Pre-Pandemic, Early March 2020

At the beginning of March, mere days prior to the pandemic that shook up our end of the world, we were blissfully unaware of how life as we knew it would be completely altered very quickly. I'm going to blog about March in two posts, because after the pandemic, life changed dramatically, but everything seemed to go on as normal right before it.

As March began, my biggest concerns were stresses associated with Dr. Seuss week at school (which I was in charge of), the twins' rehearsal and play schedule, and Josh's grandpa's funeral. And my biggest complaint at the time was that winter wasn't receding quick enough! I gotta say...I miss these days where life wasn't totally controlled by the government, fear wasn't abound in communities, and things felt "normal".

As of March 1, the snow was still stacked high in front of our house!

As of March 1, the snow piles still lined our driveway

and it looked as if spring may never arrive!

March 4 at the golf course--the untouched snow was still

about a foot deep!

I know this is random...but I thought it note-worthy to include. One of the items on my "40 Things To Do" list is to try a new drink. I passed off that item at the beginning of March. There's a new flavor of Dr. Pepper on the market, and I have really enjoyed it! It's mixed with Cream Soda, which is another drink I like--and the two together is a winner! I have introduced Josh, Kanyon, and my friend Val to it, too! If you haven't tried it, you should--before it disappears! (I swear every time I get hooked on a new drink, it's no longer available!)

For the second year in a row, I was the chairperson for the Dr. Seuss Birthday/Read Across America week at Terreton Elementary. The event is always the first week of March, since Dr. Seuss' birthday was March 2. I started coming up with my ideas for this year shortly after last year's event ended. (FYI: This is the only place I really record things, so the next little bit may bore you; it's all my notes from this year's event just for future reference.)
THEME: The theme I picked this time was the title of one of his Beginner Books: "A Great Day for UP!". I thought it went along nicely with the school's PBIS theme of RISE UP.
GOAL: The goal for this year was for students to read 6,000 books in a week. Last year, we read 5200 books in a week, and I thought we could push ourselves and surpass it. I did the math, and if every student in grades K-5 read just 5 books each day (at home or at school), we would meet the goal!
REWARDS: I wanted to reward students at all different levels throughout the week, so I met with the PTO President several weeks before the event to go over all my ideas, which she gladly supported and funded the prizes. Individuals received small prizes after they read benchmark totals of 10, 20, and 30 to motivate them to read (a sticker for 10, a Dr. Seuss bookmark for 20, and a Dr. Seuss big eraser for 30), a Dr. Seuss book quote was read daily over the P.A. system and the first 10 students to identify the book received a free book (to encourage them to keep reading!), the top reader in each grade received a $5 credit on the next book order, the class with the most read books at the end of the week received a pizza party, the whole would get to watch a Dr. Seuss movie together and eat popcorn if we met our 6,000 book goal, and random raffle winners were drawn throughout the week to receive free books, too!
ASSEMBLY: I did the kick-off assembly the last day of school in February to pump up the kids for what was coming the next week! I had 2 high school superstar students come and talk to the students about how books have impacted their life, I showed a video of a guy singing the book "A Great Day for UP" (it was really catchy!), and I went over all the rules, guidelines, goals, and prizes for the week. Essentially, the way it worked was that every student would receive a paper with a big arrow going UP on the front, and on the back, they were to list every book they read. After they turned in the page of 10 books to their teacher, they would get a prize, their paper would be attached to the "progress" wall in the school, and they would get their next sheet to keep reading/writing. The assembly ended with the first raffle drawing of 10 winners who each picked out a free book. It went exactly like I'd hoped: it only lasted 30 minutes, and the students were excited!
DECORATIONS: There's a long wall without any bulletin boards right by the back door of the school where the students enter/exit multiple times a day for getting on/off the bus, and going to/from recess and lunch, so it's the perfect wall to put things for everyone to see. I measured it out and figured out exactly how big to make the lines so that as students' forms were hung up, they would know how many they'd read as a school, and how much further they needed to go to reach their goal by Friday (I posted big numbers on one end to mark their progress). I put a green layer at the bottom to represent grass, light blue in the middle for sky, and white at the top for clouds, and then hung little balloons and clouds from the ceiling as well. I liked the finished product! (Thankfully, I had one mom and another teacher help me put up the wall--and even so, it took us over 3 hours!! There was a LOT of measuring and taping involved on those 40' long strips! Sadly, after all that time we spent putting it up, one of the layers fell down over the weekend. Some junior high kids helped put it back up for me on Monday, but it wasn't aligned right and didn't look the same during the actual competition week). This wall was such a great visual for the students! They liked finding their reading logs on it, and it provided a math connection, too!
ACTIVITIES: We had dress-up days all week long (I used alliteration to help me come up with the dress-up ideas): Messy Hair Monday (crazy hair), Top Hat Tuesday (favorite hat), Wacky Spirit Wednesday (wacky socks & PTO popcorn shirt), Wild Thing Thursday (animal print), and Favorite Character Friday (Dr. Seuss character). I also organized adult and high school readers to come to the school to read daily. Some classes got as many 4 readers that week (especially the primary grades), but every class had at least one! It was a lot of work to organize, but I felt that it was important!
RESULTS: Amazingly, by the end of the week, we surpassed our school goal! The students read 8,250 books!!! (BTW, chapter books are counted differently: each chapter can count as a book as long as it's 10 pages--that way, the more mature readers can compete with the beginner readers.) Mr. Riding's 5th grade class won the pizza party, 80 students received free books throughout the week (between the raffles and the daily trivia), and the school earned the movie party to see "Horton Hears a Who" in the coming weeks! It was a great week for UP!

The wall after we finished putting it all up (the first time!)

This is what the front/back of the reading logs looked like. Every class K-5

was assigned their own color, so that as the logs were added to the wall,

it would look more colorful (just as Dr. Seuss' books are!). 

My only regret from that week is I wish I had outlined the arrow in a bold marker

so that it was darker, to be more visible from a distance on the wall. I had envisioned

all these arrows pointing UP, but the outline was so narrow that you couldn't tell.

I realized my mistake after already making all the color copies for all the teachers. :(

Crazy hair day with my teaching partner Mrs. Peters.

Top Hat Tuesday--I couldn't decide between my new king hat I got at the

Shakespeare Festival this summer, or my jester hat from New Orleans--

so I wore each of them half of the day!

Progress by the end of Tuesday (note how the top 2 numbers are off--the white

row was what fell down over the weekend and some students helped put it back

up. It was off centered for several days before I finally re-affixed the numbers

to appease my OCD!!)

Just a few of the guest readers...

Progress by the end of Wednesday!

Wild Thing Thursday!

Progress by the end of Thursday--it was at this point I knew we'd make it!

Favorite Character Friday--see how you can't really see the arrows on those papers?

At least they were colorful though, right?! Ugh...it will be the mistake that haunts me!

I never got a photo of the progress wall totally full, because during last recess on Friday, I was busy collecting/tabulating all the teacher's recording sheets, awarding the last book quote trivia contest winners, and writing down all the winners so that I could announce it all over the P.A. system at the end of the day. And as soon as school got out, I left to go to Montana with Josh for his grandpa's funeral, and never had a chance to even go down that hall for a photo op! I thought I would do it on Monday when I got back, but half the stuff on the wall fell down over the weekend, so it all got taken down on Monday morning, so sadly that didn't happen either! I was elated that the week was such a success, but also relieved when it ended because it had been such an involved, stressful time for me--not only that week, but the weeks leading up to it, getting all the preparations done for it, too! I think I'm handing over the reigns on this one...I've loved doing it, and I'm passionate about Dr. Seuss week, but it's time for someone else's turn! 

Josh's last living grandfather, Grandpa Parsons, passed away in the early morning hours of February 28 (Josh called and told me as I was putting up the large banner on the school wall). Grandpa had been sick, and had gone downhill pretty quickly, and we knew his time was coming to an end. Josh and I drove up to Great Falls on Friday, March 6. As soon as we got there, we went straight to the church so that I could practice singing the song for the funeral while Gideon accompanied me. We ran through it a few times, but I was so exhausted, that I knew any additional practice that night wouldn't bring any improvement, so we decided we'd run through it again the following morning before the funeral. We checked into the hotel, unloaded our bags, and drove to Grandma's house to visit her. We were there for over an hour. Ed & Kathy and Gideon & Malachi were there for a while, and then they left and Tiffany & Scott were there with Josh & I, cousin Koryn, and family friend Denise.  We hadn't seen grandma for a couple of years--the last time Josh and I were there was in 2017. We actually had plans to go see them last summer, but that fell through, so we planned on taking the family to visit Grandma and Grandpa this summer instead. Grandma looked pretty good, and it was nice to talk to her for a while before we all left to get some sleep.

We went to the church on Saturday morning. I practiced the song with Gideon (and felt MUCH better about it--sleep is so good for me!), and we took some family pictures. I played the prelude while Tiffany was with the family for the family prayer, and then she took over. It was probably the most poorly-attended funeral I have ever been to! I think there were maybe 30 people total there, including our family! Despite the low attendance, the service was truly wonderful. Kathy gave a well-written, thought-provoking, funny and yet spiritual life sketch. I sang "Red River Valley" per Grandma's request. Denise gave a really nice talk about her memories with Grandpa & Grandma, the Bishop gave some good remarks, and then Gideon & Malachi closed with a gorgeous duet on the piano and organ of "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again". Josh said a heartfelt closing prayer.

Cousin Koryn, Gideon, Malachi, Ed, Kathy, Grandma, 

Tiffany, Scott, me, Josh, and family friend Denise in front of Grandpa's casket.

 

We ate in the church gym after the funeral with some of the ward members, several of which told me how much they loved the song I'd performed, but hadn't heard it in such a long time. We reminisced as we ate, and Josh told several memories about his experiences with Grandpa when he was growing up. He liked riding Grandpa's big horse "Gypsy", he remembers going fishing with Grandpa to Holter Lake and having to leave while it was still dark out, he & Tiffany talked about the "secret" room in the basement with Grandpa's hunting supplies that was forbidden for anyone to enter except Grandpa. He recalled how his grandpa was "larger than life", mysterious, and was very manly. He always liked the smell of Grandpa's pipe, and was grateful to be introduced by Grandpa to how real steak should be cooked: his first juicy, medium-rare steak was cooked by Grandpa, and that influenced how he likes and cooks steak still today. After lunch, we headed to Grandma's house to do some cleaning out of Grandpa's stuff in the basement for a couple hours before Josh & I left to drive home. We stopped for dinner in Dillon at a fun place called "Sparky's Garage", and then spent the night in Mud Lake, before going home to Salmon on Sunday morning. Grandpa's burial was on Monday in the Helena cemetery, but I needed to go back to work, so we didn't stay all weekend like Ed & Kathy.

It's hard to see, but there's a seating booth in the back of this

truck inside the Sparky's Garage restaurant. We had never been there

before, but it's such a cool place! And the food was outstanding, too! 

Micah was part of the Salmon Jr./Sr. High School's musical production of "Beauty and the Beast" in March. The auditions were back in October, and he's been rehearsing since November. In mid-February, Jonah started going to the rehearsals as well since he decided to be part of the backstage crew. I was so happy they were part of the production! I've always wanted my kids to be involved in drama like I was in high school! Since Salmon doesn't have an auditorium, the students perform in a make-shift theater above the Oddfellow's Hall that the drama department has invested in and built up the past several years. It only seats about 110 people, so in order to make a profit, and have the interested community be able to watch the show, they originally scheduled 10 performances over the course of 2 weeks beginning the first week in March. This year's cast was SO big, and they sold out of tickets so quickly in advance, that they also added two matinee showings on the Saturdays, bringing the total to 12 shows in 2 weeks! It was a marathon three weeks: one week of long days doing technical and dress rehearsals after school, and two weeks of shows! The show was absolutely incredible! Thankfully, Josh and I were able to go see it twice: on opening night, and the night before their final show. The costumes were absolutely amazing, the music was awesome, the set was awe-inspiring, and the actors did a great job! Micah was the "egg man" as well as part of the chorus in several scenes. He had a good experience, and enjoyed being part of the process. Jonah liked being on the backstage crew, too! I am so proud of them both! 

 

There were parents that signed up to feed the cast & crew every single day for the tech rehearsals and performances. Josh and I served the kids on the night of the final show--we were there as the kids were taking photos in between their matinee and evening performance. There were 2 other moms who also signed up to help with the meal, and we decided on a Chinese-inspired menu. 2 of us cooked rice (including me--thankfully, I cooked a TON of it, because we used it all!). I made homemade meatballs for the first time in my life--about 75 of them, and slowcooked them in a homemade sweet & sour sauce. Another mom did stir-fry chicken with vegetables, and the other mom did a seasoned pulled-pork. Josh and I helped serve the kids and adults for over an hour! I had stressed if it was going to be enough, because I had barely talked to the other two moms in advance about what we were each bringing. I also stressed because I'd never made meatballs or used the recipe for the sauce before, but it all worked out, and I was grateful in the end that I'd made as much as I had, and apparently my meatballs were a hit, because they were the first to disappear!

One of the items on my list of "40 Things to do when I'm 40" was to watch a Broadway play. The Broadway show "Dear Evan Hansen" toured to SLC this year, and I got tickets with my friend Heather to go watch it in March. Our tickets were for Tuesday, March 10. I left school early that afternoon, drove to Salt Lake, and met Heather at the restaurant Brio at City Creek. Heather and I get along so well! Even though it had been over 6 months since we last saw each other, we started right back up where we left off. I like going to shows with her! The restaurant was right across the street from the Eccles Theater, so we walked over when we were done eating. I'd never been to this theater before. It was absolutely stunning and SO beautiful inside! We had fantastic seats on the bottom level, in the center. The play was so good! I was only vaguely aware of the storyline, and was taken aback by the plot. The acting was so believable, and there were lots of tears in the audience. It was a very moving play. After the play ended, Heather and I went to the "meet the cast" event that was in the front of the auditorium; it was a question-and-answer session that Heather says they only do one night per tour--I'm glad we were there that night! I left after 10:30, and drove to Amanda & Ryan's house in Ogden where I spent the night. They were kind to let me--especially since I didn't get there until so late! We chatted and laughed for a bit, and went to bed around 1am. I got up the next morning and had to leave by 9 to make it back to school to teach that afternoon (I only took the morning off). I'm glad we had tickets when we did--2 days later, the remainder of the tour for "Dear Evan Hansen" was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. Also, I'm glad that I got to see Amanda and Ryan when I did too--I didn't see them again for over 2 months since they were under quarantine for the same reason.

Sunday the 15th was a snowy day. I was so tired of the snow! And that wasn't even the last time it happened, unfortunately! I'm grateful for a cozy warm house to weather out the storms in! Since the boys were done with the play, I thought it would be nice to have some quality family time together. I told everyone to pick a game, and we played all of them for several hours that afternoon. I recorded who won each game to determine the "overall" winners. I love playing games! And I love spending time with my family! It was a nice afternoon that I really enjoyed!

See the falling snow?