This is such a crazy time right now, I wanted to document a little bit about it. The past few months Covid-19 has swept across the world & over the past 3 weeks, it has really hit the United States. We have been staying at home & only leaving for Nate to go to his office where he works with one other advisor & their secretary, & going to the grocery store (sprouts once a week & trader joe's every other week). We do go outside to go on walks & to let Lily run around a little green belt area, but not to any public places, parks, or anywhere where we would be close by people. The rules right now are to do social distancing, so not going to any public areas & staying at least 6 feet apart from anyone. It has been such a crazy month, filled with highs & lows. I feel so sad for those who have had family members pass away from the virus.

Thankfully, we had conference this past weekend & there were so many comforting talks that really brought us peace & filled us with hope that this will soon be over. Here were some of my favorite quotes from conference:

"...from the Lord’s perspective, establishing the finest homes has everything to do with the personal qualities of the people who live there. These homes aren’t made fine in any important or lasting way by their furniture or by the net worth or social status of the people who own them. The finest characteristic of any home is the image of Christ reflected in the home’s residents. What matters is the interior design of the souls of the inhabitants, not the structure itself.
-Elder Whitney

"..I recently spoke at the funeral of a beautiful, vibrant young wife and mother (also a family friend of ours). She was a scrappy Division 1 soccer player when she met and married her dental student husband. They were blessed with a beautiful, precocious daughter. She valiantly battled with various forms of cancer for six challenging years. Despite the ever-present emotional and physical distress that she experienced, she trusted in her loving Heavenly Father and was often quoted widely by her social media followers for her famous saying: “God is in the details. On one of her social media posts, she wrote that someone had asked her, “How do you still have faith with all the heartache that surrounds you?” She replied firmly with these words: “Because faith is what gets me through these dark times. Having faith doesn’t mean nothing bad is going to happen. Having faith allows me to believe that there will be light again. And that light will be even brighter because I have walked through the dark. As much darkness as I have witnessed over the years, I have witnessed far more light. I have seen miracles. I have felt angels. I have known that my Heavenly Father was carrying me. None of that would have been experienced if life was easy. The future of this life may be unknown, but my faith is not. If I choose to not have faith then I choose to only walk in darkness. Because without faith, darkness is all that is left.”
-Elder Stevenson

"Jesus the Christ, though He is 'the King of kings,' the Messiah, 'the Son of the living God,' does care deeply about each and every one of God’s children. He cares regardless of a person’s position—how poor or rich, how imperfect or proven someone is. During His mortal life, the Savior ministered to all: to the happy and accomplished, to the broken and lost, and to those without hope. Often, the people He served and ministered to were not individuals of prominence, beauty, or wealth. Often, the people He lifted up had little to offer in return but gratitude, a humble heart, and the desire to have faith.

If Jesus spent His mortal life ministering to “the least of these,” would He not love them today? Is there not a place in His Church for all of God’s children? Even for those who feel unworthy, forgotten, or alone?

There is no threshold of perfection you must attain in order to qualify for God’s grace. Your prayers do not have to be loud or eloquent or grammatically correct in order to reach heaven.

In truth, God does not show favoritism8—the things the world values mean nothing to Him. He knows your heart, and He loves you regardless of your title, financial net worth, or number of Instagram followers."
-Elder Uchtdorf

"The many inspiring components of this April 2020 general conference—and the sacred week that we now begin—can be summarized by two divinely decreed words: “Hear Him.”1 We pray that your focus on Heavenly Father, who spoke those words, and on His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, will loom largest in your memories of all that has transpired. We pray that you will begin anew truly to hear, hearken to, and heed the words of the Savior. I promise that decreased fear and increased faith will follow."
-President Nelson

President Nelson asked for there to be a 2nd & special fast this Friday, April 10th (Good Friday).
“I invite all, including those not of our faith, to fast and pray on Good Friday, April 10th, that the present pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened and life normalized.”

I feel like this will make a big difference around the world & am so thankful for our Prophet.

President Nelson also gave a special blessing that was so powerful:
"Dear brothers and sisters, I express my love for you. During this time of tension and uncertainty, and invoking the authority vested in me, I would like to confer upon you an apostolic blessing.
I bless you with peace and increasing faith in the Lord.

I bless you with a desire to repent and become a little more like Him each day.
I bless you to know that the Prophet Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness.

Should there be illness among you or your loved ones, I leave a blessing of healing, consistent with the will of the Lord.

I so bless you, adding once more my expression of love for each of you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."


Although it has been stressful at times & so incredibly hard to not see any family, here are some things I have learned from all of this.

-It is so important to make our home a place of peace & a place we enjoy being. I feel so thankful to have a comfortable, clean, lived in home that I love being in.
-Having my life & our family centered around the gospel is the most important thing. Reading scriptures, praying, & doing "Come, Follow Me" brings so much peace to me.
-It had been so great to have so much time together as a family. We have really grown closer having so many less distractions & so much time together.
-I feel like before I tried to do one thing out of the house each day to keep busy. While I do like doing fun outings, there is something really nice & relaxing about being home an entire day without any distractions.
-Lily loves being able to play in the backyard & we have had lots of extra time in the yard playing & working on the yard & garden. It has been really fun!
-I've gotten more creative finding fun things for Lily to play with. I made homemade play dough & she loves it & will play with it for an hour!
-I have bought less things. All of the online stores are doing big sales right now, but I've made an effort to do with what we have & it feels nice to be content with what we have & to save money.
-I've been doing home workouts. Nate & I run 2 miles in the morning most mornings & then I do half an hour of yoga. Lily loves being in the stroller on our run & plays so cute next to me while I do yoga. Most of the time she will come sit on my stomach for a little while I do lying down poses or lie next to me & do happy baby pose, her favorite! She also loves to put things on my head or sit on me when I'm doing the shavasana relaxing pose at the end, haha!
_There is always time to do service.
-It has been nice to make lots of good homemade meals that take more time that I normally spend cooking. I love cooking & trying new recipes!
-I will definitely appreciate time spent with family more. I love being around my family but I take it for granted sometimes & will really appreciate it so much when we can spend time together again! That is the thing I have missed most lately.

Though there have been many moments of stress the past month, I have really learned a lot & am thankful for these things that I will take away & continue to do once things are back to normal. I love this quote, "In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to."