in love than ever! If that's even possible, right? Since we knew Ammon would come to our house everyday no matter what, in order to cut down on the number of people he interacted with, we invited him to stay at our house for now. They think the quarantine is GREAT! Their high spirits keep us all laughing and happy and Megan even orchestrated a spa night--Ammon included!

Alright, we are not laughing and happy ALWAYS. Mariah misses her place in college life and feels lost here at home with no more track season to work toward and missionary life being disrupted for so many and making her own call feel so uncertain. It didn't help that she had no classes all week because it was her college's spring break. On Friday, she decided to run until she didn't feel like running anymore--that ended up being 17 miles! Megan and Beth were in the car looking for her by the time she finally called from Grandma's house to let us know that she was safe and was going to stay with Grandma for awhile. Come to think of it, it was a lot like when my girls were little and they'd run away from home! It would be funny if it weren't so sad. The good news is that the City Center temple had a cancellation and we will be able (with six guests) to take out her endowment on Wednesday. We found out just yesterday evening. It was a tender mercy for sure.

Savannah is struggling, as well, and I'm not sure how to help her. Her anxiety builds and builds so pandemics are especially hard for her.  Some days she is fine, and I love it when she does stuff with us as a family.

Beth and Ben are probably doing the best (after Megan and Ammon, of course). Their teachers have set up their daily assignments very clearly in Google classroom and the time required to spend on their work has been very doable so far. There are only two girls of the same family here in our new neighborhood and Kevin and I decided they could still play with Beth as long as the girls play outside. So, with friends across the street and sisters more inclined to include her in everything, Beth has not sacrificed much.

Ben has enjoyed having Ammon here. He'll usually play a game of chess with him everyday and throw the football around with him. Cheyenne has also done really well inviting Ben to go up the mountain with her or, yesterday, search for golf balls in the ravine. I am working on getting Bethany to include her little brother more. They fought with tears on both sides yesterday, but they are playing Minecraft together this morning, so I am hopeful.

Cali and Cheyenne miss their friends like they would miss their arms if they were cut off! But, they still have their phones and as far as I can tell they are always in contact with somebody or multiple somebodies whether that is through texting, Duo, Facetime, Marco Polo, or who knows what else! Their teachers have been really intense this week. Each of their eight teachers operates independently and I think they each feel they need to fill up all of these kids' time! Our fingers are crossed that assignments will become more reasonable next week. They also have snuck in some tennis with friends. Tennis is the perfect "social distancing" sport!

Kevin has been stressed and worried that his company will see a big drop in clients with the economic downturn caused by all this social distancing! Already, their company has changed all therapy to online therapy--including online yoga classes and it seems to be working so far. Kevin is still going to work so he has a quiet place to talk with clients. He is working all the time and just hoping it is enough.

It's fine. It's all fine.

Oh, and the dryer broke and we got it fixed and it broke again and the guy came back and cleared the vent and fixed it again and then it broke again but it was Friday evening and they can't come back until Monday afternoon. It's fine.

I'm just going to make a schedule. Then I'm going to stick with it and there will be time for everything! Yay! And this won't last forever. The sun is going to shine again. It really will. Listen to this. Over and over. We do!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqUn-ok3qmQ