Our Story: The Bell Family

After ward council and at-home church, we went to Blackfoot for the afternoon. We were able to ride up with my sister who was going to visit her in-laws. It was perfect because we were able to say goodbye to Mark’s brother and his family just before they moved to California for PA school. It’s was fun visiting the Bell family and also having time to chat with my sister and her boys during the drive (her husband and daughter weren’t able to come because of work).

Mark worked in his office Tuesday and Wednesday this week because it rained so much. He went to the refuge the other days. They haven’t found nearly as many birds nests as they did last year. It’s just been too dry, and many nests have been destroyed by predators.

We decided to call Saturday “puppy Father’s Day” to celebrate Mark. When I finished teaching English, we hiked the Bonneville Shoreline trail. This is my favorite hike. Not only because it’s flat (though that is a huge selling point) but because I love the view of the valley. Also, it’s amazing to think about the massive lake that used to be here.

Mark chose pizza from firehouse pizzeria for lunch. We ordered online and did a curbside pickup. It turns out you get a much bigger side salad getting food to go! And the pizza was yummy, as always.

The extended Murray Family did a last minute picnic Saturday night. We were full from pizza but we went to visit. I’ve definitely missed seeing everyone!!

This was a pretty ordinary week! Mark went to the bird refuge Monday through Thursday and did other research projects in town on Friday.

I went to the dentist on Tuesday. I was a little unsure about going to the dentist during a pandemic, but they had a lot of great precautions in place! I wore a mask in the waiting room and signed a paper saying I felt well and hadn’t been around anyone I knew had the virus. They also took my temperature before taking me to the examination room. There I used mouth wash and hand sanitizer. They even sanitized my credit card for me after I paid. I really appreciated all they are doing to prevent the spread of this illness.

My oldest sister, Marisa, came to Logan to visit for the weekend. Her son will be set apart as a missionary on July 1!!!! He’ll be our first nephew to serve a mission and we know he’s going to be great!! We spent Thursday and Friday evening playing badminton, playing in the sand, and visiting. The youngest nephew said Mark is his favorite uncle (and I sure can’t blame him). I also made them the Brazilian cheese bread the Brazilian sister in my ward taught me to make. They didn’t turn out exactly right but were pretty yummy. I wanted to make them because our nephew has been called to serve his mission in Salvador, Brazil. He’ll be doing home-MTC for six weeks.

On Saturday morning, Mark picked up the two oldest boys to hike Crimson trail. We all couldn’t believe how quickly they got home! They must have done the 6 mile hike in an hour and a half or so. They had a lot of fun!! That afternoon Marisa ordered Morty’s as a thank you to Mark and a birthday present to me! Then we made frozen yogurt in our ice cream maker. I’ve never done that before but will definitely have to try it again this summer!

We have been picking more strawberries from our garden and picked our first pepper!

On Sunday we held an additional ward Council to discuss what returning to church would look like. Our stake decided that each ward would have one assigned sacrament meeting each Sunday. The ward was divided into thirds and families were assigned a week to attend. There are many precautions in place such as having families sit in every other row and six feet apart. Someone in our stake also made separators for the bread trays so it will be easier to not touch multiple pieces of bread. We’ll wear masks and sanitize the building before and after our meeting.

We were scheduled to begin sacrament meetings on the 14, but throughout the week the number of virus cases skyrocketed. There are now more than 700 cases in the county. Many of the new cases came from a meat processing plant that didn’t follow important precautions. This is so sad because the people working there likely are really in need of income, and now many of them are home sick. On Saturday we received news that we will postpone the start date for church. I’m so grateful we can still have the sacrament each week at home.

June marks my third year working for VIPKID and my first year working for WebAIM. When I renewed my contract for VIPKID on Monday I was excited to see i got a raise! The requirements for raises are difficult to meet and I wasn’t sure if I had made it this year. I’m especially grateful I earned a raise because VIPKID is rolling out a new payment system which means no more opportunities for raises. It also decreases the incentive money I can earn. I’ll be making less than I was before which is disappointing, but at least my raise helps a little bit.

This week my supervisor at WebAIM called to see how things are going. He said he’s very pleased with my work and wanted to give me a raise, but the department had said COVID-19 meant no raises. He worked hard and was able to get me approved for a raise because I’m not a contracted employee! It was so exciting to get good news from both companies I work for this week, and we’re grateful for a little extra income. We’re also discussing the possibility of me working from home even after the virus settles down. I love working from home and I’m able to do all my work here the same (if not better) than I can in the office. I hope that will work out!

Mark spent most of his days in the heat at the bird refuge again. They’re finding more duck nests and have even seen some baby ducks! He’s continuing to try to tighten up his statistics so his proposal can be approved.

We’re still cautious about visiting people but we decided to have another distancing picnic with some friends. Mark made Dutch oven potatoes and chicken. It was delicious!

Our garden continues to grow! We have a few small peppers and green tomatoes. We’re also have twenty cucumber plants!! We replanted one zucchini plant but have another that is growing well. We’ve also been enjoying the strawberries from our garden.

I gave Flynn a haircut on my own this week. I definitely missed a few patches but considering how much he moves (and even nips at times) I think my grooming skills getting better!

Sunday we decided it would be ok to go for a walk with my parents if we kept our distance. We walked all the way to the South end of campus. So many people were out enjoying the sun. Our time spent with family looks different now but to laugh and share stories is wonderful! Flynn even learned to jump through the hoops of a bike rack!

Sunday I was able to use Zoom to have a mini mission reunion! It was one of my favorite families from Florida, and two others sisters who served there the same time as me. It was so fun to chat and laugh over old memories. We hope to do it again soon!

On Monday I left Flynn home alone for five minutes to pick up a serving tray I bought from someone online. Flynn barked the entire time. I realized he’s gotten so used to us being home that he’s forgotten how to behave when we’re away. Gratefully we don’t have downstairs neighbors right now so it’s the perfect time to practice with Flynn. I’ve started leaving him home alone every day, even if it means I just go stand outside (I don’t have any errands to run these days), and he’s already doing much better at sitting quietly when we’re gone.

Mark officially finished his semester! Three down, five more to go! Even though the semester is done, Mark doesn’t get much of a break. He will still be working hard this summer gathering data about ducks and their predators. He was also accepted to present his research at a national conference in Salt Lake in August. We don’t know yet if he will present in person or through video.

Wednesday, Mark went to Blackfoot for the day and got a bunch of projects done for his family. That evening, we had a social distancing picnic with some friends. We brought our own food and blankets to sit on while kept our distance. It was so nice to have some social interaction.

Friday was Flynn’s second birthday. I wanted a dog my whole life and having Flynn is even better than I thought it would be. He brings so much happiness to us and others. We spoiled him with a new toy and bed, and a “cake” made of frozen yogurt and peanut butter.

We called Friday and Saturday our “staycation.” We has to cancel our planned vacation for this spring because of the virus and we needed a break of some kind. We mostly just relaxed and enjoyed time together. We were able to plant some more things in our garden. And we ordered lunch from Morty’s-our very first time having food delivered!

I finished the six week walking challenge at work. I successfully got in 10,000 steps every day!

Sunday was Mother’s Day. We got some simple gifts for our moms but that was about the extent of our celebrations.

Mark spent a lot of time trying to buy a truck for his lab this week. It would be really nice for them to have a truck to drive to the bird refuge. He found one they would like to buy and are just waiting for the check from USU. Hopefully it all works out!

Mark was also able to go fishing with Dr. Conover. He had a good time and caught four fish. Mark also perfected how to bread the fish and cook them in our air fryer. Lucky for me, I enjoy eating fish more than Mark so I usually get all the left overs.

On Saturday, Mark helped dig up a water line at his Grandpa’s house in Richmond with his family. We also were able to plant some seeds in our garden when he came home. We enjoyed our first produce too- a radish.

Mark and I talked about what we want to remember about the time when life was so affected by the COVID-19 virus. We’ve been very grateful we can work from home because many people have lost jobs. We have also been practicing patience when hearing the many, many conspiracy theories about the virus. We are grateful to live in a country where we have the freedom to believe and act how we feel is right, but do hope that people will be thoughtful and do some research before believing every article they read about this virus. Some of the things we hear from friends on social media are eccentric.

Memorial Day was wonderful! We took the day off and enjoyed a much needed rest. It was so fun to have a three day weekend together. We visited a few headstones in the cemetery on Monday which is one of my favorite things about this holiday.

Mark began looking for duck nests at the Brigham city bird refuge. It went well and they found close to 50 nests. He had a few adventures with camera malfunctions, including melted wires! But he’ll figure it out! He’s also receiving help from the department’s statistician on his dissertation proposal. Once his statistics are nailed down it will be all set.

He also found out they were not approved to use grant money to buy a truck for the lab. So they’ll continue to rent one from the university. But that means he now has money to spend on the cameras!

I am getting baptism gifts ready for children in our ward. I ordered nice journals with a picture of Christ’s baptism on the front and I think I’ll put a quote inside the front cover.

I’m hoping work will get busier soon. We’re offering our course free to people with disabilities to celebrate WebAIM’s 20th anniversary. We also have some big contracts in the works which is really exciting!

Our garden is continuing to grow! It’s small (which means not much weeding, yay) but it’s really fun and we’re proud that things are actually growing.

Flynn is his same cute self! His rash is totally gone and he just has a few more days on his antibiotic. I think he’ll miss his daily dose of cheese though. We’re continuing to train him to be quiet when he’s home alone (he got too used to us working from home every day and forgot how to behave when alone) and he’s doing well. We can leave him in his crate rather than his playpen now which is awesome!

We’re getting better at finding ways to be with family. On Sunday, we Skyped Mark’s brother Carl, who lives in Missouri. Then we went for a walk with my brother and his two oldest daughters and their dog. We ended off the day visiting my parents in their backyard. We took our air fryer and made French fries and they provided the hamburgers.

Flynn has had a rash for about a week, and when it didn’t get better on its own we decided it was time to go to the vet. We’ve never taken him to the vet for sickness before so I was a little nervous. Luckily we were able to go inside with Flynn. I know some vets aren’t allowing people to enter with their pets because of the virus, but we were able to go in and were taken directly to an examination room. The first vet we saw was one of my friends from high school. It was a fun surprise! He’s finishing up vet school and is getting some clinical hours here. Our regular vet gave Flynn a check too and they decided it was just a bacterial skin infection. Flynn gets to take an antibiotic every day for a couple weeks. This means Flynn gets cheese (with the pill inside) everyday- which makes him happy. His rash is already looking much, much better!

Mark has still been working on buying a truck for his lab. It’s just taking a long time for the purchase to get approved at all the necessary levels. He also tried to go fishing with his professor again but it was just too stormy so they had to turn around and come home.

I bribe myself to not eat treats during the week by making a fun tear on the weekend. I tried a new cheesecake recipe this week- caramel cheesecake. I forgot to buy enough heath pieces to cover the top but a chocolate chips made a good substitute.

Saturday morning we woke up to snow. We didn’t have much on the grass but the mountains were pretty.

We were also able to see a family friend’s recently restored 1969 Ford Bronco. Mark was in heaven. This vehicle was the competition for his 69 Jeep Commando.

Utah has entered the “yellow” zone for the COVID-19 safety policies. More businesses are open and we can have 50 people together if they follow social distancing. Not many people wear masks in public, but we are still trying to. You never know if you could be sick. We also expect a shortened form of church to resume soon. I’m a little stressed about how primary will look when it begins again, but I expect we’ll get more direction from leaders before then. For now my presidency and I are focusing on filling all our teacher spots and preparing for our first baptism of the year. Baptisms are done on a ward level right now. We also are brainstorming a primary activity we could do while keeping everyone safely distanced.

I think the WordPress Blog app has been overwhelmed by all the people who decided they have time to write blogs during the quarantine because my posts haven’t been successfully publishing for a few weeks!

This week was technically finals week for Mark, but he has one more project to finish on Monday. He went to the bird refuge once this week as well to check on his cameras.

I was able to attend a Facebook baby shower for one of my mission companions. There were posts for us to comment on and a couple games to do on our own. I don’t love attending baby showers so it was kind of nice to have this casual version. And I was happy to be able to support my friend who lives far enough away that I wouldn’t have been able to attend a shower in person.

Last week we got “front porch” pictures taken! Pictures on the front porch have become popular while social distancing. Our front porch is too dark so we went to the side of our building. Aggie Village paid so everyone who wanted could have two pictures.

Friday afternoon we had a video chat lesson with the sister missionaries in our stake. They are amazing! One sister was serving in Hong Kong and she had to be quarantined all alone in a tower at the military base in Japan where her parents live. Now she’s been reassigned here which is perfect because our stake has a Chineses Branch. The other sister has only been out a couple months and was from Hungary. They helped us think of ways to minister to some friends who are not members of the church.

We’ve continued weeding and watering our garden regularly and things are starting to grow! There’s still no outside water so we get to carry water out in a bucket. It’s a good workout.

One blessing this week was getting a second air conditioner! We started thinking it would be nice to have one since we’ll probably be home a lot this summer and we’ll be here for another 2 1/2 years. We had started shopping around a little and then someone on our ward said they were giving one away! It was so perfect!

We were able to help sew masks for healthcare workers. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and other humanitarian organizations have a goal to make five million masks. Mark and I only did about ten, but it takes many drops to fill a bucket so we’re happy we could do a little bit!

We watched some jets from hill Air Force Base fly by this week to show support for healthcare workers. They were very fast and loud. They’re actually the jet Mark’s mission president test flew. Many people gathered in our parking lot to watch. It was so fun to see!

I also tested out a new key lime cheesecake recipe this weekend. Yum!

Mark has been working on a final project for statistics. He also helped set up the online final for the course he TA’s for. He continues to check his cameras at the bird refuge too. It’s fun to see some of the footage he gets!

Tuesday was our niece’s sixteenth birthday and her family planned a surprise drive by party for her. We drove up and rolled down the window to say hello and they even gave out hostess cupcakes.

We began planting our garden this week! We didn’t realize the outside water wasn’t turned on until our seeds were mostly planted so Flynn and I got to run into our apartment several times with a bucket to get water. We planted potatoes, radishes, lettuce, and peas. We’re looking forward to planting more when it warms up.

We’ve continued to go on many walks. We saw this incredible Great Horned Owl in the cemetery one evening. We stay in touch with family and friends through texting, phone calls, and Marco Polo. I’m grateful for technology to stay in touch with everyone.

Mark was home this Saturday which was so nice!! He did get to go help my brother check some bee traps in the afternoon. My brother is hoping to add to his beehive and Mark enjoys helping him with his bees occasionally.