* Idaho cycled through the State's Reopening Phases of 3 and 4 and then promptly went BACK to Phase 3 since there was a spike in Covid-19 cases.
* Covid-19 in Numbers: As of June 28th, Idaho has had 5,319 cases and 91 deaths. The US has had 2.42 Million cases with 125K deaths and in the world, there have been 9.8 Million cases with 496K deaths.
* Virtual Girls Camp for Aubrie and Lexi! The girls have been so excited to FINALLY be able to attend Girls Camp - and wouldn't you know it - the Coronavirus squashed all of those plans! Our Ward decided to proceed forward with a Virtual Girls camp and while it couldn't compare to a "real" week long adventure, it was something fun for the girls to participate in. The 3 days prior to the camp date, the YCL's created short devotional videos centered around the theme of camp (which was Go, Do and Be) and the links were sent out to be watched on YouTube. All of the girls were assigned a "Secret Sister" and they had a week to drop something off at their door. Also, the YCL's went around and decorated each of the YW's door - so that was fun :) On the day of Camp, there was a kickoff video sent out at 1pm and then a Scavenger Hunt followed. It was done individually and as the clues were figured out it led the girls to different destinations where different items were collected (like at one place, they got a Camp song book, at another location a piece of rope, at another location their Camp shirts and at another a S'more's packet, etc...) Then from 3-5pm new videos were released every 30 minutes where they did different activities (like one of them was singing songs from the songbook they collected, another one was teaching all about knots, another was making the S'mores) and then at 7pm there was a Live Zoom call for all of the YW with a Closing Devotional and where they could share who their Secret Sister was. Overall, it was neat and we all appreciated the time that was put into it :) However, the girls will certainly be awaiting next years camp experience!
* Building Projects: Since many things have still been closed down, we have taken to doing building projects! We finally purchased a Brad Gun (which has been on Dad's wish-list for decades) and he put it to good use right away! He made custom planter boxes (just like the ones mom showed him on Pinterest!) He built 3 of them and then the girls and mom painted them and planted Tropicana Blacks in them along with a variety of some low growing red, white and yellow flowers. These were placed along the garage side of the house and they look fantastic!! We also worked on a a 7ft bar made out of Pine and Cinder blocks! The boys helped carry all of the cinder blocks, dad built the top and routered the edges. Mom sanded the whole thing and then the girls stained it - it was a group effort and the end result is a BEAUTIFUL piece to enjoy the back patio on! We finished up the patio look with a new (extra awesome!) rug and matching pillows for the Futon seat. We've got new lights to hang up around the perimeter but haven't gotten around to it yet - hopefully soon!
* Gardening! We don't have a lot of backyard space so we decided to do a container garden of some sort and this is what we decided upon. They are 5 gallon grow bags and we have 6 of them. 2 have Strawberries in them, and then 1 each of: Romaine Lettuce, Roma Tomatoes, Red Peppers and Cucumbers. The kids are in charge of overseeing them and they (mostly the girls) have done the watering and harvesting (so far, we've harvested the lettuce and had yummy taco salads with it!). We've been worried that Maggie would get into them and so dad build this 3.5 foot tall table for them to sit on. Here's a picture of our garden when it was just starting to grow and then a the following picture is what they look like today (about a 5 weeks later!)
* Shooting: I'd say that our Entertainment for the month has definitely been SHOOTING! In fact, we've used our entire Entertainment Fund for June on Ammo and the gun range! haha.. it's been most fun! We have a really nice indoor range here in Meridian and we have certainly been taking advantage of it! For some special one-on-one time with dad, Aubrie, Lexi, Seth and mom have had a fun date to the Range with him! Dad was also able to take the boys out to the dessert and do some shooting over Memorial Day weekend.
* Seth's Birthday! Seth turned 22 on June 14th. He requested a "cookie cake" that Aubrie happily made and Lexi made an Apple Pie from Scratch. He also requested White Chicken Enchilada's for Dinner and Butter Pecan Ice Cream. His Birthday fell on a Sunday this year and so we were all able to be together as a family. August, McKendra and Henry joined us for church and later that afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Vogt came over for cake and ice cream.
* Father's Day! We were able to celebrate ALL of the dads in our lives! It was a wonderful day that started off with talking to Grandpa Carlson as they were on their way down to Lincoln, NE. Then it was church where McKendra gave a great lesson all about Fathers (and focusing on our Heavenly Father)... Then it was out to the Vogt Farm to celebrate Grandpa Vogt (he had also had a birthday just 2 days before so it was a double celebration for him!). Then back home to watch one of dad's favorite movies as a family - The Three Amigos! Dad is the best all around and he got a bit spoiled (which he deserves!) Guns that keep coming into his possession always have the "Father's Day" label attached and so I figured we were good to go! But he also got a great holster for his everyday carry gun, a ticket to a screening of Evil Dead with Bruce Campbell hosting (which he is soooo very excited about) and he also got a DNA test! He's been wanting to get his DNA tested for family history purposes for quite some time now! Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of us all together on this day! I did snap a quick one of grandpa blowing out his candle while we were all there so that'll have to suffice :)
* Maggie Update: She is 6.5 months old now and growing so big! She is mellowing out quite a bit and getting easier every day. She still sleeps in her kennel and doesn't typically get up until 10-11am. She enjoys her walks and trying to sneak into food (which she snuck into and devoured an entire rotisserie chicken carcass!) We even called the vet on that one as eating so many bones can sometimes lead to major internal problems. We were advised to keep and eye on her and she has seemed to be fine - which we are counting our blessings on! She is enrolled in a Puppy Training class at our local PetSmart and Dad is gearing up to start her Duck Training so she'll be ready for hunting this fall. She also got another outing to the Boise River which she absolutely loved! We went down as a family and enjoyed the pleasant summer evening...
* Henry turned 2 AND 3 months old! Right after the last blog entry, Henry turned 2 months old and we did a little photoshoot for him... Then this past week (on June 25th) he turned 3 months! He's starting to smile more and is a very good little guy! August and McKendra's A/C wasn't working for several week and with the temperature up in the 90's their apartment was stifling! So they were spending a lot of extra time at our hose to stay cool - which we loved! We got Henry a little Swing that he seems to really like and there's never a shortage of people willing to hold him! Look at that most adorable little face!!
* And then here are some additional miscellaneous pictures from this past month. Life is good, we are all well and healthy and can't believe that 2020 is already half over! Aubrie has kept a "Christmas Countdown Counter" on her iPad and she told me this week that we only have 25+ more weeks until Christmas! Also, with the temps being rather hot - the girls decided to do a Lemonade stand out front... I told them not to expect much (maybe like $2-$3 max) but they decorated a sign, made some no-bakes, busted out the hand sanitizer and gloves and ended up making $20! But of course, look at their set up below - who could resist stopping by this refreshment stand!?
Spiritually Speaking...
The Prophet calls the WORLD TO REPENTANCE!
What is going on with the people in the year 2020!?
Our Nation is in upheaval. Not only have we had the Pandemic of the virus but now there are riots, looting and disregard for human life!
Backstory: It all started on Monday, May 25th with George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, who died in Minneapolis after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Bystanders captured video of the officer behind a police car using his knee to pin Mr. Floyd by his neck and you can hear him repeatedly saying he can't breathe. This video was all over Social Media on Tuesday and it was quite disturbing to watch. That same day (Tuesday, May 26th) the 4 policemen that were involved were all fired and put under FBI investigation. That night, hundreds of protesters flooded into Minneapolis streets and chaos ensued. The rest of the week, protests, looting, violence, shootings and vandalism erupt all over the nation (Memphis TN, Louisville KY, Seattle WA, Atlanta GA, Philadelphia PA, NYC, Los Angeles CA and even surprisingly Salt Lake City among others!) There was even a protest here in Boise but it remained civil and no violence occurred.
On Friday, May 29th, Derek Chauvin (that pinned Mr Floyd down with his knee on his neck) was arrested and charged with 3rd degree murder and 2nd degree Manslaughter. The riots have been non stop in Minneapolis and the National Guard are sent out to help. There is so much more but this is the shortened condensed version... Then on Monday, June 1st, our beloved Prophet made a statement to the world where he called the people to repentance and it was lovely! I thought to myself "This is just like in Book of Mormon times when the prophet sees the wickedness of the people and calls them to repentance!"
Here is a short excerpt from his statement:
“The Creator of us all calls on each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group of God’s children. Any of us who has prejudice toward another race needs to repent!
“During the Savior’s earthly mission, He constantly ministered to those who were excluded, marginalized, judged, overlooked, abused, and discounted. As His followers, can we do anything less? The answer is no! We believe in freedom, kindness, and fairness for all of God’s children!
“Let us be clear. We are brothers and sisters, each of us the child of a loving Father in Heaven. His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, invites all to come unto Him—'black and white, bond and free, male and female.' It behooves each of us to do whatever we can in our spheres of influence to preserve the dignity and respect every son and daughter of God deserves."
We are so blessed to have a living prophet - one who speaks for the Lord and helps us on our personal journeys back to heaven.
For the next 4 weeks (basically the entire month of June) it has been filled with Protests, Violence, Riots, Black Lives Matter vs All Lives Matter, efforts to defund the police, tensions are high on all sides and it's so strange to see how the world is! Even though we're ordered by law to not congregate in more than 50 people, protests seem to be exempt (??) as hundreds of people gather. Social Media is certainly more hostile and one is constantly bombarded by conflicting viewpoints 24/7 - it is quite sad :(
A side note from dad: our state has been progressing through the various phases put forth by the Governor to be able to return back to normal life. We were able to go to stage four but it only lasted approximately two weeks before we were rolled back to phase three in Ada County due to a large outbreak of COVID-19. Fortunately, many of those tested have proven to be asymptomatic or having had minor enough symptoms that they do not require hospitalization, however with 100-200 new cases a day, it was deemed that we needed to take a step back. Many are irritated over this, others are apathetic, and still others have an, "I told you so" attitude. It's hard to see any sort of end in sight with this virus short of us all getting it and being done with it. There are great debates over the effectiveness of wearing masks with some clinging fanatically to the notion that all must wear them and that those who do not are menaces to society, while on the other side there are those that claim that forced mask wear is an infringement upon liberty. We're kind of somewhere in the middle. The masks are a pain in the butt to wear but it's not killing us to do so and if it slows the spread, it's worth it but at what cost? Do we continue to wear them from here on out? This virus will be hard to wipe out, no vaccine has been developed and as long as we reach towards giving everyone their freedom back, there will be outbreaks.
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* A Return to Church (by dad)
This morning, Ben and I were able to go to a special Sacrament Meeting for our ward at 9:00 am. Approximately 30 ward members attended. Knowing that our numbers would have to be small due to group gatherings being restricted to less than 50, our Stake and Ward leadership asked that those attending be members who do not have the Priesthood in their house and have been unable to partake of the Sacrament or those who have not had a positive experience conducting home-based church. Ben and I attended to be able to help assist with the Sacrament. The meeting was short and consisted of a sacramental hymn that we listened to (singing was not allowed) the blessing and passing of the Sacrament, and finally a testimony borne by Brother McKinney. All told, it lasted approximately 20-25 minutes. President Reynolds from the Stake conducted and presided as all members of the Bishopric were currently being quarantined as Bishop Mortenson had been unknowingly exposed to his father-in-law who ended up having the virus, albeit asymptomatically. Every other row was closed off and we walked down these rows to give the Sacrament to each member individually. There was no passing of trays. For the water, a second priesthood holder trailed behind with an empty tray for the empty cups to be deposited in. It was the most unconventional meeting I have been in but it felt so good to be back inside the church and to feel the holy sacredness that lives within those walls.
* We're still going strong on Family History and the girls have started joining us each week. They've been working on compiling "Memories" of family members and uploading pictures to be attached. It's awesome! They are both still scrapbooking their own lives and documenting for their posterity. We studied Abish this week in Come, Follow Me and discussed how it would have been really neat to have heard about her conversion story and how that is why it's really important to keep a record - so our posterity won't have to wonder WHY we did something or thought something, etc... It's great to see them being diligent on this commandment.
* Church at Home is still a great and positive experience! We've found our "rhythm" and that consists of having an opening song (we've been turning more to the Primary songs as Natalie has been joining us and I think they are a beautiful and simple way to hear about basic gospel truths). We then have a prayer and then prepare for the Sacrament. Since August and McKendra join us each week, we have 4 Priesthood holders (Nathan always passes each week and then we rotate the prayers through the other 3). Then we have 2 Talks/Lessons and then finish up with a closing song and prayer. We then ask for 2 more volunteers to give the talks the following week. It usually lasts 1-1.5 hours and everyone is reverent and participates. Dad is a phenomenal teacher and the kids are always VERY engaged when he teaches! The other week, he gave a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and he looked so cute while teaching I just had to snap this picture of him!
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