PANDEMIC ADVENTURES

Everyone kept talking about how excited they were to get the year 2019 over with and knew that the year 2020 was going to be so much better. Well, they were wrong! 2 ½ months into 2020 the Pandemic hit and we were all quarantined to our homes because of COVID-19 – an illness that began in China and spread throughout the entire world very quickly. I originally thought, it would be fun to have Lloyd working from home and staying home. I have a very nice comfortable home and felt safe and secure there. All of that was taking away from me when a major earthquake hit us on March 18 – just two days into our quarantine. The epicenter was about 30 miles away in Magna, and even though there was no damage done in my city, it shook me up pretty good, and even 3 months later I get a little anxious when my house settles or a big truck rattles the ground. The after shocks were just as scary as the initial earthquake and they kept coming for 2-3 weeks after.

“COVID – 19” get’s it’s name from Coronavirus Disease that began in the Fall of 2019 in China. It reached Utah in February and spread so quickly that the government began shutting everything down on March 16. Here are some questions that I typed up that will give a better idea of what it was like living through this time.

Describe how this has affected the WORLD. We were all in this together and I felt that it unified our world a little bit because we were all experiencing the same thing. We have sent provisions to other countries to help them and other countries are doing the same. Some countries chose not to quarantine and, according to the news, it caught up with them and now they have a lot of cases of COVID-19.

Describe how this has affected your COUNTRY. We are in the middle of an election year, and there is a lot of blame being thrown President Trump. He is doing the best that he can right now. It’s just a way to lure votes towards his opponent – Joe Biden. Our country was not prepared for this. People were buying toilet paper and hoarding it – stores started keeping it in the back and letting people only have one package per visit. Hand sanitizer, wipes, soap was out of stock after the first couple of weeks, and hospitals were short on face masks.

New York was hit hard and their hospitals were over-flowing with people suffering from COVID-19. A Navy hospital ship came to the rescue and docked in the NY harbor and provided a place for more patients.

Describe how this has affected your COMMUNITY. Schools, restaurants, churches, businesses, and most stores (except grocery store because we still need food), were all shut down and closed. When I went to the grocery store for the first time after everything shut down, I noticed a big change in people. No one would look at each other, people would step away if you got closer than 6 feet away. Everyone was wearing masks so you couldn’t see if people were smiling and happy. It felt strange and made me a little bit teary to think that our world has come to this.

People got creative with ways that they could still provide goods and services…Teacher’s began teaching on line, restaurants provided pick-up services and those with drive-through windows partitioned off the parking lot to make room for long lines of cars, grocery stores made their isles one-way and required masks, families started getting together through Zoom (an on-line platform that allows multiple people to see each/other and talk through their computer screens), work stations were set up in homes allowing people to continue working, and people were shopping on-line more than ever… A new way of normal was emerging.

Something that strengthened my love for God and my religion is, over a year ago, our church changed our meeting times from 3 hours on Sundays to two hours and gave us a new set of study materials so we could take more responsibility for our spirituality through home study. We did this for a year and when COVID-19 hit, we were already prepared and ready – Home study was not new to us. This reminded me that God is in the details of our lives and he will do what he can to prepare us.

Another great testimony builder is 6 months prior to the pandemic another big change happened in our church – if a couple got married outside the temple they would not have to wait a year to be sealed in the temple anymore. Well, when everything closed, our temples closed too, which meant that all of the temple weddings that were scheduled were also cancelled. Not knowing when the pandemic would end, most couples decided to go ahead and get married, knowing that as soon as the temples opened back up, they could be sealed without waiting a full year as other’s in the past have had to do. There is no doubt that the Lord was preparing a way for us to deal with this pandemic long before it happened.

Describe how this has affected your FAMILY. I haven’t been able to hug my mom. The first time I went to see her I took her a bag of treats that had been sitting in a ziplock bag for several days and then the outside of the bag was sanitized just before I put them on her porch. I rang the doorbell and stood 10 feet away and we talked for a couple of minutes and then I blew her kisses and we both cried because we didn’t know when/if things would get back to normal. It was right after it all started and it was hard!

Here are a couple of photos from visiting my mom and Spencer & Anne. Keeping a distance seemed weird and hard but it was better than not seeing them at all.

We spent time with Katie and Michael from the beginning because none of us were going anywhere or doing anything and we had been seeing them frequently before everything shut down. That was a lifesaver for me! We don’t have grandkids yet, but many of my friends haven’t been able to see their grandchildren this whole time. After the first couple of weeks, we started spending time with Spencer & Anne because they hadn’t been going anywhere either and we felt safe around each other.

Our family cruise to Alaska was cancelled. We gave this to all of our kids for Christmas. We tried to reschedule but found out recently that ALL cruises to Alaska were cancelled for 2020. I went to work on finding a new vacation for us – a place that was open for tourists. We are now going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in August! We are all really excited about it!

Describe how this has affected YOU. This has been difficult for me, but I have kept busy and signed up for an on-line course that took me 6 weeks of consistent work to get through. It taught me how to start an on-line business which I have been working on. I have also kept busy with my Junior Achievement job. Every morning I woke up with something that needed to be done which was a huge blessing!

For the past 6 months I had been working on my San Juan County Career Fairs that I have been in charge of every year for the past 5 years and the quarantine happened 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave. I had 42 presenters coming, I had 854 students from 7 schools prepared to come, I had all of the details confirmed and several $1000 spent on bags, handouts, student gifts, presenter thank you gifts, printed materials, etc. AND IT ALL SHUT DOWN ON ME! I kept hoping that we could still go in 2 months but then the Utah Governor, Gary Herbert, shut down the schools for the rest of the school year. Everyone was thinking of news ways to approach things so I got busy thinking of my own solutions – with permission from our CEO, I emailed all of my presenters and asked if they would make a video explaining the jobs that they would have introduced at the Career Fairs. I know people were busy and I was hoping to get 10 videos - - and to my surprise, I received 24 videos. I then had them downloaded onto our JA YouTube channel and send the link to all of the principals to send to their students. A large number of students live out on the Navajo Indian reservation in Hogans without plumbing and electricity. So they weren’t going to get to watch the video links. The San Juan School District bought Chrome Books and loaned them out to these students so they would have access to their school work. Every Monday and Thursday a school bus would drive through the reservation and bring meals and trade their “dead” Chrome books for charged ones. This gave me an idea…we ordered 350 2GB flash drives and I downloaded as many videos on them as would fit so the students could watch the videos on their Chrome Books. It took about 10 minutes to download each flash drive and I got 3 other people to help me and it took an entire weekend for all of us. Once they were downloaded I put them in bags and had a little note copied to put with each flash drive. Walking away from the post office after mailing them to the principals, was a very good feeling – I was still doing something that made a difference to people I have come to love and care about.

What have you been asked to do to stay safe and to help others stay safe? Stay home as much as possible, wear masks when you go out, and avoid being around people who are immune compromised.

Our church partnered with another organization to make 5,000,000 disposable masks to be used in hospitals. I got to help with this project. With the outpouring of church members willingness to volunteer, we hit that goal earlier than planned and we are now on our 2nd 5,000,000 masks. It’s amazing what we can do when we all pull together for a good cause!

Who are the people you have allowed yourself to be around? We started out with just being around Katie and Michael – we spent lots of time with them, eating and playing games – we are kind of tired of the Monopoly card game! J We would visit Spencer and Anne at a distance outside of their house. I would visit my mom 10 feet away. We talk to our neighbors/friends at a distance.

Who is the person(s) you have missed seeing the most? I miss seeing Kevin and Meghan – we were hoping to visit them or have them come to Utah, but no one wants to get on an airplane right now. I have made sure to visit with the other people who mean the most to me – just at a distance.

How have things changed the most for you? My interaction with people has changed – no hugs and shaking hands. I am also very comfortable wearing a mask now and always thought that people wearing them were paranoid. Now I know it protects the people around me and I want to be considerate.

What has changed that you think will remain changed? I think some of the ways that we have had to adapt and change the way we do things will prove to be a better, more efficient way. An example: Working from home will become more normal because we have proved that it can be done – it cuts down on pollution and time from not having to travel.

What is something you have done that you would not normally do? We have eaten out a lot more than usual to support the local businesses. I also wear a mask everywhere I go, which felt weird but now I’m used to it.

How have you helped/supported other people? We have been trying to help and support small businesses by ordering out more often and giving bigger tips.

What holidays/birthdays have you celebrated and how was it different? St. Patricks Day came and went and even though I wore green, I didn’t have a dinner where I turned everything green. April Fools was not full of silly pranks – just another day, trying to survive our “new norm”. I had a nice dinner for Easter Sunday, and we bought treats for our kids and gave them all some homemade masks which they have ended up wearing a LOT! My Birthday was fun because my sisters got creative and had a “social distancing lunch” at my moms. It was so fun to be together (6’ apart) that we stayed for a very long time and talked and laughed – great therapy for all of us!

Left to Right: Katie Hutchings, Michelle Perea, Susan Jackson, Lily Hunter, Grandma Varner, Karen Hunter, & Me (behind the camera)

My family had a BBQ in our backyard the night of my Birthday. It was so good to see my kids (minus Kevin and Meghan who live in Texas).

My friends also had a Birthday lunch for me is another friends backyard. We, again, brought our own lunch but we could have done a better job of social distancing.

We also celebrated our 34 Anniversary on March 21st. We were supposed to go to a fancy/expensive restaurant but ended up eating Chick-fa-lay in our car in an empty parking lot, and driving up the canyon.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Have you been able to get outside? Yes, when the weather got warmer, we have gone for lots of walks and rides in the car. Our backyard patio is also a nice place to spend time – we are loving the fresh air.

What movies/games/books have been occupying your time? Lots of Hallmark Movies, Monopoly Deal, Bananagrams, Spot It.

Tell about your trip(s) to the grocery store, restaurants, etc.? All restaurants were closed for a couple of months and since they have opened back up, they have removed many of their tables so they can seat people far away from each other. You can order food on-line and they have converted several parking spots for picking up your orders. The isles in the grocery stores are all one-way with big arrows on the floors to remind everyone. There are Plexiglass partition between the cashiers and the customers. Everyone has a machine so you can insert your own card into it to pay. People don’t want to except any cash so everyone is using their credit cards.

What have you done to keep things as normal as possible? Good, healthy dinners, honoring the same bedtime (although that has been tough cuz it’s hard for me to fall asleep). Trying to get out once a day, even if it’s just to get a diet coke at Mcdonalds with Lloyd.

What sacrifices have you had to make? Everyone is making sacrifices, but we have been lucky that my husband, and kids have all been able to work from home and still have their jobs. That is a huge blessing! We are being more careful with our money because none of us know what the future will look like.

What was your daily routine like? No alarm clock – wake up when I wake up – around 8 or 9am. Get ready for the day, work on computer (on-line business and Junior Achievement), lunch break, run to get a diet coke at McDonalds, work on computer, dinner, go for a walk or drive (depending on weather), games with Katie and Michael, bedtime. I also ate a lot of popcorn – my comfort food!!

What important events were cancelled? My Career Fairs, A Giant In Our City event, Our CBRE work trip to Pelican Hill in April, Alaskan Cruise in May, JA in a Days at 2 of my schools (for work), Graduations, Summer Work parties, etc. Everything was cancelled!

How has this affected you economically? We have our jobs, but we don’t know if we will get the bonus that we count on every year. We get the bonus for the year in March of the following year.

Have you learned or started a new project/hobby? Tell about it. I started my on-line business of helping people write their personal histories.

What were the things that made you laugh? When Lloyd would kiss me good bye and tell me he was leaving for work and then go downstairs to the den. And then at the end of his work day he would come out of the den and say “I’m home” and they be grateful that the traffic was manageable. The memes on social media kept me smiling too! Here are some of my favorites…

What activities have you replaced your "evenings out" with? Games from the game cupboard, popcorn and a show on TV, working longer on our computers, going for a drive.

What have you been the most grateful for? For my husband who kept me company, even thought he was in his den working, it has been nice to have him home with me. We made several trips to the McDonald's drive-thru for Coke and their cheap hamburgers, which actually felt like a real treat!

What have you learned from this experience? That we need each other, that we can get through hard things, and that my Heavenly Father loves me and I need Him in my life!

What memories stand out the most for you? One of my friend’s dad was the first person in Utah to die from Coronavirus. One of my best friends got Coronavirus and she said it is the sickest she has ever been – she is a breast cancer survivor and never missed a day of work from her chemo and radiation treatments, so she’s tough. This was a huge wake-up call for me and I am trying to be more careful.

Describe your feelings during this time and why you have felt this way? My feelings have been all over the place – content, happy, lonely, anxious, fearful, hopeful, teary. It changes several times/day. I’m not sure why my emotions are so different from one minute to the next – maybe I am just more aware of them and feeling more vulnerable. Eating healthy makes a world of difference in how I am handling each day.

What advice would you give people who will read this in 50 years? Life goes on and things are figured out eventually. Learn as much as you can from hard things and then move on to a better version of yourself.

Email Sent to All Members of the 41st Ward, Date: June 1, 2020

Bountiful Utah Heights Stake Meeting Plan for Safely Returning to Church Meetings and Activities

This meeting plan only applies to Sunday meetings, which for now, consists of sacrament meeting only.

The implementation date for beginning sacrament meeting is June 14, 2020.

Sacrament meeting will be 45 minutes or shorter in length.

There are to be no more than 99 total people in attendance. Bishops will create sacrament meeting groups of less than 99 members while leaving a buffer for visitors, friends, members of other faiths, etc.

Each ward will be assigned one Sunday per month to hold their sacrament meetings. Some wards may have one, two, three, or four sacrament meetings on their assigned Sunday depending on how many groups they have. The 50th, Ward Canyon, and 16th wards are assigned the 2nd Sunday of each month. The Heights, 34th, and Dry Creek wards are assigned the 3rd Sunday of each month. The 41st, 54th, and 24th wards are assigned the 4th Sunday of each month.

Bishops may assign counselors to preside reducing the number of meetings each member of the bishopric attends on their assigned Sunday.

Sacrament meeting times in each building will begin at 9:00AM, 10:30AM, 12:00PM, and 1:30PM. The 8th and 18th ward’s assigned Sunday and meeting times may vary since they are coordinating with wards from other stakes.

Bishops to provide instructions to members at the beginning of sacrament meeting that highlights the sacred nature of the sacrament and explains the steps taken to protect everyone in attendance.

Bishops will create sanitation procedures and will organize members to sanitize the sacrament trays and building prior to each of their sacrament meetings on their assigned Sunday. This includes commonly touched areas like doorknobs, light switches, drinking fountains, bathrooms, pulpit, microphone, organ and piano keyboards, etc. Note: use disinfecting wipes when cleaning microphones and keyboards instead of sprays.

Hand sanitizer will be placed in the foyer and should be checked and filled by each ward as part of their sanitizing procedures. Hand sanitizer will also be placed near the sacrament table.

Members should be encouraged in advance to wear face coverings. Face coverings will be provided for the priesthood holders who will prepare, bless, and pass the sacrament.

Face coverings may be removed when speaking at the pulpit. The speaker is encouraged to put the face covering in their pocket instead of on the pulpit. The pulpit and microphone should be sanitized in between speakers.

Seating arrangements should be made so that at least a 6-foot radius is maintained between household groups. Every other row in the chapel should be left empty and marked with a cloth “Reserved” sign provided by the stake. Initially, ushers will organize proper seating as members enter the chapel starting with the middle of the first row and then to the sides and repeating these steps working towards the back.

Members should be encouraged to use good judgement and not attend if they have a fever, cough, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, runny nose, nausea, or are feeling sick in any way.

Printed programs and the use of hymn books will be discontinued at this time. We encourage wards to sing familiar hymns.

Chapel doors should be propped open and remain open.

“Safety in Administering the Sacrament” guidelines should be followed.

Surfaces and handles on sacrament trays should be disinfected before each use.

Priesthood holders who will prepare the sacrament should use hand sanitizer prior to placing bread and cups on the trays.

Priesthood holders who will break the bread should use hand sanitizer in view of the congregation and let their hands air dry before breaking the bread.

Priesthood holders passing the sacrament should use the empty rows to offer the tray to all members rather than having individuals pass the trays down the row.

Priesthood holders should use a sufficient number of trays so that pieces of broken bread can be separated and water cups spaced to ensure the remaining bread and water cups are not inadvertently touched. A separate empty water tray with the holes section removed should be used to collect used cups.

Priesthood holders blessing and passing the sacrament should use hand sanitizer after the passing of the bread and before the blessing of the water.

Priesthood leaders need to train and supervise the young men who will prepare, bless, and pass the sacrament regarding sanitation procedures.

At the conclusion of sacrament meeting, members will be dismissed row-by-row beginning at the back and encouraged not to congregate in the foyers and to exit the building.

Sacrament meeting attendance during Phase 1 is an opportunity but is not required. Members should not feel guilty if they do not feel comfortable attending at this time.

Out of an abundance of caution, high-risk individuals (those 65 years and older and those with underlying medical conditions like diabetes, chronic lung disease, chronic heart disease, those taking medications intended to suppress the immune system, those with immune deficient disease, etc.) are encouraged not to attend in-person sacrament meetings at this particular time. The best practice is to provide the sacrament to them, in a safe manner, in their homes. Ward leaders, ministering sisters, and ministering brothers need to pay special attention to these individuals to help them feel loved and included. If a high-risk individual does attend sacrament meeting, they should feel welcomed, but every precaution should be made in where and how they participate. Because circumstances and health challenges vary by individual and family, ward leaders are to help members not feel compelled to attend meetings and to feel loved and supported should they choose not to participate for a time. We look forward to the day when we can all meet together as a ward family.

Follow-Up Email with assigned meeting times:

Dear Families,

The Bishopric has met and determined several meeting times for Sacrament meetings that will be held for our ward on the 4th Sunday of each month.

In an effort to ensure that groups are kept small, families are invited to attend in groups organized alphabetically by last name, as follows:

A-G 9am

H-O 10:30am

P-W Noon

The meetings will last approximately 45 minutes. We look forward to meeting with those who feel comfortable attending, and are confident that the Spirit will continue to be with those who will be continuing in-home worship.

With love, the Bishopric

I decided that face masks were going to be something that people were going to be required to wear for a while so I got busy and pulled out scrap material and elastic and made a bunch of them for my family.

A friend posted this on her Facebook page and I thought I would share it here:

Just so I NEVER forget..... April 2, 2020 Gas price at Costco was $1.89 School cancelled - yes cancelled Self-distancing measures on the rise. Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help distance shoppers (6ft) from each other. Limited number of people inside stores, therefore, lineups outside the store doors. Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed. Parks, trails, entire cities locked up. Entire sports seasons cancelled. Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events - cancelled. Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings - cancelled. High school graduations cancelled No masses, churches are closed. No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, now 5 or more. Don't socialize with anyone outside of your home. Children's outdoor play parks are closed. We are to distance from each other. Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers. Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill. Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer. Shelves are bare. Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE. Government closes the border to all non-essential travel. Fines are established for breaking the rules. Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients. Press conferences daily from the President. Daily updates on new cases, recoveries, and deaths. Government incentives to stay home. Barely anyone on the roads. People wearing masks and gloves outside. Essential service workers are terrified to go to work. Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families. 5.7 Earthquake hit Utah (Magna) March 18th 2020. This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020. Why, you ask, do I write this status? One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious and not to take the things we dearly love for granted. We have so much! Be thankful. Be grateful. Be kind to each other - love one another - support everyone. We are all one! ❤️

...Not done talking about COVID 19…Katie and Michael hosted a 4th of July party at their house (on a Saturday night) and to be safe, only Michaels and Katie’s families were invited – 12 adults plus 2 babies (Kevin and Meghan are in Texas and couldn’t come). Fast forward to the following Wednesday night and I am in my car with Katie sitting next to me and Michael in the back seat and Katie is talking about how she doesn’t feel good and that “this summer cold” has really slowed her down. Pretty much 10 minutes after she said that, Michael gets a text from his mom saying that his sister, Shannon and her husband tested positive for COVID 19.

AHHHH!!!! That means that we were all EXPOSED first hand at the party even though we were outside and we did try to stay away from each other, the food was arranged buffet-style. And Katie’s “summer cold” might be something else…she tested the next morning and YEP, she was diagnosed with COVID 19 and had direct orders to stay at home for the next 10 days. She got sicker for a couple of days and then started to get better – lucky for her, she managed OK with it. Michael never even had symptoms. I was exposed at the party and then again Wednesday night when I was with them. I had been having really bad headaches, which I didn’t think was a symptom but apparently it was so after a week of headaches and a scratchy throat, but symptoms never got worse, I got tested and it came back negative (no COVID 19 for me). It was not very fun to wonder every night when I went to bed if I would wake up really sick the next day. It was a looooong week!

We also had to break the news to Spencer and Anne because they were at the party so they got tested and they were negative too. I have noticed that Anne is being a lot more careful about wearing her mask everywhere though. I think it scared her pretty good!

Life is interesting, to say the least and I’m pretty sure nothing is going to change for awhile. It still seems like I’m dreaming and I will wake up and things will be back to normal.

September 14, 2020

Things have changed a bit since I wrote all of the above.

We made it on our family trip which turned into a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We had a great time hanging out together in a condo on the beach, playing in the ocean, sight-seeing, jet skiing and sailing. Being with family was very healing after 5 hard months of going nowhere and not spending much time together.

School started and it was up to the Districts how they wanted to handle things. Our School District has ½ of the students in school on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the other half on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Friday as a day off for teachers to prep. My sisters district had the students in school every day but the COVID cases have increased so they have taken it back to 2 days a week until the case numbers go down.

Restaurants are all open – except of last Tuesday, September 8 when the winds were so terrible that it blew down lots of big trees and power was out in spots all over town so restaurants couldn’t open. We lost out oldest/biggest tree and I watched the wind slowly blow it over – roots out of the ground and completely laying on it’s side. We had a few other trees tip but we tipped them back up and hope that their roots take hold so we don’t lose them too.

Fires are blazing in California and Oregon, – to the point were lives are being lost and houses/businesses are burning to the ground. We, in Utah, are getting their smoke from the fires so it’s hazy and smoky. It’s so crazy how wild this year has been so far. We have had a few fires in Utah on the mountains that haven’t been as threatening, but still very scary.

The presidential election is well underway and what a mess that is. We watched the debate last week and it was just like being back in elementary school with name-calling, bringing up personal and very hurtful things about each other, one told the other one to “shut up” and called him a clown and other horrible names. They would talk over each other and the commentator. It was so embarrassing to our nation. And to think one of them will run our entire country for the next 4 years. It’s scary to think about.

Life is full of surprises – I think I like the ones in a box and wrapped up with a nice bow, better than the 2020 surprises that have left us all wondering if these are the “signs of the times”.

December 4, 2020

Well here we are still in a mess with Covid! The numbers have been sky-rocketing all of the country. Masks are mandatory in Utah and mandates were put in place to not be with anyone outside of the people you live with for 2 weeks to see if we could get the Covid numbers down. It didn't touch the numbers. Most people celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving with their immediate families. My mom sat home by herself all day-which made me very sad but if she were to get Covid at her age and with her health, she would not survive. We want her around for as long as we can have her so we are all being very careful. Now it's Christmastime and here we are wondering what kind of holiday it will be. Family is the reason why I love holidays and when you take them away, it makes it hard to celebrate. I thought it was interesting to watch all my neighbors and friends putting up their Christmas lights at the beginning of November this year - I think we are all anxious to start focusing on something positive and fun, like Christmas and want to start the season early this year.

President Trump promises a vaccine soon, but I think it will still be a few months before we all get to benefit from it. Meanwhile, my sister and brother-in-law, are struggling with Covid right now but hope to be behind it soon.

These are crazy times. I hope my next update is full of good news!!