The year 2020 has definitely been an interesting and unexpected year. It seems like all of our original plans were thrown out the window. With a world wide pandemic of Covid-19 throwing a wrench in everything, we had to adjust to basically a new way of life. Schools, churches, temples, and stores were shut down for quite a while. Everyone was quarantined to their homes for months. Social distancing and masks were mandated. As much as we hate it, this has become the new normal. We are still holding out hope that these things will go away but they have yet to do that. Despite all of these crazy changes, we did have a good year. We were able to spend more time as a family, there were less things vying for our time, and we discovered new things to do
We started off the year with an amazing cruise to Mexico. This was probably the most fun we have had in a while. The kids loved every minute and are still asking when we can go on another cruise. We sailed to Cabo San Lucas and played on the beach and saw whales. In Mazatlan, we loved hiking to the highest point and seeing the entire village. In Puerto Vallarta we had a blast zip-lining through the jungle. We definitely want to go again someday.
February was full of new experiences for the kids. Logan turned 7. He loves seeing all of his friends at school and is doing really well in school. He also started taking piano lessons this year and is really progressing. Also this month, Emily and Colby participated in the school's production of "The Wizard of Oz." Emily was a Munckin and Colby was part go the stage crew. They liked being in the play and trying something new. Emily also got to go skiing for the first time. She loved it and wants to go again.
In March, Colby turned 9. He is really growing up. He is excelling in school and he's teachers say they never have to worry about him. Colby loves everything outdoors and sports. He is doing well in baseball, soccer, football, and now basketball. Also during March, I ran my first 30K Ultra Trail Run. It was actually quite fun especially running with my friends. Emily was also able to go to the temple for the first time! She loved doing Baptisms for the Dead. Unfortunately, March was also when all crap hit the fan with the Covid-19 pandemic. On March 11 everything shut down. Schools were closed and we were forced into home schooling. This wasn't too bad once we got the hang of it but the kids sure missed their friends. Church was also cancelled and the temples were closed. We were glad Emily was able to go to the temple before it closed. Because of all of the shut downs, we got to spend more time together as a family.
April and May continued much like March. We were still under mandated quarantine because of Covid-19. Home schooling and home church continued. Though there were a lot of changes, we were making the best of a bad situation and having our own fun.
During May, June, and July, Russell and I participated in a virtual race series through St. George Races. During these months, we ran a ton, and biked even more. I ran over 400 miles and we biked over 600. It was fun to get out and do something and get in shape in the process. We won quite a few medals during these races.
In July we went camping a lot to Grandpa Morwood's property. It was nice to finally be able to see family be in the great outdoors. We also took a quick impromptu trip to Yellowstone. This was a fun sporadic trip that we will always remember.
In August, life went back to a little bit of normalcy. The kids were able to go back to school even though it required a bunch of changes including wearing masks and distancing the desks among others. The kids were so grateful to be back to school though and be able to see their friends they were willing to wear the masks all day. Church also started up again. There are a lot of changes to this as well including social distancing, limiting the number of members coming by alternating weeks, wearing masks, and only having sacrament meeting for now. It is still crazy but we are glad to be back.
In September, Emily and Charlotte celebrated their birthdays. Emily turned 12 and is growing up so much. She is a big help around the house. For her birthday, she wanted a dog so we added Truly to the family. This dog has been fun to have around even if she is a little wild at times. Charlotte turned 4 and is now all grown up according to her. She can and will do everything the big kids do and always gets her way. We also found out we are having a new baby! This new little girl will definitely cause some changes in our family. Hopefully all for the good.
October and November just flew by as we enjoyed the wonderful Fall weather in Cache Valley. We loved going to the Corn Maze, pumpkin patches, and other fun activities in the area.
As far as goals go for 2020, I feel like we did pretty good. Though we can always improve, we did accomplish some good things. Emily was able to earn her Great American Award she worked really hard on, she was able to train for and run a 5K despite the Canyon Colt run being cancelled, she was also able to read the Book of Mormon. Because of the Covid-19 restrictions, she was not able to spend as much time with friends as she would have liked for her goal. Colby also accomplished much and was able to pass off all of his piano tests for AIM and has improved a lot in his sports since last year. I fell like I did pretty well on my goals as well. I was able to read 47 books this year including Jesus the Christ, and quite a few church history books and a lot of novels... I learned how to make a t-shirt quilt and made two of them. I also was able to figure out my InstaPot and was able to prepare a lot of meals and freezer meals this year before the pandemic hit. We were also able to stay caught up with "Come Follow Me" and studying the Book of Mormon. I know we can be better at this though because we really just did the bare minimums. I have also been able to stay caught up with the Ensigns and church magazines this year. I have never been able to do that and I have learned so much from reading them. Unfortunately, because of Covid-19, the temples were closed for 10 months of the year so our temple attendance was once for the whole year... Hopefully that can change next year if the temples reopen. So in all, the year was not a total bust. Because we were able to take more time for ourselves and our family, we were able to do some things we have not been able to do in the past despite our good intentions and trying. We are looking forward to the new year and hoping for good changes and good news in the future.
One terrible thing that did happen this last week was we found out that Lacie has been diagnosed with breast cancer. We are all very devastated for her. We especially know what they are going through and will go though in the coming months and year. When she called me with the news, I immediately burst into tears as she did too. Cancer is something I would not wish on anyone. I am trying to keep her positive by sending her things that helped me get through it. We are all praying for a good news and a successful treatment of this dreaded disease. Their next year will definitely be a hard one.
In other good news we were able to head up the canyon with he kids today and try out their new guns.
Colby and Emily had a blast shooting their guns. They were even able to hit the targets quite a few times! Logan also like shooting his BB gun but was more interested in sliding down the snowy hills. After shooting for a while, our hands were freezing so we decided to head home. We are looking forward to taking the guns out more often next year so that we can get even better at shooting.
Goodbye 2020, we are ready for a new year!
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