Highlights from 2020: The year of the global COVID-19 pandemic. We were quarantined from mid-March through mid-May and hardly left the house. We didn't put gas in either of our cars for over a month! Since I am the adventurer of the family, I would not have chosen to stay home that much. But we found ways to entertain ourselves and had a lot of fun as a family. Brandon moved home for those two months because both of his jobs shut down. But he moved back to St. George when they re-opened. Our big spring break plans to go to Universal Orlando and visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter got cancelled. I was SO sad about that. I'm still sad about that, actually. AND I decided not to take the annual road trip, either. I was too afraid that I would infect people that we visited, many of whom are considered high-risk. The girls and I took day trips around the area instead, which I LOVED.
Some of my favorites were hiking Crowder's Mountain (even though it was REALLY hard and we wanted to give up sometimes),
The Young Women's organization in our church celebrated their 150th anniversary. In conjunction with that, the YW general presidency invited us to set goals related to the number 150. I set two. First, I decided I wanted to add 150 names into our family tree. This was a GREAT project to keep me working on something productive during quarantine. And I did it! So satisfying! The second goal I set with Whitney and Caroline to walk/hike 150 miles. We started tracking ourselves in June. We counted all of our hikes during our day trips. And we would go on walks around the neighborhood a few times a week. I loved spending that time with them! By the time school started in August, we were over 100 miles, but still well short of 150. The girls kind of petered out, but I continued going on walks and tracking my miles and made it to 150 in October. Yay!
*Something you're good at: Being happy
*Something you're proud of: That my kids are willing to work hard
*Something you earned, won, or accomplished: Stacey and I won our Racquets and Jackets league! There were only three teams in the league, but still! I took third place in Fantasy Football. I renewed my AZ dental hygiene license.
*If you could sum up the year in one phrase, what would it be? Social distancing. Those were two words and I had never heard together until March. And now they are a constant part of our vocabulary and conversation.
*Any other notable changes/events for 2020: I got released from being a seminary teacher after four years. I was so sad to let that calling go! I loved starting my morning with amazing young men and young women, discussing the gospel and learning together. It was a growing experience and I'm so thankful I had the chance to serve.
At the end of August, I was called to serve as second counselor in the YW presidency. Glenda Leinbach is the president, Mendy Greenwood is the first counselor, and Laura Dudley is the secretary. Even though I was so sad to leave seminary, I LOVE serving with these women and am so happy that I still get to work with the youth. At this point in the pandemic, we are allowed to have in-person activities every Tuesday night. (Although we usually choose to do half in-person and half virtual.) We haven't started meeting in-person for second-hour Sunday meetings. We have been having a Sunday lesson for YW once a month on zoom.
Follow-up from last year's hopes:
*That Andrew's calling will get easier as he adjusts to his new church responsibilities.
Hmmm... Well, it got a lot worse before it got better. Guiding our stake through a global pandemic was AWFUL. So stressful. It was incredibly difficult to watch Andrew struggle through that and to feel that there was nothing I could do to help lift his burden. March through July were rough months to be a stake president. So many missionaries to bring home and each call seemed super urgent. And then working through how to safely return to worship and feeling the burden of making sure no one would get sick from coming to church. Thankfully, Andrew had experiences from work that helped guide him. And his counselors and bishops are wonderful. So they made it through! And while his calling is still hard, it's not as overwhelming as it was at some points in the year.
*That Brandon will keep his GPA above a 3.5 to keep his scholarship at Dixie.
Hmmmm... I don't think that happened. Again, I blame COVID. Brandon struggled with online classes. He is a social kid and feels like he learns better in-person where he can ask questions and more easily form study-groups. He was failing a class in fall semester that his advisor told him he should drop. Even then, I think his GPA has dropped below 3.5. He is taking this first semester of 2021 off of school and just working. He'll start back up in Fall 2021 and has a grace period to get his GPA back up where it needs to be. Fingers crossed he can do it.
*That we'll have a fun spring break trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. Especially looking forward to visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Yay yay yay!
Didn't happen. Boo.
*That we'll have a fun summer. Not sure yet if we're going to road trip or not. Both girls want to go to church girls camp, which might mess up my plans...
We managed to do some fun things this summer, but it was far different than what we had imagined.
Hopes for 2021:
*That the COVID vaccines that have been invented will help alleviate this pandemic so we can resume many of our normal activities. I especially miss going to the temple, which I haven't been able to attend since March.
*That I can continue to volunteer at NAI and anywhere else that works with my schedule.
*That my girls can have successful school years. They are still doing remote learning right now, but should be returning to in-person learning in the next month.
*Vacation plans: Girls trip to the Gulf Coast of TX with my sisters at the end of April. I hope I can visit with Grandma Cuca. She turns 90 this year and I'd love to celebrate with her somehow. Attend Grandma Hiatt's memorial service in Utah in July. Celebrate Barb and Dennis' 50th wedding anniversary at the Oregon Coast in August.
Hobbies: Board games, video games, traveling, tennis, walking/hiking, and I learned how to knit over quarantine.
Something you like about being a homemaker: Super flexible schedule, especially when I don't have to drive kids to school or dance/sports.
Something you don't like about being a homemaker: Dishes
A job you might want when you're older: Teaching English as a second language
A compliment you receive on a regular basis: Your laugh is contagious!
What can usually make you smile? Playing tennis
What do you most enjoy doing when you're alone? Reading, playing word games on my phone, listening to podcasts, playing the piano
If you could have a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go? New Zealand!
What's the best gift you've ever given? Not sure, but I think the best gift I gave this year was to surprise Andrew with an excursion to go Flounder Gigging while we were in Florida. He LOVED it. Brandon and I were able to go with him. He'd love to do it again. And we've continued to enjoy the fish that we caught! Yum!
What's your dream car? A Lotus
How has your personality changed in the last ten years? That's hard to say. But I think I've become less stubborn and more flexible. When I was younger, if I felt like I was right about something, I had a really hard time changing my mind. An example is the way that we vacation. Personally, I feel like we need to take advantage of every moment while we're on traveling. I don't want to miss anything. Let's wake up early and go to bed late and take in everything that we can while we're here! But that's exhausting. And Andrew hates that. He is up for adventures, but wants to have them in moderation. And have plenty of time to just chill and relax. I've realized that I don't have to be RIGHT about that. We can both have our preferences and I can plan our vacation to include time for both adventure AND relaxation.
FAVORITES:
Restaurant: Southern Roots, QDoba, Mi Pueblo, US Sushi
Sport: Football to watch, tennis to play
Recent reads: Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee, I Am Malala, The Answer Is... by Alex Trebek, Kon-Tiki
Candy or other treat: Chocolate covered cinnamon bears, Sprees, Smarties, Mint Oreo shakes from Cookout
Color: Red, black, purple, turquoise
Snack: Popcorn, crackers and cheese, grapes
TV show: Survivor, Downton Abbey (rewatching with Whitney this year, so fun!), Jeopardy, The Amazing Race, World of Dance
Place: The beach, the temple, and the Blue Ridge Parkway
Meal: Chicken and rice and beans with homemade tortillas, especially if made by Grandma Cuca
Song: Hamilton soundtrack, Sunflower from the Spider-Man soundtrack, pretty much anything that we can harmonize to when we sing along.
Game: Pandemic, Space Invaders, Coin Pushing, Azul, Jackbox
App: Words With Friends, Yahoo Fantasy Football, Snapchat (Brandon is my only friend, but I love getting videos from him), Among Us (that was a favorite to play this year, but we've stopped playing lately), Psych (a new one that the whole family downloaded and is super fun to play together and I almost always win. Ha!)
Podcasts: Duolingo, Freakonomics, BYU Speeches, Y Religion, Radiolab, Planet Money
RANDOM FACT: When the church changed from visiting teaching to ministering, I had a difficult time with that transition. I felt like I was a good visiting teacher and I didn't feel like I was a good ministering sister. I just wasn't quite sure what to do. It was a struggle. Sometime during the pandemic, I decided I wanted to text my ministering sisters at least once a week to touch base with them. So I put a reminder in my phone. I have five sisters assigned to me. One of them doesn't respond to my texts, so I give her space. But the other four I text with on a weekly basis. It has been a great way to stay in touch with them and feel like I'm involved in the details of their lives.
One of my ministering sisters, Yoanh, is a young single adult. She started dating a guy, Pha, who was not a member of the church this summer. He would come to church with her. They are such a cute couple. He liked what he heard. He started taking the missionary discussions. I was able to join several of them through zoom. He is awesome. And he chose to be baptized in December. I got to speak at his baptism. I loved being able to share in that experience with them.
So glad you do these updates! And I hope your hopes for 2021 come true! And you learned to knit! And you got to speak at Pha's baptism!
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