Day 166: 8-26-20 (Wednesday)
Today is National Dog Day and Miss Beverly Beatrice Beauchamp deserves some recognition! LOL. I am so glad that I was convinced that it was time to get a dog again. Bev brings so much unconditional love and joy into our lives. A pet really does enrich a home!
Today I had a good chatty phone call with my friend Kata. I LOVE those! Texting is nice but a good phone call is a great way to catch up with a good friend who I rarely see these days even though she only lives about 10 minutes away. It felt very 1990s! LOL.
Ailey finally had some kind of mutual activity. It was a combined YM/YW. They went on a hike. Parents did all the drop offs/pick ups. (The trailhead is only about 5 mins from our house.) They had to wear masks and stagger their start times but she had fun. Our girls need to be able to socialize again. So does their mother!!
Some of my sisters were out at the lake and doing drawings for my mother's belongings. We have divided up most of the valuable and sentimental items. Now it is just the remnants. The leftover detritus of a life. It would be helpful if we could all agree on what is trash/goodwill but that would just be too easy right? So four hours later after various FaceTime phone calls some of it got done.
Day 167: 8-27-20 (Thursday)
The drawings continued for part of today. Ugh... pare down when you get older. Don't hang on to so much *stuff*. We managed to keep interactions civil both days...not hard on my part... but seems more difficult on the part of others. Too bad it won't last.
We got an email from Kameron's Mission President saying:
Dear Parents,
As you may know, there was an unfortunate outbreak of public violence in Central Minneapolis last evening (Thursday, August 26). You may have seen recent reports and images in various media sources that could raise your concern for the well-being and safety of those in Minneapolis. With this in mind, I want you to know that ALL of our missionaries are safe and sound. In fact, almost all of our missionaries were not even aware of the unrest. In taking a position of abundant caution, they are instructed to adhere to every local safety protocol and I am monitoring the situation closely. I understand the concerns you may feel for your beloved children and wanted to alleviate any unnecessary concern you may have. Please feel free to contact me or the office staff with any questions or concerns. Please know of my gratitude and admiration for our devoted missionaries. You have every reason to be proud of their consecrated efforts.
I, of course, follow the news in Minneapolis so I knew the latest happenings and I knew that Kam wasn't in that area so I wasn't too worried but...STILL...
Tonight was vendor night at the store. I brought in a bunch of new things. I am really enjoying my Thursday nights puttering around in my booth and making little vignettes. It is calming, creative, and enjoyable. It is nice to interact with fellow vendors and friends too. I will take all the socializing I can get! Tyler and I grabbed Greek take out for dinner and ate it lakeside. A pleasant end to the day!
Day 168: 8-28-20 (Friday)
Today was a busy day. Lots of errands. Being creative and busier is definitely helping with my mood these days. I finished up a large piece of furniture to take to the store. I did a porch visit with one of my primary kids who is getting baptized tomorrow and dropped off a birthday treat for another primary kid.
The girls and I did some shopping. We need to get their rooms ready for online school. Bryn needed a dedicated "study area". We found a cute little desk and chair for her room. We found a cute blush throw blanket for Ailey's room that will look cute with her new bedding. We still need to get their back-to-school supplies. It is so weird not to do a big back-to-school clothes shopping extravaganza.
Tonight was date night. Nothing too thrilling. We went thrifting. Tyler's favorite...Not. He stayed in the car most of the time. This is the first time that I have been in a thrift store since March. We got Hawaiian take out for dinner and then it was onto Hobby Lobby and Lowe's. Yep, not Tyler's favorite date night on record. He didn't mind the Lowe's part since it was to get things that he needed. So while not a romantic night it was a productive one. I have a Fall Open House at the store coming up and I needed some fall foliage. We also FaceTimed with Reilly for quite a bit of it too which was nice.
Day 169: 8-29-20 (Saturday)
Today was a pretty typical Saturday of projects and errands. The bright spot was that Reilly was babysitting Emerson so she brought him over for a bit. He is the cutest little guy. We were able to get in lots of baby snuggles and cuddles. Reilly regularly babysits Emmy and he is also a regular visitor at our house so he is part of our little quarantine tribe and we love it!
Tyler felt like cooking tonight. Yes, please continue with this vibe! I am enjoying many dinners made by him. He wanted to try to try a new recipe. He made Paula Deen's Pork Chops. They were delicious!
Tonight we had a baptism to "sort of" attend aka we watched it on Zoom in the parking lot of the stake center. Bryn came with us. The guidelines for baptisms in our stake are: you can have up to 16 people attend and they must wear masks. There is no singing. Everyone else can watch over Zoom in the parking lot and can then congratulate the person who has gotten baptized when they come out of the church while social distancing.
While we were there *watching* the baptism carload after carload of missionary trios pulled into the parking lot. It must have been a district meeting or something. We saw this big group of elders outside the stake center talking, laughing, and joking around. We were riveted. It was like getting a small peek into what Kam's life is like now. While a musical number was being played on the piano at the baptism; I looked over at the elders and saw them all starting to lower themselves to the ground. I asked Tyler what they were doing and he said they were praying. I watched these young men who are sacrificing two years of their lives to share the love of Jesus Christ with the world kneel down and humbly pray on the lawn of the stake center. It brought tears to my eyes. It was pretty powerful to witness. Shortly after that the sister missionaries started arriving and they grabbed chairs and headed out to the parking lot to have their meeting while social distancing. They all looked so happy and joyous.
Day 170: 8-30-20 (Sunday)
This morning I had ward council. It is still held over Zoom. I much prefer it this way! We used to meet in person at 7 am! Yeah, I'll take a Zoom meeting! Today was also Home Church. I am actually quite surprised at how nice this has been and at how much the spirit is felt during our home meeting. I also like that we can do it at whatever time we like.
The weather was nice so we decided to put the bikes in the suburban and go for a bike ride. We drove about an hour away and got on the Trail of the Coeur d' Alenes again but from a different direction. This time we were closer to Kellogg, Idaho.
We did a 16 mile ride. We saw heron, pheasants (many other birds too), and a giant beaver dam. It was a hot ride but pretty! This part of the trail goes along the Coeur d' Alene River and through a bunch of wetlands and some smaller chain lakes.
The Coeur d' Alene River
A beaver dam out in the lily pads.
Blue Heron. I love these birds so much!
An abandoned house along the trail.
I love finding these and thinking about who used to live here and the stories this house could tell. When I was in elementary school and we lived in Springville, Utah there was an abandoned house that we loved! Our neighbors and good friends, the Ropers, and I would bike to this abandoned house all the time in the summer. We called it "Baby Blue Eyes" house. I don't remember if we made that name up and the sad tale that went along with it or if it was a local legend but I do know that we were obsessed with it. In my memory the house caught on fire a long long time ago and everyone was killed along with a baby who had startling blue eyes and was beloved by everyone who knew her. Hence the place was haunted by "Baby Blue Eyes". We did all of the things that we weren't supposed to do. (Our parents would have killed us if they knew!) We went in all the time and looked at all of the old half burned vintage things inside. We used to try to freak each other out and would dare each other to go upstairs to the alleged site of the baby nursery. The stairs were falling apart and I am surprised that we made it upstairs once let alone many times. We would swear that we could hear a baby crying. It was our favorite place to play Truth or Dare. On one trip to Baby Blue Eyes house Leesa and I dared Brad to go upstairs and stay for 5 minutes. We timed him. He had us running screaming from the house when he came down the stairs with a burned baby bottle in his hands!! Needless to say... abandoned houses are interesting to me. LOL.
Cave Lake
We had SUCH a good time and I had about 4 hours of being up in the mountains and out of cell service. A nice respite especially since as we drove down the canyon and Fourth of July Pass toward Coeur d' Alene I got about 15 unpleasant texts from siblings. It was nice while it lasted! I will take my pockets of peace and serenity when I can and this was definitely one!
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