2020 Has Been a Doozy

 Well hello there! Long time no see. Faith is about to turn 3 in 3 days and I can't believe it. She is the most precocious, mischievous, adorable, funny little girl we've ever known. And we love her dearly. Since she was in my tummy, causing all kinds of problems by doing acrobatics and turning breech, she's had a mind and will of her own. She came on her terms, in her own way into this world. We were smitten with her, and have been ever since, even though she also makes us want to pull our hair out at times.

 Just last week, she got into Cami's bright pink lip gloss, smeared it all over her face, clothes, hands, Cami and Lexi's beds, carpet, etc. It was a messy disaster, and when I showed her a picture of her red lipstick face later, I said that she was very naughty, very messy....and she said, "And very scary!" At "quiet time", since she dropped her naps about the time she turned 2, which was a sad sad day, we have to put zip up jammies on backwards. Otherwise, she takes off her clothes or jammies, takes off her poopy diaper, and tries to change it herself, or smears it all over books and toys and the floor. Ohhhh living with Faith is an adventure for sure. But Cami and Lexi are the greatest big sisters, and love their little sister so much and are huge helpers.

Aside from this being the year of the terrible twos, 2020 was like no other year in history for the whole world. In March, a global pandemic was declared, and everyone was put on lockdown. The corona virus, Covid 19, was born in China and rapidly spread around the world. Schools, churches, and businesses were shut down. Cami and Lexi finished 2nd and 5th grades from home on their computers from March through the end of May. We also had an earthquake on March 18 with magnitude 7,that shook all of us in Utah and gave us power outages and tons of aftershocks.

On September 7th, we went to bed knowing that a huge windstorm was supposed to hit us overnight, True to 2020 form, it swept through with gusts up to 100 mph, ripped out trees, fences, knocked out power, and destroyed much of Farmington's landscapes. It took a long time to clean up and repair everything after that storm, but it was nice to see how everyone came together to do that.

There were racial protests for Black Lives Matter, when the death of George Floyd sparked outrage across the nation. Rallies and protests in the streets of Salt Lake left people injured, police cars overturned and burned, graffiti on the State Capital, and businesses shut down. Over time, things became a little better, and we all realized what racism really means, and what white privilege really means.

This whole year has also been overtaken by the presidential election, which took place in November, and caused a great division between everyone in our country. Trump vs. Biden was declared the most controversial and dividing election of all time in the U.S. Biden won, but we haven't heard the last of Trump, and I don't think he'll step down as president peacefully.

The virus is still spreading rampantly, and we just pray every night that it won't reach our family. Cami and Lexi were able to start going to school in person 2 days a week this year, and then increased to 4 days a week. They wear masks all day at school, and everyone wears masks in public indoors at all times. It is a weird, weird, time, and we're just waiting for everyone to be able to get the vaccine so that life can return a little bit to more normal.

Christmas is different this year, but still wonderful. We're celebrating as a family, and will get together with the Yospes at a movie theater in our masks so that we can see everyone and exchange gifts. My parents left on their mission to Adam ondi Ahman in March, right before Covid hit, and have had an amazing year serving. Mom got her knee surgery last month and is doing great. We got to go on a big long road trip in October to South Dakota, then down to Missouri to visit Nathan's family, and my parents. It was one of my favorite vacations, even during a pandemic and crazy year. We also went to Island Park and enjoyed a week at the Yospe Cabin in August, which was wonderful and relaxing and full of adventure and Yellowstone.

So 2020 definitely hasn't all been bad. My health, for one, has been better than it has for a long time. I got my PICC line out in January, right before we left to go on a cruise with ALL the Yospes to Mexico. It was an awesome cruise, and I felt good the entire time and was finally able to eat food like a normal person. Since starting Cyclosporine last October, over a year ago, my health has been much better and I've been able to tolerate food and not get bloated and sick. It's been such a blessing that my health turned around right before Covid hit, and I no longer needed TPN, home health nurse visits, frequent doctor visits, etc.

It's also been good for our family to spend so much time together, establish daily family prayer kneeling as a family before bed, and find new hobbies like biking and hiking as a family. It made us slow down, enjoy nature, find creative things to do with our time at home, and appreciate the good things in life. Heavenly Father and our living prophet, President Nelson, knew 2020 was going to be a doozy, and prepared us ahead of time. We learned to have Come Follow Me lessons at home and learn the Gospel as a family. We held church and sacrament at home pretty much this whole year. We have food storage and emergency preparation items for the times that we needed them this year. We've been blessed that Jake kept his job, because hundreds of people were laid off from his company. The economy took a huge hit this year, and it will probably have an effect for a long time. 

But we're alive and healthy and ready to celebrate Christmas and a little feisty girl turning 3.