Week 5 of Quarantine: Escape Plan

This week was weird.

And I forgot to mention all of the random earthquakes we've been experiencing!

Like the one that shook Salt Lake City which caused the Angel Moroni to drop his trumpet! To say that the people if Utah were freaking out is an understatement. There was also a fairly big earthquake in Boise and last night an earthquake jolted me awake! What is happening?

Well, I can tell you one thing, we are going a little stir crazy around here.

I was feeling the need for a little space, so I requested that Tanner take the kids for a few hours on Sunday while I cleaned the kitchen and worked on the old bliggity blog. It was glorious. He swam and played with the kids and then set up the tent and started watching Back to the Future with them. I was able to totally reset and it was just what I needed. We had a nice sacrament meeting at home followed by a few ZOOM meetings: primary, Sunday School, Youth...

I've been trying to stay present and creative with the kids but it's hard, especially when I'm at a time of day when my needs haven't been met. HIGH fitness with Courtney has been my saving grace. We made bird feeders out of old juice cartons but no birds wanted the seed we had... 

One night, Parker decided to make a Disney inspired dinner with homemade soft pretzels, Dole whips, hot dogs, and pickles because apparently Ella LOVES pickles! We ate so late that Tanner was able to join us. Hurray!

We picked oranges from our tree one day and delivered them to our neighbors. One neighbor brought us face masks in return. What a crazy time we are living in. We've been working in the yard and working on school work and trying to keep the peace. It's a full time job but we are doing well!

On Thursday, I read about a red tide occurring in Newport Beach and immediately decided we HAD to see the bioluminescence that night. We left the house around 7pm and we made it to the beach in record time- less than 40 minutes. There are no cars on the road right now! We came across some surfers who hadn't noticed any glowing water and they told us to try and walk down to the south end of the pier. So we did! It was a mile and a half walk in the dark but I cannot tell you how glorious it was to be OUT!!! And at the beach, no less! It was like the kids were finally back to their natural habitat. They collapsed in the sand and made sand angels and rolled all over. I can totally relate. They are for sure my children. But as we walked along the water, hearing the waves crash, we couldn't see any glowing water and I was starting to feel sad and nervous that we wouldn't see this amazing natural phenomenon. I said a silent prayer. We got to the south side of the pier and low and behold there it was! Faint blue bioluminescence in the breakers! By this time it was about 8:30pm and the kids were getting tired so we stayed to watch the waves and the stars (which were so bright and so clear) for about 10 minutes before walking back north to the car. As the night wore on, the bioluminescence glowed brighter and brighter and I wished we could have stayed longer, but Rayleigh was pretty much sleeping walking. What a magnificent site, though!!!! I hadn't seen it since high school and I feel so lucky to have seen it again 20 years later. There is something about light that I am drawn to. Shooting stars, sunsets, fire flies.... I cannot get enough. It's like witnessing the light of Christ in others. Don't you feel extra drawn to those who possess that light supremely? I'm thinking the "Lisa Braithwaites" of the world. May we ever try to embrace and magnify His light in our lives, as well!

This week in Come Follow Me, we are studying Mosiah, King Benjamin, and "when you are in the service of your fellow being, you are only in the service of your God." And guess what? I miss my parents and my brother and sisters immensely. And the kids do too! They miss their cousins! And we know this pandemic hasn't been easy on anyone. So we decided to go on a mission on Friday: a mission to spread joy! We drove through "Chick a Lay" (what Ella calls it) for lunch and drove down to Laguna. We picked up 5 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and our first stop was my parent's house! Oh my goodness, I can't explain to you how good it was to see them. We sat outside and chatted while the kids ran around and played hide and seek. My Dad, the rebel, gave me a hug and it was the best hug I've ever received.

From there, we visited Kari and once again, we were able to stand outside and chat while the kids played around. Parker was stoked to see Tavain who is now 10 feet tall. We brought a box to Jon and a little birthday card for Kaela who turned 9 this week and once again, the kids ran around with each other outside. Jon's hair is totally gray and it looks good but he is a little embarrassed about it. Our next stop was to see Cami but they weren't home which was a major bummer! We tried to think if there was anyone else we wanted to see and surprise with a treat and we decided to try Lily. I sent Parker into 7-11 with 5 bucks and he grabbed a bag of Sour Patch Kids for her. We had a hard time finding her house but we finally did and Parker was thrilled! They are so cute together and it was fun to see friends.

We tried to order pizza to eat on the way home but the ovens were down. I tried to order Waba but when I got there to pick up my order, the doors were locked. So we ended up driving through Panera, the Taj Mahal of drive throughs. But it was good and it was a nice drive home. Can't beat ZERO traffic on a Friday evening. Thanks, Quarantine!

This weekend, we worked in the yard and had a nice Saturday. Sunday, I woke up and told myself to take some time to read my Ensign and have a little personal devotional before starting the day. I could hear the kids playing in the backyard already but after a few minutes they got quiet. So I went to check on them and saw them at the side gate which was open. We shut and locked it and they said, "Don't worry, we didn't go far." Ummm what? A man came to the door and said that he'd found them walking along the busy street outside our neighborhood, told them to go home, and followed them to make sure they were safe! Holy Cow! Quarantine has really got us wanting to get out! Luckily they WERE safe and that man was an angel watching over my barefoot and pajama-d kids! When we checked the security cameras, they were only gone for 5 minutes. But that just goes to show how far a kid can get in a short amount of time! Rayleigh was good and hesitated before walking out the gate to follow Jack who was gung-hoe about exploring the outside world on a Sunday morning. We really should be living in Idaho.

Things are just straight up koo-koo in the world. What time is it? What day is it? What MONTH it is? Even Rayleigh has started eating her chicken and rice with a snorkel mask on! She doesn't even realize she's on land! ;-)

It's been really fun being quarantined with these kids and not very boring. We really are watched over and blessed. I will be glad when this is all over and we can get back to "real" life. But I'll be ok if we keep living this simplified version of reality for a little longer.

Sleepy eyes are my favorite

Lily and Parker

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