Sunday was a fun, busy day! I had ward council at 7:30, so Mark drove himself to church and met me there around 8:30. We set up the chairs in the primary room before sacrament meeting. After church we were making soup for lunch and took some to our friends who were sick. Then I got to decorate Mark’s birthday cake. The cakes fell apart a little getting them out of the pans but after freezing them I was able to frost and decorate them.
We shared the cake with my parents and my brother’s family. I love making a big deal out of Mark’s birthday because he deserves it! He works so hard and is incredibly patient and supportive to me.
After cake with my family we had been invited to eat dinner with the Phillips family in our ward. We admire this family so much. They are incredibly welcoming and are always helping others. Mark taught their daughter in his primary class and now is teaching one of their sons.
This week Mark’s professor approved his dissertation questions! He’ll be focusing on duck nest site selection and incubation behaviors. He hopes to learn how the ducks’ behaviors help reduce predators coming into the nests.
I’ve been teaching more evening VIPKID classes. Schools in China are not open because of the virus so children are more available for English lessons.
Thursday was Mark’s birthday!! In the morning I made him breakfast and gave him a present to open. It was a Garmin smartwatch. I researched watches for myself last fall and when they were on sale for Black Friday I secretly got one for Mark too. My sister helped by ordering it through her amazon account. I’ve been so excited saving it for him!
After Mark left for work I gave Flynn a haircut. Mark has been mentioning how he likes Flynn’s short fur for a while now, and Flynn and I were tired of knots in our daily grooming sessions. It’s definitely not perfect, but we’re having a hard time finding a groomer we love, so I’m happy with the results.
Dr. Conover happened to decide Thursday was a good day to take Mark, his classmate (his class only has two students), and the deputy director from the bird refuge out to lunch. They went to the Sky Room on campus and Mark had a great time!
When Mark got home from classes I made him a delicious dinner! We had steak, salad, roasted sweet potatoes, beets, and rolls.
I accidentally opened one VIPKID lesson that evening so after dinner I taught one class. Then we continued celebrating! Mark enjoyed his presents including socks and shotgun shells from my parents, and leatherwork tools from his brother, Carl. I gave him a season of Gomer Pyle, a camping light set, a bivy (water proof sleeping bag cover), the game Codenames Duos, and some treats. Because we had cake earlier I picked up some cupcakes from a local cupcake shop. We got them for free using birthday coupons from our realtor friends! It was a fun day and I enjoyed spoiling Mark a little more than usual.
Saturday morning we took a nice walk to campus. It’s peaceful on Saturdays and the views of the mountains are beautiful. Mark and I also love passing the places we used to sit and talk when we were first getting to know each other. It’s been a relatively mild winter and the grass is starting to show. I’m sure it will snow again, but luckily spring is around the corner. We’ve missed our regular, long walks.
Our Story: The Bell Family 