We are 4.5 months in this quarantine business and I'm finally getting around to talking about how this has affected our year. In many ways, it's the same old. Dallin is not in school and he wasn't in a preschool so our routine was pretty much the same of getting out in the morning and naps in the afternoon. The difference was everything was closed. We literally were going from trail to trail to find something open. We even got out of one trail as county park worker was putting up signs that close the trails. I was like "there has to be something!" We live in an apartment with no real yard so we had to be super creative. Most of the time it was walks in neighborhoods nearby. Technically the Burke Gilman trail was closed but everyone was still going. It's some people's commute so I'm not sure how they would be able to close it indefinitely.
That ended up being our saving grace. We ended up going so often that we would frequently see the same people. I noticed this one mom with her two girls and we would always pass around the same time nearly every day. I stopped her one day to say hi and then now every time we see her, we stop by on the side of the trail (near the construction action for the kiddos to watch) while we chat. We invited them to the park nearby because we usually end up scooping up dirt on the mounds. They ended up coming by and Dallin just had a ball with them running around and playing in the dirt. He totally has a thing for older girls. He already loves Kaeley and Daisy and now this girl, Ziana, and he also really loves our neighbor friend Elnas. He always wants to hold their hands and chase them. For a time it felt like we never interacted with anyone so it makes my heart happy to see him playing with other kids and finding so much joy in it!
A few things we've done since quarantine:
-Lots and lots of walks. Also finding places to scoop up dirt. I'm relishing the area where we live. Luckily the State parks were only closed for about a month so we've taken advantage of going there several times a week.
-Game night over zoom with the Doutre's. We played Code Names and it worked out so well. So fun!
-YW activities over zoom. Still going strong every week since the second week in March.
-Daily facetime with Emily and baby Elise :)
-Watching Grandpa in his stake conference online
-Heartbroken over March Madness being cancelled but Austin remedied with his own basketball hoop made out of cardboard for Dallin
-Working from home has been fun and challenging. I know Austin misses his coworkers but there are perks of having him home more. He always takes Dallin out around 5:30 so I have some time to myself to finish up dinner.
-Dallin daily watches music class from the teacher who does it here in Kenmore.
-Austin having Russian speaking classes with the sister missionaries over the phone. They are specifically assigned Russian speaking for the Everett Mission.
-Conference at home and getting all the siblings together over zoom to surprise Mom for her birthday.
-We've been having ward devotionals every Sunday since middle of March. Austin and I sang for a musical number a month ago and I just gave a talk a couple of weeks ago.
-We've really relished this time having the sacrament at home. Dallin for the most part is very reverent but then afterwards tries to sneak underneath the cloth to steal leftover water. One time we had lunch right after the sacrament and when I made his sandwich, he brought it over to the 'sacrament table' (aka our piano bench) and clasped his hands together and started praying.
-Participating in lip sync battles with the Lewises and Doutres. Oh man. Probably the best thing about this whole quarantine. I was literally crying from laughing so much. SO MUCH FUN!
-Celebrated our birthdays in May and June. All very low key which is kind of how we like it. We did a lot of repeat on meals like ordering from the same Indian restaurant about 3x in one month. And we made the chocolate peanut pie that we love so much about 4 times in 6 weeks.
-We got weighted blankets and it's the best thing.
-Austin selling two bikes. He bought a new one last year that was better for his commute so he finally parted ways with his high school bike. Then a bike he found by the dumpster he cleaned up and sold it.
-And of course, highlights so far has been able to see Lewis grandparents and cousins in a matter of weeks from each other. We are excited to see Doutre grandparents and cousins in a couple of weeks!
-Making lots of popsicles
So fun to read your update of your life during COVID. Although, I knew some of these events, I loved hearing the in your voice and enjoying the beautiful pictures. Miss you! Thanks for coming our way, twice!!! It was great!!!
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