COVID-19 Update: January and February

It has been so long since my last COVID-19 update. There has been a lot going on, so I'll start with the numbers and the overall view. When I wrote in December we continued to have high case counts and the country as a whole continued to spike. By January 9th, cases were again at just under 3,300 per day on average over the last 7 days, just below the peak of about 3,400 cases per day over a 7 day average on November 22. The United States peaked on January 8 with an average of more than 259,000 cases on average of a 7 day period. It was truly sad to see. However, since then, cases have slowly begun to decline. I'm sure in part due to the vaccine distribution, partially because many have already been sick and partially due to masks and social distancing. The case counts in Utah have dropped to about 650 on average as of today. Nationally case counts have dropped to about 70,000 per day. 

I'm grateful for the improvement, and it is drastically better, but we still have a long way to go. We have to remember, that 650 cases per day is still far too many. Hopefully as more people are vaccinated in the coming months it will continue to improve. 

Here are a few charts. 

Here you can see two things. First, a 3rd vaccine (Johnson and Johnson) was approved today which is wonderful and will continue to help us be able to progress. You can see so far, 254,000 Utahn's have received both doses of the vaccine. I'm grateful for the blessing of having a vaccine available. 

Now, a look just for our family. The most excited news is that they just opened the vaccines up to people 65 and older, and my parents were able to go get the first dose, which is amazing. They are really excited. 

We overall are doing well. For the most part, we continue to try and keep distance and continue to wear masks. We did go out for dinner for Valentines, which was the first time we've been at a restaurant together in the last year. The kids are doing well. 

The Rencher's came for a quick Valentines porch visit. 

Shantel has started to do a watercolor class as part of homeschool with some other kids (with masks of course)

Plus, a snapshot of pandemic life, Shantel and Caleb in masks at the hospital (getting an X-ray on Caleb's arm, which was thankfully not broken - but we'll cover that elsewhere). 

Shantel and I have definitely commented that we are ready for COVID-19 to be over. There are so many things that we want to do and just can't do yet. However, we also really believe that we have worked hard to be careful for almost a year now, and we don't really want to give up as we are hopefully getting close to a "finish line." At least hoping that as at least 80% of people are vaccinated that we'll be able to continue with more normal things. Expect an update in a few weeks when we hit the year mark of when the Pandemic really started to impact our lives. 

The Temple

 It's been a year since all of the temples closed because of Covid. It's one of those events surrounding Covid that seems so surreal. We had no idea in 2019 that temples would be closed in 2020. I feel comforted knowing that I wouldn't have been able to attend much more than I was already attending even if I had known. I feel happy to know that I was filling my temple bucket and I'm now able to draw from those blessings. (I had an arrangement with my neighbor to babysit my kids every other week so I could attend the temple during the day. It was my biggest gift of self-care to myself and I loved it.) 

I wrote this on Instagram about my feelings on February 12:

I woke up yesterday, February 12th, just really missing the temple. Of course, I've missed going to the temple for months and months but it felt very acute yesterday. After mentioning it to David I finally went and checked in my little temple book that I keep in my temple bag. Sure enough, the last time I was able to go to the temple was February 11, 2020. Yesterday was officially one full year of not attending the temple. It's interesting to me that my soul seemed to know the date, even though I didn't, and it mourned that year mark.

David and I stopped by the Draper temple on our date and even just being in the parking lot reminded me of this truth:

Even though I have gone without attending the temple for a year, I have felt those temple blessings in my life each day.

I'm grateful for the Power of God in my life and the continuous blessings of the temple. 

Temples have several phases of opening and although our temple is open for living ordinances it feels like it's going to be a VERY long time before they reopen for everyone. 

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In an exciting and wonderful turn of events, our nephew Nathan invited us to attend the temple with him when he received his endowment before leaving on his mission. We knew that he was preparing to go to the temple and to go on his mission but he was only able to invite 16 people to come with him.   We didn't really expect to be included in that number. He texted to invite us and I was so excited I was practically skipping around the house.

It was such a beautiful evening to be in the temple, especially with this group of people that we love so much. We would have stayed all night - it just felt so good to be in the temple. 

I wish we knew when we'd be able to come back again - but I'm truly just so glad that we didn't have to wait longer than a year to go back (It was more than a year day wise- but February to February doesn't feel as awful as it could be.) 

I wanted to include and echo Elder Bednar's words about returning to the temple here (emphasis mine):

“Returning to the temples is something we have prayed for and looked forward to with great anticipation. We rejoice in the opportunity to again serve and worship in holy temples, even if our experience will be different because of constraining circumstances and additional sacrifices we are asked to make.”

President Thomas S. Monson: “Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure.”

“Because of our desire to follow the Savior, we are learning to do things in new and sometimes better ways. We are now preparing to enter Phase 3 of temple reopening. We are committed to reopen each temple in a careful and cautious way to avoid the spread of disease and protect both patrons and temple workers.”

“I invite every youth and adult member of the Church to obtain and hold a current temple recommend even if we live a great distance from the temple or cannot attend frequently because of present limitations.” 

 

“Our participation in temple worship is a sacred privilege, not an entitlement or simply part of our established routine. We do not come to the temple to hide from or escape the evils of the world. Rather, we come to the temple to receive the power of godliness through priesthood ordinances that enable us to confront and conquer the world of evil.”

“For a while we may not be able to attend the temple as we did in the past—on a weekly or monthly basis. However, we will be blessed in remarkable ways as we honor and cherish the covenant relationship we have with our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and as we apply in our homes the principles we have learned and the patterns we have observed in the Lord’s holy house.”

“We do not know how long adjustments to temple worship will be necessary, but no power or influence can stop this glorious work from progressing and achieving its eternal purposes.”

February Wrap Up

Here are a few other photo-worthy happenings from February: 

-I got a code for $100 off a stitch-fix box and ordered one for David. Because I had already tried the company a year ago, I couldn't use the code - but they just started a men's line of clothes. Stitch Fix is a subscription company that has you fill out a style profile on their website, then sends you a box with five clothing items inside. You try them on, purchase the things you like and send back the things you don't. It's kind of fun, but the clothes are super expensive. With the $100 discount, it makes it less expensive and a fun thing to try one time. It was fun and David got a few shirts for like $4 after the discount. In an awesome turn of events, they gave him a referral code for $100 and each person that you referred could get $100 discount PLUS YOU get $100 credit. I referred some friends and David maxed out with $600 credit! So we are looking forward to getting several more boxes for him and hoping he gets some nice new outfits. It's been fun to do together. In other news (I didn't do this because of David's box although it was fun to do it at a similar time frame), I have been looking for a new dress to wear for Spring and ordered several from Amazon I tried them on, sent pictures to my sisters and picked the one I liked best. Yay. 

Because of technology and Covid, Lydia got to watch Aubrey give her first talk at church as a Young Woman. 



-My parents came to visit and they brought Rugby which was the highlight of Lydia's life, or at least her whole month. February is also Jacob's birthday and I'm glad for the time we've been able to spend together this month and grateful for Jacob in my life. I love my family and so grateful for the love and support offered from my parents, always. 

-We built a new little bookshelf and this impromptu photoshoot of the kids climbing in the shelf turned out to be so darling. 

Did I mention that Lydia loves Rugby?

This is my favorite children's book. There's no grand moral or life lesson (which I tend to gravitate towards in favorite children's books) but it's just so beautifully illustrated, cleverly written, and so darling. My kids know that even if I've already read all their bedtime books, if they ask for me to read one more I will say no unless it's this book and then I will absolutely say yes. 

-It hasn't snowed much this winter, and the very few times that it has snowed it's melted before we've finished our school work and the kids haven't got to play in it. Finally I decided to take a day and let them play in the snow before going to school and they were thrilled. 

-This is a funny story. Or at least a story. Several months ago, like at least 6 months, we were having a virtual game night playing Code Names. It was almost the end of the game and my team had the chance to win and one of our teammates looked right at me (later acknowledging that he knows I like science fiction books and stating that if anyone could get the reference I would) and said "Arrakis". My blank stare and expression of "What?!?" lost the game for us. I learned that Arrakis was a planet in the book Dune which is apparently "the greatest novel in the science-fiction canon".  I balked at that statement and there was much back and forth about the book and it's status as greatest novel if I'd never even heard of it. Apparently there is history and truth to back the statement and so I set out to read the book. My library didn't have a copy so I tried downloading it and reading it on my phone, three maybe four times. I could never get into it before it was due back at the virtual library. It was too complex a book to be able to read on a 2.5x5 screen. We joked back and forth over several months about my inability to read the book and finally my little brother Jacob let me borrow his copy. Dune was the first real book in this space of future-old-world science fiction with massive world building structures in place (meaning you have to understand the rules of an entire different universe to understand the book). I could say a lot about the book, but I will say that I did not particularly enjoy the book. I do not think that it's the greatest science fiction novel ever. I think that there was too much evil and too little good and that the book itself lacked depth, or that the depth of it's characters felt forced. However, I can acknowledge the historical impact that this book had on the science fiction genre and I am glad to be able to add to my list of reading credentials that I have indeed read and have an opinion on Dune. And now, when playing codenames I will be able to identify the following connections in codenames: "Dune, sand, water, spice, orange, empire, guerilla, worm, etc.." 

ADJ's aka After-Dinner-Jobs have been going strong in our home for several years now and it honestly makes such a huge difference. David and I try to be very intentional with the things that we are doing with the kids and are hoping that the effort we put into things now will pay off for them and us in the future. Currently, after dinner is over, Lydia takes out the dishes from the dishwasher, Austin clears off the table, and Caleb pulls out the chairs so that we can sweep. I clean the counters while Lydia is unloading and then load the dirty dishes in. David wipes the table and sweeps the floor. We depend on everyone doing their job and it makes a difference in our family. We got this structure from a lady named Ralphie (@simplyonpurpose) and she gives a little candy as a prize at the end of every ADJ. We switched it up a little and if you've done your adj when we've asked then you get an adj treat, which is a gummy vitamin. I feel like I'm winning in that arena because it helps me remember to give my kids vitamins and also provides an incentive for doing our adjs quickly. (If they complain or won't come do them, they still have to do the adj before bed but they just don't get their treat.) 

-Our ranch loving family has now made it to bottle #70 of Hidden Valley Ranch. Corporate sponsorship, here we come! 

And to end, a good little snuggle and show on the couch for our 4 favorite kids in the world. 



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February Homeschool

These posts are usually just of the things that I think are valuable enough to take pictures of. One of these days, I'm going to do a walk-through of a "Day in the life of the Peaden Homeschool" but mostly I just hope these pictures capture a few of the things that we are doing so that my kids can look back and realize that I was working hard every minute to give them the best education and honestly, the best childhood that I could possibly give them. Of course sometimes I worry that we are doing the wrong thing by homeschooling, but then I see how well they are growing, how much they are accomplishing, how much time they have to just be children and the space they have to grow into themselves (plus the time that I get to spend with them) and I am just so grateful for this beautiful life we have right now. 

One of Lydia's math lessons was about a boy who has been measuring how tall he is (working with data and making a graph). After she charted his growth data, we pulled out her well-check cards which include how tall SHE has been at each age and she was able to chart that data as well - which was cool and really fun. 

Bookwork at the kitchen table. (You can see Lydia's big stack of math, science, and language arts. The boys are working on a morning-starter book together. (Caleb loves doing work with the big kids, although the only thing I have for him to do is that morning starter. Then he plays while the other kids keep working.) We rarely do our homeschool at the kitchen table. Often Austin is at the kids table or the piano bench. Lydia is usually at the tech center by the computer. But sometimes we sit here together and work. 

Austin finished book 1 of his Level K Math! He's seriously rocking it in the math department. This is what I wrote for his MyTech report this week: "Austin has been working hard at his math skills. We discovered this week that he is able to count to 100+ by 1s, 2s, 3s, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, and 50s. He was listening in on his older sisters math lesson and afterwards told his Dad "I know all my 11 times tables" and upon further quizzing it was apparent that he did. Austin likes patterns especially patterns in numbers and it's neat to see him learning so much. This week he finished his Math book!  He loves math and is excelling with his schooling this year."

Poetry Treat Time

A favorite tradition. For Valentine's week we had a special Poetry Treat Time where we read this book: Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light by Apryl Stott. To go along with the book, we made chocolate chip cookies and made little lanterns by lighting little electric candles in mason jars. 

In fact, the whole day we took as a "Hygge Day". We didn't do our coursebooks, but we read books, snuggled, baked in the kitchen, did a lengthy morning-time with scriptures and Come Follow Me. Sometimes this February time is a little tricky to get through in homeschool. They often call it the "winter slump" but I've found that if we sprinkle in a few days like this here and there we can really lean in to the together-ness of homeschool and it helps the monotony of the winter slump. It just fills all of our cups so we can keep going successfully.

Ask God. 

This year for Come Follow Me we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants. It's been so wonderful to teach and learn about the Prophet Joesph Smith, the love our Heavenly Father has for us, and the blessing of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Lydia's primary teachers brought her a little treat with a scripture and the challenge to write "I can Ask God" on a paper and hang it where she can see it. We used it for our family CFM an dwe all wrote a paper. I love walking around and seeing each of my kids little notes to themselves about how God loves them so much that they can come to HIM with anything that they need and that He will he there for them. I've felt that truth in my own life. 

Valentines Day party! 

We've grown a little neighborhood co-op of homeschooling kids and I love it SO much.  Covid has been weird and hard and we haven't been able to be as social as normal.  But case counts are finally trending down, plus we are past the Christmas holidays (we were being SO careful because we knew that we would be seeing Cal and Sue), so we are starting to be able to do more with other kids again. The party was perfect. We did two little craft stations, plus some books and a snack - then did a little valentine exchange. Short, simple, but SO fun and good for these kids!

And speaking of our little pocket of homeschoolers in our neighborhood. We've just started doing something that I am SO excited about! Truly, I've prayed to find a homeschool community, and even though most of the homeschoolers in our neighborhood right now are homeschooling because of Covid, it's really a dream come true. I wish that they would homeschool forever, but even if they probably won't - I am SO happy to take advantage of it this year.

Of the homeschooling families on our street this year, three of us have 8 year old girls and 6 year old boys. Andrea Wardell reached out and said that she wanted to have a little PE class for the 6 year old boys every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:00. Then Brooke Young and I decided that if Andrea was doing that, we could take the girls at the same time for a little rotation. On Tuesday they go to Brooke's house to participate in Reader's Theater (where they each are assigned a part in a short story/play and they read/act it out), and on Thursday they come to my house where I teach the girls watercolors. 

It's honestly an amazing rotation and I'm SO excited about it! 

The last thing that I wanted to write about for homeschool this month is the Children and Youth Goals program. The church  put out a new program last year that helps kids make goals in four areas: social, physical, spiritual, and intellectual. Lydia has made goals in each area and has been working hard on them. One of her goals from this past year is to make a cookbook. She's has done a great job and has grown in confidence in the kitchen! She's making a push to cookbook out so she can move on to her next goal, so we've been taking pictures of some of her recipes of her book. 

Pictured here: Grandma Knowles Chocolate Cookies (photographed on top of Grandma's Lace Dress) #familyhistory, Crispy Sans (Lydia's own special recipe of rice crispies that are baked in the oven for just a few minutes to crisp them up), and peanut butter oatmeal, plus several of the recipes that she has written out herself before typing into the computer. 

(Peanut Butter Oatmeal - recipe made while at Lilly's house)

Crispy Sans

Snowflake Stew (Camille and Lydia wrote this recipe out when they decided they wanted to make snowflake stew. I let them make it, just helping adjust things here and there and it turned into a pretty good stew. They thought it was incredible.)

And last, last, a picture from a bike ride that we went on. Lydia stopped in the middle of the track and said, "this is SO beautiful. I wish I could paint this." So we took a picture and I'm going to sit down with her and try to paint it together. It just made my heart so joyful that she was seeing the beauty in the world around her and feeling that creative urge to capture it in watercolors.