November

November felt like another very full month, despite the constraints of Covid. It started out with the national elections. It took about a week, but Biden was declared the winner and by the end of the month most reasonable people have accepted the results. Hyrum's super cold, unsuccessful hunt was the second week of November. During the third week, we celebrated 13 years of marriage and Abraham's tenth birthday. We enjoyed a couple days off for Thanksgiving to end the month. We had a fairly mild virus run through all of us over the course of the month that kept us home from church for two weeks, but wasn't too bad otherwise. Mercy decided to give herself a haircut, and because of the Covid shut down, we haven't been able to go to a salon to get it fixed. We were surprised she did it, and very grateful that it wasn't worse. Matthew and the kids played a lot of their new Lego Avengers game, we watched The Mandalorian every Friday evening, and we've enjoyed having the Christmas decorations up. November was mostly just full of a whole lot of everyday life.

As part of building the Jolley's table, Matthew bought a tig welder. In order to practice, his first project was a wiffy sized chair. It didn't go super great, so then he designed one up in Fusion 360.

Covid update: 

I forgot to look up the real time numbers, but cases all over the world are spiking. Pretty much every state in the US is in the red zone, and New Mexico went back into lock down this month. I, thankfully, spent a hectic day getting all stocked up, so I didn't have to go out at all during the stay at home order. Non-essential businesses (like the library) are able to start doing business again now, but in a very limited way, and all stores are only able to allow 25% capacity or 75 people in at a time, creating very long lines for bigger establishments. Gratefully, we are still able to go to church. The supreme court issued a ruling that the government cannot force houses of worship to close, though we do still have to abide by capacity regulations, which is 25%. We haven't been doing the kid swap with Susan, and haven't gotten together with Jeb and the girls. The holiday season feels a lot different without all the social gatherings that usually happen at this time of year, but we all still love each other, and continue to enjoy each other's company well enough, so we are making the best of this unprecedented situation.

Mission prep:

Riding on the trainer nearly every day has been amazing for me. It's been good for my physical health (I'm so close my goal weight) and it's been even better for my mental health. It's so satisfying to push your body and make it do hard things. Seminary is going well and scripture study with the kids is going well. I could probably do better with my personal study of the gospel, but on the whole I feel like I am thriving and growing and doing well.

Meals:

French toast and bacon

Clam chowder

Tuscan soup (Barrios)

Venison leg stew with artisan bread

Chicken tetrazzini

 Personal cast iron pan pizzas

Hamburgers

Biscuits and gravy

Chicken Caesar salad

Crepes

Chicken noodle soup

Walmart fried chicken

Leftovers

Chili and cornbread

Pork Pad Thai

Breakfast sandwiches

Fried chicken with buttermilk biscuits

Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes

Chicken and pesto pasta with corn

Pizza quesadillas

Turkey dinner

Pizza

Tortilla soup