Quick Update

I don't even know where to begin. 2020, man, 2020. Being a wife, mom, grad student, employee, church member, and many other things makes time fly by so fast. Rarely do I feel that I have the time to sit down and update my blog the way I want to, with pictures and written details from our lives. But 2020 has reminded me to do what I can when I can because tomorrow is not promised. And I am happiest when I am busy. Not too busy, but busy enough with things that bring meaning to me. Someday I will love sitting down to read this blog and I will be grateful that I took the time to write a few things down, even if I didn't include pictures or every little detail.

It is now October. Our school district started out the school year on a hybrid model where each half of the student population attended school on opposite days and everyone learned remotely on Fridays. My kids went on Mondays and Wednesdays. Marcus loved the hybrid model and was sad when we switched to everyone in class together 4 days a week and remote learning on Fridays. Layla much prefers to be in class 4 days a week and was happy when the change came. It's a long story about the school district's changes and my feelings about it, but suffice it to say that I have come to realize that there is no right answer about COVID and education. Initially I did not want my kids at school with full classrooms, 4-5 days a week. It terrified me. Now I feel differently and I am grateful that they are at school full-time (besides Fridays) because we are all happier and have significantly less stress in our daily lives. 

COVID is still a dangerous illness that we are trying our best to avoid: we wear our masks everywhere, wash our hands incessantly, go through hand sanitizer like it's going out of style, and avoid the general public as much as possible. There will most likely not be normal trick-or-treating this year or classroom parties. Things will still look different for a while. My heart goes out to everyone suffering from this disease in any way. We have been beyond blessed and protected throughout this whole thing, physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally, in all the ways. I cannot imagine losing a loved one to COVID and the heartbreak that would come with that. 

On a happier note, we have re-evaluated our lives and have talked more and more about what is important to us, what we need to change/improve, and what we want to accomplish. Our kids have learned much about resiliency and being flexible. It's been great! We have fallen in love with the outdoors all over again. We got a basketball hoop and love playing horse or making up other fun challenges to learn new basketball skills. 

Yesterday we headed over to the church where the primary children wrote their names and any other special message or picture they wanted on a rock. The rocks will be placed in the foundation of the Layton, Utah temple that is currently under construction. Wow, what a neat thing for these kids to watch this temple being built and know that their rock is under it, safe in the foundation like we can be when we build our foundation on Christ. I am beyond excited to have that temple completed, less than 10 minutes away from our home. 

Marcus is most of the way through his season of flag football. Beckham Taylor is on his team. Those two boys have so much fun together and are SO LOUD and giggly. They make me laugh when the noise isn't driving me crazy, haha. Marcus learned a lot about football and seemed to really enjoy learning the different positions. He starts Jr. Jazz basketball in a few weeks. There are 8 boys from our neighborhood who all signed up for Jr. Jazz, so hopefully they can all be on the same team. That would be awesome!

Layla played volleyball this summer and part of fall. She loved it! We had her take a break because the gym we were taking her to doubled their prices! She will start with the city rec team in a few weeks for a much, much, much lower price, yay! I am happy that she enjoys volleyball so much. Layla has many talents but she is not excited about some of them, at least not enough to want to do lessons. She is gifted musically and has excellent pitch and a great ear for pitch. She can sit down at the piano and figure out how to play a song she heard on the radio within minutes. Her singing voice is very good and she stays on pitch and remembers melodies so easily. Layla is great at accents and imitations and keeps us laughing with those. I would love to see her do piano lessons again or go into musical theater where she can act and sing.  She is also a decent dancer. She has asked about dance lessons, but decided she likes volleyball more. Layla is a good at volleyball too, it is just interesting to me that the talents she seems to have naturally are not the ones that interest her. 

Mitch's work is insane. They officially won the contract to update the intercontinental ballistic missiles. This project will carry Mitch through to retirement! It's pretty amazing given that most of his career has been spent on projects that only last 3-5 years. We are grateful for the opportunity this provides us, even though I have to remind myself to be grateful when it feels like he's always at work. But if I'm being honest, he's definitely home more this year than last year!

I am still working at Whitesides Elementary. The school counselor there is so kind and teaches me so much. This will be my last school year there as I will need to complete an internship next school year. Last week I applied for a part-time school counseling position with Ogden School District. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I will get that job, but I have not heard anything yet. For the mean time I will stay where I'm at. 

There is so much I could write about: our girls' trip to St. George with Nicole and Oakley, camping trips, boating at the lake, hiking, general conference, watching church over Zoom, learning to make sourdough baked goods and keeping my sourdough alive, having friends and family over to roast smores on our firepit that Mitch and I built, meeting new neighbors, adjusting to new schedules with school, enjoying the extended summer weather and lack of mosquitoes at this house, loving our backyard and the sunsets from our front porch, my grandma Miles going into hospice at my aunt's house, the kids growing up more and more every day, and all the things that come along with parenting kids as they get older and more independent. 

To sum up, we are happy and healthy and blessed. Life is hard, but we still have peace in our home. I am grateful for our Savior, who gives our family hope and peace and strength each day. Our lives are not perfect, we have tantrums and fights and all the normal things families work through. But every night when we read our scriptures together, pray together, and do our "family hug" and try to squeeze each other as tight as possible, we are reminded that it's all going to be okay. Our Heavenly Father has provided a way for us to be happy now and forever, and that includes being happy during the craziness that is 2020.