COVID-19 Quarantine: Days 361-365

Day 361: 3-9-21 (Tuesday)

Ailey made us overnight oats for the first time. They have never sounded very good to me. I am trying to get behind them...they aren't bad per se... but they aren't exactly good either. I prefer the chia seed pudding with raspberries.

On the exercise front...I've moved up to the harder classes on the Peloton! Yay me. I'm out of the saddle now and hanging in there.

Tonight I had a big stake meeting with all of the Primary Presidents. It was to discuss the return of Primary. Two primaries in our stake have gone back and the rest are very nervous about how it will all work out with COVID restrictions. I think it was a good meeting and helpful to the presidents. It was also great to see friends from other wards! I will take all of the socializing that I can get and in whatever form.

I saw this very unexpected sweet surprise via a comment that Kameron had made about me on FB. Darn right I screenshot it and saved it! Who knows when I might have need to reference it? LOL. 

Day 362: 3-10-21 (Wednesday)

Miracle day! The call that we have been waiting to receive for SO LONG came in. Some friends of ours got Tyler in to be vaccinated and not only him... me too! We have both received our first doses of Moderna!! This was a complete answer to our fast on Sunday and months of prayer. 

My friend Jennifer and I had been messaging each other two weeks ago. She and her family have been in very strict quarantine too. Even stricter than we have been. We were commiserating and talking about how much we are looking forward to getting our families together in the future. Anyway... on Monday Jennifer got a feeling that she should check in with me. (She is not a member of the church...not that that matters). She said to herself that she had just talked to me and had gotten caught up on everything but she just continued to feel like she needed to check on me. She did and I told her that we were doing fine just super frustrated with WA State and Tyler being so far down the line to qualify for the vaccine. She told me that she and Nathan (her husband) had just gotten their first dose. Then she gave us the phone number for a local place near her that is giving vaccinations to whoever wants them and told us to call them and give them a try. Tyler called and left a message explaining our situation yesterday and we heard back from them this morning. They said that they could get Tyler in at 2:30pm and to have me come in too!! A total miracle and an answer to our prayers and fasting!! We came in and no questions were asked. We just had to fill out an allergy sheet and sign for the vaccine and we got our shots. They had also already scheduled our follow up appointments for the 2nd dose before we even arrived. Miracles do happen!! I still can't believe that it!! 

After we waited our 15 minutes to make sure that we weren't going to have any kind of severe reaction we drove over to Jennifer and Nathan's house! We sat around a bonfire in their yard for three hours and visited. It was magical!

Kameron got his mission call one year ago today.

Day 363: 3-11-21 (Thursday)

Today it is super sunny and really pretty! So far we are doing well with our vaccinations. We had sore arms yesterday...similar to the feeling that you get after a flu shot. But during the night my arm hurt substantially worse. I couldn't sleep. The pain of the shot site kept waking me up. Tyler had no problems at all. 

I worked on projects today; Tyler had a bunch of online meetings; and the girls were home. It is their off day. Tyler had his review with his boss today and got a raise! Sweet! We found out that the girls will get out of school for the summer on June 21st.

Our Governor announced that WA will move to phase 3 on March 22nd...which means 50% occupancy. Hooray. We also made a quick trip to CDA for vendor night.

Day 364: 3-12-21 (Friday)

Where does the week go?! I scored an awesome chair for my booth early this morning!! I also did a ton of work for my calling. Things are busy with all of the primaries starting back, new presidencies, and stake conferences. Tyler was busy with his work all day and the girls were in school on this alternate Friday.

Ailey's dance team was told this week that they were going to wear some *vintage* uniforms that their coach found in the closet. These were uniforms from Reilly's time on the dance team! Ha ha! 

Little Miss Vintage herself!! LOL!!

Date night was pretty low-key but nice. We bummed around...shopped...checked on the lake house...and got dinner.

Day 365: 3-13-21 (Saturday)

DAY 365...ONE WHOLE YEAR! An entire year of our lives has been spent away from family, friends, school, church, and work. I wish this pandemic was further in our rear view mirror instead of still here and happening but at least things are looking somewhat better.

Since today was supposed to be in the 60s and sunny we decided to do something fun to mark the one year anniversary. (We refused to dwell on the negativity of this all lasting so long.) The girls were dying to try out their new bikes so we hit the bike trail. It felt FANTASTIC! The peloton has helped and made us stronger for road biking although I missed my cushy peloton seat!

We did the trail that goes around a section of Lake Coeur d' Alene and through downtown and then around another section of lake. The weather was PERFECTION!!

We did a 14 mile ride which wasn't bad for the first bike ride of the season. The new bikes worked out well and the girls could've probably gone even longer. Exciting! I cannot wait for summer! 

It was a fantastic day!!

After our ride we went to our favorite natural market in town. Pilgrim's Pride in CDA really could be located in Portland or Seattle. It is fantastic! We got some of our favorite snacks and headed to a nearby park and had a picnic!

We had such a great time! I am so glad that when the year mark of COVID rolled around we were able to focus on some of the things that we have really enjoyed over the past year. Family time, bike rides, picnics, lakes, and enjoying hanging out with one another.

Tonight before bed, Ailey and Bryn tried a heatless hair curling technique for church tomorrow. You wrap and twist a sash from a bathrobe into your hair. We will see how this turns out! When they aren't bickering; they really are such cute sisters! I'm so glad that they have each other with the bigger kids grown and out of the house especially during this COVID year.

COVID-19 Quarantine: Days 356-360

 Day 356: 3-4-21 (Thursday)

Today was a rather momentous day. Tyler went into his office! He was super excited! It wasn't to *work*. They are remodeling his floor so he and his coworkers had to schedule a time to go in and pack up what was still left in their offices. He was able to visit with several of his coworkers and friends...socially distanced and masked... of course. He enjoyed it immensely. Tyler has truly been the most isolated one of all of us. The girls and I have been able to go to church and other various activities and he hasn't been able to do much of that. He came home in a great mood.

It was also another sunny and gorgeous day in the 60s!! We walked at the park with Bryn and Beverly. It felt so good to be outside. Beverly was not thrilled about her three mile walk but she did it. Look at that frown. LOL.

WA state has now qualified teachers and childcare workers to get the vaccine. It is still a no for Tyler. :(

Tonight was vendor night at the store. I sold a big bookshelf so had a bit of a rearrange and brought in some new pieces.

Day 357: 3-5-21 (Friday)

The girls didn't have school today. 

Tyler finished his big Oregon project that he was the project manager for. Hooray! This took up a lot of his time and many extra hours as he oversaw the project and his team remotely. We celebrated!

Tyler's mom and Joel got their first round of the COVID vaccine. Utah is now allowing Type 1 diabetics to be vaccinated. What is wrong with WA?! It sounds awful but it completely irritates me when I see totally healthy people (not talking about Tyler's parents) who have gotten the vaccine...who stretched the truth about their professions... while people like Tyler continue to wait... and then have the audacity to proclaim to the world via social media that they got the vaccine. Annoying!!!

Ailey and I ran some errands and she found me an awesome tea table to redo for my booth. Tyler and I also did a bunch of buying for Sisters Creed. We found some great things! I have a big Spring Open House on March 20th that I need to prep for. Date night merged into our buying run...as it often does. Good thing Tyler is a good sport and a great helper! We did stop for lunch and then got dinner later too. We went to several places that we had never been to before and found some incredible things!!

Day 358: 3-6-21 (Saturday)

 

We slept in today. Delightful. Tyler and the girls ran our Saturday errands...also delightful. I worked on projects. March is already a busy month and I am selling a lot.

This was a little weird and eerie to think about but true.

Tyler and I walked at the park and grilled for dinner. Ailey also made us a biscuit bonanza. She made two different kinds of biscuits to see which recipe we liked best. She was prepping for Sunday dinner tomorrow. We tried our regular biscuit recipe which is very good and then we tried the Joanna Gaines recipe.

Day 359: 3-7-21 (Sunday)

Today was Fast Sunday. No ward conferences this week. Bryn had a very early presidency meeting this morning. I also had online RS. My friend Caroline taught the lesson and it was really good. They announced that we will only have one more online RS meeting and then we go back to in person RS after General Conference. 

Ailey and Bryn made our Sunday dinner. It was the official big biscuit taste off extravaganza. We are a house divided. Well... I guess not technically... I stand alone in preferring our original family recipe. Everyone else preferred the Joanna Gaines version which was good but way too rich! It contains an OBSCENE amount of butter. There is no way that we will be making that regularly. 

Day 360: 3-8-21 (Monday)

Oh man! Do Tyler and I get a lot of work done with both girls at school! It's actually really nice AND I'm glad that they are enjoying being back at school too. I talked to my dad this morning. His stake president and bishop are coming to visit him tomorrow and he is a little nervous about it. LOL.

We talked to Kam today at about 2:45pm. The WHOLE family. (Reilly even joined in from work and later from her car.) He stood up to his companion and said that he was allowed to talk to his family for an hour once a week and that was what he was going to do! His companion doesn't talk to his family very often and when he does it is only for a few minutes. Interesting. So...we got Kam for the whole hour and it was a PAR-TAY! We even broke out some Texas Sheet Cake from yesterday! It was so good to have a longer time to talk and catch up. We have all missed it. Kam is doing fine and getting along fairly well with the companion. His mission is having to have a few more restrictions again due to the George Floyd trial that is about to begin in case of any future riots/violence in the Minneapolis area.

After Reilly got off work she went to check out an apartment that is for rent. Later that evening Tyler and I drove over there to get a *feel* for how safe it is. Seems okay. Then Tyler and I went for our walk.

Wow. Tonight Ailey and I watched the train wreck that was the Harry, Meghan, and Oprah interview. Yikes. I so wanted to call my mom to *discuss*!! I really miss her.

COVID-19 Quarantine: Days 351-355

 Day 351: 2-27-21 (Saturday)

My friend Lynnette's pop up bake shop happened this morning! Hot Blackberry Danishes!! Holy Moly they were good! That got our Saturday started off right. After that we had to do some "back-to-school" shopping for Ailey. She needed various school supplies.

After that it was a nice relaxing Saturday. We went for a walk at the park as a family. Tyler and I watched a couple of episodes of Men in Kilts. Tyler grilled. It was great!

Day 352: 2-28-21 (Sunday)

Today was a super busy Sunday! I attended two ward conferences. One I had to be there at 8:45 am. We did two sharing times with that ward's junior and senior primaries. I saw good friends and people that I have really missed! 

The next ward conference was for my own ward. It was fun to sit with Ailey and Bryn and my presidency. I stayed after church for quite awhile visiting with friends! Both girls said when we got home, "It felt so good to be at church today!" Meaning it is feeling more normal and we are enjoying having the opportunity to spend time with friends.

We had a great Sunday dinner and Come Follow Me lesson. Kam posted an awesome new video and I love it. 

A letter to Jesus:

Click the youtube link if you don't see the video pop up:

https://youtu.be/JjpwG4Q4dX0

On a very low and sad note....I got some absolutely terrible news today. A very dear friend of mine (my age) who I love and adore was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. This was an absolute gut punch. This is a friend who took great care of me after my mom died and went out of her way to show me so much love and support. I'm in absolute shock.

Day 353: 3-1-21 (Monday)

It is now March. In 12 days it will be one year since this whole COVID nightmare began and we are still in quarantine. The good news is that Ailey FINALLY went back to school today.

With the kids back at school part-time; are we still considering ourselves in quarantine? Yes. Until Tyler has been vaccinated we remain very low-key in the world. His job is still saying that they don't want employees returning to work until July. I think they are hoping that most people will be vaccinated by then. Not if our idiotic governor has anything to do with it.

We talked to Kam today at 3pm and got to video chat for a big TEN MINUTES. Not cool. This new companion is so difficult. He demands that all communication has to be done before 5pm but 5pm Minnesota time is 3pm our time. So Reilly and Hunter don't get to participate and if Tyler wasn't working from home he wouldn't get to participate either. Plus... 10 minutes? Annoying. Yes...yes... I know that we are lucky to even get that time and that other parents only got to talk to their missionaries twice a year. Don't care. 10 minutes sucks.

Kameron said that they spend quite a bit of their time in St. Cloud, MN which he said looks just like North Spokane. He said that they will be driving down the road and it feels just like he is driving on North Division. He is enjoying the pine trees in his new area too. He loves the ward but not small town living! LOL.

Day 354: 3-2-21 (Tuesday)

Today it is sunny and over 50 degrees! I'm outside. Enough said. 

Ailey had her first dance team performance. No parents and no spectators. They broadcasted the game online but not the half-time dance performance. Lame.

We finally had our elusive appointment with our ward's missionaries. LOL. It was fun. We have two cute Elders from Utah in our ward and they are very enthusiastic. They were very curious about all of the rules and regulations that Kam has in Minnesota. Kam's area is much stricter than here and his mission president is much more strict as well. He's new. The mission president here is definitely much more relaxed and has been serving a lot longer.

Day 355: 3-3-21 (Wednesday)

I think both of our girls are the happiest when it is a school day. The off days are weird. I don't know how productive they are but the on days are pretty great! I am also enjoying being home alone with Tyler during the day. Some how we get a lot more done! LOL. Now it will truly be glorious when they are ALL back at work and school and it's just me and Bev during the day. Ha ha!

Today we hit 63 degrees! HAPPINESS!  It was definitely an outside day! 

Tonight I got sucked into the HBO Allen vs. Farrow docuseries. Woody Allen is a freak.

Email from Elder Johnson #20

2-22-21

Blaine-->Princeton🔥👀

Ayeeeee, what's good? Ya favorite missionary is back at it again with his habit of never emailing...my bad guys... pls don't hate me.

A lot has happened since I last sent one of these out. I said goodbye to a legendary brotha of mine who had completed his mission! (Love ya Zach🇨🇿). I said goodbye to a truly remarkable missionary, companion, and friend, Elder Robison. Fetch I love that guy. I said goodbye to one of the hypest districts of the century and the utmost amazing people within it. I have now moved to, "the boonies" of Princeton, Minnesota. There's a lot of good work out here in Princeton so I'm excited to see where it leads me! 

There's a lot I will miss about Blaine but what stands out the most are the people I've met and the truly remarkable friends I've made. Missionary and non-missionary. The last two transfers in Blaine I've grown a lot. I've deepened the personal relationship I have with my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have grown in my knowledge of his gospel, of the scriptures, and of the atonement of Jesus Christ. But, I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for me out here in Princeton! 

Not to much more to say than I love you all! Keep it real for me. Love each other, love yourself, and love your God cause he loves you. A lot. 

Kill this next week!

 Love y'all💜

-Elder Kam Johnson

 Elder Hill!🐐

Elder Dransfield!👑

Elder Fifita!

Hermana Opheikens 

 Elder Stewart (missin this man🥺)

 The Legend himself Zach Gardner

COVID-19 Quarantine: Days 346-350

Day 346: 2-22-21 (Monday)

Bryn is loving being back at school even part time! She is so happy to be with friends and classmates again. She got her report card for the first semester. She has excellent grades and wonderful comments from her teachers.

Tyler is the project manager for a big project in Oregon right now so he is super busy this week. We barely see him during the day. He is constantly working downstairs and on conference calls. We also did another purge of unnecessary household items. Reilly is taking most of them off of our hands. LOL.

Kameron has to call us in the afternoons now and is only allowed a VERY short chat. His companion is a real micromanager and has them on a very strict schedule. Kam isn't loving this companionship. Tyler told him that this is all part of the mission experience. Learning to get along with all kinds of people. The "shack" really does look like a shack from the outside...the inside is a bit better. The good news is that Kam loves the ward and they have three investigators right now so they are staying busy which is just what he needs. He was only able to talk to us for 14 minutes at 3:30 pm which was kind of sucky. I like a long weekly chat with our whole family...Reilly and Hunter included. Ailey, Reilly, and Hunter weren't able to join in due to the time. Tyler, Bryn, and I talked to him while we were driving. Kameron said it will most likely be this way until he gets a new companion. Lame.

Day 347: 2-23-21 (Tuesday)

I love my new floors so much! Woohoo. We are now considered doing a bit more in the kitchen so we will need to price new cabinets and countertops too. 

Today I walked at the park with Tyler, Bryn, and Bev.  These on and off school days are weird. My dad got his second vaccination today. He got the Pfizer. He said that so far he has had no side effects except for a sore arm.

Tyler and I attended the Zoom meeting for parents of high school kids going back to school. This whole process is quite a bit more complicated with them. I think it will be much easier for the elementary kids to adhere to all of the safety protocols than it will be for the high school kids. 

Here's how Tyler watched the meeting. 

We got an email notification today that someone at Bryn's school has COVID. We didn't get any further tracing information so that must mean that it wasn't someone in her class or that was around her. Thank goodness. 

I had book club tonight. It is still a Zoom meeting. We read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and had a good discussion. I didn't love the book but I do love book club!

Day 348: 2-24-21 (Wednesday)

I have started doing some guided meditations. I am using an LDS app for it. The meditations are gospel related. I don't *get* meditation but I am trying to figure it out. I will try some other non-religious guided meditations too. My friend Annie had some good recommendations.

I talked to my dad. He has still had no other side effects except a sore arm. Reilly stopped by today. It was good to see her...mask and all! The girls had YW tonight and we were supposed to meet with the missionaries on Zoom but they ghosted us! LOL. Oh well.

Day 349: 2-25-21 (Thursday)

We woke up to an absolute blizzard this morning. The roads were terrible. But we did get a fun surprise in the mail from Paul and Whitney! A whole selection of drinking vinegars from Pok Pok in Portland. That was an amazing surprise! We loved it and it made our week! The fruity vinegars are so good mixed with plain La Croix. Yum!

Ailey has regular dance team practices again and she is so happy to be back! I am so glad! Tyler and I had a quick trip to CDA and back.

Bryn attended part of RootsTech online for her calling in YW. Cool!

Day 350: 2-26-21 (Friday)

Today is the last day of distance learning for Ailey! She goes back to school on Monday. HALLELUJAH! I watched some of RootsTech this morning. On our walk it snowed from a sunny and clear sky. Hmm... interesting.

Tyler and I met up with Reilly at her work this evening. She is watching Emerson for the weekend. We got to see him for a few minutes (Hunter too). We helped her get Emmy's car seat secured into her car. I don't miss those days!! For date night we tried take out from a new-to-us restaurant that was recommended to us... Mr. Wok. It was good. We shopped and bummed around. It was a fun night!

COVID-19 Quarantine: Days 341-345

 Day 341: 2-17-21 (Wednesday)

Today was the big day for Bryn. She got to go back to school for the first time in 341 days! She is on a hybrid schedule. She was up at 5am! Boy, was she excited! 

She had a great day! She was so happy to be back and with her friends again. She was smiling and cheerful when we picked her up this afternoon. Yay! We took her to get a little treat afterward to celebrate.

It was sunny today. Blue sky, sun, and snow is a beautiful combination. Tyler and I walked in the sunshine and snow.

We also got some sad news... one of Kam's companions from online MTC and who also served in the same mission with Kam emailed that he will be heading home early. This elder has struggled with depression and anxiety. The isolation from COVID restrictions made the mission extremely difficult. He is a great kid. We have gotten his weekly emails and he is hilarious and has kept us in the loop as to the latest happenings in the Minneapolis mission as Kam does not. LOL. We looked forward to his emails every week. He also went through the temple the same day as Kam and his mom and I have been emailing since the boys were in the MTC together. My heart goes out to him. Missions are hard and missions during COVID are even harder. He plans to finish out his mission doing a service mission in his hometown. He is a great young man!

It is heartbreaking watching and hearing about what is happening in Texas with the deadly snow and ice storms. I know how horrible it is to be without power for days especially when it is cold. But I cannot even imagine how horrifying it would be to be in an area unequipped to deal with it. It's scary. I checked in with our Texas friends: Mary Jane, Eric, and Mary Beth. They are all are okay. Mary Beth is without power but is currently staying with Mary Jane and Eric who have a generator.

I sold my biggest and most expensive piece of furniture in my booth today! Sweet!

Day 342: 2-18-21 (Thursday)

Today is one of Bryn's off days from school. They are supposed to do homework on these days. She didn't have much. It's so weird.

Kameron messaged us early this morning. He said that he got transferred to a small town "in the boonies" called Princeton, Minnesota. His new companion has a reputation of being difficult. Uh-oh. They live in a converted garage that the missionaries call "The Shack". This should be interesting. Kam was cheerful and seemed up for the challenge. Good.

Kam's new digs! LOL.

The school district's wireless system is down today so none of the online classes for the high school students are working. The teachers aren't able to connect and stay connected. This is ridiculous.

Texas is breaking my heart. We donated.

I had to do a complete redo of my booth tonight. I took out all of the leftover Valentine décor and added in some new furniture. It started snowing/freezing rain while we were at Midtown Market. The roads were HORRIBLE coming home. It was absolutely terrifying.

Day 343: 2-19-21 (Friday)

Today is one of Bryn's alternating Fridays for attending school. Her "off " day yesterday was a complete waste. At the parents meeting, the school district explained that the "on" day for school would be all lecturing in the various subjects with no in class time to do work...that is what the off day is for. Bryn had about one hour of school work to do yesterday. She said that the teachers gave them class time to do their work at school. I feel like we are getting less "school" now than we did before...if that is even possible. I feel like all of the kids who have basically missed a year of in-person school are so far behind. I wonder what the future ramifications will be? 

I thought it was bad when they stopped teaching phonics when Reilly and Kameron were in elementary school. Both are terrible spellers. Thank goodness they brought it back when Ailey was in elementary. And...I thought it was awful when they stopped teaching cursive and now Ailey can't read any kind of historical document or anything in cursive. Thankfully they also brought that back when Bryn was that age. These are minor complaints to missing basically a FULL YEAR of school.

In better news...We started on our living room floor today! Woohoo! Good-bye carpet! I can't wait. We moved out all of our furniture and ripped up the carpet. That was quite the process.

I can't wait for these kitchen floors to go too! I loathe them.

We got our Yum box today and had a little indoor picnic. It was from the Ukraine. It was really good!! This has been one of our favorite boxes so far.

We tried:

Roasted Garlic Rye Chips: Good.

Wasabi Chip Strips: Fantastic! These were like long skinny wasabi flavored Pringles. 

Veal Adjika Chips: Pretty Good.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Cream Cakes: So-So. I love sweetened condensed milk and these didn't really taste like that.

Baked Milk and Dark Chocolate Wafer Bar: Delicious.

Fruit Juice Filled Caramel Toffees: Meh.

Juice Filled Fruit Jellies: Very good!

Creme Brulee Milk Chocolate Bar: Good!

Dark Chocolate Almond Wafer Bar: Delicious! My second favorite thing in the box.

Caramel White Chocolate Bubble Bar: Okay.

Fizzy Citrus Candies: Okay. Most countries seem to have these ZOT like candies.

Creamy Toffee Squares: Good.

Summer Fruit Jellies: Fabulous!! My favorite thing in the box!

Day 344: 2-20-21 (Saturday)

Tyler and the girls did an early morning donut run before undertaking the living room! Tyler and Ailey worked on the living room floor all day...and Bryn helped here and there too. 

Check out the lovely shades of the shag carpet that once graced this house. Yikes. I painted a big hutch in the garage for most of the day and made sure my little worker bees had food and drinks all day. The house is in chaos but the living room is looking awesome!

Day 345: 2-21-21 (Sunday)

Today began very early! Ward Conferences have begun. I met my friend Jen at the stake center at 9 am so that we could attend the first of the conferences. They run through March. It was fun to visit another ward and the speakers were great! My friend Annie (from my ward) was one of the speakers. After Sacrament Meeting we handed out some little gifts to all of the Primary kids.

After that I went home and picked up Bryn so that we could attend our ward's Sacrament Meeting. It was very weird being at church with just Brynnie. Tyler and Ailey livestreamed today. Our ward's primary went back today and I got to help with that...it was a little chaotic...but not too bad. Bryn had a presidency meeting after church.

Tyler and Ailey finished the floors and they look FANTASTIC! It is like a whole different house! It is SO BEAUTIFUL! We moved all of the furniture back and then celebrated with a *dinner* of buttered cheerios and malted milk shakes. We were all way too tired to cook!

Before:

After:

I am loving it!

Favorite Memes: #15

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Texas and Spokane in windstorms.

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100%

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