countdown, new game, anniversaries, always food

On Monday, I made a paper chain with 40 links in it for Glen to countdown his days until retirement, but now it is sort of worthless. We found out this week that the remainder of this school year will continue to be distance learning. Glen is not returning to the classroom. He's okay with that. He doesn't like goodbyes. Still wondering what they'll do for graduation.

We also spoke to Alex on Monday. He is doing great. They had a baptism on that previous Saturday, so that was exciting for him.

On Tuesday, we played Eric's new game, Forgotten Waters, for the first time (and have played several times since). He bought it on pre-order, but somehow Eric had got his copy early (I don't understand how pre-order works, I guess). It is a riot and the perfect game for when you are sheltering in place--some of the games last for hours. We are pirates with funny backstories and we have missions to carry out and encounter dangers on the seas.

Forgotten Waters is a Crossroads Game set in a world of fantastical pirate adventure. In it, players take on the role of pirates sailing together on a ship, attempting to further their own personal stories as well as a common goal.

The world of Forgotten Waters is silly and magical, with stories designed to encourage players to explore and laugh in delight as they interact with the world around them. It's a game in which every choice can leave a lasting impact on the story, and players will want turn over every rock just to see what they find.

Forgotten Waters features five scenarios and a massive location book that provides players with tons of choices wherever they go.

—description from the publisher

We will be enjoying this game for a long time.

Last Sunday was Mom and Dad Perazzo's 62nd anniversary. Thursday was Deni and Pat's 37th anniversary. Yesterday was Andrew and Heather's 7th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary everyone!

outside the Salt Lake Temple, Eric was on his mission there, and Ryan was about to enter the MTC

And speaking of Andrew, he put together this great video about the Church's new Proclamation about the Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think he did an excellent job!

Yesterday also marked day 888 of my duolingo streak. Since the Chinese consider 888 to be a very lucky number, we had sweet and sour chicken for dinner for me to celebrate. It was a very International food week as Angeles cooked Mexican food for us twice. One night she made posole. Then next night she made sopes. Sooooo good.

in case you needed proof

sopes in the making

Ryan and Angeles and the sopes with toppings

delicious! (and the posole was great, too!)

And for the rest of our news, Hannah and Kaellen started classes again on Monday. All online, of course. The "pinkhouse" greenhouse continues to be worked on along with some gardening and yard work. I sewed a bit. Cooked a bit. It was a typical week during our shelter-in-place experience.


Saw this video on Facebook. Sums up pretty much the what we've been told over the last few weeks over how to deal with COVID-19. Insane.

hymn variation, crazy week, conference words tally

First off, the hymn Praise to the Man, written about our Prophet Joseph Smith, being sung to a different tune than is in our hymn books. I LOVE this so much.

It's been a most unusual week.

Starting with a man beaten with a baseball bat showing up on our front doorstep early Monday morning. Later a deputy said the man had lost a lot of blood and they were afraid he might not make it. From a comment by the man's sister on Facebook, it sounds like 3 men are involved in the beating and I'm guessing they are known by the Sheriff's office. We know there was a search and seizure warrant issued for tribal land but whether the men are in custody, I don't know. Wish we had more info.

We are happy to say that the sheriff's Facebook page on Tuesday said the man was recovering in a hospital in Reno. That post also mentioned a man Glen often helps out who is a disabled homeless man. He had been found tied up and beaten by another homeless man a few weeks ago (and rumors had been going around that he had died), but he is also in Reno recovering as well. His assailant is in custody and charged with attempted murder.

And there are now 3 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Churchill county.

Crazy. It all seems crazy and unreal.

So, this week, Glen and the kids worked on fixing the leach lines for our septic system. After 27 years, a lot of tree roots had ruined the previous leach lines. So blessed to have Alan and farm equipment to help with some of the digging and gravel moving. Thanks Alan! And thanks Glen, Eric, Ryan, Angeles, Hannah, and Kaellen (my very small contribution was to hold the surveying equipment at one point)!

Another project this week is the "pinkhouse" that Glen and Hannah designed and are building with the help of everyone (once again, my contribution is rather minor--I did a little bit of painting). We would call it a greenhouse, but they mixed all the available paint we had to paint the wood and the color came out pinkish. Anyway, the project is still a work-in-progress. Hannah and Kaellen start school again tomorrow, so won't have as much free time to help out, and of course Glen still has a lot of school stuff that he's working on, but it will get done.

And I did the final tallying of the words we picked to listen for in General Conference:

Glen: 17 fires and 1 fiery
Beth: 26 trusts
Andrew: 38 purposes
Heather: 12 mothers
Henry: 5 schools
Joy: 16 happys and 11 belongs
Eric: 4 flys (flies?)
Ryan: 4 tomorrows
Angeles: 31 gathers
Hannah: 50 changes
Kaellen: 148 times
Alex: 24 missionarys and 77 personals

That represents a lot of candy eaten, at least in this house.

Hannah and Kaellen painting the pinkhouse

walls are assembled and the roof will come next

Hannah is teaching Angeles how to make a book!

Hannah and Kaellen are painting the cabinets and walls of their 5th wheel

burning trash followed cleaning the garage-Hannah is on hose duty

Section of the totally blocked leach line. No wonder it wasn't working right!

Alan scooping dirt for us

Glen, Eric, and Ryan on ditch digging duty

this gives a different perspective on the huge dirt piles

see all the tree roots?

Hannah (left) and cousin Sarah (right) practicing social distancing

gravel time

Alan finishing the job by filling in the trench and smoothing things out

Glen adds that these photos are for family use only and are not to be shared on Facebook or any social media sites.

And Glen made some cinnamon rolls for us this morning!

Ryan's bday, Henry's bday, and Easter

Another week that seemed like Spring Break--which for us means we were home tackling some projects, playing games, and eating--we're keeping busy.

And it actually is Spring Break for Hannah and Kaellen. They have finished their finals and now have a week to play before the next semester starts up again.

Ryan's 26th birthday was on Monday. Angeles did a really cute project where she got family and friends who couldn't be here to celebrate Ryan's birthday to take a picture holding a letter to make a banner that said, "Happy Birthday Ryan!" It came out looking great. We didn't have cake and ice cream, but we did have muffins in the morning and cookies in the evening. Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Heather, Joy, Henry, and Andrew had the "H" in Happy

Alex had the "A" in Birthday

HAPPY

BIRTH

DAY

RYAN!

When I straightened up my fabric stash, I found some unfinished projects. One project was an apron I had cut out, but hadn't sewn, so it finally got sewn after years of sitting in the bin.

I

this is an apron I sewed a few weeks ago

On Saturday, Kaellen made homemade noodles. We used some of them to make stir-fry for dinner. Yum.

Today is Henry's 5th birthday. We got to video chat with Andrew, Heather, Henry, and Joy for a bit. I love technology! Happy Birthday, Henry!

And today is also Easter. Angeles and Ryan made a fabulous poster that included pictures of family members and a friend who have passed away. Because of Easter and Christ's Atonement, we know we will be with them again. The poster really came out nice. Thanks, Angeles and Ryan.

He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.  
~Matthew 28:6

And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!  
~Doctrine & Covenants 76:22

Andrew's bday, General Conference, etc

It was another week where we rarely left the house (Nevada is under a shelter-in-place order), but still managed to keep plenty busy.

This weekend was General Conference. What a wonderful blessing to live in a time where there is continuing revelation. The 31 talks we listened to in 5 different sessions were wonderful.

The high points being a call for an international day of fasting and prayer on Good Friday this week to deal with the COVID-19 virus, the new Proclamation (on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ),  and the announcement of 8 new temples (including one in Dubai and one in Shanghai!)! Exciting times!

President Russell M. Nelson, our beloved Prophet

We have been baking again and playing games. I also have been cleaning and organizing. I realize many people are going through very difficult times, but as a homebody, my life hasn't seemed to change much (Eric says his hasn't changed at all), and I'm enjoying the slower pace and not having to go anywhere. 

Ryan and Kaellen learned how to play the ancient oriental game of Go this week

I made doughnuts in the air fryer and boy, were they delicious!

the museum's quilt block class for March was sewing alone at home and not the museum

Playing "Quacks" with Andrew and Heather on his 30th bday using Google hangouts! 

one of my projects was organizing my fabric stash

Ashley, the 6 year old that Hannah sometimes babysits, helped me decorate for Easter