This week went by fast! Sunday night Governor Herbert created new mandates for Utah to help us slow the spread of COVID-19. Hospitals are getting overwhelmed and the number of cases are rising quickly. It’s very scary and we’re doing our best to stay safe. Utahns are now required to wear masks when we leave our house (which I’m finding I quite enjoy on our walks- masks keep my nose warm!). For the next two weeks we cannot gather with anyone who does not live in our household. We’ve been FaceTiming my parents rather than going to their house. Most of the virus cases are coming from private gatherings where people do not wear masks. Also, because people ages 20-35 are most likely to have the virus without symptoms, all university students will be tested for the virus weekly.
Mark signed up for his first weekly COVID test this week. He signed up for a time online and went into the student center. He said it was a quick process and President Cockett was even their directing people. The test they are providing (free of charge) is a self done nasal swab and Mark said it wasn’t uncomfortable. He received his results (negative) about seven hours later. USU was one of the only universities to already have a testing center set up, and they turned their vet diagnostics lab into an analysis center for the virus tests. We’re really proud to be part of a university who is so on top of this.
I think the most fun part of the week was celebrating our fourth anniversary! We can’t believe how fast time goes and we’re so grateful for the ways we’ve grown as individuals and a family.
We exchanged gifts in the morning. I gave Mark a new watch band for his Garmin watch and a year’s subscription to the Liahona. I actually ordered two watch bands for him, but a couple weeks ago he showed me a watch bands he wanted to get and it was the exact one I had ordered! I gave that band to him then to make sure he wouldn’t go out and buy himself a duplicate. Mark gave me some pretty hair clips, a box of chocolates, and my favorite flowers (roses and alstroemerias).
We worked in the morning, but took off a few hours in the afternoon to eat lunch together. We also drove up Logan Canyon to Temple Fork. We walked around there for just a few minutes. The snow was really pretty and Flynn had a ton of fun playing in it.
Mark had a lecture to watch online at 4 and I was meeting with a BYUI student over Zoom. After my meeting I went and picked up some food from Texas Roadhouse. We ate there on our honeymoon so we often go there to celebrate our anniversary. It was delicious! I made a pumpkin chocolate chip cheesecake for dessert. We ate dessert while watching Elf (part of our Christmas movie bracket). It was a good day and really nice to have extra time together.
Our Story: The Bell Family 