Our Story: The Bell Family

Mark gave a new draft of the paper he’s been writing to his professor. He was busy looking for nests this week too. They just got permission to go to a private duck club they’ve never been to before. He said it’s really nice! Mark created a nice map of the club so they would know where to look for ducks.

I started working for the EnglishConnect3 program this week. That’s the church’s English learning program. I went through a training course for three days then got to start diving into grading. There are 2500 learners this semester and just over 60 graders. It was really fun viewing submissions this week. Some submissions are written and some are audio recordings. The hardest part is that I’m not supposed to just tell the learners exactly how to fix their mistakes. I’m supposed to give them resources to study to help them learn to fix their mistakes themselves. The program really focuses on Agentive learning (does that not sound like a term Elder Bednar coined? I don’t know if he is involved in the program, but it sure sounds like him). It takes some time for me to label what is wrong in the submissions and then find a good resource to send, but I think I’ll get faster with practice.

The Logan temple is going to be opening for proxy endowments and sealings now! You have to make an appointment online and the endowment sessions are already booked up for several weeks!

Friday evening Mark went to our ward father and son camp out. He had a great time!

Saturday was a busy, fun day for us. We left early and drove to Blackfoot. Mark’s mom had invited all the women in the family to go to her ward’s Relief Society activity. They were watching the movie Witnesses in a local theater. It was a great movie and we had a lot of fun. Mark kept an eye on Flynn and visited with his brothers while I was at the movie.

Then we went to a park to meet my mission trainer, Ashley. She was visiting Utah and Idaho with her family to celebrate her brother’s graduation from BYUI. The original plan was for us to go to Rexburg to see her, but they ended up stopping in Blackfoot for lunch so it was perfect! We had a little picnic together and chatted. I got to meet her sweet baby boy for the first time. It just wasn’t long enough, but we’ll take what we can get!!

We met up with my sister Tiffany for a quick exchange then started heading home. On the way home, a car was passing us and the people inside were waving. It turned out to be some of our friends! What a small world! Through texting we planned to stop at Red Rock Pass so our dogs could say hello to each other.

We finished up the day at home with a treat and the final Avenger’s movie! I don’t know if I should be impressed or ashamed at how we watched them all in a month! It was a lot of fun though!!!

We got a more pictures back from our photoshoot! I’m so grateful for a talented and generous cousin who took the time to give us beautiful photos.

On Monday morning we met our friends, Kenya and Shawn, for breakfast at Denny’s. We talk often on Marco Polo, but I haven’t seen Kenya in person for almost two years because of the pandemic! We had so much fun chatting and catching up.

Mark spent a lot of the holiday working on his chapter, but we also made some time to watch another Marvel movie.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Mark was out at the bird refuge dragging chains to look for nests. They still haven’t found many, but it is early still.

It’s been unusually hot this week and Utah is experiencing a drought. The whole state has been asked to pray and fast for rain this weekend. Our garden is having a hard time in the heat and I’ve been trying to think of diners that don’t involve turning on the oven since we don’t have a built-in air conditioner. I’ve been using the crock pot a lot since it doesn’t put off much heat. We decided it was worth the heat to try a new cookie recipe Friday night though. I made oatmeal cookies that used coconut oil instead of butter. I added craisins, white chocolate, and semi sweet chocolate. The recipe was definitely a win and I want to make them again!

A couple weeks ago I learned that the Church of Jesus Christ has an online English learning program for adults around the world. EnglishConnect3 is an online program and they contract online BYUI instructors to do the grading. I’ve loved working for VIPKID the past four years and I have hoped to pick up a couple more credits with BYUI so I decided to apply. I was enrolled in an evaluation course to see if I was a good fit for the program. I didn’t feel like I did very well in the evaluation course, but I guess I did well enough because this Friday they offered me the position! I start training next Monday! I won’t have specific students for English Connect like I do in the parent education course. There are about 2,500 adults in the English Connect program and every submission goes into one large pool. I just have to spend a certain amount of time each week grading available submissions. I’m a little worried about adding more hours to my schedule, but I think it will be good to try.

Saturday morning, we decided to hike the Highline Trail. They’ve extended it since we hiked it last. We didn’t go quite to the end but we did go farther than we could go before they extended it. It was really pretty and we had a lot of fun!

After our hike, we went to Lowe’s. Lowe’s is a pet friendly store so we love excuses to take Flynn there and he loves going and all the attention he gets! Mark was looking for a fuel filter to fix Dr. Conover’s boat motor. They’ve gone fishing a few more times recently and the motor always dies on the way back to shore. They went fishing Saturday night and it worked a little better but it still didn’t quite make it. Mark brought home two fish though!

Mark started dragging chains through the refuge looking for duck nests this week. They checked thirty miles and only found four nests. It’s still early in the season so there will be more nests in the coming weeks.

We’ve been saving money to get me an Apple Watch and Best Buy had a great deal for their Memorial Day sale. New technology is amazing to me and I’m having so much fun learning to use it.

We wanted to start off the Memorial Day weekend with some fun activities. Friday we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant, El Toro Veijo. It was our first in-restaurant date in over a year! We both got the fajita salad which was delicious! The painting on the table was so colorful and pretty!

Saturday morning we walked on the Logan River Trail. We saw the cutest ducklings and a couple of fish. It’s such a pretty, peaceful place!

We’ve also been watching all the Marvel movies in timeline order. I haven’t seen very many of them so a lot are new to me. It’s been fun relaxing at night and watching them together.

On Sunday masks and distancing were no longer required by our stake. It was really weird to be “back to normal” so suddenly but fun to see everyone’s faces again!

On Monday the Garden plots were divided and marked! It was supposed to happen a month ago so we’ve been anxiously waiting to get started. We worked on it throughout the week and just have a couple more things to plant.

Mark has been doing a lot of writing! He gave his professor a draft of one paper and started working on statistics for a new paper.

I tried a new bread recipe this week. I’ve been looking for an easy, whole wheat bread recipe with no sugar and I think this one is a keeper! It even baked all the way through (which is really saying something for our half-sized oven).

On Friday afternoon, we took a drive to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. We love going there and Mark has gotten so good at identifying the water fowl. I love seeing him so excited to point out each species we see. In addition to birds we saw a stoat, a muskrat, a deer, and huge carp.

Saturday evening we met my second cousin, Ashleigh and her family, for a photoshoot. I have a goal to get family pictures every year! We went to Wayne’s Loop in Mendon and it was so pretty! I think we got some cute pictures and Flynn had a lot of fun with Ashleigh’s boys!

Mark had a week of field trips for one of his classes. Monday they went to a private duck club and the Bear River Bird Refuge. Tuesday, they went to Ogden Bay to learn about water control and vegetation management. Wednesday they went to Trenton to learn about wetland determining factors. Thursday, they went to the Logan River to learn about wetlands restoration. He had a lot of fun and got pretty sunburned!

On Tuesday, Mark got to go to a bachelor party at Buffalo Wild Wings for his friend Jordan. We both attended his wedding reception on Thursday. We haven’t been to a regular, in person reception for at least a year so it was really fun! Then on Friday Mark went fishing with Dr. Conover. They caught some nice bass!

I was busy with work this was the week. I met with all my BYUI students on Zoom. I’m also keeping busy with primary. I just got a new second counselor named Gina. We met this week to talk about her new responsibilities and her sweet kids had a lot of fun playing with Flynn. I’m excited to get to know her better and am so grateful for a wonderful presidency! We have so much fun together and I love that I don’t have to worry about important things getting done because I can trust each of them.

I did learn a new skill this week- making yogurt. I cooked it in the instant pot. I bought ultra filtered milk so I didn’t have to boil it before cooking which made it really easy! It’s so yummy and I love knowing it’s less expensive than healthy store-bought yogurt. I’m not used to yogurt without sugar yet so I usually add a little honey on top when I eat it which is delicious! I think I need to try some smoothies next.

Saturday was Black and White days in Richmond. This is the Bell family’s annual reunion. We got there a few hours before the parade to set up the camp chef and to get ready to cook. Mark cooked Dutch oven chicken and it was my first time cooking Dutch oven potatoes (though Mark told me how to do it step by step so he should really get the credit). We had a lot of fun visiting with family and the weather was perfect!

May 2 was our first Sunday back at the two hour block. I was nervous about primary because the children are out of practice at attending and ALL of our primary teachers were called in the past year and hadn’t actually taught their classes. However, everything went very well! We have the best primary teachers and the children were on their best behavior. We had singing time and class time just like before, but with COVID safety precautions. The children and teachers all wore masks, we spread out the chairs as much as possible, we used hand sanitizer, and we wiped down chairs and door knobs often. The nursery children won’t wear masks but the nursery workers are careful to sanitize toys. It was really fun to be back and I can’t believe how quickly the time went!

Mark finished his final exams this week. He did a final presentation for his map making class as well. He also spent an afternoon this week working for my parents pulling the tile off their basement shower so they can renovate.

I finally got my hair cut this week! I haven’t gotten it cut for a year and a half because I was waiting to be vaccinated. It was so nice to get a good trim! I also read the seventh Harry Potter book this week. I loved it so much and am very sad there’s not more!!!!

Tuesday was Star Wars day so Flynn wore his “Come to the Fluffy Side” shirt and we watched Solo. Wednesday we ate tacos for Cinco de Mayo. I love reasons to celebrate!

On Friday Mark’s little sister, Julie, had her graduation ceremony at USU. We met her and her family at Aggie Ice Cream. It was good to catch up and fun to celebrate with her!

Saturday was Flynn’s third birthday! I can’t believe he’s that old! He brings us so much happiness and we love him! We headed to Mendon that morning to hike Wayne’s Loop. We had never been there before but had heard good things about it. It was absolutely beautiful and easy (the only kind of hikes I do)! After that we came home to watch the seventh Harry Potter movie. We gave Flynn a couple new toys for his birthday. He loved ripping them open and playing with them. We also went to IFA with Flynn to pick out some flowers for our garden. We ended the night with brownies and the final Harry Potter movie. It was a good day with the perfect amount of fun activities and relaxing.

Monday night for family home evening we attended a live, virtual tour of Nauvoo. The missionaries showed us replicated homes of the early saints. It was fun to see the homes and to hear the stories.

Mark went spotlighting again one night. He also changed out his bridge cameras so he can look for predators crossing the bridges. He finished his classes this week and helped write and give the final exam for the class he TA’s for. Mark will take his final exam next week.

On Saturday, Mark helped some of our friends move out of Aggie Village. They got to throw the old couch off the balcony and had a lot of fun with that! Then in the afternoon he and our friend, Matthew, hiked up the mountain to the reflectors. They did the same hike last year and it was so much easier for Mark this time after losing weight. It’s a really steep, difficult hike.

This week was my mom’s birthday and I volunteered to make her birthday cake. It wasn’t perfect, but I was happy with how it turned out and she loved it. It was a lemon cake with lemon curd filling and mascarpone frosting. I made candied lemons for the decorations. I’ve never had mascarpone frosting before and it’s a new favorite for me!

On Friday, the WebAIM team had lunch at Herm’s. It was my first time eating in a restaurant since before the pandemic! The timing was perfect since Thursday marked two weeks from our second vaccine (meaning we should be quite immune to COVID now). It was fun to visit with people I haven’t seen in person for a year and the food there is always delicious. I’ll continue working from home for now. It looks like in a few months I’ll work in the office about once a week, but for the most part I can work from home as long as I have this job! I’m very excited about that!

I read Harry Potter number six this week and we watched the movie on Saturday. I’m sad I’m almost all the way through the series! It’s been so fun to read every afternoon after work.

Mark presented for the National Wildlife Damage Management conference. He recorded his presentation last week but it was shown on the conference website this Wednesday. Afterwards he participated in a panel discussion and he received five questions about his presentation. He was able to answer them all! Mark is also starting his summer research. He’s been setting out bait and trail cameras. He also went out late one night with a spot light to look for predators.

Mark got to go fly fishing with a friend from the class he TA’s for. They went to first dam and Mark had his first experience catching a fish with a fly rod! He and his friend each caught one.

BYU-I started classes on Monday. Things are going well and I’m getting to know my students. I have a student in Tonga and a student in Latvia! It’s amazing how BYU-I online is making a college education possible for people all over the world!

I’ve been reading a lot lately. Last Saturday I finished the fourth Harry Potter book and then we watched the fourth movie that night. It was really fun so I read a bunch and finished book five this week so we could watch the fifth movie together Saturday. We’ll see if I can read number six by next weekend!

Saturday morning we went to baby farm animal days at the American West Heritage Center. We love this event and missed going last year because of the pandemic. We held baby turtles, saw lots of cute farm animals, and even saw a peacock attracting peahens with his feathers and dance.

The biggest news of the week is that we got our second COVID vaccine! We’re so grateful for modem science and medicine. We went to the fire station again for the vaccine. We were a little nervous for this one because we know a lot of people who felt sick after the second dose. However Mark and I didn’t have any bad symptoms! Mark woke up in the night with a slight headache but he took some medicine and felt totally fine by morning. My arm was tingly right after the vaccine for a bit. I woke up the next morning with a little pressure in my head but not enough to stop me from morning exercises or work. It went away on its own after a couple hours. We’re very grateful we only had mild side effects.

On our way home from the vaccination clinic we stopped at Jamba Juice to celebrate.

This week Mark also recorded a presentation for the Wildlife Damage Management Conference. He talked about trying to help duck nests be successful against new predators like raccoons. On Friday morning, Mark drove to the airport to do a flight over Great Salt Lake, but it was too snowy and windy so they canceled after he sat there for a couple hours.

On Monday, BYU-Idaho emailed me to say they have a second section of the course for me to teach! I’m so excited! There are now four instructors for the course so I’m not sure if I’ll get to teach two sections every semester, but I’m grateful for every extra section I get!

Flynn has been struggling with allergies for some time now and our local vet suggested we go to a vet in salt lake who specializes in allergies. We drove down after work on Monday. The appointment went well. We weren’t allowed to go inside with Flynn because of COVID, but the vet called to talk to us and said he was so cute and well behaved. For the next two months Flynn is only allowed to eat hypoallergenic food. If his itching goes away we’ll know he is allergic to something we’ve been feeding him. If it doesn’t go away, we’ll start looking into environmental allergies. Dogs are usually allergic to common meats like chicken and fish, so his hypoallergenic food is made from kangaroo. Kind of crazy! We hope it helps!

We had some big wind storms with a little snow this week. One day, Mark walked through the cemetery to campus. An hour later my supervisor posted a picture of trees down right where Mark had been walking!! We might need to avoid the cemetery during wind storms in the future.

To celebrate Easter, we read scriptures inside plastic eggs about the events in America when Christ died. We also watched General Conference! The morning session emphasized that this is an international church by using a speaker from every continent. In the afternoon session, President Nelson announced TWENTY new temples. That’s the most temples ever announced at once. We were so excited to hear “Smithfield, Utah” towards the end of the list. Growing up I always thought it would be fun to see a temple built here, but as I got older I realized that probably wouldn’t happen so I was pleasantly surprised! Mark said he had a feeling it was coming. We can’t wait to see where it will be built. It would be amazing if they built it on “Sky View Hill” where it would be seen from almost anywhere. I keep thinking of the pioneers who worked so hard to build the Logan temple. They probably never imagined that one day this valley would have two temples. What a blessing!

I had a busy work week. My BYUI students finished their semester and I got final grades submitted. It’s always hard to say goodbye to students, but I’m excited to meet my new students in a week. On Wednesday and Thursday, WebAIM hosted a virtual training and I attended to help take role. We had almost 500 people register for the training which was really exciting!

Mark didn’t have classes on Friday so he went to Blackfoot for the day to help his family with a few projects. Mark has been donating plasma here and there and has been having a lot of fun buying camping supplies with the money he earns. He says we HAVE to go camping now to try it out…. we’ll see if he convinces me to go.

Saturday we walked to the south side of campus. I’m doing another walking challenge for WebAIM and need at least 10,000 steps every day. It was a beautiful view of the Wellsville mountains and the temple. Mark also showed me the pistachio trees. Supposedly these trees were planted by some students from Iran. There was some fun chalk drawings in the tunnels under the highway too.