We are supposed to be staying home. But I’m not good at that. So instead we are finding adventures that allow us to keep up our “social distancing.” We drove out to the bird refuge. I’m the only family member who thought this was a good idea. The rest went on the promise of treats and snacks. It was beautiful. Most everyone else thought it was a waste of time.
Luckily I live with a bunch of people who like to play at home.
Last week, life was normal.
Then my school was canceled and all my classwork switched to online.
And there was this crazy virus and everything was canceled and everyone was basically quarantined so everyone didn’t die.
And then church was canceled.
And then school was canceled.
And then my Grandma died.
And then there was an earthquake.
And then it hailed.
And there is no more toilet paper at the stores.
Um…I wish I was just joking. All of this happened in one week. I am grateful for my faith that says the righteous need not fear.
On Saturday we went to the Zoo. We had free passes that expired by the end of the month. The zoo was not yet closed, so we went. The zoo is now closed.
And here’s some happy baby pictures my friend took because right now we all need happy baby pictures. And happy babies, because Mom is totally frazzled trying to homeschool everyone and do her own school. (And in actuality the baby is probably teething….)
I took way too many pictures of Zack. But he just barely learned how to sit up by himself, and it’s the first time I’ve been able to get good smiling pictures with him.
Here it is. The Ultimate Kid’s Guide for when there is nothing to do.
*This is still imperfect, but I thought I would share as so much is going on and lots of time with nothing to do.
I have been feeling overwhelmed occasionally. I would not suggest going to graduate school with a baby. But here I am. I don’t want to quit school and I love my baby. We are figuring it out, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times when it is very hard.
Lately, I’ve been pondering this quote from President Russell Nelson:
Part of this endeavor will require you to put aside many things of this world. Sometimes we speak almost casually about walking away from the world with its contention, pervasive temptations, and false philosophies. But truly doing so requires you to examine your life meticulously and regularly. As you do so, the Holy Ghost will prompt you about what is no longer needful, what is no longer worthy of your time and energy.
As you shift your focus away from worldly distractions, some things that seem important to you now will recede in priority. You will need to say no to some things, even though they may seem harmless. As you embark upon and continue this lifelong process of consecrating your life to the Lord, the changes in your perspective, feelings, and spiritual strength will amaze you!
I’ve been wondering what I can cut back on and didn’t come up with any sort of answer for a long time. But yesterday as I was pondering, I wrote this list of things I need to cut back on.
It’s okay to be busy. But it’s also good to remember to enjoy the flowers.
The middle child had a birthday. He’s eight now. I think he’s growing up okay: he does inspire a lot of conversations about parenting between Joe and me. He’s making sure we have it figured out.
He has a great love of a lot of things: he’s probably my most well-rounded kid in some ways. He’ll try new activities and food. But he mostly loves video games and playing with friends.
This is a fun hike we did above Weber State University. We found it by accident a few years back and this year we went on purpose. My kids love fitness trails, even if they are old and in great need of repair.
We also finished up Junior Jazz. I was actually the coach for Peter’s team. Last year his coach didn’t seem to care that much, and because he likes basketball so much I know he needed a coach that did a decent job. And the only way you can ensure such a thing is volunteering.
We had a 5-2 record. Some games were complete blowouts, and the two losses were very close. The last game was a very disappointing loss by two points. It’s why some of the kids appear so sad in the pictures below.
I did not expect to absolutely love coaching the kids. Every kid scored at least once in a game and most of them made a lot of progress and improvement. It was fun to get to know all the kids and I loved teaching them how to play basketball.
Peter is an awesome basketball player too. His dream of NBA just might happen. This year I was pleased to see that when they were losing he didn’t get anxious and upset: he just kept playing hard.
What follows is the system I currently use to improve my life, divided into seven steps. And because everything is better in graphic form, here it is:
Step 1: Inventory
I take stock of who I am and where I am in life. This includes writing down some basic personality traits, talents, my roles, what I identify with.
Step 2: Vision
I write down who I want to be. I divide this into four categories: spirit, mind, heart, and body. You can use phrases that have a lot of motivation and meaning to you, as well as pictures. With this step, don’t write down things you want to do: write down who you want to be and the lifestyle you want to live. For instance, I don’t write down, “I want to get a graduate degree and get a job at a top landscape architecture firm.’ (That comes later.) I would write down, “I want to continue to learn throughout my life and have meaningful work.”
Step 3: Habits
Habits are drawn directly from your vision. They are things you do on a daily or weekly basis that create the lifestyle you want. Habits are things that you anticipating doing indefinitely and many of the resolutions and goals we make should be considered habits. Habits include things like: go to bed early, exercise, and read scripture daily, etc.
Step 4: Repair
This step is about overcoming and eliminating or reducing our weaknesses and problems.
Step 5: Design
During this step, I write down everything I want to accomplish in my life. Some people refer to it as a “bucket list.”
Step 6: Goals
I divide my goals into four categories that are focused on accomplishment and related to my vision: church or ministry for spirit, career for mind, family/social for heart, and home/environment for body. If you ever heard of SMART goals, this is where you make them. I like to make goals on a season basis every three months.
Step 7: Advance
This step encourages you to reflect on all the other steps and explore other ways you want to live your life and help others.
***
This is an updated version of this resource I wrote out. You are welcome to check out the old one, but I think the updates make more sense. If there’s interest I can expand further, just comment below. Also, this was inspired in part by Allan Savory’s work which I recommend. If you don’t care about livestock, this version is more focused on life goals.
We had a free Saturday, and I took the two little children sledding.
Curtis finished up his basketball season. He had a great team, and loved playing
Life is full of beautiful things if you are paying attention. And don’t mind taking freezing walks.
Liz Braithwaite 