November

November was the month the world COVID-19 pandemic finally hit home. 

November sunsets.

Jenna was able to sing with Rhapsody for the first time without a mask at their fall concert at the beginning of November.  Parents had to get tickets and sit in assigned seating that was socially distanced, but they let the kids sing without a mask as long as they switched positions after every song so they weren't next to he same students the entire time.

Korinne also participated in choir during the first trimester.

The next night parents put on a Sadie Hawkins dance since the high school wasn't going to let the students have a dance because of COVID-19.  Jenna decided not to participate or ask anyone to the dance and it ended up being a very wise decision.  The day after the dance Jenna developed a sore throat and body aches which are very typical COVID symptoms.  She felt better by the next day but she went in to be tested on Monday morning because she carpools to ballroom in Layton with her friend Kelli who is considered high risk because of some condition she has. Jenna felt like she really needed to know if it was COVID or not to protect Kelli.  She felt fine and the rest of us felt fine so we were a little surprised when her results were positive.  The state of Utah had a huge surge of cases that week and the Governor had already asked for everything to be shut down again for 2 weeks so I told Jenna that if anyone in our family was going to get it that this was the perfect time! 😜😜 We didn't have to worry about any outside activities and she wasn't going to have any ballroom classes that week anyway. We kept the rest of the kids home from school and quarantined just like we had in the spring. We all felt perfectly fine but we knew the drill.  While we didn't test anyone else in the family, there is a good change that at least some of us had it without having any symptoms because we didn't take any precautions and lived with Jenna just like normal.  We weren't alone in our COVID quarantine because pretty much all of our neighbors had COVID during the month of November. A few of them felt really sick, however, so we were grateful that our COVID experience was a lot less painful. Jenna was fine to return to school 5 days after her first symptoms appeared, but she wasn't back very long before the entire school moved online for 2 weeks because they had too many COVID cases to remain open. Fortunately the elementary school remained open so the boys were able to return without any problems.

Korinne enjoys Interior Design so for her birthday she wanted to have a room makeover. Her room was previously Britton's, but she moved in pretty much the day after he left for his mission.  We then moved Jameson into her old room so that all of the kids could have their own room.  

She informed us that white walls were a must and would really open up the space. 😁

Fortunately, we were out of quarantine when her birthday arrived so Jenna, Korinne and I all went our for manicures to celebrate.

Happy 15th Birthday Korinne!

Yup, that's a learners permit. We were glad that someone had given us the heads up a few months earlier that you need to make an appt at the DMV because of COVID and they were 2 months out.  We were able to make an appt for right after her birthday.  

We decided not to travel for Thanksgiving because of the surge in COVID cases statewide. They were asking (begging) everyone to just stay home and not gather in large groups so my parents didn't go to Blackfoot either.  We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home with Grandma and Grandpa P and while it wasn't a normal Thanksgiving, the food was still delicious!

We joked that in the family Thanksgiving "divorce" we still had custody of Adam's famous dinner rolls and that was all that mattered. Ha!

Jameson started basketball in November with Adam as the coach. 

 I was glad that they still allowed the kids to play sports even with all of the pandemic madness.

October

 Jameson was busy during October playing both flag football and soccer. Sometimes he had 2 games in one night but we were still able to make it work.

Of the 2 sports I think Jameson liked football a little bit more.

AJ with his soccer team the Fire Dragons.

It was Jenna's last Cross Country season and she ended on a high note.  She ran her personal best time at the last home meet and felt really good about her final race at Region held at the AMHC.  She had a lot of great experiences running Cross Country all 4 years of High School.

Even with COVID-19 restrictions we were still able to have October fun.  The boys loved the corn maze on the annual Board of Realtor event at AWHC.

Korinne and the boys enjoyed the fall weather while hiking in the canyon with friends.

They opened the theaters again with restrictions so the girls and I were able to take advantage of our season tickets at Hale Center Theater. Mary Poppins was fun and magical.  

Another crazy hair day is in the books.

On Oct 21st I turned 44 and celebrated by going on a bike ride in the morning with my friend Abby.  As luck would have it I got a migraine at the end of the ride so I spent the rest of my birthday in bed. Bummer. I guess it's a good thing I hadn't made any big plans for the day.

Jenna and Korinne always come up with coordinating Halloween costumes because they are festive like that. This year it was the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. Very clever.

The boys decided they wanted inflated dinosaur costumes.  They *almost* made it through Halloween night with the costumes fully inflated, but when the batteries ran out they swung by the house for a quick costume change before heading out for a few more pieces of candy.

AJ was adamant that we NOT take him trick or treating.  He was big enough to go with his friends, thank you very much. What can I say, he's the youngest, we are tired, I trusted Jameson to keep an eye on him, and we know the neighbors well so I let my 5 year old go trick or treating without us. #momof theyear  Yeah, I stopped saying, "I'll never do that when I'm a Mom" a loooooooooong time ago. ha ha

Too.much.candy.

Britton has really been enjoying his time with his trainer Elder Johnson from Draper.  Elder Johnson served in Ecuador for a year before being reassigned to the Iowa City Mission after COVID hit so they were able to speak and teach in Spanish in Marshalltown, Iowa. Having a missionary out today is a lot different than it used to be in that you get to talk to them on the phone every week.  During October since the missionaries were somewhat limited in what they could do as far as person to person contacting and teaching the missionaries were even allowed to call home twice a week.  It has been so fun to get to talk with him often and share his mission experiences. The Iowa City mission is a big melting pot of missionaries. Many of them were originally called to serve in foreign missions but have been reassigned because of the pandemic.  The mission has swelled from 90 missionaries to over 250 missionaries.  My hat goes off to his Mission President who is dealing with a logistical nightmare on a daily basis but still manages to make it all work!!

September

With school back in person we were finally able to get into some kind of routine.  Sure, things were different with face masks and having to stay home if you had a runny nose or any kind of a cough or cold, but at least it was a little more normal than the past 6 months. 

Both AJ and Jameson participated in fall rec soccer.  AJ was thrilled to be on his very own soccer team and showed it by dancing through every game.  Some kids look for dandelions in the field while "playing" soccer, AJ spontaneously stops to do the "worm."  AJ understands that any moment can be the perfect moment for a "dance break".  

Jameson and AJ participated in the PTA fundraiser by running as many laps as they could in 10 min.

                                 

Fall sports were a go at Ridgeline as long as everyone complied with COVID-19 guidelines.  Jenna and Korinne were able to run Cross Country but parents were only allowed to attend the Region meets with masks. At Invitations races only runners and coaches were allowed. 

Jenna in the gray shirt

Korinne

They didn't cancel all Homecoming activities completely, but they did change a few things. As a member of the Student Exec Council Jenna was involved in painting the street intersection leading to the high school in the middle of the night for Homecoming. 

The traditional Homecoming parade was canceled, but they still allowed the Powder Puff game between the Junior and Senior girls. Jenna played on the Senior team which came away with the victory.

The parents and spectators wore masks and socially distanced in the stands.

While the school did not sponsor a Homecoming dance a group a parents took matter into their own hands and planned a dance anyway. Jenna was asked to Homecoming by the same guy that had originally asked her Junior Prom before it was canceled back in March.  His poster said, "Ok, let's try this again. . . Will you go to HOCO with me?"  It was pretty funny but then again Jared, who is a good friend of Jenna's, is known around the school for his sense of humor.

Jenna's Homecoming group did not go to the actual Homecoming dance put on by the parents. They had their own little dance in Jared's backyard where they decorated a big gazebo with white lights and danced the night away.  They had just as much fun but didn't have to worry about possible COVID-19 exposure from the bigger group dance.

I did LOTOJA as a relay with a team put together by my sister Heather.  It was my first time doing LOTOJA since I rode the entire thing in 2014. I was happy to only have to ride 50 miles, but a lot of it was uphill so I was definitely tired when I tagged my teammate for the next leg of the 206 mile race.  

Heather rode the first leg and I rode the 2nd leg of the race.

There was a large windstorm that hit during the night of September 8th that caused a lot damage in the valley.  Thousands of trees were uprooted during the storm.  This huge tree narrowly missed our neighbor's house! We were fortunate that we didn't have any damage at our house, but volunteers were needed all over the neighborhood to help clear away debris.

After teaching early morning English classes with VIPKID for almost 2 years I started to reduce my classes during the month of September.  The catalyst was that they changed the pay structure for all teachers and were basically giving everyone a pay cut, but the reality was that I was tired of getting up at 4:00 a.m. five days a week.  I was really sad to stop the actual teaching part since I really enjoyed my students and had fun in class, but I wasn't sad to stop going to bed at 8:00 p.m. so I could get up at 4:00 a.m. and teach 5 classes before 7:00 a.m.  Adam handled bedtime with the boys for 2 years like a champ, but the boys were struggling and he needed some reinforcement. In the end it was the right time for me to go back to a normal sleeping schedule.

My classroom set-up

It was a really good gig when we needed it so I'll always be glad that I taught for VIPKID. I definitely learned a lot and gained a new skill set. I still have a contract with them so I can start teaching again at any time if I want to, but I'm not obligated to teach any classes.  My plan is to take a break for a few months and see how I feel in the future.