Sunday Family Selfie

After our church meeting at home on Sunday, we took a family selfie. I must say, we all seem to be enjoying our Sunday meetings at home. Our testimony meeting was particularly awesome.

Around the Firepit

None of the girls wanted to get smelly next to a real campfire, so we all snuggled up in blankets around the propane fire pit on the deck and played Apples to Apples on Sunday evening. I love how this quarantine is giving us plenty of opportunities to be together as a family. And Spring. I love Spring.

Pro-Kristen-ator

Kristen is a procrastinator. That's a fact. Her most productive time of the day is from 10 pm to midnight. One of the family coined a new name for her—pro-Kristen-ator.

Social Distancing Scavenger Hunt

Chris came up with the awesome idea of a picture scavenger hunt. We originally thought to have a parents against daughters activity, but in the planning, Chris and the girls decided to invite friends and family to participate.

Chris and I headed out on Saturday afternoon shortly after the girls with a 90-minute time limit to see who could find the most items on our list. We had a few other families participate as well. The nice thing was that we didn't all have to do it at the same time but went for our 90 minutes and then posted our scores.

Chalk Art

Kristen finds new activities every day to keep herself occupied. I love the tones she created in her chalk art.

The Smoking Toilet?

Amy walked out of the bathroom and with some alarm said to her dad, "The toilet is smoking!" He took the bait and quickly checked it out.

Granted, Amy is going a lot stir crazy.

Misha, on the other hand, was born for social distancing!

Sunday Walk

The blizzard cleared out quickly and by Sunday, we were all ready for a little fresh air and a Chris-mandated family walk. We drove to Sandstone Park and walked along the pathway. There were other bikers and walkers out for the afternoon, but we kept our distance.

It was nice to just have a change of scenery.

Church at Home

I didn't take pictures of our family sacrament meeting, but it was an amazing experience for me to have Chris bless and pass the sacrament to each of us.

We sang hymns, opened and closed with prayer, and Chris and Kristen gave talks. I gave a short lesson on Come, Follow Me...and even in that, our girls thought it was too long. Still, it was spiritual and uplifting and just what we all needed.

Making Bread

I made bread. I even ground the wheat.

I had hoped to teach my girls some bread making skills, but they were "busy" doing other things. I even tried my hand at cinnamon roll bread. I think it would taste better if it were white bread, since the whole wheat can be a little sour, but it was still pretty tasty.

Fresh bread is the best and there were even a few oohs and aahs as it was pulled out of the oven.

OUR Center

Chris was asked to help out with making a meal at the OUR Center on Saturday. There was only a skeleton crew of helpers coming in and the lunches they made were then handed out to people in the parking lot. Amy and Misha went with Chris to get some service hours in for their county scholarship. Unfortunately, one of the members of the Stake Presidency allowed some missionaries to also come and help out. They were not good about social distancing. Fingers crossed.

Hopefully they will be blessed with good health for their service.

Minecraft

Do you remember when Misha used to spend hours on end playing Minecraft or watching other people play Minecraft? I do. Chris and I even had to limit her time from Friday after school until Saturday evening because it seemed to be taking over her life.

Not sure how much time she spends on it now since she plays with a group of friends, but I bought a membership for Kristen so that the two of them could play together.  Again, not sure how that will work in the long run, but the played "next" to each other for one night!

Happy Spring and a Blizzard

The weather didn't cooperate with welcoming Spring with great fanfare. If being quarantined wasn't enough of a reason to keep us inside for the day, then the blizzard certainly was. I sat at my desk and watched the snow fall throughout the day. (That's a bonus to having my desk face the window now. The drawback is the brightness of the snow that makes me want to wear sunglasses!)

Grocery Shopping

Misha and I left the house early to try and buy milk at King Soopers before it was all gone and before the forecasted blizzard set in. I dropped Misha off at the front door of Soopers and had her run in quickly. Happy to say she was successful in finding two gallons of milk, although she noted that the dairy section was closed off and an employee handed out the milk.

From there, we drove to Walmart to try and find the rest of the items on our grocery list. The snow began to fall in earnest—big, fluffy flakes. We were just glad that we were able to find what we needed. It reminded me of shopping while traveling in the Philippines (not the snow, mind you), and going out early in the morning to get what we needed for the day.

With being quarantined and a blizzard, we were happy to stay inside for the day.

College Classes Online

Misha and Amy both had classes starting online this morning. Misha set up her laptop at the laundry room desk and Amy is taking over a corner of my office.

Tennis with Amy

One of the benefits to tennis is being able to get out of the house and still maintain one's social distance. The weather is hit and miss for early Spring, but Kristen was able to get a little practice in with Amy to keep improving with her skills.

Coming Home

Amy and Misha left Logan around 8 am Tuesday morning.

They called me a little while after leaving and just before reaching the Wyoming border. The freeway was overrun with sheep. They said it took them about ten minutes just to slowly pass through.

They made good time throughout the day, stopping mostly for gas and bathroom breaks, and drove into the driveway honking and announcing their arrival at 4 pm. I was just glad to have them home, though the noise volume at home just went way high!

Thanks to My Brothers

Thanks to my brothers for offering to help my girls move. A special thanks to Brad for risking coronavirus germs to allow Amy to drop off her college gear at his house for the summer. Amy and Brad then drove to Provo to help Misha finish packing up (Misha was able to pack and clean and turn in her work key in one day). Misha's stuff filled both Brad's truck and Amy's car. Both girls will be back in Provo for the Fall and Brad graciously agreed to let them store stuff in his garage for the summer.

Misha had to be completely moved out of her apartment otherwise she would fail her cleaning check and check out. So, back Amy and Misha went to Logan for the night before heading for home on Monday morning.

Mom Quote

This quote is particularly meaningful to me right now:

"A mom is only as happy as her saddest child."

Online Schooling

All three of my girls will have school online for the next little while. We are not sure how this will play out for Kristen with high school, but both Amy and Misha will finish out the semester with online classes. And I get to join the fun with online early morning seminary!

Covid-19

We are currently trying to self-quarantine as much as possible with the current world pandemic of Covid-19 or coronavirus. We talked to our college girls this morning and Chris felt impressed to tell them both to come home and make it happen as quickly as possible. Misha had planned to stay in Utah for the summer to get residency so this throws her plans into a tailspin, but she was so good about being willing to change her life plans for the next year. Plus, getting to see your parents and sister isn't such a bad thing either.

Both girls got packed up today. Amy's car is packed full with the stuff she is leaving over the summer. Amy will drive to Utah County on Monday with a car packed full and drop stuff off at Brad's. Brad is going to help Misha move her stuff and bike to his house. Misha is waiting until her complex office opens at 11:30 tomorrow to see when she can check out. Hopefully since her apartment just had a cleaning check on Saturday, she won't have to do too much cleaning before leaving.

Neither of the girls are sad to be leaving their roommates.

Amy will pick up Misha and they will drive back to Logan to pick up Amy's stuff that she is bringing home and then be on their way Tuesday morning. Our prayer is that they won't come in contact with the virus between now and getting home.

New Family Portrait

In light of the world conditions and coronavirus quarantine, Kristen created a new Kline Family Portrait.

I believe I am the short one one the end. Beside me would be Misha, then Amy, Kristen, and Chris. Sad to say, Amy just got bumped down to shortest child status by a 1/4 of an inch.

Sunday Service at Home

I would be lying if I said I was sad we had to stay quarantined from church on Sunday. It was kind of nice just to spend the day together and to Facetime with our girls. We had a short family council in the morning so that Misha and Amy could start packing. Chris and I and Kristen  regrouped in the afternoon for Come, Follow Me.

I am so grateful for Facetime to keep us connected as a family.

Club

For years, it has been on Chris' bucket list to earn the opportunity to go to Club. First at CA, and then at Splunk. His dream was not realized at CA, so Chris tried to be hopeful, yet cautious when moving to Splunk. He thought that surely he wouldn't qualify and then be selected to go after his first year. Much to his surprise, he earned the privilege of going to Club and learned about it at the February Splunk Kick Off (SKO) meeting. He wasn't expecting to be selected so was not even paying attention to the dates and location.

Club is five to six days of receiving the royal treatment on a luxury vacation for the employee and their spouse. This year's vacation was a cruise in the Adriatic. I was equally surprised when Chris texted me, "We're going to Club!"

We were excited for a couple weeks until the coronavirus curbed our enthusiasm. Chris received an email announcing that Club was cancelled. However, Splunk was still offering the days off as well as some funds for the employee and their spouse to use on their own vacation. Club was originally scheduled for May 6-12. Chris has to take those days off (meaning he can't plan a "Club" trip for another time during the year) or he loses them altogether.

So, if the craziness of the world winds down, we are planning a trip to Hawaii from May 6-12. No doubt it won't be quite the same as Club, but we also won't be surrounded by co-workers who might spend the whole time drinking.

Family Game Night

I imagine we will have more of these family togetherness experiences over the next couple of weeks as we are in quarantine. An upside to the Coronavirus. We enjoyed playing a new game that Kristen had never played before—Rummikub—and an old game that all my girls have enjoyed over the years—Sorry.

Grocery Stores

With all of the craziness with hoarding toilet paper in our current pandemic and quarantine, I have felt strangely peaceful and often wonder to myself, "Do I need to get more stuff from the grocery store?" We do have a decent amount of food storage. Fresh fruits and vegetable as well as dairy and maybe meat will be what we go to the grocery store to buy.

Chris and I went to both King Soopers and Costco before the weekend. Some shelves were bare. Some of the nasty Arrowhead bottled water was all that was available. I guess the good news is that once this is over, people might have more of a food storage mindset. That's a good thing.

Asking for the Help of Angels

I love this thought given by Wendy Watson Nelson:

"As we keep our covenants, we can ask for angels to help us. Literally! It was during Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s April 2010 general conference talk that I first learned this truth. He said, “Ask for angels to help you.” He said it with such clarity, and yet in a manner that implied this was something we all knew. But for me it was an entirely new principle. I wanted to call out, “Wait! Wait! What? You mean I could have been asking for angels to help me all this time?”

"Without intending to sound too dramatic, I can say with all candor that Elder Holland’s six words changed my life. “Ask for angels to help you.” That counsel changed my prayers, changed my understanding of the very real help from heaven that is always available to us as we keep our covenants. I started to ask for assistance from those on the other side of the veil from that moment on. Now I’m not talking about praying for fantasy angels with wings to magically fairy-dust our problems away. I’m not talking about praying to angels. I’m talking about praying to your Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for those on the other side to be “dispatched” (Elder Holland’s word) to assist you. Perhaps a loved one or two could be sent to help you with whatever you need.

"Can you imagine the effort it took those angels who pushed from the rear of handcarts as they helped the pioneers over the steep, snowy, windy, freezing, jagged terrain of Rocky Ridge? If angels can manage that, they can certainly help you and me over our present Rocky Ridges. We know the Lord gets His work done with the help of His angels. So could you use a little more help in your life? If so, keep your covenants with more exactness than ever before. And then ask for angels to help you with whatever you need. Or ask for them to be dispatched to help those you love. Does your child need help? Is your husband in trouble? Does your aunt need comfort? Does your best friend need direction? Ask for angels to be assigned to help them. As a covenant-keeping woman, you can do just that!"

Wendy Watson Nelson Women's Conference Talk

New Desk Installed

I love my new desk and the look of my office. Chris says it is my birthday and Christmas and birthday and Christmas. It took three days for Allen and Will to complete the install. Allen was here all three days and was happy to do the staging in the garage. It would have been freezing cold to be outside.

Initial set up.

Will came to help on Tuesday when they installed the countertop and the upper cabinets.

Checking for monitor placement so that Allen knew where to drill for cord grommet holes.

And finally it was done. I was excited to get to organizing my space...the mess before the calm.

I don't like drilling holes in the walls for fear of making a mistake, but I did drill to holes for anchors to hold up my magnet board.

I had an appointment to go to one afternoon and before leaving I told Allen that I was going and that Chris would be in the basement. He suddenly noticed my two different shoes and probably thought I was highly scatter-brained. I assured him it was on purpose and that I would change to matching shoes before leaving the house.

When everything was finally done, Allen asked if he could take a picture of my metal France print as he had walked past it and admired it for the past three days.

Tennis

Kristen's stint on the tennis team started off with some warm sunny days for practice and drew quickly to a halt after her first tennis match. Coronavirus. I'm actually surprised they allowed them to hold the match at all, but the good news? She and her partner, Callie, won 7 to 5. Now school and all activities are canceled until April 6. Not sure if they will try to cram two months of tennis season into one month.

Kristen's first match was so cold. She wore her puffy jacket, gloves, and a hat. Can't imagine it was all that easy to swing a racket with a gloved hand, but the girls all managed.

Seminary Lesson - What's It Worth?

"Repentance...is among the most hopeful and encouraging—and yes, most peaceful—words in the gospel vocabulary." ~Jeffery R. Holland

In an attempt to teach my seminary students that they are each priceless and of infinite worth, that they are worth the sacrifice that Heavenly Father made of His Son and that Jesus Christ made for each one of us, I created a game titled, "What's It Worth?" It included crazy and expensive items for sale on Amazon. I asked three students to come to the front of the classroom, handed each of them a small whiteboard, and then displayed an item on the tv. Each student had to give their best guess of what the item was worth.

The student guessing the closest dollar amount stayed for the next round and two new students came up to challenge. If all three students guessed an amount too high, they were all given another guess.

Item #1 Liquid Cooled Commercial Generator $33,000

Item #2 Skee Ball Game  $5,975



Item #3 Bouncy Castle $2,100



Item #4 Diamond Ring - 18k Gold with 26 Diamonds $30,400



Item #5 Four Signed Mickey Mantle Baseball Cards $81,819



Item #6 2750 Gallons of Structural 3M Plastic Adhesive $87,012.08



Item #7 Six-Person Atera Hot Tub $16,700



Item #8 Lombardi Trophy Signed by Eli Manning $2,519



Item #9 Beatles Jukebox with 70 Vinyl Records and Bluetooth $14,000



Item #10 9x9 Garden Shed $6,600



Item #11 Graham Wristwatch with 48 diamonds, 18k white gold, and blue sapphire $161,100



Item #12 Babe Ruth Signed Baseball Bat $114,675.81



For the final item, I had the student who won the final round look at one last picture on my phone. I selected the camera app and made it so that the student was looking at themself when I held it up and then I asked, "What is this one worth?" After all of the fun of the game, it was a rather poignant ending as I allowed the rest of the students to look into the camera. The worth of an item is what someone else is willing to pay for it. Each of us is worth the price Christ paid.

New Desk

My birthday present is a new desk for my office. Thus, we are giving away the desk that I have been using for the past fifteen plus years. Chris and I initially bought it as a graduation present for him when he finished BYU. With moves and another new desk for him, this desk became mine and I have used it plenty.

This is my temporary "office" for the week. I think I will become spoiled by the view! The window lets in a lot of light in the morning and the sunshine is rather brilliant, but I like to watch the lake and the river throughout the day.