May 2020

 May 2nd, one of my best friends died of cancer. She had been suffering for months. It was so hard to not be able to visit with her in the last few months of her illness. So many of us felt completely helpless. Due to COVID we didn't feel we could even take her meals for fear that we might unknowingly take the virus to her. We knew she wouldn't survive it. The difficulty with COVID-19 has been that people can be completely asymptomatic and still have it and pass it to others. My friend ended up in the hospital a few times and had to endure that alone. Her husband had to drop her off. No one is allowed to visit in hospitals during this pandemic. People are sick and without friends or family to stay with them. It is so awful. We were grateful that she was at least home with her family when she passed away.

May 2nd and 3rd Jared, Leah and Kaitlyn went on a tornado relief cleanup trip with the Church. Kaitlyn celebrated her 16th birthday on this trip. Some friends purchased a small cake for her.

We had a family celebration when she got home.

So many things changed in May. Graduations were cancelled. Seminary graduation was done virtually with a drive through portion to pick up diplomas. 

Kaitlyn had the opportunity to play in a quartet for seminary graduation.

Stake Youth Conference was supposed to be a big trip to Church History sites in Vermont, New York, and Ohio. That had to be cancelled and changed to a mini virtual youth conference. 

Hyrum and Kaitlyn did many scavenger hunt type challenges for this virtual youth conference. Tons of pictures below. I'll label the ones I remember.

Climb a tree

Run through a toilet paper finish line

Build a seven-layer card house (could use tape)

Do a back-flip

Make the Joseph Smith farm home out of ice cream

Dress like a pioneer

Balance something on your head

Fill out a pedigree chart

Cut someone's hair

Find a cactus

Make a Cumorah banner

Post a spiritual thought on the youth circles

See how many marshmallows you can stuff in your mouth

Get 4 people to hold up 13 fingers

Charlie's Angels pose

Find a penny with your birth year

Drink from a hose

Replicate Niagra Falls (they would have gone to Niagra Falls)

Jared stuffed 12 marshmallows in his mouth

Balance something on your head

Do a handstand

Leave a thank you note for someone

Dress up a pet

Find a cactus

Write a chalk message on the sidewalk

Find a fire hydrant

Walk around the neighborhood in a costume

Take a picture by your school

Find a home for sale

Protest sour candy

Cut someone's hair

Bake brownies

Draw the route they would have taken for youth conference

Recreate the Beatles Abbey Road

Heart attack someone's door

Dress like a cow in front of Chick-fil-A

Wash a car

Do a slam dunk

Walk 3 dogs

Make a Cheerios necklace

Find a home for sale

Find farm animals

Some other things I noted in my journal about May: We were no longer able to attend Church. We were encouraged to go to the store only once a week if possible. Going to the store was also so different. The shelves were bare of many items. I stopped making a list for a few months as there was no point. I started just going to see what was available at the store and making menus from what was available. Things like soap, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper were completely gone most of the time. The brand of toilet paper we use is still nearly always gone. We started wearing masks anytime we were in public. We started huge yard projects since our summer vacation plans were all cancelled. 

We put in a drainage system for the washing machine and other greywater.

Other things that occured in May...

Leah made a Star Wars themed cake.

Hyrum went with his scout troop to place flags on veterans' graves for Memorial Day. It was supposed to be a socially distanced activity. We weren't thrilled when some of it was not.

We discovered a bunch of termites in some wood behind our home.