Sometimes with the craziness that ensues over here, I could welcome everyone to our circus. However, we have approached another level of circus. Parker is getting pretty good at his unicycle. He was able to pedal 33 times yesterday without falling off. Pretty impressive.
Aubrey ordered this new trapeze/yoga thing. I don't even know what to call it. She has been happily learning new tricks and making up routines. She was very sore after the first couple of days.
When Tanner attempted the trapeze, the fun really began. He was hollering the whole time and Aubrey and Parker had to lift him into new positions. Everyone was cracking up.
I really hope no one gets a permanent brain injury if this thing doesn't hold. I've questioned Brian a couple of times. Parker knows he is too big and not to risk it.
The afternoon sun was beating down on her spot, but Aubrey kept practicing.
Now we just need to get a picture or two of Brian showing off his juggling skills.
Looking back at pre-shelter in place/real life, it was always hard to find an open Saturday where everyone was available to work in the yard. (I can refer to it as "real life" right? We will be going back to real life...right?!?!) Brian and I are both probably too soft on the kids too. They had long school days starting with seminary at 6:00 a.m. and ending with physically demanding workouts and homework. In the spring and fall, the boys would referee soccer on Saturdays. Saturdays make a fun day to hang out with friends or catch up on sleep or homework. We have always had a few Saturday inside chores but not Saturday outside chores.
Currently however, no one, with the exception of Brian, has particularly straining weeks. Brian and I felt like we could get a little backyard work project going. The kids still weren't thrilled by the idea of spending a couple of hours working in the yard together. The difference on my end though was I didn't feel badly at all about expecting them to join in the work. We still had to approach them gingerly. They are teenagers and things blow up quickly on any day at any time.
Luckily they all agreed without too much complaint, and we were able to clean up our jungle out back. It felt good working hard together on a common cause.
Brian supervised the boys in felling this tree. (Is that how you say it?) They started up high and then pulled out the axes to take her out completely. It was physically demanding work, and they didn't quit until it was done.
The girls and I cut out the dead honeysuckle vines by the back gate. They started dying a few years ago when we had a drought for multiple years.
We also cut down smaller branches and carried or drug everything out to the alley. Bri is planning on taking these to the recycling center on Tuesday.
Bryn started cutting off limbs of this tree. It gets so huge and bushy. The previous owners planted it so close to the house that it really needs to be removed. One day in the future maybe.
I should have taken before and after pictures of the backyard, but trust me, our jungle is looking much more tame.
Tanner has sooooo much hair, and he really needs a cut. He won't let me touch it. Then he said if I paid him $20, I could cut it any way I wanted. (Insert eye roll) I pretended that it was a really hard decision for me to make and then finally agreed. Once I started describing my plans, he backed out and upped the price to $50.
In jest, I sent a family text out to see who else might be willing to donate to the pot. Parker said he would give $10 if he could choose the style. Bryn thought it was a great idea but didn't offer any cash. Aub doesn't have a phone, so she wasn't on the text. Bri offered a big $1.50. We weren't making a lot of progress with the $50 payment, but we all had some perfect styles in mind.
Parker wanted short on the top and long on the sides. That is a lovely haircut and all but I was kind of hoping to get rid of the mop on his head.
I sent these lovely ideas in the group text. We figured we could probably do both. Tanner started getting a little uneasy about the whole thing which made everything even funnier.
Brinley voted for the stache picture above so Tanner could at least have one real mustache. (He is pretty sure the peach fuzz above his lip, which she has dubbed "Pedro," is legit.)
PROVO — Three Brigham Young University students with wet hair walked out of the Provo City Center Temple on a chilly, gray and misty Friday unaware that the baptism ordinance work they’d undergone for dead ancestors will be temporarily suspended on Monday.
Proxy ordinance work at all 168 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world will be suspended. Ordinances for the living will be done by appointment only, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles announced on Friday.
Their joint letter was released while Brinley Gwilliam, 19, was inside the temple with her friends, Katelyn Bell, 19, and Elena Peterson, 18.
“That’s so sad,” said Gwilliam, a freshman in communication disorders from Odessa, Texas. “I’m so glad we made it today.”
“We’ll have to go again tomorrow,” said Bell, an experience design major from Houston, Texas. “This is the place to be with all the chaos going on.”
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perform saving ordinances in the church’s temples both for themselves and by proxy for those who have died. The spread of the coronavirus worldwide prompts the changes announced Friday.
Both proxy and living ordinances are suspended temporarily at temples located in areas where government or other restrictions on public or religious gatherings preclude temple activity, according to the letter released by the church’s senior leaders.
They also announced that all housing for temple volunteers will close. The changes are temporary and related to health concerns regarding COVID-19.
“It’s a lot going on,” said another BYU student, Trey Long, 27, who is pursuing a master’s degree in social work. “I’ve been worried about the virus, but I felt so calm in the temple.”
Long and his wife, Larrisy, 28, who is pregnant, have one child. They attended a live sealing of two friends, an ordinance with the potential to bind a man and woman together for eternity.
“It was amazing,” Larrisy Long said. “It’s always amazing.”
Live sealings like the one the Longs attended will continue in Utah temples and other places without restrictions on small gatherings. The same is true for child-to-parents sealing ordinances, and living initiatory and endowment ordinances.
However, guests at living ordinances will be limited.
The letter said temple presidencies, staff and workers would take steps to minimize the risk of spreading the disease. Staff will be reduced, for example. That will reduce capacity for even living ordinances.
“Church members will be provided with instructions when they schedule their appointments for living ordinances,” the leaders’ letter said. “Individuals with currently scheduled appointments will be contacted by temple staff.”
Trey Long is a Provo City Center Temple worker with a shift scheduled on Friday night. He said he would look forward to hearing from his supervisor about what he should do.
Gwilliam usually attends the temple every Tuesday. She went prayerfully on Friday as she tries to decide whether to leave her friends and school midsemester. BYU announced Thursday that it had suspended classes on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. Classes will resume Wednesday online, and the university encouraged students to go home while completing their courses, if possible.
“I thought I had five more weeks with friends and classes,” she said. “I’m planning to go on a mission next, so I have to decide, do I say goodbye to my friends in two days for two years or more?”
Bell and Peterson missed their normal temple day on Thursday. With classes canceled, they said the temple was one of the few things to do.
BYU students Brinley Gwilliam, Katelyn Bell and Elena Peterson learnd about the temple changes after they performed baptisms for the dead at the Provo City Center Temple on March 13, 2020. Tad Walch, Deseret News
“It’s the place we get to forget about everything happening,” said Peterson, a genetics major from Layton.
“It helps your day go smoothly,” added Bell, who works at the Provo Missionary Training Center, which received its last missionaries on Wednesday for the time being. She helps with broadcasts, which will keep her busy. The MTC now will help train new missionaries by remote video conferencing.
The church previously announced the temporary closure of 13 temples.
“Many governments have placed restrictions that have required the temporary closure of a number of temples,” the leaders noted.
(Here is the official link to the article online.)
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