Racism

This has been a difficult moment in time and not because of the pandemic. In Minnesota, a black man was killed by a police officer while the police officers was kneeling on his neck and back during an arrest. This has led to widespread riots and protests and brought racism back into the limelight. Now the reality is that racism is a huge problem and minorities are dealing with it every day of their lives. It is the majority that isn't impacted until it is in the "limelight" again.
Of course, Facebook and other social media platforms were filled with comments and disagreements about the issues. I stayed quiet, because I tried to avoid controversial comments on Facebook for many reasons. Then I was waiting for one of my nephews who is bi-racial to make a comment that I could share. He is very articulate and has written some insightful stuff in the past. It seemed reasonable to share his voice as one who lives this battle daily. As a white woman, what did I have to add to the conversation, even though my feelings about this subject are deep, passionate, and personal.
However, after praying about it, it struck me during my Saturday morning walk, that not only did I have things to say--NOT saying anything was wrong, very wrong! What message do I want my children, nieces and nephews, and my grandchildren to know about this issue from me as someone who loves them?
So I posted this on Facebook and I wanted to post it here as well. It is not meant to change the world, just to share my point of view. We are and will always be first brothers and sisters. We have been for the eternities and will always be! We are unique and different. Those truths can be held together in each of our hearts.
My post:

"If you keep track, I avoid political and most controversial conversations on Facebook. This, however, is not political, and if it is controversial to you, that is between you and your heart. I don't understand why it would be.
As a white mother of children of Chinese and Latino descent and the aunt to children of Black Asian, and Hispanic descent, we are not doing enough to support our brothers and sisters regardless of racial, cultural, religious, and sexual differences. There is always risk to be a minority within any majority population until the majority makes shifts to improve its strategies (translated as love, acceptance, and a willingness to hear another's experience and look at ourselves to do better).
Tiny example: When we moved to a new school, my second grade daughter began experience racism at school. Among other things it led me to have a conversation with the white principal.
Me: explaining incident including the racial slurs used.
Principal: Kids tease each other. Let's not make this a bigger deal than it is.
Me: Kids do tease each other. About wearing glasses or weight (these aren't okay either and can have profound effects). And it is true, they 'grow out of it.' This is racism. In case you haven't noticed, people aren't 'growing out of it.'
Principal: Well, it can't be too big of a problem, because the minority families aren't complaining about it, just you.
Me: (taking a deep breath to avoid yelling at her) They aren't complaining because they have dealt with it their whole lives. I have not and I expect and demand better for my daughter and for their sons and daughters. I am a white woman and I am not afraid of you.
She and I never recovered our relationship as you can imagine, but with some help from the district, the school, teachers and students received some awareness classes. It helped, at least for my daughter that year.
Current events are heartbreaking but it is beyond that one event. That is only a symptom of a nation and world where all are not yet safe. The first change has to be within your own heart and family and then outward. Let's do better, love freely, and really seek to understand the messages from our minorities."
So much more could be said, but the bottom line--we need to do better.

IT"S LAGOON SEASON!

The Friday before Memorial Day weekend, Lagoon announced that they were opening for the season--with a few modifications of course.  Only 15% of capacity can be in the park at one time, you make reservations before showing up for a time slot--not allowed in if you miss your time slot; only two times a week can you make a reservation, and you must have a mask to enter the park--although few people wear them in the park.

Smaller crowds is a big plus for guests since lines are smaller everywhere, but I am not sure how the economics of this will work in the long run.  Like Gary said, they are either losing money OR 15% covers expenses and they were "rolling in money" the previous years when the park was packed to the gills.

Gary and Jena went twice this week for a couple of hours.  I have to post their Lagoon passes, because they show a unique pandemic feature:

Did you see it?  They both have their masks around their necks.  (They had to wear their masks to go into customer services to get their passes, but their photos had to be of their faces uncovered.)  Not likely to happen in any other season passports (hopefully, anyway.)

Jena's Life--Pandemic style

Jena has been blessed with some very great friends who have continued to be a part of her life even with the pandemic.

She had her usual two day Wonderwood classes which she is finishing up her Humanities class.  They are studying architecture currently.  (Reviewing it with her to help with homework made me want to go to Greece--logical if you have been to Rome!)

She did Zumba on Thursday night with Esther.

But first was Family Home Evening on Monday night---What a fun and sweet experience that turned out to be!

Jena and I both got a text from Esther (one of Jena's old roommates and one of the activity leaders for their YSA ward) on Monday afternoon asking Jena to give the spiritual thought.  Jena was okay with that.  We spent about 45 minutes decided what to talk about and how to do it.  She decided to talk about prophets.  We had a spiritual moment together as we talked about her testimony and what she wanted to share that evening with her friends.

So at the beginning of FHE, Jena presented her message. With Esther's help, Jena shared through "screen share" a clip from the April Conference Saturday afternoon conference of Pres. Nelson's blessing to the members of the Church.  Jena then bore her testimony about prophets and following them.  She also said. "Heavenly Father loves us and will guide us.  Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  We will live with them again in heaven. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."  At the beginning of her remarks, Jena said, "Now don't cry..."  That made me immediately tear up and so did Esther.  (The other people were too small on the screen to tell about them.) How grateful I was that Jena was included in this way.  Jena does know that prophets speak for God and Jesus and it was sweet to listen to her words that evening.

Watching the clip of Pres. Nelson

Then on to the fun part---you might have wondered why Jena was wearing an apron when she did her spiritual thought!

It was for PAINT NIGHT with BOB ROSS.  We gathered supplies which were needed and then during the family night they showed a youtube video of one of his classes.  They would stop so people could complete each step.  The whole lesson lasted about 2 1/2 hours and Jena did great.  She followed directions and had the best time.  She was very excited about her completed picture as well.

Makes me want to try this sometime!

The bridge over the river

Jena has done so well during all of this pandemic and the restrictions which it has placed in her life--like missing the last month of Wonderwood, theatre, ushering, Special Olympics, skiing, etc......She has actually taken more responsibilities around the house and doing many things without being asked.   For example, she does almost all of the laundry for all of us, not just her own. But the zoom meetings and Facetime have been so helpful for her.

Anyone want to paint a picture with us???

STILL AT YELLOW

That is Utah "pandemic talk" for the current status we are under--opening of more and more businesses with a variety of social distancing and cleaning requirements in place.  People can gather in groups of under 100. It is suggested that people wear masks in public, which we are, but most are not. Our ward will begin holding Church meetings in a modified format next week--45 minutes long, wear masks, and only 1/3 of the ward will attend each week.  We are in the first group--A-H.

This week I went to visit my dad for an in person/in house visit--first actual visit since the beginning of March (and for the record, with the help of my sister, Valerie, we learned something new about family search.)

On Saturday, Jessica and Elessia and their four kids came for a visit at our house.

First task was to clean up the play area which was covered from the spring debris from the surrounding trees.

Although we started off with a McDonalds picnic on the deck, the kids wanted to play with the toys inside first.

Zander played with this for a very long time.

Liam is getting into playing games.  He and I had a "rousing" game of Candyland which he won.  He was a very good winner.

Selfie with Carter----

 Alex, who mostly thinks she is four and can do anything her brothers do, copied Liam with building with the Angry Birds blocks.

While Liam and I were trying to explore playing "Fox and Geese" (that was a no-go), Carter discovered that the chess pieces fit on her fingers.....

and even better, on her toes!

Finally, we headed outside for some sandbox fun----

Zander and Alex playing in the sand

Carter's favorite is the swing--which is difficult to get a photo with it moving.  I grabbed it to get this picture, but she wanted to be swinging.  One cute moments was when I was holding Alex (to distract her from throwing rocks on the trampoline), and was helping Alex push Carter in the swing.  They both started giggling so much.  Carter clearly preferred her sister pushing than me.  I couldn't figure out a way to photograph it while it was happening, but we kept doing it because their laughter was so sweet.

Carter

 Zander and Alex were the only ones interested in the slides and climbing.

Zander as a "Yoho" pirate.

This is the stink eye I got from Alex when I locked the gate up to the deck.  She had been playing ball with the dogs up there, but they had gotten pretty excited so I decided they needed a break and brough Alex back to the play area of the yard.  When she headed back up the gate and found it locked, she looked back to give me this look and then turned her head when I took the photo.  Alex is very expressive!  (Not just with her stink-eye look either.)

If you have ever played in the sand with four little kids, you know what happened next--BATHTIME!  Liam loves my big bathtub and he was so excited about the bubbles.

 Impossible to get all four of them looking so here is one where NO ONE is looking!

Jessica and Elessia joined us for pizza dinner and visiting and then it was time to head home.  On the way from the house to the car, they had to climb the rock and check out the library.

Alex had to try it as well and succeeded, even in a dress.

Jena and Zander joined the "posing on the rock" crew.

And off they went---the opposite direction from the car!  Alex had been leading the crew but turned around and came back when she had "mechanical" problems (In my defense, I put her diaper on while she was standing up after her bath, because Carter wanted to be held and our space in front of the tub was a bit tight.

It was a great step in moving from "stay home, stay safe" to expand our interactions a bit wider.  Our house was certainly quieter when they left.  Fun times.

Change-up On My Morning Walks

As part of getting ready for our mission, I have decided to increase my morning walks from 30 to 60 minutes a day on three of the days.  This week I started that by going to 45 minutes on three days of the week.  I still am walking around Jensen Pond but I headed north rather than doing the usual loop.

As a result, I got this view of a duck family, dad, mom, and babies who all took off as I got close for this photo.

Same park but some different sights and angles as I headed along the path which follows the Bluff Road............

I loved these views better before there were houses along every edge of the park. URGGG!

But, then I remembered that where our house is now was once a farm of the Bennett family. For a hundred years, they farmed the field, kids caught snakes and played hide-n-seek in the rows of corn, and neighbors along the roads enjoyed the beauty of the changing seasons as the crops grew.  I heard one of those neighbors say once that she doesn't really miss the farm in the backyard, because she loves the people that are there instead.  I don't know if that is entirely true, but I felt her love for us and the rest of our friends here when she said it.  And before the houses, before the farms, it was desert lands, home to mice, snakes, skunks, and other wildlife.  The earth is home to many and we as people need to be wise on how it is used.  Grateful that our city thought to add Jensen Pond Park and trails to our city.  It is a welcome break and a touch of nature to walk there in the morning.

Pandemic Progress

Gary reported that two businesses have actually improved during the pandemic--construction and IT.  IT because of the need in almost every industry to use a variety of platforms to connect and to get work done remotely.  Between the phone and the computer, I spend about 20 hours a week on them, just for work related things--then there is all of the other typical reasons we use technology.

We are part of the construction stat--well, Gary is as he works on repairing and updating our basement.  This week's task was baseboards.  Gary even used technology for that job as he watched YouTube videos to learn the needed skills to hang baseboard.  I am so proud of his progress and skills as he works to fix the issues caused by the flood in the fall and just wear and tear over the years.

I think we spent almost two hours at Home Depot wearing our masks and  cutting the boards by hand (Gary's hand) and getting them ready to transport home.  Gary has gotten them all painted and started installing them in a bedroom closet yesterday.

My parents always told me to marry some one that can fix things.  I got very lucky with Gary in that regard as he is a hard worker and willing to tackle new things.

I mostly finished the garden including planting only one tomato plant and some pumpkins.  It should be a busy summer and fall getting ready for a mission so I didn't want to over commit to a vegetable garden---flowers, on the other hand, are every where!

Another fun task we had this week was trimming some trees at Mom Hall's.  It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect.  And Gary was SO excited to use his new chain saw!

He is posing here.  I would hold the ladder
when he would actually use the saw!

After he trimmed trees there, he came and trimmed our backyard tree as well.  New tools are fun!

For Friday Family Movie Night, we watched "Valiant" and half of "Pollyanna."  We also had a fun "intermission" with the Arizona Halls.  This is James and Scarlett showing me how the snake they found on their hike this week moved along the ground.  (Excuse my wet hair)

This is one of the games that Chantel has on her phone-  "Don't wake the Cat!"

I also had some Facetime with the Magna Halls:  Jessica took this photo.

We had a bit of a storm come through on Friday night.  We actually lost power for a bit at our house.  Fortunately, I have a new phone which has a flashlight feature so I could read the scriptures by "phone" light.  I discovered that my two flashlights in my night stand (the ones for emergencies) had dead batteries.  In line with my resolve to do better to be prepared as these little emergencies occur, I actually replaced the batteries in both of them on Saturday.  We were only without power for 5 minutes at most, but it was a reminder that light is important to us.

Saturday was a big event for Jena.  For the first time since mid-March, she donned her mask and headed to the store with me.  There is some concern that people with Down syndrome might be more at-risk than the general population so Jena has stayed home from everywhere except for brief drive by treats or food pick-ups.  However, she needed some supplies for her upcoming FHE "Painting Night by Zoom with Bob Barr."  How lucky is that!  So I decided to let her come with me to pick up the supplies and make a stop at Walmart for a few items.

This is our selvie in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby.  Look at the cloud cover!  As you can imagine, it is a bit difficult for Jena to keep a mask up on her tiny nose.  This is her first time actually wearing a mask and even though it made her face hot, she said, she was a good sport about wearing it.

Jena took this photo on Saturday as we were driving to the store.  In the background, see the mountains decked in new snow from the storm.  In person, it looked so beautiful with the green of the mountain growth and the fresh white snow.

I found out that a friend of ours has a young adult son who has the Covid- 19 virus.  That is the closest connection that I have to someone with the virus.  She said that it has been a crazy week and she is an emotional wreck.  They have all been exposed so are in the self- quarantine  time at the moment.  Her son has asthma and had been super careful to not pick up the virus.  They have no idea where he got it.  I am sure that there will be more and more stories like that.  I understand that a certain amount of the population has to get the virus at some point in order to moderate the risk for pandemic levels of illness.  It is hard to know exactly what you should do or not do.  Talking to her reminded me why we are taking this precautions and moving slowly towards more normal behaviors and activities.

So, all in all, another week trying to be wise and cautious and get things done is in the books!

Happy Sabbath Day!

This is where we had the Sacrament last week--on the back patio of Mom Hall's house.  As always, it is a sweet moment to partake of the sacrament--although I have noticed that the much shorter time that it takes to pass the sacrament doesn't allow me the same time and pattern of reflection.  It occurred to me this Sunday that I needed to take that time at another time on Sunday to reflect on Christ and what He has done for us.

Gary and Jena got a head start on our Sunday walk so they opted to hid behind the mail box.  Stuff like this gets Jena giggling--and that is a sound that I love.

We ended up on a very short walk and two neighborly (social distancing) visits with the Larsons and the Pessettos.  It was so great to have some face to face conversations--not over Zoom.

All and all, a very nice Sunday.

Police Officer's Memorial Day

Also, on Friday, May 15th, flags in Utah and throughout the United States were flown at half-mast in honor of all policemen and women who have died in the line of duty.  That included Gary's grandfather, Joseph Quigley.  Here is the write-up about him on the Fallen Heros page--

JOSEPH HORALD QUIGLEY

Patrolman Joseph Quigley was shot and killed after surprising two men stealing gasoline from a car.

He had just completed his rounds and had been picked up by two other officers to be driven home when they spotted the men. Patrolman Quigley jumped out of the police car and gave chase. He then jumped into the back seat of the suspects' car as it sped away. The suspects inside shot him several times and then left his body at 23rd and Monroe Streets.
Patrolman Quigley had been employed with the Ogden Police Department for four years, and is survived by his expectant wife and four children.

Gary's mom, Horaldene Virginia Quigley, was the baby who arrived a month later.  She was named after her father, but they began calling her Holly when she was very little and that is the name that everyone knows her by.

Our flag at half mast---

As is customary when bringing a flag in at night which was flown at half-mast, the flag is raised again to the top of the mast (to honor hope in my mind) and then lowered and taken down for the night.  It was a sweet moment to remember---

You can see the name of Joseph Quigley in the memorial to policemen on the Utah Capital grounds and also in Washington, DC, at the national memorial.

Social-Distancing Visit

I texted a friend Friday evening and asked if they were up for a porch visit--we would bring our own chairs.  She replied "YES!!" so after dinner, Gary and I walked over for a visit.  When we arrived, they had already set up two nice camp chairs for us on the side walk and two chairs for them on their porch--10 feet away.  Plus this "pandemic supply" table--it included anti-viral kleenex; water; masks (we had our own, although we didn't wear them during our visit); bug spray-because we live in Syracuse; wet whips; and hand sanitizer.  Now there is a hostess with the mostest!  They laughed at the end of our visit when I asked to take a picture of the table, but this is a glance at life in a pandemic.  I loved it and I loved having a conversation with Jolee and Kevin on a pretty Friday evening.

Jena took this photo of us after our visit so that we could have a picture with our masks on.

Friends and Family on a Friday---doesn't get much better than that!!!

PARTY TIME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA!

Friday was Jessica's birthday and for the past few weeks, we have been watching the guidelines in our state and anticipating a "possible" gathering for her birthday.  We had decided that doing it outside at Jensen Pond and limited contact--between the adults--between kids and their grandparents and aunt and uncle--that isn't doable!  All together there was only 10 of us, below the guideline of 20 in force on that day (It has now moved to 50 people gatherings.)

I woke up on Friday and began making a cheesecake for her birthday.  I couldn't believe how much it made me remember when she and my other kids were all little and I would be getting ready for their birthday.  It has been a bit of time since I made cheesecake for Jessica's birthday.  It was fun to make it and to remember.

I was so excited to see them all since it has been since they came to dinner on March 1 that I have seen them in person.  Thank heavens for Facetime, but it isn't exactly the same.  I expected the boys to be so excited and come running from the car for hugs.  That would have been the "Hollywood version" of the event.  In real life, Alex and Carter were a bit nervous.  At 19 months they are leary of strangers and despite the fact that they loved to facetime with us, in person was a different story.  I understood that.  But as they got out of the car, Liam fell to the ground because of some reason I can't remember while Zander was unhappy because he couldn't ride his bike immediately.  They didn't even talk to us for the first 5-10 minutes while we set up for our pizza picnic lunch.  Real Life!!  It was fine.  We got it.  They were hungry, they just had a long car ride, and they were at a park.  Soon everyone settled in and we had a great afternoon at the park.  It was so great to see them and Jessica and Elessia and share a fun afternoon together.

Zander

Liam

Alex

Carter

We ate pizza and cheesecake and sang happy birthday to Jessica, then headed off for a walk around Jensen Pond.  It turns out that Liam likes crossing bridges as much as I do.  He would look ahead and spy a bridge and head it that direction--just to ride his bike across it.

A photo that Jessica took of me walking with Liam
and Zander on their bikes.  I think I was pointing out the
pelicans who live around here during this time of year. 

 Along one side of the man-made pond, there is a row of birdhouses of all different kinds.  Would a bird really settled into the top of a panda's head???

Look at that beautiful sky---

What about a castle fit for a king?

We were glad Ben could come with us.  He and the kids had a great time playing together.

Liam developed a game where they had to be on the tables because the rest was "hot lava".  However, Uncle Ben (and later grandma) were special and they could walk safely in the lava and carry you from table to table.  I bet Ben was tired from flying four kids from table to table.

These are California Gulls which live near the pond and around the many
lakes in Utah.  There is technically no bird call a "sea gull".  They are all
part of the gull family of birds of which there are many.  They live near all types of
bodies of water.  Some flew in near the end of our stay and grabbed
one of the girl's bit of pizza left.  It had sat there for over an hour or so.

Trying to get a posed picture on the rock.
Carter was not having it at the moment.

You can't be by water and not touch it.  Not on person, the colors of their shirts matched nicely and contrasted with the sand and pond.

And throwing rock--another age-old past time of children everywhere.

Her siblings had all stood on these rocks, so I think Carter decided that she wanted to try it, but she then decided that maybe crawling on them was a safer move.

Happy Birthday, Jessica.  It was a great time, a happy memory, and a perfect way to celebrate our first "easing of restrictions" gathering.  We will be having more outdoor activities, I am sure in the upcoming weeks.