Today is the start of General Conference. President Nelson has said it is going to be an unforgettable conference. I am so excited. He had us prepare by
- Read Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision (see Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26).
- Think about how the First Vision and the events that followed have blessed your life.
- Incorporate the Book of Mormon videos into personal and family study.
- Create a plan to “immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.”
“As you do [these things],” President Nelson said, “general conference next April [2020] will be not only memorable; it will be unforgettable” (see “Closing Remarks,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2019, 122).
He also had the women study the priesthood and sections of the Doctrine and Covenants about priesthood. I have read through his talks and those things he has asked us to study a couple times. I made some notes on this pdf that a lady in my ward sent me: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_CsK5oUJ5ZPlzgv_gt6PamidNTCBaLoK/view?usp=sharing.
Max and Cannon are still at the hospital until probably Sunday at midnight. His chemo goes until Sunday at 10pm. Then they have to wait for awhile so they couldn't leave until about midnight so we probably won't see them until Monday morning. Cannon has been with Max this whole week. I have offered to trade, but Cannon says he is just fine to stay there and hasn't felt like he wanted to trade yet. Cannon asked Max if he'd like me to come and Max said yes, but then I asked him later that afternoon and he said no. Last time when Cannon and I traded off Max was really sad for awhile, so I just decided to let Cannon keep staying and trade off if they ever feel ready for me to. It's nice that I can stay and continue to nurse Felix, but I am happy to trade off whenever.
Max's stay has gone well. He seems happy and healthy. Cannon has sent lots of videos of him dancing, and playing, and just being his happy little self. He loves to play doctor. They got him a little doctor kit and he loves to pretend being sick and have Cannon check him out or pretend that he is Dr. Max. It's so cute. His lumbar punctures have gone well. Waking up from the anesthesia is always hard for him. He is always really grumpy. This last L.P. they replaced his n.g. tube since it had been about 30 days since it was in there and it had a blockage in it. They put it in his other nostril so that is nice to give his other one a break. We are hoping the side effects aren't as bad. One of the nurse practitioners said they see about 30% come back for mouth sores/side effects instead of 80% like with his last rounds of chemo so that is hopeful that we may be able to treat it at home. I sure hope so. I have been nervous about them being at the hospital because of Covid-19. It is growing in Utah, and I really don't want Max to get it or any of us, but particularly Max because of him being immunocompromised.
Here at home we have just been staying in our house the whole week. My mom brought our groceries yesterday and set them on a blanket I left by the front of our garage. I then sanitize everything before I bring it in the house. I also order things online and we let them sit for awhile if we don't need them right away or sanitize them all. We got a little sanitizing machine that uses UV light. It's called homesoap. It has been such a nice thing. I put mail, phone, keys, anything anyone drops off that fits in there inside of it and then it sanitizes it in 10 minutes. We also feel really blessed that we stocked up on hand sanitizer and clorox wipes and so many people helped us stock up before the virus hit. It's hard to find those things these days, so it's been a blessing to have them.
Last night June and I made chocolate chip cookies and watched the new movie Onward. It was supposed to be in theaters right now, but theaters are closed so they released it on Disney plus yesterday. It was such a cute movie and so fun to watch it together with June. She has been a little sweetheart since being home from school. She has changed back to being her sweet self. I felt like while she was going to school she had a lot more breakdowns and tantrums and crying. She has had those over the break from school, but I have definitely seen a decrease in them. She tries hard to be kind and submissive. She wants to do whatever I'd like her to do a lot of the times. She will say, "It's your choice. I'll do whatever you want me to." haha. She is a good helper once she starts helping. She loves abcya.com and Imagine learning. She would spend all day on the computer, if I would let her. We pulled out the gaming system that Cannon got me for my birthday a long time ago, but didn't have the right cords until Glori dropped some off, so she is looking forward to playing some Donkey Kong today when we aren't watching conference.
Felix has continued to be his sweet self. He is so happy and cheerful and funny. His two bottom teeth are coming in strong and are so cute. His hair is doing a little bit of curling in the back and it kills me haha. He is learning how to crawl and can do an army crawl really well. He also learned how to drink out of a sippy cup and loved the orange juice that was inside. He loves eating what we are eating, and he loves going for any plugs that are in thew wall. I have found a few small things in his mouth the past few weeks so I am having to keep a careful eye on him.
We also felt another earthquake this week. I was sitting on our green chairs in the living room talking to June and I started feeling my chair move. I looked at some branches we have in a vase that have easter eggs hanging from them and they were swaying. I said, "June we are having an earthquake. We need to get under the table." I held Felix on my lap under the table and we held onto the table leg and ducked our heads, but it had pretty much stopped by the time we got under the table. It was crazy. The earthquake was a 6.4 by Boise so we just felt a little shaking here. So now I have felt two earthquakes within a few weeks of each other. It definitely feels like the world is ending with all this craziness happening.
I also thought I'd make note of some of the changes that have come about in the world and in our lives because of Covid-19
Max and Cannon are still at the hospital until probably Sunday at midnight. His chemo goes until Sunday at 10pm. Then they have to wait for awhile so they couldn't leave until about midnight so we probably won't see them until Monday morning. Cannon has been with Max this whole week. I have offered to trade, but Cannon says he is just fine to stay there and hasn't felt like he wanted to trade yet. Cannon asked Max if he'd like me to come and Max said yes, but then I asked him later that afternoon and he said no. Last time when Cannon and I traded off Max was really sad for awhile, so I just decided to let Cannon keep staying and trade off if they ever feel ready for me to. It's nice that I can stay and continue to nurse Felix, but I am happy to trade off whenever.
Max's stay has gone well. He seems happy and healthy. Cannon has sent lots of videos of him dancing, and playing, and just being his happy little self. He loves to play doctor. They got him a little doctor kit and he loves to pretend being sick and have Cannon check him out or pretend that he is Dr. Max. It's so cute. His lumbar punctures have gone well. Waking up from the anesthesia is always hard for him. He is always really grumpy. This last L.P. they replaced his n.g. tube since it had been about 30 days since it was in there and it had a blockage in it. They put it in his other nostril so that is nice to give his other one a break. We are hoping the side effects aren't as bad. One of the nurse practitioners said they see about 30% come back for mouth sores/side effects instead of 80% like with his last rounds of chemo so that is hopeful that we may be able to treat it at home. I sure hope so. I have been nervous about them being at the hospital because of Covid-19. It is growing in Utah, and I really don't want Max to get it or any of us, but particularly Max because of him being immunocompromised.
Here at home we have just been staying in our house the whole week. My mom brought our groceries yesterday and set them on a blanket I left by the front of our garage. I then sanitize everything before I bring it in the house. I also order things online and we let them sit for awhile if we don't need them right away or sanitize them all. We got a little sanitizing machine that uses UV light. It's called homesoap. It has been such a nice thing. I put mail, phone, keys, anything anyone drops off that fits in there inside of it and then it sanitizes it in 10 minutes. We also feel really blessed that we stocked up on hand sanitizer and clorox wipes and so many people helped us stock up before the virus hit. It's hard to find those things these days, so it's been a blessing to have them.
Last night June and I made chocolate chip cookies and watched the new movie Onward. It was supposed to be in theaters right now, but theaters are closed so they released it on Disney plus yesterday. It was such a cute movie and so fun to watch it together with June. She has been a little sweetheart since being home from school. She has changed back to being her sweet self. I felt like while she was going to school she had a lot more breakdowns and tantrums and crying. She has had those over the break from school, but I have definitely seen a decrease in them. She tries hard to be kind and submissive. She wants to do whatever I'd like her to do a lot of the times. She will say, "It's your choice. I'll do whatever you want me to." haha. She is a good helper once she starts helping. She loves abcya.com and Imagine learning. She would spend all day on the computer, if I would let her. We pulled out the gaming system that Cannon got me for my birthday a long time ago, but didn't have the right cords until Glori dropped some off, so she is looking forward to playing some Donkey Kong today when we aren't watching conference.
Felix has continued to be his sweet self. He is so happy and cheerful and funny. His two bottom teeth are coming in strong and are so cute. His hair is doing a little bit of curling in the back and it kills me haha. He is learning how to crawl and can do an army crawl really well. He also learned how to drink out of a sippy cup and loved the orange juice that was inside. He loves eating what we are eating, and he loves going for any plugs that are in thew wall. I have found a few small things in his mouth the past few weeks so I am having to keep a careful eye on him.
We also felt another earthquake this week. I was sitting on our green chairs in the living room talking to June and I started feeling my chair move. I looked at some branches we have in a vase that have easter eggs hanging from them and they were swaying. I said, "June we are having an earthquake. We need to get under the table." I held Felix on my lap under the table and we held onto the table leg and ducked our heads, but it had pretty much stopped by the time we got under the table. It was crazy. The earthquake was a 6.4 by Boise so we just felt a little shaking here. So now I have felt two earthquakes within a few weeks of each other. It definitely feels like the world is ending with all this craziness happening.
I also thought I'd make note of some of the changes that have come about in the world and in our lives because of Covid-19
- Felix had his 9 month well check up scheduled for April 14th. He would get his Hep B shot that day. I called the doctor's office and they thought it would be best to delay that until 12 months since Max is going through chemo and they don't want to inadvertently get me or Felix sick from having to come into the office.
- No gatherings of 10 or more people so Owen has to be baptized with only his immediate family and maybe the grandparents, Lottie needs to be blessed but they haven't decided what they are doing about that yet,
- Travel is limited so Grant is stuck in his apartment in Italy on his mission. They aren't sure when the quarantine will be lifted, but for now he has to stay inside and can only go out for food. Italy has been hit hard by the virus. There was an option to come home, but they offered it a little too late and Layne thought it was more risky for him to fly home than stay in his apartment. He would have to fly to New York and that is also another hot spot for the virus. Lots of missionaries have been sent home from their missions including Josh and Dallin (Darcie's step sons.)
- No school. Classes have moved online. June has enjoyed that. I feel bad for Emmett because he is a senior in high school and is missing the last part of his senior year. He also had a school trip planned for New York this past week that got canceled. I feel so sad for him because my New York trip when I was in high school was so much fun, and he doesn't ever get to go on his. The nice thing has been that June has been such a little sweetheart since not going to school. She is my little friend and helper. She sometimes gets mad, but she gets over it quickly and says sorry. It's been so nice to have sweet little June back.
- Theaters are closed, Restaurants are closed for dine-in. You can just get take-out or drive thru. Other stores have closed for in person shopping like Deseret Book and TJ Maxx.
- Some things are hard to get in grocery stores like flour (Claire had to make a special trip to Central Milling in Collinston to get flour because she couldn't find it in any stores around her), diapers (I ordered diapers three times online. The first one got canceled, the second one was delayed for a long time, and the third one finally came. My ward found out I needed diapers and showed up with some as well. People kept texting me to see if I still needed diapers, so that was nice to be looked out for). I have had a hard time finding skim milk. Lots of people have had a hard time finding toilet paper, but Abbey picked some up for me right at the beginning of this from Sams so we are set for awhile. Any cleaning, sanitizing, or soaps have been hard to find as well.
- 6.6 million people have filed for unemployment which is a historic high. I am nervous what our lives and the country and world will look like after this virus has subsided.
- No church. All temples are closed. Gathering for this general conference has been cancelled. They are just having it in a private meeting room. Music from the tabernacle choir has been prerecorded.
- Cannon has started working for my parents, doing projects outside of their home so he doesn't have to work around anyone.
- The stock markets have plunged.
- We have been encouraged to wear masks when we are in public and encouraged to stay home and stay safe.
June just called Felix Philix like my mom does haha.