Quarantine Continues

It's hard to believe April has come and gone. I think it's the fastest month yet, however some people have called this quarantine a year. Along those lines I heard a joke...."Why was 2019 afraid of 2020? Because today they got in a fight and 2021." I recently gave the daily "happy thought" for work and I wrote a bunch of Dad Jokes as the highlight. People got a good kick out of them, so I just needed to share one here. Also, M told me that the Dad Joke book he got from Santa this past year is on the top 5 of the gifts he's ever gotten. Anyways, on to what we've been up to.

Biggest news was that we almost had graduation. I've been prepared with a few things since before the intended day of celebration, and so excited, and then so bummed when M's cap and gown didn't arrive. We're holding off on all things graduation related until we figure out when his cap and gown will get here. I don't blame him for not wanting to graduate without it.

At work, my senior manager took a role at Corporate, and with her move it opened up some new opportunities. First, she's been leading the big culture initiative for the past two years. I've been helping with different things along the way, so with her departure, she asked me if I wanted to help lead it with another leader. I was shocked, and excited. Leading a company through a massive culture change is difficult and something you don't get to participate in often. I am partnering with an awesome leader and looking forward to learning some good skills from her as we lead together through 2020 and into 2021. Second, the person I work with on almost all of my work is taking a new role on our sister team. With that, my manager is having me be an unofficial lead of two other people to help with the work Ali was doing with me. I will miss her, and again it will be a great learning opportunity and help me get a feel for some unofficial leadership.

This is my employee appreciation gift this year, so stoked! A pink LM branded chair. 

We always FaceTime for our staff meetings, and my co-worker and I sometimes have our kiddos, which is so fun! 

We've started choosing different areas in our house to start sorting through. One of the hardest things about packing is having to sort all at the same time, so we're working through area by area to get rid of stuff. We started with my office closet, then moved to our nightstands, then the bathroom, etc. slowly working our way through the house. M really likes the Divergent series, so Friday night we watched the first movie, then Saturday we were sorting so we watched the other two as we did it. We hardly ever watch movies, so this was out of the ordinary and M loved it. He enjoys movie nights, plus we made caramel popcorn which was yummy!

One great perk of everyone being quarantined is that people are open to doing things virtually. One of these things is virtual game nights, which we've participated in two so far with the Blaylocks and one with the Bryce's. Saturday night with the Blaylock's was great, we played games on Jackbox which was very fun and we had a great time seeing everyone. We always get some good laughs. Then, on May 1st, the day before Katey's birthday, she threw herself a game night birthday party. We all joined and had a great time. We played ImagineIf..., Wits and Wagers, and then Matthew and I made our own version of Quiplash which we learned from the Blaylock game night. We had a blast, and it was fun to be able to celebrate Katey's birthday together. I am so grateful technology allows us to connect in unique ways when we can't see each other in person!

Can't you tell what this is? Obviously "King of the Internet" (From Drawful that we played at the Blaylock game night)

Sunday afternoon walks continue to be one of our favorite Sabbath activities. This past Sunday, Nathan and Michela came to find us to drop off some gifts for M's graduation. My mug was pretty sweet, and M got a nice BYU polo. We love living close to Nathan and Michela, they are the people who have definitely seen Jay the most.

The mug for me

Each week the weather gets a little warmer and we are loving it! M plays basketball two times a week at the church and mixes in other workouts to hopefully be able to dunk by the end of the summer, and I typically go on runs or do some exercises with him. Getting out and being active keeps us sane, and we're so grateful for our bodies that allow us to get moving. And, if you read my previous post about failing at making cinnamon rolls, you should know I attempted again with a recipe shared by Jack and it turned out muchhhhhhh better! Plus, it makes just 6 little muffin sized, perfect for two.

I would also be remiss if I didn't include some pictures of Jay and how much he's growing. He laughs and smiles so much more these days, and we're soaking up every minute we can! He's big enough for the little outfit we got to announce gender, and he's loving playing with toys and sticking anything he can in his mouth...or trying to, even if not very accurate.