Our Story: The Bell Family

Mark spent most of the week working on his proposal for his dissertation. It’s not quite done, but he has six pages so far (plus two pages full of references). He was also able to present his own research to his class, and he has been invited to present it in a meeting with The Technical Advisory Group for Great Salt Lake.

I’ve started jogging three times a week with a friend. I haven’t jogged regularly for a year or more but made it two miles this week. I’m embarrassingly slow, but I’d really like to jog a 5k this summer. It’s a goal I’ve had for a long time but I’ve never made it.

Mark and I made a goal to have more dates this year that don’t involve movies and ice cream. We’re often so tired by the evening that our go-to activity is to watch a movie. (We just restarted Monk and are watching every episode in order. It’s definitely one of our favorites). So this week we each picked a paint by number. We turned on some music from our high school days and chatted while painting. I’m sure glad we picked paint by number “for kids” because we didn’t get them done in one date night. It was really fun though and we’re looking forward to thinking of new adventures to have together.

We’ve been trying to stay warm while walking to campus and are excited that spring is just around the bend.

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.

Mark has been very busy preparing research questions for his dissertation. They’re coming along slowly but surely. He’s excited to have a direction of study set.

I was able to help a friend, Esther, apply to VIPKID. We Skyped and she practiced teaching me before her interview. I’m excited for her and hope she will love it as much as me.

My friends in China have especially been on my mind lately because of the Coronavirus outbreak there. Gratefully, my students are all healthy, but some of them are very sad their holiday travel plans had to be cancelled. One of my students’ dad traveled to the Province where it is worst. He has to remain in a separate room in their house until they are sure he isn’t sick. The whole experience has reminded me and Mark of the importance of having an up to date food storage and 72 hour kits. We’re grateful for that counsel from prophets.

Our fun highlight of the week was beginning to celebrate Mark’s birthday! On Saturday we drove to the aquarium in Draper. We stopped at Red Robbin on the way!

We met Mark’s brother, Chris, and his two year old daughter at the aquarium. Unfortunately their baby was sick so his wife and the baby were home. They are going to be moving to California for PA school soon so we were grateful for the time to be with them before they move. I love having Mark share what he knows from his classes when we’re at Aquariums or zoos.

I was home sick on Sunday, but Mark took good care of me and a friend from church was sweet enough to bring me some homemade soup!

The past two years, I had very few VIPKID lessons during the Chinese New Year season. This year has been the complete opposite which I’m grateful for! I was able to teach two lessons more than I typically do. It will be interesting to see if the upcoming week stays booked for me because the holiday is on the 25th.

Mark has been reading research papers about incubation behaviors. He submitted an abstract about his summer research to the Utah Chapter of Wildlife Society. If selected, he will give an oral presentation on his research in Moab this spring.

We got more snow this week, but luckily the weather cleared up on Thursday for Mark’s flight.

We’re enjoying our three day weekend by relaxing and spending time together!

Our first Sunday of 2020 went well, although our brand new sunbeams were quieter than most of the children in Senior primary. I hope this will improve in the coming weeks. My presidency and I rearranged most of the teachers. We’re really excited to see the children learn and grow with their new teachers. Mark was able to move up with the three boys he teaches in the Valiant 10 class. We are still looking for another brother to teach with him so he well get help from subs for the next little bit.

Mark began his third semester of grad school on Monday. After changing his schedule around he officially has two classes (Stats and Great Salt Lake Ecosystems), two weekly seminars, and he is a Teacher’s Assistant for a class on Wildlife Behavior taught by Dr. Conover.

My week at WebAIM was very busy–which I loved. I enjoy having lots to do while there. Friday I sent certificates for three classes, enrolled a list of new participants, and responded to emails asking about the course.

Friday night we fed the Elders that serve in our ward. It was fun to talk about our missions and remember the feelings of being a missionary.

Mark was back to research this week. I was lucky enough to work from home until Friday.

We had a simple New Year’s Eve celebration. We took our air fryer to my brother’s house and visited with them for a while. Then we came home and spent the last few hours of 2019 watching Psych.

I didn’t teach English on New Year’s Day so we enjoyed sleeping in. We also enjoyed a yummy lunch with Mark’s sister and her family.

I went to the church several times throughout the week to decorate the bulletin boards in the primary room with help from my Presidency and Mark. I’m especially excited to have the pictures of the prophet and apostles up for the children to see.

We are also enjoying the new TV we got with one of the gift cards from our flight change with Delta!

Sunday morning we went to my parents’ ward where I played flute as the choir sang “Still, Still, Still.” It was fun to see old friends! Then we headed straight to our own ward where I sang in the choir, lead the primary children in their song, and played flute for “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.” The Christmas program was wonderful and went too quickly!

Monday morning I walked over to work only to find the building locked. I don’t have a key because I’m only part time and my supervisor was out for the holiday. I ended up working from home which worked out ok. I just had to download the free trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro to use. I’ll be working from home until January 3 when my building opens up again. I’m excited to be home more and to avoid walking through the cold every day!

After my work we headed up to Blackfoot to be with Mark’s family. Mark stayed busy helping take things to the junk yard, cleaning the shop, and cutting branches off a big willow tree. On Tuesday we enjoyed having a Christmas Eve lunch with everyone and opening presents. After lunch we headed home for Christmas Eve Dinner with my parents. Gratefully the snow held off and didn’t start until that evening.

Christmas Day went too fast, but was so wonderful! I taught a few English classes before we opened presents. Some of Mark’s favorite gifts were the air fryer and snowshoes. I am really enjoying my Garmin smartwatch and I’m excited to try the sewing machine from my parents. Flynn got a new toy and lots of treats too!

After gifts we tried out the air fryer to make French toast for breakfast. We were also able to join a video call with Mark’s little brother who is serving a mission in Sierra Leone. It was great to hear his testimony. We enjoyed visiting my parents, brother, and some friends throughout the afternoon. We ended the evening by making air fried pickles and watching movies on Disney+. It was a nice and relaxing day!

The day after Christmas Mark was back to work. He is not in classes but is still going strong with his research. I found homes for our new presents and enjoyed some more time to rest.

Friday Mark worked and I took down our Christmas decorations before going to visit my sister from Idaho Falls and my sister from Southern Utah who drove to see my parents. Flynn was happy to have lots of “cousins” to play with. We did our annual story exchange where each person writes a paper of their memories. This year our topic was tv shows and movies we remembered. Mark and I couldn’t stay too late though because I had two VIPKID lessons to teach. I’m still teaching Friday nights to make up for my lost hour in the mornings.

Saturday we were able to visit family again and Mark and I inherited a loveseat from my parents! We gave our old one to some friends from our ward. We’re excited our new one reclines. I spent a few hours preparing to assign primary teachers to their new classes. There’s always something in primary to keep me busy! We also managed to make time to try out Mark’s new snowshoes in Green Canyon. My mom got some for Christmas that I borrowed. It was my first time and we enjoyed it! I’ll have to dress warmer so we can stay out longer next time.

We got up bright and early Monday morning to drop Flynn off at my parents’ and drive to the airport. Gratefully the roads weren’t bad and we made it there early. It was announced that our scheduled plane needed to be repaired and they would be taking a smaller plane. They needed thirty people to change to a later flight. They offered $500 to every person who changed and we decided to take the offer. I’m glad we did because after switching our tickets around I realized my iPad had been left in the security area! The TSA Officer was very friendly and helped us get it from lost and found.

Our new flight required a layover in LA. I’m glad Mark is good at navigating airports because I had no idea where to go there! Finally, we made it to Phoenix where my mission trainer and best friend, Ashley, picked us up! We had so much fun visiting her, her husband Andrew, their daughter Kendall, and tiny dog Coco.

We spent Monday shopping at Target, eating Disneyland soup, and looking at Christmas lights at a train park.

Tuesday we made it to ASU campus to take pictures and explore. The campus is HUGE! It made me grateful I did my degree online!! It was beautiful though, and the weather was about 60 degrees and sunny. That afternoon we explored an old mining town then went to dinner at a “Saloon” Western restaurant. We ended the night with hot chocolate and pie at Ashley’s mom’s house, and then watched the new animated Grinch movie with Ashley and Andrew.

Wednesday we said our goodbyes and packed up. It was a short trip and we were sad to say goodbye so soon. We were very excited to return to our puppy though!

Thursday we were back in our regular routine. I went to work and caught up on cleaning and Mark continued his research. That evening my piano students had a recital. They did a great job!

Friday after work I practiced the musical number for my parents’ ward with the pianist, taught piano, and taught VIPKID. On Saturday Mark was able to go shooting with his friend. Then we watched A Christmas Story with my parents. I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas! I feel like Mark is getting perfect presents this year and I can’t wait for him to open them!

On Sunday morning I played Silent Night on my flute at an assisted living center in North Logan. We enjoy attending their sacrament meetings and helping with the music. We then went straight to our ward for primary. Mark attended teacher council and I held down the fort in primary while my presidency members were teaching the council, out of town, or home sick. We have so many fantastic ward members that it really wasn’t bad at all. (Though I will happy to have a full presidency next week!)

Tuesday afternoon we helped an older sister in our ward go to a doctor’s appointment. I was grateful Mark was available to help her in and out of our car. We were able to get our grocery shopping done while she was in her appointment which was fun to do together.

Wednesday we were treated to dinner at Olive Garden by Mark’s Professor, Mike Conover. Dr. Conover’s wife, the assistant director of the Brigham City Bird Refuge, and his wife came as well. We had a lot of fun getting to know everyone a little better. Denise Conover said she was sure grateful Mark has been going hunting in the cold with Mike because she didn’t want to go out in the snow to drag the boat out of the river. They hope we can stay in Logan, and we sure do too!

Mark had another flight over the Great Salt Lake. He got to wear a fancy flight suit because it was so cold. Flynn got some stylish clothes this week too!

Sunday night as we were falling asleep there was a banging on our door! Mark went to see who it was and it was USU police. Someone had broken into the mailbox and slit open our package! Luckily they didn’t take anything, but it sure got our adrenaline going. We received a lot of packages this week from our Black Friday shopping so we made sure to check the mail every day!

Our excitement of the week was buying a car. We were sad to trade in Mark’s Buick, Harold. He’s the car we drove when we were dating so there’s a lot of good memories with him!

We are excited about our new car. It is a 2011 Ford Escape. We have been saving all year so we could buy a car with cash. We want to remain debt free and we don’t want to pay the interest that comes with loans. We’re grateful we were able to reach this goal, and that some money from my grandparents trust fund helped us get a little bit nicer car than we would have with just the money we saved.

We found our new car online through a discount with Sam’s Club. On Wednesday we drove to Salt Lake to test drive the car (or really for Mark to test drive the car because I don’t drive in big cities!).

We decided to name our car Peregrine (Perry for short). My brother, Jarin, is always telling us we should name a son Peregrine after one of our ancestors on the Mayflower. Though I really question whether or not Jarin would have used the name himself if he had any sons! I don’t see us using this name for a child, but because Peregrine means “wanderer” we thought it was fitting for our Escape.

In addition to the drive to salt lake on Wednesday, on Tuesday Mark drove to Farmington with his professor for a meeting relating to the Great Salt Lake. He came home for a couple hours and then he and his professor went to a meeting in Brigham City about the bird refuge there.

Mark also finished up his classes this week. I was busy with work, primary, and preparing for three church musical numbers. By the end of the week we were just too tired to do much of anything. Luckily we had bought tickets to see A Christmas Carol on Saturday. We went with my parents, and it was amazing!! There are so many talented people in Cache Valley. Mark and I were also able to visit Mark’s little sister, Julie and her new baby, and Mark’s parents after the play.

We ended the week by sleeping under our Christmas tree. We try to do this every year, and always have a lot of fun! This year we made Blonde brownies and watched Disney movies until we fell asleep.