Home Church

Week one of no church landed on Brian and my anniversary, March 15th.  Twenty three years and counting.  I loved being able to have church with Brian, all of our kiddos and my parents right in our family room.  

The pictures are after our meeting was over.  I promise, Tanner did not lay out on the floor during church.  (Although he did grumble quite a bit about having to put on church clothes, including a tie and socks.)

We sang an opening, sacrament and closing hymn.  Aubrey conducted the music.  

There was a reverence in our home as Parker and Tanner blessed and passed the sacrament.

Tanner and I gave talks.  He spoke on faith.  His intro was pretty great.  He was straight faced as he said, "Good afternoon brothers and sisters."  Then he did a fake laugh and said, "oh, I mean morning.  I can't keep our new church time straight."  He continued, "I have to admit, I have been scrambling quite a bit to prepare my talk since Bishop asked me to speak last night."  Then he cleared his throat, allowed a little half smile and gave his talk.  

My talk had no catchy intro.  I spoke on preparing for conference and ways we can hear Him (Jesus Christ) more in our lives. 

Afterwards everyone was very content to just hang together and visit.  It was pretty sweet.

We had week two of home church today, March 22.  Social distancing became a more understood thing this past week, and we met with my parents and my friend Christie Applegate on ZOOM rather than having them in our home.  (Kind of sad...but worth it.)

This picture was taken right after our meeting but it was the only one we have.  Parker spoke on Feasting on the Words of Christ, and Brinley gave a talk about how we can improve our personal scripture study.

Then the kids headed one room over to play air hockey and ping pong together.  Not our usual second hour of church, but it worked for today!

To fill the rest of the day some of the things some of us did: played Uno Flip, played Life, went on a walk, went on a bike ride, read, looked at our phones, went on another walk, napped, more phone time, made dinner, made a second dinner, studied Come Follow Me, watched the First Vision video, talked on the phone/texted with friends, ate some more....  

I have to admit this Sunday, after a full week of pretty much mostly just being home, was a very, very long day.

One sweet thing I want to remember:  Parker was on make dinner but he was asleep.  Aubrey offered to do service and surprise him.  I thought her kind act deserved much more thanks than she received.  However, I guess that is service.  We have to be willing to give with no thought of reward.  I think deep down in that big ole 17 year old body and soul, he was more thankful than he let on. 

I am not seeing attending church as an option anytime in the near future.  I think/hope we will look back on these times when we were able to have church in our home as special and memorable.

Some Pretty Great Memes

With social distancing being recommended and school being postponed for at least three weeks, there are some pretty awesome memes circulating.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I do tend to eat when I am bored or stressed.  This could be a bad combo.  (Don't worry, I did stock up on butter and chocolate chips and a few candy bars...just in case we need them.) 

I love this one!  It just cracks me up for some reason.  I think Tanner is feeling a little panicky.  He has lost 4 pounds because he is not eating his usual "lunch" of sack after sack of processed foods.  (He's not panicking because of the weight loss.  He is panicking because he doesn't want to warm up leftovers.)  He keeps opening the pantry and declaring, "WE HAVE NO FOOD."

We have more food than ever because a couple of weeks ago, I stocked up on some things we were short on.  Also, my dad gave me a free trial of Hello Foods so this past week, we have had four full meals shipped to us.  I have made dinner every night this week except Wednesday...and Bryn made it that night.  I will insert a picture of the pantry below so you can no this kid won't be starving anytime soon.  (Although he might need to learn to hunt for his Doritos.)

Lot's of homeschooling jokes going around.  We actually won't start until Monday.  We are going to have to work on 1. bedtime before 1:00 am 2. up before noon (I have just let them sleep.  Usually on weekends or in the summer our rule is 10:30 am to get up and start doing chores.  This week though, we are just taking it easy.)  3. Fighting the battle of not waiting until the end of the week to do all the work assigned for the week.

On another note, we haven't been asked to self quarantine here.  We are trying to social distance from others though.  Brit and I have gone on walks but have not touched each other.  Mostly Bryn, Aub and I have just been home.  Tanner keeps asking to have his "group" of friends over, but I have told him he can invite one or two only.  Park and Brian go to work everyday so there is that.  

We have two confirmed cases in Ector County as of March 21st.  On Friday, the governor issued an order for all restaurants, gyms and bars to be closed in Texas.  (Drive thru windows can be open.)  We have been asked by Pres. Trump not to gather in groups of more than ten.  Right away my kids wanted to know if that meant no Sunday night gatherings with family.  Sorry my loves, yes it does.

We learned of a BYU student who was diagnosed.  He lives in the apartment complex of Brinley's dinner group and intramural soccer team.  That was a little too close for comfort.  Parker angrily  told me if I made him quarantine he was RUNNING AWAY.  He was getting heated and quite panicky.  I just laughed and told him, "If we need to self quarantine, nobody will want you at their house."  Crazy kid.  

It's been hard to contain the teens.  I am a little jealous of my sisters who each have four children 12 and under.  They are able to keep all of their chickies right under their wings.  They have just stayed home this week.  I say just a little jealous because it would be REALLY hard to be stuck at home all day everyday with four little ones.  The toddler stage was especially hard for me.

And this meme really brings everything into a sobering light.

Our parents’ generation 

was asked to go to war.

We have been asked to sit on 

the couch and watch Neflix.

We can do this.

And then, on top of all of the Caronavirus stuff,  there was the 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Magna Utah this week.  Lot's of damage but no fatalities.  Moroni lost his trumpet and there have been some funny memes.  One said, "Ultimate Mic drop."  Here is another one:

And this one....soooooooooo true.  My dad will not stay home.  I think he is at the store every other day.  He is hard to contain.  It will definitely have to be his choice.  They have also been getting their weekly massages.  My mom goes to physical therapy twice a week for her knee which is definitely needed.  Come on peeps, we love you...stay home!  

Back Together Again

Finally reunited!  Brinley made it home from BYU about 11:00 on Saturday night, and Aubrey made it home from Mexico/the airport about 11:45.  It was so heartwarming to watch all four of these siblings hug, laugh, talk about their spring break adventures and just hang out together.  I bowed out at 12:30 a.m.  

They have been keeping a pretty late schedule since being home, and it's a lot of fun watching them together.

No picture of Tanner but he was there...on the recliner a few steps away.

  

 AND THIS!!!  Our Life 360 app...all together under one roof again.  Makes my heart happy.

The Temple, A Date and Covid-19

We were hoping to go to the temple all together, but it just started getting complicated with working around Brinley's classes.  She was available and willing to go really early, but Tanner wasn't too excited about that.  We decided to just take Tanner and do baptisms while Brinley was in class, and then she and Tanner could do lunch and play racquetball during her break.

I was also hoping to do a session with Brian while Tanner did baptisms.  He was like, "uh-uh--you crazy, you ain't leaving me alone."  So on Wednesday morning, we did baptisms together, and it was wonderful, of course.  I hadn't been to the temple with Tanner since he had been ordained as a priest, and I loved that I could be baptized by him for a few of our ancestors.   Brian was a witness and helped with confirmations.

Not the best picture...neither of the boys were excited to pause and get one taken...but hey, this is us.

A little bit after we got out of the temple, we learned that General Conference would be delivered by technology only due to the Coronavirus.  The MTC (mission training centers) in the US and England would not be accepting new missionaries and those needing to report would get their training online.  Brinley was really sad about this step.  She is hoping everything will be resolved by July 15th when she is supposed to report.  And from this point on it seemed that every few hours, some other major steps were being taken to stop the spread of the virus.

That afternoon, Bryn and Tanner hung out for a few hours.  Bryn has been taking a racquetball class and was excited to play Tanner.  They had three close matches, but he won.  She was joking about how frustrating it was that she had been taking a class, and he had never played before but still beat her.   I could relate.  When Brian and I were dating, I had two classes under my belt.  I could beat several other girls and guys I played.  However, I could NEVER beat Brian.  It was frustrating!

That evening, Bri and Tanner rented scooters, and ate out.  I think they just hung out at the hotel after that.  Brian wanted to get a good rest that night before the drive home.

I picked Bryn up after her last class, and we had a girls night.  It was pretty tightly packed.  First we got pedicures and then headed to her dorm to load a suitcase and a bag of clothes into the van.  (We were trying to figure out how to get everything home by plane once the semester was over.)

Next, we went to Great Harvest bread and purchased a couple of slices of yummy bread to go with our Jamba juice.  (Probably my favorite lunch or dinner in Utah....love that smoothie and fresh bread combo.)

Then we squeezed in a quick trip to the grocery store.  The Coronavirus (Covid-19) concern was spreading, and Brian and I wanted to stock her up just a bit before we left.  The lines were long and crazy.  There was no toilet paper, but we purchased fresh fruit and canned fruit and a few different kinds of crackers and paper towels and toiletries.   It took so long in line I was afraid we were going to miss our feature event for the evening.

We rushed to the Hale Center Theater with minutes to spare before the performance started.  We enjoyed Matilda.  The child actors were amazing.  They could sing and dance and memorize So Many Lines.  The man that played the headmistress was hilarious as well.  We actually saw the very last production because the next day they closed the theater down as a precaution due to the Coronavirus.

We were glad we went to the temple too because a few days later the church announced it would only be open for live ordinances.

Craziness.  Covid-19 is really beginning to wreck havoc on the world.

That night as we brought the groceries in to her apartment and said goodbye, I teased her that maybe she should just come home with us know.  I was totally joking though, and she was not remotely interested.  It was so great to spend our spring break in Utah with family and especially our girl.

On Thursday morning at 5:00 am, Bri, Tanner and I began our 18 hour drive home to Texas.  

On Thursday afternoon, at 4:45 pm Brinley sent this:

BYU had cancelled classes and would move all courses online in a week.  WHAT?????????  

We were 12 hours in to our 18 hour drive.  Should we turn around and get her?  Should we go home and have Bri drive back up in the next week or two.  (Drive back up for the longest drive ever?!)  We paused in Albuquerque, bought dinner and texted back and forth with Bryn.

We decided to head on home and see how things panned out.  

Too make a very long blog post even longer....by Friday afternoon, Brian and I both felt she should probably come home.  We had booked a ticket for her to fly home at the end of March but with more things shutting down and the virus spreading more, we just weren't sure airports would be opened.  We were hoping she could ride home with Joseph on Tuesday, but he decided to stay because Kate was flying in from England.  Her other option was to catch a ride with Emma King.  So Friday afternoon at 3 Brinley began packing, and she was on the road home by 7 am the next morning.

And since the events of this post which took place March 12-14th: 

-church (for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) has been cancelled worldwide

-Grandma and Grandpa Gwilliam, Karol and family, and Scott and family are on a three week mandated shelter in place

-missionary service has been adjusted (shorter missions for young men serving in the states and Canada, missionaries being flown home from the Philippines, older missionaries and those with health problems being released etc...)

-There are shortages of food, cleaning supplies, toilet paper and more throughout the US because people are panicking and trying to stock up in case of a quarantine.

-President Trump has encouraged meetings of only 10 people or less

-all have been challenged, at the very least, to practice social distancing

-There was a 5.7 earthquake in Utah today.  The airport has been shut down evacuated due to burst pipes and other possible damages.  (So glad we felt like Bryn should come home sooner rather than later via Southwest airlines.)

It's Crazy, and yet I feel fine.  I am really glad all of my chickies are under one roof.  I love that we have had prophets who have warned us for my entire life to be prepared.  We have had a lot less scrambling and a lot more peace because we have a years supply of food and some other necessities.  I am grateful that our sweet prophet today, President Russel M. Nelson, had the insight to implement Come Follow Me to help us be better prepared to study the gospel in our homes.  

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

(Hymn 85, How Firm A Foundation)