... and then there was an Earthquake!

So life has been a bit crazy March of 2020.  There's been a pandemic going on. Sports, stores and schools had been shut down. People have been asked to stay at home. Social Distancing. Life has definitely been different.

... and then, Wednesday, March 18, the ground started shaking too! Gray was at work, as was Landon. Cal and Keaton were together on the road. Normally, I would have been leaving the house taking Colton to school, but with the school closure, we (Colton, Cooper and I) were still in bed at 7:09, when the earthquake hit. It was a 5.7 shaker, and it woke us up, shook us up!

I guess there had been an earthquake back in 2009 - but it was in Southern Utah, and we didn't really feel it here. There had also been a small one in 2014, and I do remember it (Easter and an Earthquake). This was quite a bit bigger, but still not one that really caused any injuries or damage (there was some water damage at the airport, one school had some bricks falling). I think while having the double disaster (pandemic AND earthquake) was a little much for people to handle, it was actually good timing in a way. So many families were together, rather than parents at work, kids at school. That was a comfort. People had already stocked up on supplies ... although this caused another rush of panic shopping!

 ... checking the house, there were a few things that had fallen off walls and shelves. The clock in the kitchen, the decor in the bathroom, and the biggest mess was the pantry, were my container of tapioca flour had fallen. It actually wasn't as bad as it could have been ... it fell perfectly onto it's top, keeping the lid on, with just a bit of the flour poofing out.

... and then, there were the aftershocks! Lots of them were little. Things we probably wouldn't have even noticed except we were all on edge. A slight rattle of a window. Glasses clinking. Feeling that small shake. Really similar to having a helicopter fly over the house, or when someone slams the door. There was one aftershock that was pretty big a couple hours after. 4.5.  Later in the day, there was another big one ... it just registered 4.6, but it felt bigger to me! Gray had come home and had laid down and it got him out of bed!

Poor Oreo ... he went UNDER the bed in Cooper's room and did NOT come out for hours and hours. 15+ hours. I called to him, pushed some food and water to him. I couldn't imagine that he'd gotten hurt (he wouldn't have been in the pantry when the flour fell, and that was the heaviest things that came down) so we figured he was just being a scaredy cat. Joy had hidden until the bed too, but didn't stay under for very long. I was relieved when Oreo finally came out again, but he remained super jumpy for days. And the aftershocks continued for days.

Keaton and Cal had been on the freeway driving to work. The radio went out, but other than the usual bumps in the road, they didn't really feel anything different. They were a little further South, and didn't feel the aftershocks either. Finally on Sunday, there was a 4.0 aftershock, and both boys got to feel a little of the earthquake experience.

Yes ... I now have an "earthquake app" on my phone. Although everyone was already in "disaster" mode, we'd been assured that water was fine (after there had been an initial rush on bottled water) and not something to worry about ... with the pandemic anyway. An earthquake is another matter. A bigger earthquake would very likely affect water! 

So, the earthquake is over. For now anyway. Who knows where there will be another. 

The pandemic is still going and growing ...

February 2020

February 2020 ... we had an extra day (leap year), palindrome day (02022020), Valentines Day, Presidents Day, a big snowstorm/snow day, the Superbowl, the Oscars, and Callahan's birthday.

Grayson had a weekend (really just Friday/Saturday) to play in his Razor on the red rocks with some work buddies. This is his latest thing, so he has several little outings coming up in St. George and Moab.  He also did a little shooting with Cooper (bb gun in the backyard, hitting cans) and with Landon (at TNT gun lanes). 

Landon and Sol (and Cooper) went to a lot of movies this past year, so the Oscar race was of some interest to them. Landon and Sol went all out and made a big board with their predictions.  Landon and Sol moved into their house as February started. Gray and I, and the two little boys went out to help and it was pretty easy to get it all done (Landon's friend Tyler and Sol's brother were helping as well). 

Callahan's foot is feeling better ... he hates the boot! We got him a second boot, as he gets it SO dirty at work. So he has a work boot, and an everyday boot. He had a doctor's checkup and it's healing, but is still supposed to wear the boot for a few more weeks. No basketball. Cal had a birthday - 21 years old. I mentioned last month that he became a crew leader at work. Picture of cute Cal and the van in the collage above. Gray had him replace the kitchen lights cans (one of them had gone out). Nice to have an electrician in the family!

Keaton has been playing quite a bit of basketball. He has several different groups that he gets together with. Not real games, just pickup ball. He is playing "churchball" though ... those games can get heated. He got a toe smashed and ended up losing the nail. He's been interested in learning to cook and trying new foods, so when I got an offer of a free box from Hello Fresh, I claimed it. Three meals in it ... but Keaton is SO busy with school/work/basketball that finding a night when he had time to make a meal, or even just eat it, was tough. It was an interesting trial, but not something we'd do if we had to pay for it (it's a little pricey). 

Keaton and Colton got the day off for the "Snow Day" ... but Cooper sighed "no snow day for me" ... no reason he couldn't continue on as usual with his online school! I've been pretty involved in his day to day, helping with English, World Civ and even Chemistry. I'm not much help with Math or Spanish though.  Coop is getting pretty shaggy ... although Cal and Colton have also switched to slightly longer hairstyles, Cooper has the longest hair a Blackham boy has ever had. 

Colton has stayed busy with basketball. His West Jordan Jags are finishing up their season. They were playing in two leagues (a Saturday league and a Thursday night league). The Saturday one wrapped up ... they got eliminated in the semi-finals and Colton took that loss hard. They have the championship game for the Thursday league coming up this week. He also supported the high school team, cheering them on at all the games. I even checked him out of school to go see them get beat in the state quarterfinals ;) (the team that beat/eliminated West Jordan was the one that took first place). Colton's old team (The Wolves) are getting back together to play Spring and Summer, so the balling will not be stopping any time soon. 

Landon and Sol are good at keeping everyone involved in games. There was some Monopoly. They love Jackbox. Cooper has been enjoying some Mario mini-games (sadly he seems to have lost interest in RingFit, which he'd done all January).  "The Great Dalmudi" is a family favorite (card game) and it made a comeback this month. I did pretty well the time I joined in (yes ... I was the Great Dalmudi). SET (patterns/matching) was one we got out again too. 

Here's the One Second Everyday video recap for February.

So that was our February. On to March ...