2020 The Year When Everything Changed

Last November, as we celebrated our tenth anniversary, we would have never guessed what lay in store. Since it was our tenth we decided to do something special and take a trip with the kids. We didn't go far - just to Ogden, but we had the resort to ourselves. We had access to an indoor pool (the main objective in going there since that's all the kids care about) and an indoor gym where we played a lot of tag. We also took a few nature walks. It was beautiful. 

Christmas involved the usual trip downtown to see the lights, presents under the tree, and gatherings with family. What a treasure all that was - something we'll definitely miss this year.

Strange how January and February are totally lost to memory. I know we toyed with putting our house on the market, doing a For Sale by Owner for a bit, and giving a couple showings, but mostly it was a good time for us to start packing and fixing up our house. We didn't actually put it on the market officially until the end of March, when everything else seemed to be going on. Due to the strangeness of the times we weren't surprised that it took until July for the house to finally sell, but we were grateful to have had a bit longer there. It gave our current home more time for getting finished and allowed the kids some familiarity and social support during remote schooling. So long dear Harvard House!

Everything seemed to change right around Ward's birthday. Luckily I hadn't really planned much for him by way of parties, so when our typically social lives seemed to come to an abrupt stop, we happily just celebrated with family. That was also right after the big earthquake, which we were grateful to be home for, well at least the kids and I. The shaking was so traumatizing to Jocye we spent most of our time outside, doing school work and visiting with neighbors, playing with neighborhood dogs, and riding bikes with friends. We managed to have "recess" every day with some good friends in the neighborhood and that was a blessing for all of us! We would meet up in the parking lot of the elementary school across the street and let the kids ride bikes. We were grateful for a rather mild spring - each day it rained it seemed to let up just long enough for the kids to play outside for bit. 

With so much time outside, the kids developed their roller skating skills. Ward did a lot of tree climbing, sparking fears in my mind that he wouldn't have a spot at the hospital if he needed it. We also saw a couple neighbors move out and new ones move in.

We've held church at home since March. While we were still in our Harvard home we would sometimes take our home-church to the lawn in front of the chapel where we plan to attend our new ward. Now that we've moved we have yet to attend church in person due to the high number of COVID cases in the area. Ward in particular is interested in staying home as long as possible.  Sundays also have included dinner at Sarah's Mom's along with a few random cousins who live in Provo. Joyce has been in heaven playing with her "big cousins" each week.

While our house was on the market we often found ourselves needing to be away from home. We explored local parks, and often ate take out in a little community garden by our house.

Not everything we did was outdoors. Ward discovered Calvin and Hobbes so he bought a little red wagon with plans to build a rocket ship to the moon. Both kids became super readers this year. When COVID hit we went to two libraries in one day, trying to check out as many as we could. We had about a couple days notice that the libraries would be shutting down. When COVID dragged on and the libraries had yet to open, we found friends with whom we could swap some books. 

The kids wrapped up school at the end of May. It was a relief to be done. Between daily chores, school work, music practice, showing the house, and packing, we all were a bit frazzled. Joyce discovered that listening to music while she worked really helped her mood. During those hard couple of months, we let Joyce quit formal violin lessons (video lessons just aren't very effective at her age and level), and started seeing a therapist to help with the separation anxiety that had been exacerbated by the earthquake. We also learend a lot about parenting and anxiety this year!

When summer finally came, I tried doing some weekly geography lessons and corresponding cooking lessons - food from around the world. When I was especially organized we even read books from that country. 

I tried to just keep it as fun as possible, considering we were missing out on meeting up with friends at the park for lunch, something we have long enjoyed doing every summer. We contined doing "recess" with the one friend, but that didn't always work, especially after we moved. Finally at the very end of summer we connected with some old friends whose schedules worked with ours and we had a few play dates at the park. During most of the year the local playgrounds were closed so our park of choice became the International Peace Gardens where there were lots of different natural areas for the kids to explore. (It's also where we got our family photos taken!)

Joyce's birthday was spent mostly at Grandma Ward's sinced it was also the week we were trying to move to the new house. Luckily all Joyce asked for was a full day of TV and pizza and ice cream. We got to meet up with Robinson grandparents at the park for a socially distanced lunch since her other request was to celebrate with Grandpa Robinson. Her birth mom and birth great grandma sent her some clothes and other fun presents. 

July began with a move and fireworks, and ended with a family reunion. We participated in a bike parade and Cul-de-sac of fire at Grandma Ward's.

The Robinsons gathered at Rockin' R Ranch for some relaxing fun. It felt strange returning to the city where masks were the norm and our new house was still unfinished. Here are some fun shots from the reunion.'

In fact, there are a few more details that need to be done to finish up the house, not to mention the exterior scheduled for spring and the basement ... well, who knows. Here's a view of the front lawn - the kids keep asking for nice grass.

We've at least made some effort to tame the wildness that surrounds our new home.

In the spring we built this climbing gym using Ward's superior tool kit. It was a group effort and we loved it, but unfortunately it didn't last past summer. It was a victim of the crazy windstorm that hit the first day of school. 

This was our mudroom for a long time. The kids have loved having workers regularly in our home. Joyce misses those who no longer come to our job site and daily asks if anyone is supposed to come. For the first month we sometimes had four people onsite at a time.

For my birthday I got to hang our with some friends at a park.

My sisters organized a Sister's Weekend soon after that. It was a total blast, even though our river trip got cancelled due to rain. Posing with the company's bear was the best we could do for a photo op.

The windstorm brought up all the old fears that we'd finally gotten past after the earthquake. After huddling in my bed and losing power, Joyce suggested we go to Grandma's so we could watch videos. What I thought would be an afternoon there turned into a week. Every morning we thought the kids would start school, but every morning we got the message that the school still had no power. Finally, a week later they did start school, using flashlights for the first day. Joyce managed to get a first day of school picture taken both on what was supposed to be the first day and on what finally was the first day, leaving from Grandma's house.

Fall brought very nice weather and we contined to enjoy our new neighborhood. We have taken some walks and gone on bike rides. Bret and I both got bikes so we could join the kids exploring the Jordan River Trail behind our home.

The neighbor gave the kids a toy riding car (what they've wanted for years) so we splurged and bought them a replacement battery to make it go. At first we thought that would be a mistake since they wouldn't have as much fun pushing it around, but it turned out they still pushed and chased and raced around in it as much as ever. 

The kids both lost several teeth (between them) in the last month. It seemed to have all started last Halloween that when they lost a tooth, Bret would send them on a fun treasure hunt with clues to find their tooth fairy money. He was busy this year, even sending them outside one time.

Halloween brought some modified fun. We had a porential COVID exposure the week before so even though we hadn't intended to go trick-or-treating anyway, we now had to stay in. We did let them dress up and we hid candy around the house for them to find using flashlights. They dressed up in dollar store accessories and we finally carved our pumpkin a week later. Earlier in the month, Joyce at least got to dress up for school like a character in a book she read. We got our negative test results back just in time for the kids to go back to school and enjoy their Halloween parties.

To wrap up this year in review, I'll leave you with a photo of Bret and Joyce from a family outing we took to Millcreek Canyon. It was a difficult afternoon trying to get everything ready to go. It was stressful driving up and I wondered aloud if it would even be worth it. Once we parked, though, and stepped out into the gorgeous fall scenery, all the stress disappeared. Both kids exclaimed that it was their favorite place and they wanted to come back the next day. Just like this year has felt like an insurmountable challenge, we're looking for the beauty and celebrating the memories we've made. We are deeply grateful for a Father in Heaven that knows us and loves us and guides and comforts us daily.