More Stories From Our Time At Home

The days have stretched to weeks and the weeks have stretched to months. It is now into May and Alison and I still find ourselves at home. We have many reasons to be grateful. We have continued to work from home. We are grateful we have that opportunity. We are fortunate we work for stable companies that continue to provide us with employment. We have been healthy and safe, and so have the other members of our family.

I have heard Alison say a few times that, while this is not a situation we would ever choose, one day when this is all over we will likely look back and be grateful for the opportunity we had to spend so much time together.

Spending so much of our time at home can get old fast. The days often blend together. Alison and I have both commented it is more difficult to get up and out of bed in the morning when the deadline to get out the door and get to work isn't there. There is also real anxiety because of the uncertainty of the coming months and years. When will it be safe to begin a return toward normalcy? What will the world look like when this is all over? Alison and I like to plan and be in control. There is no way to plan with confidence and no chance at control right now. We have to learn to live in this moment and be flexible.

Here are a few of the stories I want to remember from the time of corona:

Working From Home

Alison and I have settled into the work from home life. It has its challenges and benefits, but overall it is great to be able to spend so much time together. We will be happy to reclaim our dining room table for actual dining, rather than as a work space/puzzle staging area when this is all over. I will be home until at least May 15 and Alison is set to be home until June. Tex and CC have also gotten used to us being home. They mostly ignore us and sleep all day.

Picture taken at the end of a trip to the grocery store. This is how Alison feels about covid-19. 

Driveway Surprise

On the Tuesday after Easter I opened the garage to take out the trash and recycling to find messages and pictures from the neighbor kids all over our driveway. This was there way of thanking us for hiding some Easter eggs in their front yards. It was a touching surprise.

Paddle boards

We decided to buy some paddle boards. This purchase has been on our list for a while, but with the warm weather coming, and the uncertainty of whether or not we will be able to rent paddle boards from Daybreak this season we decided it was time. We are really happy with our purchase. They lived in our dining area for about a week while we were waiting for the rack we ordered to arrive. We got CC and Tex to hang out on them while they were on the floor. Then we moved them out to their permanent home in our garage.

When the weather was warm we couldn't wait to take our paddle boards out on the lake. Our first time out was a warm, somewhat windy afternoon. It was busy by the lake, so we had to park a little ways off and carry our boards down to the beach. They aren't too heavy, but the wind made carrying them a bit of a challenge. When we were on the water we quickly realized that while the boards looked giant in our house, they didn't seem giant on the water. This meant the balance on them is sensitive. I got out and the water and stood up only to fall right into the lake. It took me a minute, but before long I had adjusted and was able to balance. Alison had no difficulty at all. The wind was at our backs on the way out so we flew halfway around the lake. When we turned around we ran into some trouble. The wind was strong and we couldn't make any headway while standing up. We eventually both knelt down on our boards and slowly made our way back to the starting point. Being out on the paddle boards was fun. We learned some important lessons: 1 - the boards are sensitive and 2 -when it is windy we should shuttle so we can paddle with the wind. We are excited for many more afternoons/evenings out on the paddle boards this year. 

Spiral Jetty

I talked Alison into taking the 2 hour and 15 minute drive to the Spiral Jetty. I was antsy and wanted to get out of the house. I heard about the Spiral Jetty in school and thought it might be interesting. We considered going earlier, during our stay at home time. We didn't feel that great about it, until Governor Herbert opened State Parks to any Utah residents (not just those who live in the same county as the park). This made us feel a little better about our decision to take the couple of hour drive. We were doing great on the drive up until we reached Golden Spike National Monument. At that point we were ~16 miles from the Spiral Jetty, but those 16 miles were on dirt roads. Alison was not thrilled at that development. I navigated the road just fine, but Alison would have preferred less dirt/dust. When we arrived at the parking lot there were more cars and people than I expected. We made our way down to the Jetty. On our way Tex walked over a big snake. It freaked us out. We quickly walked in a different direction. The Spiral Jetty was a little underwhelming. I flew my drone and we walked around and explored. When we were leaving we ran into one of Alison's coworkers. That is pretty incredible considering we were in the middle of nowhere. I wouldn't really recommend the Spiral Jetty, but I will say in hindsight it was a fun activity that got us out of the house. Alison would probably disagree with that assessment. 

Puzzle Time

We continued to use some of our extra time to do puzzles. We did a puzzle exchange with one of our neighbors. We put together their Pets Rock puzzle.

Originally the puzzle was missing a piece, but our neighbors found it on the day we finished the puzzle 

We also worked on the difficult 1,000 piece Matterhorn puzzle Alison purchased early on during the stay at home order. Most puzzles were sold out, but she found this one was available - I wonder why? Maybe because it is nearly impossible. This was the most challenging one we did to date. It took us a little over a week to complete. At times it was frustrating, but it was so satisfying when it was complete.

Disney Sing-along

When we heard Disney was putting together a sing-a-long we planned to watch it with Kristin, Dan, Skylee and Holly. It was fun to sing and dance with them. We are grateful to live close to family during this crazy time. 

Challah bread 

We decided to make challah bread one Sunday. Alison got up at 7am to get it ready before home church. We had home church with Kristin and Dan. The bread was baking while we were doing home church. Alison took the opportunity to teach Skylee about the Israelite time wandering in the wilderness and miracle of manna. She explained how this story relates to the bread she made. After she finished explaining that often, Jewish people will make two loaves of bread to represent the double portion of manna provided on the sabbath, but that we only made one loaf, Skylee told us that maybe the two braids could represent the same thing. After home church we enjoyed this very yummy bread.

Crumbl

Recently our old debit card expired so the bank sent us a new one. When I was getting the old one out of Alison's wallet to destroy it, I noticed she had a gift card for Crumbl cookies. She had completely forgotten about it. We decided now was as good a time as any to use it. We went to get some cookies and found out the gift card was good for 4 cookies. Since this was more than we wanted to eat we took them over to Kristin and Dan's house. We shared our cookies with them. I also went on a walk around the neighborhood with Skylee. She rode her scooter and I walked behind her. She gets very bored with the current restrictions and is always looking for a friend. She talked my ear off on our walk. When we got back to the house Kristin had a school meeting so we helped entertain the girls. We played Clue Junior with Skylee and followed Holly around the house. They are such cute girls. It was a spontaneous evening. 

Alison's Birthday

We celebrated Alison's birthday. While we would have preferred to celebrate without all of the restrictions, it turned out great. We had a small get together at Dan and Kristin's house. Dan made some cheese fondue. Alison and I brought potatoes, crusty bread, pears and apples for dipping. I also made a spinach and artichoke dip. Debbie brought some fruit. For dessert we had a chocolate mousse cake from Gourmandise. It was delicious. We spent the evening chatting, playing outside with Skylee and Holly, and celebrating Alison. Skylee made some notes and birthday signs that she hung up around the house. It was the cutest. One highlight of the evening was watching the girls go down the little roller coaster they have set up in their backyard. Alison told me after that party, while she would not have chosen to celebrate her birthday this way, it was one of her favorite birthdays.

When we wrapped up our celebration we took the extra cake to my grandparent's and Alison's grandma. We called my grandparents and told them we left some cake on their porch. My grandma was really grateful and told us this is what she calls "deluxe distancing". We also left a piece of cake on Alison's grandmother's porch. Alison rang the doorbell and we breathed a sight of relief when Aleene's stopped her dog Misty from eating the cake. She stood on her porch and we sat in our car and visited for a bit from a distance. Alison got to spend time with the people she loves the most on her birthday, which really made the day special.

It's a Small World wooden puzzle

For her birthday I got Alison the It's a Small World wooden puzzle. She has loved puzzles lately so I thought this would be a fun activity for us to do together. It turned out Alison is not really into wooden puzzles. The thought of having to carefully remove each piece from a wooden square stressed her out. Instead, I got to do the puzzle and Alison got to enjoy the results. It only took me a few days. It turned out to be really cool. The doors and windows open and characters pop out. Alison was happy with her gift.

Picnics and Paddle boards

One night we invited Kristin, Dan, Skylee, and Holly to meet us for a picnic by the Daybreak lake. It turned out to be a beautiful, warm, clear night. We ate food and then played on the paddle boards. Skylee loved the paddle boards. She was a natural. I took her out and stood in the water by her while she got used to balancing while paddling. She fell in the lake a couple of times, but got right back up on the board. It wasn't long until she was comfortable. I jumped on the other paddle board and followed her around. She quickly mastered steering her board. When she was done paddling Alison took her back over by her parents and I took one of the paddle boards for a quick spin around the lake. The water was so smooth and the lake was beautiful as the sun was setting. It was a very peaceful night. I even saw a little family of ducklings. When I got back to our picnic area Dan and Kristin took Holly home, but Skylee stayed with us so she could paddle board more. She got back in the water and kept paddling around. She wasn't really ready to leave, but we got her out of the water around 8pm and told her we would bring her back many times during the summer. She then decided she needed to come to our house to have a bath. This turned into an impromptu sleepover. Skylee didn't have any clothes so Alison managed to build her an outfit out of a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and some safety pins. Skylee helped me build the It's a Small World wooden puzzle until it was time for bed. Before bed I read her Mary Blair's Unique Flair, which is a darling children's book we bought during our January trip to Disneyland. We love having Skylee stay with us - she is such a cute kid.