Half Of March-The Effects of Coronavirus

I just have to start off by saying… my kids have fought so much this month!! Especially when we all went to “Home Schooling” (social distancing). Oh my gosh!! And then this picture says it all as well:

This little running segment was before everything started to change:

Running: Speed workouts and long runs are getting more intense. It was nice to have a month of easy runs. On Saturday March 7th, I was able to meet up with a few of my running friends. It was so great.

I was not supposed to do a 20-mile run but the peer pressure was real. 😂 I totally ditched out on my workout to hang with these ladies. Lots of laughs, running hard, obstacles (fences- climbing them and going through them), and run in with animals (donkey, coyote, pheasants, and scary dogs.)

And then the Coronavirus stopped all the training (for my race in Greece) and for many others. Races around the World have been canceled… reality has set in and we realized this is a lot more serious than when it first came out.

My coach has backed us all off on our running and told us just to run easy and put miles in. This started on March 16th. Running has kept me sane through all of this. (Top left, bottom left, then right- workout in order of weeks. March 1st-22nd.)

Track:

The season has started off great! We had about 150 kids sign up this season. I am over the 400, 800, mile and 2 milers (boys and girls). It has been a little tricky giving each group their individual workouts and times, but we have great captains that have helped lead their individual groups. We have been going for about 3 weeks and then got the notice that school was canceled for 2 weeks (maybe more) to help stop the spread of the Coronavirus. Along with no school, there are no sports or other activities. Everything is shutting down. I had many phone calls/texts from the kids on the team wondering about workouts and what they needed to do on their own. As coaches (there’s 8 of us), we posted 2 weeks’ worth of workouts on our Instagram site so the kids can keep going.

I’ve been down to the HS a few times (with my own kids to get them out) and have seen a number of kids practicing on their own. It’s pretty impressive to see. Man I miss it!!

March Friday the 13th: We were told that schools were going to be shut down for 2 weeks. I think it’s going to be longer. I also realized that I, too, will be out of work. We are fortunate/blessed that Corom will still be working at the school (as the social worker). He is still going to meet with kids he sees and probably others with all the changes.

The 15th: All of church was canceled… well going to church was. We have a wonderful Prophet here on earth… President Neilson. He has guided us and taught us months earlier how to have a better “home based” church. To make sure we are teaching it in our homes and not just learning about the gospel on Sundays only. It has been great. What better timing then now to put what we have been taught into action. This 1st Sunday was wonderful! I missed church and it was weird not going, but we had a wonderful experience at home. We were able to take the sacrament in our home with a few others that needed/wanted it. I’m grateful to have the Priesthood in my home.

We went to the Clarion and ate dinner there, then Corom & I and the girls went for a nice walk. Beautiful day outside.

16th: 1st day of “Home School” 😬😭. I am not the homeschooling type, so here we go. I did have to go to work (at the Clarion) for a little while today. All of the people are postponing their weddings/events but there were some things we had to finish/clean up. I gave the girls a list/schedule of what they had to do while I was gone.

I was impressed that they did their chores, school work, and piano/chelo practicing. When I got home, I took the girls to the track to have them run around… get energy out. That is my youngest running past a few of the HS athletes.

There I saw a good amount of HS track kids doing their workouts. We then had Family Night. It was nice.

17th: St. Patrick’s Day

Well… my kids got up early and put their green on. Well… so did Corom and I. 😂

I went out for my run as the girls started their rotation with reading, practicing and school computer stuff. I came back and helped them finish up. We went outside and I had the girls help me shovel the big pile of rocks into our backyard. Yeah… they fought a lot out there!! Especially over who got to dump the barrel. I, seriously don’t know what to do. But they worked hard for a little over an hour.

We went for a bike ride, then came back and played four-square. I schooled them all! Ok… I got out every time.

We had our St. Patrick’s dinner!

Corom sent out a message to everyone in the school that he will be available if anyone needs to talk or see him for any reason. He sure loves working for the youth and kids. Hard and confusing times for many of them. He did get a good amount of response.

My youngest did find this in our backyard today of all days!

18th: I slept in until 6:45 this morning. I rolled out of bed and slowly got ready for my run. Just before I was going to head out… we had an EARTHQUAKE (at 7:09 a.m.). It was in the Salt lake area at a 5.7 but we felt it pretty good here. It was strong enough that it woke my kids and Corom up. Lot’s of strange things this past month. I did get a 10 mile run in, though. It felt good today and it was a huge bonus with the rain. We headed to the schools at our designated time to pick up packets and chrome books for the girls to share. This is going to be hard for me to figure out all of the girls class assignments and to make sure they are getting it done. They spent the rest of the afternoon doing their school work and chores. Not as much fighting today but they did stay pretty busy.

I took them down to the track to get them out. We ran into other families we knew and quite a few high school kids doing their workouts (individually).

We also saw 5 cute missionaries from The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints. They were “racing” the mile, so being the coach that I am, I timed them. It was pretty fun. They, too, are quarantined so they are only able to exercise for a certain amount of time and then go home.

19th: I went out for my 8 mile run this morning. Then the girls had their 6-month dental checkup. I wanted to keep the appointment before that all shut down as well.

It’s a good thing I did… my oldest has a couple of cavities, my 2nd has 4 cavities, my 3rd has 1 but it will turn into a root canal if we don’t get it taken care of right away and my 4th, needs 2 crowns or a cap or whatever and has 3 cavities. I swear… we go every 6 months and always leave with so many cavities. I hate it!!!

It was back to our new norm. Schoolwork, lunch, 4-square, school work, the track (my youngest is always in her PJ’s), then activities and chores. Fun times.

20th: Today was a little tough for me. After my morning run, it was the same. Schoolwork, walking around the house bored, etc. I did take the girls back to the track for about an hour. They ended up with the hurdles again (and Coach Weight and I cleaned out our track shed).

Practice makes perfect!

We stopped by the Thompson’s to sing happy birthday to my oldest’s good friend. We kept our distance but felt bad that she couldn’t do anything. They have been good friends since the age of 5. Then we had pizza… we were all hungry!Corom was so annoying because he purposely delayed coming to the car eating the pizza.

21st: I went out on a solo run and ended up running into 2 friends of mine (Mac & Aubrey). It was nice to do 4 miles with them. I turned back and ran into another friend (Keri). The last 3 of my 12 were solo but I felt good and picked up the pace.

The girls and I worked at the Clarion for a few hours. We did some deep cleaning for her. It was nice to get out and have the girls make some money.

(Corom was home working on our backyard while we were at the Clarion.) Once we got home, Corom and I went over to a new family moving into the neighborhood and helped them unload their Uhaul… we are trying to keep ourselves at a social distance but in situations like this, we felt the need to help. The girls did a deep cleaning of their rooms. Totally needed!! My oldest and youngest are so messy… we put those 2 together in a room to share. 😂

We took the girls to the Spanish Fork river trail… many others had the same idea. It was nice to get out. I actually had to finish up on a 2-3 mile run, so the girls had their roller skates and bikes. Others (Barny’s and Mcdaniel’s) joined us as well but we stayed somewhat separated while recreating…

We Came home and watched a movie.

Sunday-22nd: Once again we had the Sacrament at home. We had a neighbor and her kids come over as well. We went for a nice walk outside today and just hung out on the lawn for a little while.

It was nice to go through the Come Follow me manual/lesson and make today more of a learning day of Christ. The girls were connected to their young women’s class through the Zoom app and had a mini lesson/discussion. It was great.

We then brought dinner to the missionaries since they are quarantined as well.

It took us forever to get the girls to bed. They would fight, then get out of control, play, fight, cry, laugh, play, etc. It’s been great being home and doing more as a family but gosh it has also been draining. 😂

Before the Social Distancing:

My 2nd daughter had some 80’s party to go to:

My 3rd daughter had her 5th grade science fair project:

My 4th daughter had her parent/4th grade dance:

My oldest straightened her hair. And just for the record… she did just take her hair out of a ponytail when I took the pic with it being curly.

Corom running around chasing the girls, neighbor kids and friends looking like this: