Finally a new year has arrived! January came with promise of a an end to lockdowns and restrictions and mandates...and yet January 1 did not really make any drastic movements from December 31st. At least we can say 2020 is behind us and those things we are hoping for, will come...please pray it is this year! Vaccines are just around the corner for us and I am sure that will help. The church now moves youth into their classes and does ordinations at the beginning of the calendar year, so Grant got to start 2021 becoming a priest! He is really excited and it was neat to have him set apart in our home with just us and a member of the bishopric. With church being in our living room currently, he can get some good practice in before blessing the sacrament in front of a ward. We are hoping he will be able to brush those luscious locks aside and read the prayers when he is doing it in an actual chapel. The boy has some serious hair right now.
Even though we have not been able to meet on Sundays with our ward, we have been able to do some youth activities in person, which is so nice. We did a very special one this month providing bereavement boxes to our local hospital's labor and delivery department.
The boxes were filled with blankets, bracelets, a little cap and note for the mothers and families in the case that they lose their baby. I hope it is something that sticks with everyone who helped! I know I will think about it often.
Because I am now a district employee, I started working at the vaccine clinics the school district was providing to the employees. It was nice to be substitute then-I felt like I was a part of something big and exciting! Modern medicine is a miracle! Thank heavens it is too, so that when the McArthur skin cancer genes turn on...
a doctor can recognize it and dig it right now. David joined his brothers and father in some little basal cell experience. It was a quick and easy procedure that will leave a somewhat gnarly scar.
In and out and after a scan, he will be confirmed cancer free and looking like he had a minor run in with a ferocious feline. Dave's doctor reassured him that after a "sanding" kind of process his money maker will have a hardly noticeable line. We are glad!
This beauty received a student of the month award and was so happy to have her very own picture with the principal!
Of course this happened on a day that she had an ortho appointment and she wasn't there when they called her name and highlighted her for grades and being dependable...we were probably out getting a treat as we drove home. Haha!
All through the month we were preparing for my big day-the day I entered the 40's club, a new decade, a new era for me. Big plans had been rearranged (a canceled trip to Hawaii due to covid restrictions and actually me wanting to stay close and somewhere cold). I had the dream trip planned- a posh Deer Valley hotel. Well, just over a week before I was going to kick off my perfect celebration, Grant came home from swimming saying he was not hungry at all and was actually really tired. He went straight to his room and went to sleep, holding his purchased but uneaten Subway sandwich. When he woke up he had a super high fever-103. And then we were were freaking out- thinking Corona virus finally hit our home. Grant drank a bunch of fluids and then he threw up a bunch. The puking made us believe possibly he had something else. Then, when Grant woke up the next morning feeling fine, we thought maybe it wasn't covid after all. Grant stayed home from school to be safe, got tested for swimming the following morning (so two days after feeling yucky) and sure enough, he had a POSITIVE test for Covid 19. I got the phone call when I was working a vaccine clinic. I finished my shift, Dave picked up last minute groceries to get us through our 10 days and we began a serious quarantine.
The minute Grant wasn't feeling well, we asked him to stay in his room. Once his test was positive, he was on his own for those two weeks...I mean I didn't leave him to fend for himself, I just mean he had no company from us...which I am not sure if he was grateful for or not! Haha! I delivered meals with gloves and a mask, we had Katelee use an upstairs bathroom and we all monitored our every possibly symptom. Luckily, none of us had any! We should have gone to be tested, but we showed no signs of sickness at all. Grant did eventually start feeling a little lousy-stuffy nose, scratchy throat (mild), lethargic, headache...but he kept his smell/taste and had no respiratory complications, so all in all, he passed through really well.
It is so impressive to see how family and neighbors step up to check in with us...we had food dropped off, lots of texts and phone calls, activities and games bought for the kids to stay busy with. We felt really lucky to have it pass through relatively easily. We did school work, grabbed take out, played TONS of games...35 different games to be exact. Our favorite right now is Skull King. We got the card game for Christmas and I'd say have mastered the atmosphere of it...
We turn on Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack, the 7 year old dons his Pirate Costume and we Yo-Ho-Ho the night away with bids and shouts. It's pretty amazing.
The worst part of the Covid 19 was the timing-we were required to isolate during my scheduled birthday extravaganza. Dave worked his magic to get his points and money deposited back. So instead of a spa, I got a Harrison/Brenna relaxation day which was pretty magical. After the massage of a lifetime, Dave told me I had to go to an address and pick something up. I am a bit of a rule follower and told him I couldn't go in anywhere, so if it is just a pick up, why couldn't he stop and get it for me. He insisted it had to be me, wouldn't tell me why or where I was going,
so I maybe started crying and told him I hated stuff like that and I didn't want to leave the house to the mystery address but he reassured me I would be glad I did. I stopped my tears, followed the GPS and pulled up to a little Marriott where my brother was standing with flowers. Dave had flown Blake (and Caleb and Grace) in for the day to wish me a happy birthday since I couldn't leave. Blake had already been vaccinated and wasn't concerned about getting sick, so he was fine spending the afternoon chatting, grabbing lunch and hanging out. It was really thoughtful and I regretted my mid-day melt down.
The following morning was my actual birthday. The day we would celebrate 40 years of my living. I woke up to breakfast and lots of decorations. Late morning, there was a knock on the door. When I answered it, there were the cute YW leaders with a bday banner and crown and treats.
Dave was in full party planning mode and kept consulting his phone/planner. The next thing I knew, the door bell rang again an hour or so later. This time it was my dear friends that we used to live by in Draper that I haven't seen for a while. We had a socially distanced (cold) porch visit and I loved every second of it.
After lunch, Brooke and Holly stopped by with their scheduled time! Haha! I didn't even know Holly had been in town so that was so fun. They came right in the house with cake until their visiting hour was up...when I walked them out, my neighborhood pals were in my driveway doing a lip sync dance party for me! It was epic.
I was definitely feeling the love that day. We tried to play some games, eat some food, but just when I thought it was time to sit, the doorbell rang and there was my entire family-pushing their way into the house, covid be darned. Brad and Angelique even got some last minute tickets via my hubby to come for a few hours. Of course, Grant didn't get to participate but with none of us having symptoms and our quarantine being nearly over, they felt ok coming in with masks on. It was a wonderful visit and effort by everyone and especially Dave...just when I thought I could relax, I had a zoom call scheduled with my childhood buddies, which I need to do more often. I literally was shaking from the over stimulation and burst into exhausted/grateful tears by the end...but it was an unforgettable 40th birthday.
Dave definitely knows how to make things memorable. Even his post surgery was denied because of our quarantine-the doctors wouldn't let us come in. They wanted me to be talked over the phone how to check on his incision and remove the stitches. Bless Paige's heart and her nursing skills, she braved the contamination to save the day.
I felt very blessed after my birthday, fortunate that Grant (and the rest of us) made it through his Covid 19 experience unscathed, honored to be a part of the tribe I am in-from my family to friends to church and neighbor associates, it was touching to be thought about. Maybe that is all I need to focus on this year, making sure that people know I Kar-a bout them. It's really what matters.
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