Weekly Review June 28 '24

This week's post will probably be fairly short. I thought this week was going to be quiet and that I was going to get a lot of work done on my summer projects, but that's not how it turned out at all. Seth was supposed to be at FSY all week and Frank was supposed to be working but instead we have all spent the week at home, really sick with Covid, and I haven't felt well enough to do anything.

Frank mentioned on Friday (the 21st) that he had a slight sore throat and headache. It was bothering him a little more on Saturday, and by Sunday he really wasn't feeling well. He's in charge of the Sacrament meeting broadcast for our ward so he did go to church, but he decided to sit in the foyer so he wouldn't be near other people and Seth and I sat with him, which all things considered was a good thing. I did go to choir practice and went into the chapel to sing with the choir, but other than that I wasn't around people much. Frank didn't stay for the 2nd hour and although I went to RS, I didn't sit close to anyone else. 

I did go to an openhouse that afternoon for a girl in our ward who left for the MTC this week, and I've been worrying ever since that I exposed her and / or other people to Covid, but I was feeling fine then and it never occurred to me that Frank might have Covid. When I got home from the open house, he told me that he had done a Covid test and was waiting for the results. The line that would mean the test was positive was so very faint that I wasn't even sure it was there, but he took another test Monday morning and that one was definitely positive. 

Meanwhile, Jared & Jessie were coming for dinner and to do laundry...they weren't too worried about getting sick because they actually both had Covid while we were in Utah. (Jessie's family had a family reunion that week and they got really sunburned too but the sunburn and Covid didn't happen until the end of the reunion, so they still had fun.) Frank stayed upstairs and I took him dinner on a tray. We enjoyed dinner and some games with Jared & Jessie.

I forgot to mention that on Saturday there was a memorial open house for a lady in our ward who passed away at the beginning of June. She was probably the oldest member of our ward and well loved by everyone. Frank was helping with technology stuff for that. I went to the memorial as well. Seth debated for a while but decided to stay home...he had just finished his second on the road driving lesson and wanted to relax. 

Seth was leaving for FSY on Monday morning, and I was one of the drivers. A large group of 12 youth from our ward were all attending this week. After Frank tested positive for Covid, I suggested that Seth should ride with me and we would take extra luggage, but none of the other kids. But as it turned out...there was enough room for all of the kids and their luggage in the 2 other cars so the other adults told me I didn't need to drive. No one seemed to mind having Seth in the car with their kids; I did have him wear a mask and told him to wear a mask indoors all week. I was grateful I didn't have to drive since it was a 4 hour round trip and instead I was able to go home to take care of Frank. 

Here's a photo of all the kids ready to embark:

I got back home and felt tired so I decided to take a nap. When I woke up from my nap, I had a slight headache and sore throat. Meanwhile, I had told Seth to stay alert to any symptoms he might start feeling and by late afternoon he was texting me saying he wasn't feeling very well. By dinner time we made the decision to go pick him up because we didn't want him to get anyone else sick and I was also worried that I was going to feel worse by the next day and it would be harder for me to pick him up then. Frank didn't want me to go alone and he even insisted on driving, so even though he was feeling terrible and coughing up a lung, he drove the four hour round trip with me to pick up Seth. Seth didn't seem to be feeling too bad when we picked him up but during the night he vomited and couldn't keep much down on Tuesday so we were sure we had made the right decision to pick him up instead of waiting to see how he felt in the morning. I do feel really bummed that he missed FSY...I'm sure it would have been a great experience for him and unlike last time, he was there with a large group of kids he knows and was roommates with one of his good friends. Oh well!! So far, no one else has gotten sick and I hope that continues. I would feel really bad if we got others sick.

One nice thing about the long drive to FSY...the scenery was spectacular:

It was late and we were all beat by the time we got home and went straight to bed and thankfully we didn't have to get up at a particular time. Frank worked about a half day from home on Monday but he took Tuesday and Wednesday off. He was feeling well enough to go into work for a few hours on Thursday morning (wearing a mask) and then worked from home the rest of the day and today. Most of Frank's really bad symptoms have abated now...he's just really tired. That's a bit encouraging to me because I still feel pretty rotten. I'm going through boxes of tissues and have a wicked cough and feel dizzy and feverish and tired most of the time. Hopefully I will feel better like Frank does in another day or two. I do think I am improving slightly.

Seth has not seemed to be too miserable but he's definitely had his moments...he's taken a lot of naps and sometimes complained of being really cold. I'm sure he's had a fever at least some of the time too. He's been a little congested and had a bit of a cough but not nearly as much as me or Frank. 

Frank has been great the last couple of days making sure we have food to eat. Luckily, I made a grocery run Monday morning before meeting for the FSY carpool so we've had enough food in the house. Most of the other regular chores have not been done, but that's okay. I've done some reading, and spent time in the scriptures every day, and watched a few shows, but mostly I've been bored and restless and miserable. I did take advantage of the down time to do a bunch of Seminary training which was good. 

And that's it! 

Weekly Reviews June 14 & June 21 '24

 I didn't write a post last week because we were in Utah. Here's a summary of what we've been doing, as far as I can remember:

Friday, June 7th: My cousin McKay was in town and came to visit us that evening. We went out to dinner together. Unfortunately, McKay started feeling sick while we were at the restaurant and wasn't able to eat his food but we had a good visit with him, at least.

Saturday, June 8th: I had a hair appointment in the morning. The missionaries came over for dinner that evening. I can't remember what we did in between!

Sunday, June 9th: Our ward had a "Seminary" Sacrament meeting. Since I gave a talk not that long ago, I didn't have to speak again, but I was asked to share my testimony. My team teacher spoke and three of the youth spoke also. It was kind of nice to hear their talks because they all said they got something out of attending Seminary. It was really hard for us to tell if that was happening most of the time, so it was good to hear that even though they looked like they were asleep 90% of the time, they were actually listening to the lessons and got something out of the experience! 

That afternoon our choir director had set up a "hymn sing" for anyone in the ward who wanted to attend so that we could sing through the new hymns that were released recently. Most of the people who came are in the choir, but a few extra ward members came. It was fun and uplifting to sing through all these new hymns. The director asked a different person to share a favorite verse from each song and since she knew my cousin Lane wrote one of the songs, she asked me to share my thoughts about that song. I contacted Lane and asked him if he had anything he would like to share about the song and he sent me an email with an account of his experience writing the song, which was really cool. I was able to share his words with everyone, and they really enjoyed that.

Monday, June 10th & Tuesday, June 11th: We were busy preparing for our trip to Utah. I did a lot of reading and finished the book I was reading for book chat on Monday. (The Hail Mary Project) I thought Seth would like it so I suggested he bring it with him on our trip. He did bring it, and he finished reading it yesterday and he really liked it. (I liked it too.) Frank was able to work from home on Tuesday so we were able to leave for the airport as soon as he finished working. On Monday evening, Seth mowed the lawn and he and I did weeding in the front and back yards. While we were in the back yard, we saw a deer as well as a rainbow.

Our flight to Utah was long and uneventful. We stopped briefly in Denver, where we changed planes. Our flight landed at 11:00 pm Utah time which is 1:00 am here so we were pretty tired. It took a long time to get our luggage but were finally on our way to Mom's house. Scott was a trooper and picked us up. Mom was waiting up for us and had air mattresses all ready for us so we all went to bed pretty quickly. I woke up a lot earlier than I wanted to on Wednesday but we all adjusted to Utah time fairly quickly.

Wednesday, June 12th: We drove up to Salt Lake City to visit Tanner at work. Seth and Frank both needed new Sunday clothes so Tanner helped them figure out what to buy. Frank got two new white dress shirts, two nice slacks (one tan, one blue), 3 ties, and some socks. Seth got one white dress shirt, some gray slacks, 2 ties, and some socks. After we finished shopping, we took Tanner to lunch. Then Tanner went back to work and we walked over to the Conference Center to do a tour. We've done that before but it had been a long time so we wanted to do it again. We spent hours there and could have spent longer because it is such a beautiful building and there is so much beautiful artwork! We wanted to spend some time in the garden on the roof but it was so hot that day that we just walked through it. The sun was beating down on us and it was just too hot to stay up there very long, but it was beautiful.

The new Utah state flag can be seen through this window:

These are the sister missionaries who took us on our tour:

We're all reflected in this mirror if you look really close:

 

Lots of views from the roof:

Salt Lake temple renovations underway, and construction of visitor's center:

Lots of views of the roof:

So cool that there's a meadow and trees growing on the roof!:

A cool old house we saw from the roof:

A few more photos taken inside. We forgot to take any in the auditorium, for some reason...oops!

While we were on the tour, we texted a sister from our ward who is currently serving a mission in the Utah headquarters mission. She was working right across the street, so whe came over to meet us and visit with us for a little while. She was one of Seth's Seminary teachers when he was a sophomore:

This sister gave us a ride back to Mr. Mac's (Tanner's work) which was really great since it was so hot. (It was in the high 90s the first few days we were in Utah. By the time we left, it had cooled down to the 60s for the daytime high and 40s at night...so crazy!) We got some drinks and ice cream cones on our way back to our car because we were all so thirsty.

Thursday, June 13th: We decided to visit the Kennecott Copper Mine. Seth and I visited here when he was little, but he doesn't remember it very well and Frank had never been there before. Tanner had the day off work so he came with us and Hans had always wanted to visit the mine, so he came with us too. It is a huge open pit mine and very interesting. The first time I went there (years ago) there was a nice visitor's center but in the time that has elapsed since then there was a huge landslide in the mine which destroyed the visitor's center. Now they have shuttle buses that take visitors up to a viewing point to see the mine, and there are several interpretive signs. 

Views of the valley and some of the mine from the shuttle bus on our way up:

See those trucks that look tiny? They are actually huge. This is the inside of one of the truck beds, which had a large sign with lots of information. We all could stand in it and only take up a tiny corner:

And here is one of the wheels of the truck. The second photo has Seth in it, to give you an idea of the scale of the wheel:

Views of the mine from the overlook:

This is where the landslide occurred:

This is a scoop for one of the excavators, which also look tiny out in the mine, but really aren't:

Another large scoop:

Lexy came over that evening and we all watched the first Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. Seth had never seen it before and I hadn't seen it since sometime in the 80's. 

Thursday, June 14th: Frank and I went to BYU to the bookstore so that he could get a new t-shirt. We enjoyed walking through part of campus and seeing the new fine arts building that's under construction. We got some lunch at the Cougar Eat and then we met Scott and Lexy at the new Orem Temple to do some sealings. We got to seal Frank's grandparents (Leon Hadene Cleveland and Gladys Mae Thompson) to each other. We were also able to seal their daughter Mi Lene, who died the day she was born, to them and had Gladys sealed to her parents. It was really sweet and I couldn't help feeling that his granny, Gladys Thompson, must have been feeling very happy to be sealed to her parents, husband, and daughter. The temple was very beautiful too and it was so lovely to be there. I grew up in Orem so it is really sweet to me that there is a temple there now. Many of the stained glass windows depicted cherry blossoms because there used to be cherry orchards where the temple is now. I remember when we moved to Orem in the late 1970s that there were a lot of apple and cherry orchards.

After we finished at the temple, we went to the BYU creamery to get chocolate milk and mint brownies. On the way home, Frank and I drove past the Lindon Temple, which is under construction, and took a few photos:

When we got home, we all went out to dinner together (Seth, Frank, me, Scott, Lexy, and Hans). Mom was too tired to go but we got some food for her and took it home to her. After Tanner got home from work, I went on a walk with him and Scott.

Saturday, June 15th: We had planned to go on a hike in Provo Canyon that morning with Tim, Rachelle, Hans, McKay, and Sue Ann, but on Friday I noticed that my yeast infection symptoms...which had never really gone away completely...were getting worse again, so we went to an urgent care instead so I could get treatment. They did a swab and called me the next day to say that I had tested positive for a bacterial infection instead of a yeast infection. They called in an antibiotic that I was able to pick up later that day. Meanwhile, later that day I went to "lunch" (it was 3:00) with my friend Marci who used to live in Maryland but lives in Utah now. I hadn't seen her in years, so it was great to get caught up with her. While we were at the restaurant I also ran into one of my former neighbors from when we lived in Orem...her husband was one of our bishops. She recognized me first, and even figured out that I was Annette and not Amy which I thought was pretty impressive!

After I got back from "lunch", Scott made hamburgers for everyone. I wasn't very hungry, of course, but I ate a little bit. While I was gone Frank made a batch of brownies and I made another one after getting home...these were for dinner the next day. Later on, Scott, Seth, Frank and I went to get milkshakes at Chick-fil-a. 

Sunday, June 16th: It was Father's Day, so we gave Frank some cards. Seth got him a game. Tanner's gift was getting him a large discount on the clothes he got earlier in the week at Mr. Mac's. Jared's gift was cleaning his gun for him. (Back at home.)

Tanner in a new suit he got recently:

We all went to church and later we all went to Tim & Rachelle's house for dinner. We had salmon, chicken, green salad, potato salad, fruit, homemade ice cream and brownies. It was delicious and we had a great time visiting. Dads with kids / grandkids:

Monday, June 17th: This was our last full day in Utah. I went shopping for clothes...that took several hours! It was super windy when I came home and there were high wind gusts for several hours. Lexy came over and Scott made chicken, rice and vegetables for dinner. Then we all went to get ice cream cones at Macey's. With the wind blowing and temperatures in the high 50s, it actually felt kind of cold! After we got home, we all watched the movie Fall Guy together. 

Tuesday, June 18th: Tanner doesn't work on Tuesdays so he took us to the airport. We used Mom's car, though, because Tanner had left his car at the shop to be fixed that morning. (Leaking transmission fluid.) We had a long trip home because we had two stops. Our first stop was in Austin, where we changed planes. There was only 45 minutes between when we landed and our next flight took off so we were only in the airport for a few minutes. 

Our second stop was in Nashville...at least we didn't have to change planes that time. Our stop there was so short that we weren't even able to get off the plane. We landed in Baltimore around 10:40 pm so we didn't get home until after midnight and we went straight to bed without unpacking. The shuttle bus that took us from the airport to long term parking came within inches of getting in a wreck with a semi truck...so glad the accident was avoided!!

Wednesday, June 19th: Frank had the day off because it was Juneteenth. This was a very busy day. While we were in Utah, the guy we hired to repair and restain our deck and fix a shelf in our bedroom closet came and got that work done. He power washed the back of our house too. The deck looks great!

 

While he was working on the deck, he moved our grill and patio table into the kitchen to get them out of the way. Before we left, we moved most of the contents of our closet into the spare bedroom so that they wouldn't be in the way. That means when we got home, the house was in a bit of disarray. We didn't intend to keep the grill or the table because they are both old and rusted and we hadn't used them in probably a decade or more, so we arranged to borrow a pickup truck from Jared and we took those items, along with an old microwave, to the landfill for recycling. It has been really hot...in the high 90s with high humidity...since we got home, so it wasn't too fun doing all that loading and unloading, but we got it done. 

After that, I spent a lot of the rest of the day going through all the stuff we had pulled out of the closet and putting things back. I didn't make sense to put it all back without going through it since I have been intending to clean out our closet as part of my home cleaning & organizing project this summer. I also packed away all the sweaters / winter clothes for the summer. After I got all of that done, I was finally able to unpack. By the time I got everything done, it was late but I needed to get some groceries since we didn't have any food in the house so I did that before going to bed.

Thursday, June 20th: Frank was supposed to go back to work but he was up a lot in the night and his blood sugar was way off so he took the day off. I spent the day doing laundry and getting caught up on other household chores. I didn't do as much as I wanted to do because I wasn't feeling too great. I felt dizzy and slightly nauseated...I'm pretty sure these are side effects from the antibiotic that I'm taking. I'm just grateful those side effects didn't kick in until after we got home. I have felt slightly dizzy and nauseated today too, but not as much as I did yesterday. Another side effect is a metallic taste in the mouth...that's been really unpleasant. I'll be glad when I am done taking this antibiotic on Sunday. Unfortunately, the antibiotic doesn't seem to be working all that well and I am still having symptoms of the infection. I will have to go back to the doctor early next week if it doesn't clear up. Very frustrating!! Tomorrow it will be 3 weeks since all this started and I'm really tired of all the discomfort, although I'm glad it hasn't been worse and that I've been able to function most of the time and was able to enjoy our trip.

Last night my former ministering sister came to visit me. Her assignment has changed now but we enjoyed our visits so we decided we still need to get together sometimes. So nice of her!

Friday, June 21st: Today I spent a good part of the day updating all the finances. I had a lot to do since we were gone for two weeks. I also took Seth out to practice driving for a while and helped him apply for a job at Roy Roger's. They called him tonight and he has an interview set up for after we get back from Florida. 

One strange thing that happened on our trip: when we got to Utah that first night, Seth started itching and he had a couple of large, raised red bumps on his legs that kind of looked like hives. Hans gave him some hydrocortisone cream, which helped with the itching and they mostly went away after a few days. The next morning, I noticed that I had several smaller flat bumps on both of my legs. They didn't itch, though. They have been fading since then, but the night we got home from Utah when I went to bed there was a spot on my lower right leg that was itching a lot so I got up to see why and discovered a large dark red spot. I put cream on it which helped, but it is still there. I can still see some of the original spots although they have faded...they have also "spread out" and become larger as they have faded, with a white spot in the middle of each one. So strange! I wish I knew what it was. Hopefully they will all go away completely soon.

One of the fading spots:

The itchy spot:

Sorry to end on that strange note, but that is all I have to report.