Sunday morning, Mark woke up feeling pretty sick. We decided to stay home and watch church on Zoom to make sure we didn’t spread whatever he had. I was a little sad not to be there when I was released, but it wasn’t a big deal. We decided Mark should get a Covid test because my family planned to gather this week and we didn’t want to risk giving them Covid. So Monday morning, Mark went to Lee’s for a Covid test. We stayed home this week except for the occasional times when mark went to his office to work (no one else is in his office during holidays). My parents were super nice and brought us left over Christmas food to enjoy while isolating! By Thursday, we STILL didn’t have Mark’s test results but we were beginning to suspect it was covid because the photographer we were with last week tested positive and several of Mark’s family members were sick too. I was getting stressed because I needed to know if I could commit to substituting in primary on Sunday, so I asked around and found out about a rapid testing site! Mark and I both went and had results in 15 minutes! Both tests were negative! Yay! We know the long term tests can be more accurate than the rapid ones so we were extra relieved when his slower test came in later that night with a negative result too.
There was enough snow that my sisters didn’t come visit as planned. So it was ok that we were isolating all week-we didn’t miss any gatherings. My family did get on Zoom one evening to share the annual memory stories we write. This year we all wrote about our memories playing games.
I worked for webaim on Wednesday and Thursday. I also got my BYUI class all set up. Mark worked on his dissertation chapter and maps. He also started writing a CV for job applications. The majority of our time was spent relaxing though, which was so nice and very needed. We watched Home Improvement, read books, and we played our new game, Wingspan, every day!
I especially spent a lot of time reading this week! It made me so happy to spend hours reading during Christmas break like I did as a teenager. I read four books this week which wrapped up my reading goal for the year nicely! I made a goal to read 21 books in 2021, and ended the year with 55 books!
My dad dropped by with a surprise gift this week-a really warm camping blanket! He had given one to my mom for Christmas and I loved it so he brought one to me! It was perfect for a snuggly week inside when it was really really cold (like 1 degree) outside!
For New Year’s Eve, Mark made us borscht for dinner. We looked at all our pictures from 2021 while eating. It was fun to see all the happy moments we had this year. Then we went to my parents’ house to play a few games with them. Before too late, we came home. We baked brownies, played a couples’ new Year game, drank sparkling cider, and watched Home Improvement in our matching pajamas until midnight!
2022 is going to bring a lot of changes which makes us excited (and makes me nervous)! We plan for Mark to graduate and don’t know where he will find a job! We have faith everything will work out though, and we look forward to seeing where we are and what we’re doing one year from now!
Our Story: The Bell Family 