August

Compared to July, August was a pretty mellow and calm month. I went back to work on July 31st. There was a lot of prep work for getting back to school this fall. Going back COVID-19 style. But there were a few things before that...

Early in the month the air conditioning in Miranda's Carolla went out. Since fixing it would cost just about as much as the car was worth Miranda decided it was time to sell it. She needed something that would be dependable to drive back and forth between Lehi and Provo, so she got this... 

...and she's loving it! Near the end of the month she was also finally able to move out of mom and dad's basement and back to her apartment in Lehi. Before moving, she spent a lot of time with her roommate Sarah refinishing this table that Alice and Ben gave them. It turned out great and looks perfect in their kitchen. 

Tyler and Callie spent time this month training Otter to ring a bell to ask for a treat. It didn't take long for this kitten to learn this trick. So Adorable! 

Matt and Jacob decided they wanted to see the sunrise from the top of Mt Timpanogos. They left on a Sunday afternoon (Aug 16), hiked up to Emerald Lake and pitched their tents there. They slept for a bit and then climbed up to the saddle in time for the sunrise. Matt sent me this photo at about 6:15am.

After watching the sunrise, they went on to the north summit where it was just them and the mountain goats. Many hours and miles later they made it home. Exhausted but happy.

Back to School 

So this was the big event this month. Big for so many reasons. No schools in Utah have been back since COVID-19 shut them down back in March. What's really crazy is we are having more daily cases and deaths from COVID now than we were back in March. Going back to school...how and when has been a big debate across the country. Sadly it's a debate with no winning side...no right answer. 

But we have gone back. For Summit Academy teachers came back on the 11th. We provided trainings in person and virtual. So I began my 11th year at Summit.  I'm doing basically the same job that I did last year, just added a few things. I'm the LEA (district) Literacy Coordinator, the LEA  ELL coordinator, and the LEA instructional coach for all 4th-6th grade teachers (about 32 teachers). Students began classes in the 18th. Parents got to choose between in person and online instruction. Teachers got to choose as well. We had about 20-25% of our students choose online. Students coming to in person classes are required to wear a mask, sit in assigned seats that are all facing the same direction, bring their own water from home and sanitize before entering a classroom. There are tons of new cleaning and safety procedures in place. We shortened our school day by an hour to give time to the teachers that are teaching both in person and online. So far it has been so nice seeing students back in the school. They seem happy to comply with all the new procedures. They are just glad to be back. My only back to school photo was taken on a day when Della came and said hi. She officially retired this year. No more Della at Summit. So sad, but glad she's still going to come visit every now and again.

Miranda started her second year at BYU law school. Instead of getting t-shirts or pens, this year they got masks. She will be doing hybrid to start with. Some classes in person and some online. 

Jordan School District pushed their start date back by a week to give teachers more time to prepare for all the covid regulations and online learning. Families also got a choice between online or in person. Nathan chose to go in person, but Fridays are reserved for online...or just a day off. 

Nathan was more than ready to start his senior year even if he has to wear a mask. He's filed up his schedule with some fun classes--woods, ceramics, film studies. It shouldn't be too difficult of a year. The only hard thing will be getting up so early in the morning. 

8/24/2020 Nathan ready to go day #1 steering wheel and all. 

Now let's just hope in person school lasts for more than a few weeks...

Callie had her first day of school too, but I didn't get a photo. University of Arkansas is going to all be online. So Callie and Tyler will just be spending more time hanging out in their apartment on their computers.  Tyler starts teaching his class in September.