Wednesday, March 11 - The government told everyone to avoid being in large groups. The Church announced that General Conference would not allow people to attend at the conference center.
Thursday, March 12 - The government announced that there should not be groups larger than 100 people. The Church announced that weekly church meetings were cancelled and members would start having church in their own homes. We were supposed to attend an HVAC conference in Mesquite, Nevada the next week and we found out that that was cancelled. Unbeknownst to me, Anthon had been secretly planning a birthday surprise for me. We were supposed to go to Mesquite on Tuesday and the conference would be over on Thursday. Instead of coming home, he had planned to surprise me by driving to Vegas and arranged a weekend trip there for us. He also got my sisters in on it and they were going to meet us there and we would all hang out, see a show, eat yummy food, get pedicures and have an amazingly fun trip together! But that all got cancelled because of stupid COVID-19!! When they announced that the HVAC conference was cancelled, he decided to tell me about his surprise because at the time, we thought we might still be able to go, but weren't sure if we should.
Friday, March 13 - Each day more and more restrictions were being placed on our country and more and more things were being shut down. We realized that there was no way the shows would be happening in Vegas and that it would be potentially dangerous to travel there and be around lots of people from around the world. We decided we would cancel the hotel and the show and Becky would cancel her flight she had booked for her and her husband. Life was still somewhat normal. One school district in Salt Lake had decided to cancel school for the next week, but our schools here were still saying that school would be in session next week. We went to our boys' school that night for a performance they were having. There were definitely more than 100 people there, but most people still thought all of this stuff would blow over. Damon was sick so he didn't go, but Monson performed and was chosen to be the speaker of his class.
Saturday, March 14 - Becky and I went to the gym to work out. Everyone was starting to wash their hands more often and businesses were working harder to sanitize everything, but otherwise things were pretty normal still. While at the gym we decided we could still have a fun birthday party, it would just be here in Utah. We would get pedicures still and go out to dinner together and then go back to my house to play games. The stores were swamped with people this day and sold out of toilet paper, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, hand soap, butter, flour, sugar and anything in a can. A large percentage of the population started panic buying necessities until the stores were emptied out.
Sunday, March 15 - Our first time doing home church. It was a really neat experience for our family. The prophet implemented home study a little over a year ago, but we could never have imagined then that we would be doing all of church from home such a short time later. It was was a really nice day that we spent completely together as a family.
Monday, March 16 - School was cancelled for the whole state until the end of March. They said it would be done online, but nothing was really set up yet. Anthon and I went to work like we normally do, but I only work until noon so that I can go home and home school the kids. I started advertising UV light filters that our company can install and we start getting quite a few orders for those. I even voiced a radio ad that started playing this week.
Tuesday, March 17 - More and more things are shutting down, but we are trying to still lead normal lives. I got us tickets to see Onward at the movie theater. They were only allowing 75 people in the theater at a time. The term "social distancing" is now in everyone's vocabulary as we are supposed to stay at least 6 feet away from each other at all times.
Wednesday, March 18 - I was awoken at 7:09am to my bed shaking. I thought that one of my kids was in my room shaking it, but when I looked over, there wasn't anyone there. The bed is still shaking and I hear my bedroom door rattling too. I realize that it's an earthquake. I think it's weird that my whole house is shaking, but not breaking. Finally the shaking stops. I jump out of bed and run to the living room to see if any of my kids are awake. Damon and Monson are in there watching tv. I ask them if they felt the shaking. Monson says no and Damon says he thought someone was shaking his chair. I tell them I think it was an earthquake. Since I had just woken up, I start to wonder if maybe I dreamed it, but then my phone starts alerting me of Marco Polos being received. It's my family asking if anyone else felt it. Sure enough, it was a 5.7 magnitude earthquake and the epicenter was about 50 miles away from us. First a global plague and now an earthquake.
The movie theaters all closed because they announced that you can't gather in groups larger than 10 people. We still haven't heard about anyone getting the virus in our area or even our state, but it is spreading throughout Europe, really bad in Italy and starting to clear up in China. The church announced that all Elder missionaries that had been out for 21 months or more would be sent home.
Thursday, March 19 - Most non-essential things are closing. We realized pedicures for my birthday would not be an option and eating at a restaurant would not be either. Only take-out allowed and most people are now working from home. Since our company and work is considered "essential" we are still running almost normally. We have less calls coming in, but we still have a full schedule of new construction jobs going on. Since I still work, but now also have to home school my kids, I'm even more busy. Everyone on social media is talking about having so much free time and not having anything to do, meanwhile I'm feeling overwhelmed with having to home school my kids on top of everything I normally do.
We found out this night that Danielle was going to be sent home from her mission. The church said that anyone with a history of respiratory problems would be immediately sent home. Back in October Danielle was having a hard time breathing and ended up going to the ER. Because of this, her mission president knew that she had respiratory issues and so she was put on the list. She was completely devastated. We asked if we could give permission for her to stay, but there was just no way. She had a rough start to her mission, but the past few months she was doing so well, learning so much and helping so many people. This was such a hard thing for all of us.
Friday, March 20 - My birthday! After my surprise trip was cancelled, Anthon said he would take the day off work and we could spend the day together as a family. Now that most things are closed and we are not allowed to be in groups, we decided we might as well just go to work because there's nothing else we could do. Anthon had lunch brought in for everyone that works in our office to celebrate my birthday and also got me a key lime pie because it's my favorite. He also gave me chocolate covered cinnamon bears (another favorite) and my present was a robot vacuum. That night my sister Becky picked up Sweeto Burrito for all of us, along with some Crumbl cookies. My sister Sarah picked up some yummy cupcakes and brought some games over. Our small group hung out at my house with my family and they we girls stayed up late playing games after everyone else went to bed. Normally my mom would have joined us, but since my parents are older, they are more at risk for the virus and are therefore staying away from everyone.
Saturday, March 21 - The malls had already all closed and by the end of this day all other non-essential retail stores closed too. I was able to buy a new fridge for our basement and an end table I had been wanting before everything closed that day. All the companies that had to shut down also laid off all their workers. Anthon Jr. is still working at Costa Vida and they actually stay pretty busy doing only take-out orders.
Sunday, March 22 - Week #2 of home church. Another great day together as a family. We had church, played games and did puzzles.
Monday, March 23 - School is now cancelled until the April 30. (Though most of us realize that the kids will not actually be going back to school this school year.) The government says people should just stay home. Some places where the virus is starting to spread rapidly like California and New York have mandates to stay home while places like Utah, we are just strongly encouraged. Social media is full of memes making fun of the virus and judgmental people chastising anyone they see spending time near other people outside.
Tuesday, March 24 - Danielle's bio-mom picks her up from her mission in Denver, Colorado. Danielle is supposed to self-isolate for 14 days so we are not allowed to see her. (We find out a few days later that her bio-mom has told Danielle that if she leaves to see us, she will not be allowed back at her house again because she will be contaminated. Avery is not allowed to come see us and she doesn't want Anthon Jr. going up there to visit her. We will probably not get to see Danielle or Avery for a at least a couple months.)
Wednesday, March 25 - Some days I'm really good at helping my kids with all their online school work and other days, after I get home from work, I just want to relax and not have to stress about how crazy the world is right now. I introduced Sophie to Anne of Green Gables. At first she thought it was boring, but after a couple of hours, she started getting into it. We will spend the next few days watching it when we have the chance.
Thursday, March 26 - I procured some Idaho potatoes that a supplier normally sells to restaurants, but since a lot of them have closed, they have excess to sell to the public. It's hard to find potatoes in the stores right now. Still no toilet paper, wipes or sanitizer. I'm part of a neighborhood chat group and people are using it to trade find necessities that are no longer easily accessible. People line up outside of Costco and Winco every morning before they open for hours hoping to get access to newly stocked shelves. People are crazy. I have been able to find almost everything by simply going to the store later in the day because the stores are constantly re-stocking. I brought some potatoes to my parents and traded them for some toilet paper and a paper towel roll. We tried to stay socially distant.
Friday, March 27 - Work in the morning. Jr. watches the kids while I'm there. Come home and clean up, help kids with school work, try to get some time outside, more puzzles, more loneliness from not being able to hang out with any friends. The kids are still asking every day if they can play with neighbor kids outside and the answer always has to be no. Anthon's life has not changed much. He get up around 5:30am, goes to work, works until 6:30-7pm, comes home, hangs out with the family, goes to bed, repeats the next day. That was his schedule before the virus and it is still his schedule now.
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| Anthon has developed a love of puzzles over the past week. |
Saturday, March 28 - The kids have not left the house for 2 weeks now. I try to make sure they go outside every day, but they have not left our neighborhood since school was closed. It was time for us to break free for a little while. Anthon worked in the morning of course, but after he got home we went to visit my parents for lunch. We planned on having a picnic outside, but the weather was cold and rainy so we *gasp* spent time together, inside, together, near each other. This was definitely against the rules and my sisters were not happy about it when I told them later, but sometimes you just need to be near other people! Sophie has developed a really co-dependent relationship with her baby dolls because she is stuck at home every day with only brothers. She says they are my children and her siblings. She takes care of them all day long and brings them with her to every room she is in.
While we were visiting my mom, she gave Sophie her birthday present because we don't know when we will see each other again. It was a new baby doll! Sophie absolutely loves it! Another sibling to play with every day.
Sunday, March 29 - Third week of home church. Testimony meeting, video call with Danielle, homemade food, more puzzles.
Monday, March 30 - Work has definitely slowed down. People only want technicians to come to their home if it is for something necessary like a broken furnace or water heater. Anthon and I realize we need to make some adjustments to our business in order to stay ahead of the inevitable upcoming downturn and potential crash of the market.
Tuesday, March 31 - We decide we must lay 2 of our employees off, restrict all over-time, and cut the hours of both of our receptionists. We find out that an HVAC company in our area that is larger than our company has laid all of it's employees off and shut their doors for now. We are trying to prevent that from happening, but the only way to do that is to cut costs wherever possible.
There was also an earthquake in Idaho. 6.5 magnitude north of Boise. What is happening to our world right now?
1 comment:
I love how you chronologically documented all the world/local happenings and I may have to copy some of them one of my posts if I get around to it. It's good to have things like that written down. Sorry your birthday was ruined, that would have been so much fun and worked out perfectly. At least you'll get to still go though and have something to look forward to and you'll need it after all this craziness ends!
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