Well, March 2020 has definitely been an interesting month. It started with my birthday and a super fun trapeze trip to Santa Barbara, and ended with our kids being out of school for the rest of the school year, me working from home until at least May 11, a trapeze break, and a statewide "stay at home" order placed by our Governor.
What a crazy time we are living in....2020, enough already.
Dave is at it again, homeschooling! Over the years, I've mentioned a few times that I think it would be fun to have a garden. Dave mostly smiles and nods, knowing I'm not very good at keeping plants alive. I'm sure he figured that I'd start the garden and then let die when I lost interest or forgot about it. He's probably right, honestly. But, desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess! I mentioned the idea again, and off he went to Lowe's to get some wood to build a raised garden bed! Isn't he just the best? I think so.
He got Ava involved in the project too. Tyler isn't as interested in stuff like this, especially when he's working on his own projects, but Ava is always up for something new and she's a great helper. Dave told her what to do, and she did most of the work. She measured and helped figure out the dimensions and ran the drill.
They put a layer of wire on the bottom, on top of boards to support the weight of the dirt.
We debated a little bit as to where to place the garden once it was done, and actually had it over against that wall for a few days. Both of my parents suggested that it might not get enough sunlight if it was up against the wall, so we moved it out here into the sun. Dave tapped into the irrigation system that runs into our planter so the garden would get consistent water. Karen gave me a helpful list of what plants to grow at different times of the year here in the desert, so we used that to decide what to plant. I sent Dave a list when he was at the store, and he came back with a few different options. At first he just planted seeds, but we probably should have planted all established plants to start with. We planted green beans, cucumber, peppers, and onions to start, and then Dave did go back to Lowe's and got some basil plants, a jalapeno plant and a tomato plant. The beans popped up in just a few days, and then a few cucumbers and a few of the onions. The peppers haven't popped through, so we might need to put something else in there. We definitely have a lot to learn, but I think this is a good start!
Just a glimpse of life on a normal Monday these days.....
Working from home....
A little bit of school, although the online school hasn't technically started....some teachers are sending out projects and activities to give the kids something to do.
This was fun--Ava had to use the elements of the periodic table to create a personalized license plate. I love that she used the word "hepy" in the place of happy. In case you're not sure why, we sometimes say "heppy" instead of happy for various trapeze greetings. I doubt her teacher got the reference, but I definitely smiled when I saw it.
Ava has gotten really good at braiding, thanks to the doll head she got for Christmas. She doesn't think my hair is very easy to braid, so usually wont practice on me. I got her to try tonight though, and it turned out great! I wore it like this the whole next day, even after sleeping in it. I know I wasn't doing double Dutch braids when I was 10!
Mom and I met up near the Riparian to go for a bike ride along the canal. She has this awesome new electric bicycle, and it really makes our rides together enjoyable. Her pace on her electric bike is as fast as (if not faster) than the pace I would normally ride. It was a beautiful morning for a ride with my momma! I've been enjoying all the extra time I've had to get out there and enjoy exercising in this lovely weather. I'm dreading summer! Thanks for the ride, Mom!
This is a tough post for me to write. It might be a little long, so bear with me. For the last two weeks, our coach has been in town. For almost the entire time, I have gone to practice almost every day, but with a great deal of guilt. So many people are sacrificing things they love to do in order to follow the recommendations of the experts that we all stay home and avoid contact with others whenever possible. Well, clearly trapeze practice is not an essential service and I am making a somewhat selfish decision to be going. There are a lot of different ways that I have convinced myself that it's ok, but I've not been totally comfortable with it. Nadia and Robin decided to take a break, and have been gone for almost 2 weeks. Ashley and I have talked quite a bit about how we're feeling about all of this, and she and I are on the same page. We have eliminated the hugs when we arrive and leave (I have anyway, some people still touch unnecessarily), and I have been conscious about keeping my distance whenever possible. Obviously we're still touching the same ladder, bar, gloves, riser, hook, noodle, chalk, remote control (for video review), and the catcher of course.....but I would argue that we're not touching our faces while we're out there. It's just something we naturally avoid since we always have chalk or rosin on our hands. I wash my hands when I arrive, and again before I leave.
See what I mean about justifying it? The problem with all of this is that over half of our group is in the medical field--a doctor, nurses, a CNA. They are much more likely to be exposed to someone sick than those of us who are working from home and not seeing anyone but our immediate families. I always have a hard time voluntarily missing practices when Brian is in town. I had sort of told myself that once Brian leaves (today), I would take some time off. Ashley agreed with me, and we both decided we'd be done for a little while. We just can't keep going in good conscious, and it helps that she and I are on the same page. I'm not sure how long this break will last, or how hard it will be (although I have a pretty good idea). I'm going to miss my friends and my routine, but like I said, we're all making sacrifices right now.
When I got home, Dave and the kids were having a picnic at the park. He packed a lunch and filled the wagon with activities to do in the grass. It was really great! Dave did some softball batting practice and had Tyler hit balls for him to practice fielding. Ava and I played Frisbee and catch with a Nerf football. It's such a beautiful time of year out here right now, which is one of the many things we can be grateful for in all of of this. There are plenty of people who are literally stuck in their homes, not able to go out and enjoy the weather like we are. I'm talking about my friends up in the northern states who are still dealing with cold and even snow! At least we can be outside--walking, biking, running, hiking and playing at the park. I'm really going to miss trapeze, but I know I'm doing the right thing. I'm going to enjoy this time with my family, keep up with my fitness, and make the most of this unique situation.
One silver lining that may have come out of this is virtual happy hours with my Girls Trip girlfriends! I'm not sure why we haven't thought to do it before now, but it's so fun! Everyone has different levels of frustration with this staying home/homeschooling business. After talking to them, I'm usually very grateful to have older kids. I can't imagine having to entertain little kids who are stuck at home for all these weeks, nor do I want to have to be a homeschool teacher. I really would love to make this a regular thing, whether we're in quarantine or not. Thankfully, technology makes that possible!
We love our citrus trees--well, most of them anyway. When we have a good year for oranges and tangerines, we really appreciate those trees. This was one of those years! We did a little harvesting of the trees recently and they needed to be juiced and peeled. These three worked together to get it done. We had a giant bowl of peeled tangerines (that didn't last long in this house) and a big jug of orange/tangerine juice. It was great! Please note that Ava is peeling tangerines while standing on her hoverboard. That's talent.
Dave and the kids worked on a cool project today. Dave wanted to build some shelves to help organize the shed. He's just had a 6 foot table in the shed up until now, and there was stuff piled on it and under it. He got the kids involved and not long after, they were done!
How awesome is it that Dave is teaching the kids some of these carpentry skills?
The shelves turned out great, and are really heavy duty--they can even double as bunk beds in a pinch. Maybe we'll send the kids out here if they have trouble getting along with one another during this time at home.
And here it is with all the stuff back on the new shelves. It's much more organized now! The kids are learning all kinds of new skills during this time at home. I guess it's what you call homeschooling!
I was looking for a new craft project for Ava to learn and got the idea to try to learn to cross stitch. I vaguely remember doing this as a kid, probably back when I was in 4H in elementary school. It didn't leave much of an impression on me though because I didn't really remember what to do. Thankfully, You Tube to the rescue! I headed to the store to get some hoops, fabric, needles and thread while Ava watched a video to learn what to do. She picked it up very quickly, and did a much better job than I did! She told me I picked too complicated of a pattern for my first time, and she's probably right. The back side of mine is a hot mess, and her's is almost perfect!
She finished this heart in one sitting on the first night she learned how to cross stitch. She was moving on to her next pattern by the morning. Mine is still sitting in the basket, barely on to the second color of my image. Maybe I'll pick it back up one of these days....
I managed to get the family to go out for a hike today. It's always a challenge, and usually results in some amount of complaining or questioning where the fun is in hiking, but we made it out there regardless. We didn't want to go far, and there's plenty of great hiking within a short drive of our house. We headed out towards the Salt River with a couple different places in mind. Apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea--it was so crowded! The highway was busy, the trail heads were busy, the river was busy--so much for staying home! Hiking and getting outdoors has been encouraged despite the suggestion that people stay home, as long as people are observing appropriate social distancing. That's still tough to do on a busy trail, so we tried to find one that was a little less busy. We ended up somewhere just off of the river, and there were only a few cars in the lot. It wasn't the most scenic hike, but it was ok for a quick little trip.
That's Red Mountain behind them. It was a nice day for a hike, and felt so good to get outside and enjoy this beautiful spring weather.
Tyler has been working for a very, very long time on a film called Legion of Legacies. I just looked back to seen when the first post was when I talked about Legion of Legacies and it was June of 2018! Tyler also had a shoot on his birthday that year too. It's funny to look back at those photos and see how much younger they all looked. He obviously didn't use too many shots from those first shoots, but it was all part of the same story line. Grandma Jean was even in that scene shot on his birthday. It's pretty funny to look back at that footage!
Over the course of 2 years, Tyler kept up with his plans for finishing this film. A lot changes for a kid in two years, and the fact that he stuck with it that long is a good example of Tyler's dedication when it comes to his projects. We also had a very willing team of actors who helped him out over this time. Ava, Lacy, and Dave were his main characters, and were in the most scenes, but he also had help from Camryn (a friend from school, who even finished shooting her scenes after she lost interest so to speak), Josh, Tyler's friend Payton, Grandpa Jon, me (I died, twice!), and Matt (briefly, he died in the plane with me). It was shot in 10 different locations in two states, and he spent countless hours planning, researching, practicing, shooting and editing.
Some of those sets included: A dirt road in North Dakota where he shot with a drone and then created a computer generated tornado, a parking garage where the police came after receiving a call from a concerned citizen, our garage which was transformed into a laboratory with multiple computers, a fog machine, a simulation of a collapsed roof, and fake rain, a dive into the Salt River to create a water rescue, a shoot in an airplane hanger in June, just to mention a the notable locations. It was quite the project to say the least-especially considering Tyler's age.
We had planned to host a premier for the actors and their families the night before the film was to be released on You Tube. Kathy said we could host it at her house, and sent out invitations to all those involved. Unfortunately, as with many things right now, we had to cancel the premier. Instead, Tyler set it up so there was a countdown to the live premier of the film on his channel, and we invited people to watch it with us live (at the same time) and comment along while they watched. We had quite a few people watching, and they were all very impressed at the film! I should mention that we hadn't seen it yet either! We had obviously seen Tyler editing various clips over all this time, but we hadn't seen it all put together or in order. It was super exciting for us to finally see it all come together for the big release. We are so proud of Tyler's dedication and passion for film making. He's a pretty amazing kid, that's for sure.
Most of you who read this have already watched the film, but just in case you would like to see it again, here you go! Many thanks to all who were involved, and supported Tyler in this project. It really was fun, and will be pretty cool to look back at in 20 years when he's well into his career in this field.
A few months ago, Dave threw out the idea of selling the gym equipment that we've had in the garage for the past however many years. I was not a fan of that idea, as it's nice to be able to just go out into the garage any time we want a workout. I get that Dave is tired of parking his car outside, but I knew we'd really miss it if it was gone. Fast forward a few months a global pandemic where nearly every non essential business is closing down, including gyms, and we're all being told to stay home. The home gym is much more appealing now, and the envy of so many people who are missing their gym memberships. Plus, it's a pretty kick ass home gym! When I got home from trapeze today, Ava was punching the heavy bag and Dave was lifting weights. This will become our new normal, and I'm so grateful to have this in our garage.
I just recently caught Devin's planche out of lines for the first time, and that's also one of the tricks I throw him. After we got that first one out of the way this week, we made a plan that today we would both throw each other the same trick--just like I did with Efe almost exactly a year ago. I went first and caught 3 planches from Devin, and a bunch of tricks from everyone else.
Devin went up after me, and we caught 2 planches and a split. I'm finding that I am getting some really great catch and returns with him--he gets me into a great position to return smoothly, and I love catching with him. Unfortunately, there won't be many more days left--dummy is moving to Utah in a month. Here's my trick to him....
And of course, just like the matching planches with Efe, I put our two videos together and matched up the timing. It's so cool!
I'd love to have more time to fly to and catch Devin. In the 18 months (or less) that he's been flying with us, he's really come so far. I remember the first day he came out, it was obvious that he had talent. I am always a little mean standoffish to new people. I'm not sure if I've ever written about that. Well, I was like that with Devin for awhile, but now it's just a joke between us. I guess it's a lesson for me in being nicer to the new people, because now I can't stand the thought of him leaving! This was a fun day!
It's going to be a long couple of weeks waiting for school to "start" again. As of now, the kids are not starting their online learning until April 6. What a crazy time this is. For now, they just need to find things to do to keep busy during the day. We're trying to get them outside at some times, get them to do some exercise, but we're also letting them relax too. This is a tough time for everyone. Tyler is really upset about this situation because it means he's missing precious last weeks of his time at Mesa Academy.
And for me, it's another day at the office. Since we're all working remotely, it means lots of video meetings. My cow painting makes for a fun backdrop to my many video meetings. I'm always very aware of what people have in their backgrounds, and am always checking out people's houses during our chats. Headphones, laptop, notebook, iPad, phone, comfortable clothes....ready to work! I've always said I'd love to have a job where I can wear work out clothes every day. Who would have thought it'd happen this way.
Here is an example of a work meeting with my two colleagues and our Dean--just checking in and getting an idea of what is expected of us during this time. Google Meet works really well for these meetings, and we also use a program called WebEx. Zoom is another one that is really popular right now, and the one which you hear about the most, but it's not an approved program for our district. Everyone is finding new ways to use technology to do our jobs. When this is all over, it'll be interesting to see what changes remain in place in the future. For those of us at Red Mountain, I think this proves that we should no longer have to drive all the way over to the Dobson campus every time we need to attend a meeting. That is one of the many silver linings that will likely come out of this storm.
Today was my first full day of working from home. It is weird. I think it's going to take some serious adjustment, but I'm up for the challenge! I mentioned to Dave that it might be a good time to paint the kids' bathroom. It's one of the only rooms in the house that isn't gray now (Ava's room and Dave's office still have color). I've been sick of the green color we used in this bathroom for a long time. I'm not sure what ever led me to pick it! It matched one of the {many} colors in the shower curtain. Dave got to work right away, and had the kids help him a little bit, although I don't think it lasted long. I like Dave's version of home schooling--all practical skills!
Goodbye green walls! Bring on the gray....
Welcome to my new office. It's tough to imagine what my job looks like when I'm not on campus working with students. They've cancelled campus events for the remainder of the school year, which means I won't be planning or organizing any of the events we typically do at the end of the spring semester. Right now, everyone is just trying to figure out what to do and what the rest of the semester is going to look like. I don't have my own office, nor have I ever needed one. For now, I'm working in the kitchen, and also spending some time on the patio. It's pretty great to be able to work outside! I'm not sure the chairs in our house are ergonomic enough to be used for all day sitting though...we might need to do something about that. Here is the beginning of our new (hopefully temporary) normal!
