This first paragraph is a rant about Covid. If you are triggered by such things, just skip ahead. 🙂
Just as we were getting settled into another pandemic school year, the kids were masked and fully vaccinated, and life seemed like it might return to some kind of normalcy, we started hearing rumors about a little thing called Omicron. It first hit the news around the time my parents visited 
in November, but we made it to Christmas break relatively unscathed here in Utah. Then the wave hit. The following graphic is pretty much a representation of my anxiety, frustration, and anger levels from late December through early March. To make matters worse, the emergency mask mandate put in place to try to help the situation was again repealed by Utah’s politicians. It was maddening as months earlier the same politicians had put rules into effect allowing the counties to mandate masks if certain criteria were met then upon the criteria being met, decided to change the criteria. That’s honestly been the story of the entire pandemic, the powers that be changing the criteria to match their desired outcome rather than making decisions based on protecting the health the people they serve. It is eye opening to realize the county health department you think is in charge of protecting your health, gets its decisions repealed by a bunch of suits without any kind of health education. The pandemic has been hard on me in a lot of ways, but I’m not sure I’ll ever fully regain my faith in humanity after watching people I once believed to be intelligent, well educated folks, go off the deep end in conspiracy land. Omicron was like the nail in the coffin of my sense of normalcy. On the day the mask mandate was to be repealed (affecting my kids at school), I spent the afternoon picking up trash around the school grounds and having a good cry. It was a small gesture to try to make my immediate surroundings seem like a better place in a world that seemed to be going off the rails. Looking back, we survived Omicron (the first wave) and did have a fairly normal spring (even after Covid came to our house) but January-February was definitely a low point for me personally. End rant.
Let’s talk about January. I turned 40! Woot Woot! In hindsight I either had a massive anxiety attack, or a slight stomach bug from the kids, but for a few days I wasn’t having the greatest of birthdays. I tried not to let it stop me though! I decided for 4 decades, I would celebrate for 4 days. I went to one of my favorite plant shops (Cactus & Tropicals) which is always a nice place to browse mid-winter when it seems like spring is a far away wish. I had some birthday Starbucks. Baked myself a chocolate cheesecake. Pierced my nose. Whaaaat?? That’s right, I’ve wanted to pierce my nose since I was 20, and 20 years later finally got it accomplished. Actually in college my mom told me if I had enough money to pierce my nose, I must not need her help paying for tuition. (She doesn’t remember this discussion). Now I’m a grown up and can do what I want though right? 😉 I was also spoiled with gifts from my SIL who put together quite a nice little turning 40 kit, including support socks and Werther’s candies, among other things. Her turn is coming.
Late Omicron surge in February, Covid finally found its way to our house. William went on a ski field trip Wednesday the 8th. Thursday morning he woke up a bit scratchy/stuffy but a rapid test was negative so I figured it was just from the cold dry air. Friday was a home learning day and William had a low grade fever and threw a positive on a home rapid test that afternoon. In all honesty, William has had many colds that were worse for him than Covid was. We spent the next 10 days testing the heck out of the household (rapid and PCRs) and the only other positive test that turned up was Christopher, who was essentially asymptomatic but does share a room with William. Upon finding out he was positive Christopher proceeded to bound down the basement stairs to where William was quarantined and happily announce “Guess who’s got Covid??”. I’ve never seen a kid so excited to be sick. We tried our best to mask and quarantine for William’s first 5 days and then more or less gave up around the house. Thankfully those are the only 2 positive cases we’ve had to date and they were both VERY mild without lingering symptoms.
March began the season of spring projects and birthdays. First–the birthdays. William turned 10 on March 18th, followed by Theo turning 2 on March 20th, and Andrew turning 6 on March 22nd. Covid cases had fallen precipitously so we did have an actual birthday party for all the boys and their friends at Get Air Trampoline Park late March. The birthday cake this year was trampoline themed. It was fun to try my hand at making something a bit different, and it is the first time I’ve gotten to use purple fondant on any one of the boys’ birthday cakes. The birthday gifts this year were a new bike for William, a hammock for Andrew, and a Razor scooter for Christopher. April brought us Christopher’s birthday and a family party to celebrate spring birthdays. It was the first time I’ve seen some of Jason’s cousins in 2 years! It was great having everyone together again.
  
  
Spring also brought back the boys playing soccer for the first time in 2 years. We started up with the West Jordan Rec Soccer League which is HUGE compared to the Rec Center League we played with previously (their website says 1500 players on 110 teams). I think it’s safe to say the boys had fun. None of them will be a soccer star, but each of them benefits in some ways by getting out of their comfort zone. Andrew really looked forward to practice and games. Christopher was a lot more focused than he has previously been playing soccer, and by the end of the season William was starting to “get it” and promised me he’d play at least 1 more season. The only thing I won’t miss now that the season is over are early and cold Saturday mornings at the soccer complex. Summer Saturdays will be for sleeping in.
     
Spring on Olympus Street also brought the start of quite a few different projects. We even finished a few of them! I had decided in February I wanted to redo the front flowerbed under our window. I’ve never really loved it or had a plan for it, and the hostas I planted years back had too much competition from the giant Linden trees in our front yard. I stumbled across some tiered garden beds from VegoGarden.com and decided they would be just the ticket. We also planned to replace several garden boxes out back. After building them with scrap materials about 8 years ago we decided to go with a better quality upgrade as well as expand our garden space. In the midst of both of these projects being in process, we decided this spring would be the year we removed the 4 large pine trees in the back yard. They had lost a few branches during a winter storm, were a constant mess, and shaded an area of the yard where we wanted to expand the garden, so it was time for them to go. Upon removing the trees the backyard felt really open on that side and I convinced Jason we could build a fence along the north side of our yard with some reclaimed fencing I found on KSL. That project is still in process but we should have a more fully fenced and private backyard by the end of June.
 
This spring has been sort of cold and dry in Utah. We had a late frost that made our tomatoes look rather sickly but I’m sure they will recover. I built them some new tomato cages out of cattle panels to encourage their growth. We also started strawberries and raspberries this spring, and a melon and pumpkin are almost ready to stop wearing their winter coats (walls-o-water). My sweet corn germinated inside but went out into the garden today before it got too big and unruly. With new garden bed space this year, I decided to try my hand at growing Dahlias again and grabbed a cheap $20 assorted bag from Costco. I got those planted out in one bed and after telling my dad about it he shipped me 3 more bulbs to try from his assortment in WI. I planted those out in a 2nd garden bed along with some giant sunflowers to fill in the remaining space. Just as those got going, I received a box of more Dahlia bulbs from my SIL in Iowa, who has already expanded her garden this year to have enough space to grow both flowers and vegetables. I stuck those in here there and everywhere. If they all work out I should have a beautiful assortment of flowers. Stay tuned!
We recently ended out the school year and have officially reached summer break. Andrew graduated kindergarten. The summary of his final report card may as well say “Achieved all academic goals while being a dick”. He was a bit of a challenge in kindergarten. Christopher wrapped up the year being given a CEO award (Chief Example to Others) for the selected trait in May: Growth. We were very proud of him as he has gained some emotional maturity this year and growth was a fitting trait to honor him for. William and Christopher both finished out the year with the annual dual immersion dance performance. Christopher danced, and although William was too shy to dance this year, he did an excellent job in presenting the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the show. Proud of all of them. Bring on summer vacation!
  
 
