Tanner & Haley hit the road

After two years of living in Jackson, WY Tanner and Haley have embarked on a new adventure.  

They quit their jobs.

They packed up all their belongings.

They purchased a 40-foot RV (affectionately named, "The Beav")

and they have taken to the road with the goal of visiting as many National Parks as they can in the next 6 months or so.

We will follow along on their adventure as best as we can...thank goodness for instagram :)

{T} LEGO challenge

I have tried to connect T with some of his buddies with a couple of LEGO challenges that they can work on at their own homes and then send photos to their group of friends.

The first LEGO challenge was to create a marble run out of LEGOS.  

The next LEGO challenge was to create an animal out of LEGOS.

No surprise, T chose to build a panda.

{C} Africa cancelled

C's summer plans included a trip through HEFY to work with the Youth Refugee Coalition in Malawi, Africa.  C has always wanted to go to Africa and he loves serving/working with kids.

As this COVID-19/Coronavirus illness has become an issue throughout the world we began to realize that C's trip might be in jeopardy.  As much as we hoped the trip wouldn't be cancelled, we were not surprised when HEFY officially notified us that all Humanitarian trips scheduled for this summer were going to be cancelled.  With all of the unknowns right now it is the right thing to do but we are sad for the the youth that will miss out on the opportunity to serve and those throughout the world that will not receive the service.

{T} Cake Boss Jr

This week was supposed to be Spring Break but everything is cancelled and there is a "stay at home" order in place.   I attempted a virtual "connection" for T with his friends by giving them all a "Cake Boss Challenge".  Everyone was told to decorate a cake (or cupcakes) based on a book that they have read and send the group photos of their finished product. 

T chose the book "Death Walk" by Walk Morey that involves a airplane crash so he made an airplane cake FROM SCRATCH and decorated it on his own.  Super impressive!

Just a little time-lapse magic...

Last Day of non-Quarantine

So much has gone on this past week re cancellations and changes and restrictions and closures.  Basically the state (and most of the country) has issued a State-at-Home order and everyone is referring to it as "Quarantine".

This past week we still had quite a bit of interactions with others...

J and T had a playdate (it was outdoors),

I worked as recently as four days ago,

C was at the coast this weekend with teammates,

K was at school & living with roomates,

J and I traveled to and from Utah with stops along the way

But now we are all home, under one roof, with every commitment and calendared item cancelled, so we told the kids that our household is now officially going into quarantine as of tomorrow.  

With the beautiful, sunny spring weather we chose to spend our last non-quarantine day taking a Sunday walk at Champoeg Park before the park closes tomorrow.  We were not the only people with that idea (the parking lot was full!) but we were good about our "social distancing" and gave everyone around us space while we enjoyed the beautiful outdoors and the time together.

What a week!!!!

Last Saturday was the 2020 Full SuperMoon

Sunday was DayLight Savings

Wednesday the COVID-19 (CoronaVirus) took hold here in the U.S.

&

Friday was the 13th

Why am I not surprised that we woke up to snow today????

{C} No words for an abrupt end

I've written a number of posts about C's high school basketball team...their tournaments, their season, their playoffs...but this is a post I never could have imagined.

C's basketball coach is always telling the boys, "expect nothing, appreciate everything" and boy is that hitting home tonight.

C's team won yesterday's game to advance to the final four but right before I went to bed C called me (he is staying with the team in Corvallis) to tell me that because of the COVID-19 virus, the governor was restricting public gatherings to 250 people so the decision had been made to allow the OSAA tournament to continue but without spectators.  

It was such a weird thought that these boys would play in an empty arena and, should they go all the way (and I 100% believe it would have been them at the end!) they would win without anyone there to celebrate with.  My parents had driven up from Utah to attend the tournament and with the announcement about spectators, they decided they would just return home.  As sad as I was that we couldn't go watch C and his team, I tried to stay positive and remind him that even though it would not feel the same to play without a crowd, their task at hand hadn't changed.  

But oh, how my heart was aching for him.

Then this morning it went from disappointing to devastating.  

The country has been experiencing cases of COVID-19 and last night the NBA cancelled their season which quickly translated to the NCAA cancelling their tournament and that funneled down to the OSAA making the announcement this morning that the high school level tournaments would all be cancelled. 

C said that they had just arrived at the arena to practice when the announcement was made.   Other high school teams were there and players from all the teams were in unbelief and in tears.  I admit that it felt unreal to me and I cried for him and for his team and for the other teams and for seniors everywhere.  

Who could have imagined such an abrupt ending?

C had a rough day but I was extremely touch by this post that he posted on IG and I think he sums it up best...

{C} 5A Basketball Playoffs

The State Basketball playoffs have begun.  

The first game of the playoffs determines whether you make it into the bracket play at Gil Coliseum at Oregon State University.   WHS went up against Corvallis in this round and they had a slow start, behind much of the 1st half.  But they came out ready to win in the second half and watching WHS do three slam dunks in a row signaled to us all that they would own this game and own it they did with a 66-38 victory.

Off they went to Corvallis with their 12th consecutive presence in the final eight.

Their Quarterfinal match up was against West Albany (see a great article here) and they gave it their all to win 61-42.  This win moves them along to compete against #1-ranked Churchill in the semi-final game.  Churchill is who they beat last year in the championship game to take the state championship title so it will be a tough match up.

WHS has made it to the championship game for the past 5 years straight - if we win tomorrow, this year would make #6.

They have won the state title 3 of the past four years so they know how to play under pressure.

Go Cats!!!!

{K} Spring Break

K and her friends spent their Spring Break in St George and Southern Utah.  

K is, and always will be, my sun-chasing child so she was happy to spend her week off of school soaking up the sunshine with her favorite college friends.

{C} WHS Varsity Basketball

What a season!!!

This team and this season is one for the books.  

They are the epitome of  being stronger because of adversity - what a great life lesson!!!

They began league play with many things going against them...

First of all, they played a very difficult pre-season which stretched them, but also gave them a handful of losses. They haven't had much experience with losses in the most recent years, so they had to overcome some mental challenges that come with that.

Add to that, they have had such a long streak of success (they have a 60+ winning streak in league play) that all the other teams in the league have their sites on dethroning the WHS dynasty.

In addition to that they lost a very strong group of players last year with the departing seniors so many people were asking the question, "can this team rise to WHS level of play?"

Then throw into the mix a record number of injuries for a season*, so the roster was continually changing with regards to who was healthy and who was on the injured list.

What they were left with was a team that could have fallen apart with any number of excuses, but that chose to push through and unite and support one another and be successful all the way until the end.

I fell in LOVE with this team this year!!!

In the end they not only earned #1 in the League, they remained undefeated in league play.  But those results were something they had to fight for (there were some close games) and they earned every single one of those wins by sheer grit and teamwork.

C played as 6th man, which meant he started a handful of games (when one of the starters were out injured).  It was a hard season for him personally.  He was probably in the best shape he had ever been in going into the season and he played some important roles in pre-league games.  Following his concussion he was never as strong of a player - partly because of the month of rest needed to recuperate but also because I believe he is still in the recovery process.  But through it all, he felt so much support from his teammates, coaches and other parents and that was amazing to witness.

This photo is my favorite because, to me, it captures the kind of love and excitement these boys had for each other....look at his teammates faces!

Always grateful for @gmartman1 for his photography skills each season.

5A Northwest Oregon Conference Champions

(* re the injuries...Reber out for LSI with sprained ankle, Dougall out for a month with concussion, Shivers out for multiple weeks with thigh injury, Kondo out with broken foot, Hartford out with ankle injury, Hix out with broken nose, Hartford out with broken nose, Hix out with burn, Scanlen out with ankle injury)